Posts

Dougie Poole :: The Freelancer’s Blues

Dougie Poole is the patron saint of millennial malaise. On The Freelancer’s Blues, the Brooklyn-based country slacker sings about familiar tropes: vaping on the job, trying Buddhism for a week, considering a move out west, and finally, giving up to hang out at the bar with his buddies. Playing with common woes, pop sheen, and sideways humor, Poole invests his particular blues with a wink and a crooked smile . . .

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Emotional Imagination :: Laraaji Discusses Sun Piano

Laraaji began his musical life at the piano and with his new lp, Sun Piano, he returns to it. He joined Aquarium Drunkard's Jennifer Kelly to discuss his long musical career, laughter meditation, and the role that music can play in very difficult times . . .

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Diversions: Hausu Mountain

Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s cult 1977 horror-comedy Hausu is an apt namesake for the Chicago experimental label Hausu Mountain. Fusing cartoonish imagery with absurdist humor and the occasional scare, the imprint's prolific output since 2012 has connected an international subterranean network. Here, founders Doug Kaplan and Max Allison share 10 selections—ranging from Dead bootlegs to Bandcamp links to experimental movies—that inform their sideways approach . . .

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Bob Dylan :: Rough And Rowdy Ways

I’m on my fourth listen, sitting on my porch, sipping Heaven’s Door Straight Rye. I have a house rule that while you’re drinking it, you can only talk about Bob. But no one ever visits, and now they can’t even visit if they wanted to . . .

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Bob Dylan :: Pretty Good Stuff | Ep. 7

Dylan historian James Adams' hour-long, monthly, program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music.

Or: A celebration of Bob Dylan bootlegs, interview snippets, oddities and more . . .

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Bandcamping :: Juneteenth Edition

Bandcamp is stepping up once again on June 19 in honor of Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. For 24 hours, the platform will donate all of its our share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a national organization dedicated to effectively enacting racial justice and change through litigation, advocacy, and public education. In other words, it’s another good day to spend some money on Bandcamp. Here are a few suggestions to get you started . . .

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

Riding the liminal yeti. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays . . .

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Sonic Boom :: All Things Being Equal

The first Sonic Boom album in thirty years finds Peter Kember reemerging, paradoxically, at the height of his influence. While the grandiose space-rock frontsmanship of his erstwhile Spacemen 3 partner Jason Pierce has faded somewhat into the safety of the adult contemporary rotation, the seeds Kember has scattered as experimenter, heteronymous collaborator, and champion of analog synthesizers seem finally to be bearing their full fruit . . .

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Transmissions :: Lisa E. Harris on EarthSeed

Our guest this week is Lisa E. Harris, whose new album with Nicole Mitchell is called EarthSeed. Inspired by the works of science fiction author Octavia Butler, it was recorded live at Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago and features the Black Earth Ensemble—an all-star collection of Chicago improvisers and free jazz artists—including Julian Otis, Zara Zaharieva, Ben LaMar Gay, Tomeka Reid, and Avreeayl Ra—backing up the two composers . . .

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Rayborn Live Archive :: Volume Two

Here's another batch of recordings from my close to quarter century (!?) as a recreational live audio taper, primarily based in central North Carolina. Recent email conversations with Justin Gage, discussing the depth and breadth of my live archive, sowed the idea for what you will find below - a group of tunes conceptualized as if each were a block of radio station programming. Some thoughts / recollections of the specific shows these tracks were culled from are as follows . . .

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sessa

Atenção! An outsize portion of our 2019 listening was dominated by Grandeza, the debut album from São Paulo–born artist Sessa. As such, the follow lagniappe session is something akin to the sound of the inevitably. This, the first installment of a two-part session, begins with Sessa's delicate rendering of Helene Smith's soulful "I'm Controlled By Your Love", a cover deftly employed to audiences while in LA earlier this year. Next, the artist pays tribute to fellow countryman, and Tropicália pioneer, Jorge Mautner -- taking on 1976's “Samba Jambo”, before closing out with . . .

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The Lingering Question Marks of Neil Young’s Long Lost Homegrown

Neil Young's long lost Homegrown is a worthy addition to the songwriter’s famed “Ditch” period, sharing with those other lps a heavy sense of loneliness, loss and heartache (as well as some of the boozy joy). But it’s a distinct effort, too, filled with its own melancholy and mystery . . .

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Wyatt Waddell :: FIGHT!

23-year-old Wyatt Waddell wrote, performed and recorded “FIGHT!” in 24 hours after witnessing the protests sparked by the brutal killing of George Floyd. That urgency presents itself both lyrically; “There’s already so much pain / And there ain’t nothin else we can do / But to fight,“ and musically; sparse church rhythms keep a fierce pace as the Chicago native’s gritty tenor transforms into a sea of otherworldly voices. Wonderful funk breakdowns help release (or it increase?) the tension, while Waddell’s vocals climb higher and grow more exasperated with each passing verse. By the end of . . .

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Thank You For The Sunshine :: On the Spiritual Brightness of Brother Theotis Taylor

Mississippi Records' new compilation Brother Theotis Taylor, mines the private archives of the Georgia minister and singer. These solitary songs of praise and contemplation extend an offer to join Taylor in spiritual reverie . . .

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Apple Scruffs :: 50 Years of All Things Must Pass & Plastic Ono Band

By 1970, each exhausted member of the Fab Four was in the process of splitting off to explore new sonic worlds. Two of the greatest ex-Beatle solo records, All Things Must Pass and Plastic Ono Band, turn the ripe old age of fifty this year. It’s instructive to see how the records emerge and then diverge from the same traumatic starting point, exhibiting the weight of disappointment, exhaustion, and disillusionment they’ve been carrying so long . . .

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