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Sonic Youth :: Washing Machine at 30

Sonic YouthPosted on

Three decades in, Washing Machine now feels like the most clear divide between the first and second halves of Sonic Youth's career. It finds a path forward that Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star seemed to be flailing for but just missing, and it would prepare the way for the albums A Thousand Leaves and Murray Street in particular. And 30 years onward, it's an album that makes for an insightful Polaroid of the band at that fiery transitional moment. Lee Ranaldo shouts “Hello, 2015!” at the end of “Skip Tracer,” but while the band itself would . . .

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Transmissions :: Kate Pierson (The B-52s)

Kate Pierson Podcast The B-52sPosted on

This week on Transmissions, Kate Pierson, vocalist and keyboardist of The B-52s. Writing about the legendary Athens band, AD founder Justin Gage says, “The B-52’s 1979 debut album ushered in a practically fully formed sound/band. No one else was doing this…whatever ‘this’ was.” Pierson joins us to discuss the band's history, Yoko Ono, her time with Julee Cruise, and much more . . .

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Miles in ‘65: The Journey to the Plugged Nickel

Jazz Miles DavisPosted on

1965 could’ve easily been the end of the road for Miles Davis. Having spent much of the year laid up in a NY hospital, he returned to the stage with a quintet whose virtuosity had grown formulaic. En route to a two-week run at Chicago’s Plugged Nickel, drummer Tony Williams hatched a plan for a renewed language. "What if we made anti-music?” The results, documented on the newly reissued Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel, changed the landscape of modern jazz . . .

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Yesternow: Editor’s Note Volume Six

YesternowPosted on

Jet lag edition. In this installment: Three nights of Radiohead in Madrid. Digging for records in London. LA and its atmospheric rivers. Paul Kingsnorth’s latest, Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity. 336-pages of Kissaten eye-candy, French espionage kink. Changeling David Bowie's final days in Los Angeles prior to decamping for Berlin in late 1976, and more. The comments are open . . .

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Steve Tibbetts :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

ECM Jazz Steve Tibbetts The AD InterviewPosted on

Close, guitarist Steve Tibbetts latest album, might be his most rewardingly mysterious yet. In conversation, Tibbetts balances consideration with openness, talking about his Buddhist practice, having lunch with Joe Boyd and Leo Kottke, working as a nurse and a record store clerk, the Grateful Dead, the wonders of fellow ECM artists and much more . . .

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Posted on ECM Jazz Steve Tibbetts The AD Interview

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Modern Nature

Lagniappe Sessions Modern NaturePosted on

Those familiar with this corner of the Internet are likely familiar with the music of Jack Cooper, as we've fastidiously covered his recorded output in one form or another since 2014. And for good reason. Following the dissolution of his previous band, Ultimate Painting, and the sole release under his given name, Sandgrown, Cooper has channeled his efforts into the potently shapeshifting outfit Modern Nature. On the heels of the band's latest LP, The Heat Warps, Cooper and co. return with their third entry in the Lagniappe Sessions, this time paying tribute to a pair of Beatles' chestnuts . . .

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Dexter Gordon :: Ballads

Dexter Gordon Jazz Midnite JazzPosted on

Ballads finds Dexter Gordon at the apex of his career, doing what he does best: playing ballads. The collection is filled with choice cuts that find Gordon and company locking into sleepy pockets where each phrase is given room to dally in the space between beats. Gordon's tone is sultry and warm, as if his tenor sax had polished off a few glasses of scotch before each take. When he takes the lead, there's nothing provocative or flamboyant happening — he knows that the key to ballads isn't the number of notes in any given measure, but the . . .

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Posted on Dexter Gordon Jazz Midnite Jazz

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: November 2025

Radio Free Aquarium DrunkardPosted on

Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month, Chad kicks things off with a deep-cut heavy 80th birthday tribute to Neil Young, followed by Tyler’s mix of (mostly) 1970s neo-noir thriller soundtrack situations + adjacent library music grooves. Sunday, 4-6pm PT . . .

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Shaun Harris :: S/T (1973)

Shaun Harris The West Coast Pop Art Experimental BandPosted on

After the tumultuous departure of legendary cult outfit The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, the eponymous 1973 folk rock offering from Shaun Harris is a gem best reserved for those with a penchant for sadness presented through a jagged, downright sunny orchestral filter. An oddity on several fronts, the startling and heavy introspective themes clash with symphonic, brimming sunshine pop arrangements. Like a true early seventies west LA studio project, the sessions feature Wrecking Crew heavy hitters like Carole Kay and Larry Knechtel, with Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys even contributing backing vocals . . .

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Liam Kazar :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Liam Kazar The AD InterviewPosted on

In the four years since the release of his debut record Due North, Liam Kazar hasn’t exactly been silent. Be it on stage or in the studio, his contributions to the sounds artists like Hannah Cohen, Sam Evian, Kevin Morby, and Jeff Tweedy are tasteful and distinct. You know you’ll be in safe hands when you see him on stage or in the credits. But this month saw the release of Pilot Light—a sophomore album that couldn’t be further from the stereotypical slump . . .

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Joseph Kamaru :: Heavy Combination 1966 – 2007

Joseph KamaruPosted on

n the 1960s and 1970s, as Kenya made the difficult transition from colony to functioning democracy, Joseph Kamaru sang the soundtrack, bringing messages of national pride, anti-corruption, class betrayal and gender politics to an emerging nation. This 17-track compilation spans Kamaru’s entire career, with tracks from as early as the mid-1960s and as late as 1988 . . .

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

SIRIUSPosted on

Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. The majority of tonight's show can be found on the site via our friend Jocelyn Romo's AD mix All Things Are Quite Silent from 2020 ...

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Sister Irene O’Connor :: Fire of God’s Love 

Sister Irene O’ConnorPosted on

Originally issued by Phillips under the pseudonym Myriam Frances and long sought by vinyl collectors, Australian nun Sister Irene O'Connor's 1973 album Fire of God's Love sees official reissue this week via the always reliable Freedom to Spend label. Drenched in reverb and powered by organ and fuzzy drum machine, it sounds like a holy devotional side project by Broadcast—future music imbued with traditional faith . . .

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Transmissions :: Gary Lachman

Gary Lachman PodcastPosted on

This week, we present a conversation with writer, rock & roller, and esoteric scholar Gary Lachman, author of a new memoir, ⁠Touched By the Presence: From Blondie’s Bowery and Rock and Roll to Magic and the Occult.⁠ It is, Lachman charts his journey from a young New Jersey misfit immersed in comic books and paperback fiction to his days playing bass in Blondie as the band rose to stardom from the New York City punk underground . . .

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Natural Information Society :: Perseverance Flow

Joshua Abrams Natural Information SocietyPosted on

Perseverance Flow does everything its title promises. It perseveres, certainly, moving with a stubborn intent in a way that feels both mechanical and wholly organic: it’s a machine made of wood and leather and human effort. And it flows, in its own stuttering way with the certainty of water going downhill. Natural Information Society has long favored both repetition and length; this 37-minute single cut album simply takes those inclinations to their logical conclusion . . .

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Posted on Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society