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Oneida :: It Was Me

OneidaPosted on

It's been a minute, but Oneida is back. On March 9th, Joyful Noise releases Romance, following the long-running New York combo's 2016 collaboration with Rhys Chatham and A List of the Burning Mountains, released way back in 2012, which practically feels like decades ago in this hyper-accelerated timeline we've stumbled into. But the new record doesn't sound rusty, finding drummer Kid Millions, organist Bobby Matador, and guitarist Shahin Moita tearing through a set of songs that oscillate between lurching fury, flickering electronics, and spinning textures. It's a scattered outing, but Matador says there's never been one single, set way for Oneida to make a record, and in that way, Romance's varied offerings feel of a piece with the band's discography.

"I’m not sure Oneida would agree that in our case there’s such a thing as a standard formula for making a record," Matador says. "That may be true in a broader sense for other bands, but our process has always varied widely and been approached without preconception. Sure, Romance was a product of Mally’s tacos and posole and Peruana Woodhaven chicken and plantains, as well as one of the most insane paellas ever presented to a band staying on a Catalan horse farm — literally cooked by a little old lady! — but it’s not as if the Polish Platters that fueled Secret Wars, or the whole salmon we poached during Come On Everybody Let’s Rock, or the Radagast weisswursts and pretzel rolls of Rated O are any more 'standard,' you know? You can go all the way back to 1997 and the desperate Guytina’s wings and Silver House dumplings that fueled A Place Called El Shaddai’s and not find a pattern or a recipe for Oneida’s music -- except obviously sopes and tamales for breakfast at Grand Morelos, and that shit is no different for Romance. And we like it that way."

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Transmissions Podcast :: Laraaji’s Celestrana/Itasca/Maggie Smith & Jerry David DeCicca

Itasca Jerry David DeCicca Laraaji PodcastPosted on

Welcome to the February (just under the wire) installment of Aquarium Drunkard’s recurring Transmissions podcast, a series of interviews and audio esoterica from Aquarium Drunkard. We’ve got an introspective episode for you. First, we sit down with Kayla Cohen of Itasca, to discuss her new mini-album, Morning Flower. It’s a collaboration with writer and artist Gunnar Tchida, and it focuses especially on Cohen’s lyrical guitar work. Which makes sense: in April, Cohen plays the Thousand Incarnations of the Rose festival, a celebration of the American primitive guitar tradition. I asked Cohen how she made her way into solo guitar music, and explored how the music of Robbie Basho, whose composition the festival is named for as well as a forthcoming compilation via Craft Recordings.

Then, we have a series of poems from Maggie Smith. You might have come across her poem "Good Bones," for which her
latest book is named, but there’s a lot more to her work than that. For the Transmissions podcast, Smith’s readings are paired with instrumental recordings from Jerry David DeCicca’s new album of spacey Texan folk, Time the Teacher. It’s an album that “feels true,” Smith says in her accompanying notes, so it was a pleasure of ours to combine the truth of Smith’s words with the truth of DeCicca and his band’s sounds.

Finally, we close out the show with words from new age/cosmic composer Laraaji, discussing Celestrana, his mid-80s experiment in public access television. Part meditation, part surreal comedy routine, and part ecstatic vision, the show introduced Laraaji to a whole new audience of viewers, many of whom weren’t even aware of his work with Brian Eno or albums like the recently reissued Vision Songs. Select episodes of Celestrana are streaming now on Numero Group’s YouTube channel; Laraaji was kind enough to pull back the curtain with us and explain how he found himself in front of the camera...with puppets.

Transmissions Podcast :: Laraaji's Celestrana/Itasca/Maggie Smith & Jerry David DeCicca

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Azar Lawrence: Plays ‘Bridge Into The New Age’ / Thursday Night

Aquarium Drunkard Presents The Azar Lawrence ExperiencePosted on

Thursday night, Aquarium Drunkard presents an evening with spiritual jazz giant Azar Lawrence as he performs his 1974 masterwork Bridge Into A New Age in its entirety + Elementals. Pre and post DJ sets by Daniel T, Pheel and Tasty Wavs. Tickets available HERE.

Hit up the comments . . .

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Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight :: July 17, 1967 / PPX Studio Session

Curtis Knight Jimi HendrixPosted on

July 17, 1967 - After making the decision to quit (after only seven dates) as the opening act for the Monkees on their U.S. tour, Jimi Hendrix got together with his old bandmate and friend, Curtis Knight, ostensibly to jam “off the record” at Ed Chalpin’s PPX Studios. This decision would prove to be both fateful and controversial, since he was in the middle of a lawsuit filed against him by Chalpin at the time. The basis of the lawsuit stemmed from a three year contract Hendrix signed prior to his success with the Experience, covering October 1965 to October 1968. Signed while still just a session player, it offered only a 1% royalty. When Chas Chandler, bassist of The Animals, decided to manage Jimi, one of his first orders of business was to buy out all of his existing contracts. Unfortunately, Jimi neglected to tell him about the contract signed with PPX. In 1967, when Chalpin discovered Hendrix was suddenly a major recording star following the success of his first single, "Hey Joe", multiple lawsuits were filed in an attempt to cash in on this newfound success. In Chalpin’s mind, which he would contend for decades, he had given Hendrix an opportunity to develop his sound. Responding to the lawsuit, Hendrix’s management contended that PPX were trying to market older recordings as new releases. But in jamming with Knight at PPX studios with mics recording, PPX subsequently could make the claim that they in fact were in possession of new recordings with the artists’ full knowledge and approval. Even further, Hendrix would go back to PPX and record AGAIN in August of 1967, much to the dismay of his lawyers and management.

Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight :: July 17, 1967 / PPX Studio Session

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The Music of Shangri-La Suite (Mondo Boys) Performed Live: Los Angeles, February 26th

Shangri-La SuitePosted on

Tonight in Los Angeles: Aquarium Drunkard presents the music of Shangri-La Suite. Join us tonight as Mondo Boys perform their original score to the film alongside special guests and collaborators at Gold Diggers in East Hollywood. Evening kicks off with a conversation with filmmaker Eddie O'keefe and the composers. Following the live score, mucho records and revelry. It's free, but get there early. 5632 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif . . .

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)

SIRIUSPosted on

Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can be heard twice every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

SIRIUS 513: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Ty Segall - Every 1's A Winner ++ Omni - Wire ++ Wire - Feeling Called Love ++ Parquet Courts - Careers In Combat ++ Pavement - Baptist Blacktick ++ Ought - New Calm Pt. 2 ++ The Fall - The Classical ++  Ought - Disgraced In America ++ Main - Black Moon ++ Loma - Black Willow ++ Art School Jocks - Nina ++ Girls Names - I Lose ++ Spiritualized - Cool Waves ++ Omni - Cold Vermouth . . .

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Hollow Hand :: A World Outside

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So many records, so little time. Here's one from 2017 we weren't hip to until the tail end of the year, Hollow Hand's "A World Outside". Recorded in mono straight to a Tascam 4-track in their home studio in Brighton, England, Hollow Hand deals out sunny psych-pop in the vein of contemporaries Jacco Gardner and Ultimate Painting, with a reverent nod to Billy Nicholls, Roy Wood and Emitt Rhodes. Highly recc'd.

Hollow Hand :: A World Outside

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Songs By Pat Ament :: Grapefruit Records Reissue

Pat AmentPosted on

Despite a notoriously terrible memory, I’m really good at remembering hearing things for the first time, and I have always been able to associate my initial encounters with certain records with times, places, and people.

When I go on tour with other musicians, I rarely bring music from my own collection, preferring instead to expose myself to the various CDs and playlists of my traveling companions. Over the years, I’ve discovered a lot of music this way, and I often return home from such trips with notebook pages full of new records to seek out. Sometimes if I hear something in the van I really like, I’ll ask about it, but more often I prefer to play it cool. To be overly inquisitive in such situations can be a buzzkill, like commenting on how and why a just-told joke was funny instead of just laughing.

Because I am sensitive to this fragile dynamic of the shared band-space, I’ll often use discretion, making a little note of a song lyric that stands out, with plans to identify the song later via Google. (I’m not a smartphone guy, so Shazam is not an option).

The first time I heard Pat Ament was during a tour with Simon Joyner and his band. I was sitting in the back seat of the van with Kevin and Megan, with Simon at the wheel and David Nance riding shotgun. Someone selected from their iPod an album I’d never heard before, and I liked it immediately. It reminded me, in mood, of certain private press Doors worshipers like Gyp Fox and Faction, but with a much stronger emphasis on songwriting. The songs were great.

“What is this?” I finally asked. “Paddamin,” answered David. Hmm. Into the notebook. P-A-D-D-A-M-I-N.

A few songs later, I had to know more. “Has this been reissued anywhere?” I was told it hadn’t been, with Simon adding, mysteriously: “This is kind of an Omaha secret.” Omaha, I remember thinking. Paddamin from Omaha. Probably early 70s, from the sound of it. This shouldn’t be too hard to find. I didn’t think about it again until I was home a few weeks later.

It took a while to discover that “Paddamin” was actually “Pat Ament,” and he hailed not from Omaha but from Colorado. The album had only been sold on Discogs once–for the princely sum of $150.00. I checked my other usual online sources to try to locate the record, and turned up nothing. This rarely happens; there’s always at least the opportunity to buy a desired record, even if that record is out of my price range. But this Pat Ament album didn’t seem to exist outside of our tour van and a lone Discogs entry that didn’t even include a photo of the album sleeve. My most creative Googling only provided info on some rock climbing dude (see interview below), with no results for ‘“Pat Ament” and “private press” and “music” and “LP,”’ or any variation thereof.

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The Damnation of Adam Blessing :: S/T / Second Damnation

The Damnation of Adam BlessingPosted on

Bong-rattling riffs, Cream-y vocals, a ridiculously locked-in rhythm section and killer covers of "Morning Dew" and "Last Train To Clarksville"? The Damnation of Adam Blessing should've been bigger than Grand Funk! Things didn't work out that way, of course, but now we can dig back into the Cleveland band's two stellar LPs, which have been lovingly reissued on wax by Exit Stencil . . .

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Denny Doherty :: Watcha Gonna Do

Denny DohertyPosted on

Watcha gonna do? - often heard when people appear to be shit out of luck or otherwise down and out. But this time it was the title of Denny Doherty’s first solo album after The Mamas and the Papas quietly disbanded in 1968 following the release of The Papas & The Mamas. Mama Cass had found solo success with “Dream a Little Dream of Me” while Papa John released his own country rock opus John, The Wolfking of L.A. and his ex-wife (the band’s other Mama) Michelle began a successful acting career. As for Denny, he said to Rolling Stone’s Ben Fong-Torres in 1971, “I just sat around, and in the interim I got a thing from ABC/Dunhill President Jay Lasker saying I owed this amount of money for no project. So I said ‘Whatever’s right,’ and did an album.” As is the case with most cult albums, Watcha Gonna Do was recorded so the man could get his money.

The big question though was how Denny’s robust voice would fair without his former bandmates rich harmonies? Though a Canadian native, Denny instinctively turned to an American inspiration for his solo debut — country-and-western; which by 1970 was becoming the go-to muse of rock musicians who were going back to the land and finding their roots. Gram Parsons’ famously deemed it “cosmic American music” (though he later infamously denounced country-rock as a “plastic dry-fuck”) and Denny found himself in good company amongst The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds and his former partner John Phillips.

Paired with ABC/Dunhill’s staff producer Bill Szymczyk they gathered an ad-hoc group of Los Angeles’ finest studio musicians including staff writer Eddy Fischer along with Eric Hord on guitars, Gabe Lapano on piano, Bryan Garofolo on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums, and the “Big E” himself: Buddy Emmons on pedal steel. Denny’s label mate Barry McGuire sat in acoustic guitar and harp while Jimmie Haskell added accordion and string arrangements. The band was then complimented by an eight-person vocal chorus giving the group a full and rich sound on the album. Szymczyk later said of the sessions “It was almost like a Grateful Dead thing: ‘Come on, let’s all play and make a record.’”

Denny Doherty :: Watcha Gonna Do  

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)

SIRIUSPosted on

Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can be heard twice every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

SIRIUS 512: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Die Wilde Jagd - Flederboy ++ Andre Previn - Rollerball ++ One World - Freegate ++  Makaya McCraven - Above & Beyond ++ André Ceccarelli - Gang Progress ++ Digable Planets - Pacifics ++ John Holm - Du E En Stor Grabb Nu ++ Shintaro Sakamoto - A Stick And Slacks   ++ Robert Wyatt - Team Spirit ++ Kikagaku Moyo - Kogarashi ++ Sandy Bull - Gotta Be Juicy (Or It Ain’t Love . . .

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Ilyas Ahmed :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Ilyas Ahmed The AD InterviewPosted on

On his new record Closer to Stranger, Portland guitarist and singer Ilyas Ahmed picks up the threads that run through his numerous solo records and collaborations with Liz Harris of Grouper and Dreamboat (with Matt Carlson and Jonathan Sielaff of Golden Retriever) and ties them into dreamy new knots.

It represents Ahmed's "one-man band" ambitions, packed with electric and acoustic guitars, Fender Rhodes, patient, steady drums, and washes of synthesizer (Sielaff shows up to play some gorgeous sax on album highlight "Zero For Below"), which add up to a sound equally rooted in psych-folk lonerism and the avant-garde. It's a mellow, often comforting album, but there are complicated concerns running throughout, meditations on "uneasy identity politics during times of unreason, seeking peace amidst chaos," Ahmed's label MIE states.

Recently, AD caught up with Ahmed to dig deeper into Closer to Stranger's unique vibe.

Aquarium Drunkard: This record is mostly just you, but it's expansive. It sounds like a band record much more than a "solo guitarist" kind of deal. How did you get the album to that place?

Ilyas Ahmed: I certainly listen to a lot of solo performers, but I think the archetype in my head -- what I think about when I think about music -- is a band. I think almost across the board, my solo records have been this "imaginary band" situation. I listen to a lot of different music and always think, "What would happen if I crossed this with this?" [Laughs]

Ilyas Ahmed :: Meditation On The Split Self

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Trummors :: Breezin’

TrummorsPosted on

Laurel Canyon shuffle and languid harmonica. Trummors new single off last year’s great Headlands lp is now beautifully accompanied by a video, courtesy of the band’s friend Amy Scott -- director of the Hal Ashby memoir Hal, who utilized her grandmother’s personal 8mm film for the video. More about the cache of film from Amy, below …

“Maybe ten years ago or so, my grandmother Bernice gave me a large plastic bin that held 63 reels of 8mm film that my grandfather had shot. “You’ll know what to do with this,” she said. I moved that bin around the country with me from home to home knowing someday I would find the time to transfer it all. A few months ago I finally watched these reels – which spanned from 1955 to 1968. They told the story of my mom’s family, of where we came from, but it also told a story of western America. These were Dust Bowl survivors who loved each other, the open road, and a groovin' good time. When I heard the Trummors song “Breezin’” I thought it vibed perfectly with the story I saw emerging from this footage.” / d norsen

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Electronic System :: Skylab (1974)

Electronic SystemPosted on

Space is the place. Speaking of cinematic in scope, enter "Skylab", released in 1974 via the Belgium group Electronic System's lp, Tchip.Tchip (Vol. 3). A fourteen and half minute instrumental glide that renders the rest of the album disposable, "Skylab" sits confidently as the final entry of side B.

While the preceding tracks come off as novelty Moog synthesizer exercises, "Skylab" is anything but. Moody, nuanced and atmospheric, the composition evokes an era-appropriate futurism. Dim . . .

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Brigid Mae Power :: The Two Worlds

Brigid Mae PowerPosted on

Music is mood; atmosphere. And the environs must be right. Brigid Mae Power knows this, as she struggles to finish her statement on female oppression, “Don’t Shut Me Up (Politely)” in the bright ambiance of Portland, Oregon, departing for her hometown of Galway, Ireland, where a sense of dreary isolation comes to inform her recently released sophomore lp, The Two Worlds. Power’s stark, gothic-folk commands full attention on this latest work, with droning chords, pulsing drums reminiscent of Moe Tucker’s . . .

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