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Lau Ro :: Lau

Following their role in the celebrated outfit Wax Machine, Lau is the sophomore offering from São Paulo-born musician Lau Ro. An enduring cycle of radiance, the windswept echoes of seminal Brazilian records like Clube da Esquina ripple through the record; a collage as sunny as it is meditative. Like a therapeutic nature walk, the instrumental numbers mixed into the fray offer a cinematic counterpunch, a spry invitation not to overlook the subtleties amidst the bolstering psych-pop haze . . .

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

Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. Afro-funk, Caribbean grooves, French incantations, dub drift, radio ghosts, and Sly Stone.

SIRIUS 891: Intro ++ Shin Joong Hyun – I’ve Got Nothing to Say ++ Rodion G.A. – Disco Mania ++ O.R.E.A – Biguine Inferno ++ Les Vikings de la Guadeloupe – Ka Nou Pé Fé ++ Mwoin Ka Songé – Puzzle Pulsion ++ The Groupe NSI – Mandé Moin On Lajan, Pa Mandé Moin Za Fe An Moin ++ Eddy La Viny – Indiano ++ Fela Kuti & The Africa 70 – Lover ++ Synchro Rythmic Eclectic Language – Foukie ++ Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Aya Mood ++ Brigitte Fontaine, Areski Belkacem – Patriarcat ++ Erick Cosaque – L’heureux noir ++ Serge Gainsbourg – Des laids des laids ++ Serge Gainsbourg – Lola Rastaquouere (Dub Style) ++ Ranking Dread – Girls Fiesta ++ Tone Scientists – Tiny Pyramids ++ Brighter Days – High Jazz Reprise (AD edit) ++ Voices Of Conquest – Oh Yes My Lord ++ Art Bell – East of The Rockies ++ Rosebud – Main Theme From More ++ James Last – I Can’t Move No Mountains ++ Makers – Don’t Challenge Me ++ Sly And The Family Stone – Just Like A Baby ++ Sly And The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay ++ Jimmie Stone – Family Affair ++ Little Sister – Stanga ++ Joe Hicks – Life And Death In G & A (Pts. 1 & 2) ++ 6ix – I’m Just Like You

Anthony Calonico :: Spacious Heart

On his first solo album, Total Blue member Anthony Calonico continues to mine the Los Angeles instrumental trio's refined, streamlined take on chilled-out lite jazz and pop ambience. But he also makes some moves, singing on several tracks with a slightly murmurous, no-big-deal felicity. As an exploration of introspective grooves and buttery inner-ear tones, Spacious Heart unsurprisingly delivers; as a subtle reinvention of the once-maligned adult contemporary genre, it may have something new up its sleeve . . .

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All One Song :: Lee Ranaldo on “Down By the River”

Tyler Wilcox has spent season two of All One Song conversing about Neil Young with musicians, writers, and artists. And now, we’ve reached the end of the road for this Neil journey, with a very special guest: Lee Ranaldo, dropping in to discuss “Down By The River.” Lee is a founding member of Sonic Youth. Ranaldo joins us to talk about a Neil classic, one that dips from murder ballad terror to cosmic life affirmation . . .

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BCMC :: Stash

This second album from Bitchin’ Bajas’ Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay is more composed and less improvised than its predecessor Foreign Smokes, its ideas worked out not on the fly but over time as the two musicians honed their tunes in the live setting. These tracks pursue intricate, repeated riffs that are more regular, almost geometrical, than the ones on the debut album, which tended towards spreading pools of tone washed sound . . .

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The Tower Recordings :: Furniture Music For Evening Shuttles

Let's run it back again. It's 2026 and Matt Valentine has returned to the AD orbit. Between a recent Lagniappe Session and the release of All One Song, we've been revisiting Furniture Music For Evening Shuttles, a record at the very center of the Tower Recordings story . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard :: 2026 Midyear Review

The year is half done, and to commemorate, we've rounded up nearly 140 selections that represent AD's favorites. As always, the list is unranked and unruly—archival and reissued releases shared in tandem with the latest arrivals. Let it blurb . . .

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Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe :: Manifestations in the Shadow of an Uncertain Land

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe's later-career move into the realm of soundtracks and film scores is pretty logical. Over two decades since he began recording (under the name Lichens), Lowe has made sound that hints at imagery and traces wordless stories. But to say he makes cinematic music would be to sell Lowe short. After all, making music for movies is in some senses pretty simple; there is a set of well-defined moves and cues that signify actions and plot points. I bet the challenge is more in deciphering studio notes than writing the actual scores . . .

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Virginia Astley :: From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

Summer beckons. Released in July 1983, Virginia Astley’s From Gardens Where We Feel Secure comes on like a hazy memory preserved on quarter-inch tape. Press play and listen as swallows bank overhead, church bells ring in the distance, and the whole countryside exhales at half-speed . . .

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Leah Senior :: Pt. Roadknight

For roughly a decade and over five albums, Leah Senior has been making airy, breathy, lightly syncopated folk music. Her songs are delicate but not slight, built on pristine runs of acoustic guitar and cooing, trilling vocals. In this fifth album, however, the Australian singer hints at a broader, more communal palette of sounds . . .

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

Waking up convinced you remember a place you’ve never actually been. Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

SIRIUS 890: Intro ++ Makaya McCraven – Above & Beyond ++ SML – Taking Out The Trash ++ Nala Sinephro – Space 4 ++ Sarathy Korwar – We Take Things For Granted ++ Boards of Canada – Palace Posy ++ Roberto Musci – Claudia, Wilhelm R And Me ++ Nala Sinephro – Space 1 ++ Boards of Canada – Naraka ++ Mike D – True Colors ++ Ben LaMar Gay – Dress Me In New Love ++ Alabaster DePlume – With Your Hands ++ Beak> – Brean Down ++ Juana Molina – Cosoco ++ Betonkust – Sent Items ++ Boards Of Canada – 1969 ++ Virginia Astley – A Long Summer Since Passed ++ Josiah Steinbrick – Full Bloom ++ Anika – Yang Yang (Dub) ++ Holy Tongue – Misinai ++ Broadcast – Corporeal ++ Susumu Yokota – Uchu Yanjyo ++ Tonstartssbandht – What Has Happened ++ Cave – Beaux ++ Düngen – Franks Kaktus ++ Tara Clerkin Trio – In The Room ++ Shrunken Elvis – Marina Pt. 2

Takako Minekawa :: Roomic Cube

On Roomic Cube, musician Takako Minekawa has a deliberate tunnel vision in the counterbalance of the cheerfully buoyant and accompanying comedown. Prior to later collaborations with artists like Jim O'Rourke and guitarist Dustin Wong, Minekawa shared the retrofuturistic "Shibuya-kei" spotlight with like-minded nineties contemporaries like Cornelius and Kahimi Karie. Moving in a cosmic headspace that balances subtle melodicism and electroacoustics with downright playful lyrical repetition, the album's accomplished sound collage is as much a reflection of the canonical microgenre as any other . . .

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All One Song :: Matt Valentine on “Berlin”

Here to talk about “Berlin” with us today is someone we've been fans of for a long time now—the mighty ⁠Matt Valentine⁠. MV has been making beautiful noise for over three decades now, from ⁠Tower Recordings⁠ to ⁠MV & EE⁠ (with his partner Erika Elder) to various solo excursions and collabs. For the past decade, Matt’s primary focus has been Wet Tuna, which also features Erika and bassist Jim Bliss. The latest Tuna LP is called ⁠Vast⁠ — and you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a better title for this collection of strange and funky flights . . .

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The Hobknobs :: Helmets Off

The Hobknobs make fragile, minimal songs with a surreal, philosophical bent. “Dictionary” sounds like the pencil sketch of a Velvet Underground song, the guitars trebly and luminous, a slackly shaken tambourine the only percussion. The words, however, belie the track’s sonic simplicity, exploring the difficult semiotics of signifier and signified in short, plain words . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 38

Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our irregular gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: William Eggleston’s uncanny visions of everyday America; Brian Cullman’s improbable encounters with Nick Drake, Miles Davis, and countless others; the shifting landscapes of Los Angeles through Gavin Lambert and Bret Easton Ellis; and Art Pepper’s Straight Life, one of the most candid memoirs in jazz literature . . .

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