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John Carpenter :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

John Carpenter The AD InterviewPosted on

Music is integral to the bleak zones created by filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. With his new album, Lost Themes IV: Noir, he taps into the spirit of classic film noir. He joins us to discuss the style, mood, and influence of classic noir: "Everybody's doomed in these things. That's what I find . . .

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Posted on John Carpenter The AD Interview

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

SIRIUSPosted on

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

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Prince Far I :: Cry Tuff Chants 1981-84

Prince Far I Reggae/DubPosted on

Via Adrian Sherwood’s liner notes to Cry Tuff Chants On U we’re reminded that Prince Far I had initially been dubbed King Cry Cry owing to his infamous “voice of thunder.” Had he been a preacher (which he was, in his own way) it’s not difficult to imagine him proselytizing to hordes of non-believers . . .

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Posted on Prince Far I Reggae/Dub

Congo Funk! :: Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982)

Congo FunkPosted on

Another banger from Analog Africa: their latest compilation, Congo Funk! – Sound Madness from the Shores of the Mighty Congo River (1969-1982), abounds with a surprising and exhilarating collision of rumba, psych, and funk. Homespun, lean, and occasionally blown out in garage bliss, the spirited sounds cultivated here represent the resulting explosion of Congolese rock bands following James Brown’s 1974 performance in Zaire in promotion of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s famed heavyweight bout, The Rumble in the Jungle . . .

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Transmissions :: Shabaka Hutchings

Podcast Shabaka HutchingsPosted on

Though he’s known for his fiery, raging performances with groups like Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and The Ancestors, Shabaka Hutchings eases into a contemplative zone with his debut solo album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. “What does it mean to have music of spiritual substance? What does it mean to be spiritual? What is spirit?” This week on Transmissions, Shabaka Hutchings joins us to discuss that force, his shift toward the flute, the influence of Outkast, and connecting with his father on a creative level . . .

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Posted on Podcast Shabaka Hutchings

Gerry Mulligan :: Night Lights (1963)

Gerry Mulligan Midnite JazzPosted on

Recorded over two sessions in the fall of 1962 at Nola Penthouse Studios in New York City, Night Lights finds Gerry Mulligan exploring the somber side of cool jazz, playing originals and standards with a no-frills approach . . .

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Posted on Gerry Mulligan Midnite Jazz

Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed :: Gratitude

Cassie KinoshiPosted on

In March 2023, alto saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinoshi appeared onstage with an unexpected guest list. On top of seed. — Kinoshi’s 10-member ensemble founded in 2016 that includes horns, keys, guitars, two double basses, and some very lively drums — this suite was bolstered by the stately strings and woodwinds of the London Contemporary Orchestra, alongside the ghostly echoes of experimental turntablist NikNak . . .

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Group Listening :: Walks

Group ListeningPosted on

On WALKS, the third album from Group Listening, the duo of Paul Jones and Stephen Black move into a more electronic frame, the newly synthetic soundscapes captured by a lens that remains fragile, bighearted, and childlike in its wonderment . . .

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Posted on Group Listening

Still House Plants :: If I Don’t Make It, I Love U

Still House PlantsPosted on

Still House Plants filters torch blues through a cracked mirror, floating polysyllabic jazz singer melisma over clanging, clattering noise abstractions. It sounds like the most irregular sort of post-rock—U.S. Maple or Slint—with a Billie Holiday aficionado along for the ride, or perhaps like Circuit Des Yeux doing a guest shot with Black Midi. Let us stipulate right now that Still House Plants will not be to everyone’s taste, but you have to hear it. This is a band absolutely carving its own swath through music . . .

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Dadawah :: Peace And Love

Dadawah Ras Michael Reggae/DubPosted on

That this sublime slice of life-affirming music is considered reggae is incidental in the same way that Alice Coltrane's Journey In Satchdinanda is considered jazz. What it really is, what they both really are is devotional music that transcends genre limitations and taps into something that most musicians could spend a lifetime failing to achieve . . .

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Posted on Dadawah Ras Michael Reggae/Dub

The Seventh Sons :: 4 A.M. At Frank’s

The Seventh SonsPosted on

Tucked away in the jeweled annals of the ESP-Disk catalog is 4 A.M. at Frank’s (or Raga, as it was later titled upon reissue), the lone album by NYC free-folk progenitors The Seventh Sons. It’s quite possibly the most peaceful and flat-out beautiful album the label ever put out, an extended eastern-tinged folk jam that’s close kin to the searching guitar soli of Robbie Basho and Peter Walker . . .

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Posted on The Seventh Sons

Creation Rebel :: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023

Adrian Sherwood Creation Rebel Reggae/DubPosted on

In the late 1970s, a budding dub-loving producer named Adrian Sherwood assembled a crack band of Caribbean musicians living in the working class neighborhoods of North-West London. Before they became Prince Far I’s onstage accompanists, Creation Rebel recorded a series of albums under their own name, cementing their status as the house band of Sherwood’s On-U Sound label . . .

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Posted on Adrian Sherwood Creation Rebel Reggae/Dub

Writhing Squares :: Mythology

Writhing SquaresPosted on

Writhing Squares’ antecedents are the heaviest of heavy psychedelicists. They draw from the ecstatic riffery of Blue Cheer, the nodding hypnotics of Wooden Shjips, the heavy raptures of Red-era King Crimson. When they employ a drum machine, as in hard-popping “Cerberus,” you can hear an echo of Suicide in the whip-crack of percussion and the answering blat of saxophone . . .

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Posted on Writhing Squares

First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 14

First & Last MixtapesPosted on

Step into spring with the latest edition of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”

Included are tracks from two of our favorite records: Book End, whose band leader was also the leader of Primary Mini-Band, and Naotune Saga. The mix also features Buraiha, a band steeped in the avant-garde Angura movement, along with a group called Sharons Forever which (with no liner notes to guide) offers a poignant tribute, leaving us to ponder the mystery behind this memorial record . . .

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Posted on First & Last Mixtapes

Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 29

Book ClubPosted on

Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: the life and times of Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, the late Jean-Patrick Manchette, blurring the conceptual lines of experimental filmmaking and abstract animation, “the most unread book ever acclaimed,” and more . . .

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Posted on Book Club