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Transmissions :: The Cosmic Tones Research Trio

Cosmic Tones Research Trio PodcastPosted on

This week on the show, the Portland-based group of Roman Norfleet, Harlan Silverman, and Kennedy Verrett, aka The Cosmic Tones Research Trio. “Cosmic” is a term that has, thanks to critics and writers, become a little overused. Practically every indie rock band or country-based singer/songwriter with an effects pedal employs “cosmic” touches these days. But as this spiritual jazz trio explains, each of us contains our own cosmos . . .

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Songs Belong to Everyone Who Can Sing Along :: Craig Finn on Always Been

Craig Finn The AD InterviewPosted on

The cover of Craig Finn's latest solo album, Always Been, directly nods to Randy Newman's 1977 lp Little Criminals. Shot in the same location, on the West 7th Street overpass over the I-110, it presents The Hold Steady frontman posed exactly as Newman is on his classic album. And like Newman's songbook, Always Been is filled with character studies, a cast of people who aren't quite sure what to make of their lives and the directions they've taken. It also arrives with a book of short stories, Lousy With Ghosts. Finn joins us to . . .

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John Maus :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

John Maus The AD InterviewPosted on

Since the mid-2000s John Maus gained a reputation as an arcane conversationalist, whose public dialogues offered as much intricacy as they did enthusiasm, with a philosophical repertoire only matched by his own nervous body language. For this interview we plunged into the specifics of those discourses to try to trace the strange continuities between the continental thought and mystical traditions Maus is enamored with and the postwar pop sound his work inevitably comes to represent . . .

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Maxine Funke :: Timeless Town

Maxine FunkePosted on

Maxine Funke gifts us yet another quietly stunning release in Timeless Town. Across nine songs (including two instrumentals) of homespun folk and lo-fi pop, the New Zealand-based singer-songwriter crafts music that is intimate, starry, and wistful. Leaving her guitar in its case this time, she surrounds her hushed, dusky vocals with various keyboards and analog synth effects, as well as a melodica and pocket operator, and the sparsest touch of cello . . .

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Carson McHone :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Carson McHone The AD InterviewPosted on

In her vividly descriptive lyricism, which comes alive across all her albums, but especially on her latest release, Pentimento, Carson McHone is a natural artist. Written on paintings and postcards, McHone deftly utilizes color, texture and movement in these exceptionally compelling and immersive arrangements . . .

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Ramsey Lewis :: Them Changes

Jazz Ramsey LewisPosted on

For anyone who frequents their local record store, the term "cheap heat" is likely a familiar one. Often its own section, the cheap heat bin usually contains copies of iconic records in dubious condition, lesser-known titles by major artists, and maybe most importantly, overlooked records that either never fully caught on, or for one reason or another, never found their audience. The problem with some of these titles is that while the cheap part is generally accurate, the ‘heat’ is sometimes over-promised. Not the case with Ramsey Lewis’ 1970 funky soul jazz gem Them Changes, a record we . . .

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Jens Kuross :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Jens Kuross The AD InterviewPosted on

Before recording Crooked Songs, Jens Kuross was making cabinets, teaching children how to play the piano, and having a lot of difficult conversations with himself. After a series of disappointments following the release of his 2020 LP The Man Nobody Can Touch resulted in his return to Idaho to lead a quieter life . . .

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Posted on Jens Kuross The AD Interview

Joropop: Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela, 1968-1976

CompilationPosted on

The Madrid-based Munster Records and its sister label Vampisoul have become house favorites over the last few years. The latter released one of our favorite reissues of the year in Cartao Postal, the 1971 MPB masterclass from Brazilian singer Evinha, and Munster Records is keeping that momentum strong with Joropop: Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela, 1968-1976, a compilation that hasn’t strayed far from the speakers since its summer release . . .

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Posted on Compilation

First & Last: Angura (A Mixtape)

First & Last Japan MixtapesPosted on

An introduction to Japanese folk in 1970s Japan, the following mix was created as a companion to the article on Modern Bible and the story of Gekidan Buraiha. It brings together a selection of early Japanese folk, protest songs and Angura recordings from the same era, providing additional context and atmosphere for the world the little theatre movement troupe emerged from . . .

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

SIRIUSPosted on

Otoño. 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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Double Bass: 10 For Danny Thompson

Danny ThompsonPosted on

"The only thing I cared about was if I liked it or not, and if I liked it, then I was going to play it. Simple as that.” We’re all lucky Danny Thomson had that attitude. The English double bassist, who passed away in late September at the age of 86, made glorious eclecticism his MO for well over 60 years, building up an astonishing discography that includes several of the greatest records ever made, alongside dozens of lesser-known gems. Like a beloved character actor, Thompson’s very presence elevated every session and every show; by nature, he . . .

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The Byrds :: The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The ByrdsPosted on

The many vantage points in which one can dissect the legacy of the Byrds can feel simply boundless. While the studio innovations utilized on The Notorious Byrd Brothers (released the same year as country rock blueprint Sweetheart of the Rodeo) wouldn't necessarily be confused with that of Pet Sounds, it's a primary signifier of the record that never sufficiently got its due. Despite all of the mythos and legendary inner turmoil that reduced the band's lineup to a duo during the sessions, the record’s spacey psychedelic folk is a time and place never to be replicated . . .

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Posted on The Byrds

Transmissions :: The Autumn Defense

John Stirratt Patrick Sansone Podcast The Autumn DefensePosted on

This week on Transmissions, we’re toasting harvest season with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of The Autumn Defense, who release their first album in a decade this week. It’s called Here and Nowhere, out October 10 on Yep Roc Records. You might know John and Pat from their work in Wilco; Stirratt is a founding member, and Sansone joined in 2004. But the duo’s work in the Autumn Defense stretches all the way back to 1999, when they formed the Laurel Canyon-style folk rock band in New Orleans . . .

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Posted on John Stirratt Patrick Sansone Podcast The Autumn Defense

Animal, Surrender! :: A Boot For Every Bane

Animal, Surrender!Posted on

Not sure how many eight-string bass / pipe organ / drums trios there are out there, but I’m going to go ahead and declare the Brooklyn-based Animal, Surrender! as the very best of them all. On their second LP, A Boot For Every Bane, bassist Peter Kerlin (Sunwatchers, Solar Motel Band), organist Curt Sydnor (Greg Saunier, Yonatan Gat) and drummer Rob Smith (Gray/Smith, Rhyton, Pigeons) make this unusual configuration sound as natural as can be . . .

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M. Sage :: Tender / Wading

M. SagePosted on

The Colorado-based M Sage resides in the liminal zone, finding endless inspiration in the in-between. Between natural and digital, stillness and motion, silence and noise, innocence and experience, waking and dreams. These aren’t binaries, mind you — because fuck a binary — but blends. And on his latest LP, Tender / Wading, Sage delights in exploring these blends, blurring the edges, eagerly and earnestly mixing the colors into something brand new . . .

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Posted on M. Sage