Toucan ocean. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. No static at all.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .
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Joseph Decosimo learned the old-time fiddle and banjo at the feet of the masters, studying with the Kentucky master Clyde Davenport from an early age and earning a PhD in traditional music from the University of North Carolina. Well-connected among traditionalists, Decosimo also taps into some non-old-time-y talents for this record, the jazz guitarist Matthew O’Connell, Andy Stack of Wye Oak and Helado Negro on bass and Beirut’s Kelly Pratt on horns. The result, Fiery Gizzard, is a full, rich, vibrant music that feels aligned with history but not confined by it . . .
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This week on the show, Jason P. Woodbury speaks with Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman. Woodbury has been listening to Jens for just about 20 years—introduced by the 2005 compilation, Oh You're So Silent Jens. Though the comp features songs ingeniously constructed using samples, it was Lekman’s voice that made Woodbury such a fan. Not just his deep, sonorous croon; we mean "voice" in the writing sense: Lekman has a signature ability to sound funny and sad at the same time, or wounded yet somehow simultaneously hopeful. Jens has a new album out now called Songs for Other . . .
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As breezily inviting as the flying carpet ride that the cover's marker sketch would convey, the ninth record from Gruff Rhys breathes easily between acoustic strummers and orchestral, electro-acoustic rhythms. The fourth long player sung in the musician's native Welsh and joined by veteran collaborators Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline on backing vocals, Dim Probs utilizes the Rhys playbook in crafting shambolic pop songs that serve as an antidote for inherently grim overtones . . .
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Born in Ethiopia but trained in the cosmopolitan west—London, New York and Boston where he studied at Berklee—Mulatu Astatke found a serpentine, shimmery groove that combined the exotic sounds of Addis Ababa with the swagger and swing of Latin jazz and American funk and soul. Now in his eighties, Astatke recorded Mulatu Plays Mulatu with LA-based producer and ethnomusicologist Dexter Story and contemporary artists including Carlos Niño and Kibrom Birhane . . .
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In Brazil, Hermeto Pascoal was affectionately nicknamed "O Bruxo" (The Wizard) for his druidic appearance, marked by the long albino beard, and his ability to turn into musical instruments any mundane objects he came into contact with, as if he could suddenly extract from pipes, forks, birds, pigs, kids' toys, dentists' drills, his own belly, or the landscapes of a river or cave their innermost hidden harmonics . . .
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In the middle of the heaviest years of a military dictatorship, Ben Jorge wanted, in his own words, to "bring peace of mind and tranquility" to Brazilians. He wanted happiness and imagination, visions of utopia, the quickening of the heart. A Tábua de Esmeralda espoused this ideal of absolute joy through its sweet and comic gestures, making reference at the same time to saints and soccer clubs, Medieval magicians and cartoon characters, as if they all belonged to the same semantic realm, a realm that was kept safely protected by artists like Ben as the surface of life was . . .
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No question, the Cords’ self-titled debut, coming after a scant run of singles, is a nearly flawless set of female-forward jangle pop, as fresh and tuneful and faintly sardonic as any long-player from Glasgow’s 1980s heyday. Sharp, biting guitar licks slash through sun-through-raindrops melodies. Ebullient harmonies waft around lyrics edged with disdain . . .
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Bubble the new LP from Whitney K, like their previous releases, has a hypnotic and languid manner that belies percolating depth, humor and force. Sonically, it's is their boldest and coherent to date, adventurous but unhurried, segueing smoothly between choogling acoustics and scalded electricity. Ahead of this week’s release of Bubble, AD caught up with Konner Whitney, the group’s center if not its leader, as he prepared for an extensive tour . . .
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The quirky cover of Guru Guru’s Känguru – a mama and her joey adrift on the ice, with curious speech and thought bubbles – tells you all you need to know about this Krautrock heavy hitter. Their message is simple: our music is weird and fun and inscrutable. Känguru feels less a product of its circumstances and more like a beam from some kosmische asteroid: four songs of heady, rapturous, meandering rock. They’re jammy but structured, punctuated by climaxes and build-ups, vibe shifts and open space. But it’s about the journey, not the destination: get on . . .
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Haruomi Hosono’s second solo effort, Tropical Dandy, now released as a standalone album for the first time in the U.S., shows the bassist and bandleader moving on from his folk-rock beginnings. A complex, eccentric and deeply committed commentary on exotica, sonic simulacra and tropical vibes, it’s full of contradictory constructions and proud artificialities that tap into something deeper than the merely real . . .
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Over the past several years, founder Chris Schlarb has made Big Ego into a community-driven, artist-centric (and remarkably affordable) hub, the likes of which are lamentably few and far between. The label’s output is packed with gems, many of which bring together a murderer’s row of Los Angeles-area musicians to create records that are deeply imaginative, carefully crafted and utterly unique. Here, we’ve gathered a baker’s dozen of recommended listens — just a small sampling of what the Big Ego universe has in store . . .
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Twenty years after its release, Seu Jorge's The Life Aquatic Sessions continues to age gracefully. The beautiful sevenths and ninths chords, the breezy romanticism of the Portuguese language, and Jorge's balmy croon transmute Bowie's grandiose productions into a tropical oasis of pianissimo revelations. These alterations don't distract from the source material as much as they enhance it, revealing the universality of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era. What was written as British glam-rock anthems work just as well as Brazilian samba numbers, and vice versa . . .
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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. Our guest this week is Marissa Nadler. Last month, she released her 10th album, New Radiations, via Sacred Bones Records. She joins us to discuss cinema, working life, and her relationship with heavy music . . .
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Following a brisk but rewarding detour with last year's instrumental offering Grand Jardin, French multi-instrumentalist Julien Gasc makes a triumphant return with his fifth full length Perles, coraux & requins. Recorded and produced by Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) and featuring musicians like Stereolab's Tim Gane, Gasc's signature knack for songwriting lies in the airiness of chanson pop traditions, transmuted with twisting, layered compositions. Like fresh air after a dip in the saltwater, these compositions demonstrate a remarkable musician (still) at the top of their game . . .
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