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Twisted Teens :: Florida Water Blues

Twisted TeensPosted on

The punk rock, blues-garage band known as Twisted Teens is moving at warp speed through music history straight on through to the future. This latest, Florida Water Blues, follows Blame the Clown by a few months and the self-titled by less than a year, and, never fear, there’s another one on the way. These people aren’t sitting around waiting, for fame, for money, for recognition. No they’re grabbing up music by the handfuls, mining 1930s electric blues licks and punk jackhammer beats and doo-woppy waltz time swirl and dropping them into a blender. This . . .

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Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family :: Na Teef Know De Road of Teef

Pax NicholasPosted on

Long obscured by Afrobeat lore and rescued from obscurity by Daptone Records in 2009, Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family's Na Teef Know De Road of Teef rides deep-pocket funk, burnished brass, and rolling polyrhythms across four tracks in just over 30 minutes. A long-running member of Fela Kuti's monster Africa 70 incarnation, Nicholas Addo-Nettey steps up as bandleader, driving the get-down from behind the congas. Legend has it Fela heard the record once, ordered it shelved, and in the process consigned the album to more than three decades in the wilderness. Abami Eda . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

SIRIUSPosted on

Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Transmissions :: Awake, My Soul

Awake, My Soul PodcastPosted on

Describing the sound of Sacred Harp singing can be difficult. Arcane, otherworldly, and overwhelming, it’s a unique a cappella form of shape note Christian hymn singing that was born in England in the 18th century, but took root in the American south. It’s not something you listen to so much something as experience. This week on Transmissions, co-director Matt Hinton discusses his documentary on the subject, Awake, My Soul . . .

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Posted on Awake, My Soul Podcast

Dog Days of Aquarium Drunkard III

Dog Days of Aquarium DrunkardPosted on

No season inspires ritual listening quite like late summer. As the days flatten into heat haze and evenings linger just a little longer, familiar records reveal unexpected contours. As August stretches on, the Aquarium Drunkard crew returns with another installment of our annual Dog Days roundup: a stack of old favorites, forgotten treasures, new discoveries, and seasonal obsessions . . .

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Twenty Years Inside The Eraser

Radiohead Thom YorkePosted on

Listening with the hindsight of twenty years, The Eraser has lost none of its curved-glass cut and glimmer. Yorke was still riding high on a generational songwriting run and, with Nigel Godrich's help, what obstacles remained between idea and execution had been removed . . .

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Posted on Radiohead Thom Yorke

Diversions :: Spiral Galaxy’s “Cosmic” Influences

Diversions Spiral GalaxyPosted on

The world of Spiral Galaxy extends far beyond music. To mark the release of II, Plastic Crimewave and Sara Gossett look to visionary illustrators, forgotten kosmische explorers, classic album design, and psychedelic cinema, mapping a few of the inspirations behind their singular collaboration . . .

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Big Black :: Two Moonlins And Mother

Big BlackPosted on

Before Pharoah Sanders, before Blazing Saddles, before Muhammad Ali's training camp, there was "Two Moonlins And Mother." Big Black's compact boogaloo gem distills a lifetime of rhythm into three minutes of humid, percussive heat . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

SIRIUSPosted on

Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. Slow dissolve. Kosmische drift. ECM-adjacent. Synth meditations. Folk reveries. Keith Jarrett. Harmonia. Eno. Ashra. Gaussian Curve. Chet Baker. Sybille Baier. CAN. Fellow travelers.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Vin Gordon with Lee Perry and The Upsetters :: Musical Bones

Lee Perry Reggae/Dub Vin GordonPosted on

Recorded at the height of the Black Ark with Lee "Scratch" Perry at the controls and The Upsetters firing on all cylinders, Musical Bones gave legendary trombonist Vin Gordon the rare opportunity to step out of the backline and into the spotlight. Originally released in 1975 as a UK white-label pressing of just 300 copies, it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, becoming one of reggae's great collector's grails . . .

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Posted on Lee Perry Reggae/Dub Vin Gordon

Charlie Hunter Quartet :: Natty Dread

Charlie HunterPosted on

The Charlie Hunter Quartet's track-by-track cover of Bob Marley's 1974 classic Natty Dread probably shouldn't work, but somehow the sublimely talented soul jazz guitarist and his group pull it off. Rather than staying faithful to the sound of Marley's reggae standard, Hunter captures the joy and exuberance of the music. Mixing in salsa, jazz-funk, high-life and blues, Hunter's quartet turn what might have been a polite tribute into an explosive celebration. It should be on every summer playlist . . .

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Transmissions :: Erin Osmon

Erin Osmon PodcastPosted on

This week on the show, we welcome Nashville-based music journalist, critic and author Erin Osmon, to discuss her tremendous book, W⁠on't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America⁠, which chronicles how heartland rock, typified by artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and more, brought a populist, Americana-inspired sound to the airwaves of the radio and MTV . . .

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The Visitors :: My Good Friends

The VisitorsPosted on

Issued in 1977, My Good Friends captures a moment when eastern Nigeria's musicians folded highlife, funk, soul, and psychedelia into something restless and idiosyncratic. The results are gloriously untidy. While the contemporary story of Nigerian popular music is often told through towering figures like Fela Kuti, William Onyeabor, and King Sunny Adé, records like this reveal a parallel current—one built on synthesis rather than singularity . . .

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The Box Set: An Appreciation, Vol. 3

Box SetsPosted on

The initial standard for a compact disc was 74 minutes. Legend has it the length was decided upon in order to fit all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony onto a single disc. In terms of format, the arrival and adoption of the CD in 1983 changed not only how we listen to recorded music, but how it’s presented as an art form. No longer beholden to the 22 minute confines of a “12 side, artists began experimenting with the medium… as did labels. Welcome to the third installment of The Box Set: An Appreciation . . .

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Echo Upstairs :: Estranhos Lugares Para os Olhos

Brazil Echo UpstairsPosted on

For years, Brazilian shoegaze has felt like a borrowed climate. Estranhos Lugares Para os Olhos suggests otherwise, recasting the genre's familiar wall of sound in tropical hues. Echo Upstairs doesn't abandon shoegaze's dream-state—it changes the weather . . .

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