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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Springtime Carnivore

Lagniappe Sessions Springtime CarnivorePosted on

Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun ‘lan-ˌyap,’ — 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus.

Greta Morgan is Springtime Carnivore -- multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and purveyor of technicolor daydream music. Setting aside the lush production of her two studio works (via Richard Swift and Chris Coady, respectively), Morgan gets autumnal cozy with a pair of disparate covers from the 80s -- the American power-pop majesty that is (the incredibly underrated) become a member or log in.

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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 502:  Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ The Superimposers   (w/ Andrew Gold) - The Beach (AD edit) ++ Cornelius - Fantasma ++ Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me ++ The Morning Benders - Sleeping In   ++ Baby Lemonade - Ocean Blue ++ Besnard Lakes - Specter ++ The Apples In Stereo - Morning Breaks (And Roosters Complain) ++ Dukes of The Stratosphear - Pale And Precious ++ Roy Wood - Why Does A Pretty . . .

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Freakbeat Frontiers in Germany (1965 / 1970)

CAN The MonksPosted on

An American G.I. band stationed in Germany in the mid-60s, the Monks fused a pioneering sound unto themselves fusing freakbeat, blues, psychedelic rock, and an unfathomably prescient and potent display of proto-punk sovereignty.

Check them out here on Germany’s Radio Bremen TV. A full-on attack of electric discord -- all tambourine shouts, Skiffle strut tango and a wicked organ. Radical stuff, and so important. Also: dig the crowd. The music comes completely naturally to them, freaks in arms, dancing into an unknown future with beatnik elegance.

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Baby Lloyd :: There’s Something On Your Mind

Baby LloydPosted on

Baby Lloyd’s “There's Something On Your Mind” — a swirling, nocturnal slice of psychedelic soul -- courtesy of The Complete Loma Singles: Vol. 1, a compilation of the little-known imprint of Warner Brothers Records. Largely populated by a roster of soul and r&b oddities, the label also boasted the likes of Ike & Tina Turner and Little Jerry Williams (fondly known to us here as Swamp Dogg). And while the label’s . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: The Autumn Defense/ A Mixtape

Mixtapes The Autumn DefensePosted on

With their second lp, 2003's Circles, John Stirratt and Pat Sansone united as the Autumn Defense to craft a set of winsome and sweet songs. For Stirratt, the album offered a detour from his role in Wilco. Soon after, Sansone would join the band too, and Circles offers a glimpse of what he'd bring to the table: soulful harmonies, mutli-instrumentalist layers, and thoughtful arrangements.

Recently, Be With Records reissued the long out-of-print (and highly sought after) sophomore effort. To commemorate, the duo put together an all-vinyl mixtape, featuring some of the sounds which informed Circles, and took some time to reflect on the record.

Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: The Autumn Defense/ A Mixtape

Tracklist and interview after the jump.

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Damien Jurado :: Christmas Time Is Here (Vince Guaraldi)

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Damien Jurado takes on Vince Guaraldi's yuletide classic, "Christmas Time Is Here." Culled from 90% of your social circle's favorite Christmas album, it's a brave choice met with spirited results.

Damien Jurado :: Christmas Time Is Here

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‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Drummer Jerry Granelli :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Holiday Jerry Granelli The AD InterviewPosted on

For many listeners, the Vince Guaraldi Trio's music for 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas represents the best of the season, its sounds patient, relaxed, and warm. For drummer Jerry Granelli, it's all those things, but it's also something else: a beginning.

Since that fateful start, he hasn't wasted any time. Over the course of his more than 60 years playing music, Granelli's . . .

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Posted on Holiday Jerry Granelli The AD Interview

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Blitzen Trapper

Blitzen Trapper Lagniappe SessionsPosted on

Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun ‘lan-ˌyap,’ — 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus.

Next Friday, Blitzen Trapper touch down in Los Angeles at the Bootleg Theater in support of their new long-player, Wild And Reckless. Inspired by the band's theatrical production of the same name, the album is a self-described paean to 'straight-up rock 'n roll and deconstructed weirdness.' Riffs, grooves, three-part harmonies and guitar solos. Darkness, a voice and a piano. For this installment of the series, BT head-honcho Eric Earley covers the Pink Floyd campfire chestnut, "Wish You Were Here", along with Lady Gaga. Earley, in his own words, below.

Blitzen Trapper :: Million Reasons (Lady Gaga)

I randomly listened to this track when it appeared in a Spotify release list or something and was instantly hooked by the seeming honesty of this 'break-up' song, which isn't a type of song I'm generally attracted to or would write myself but there's this kind of desperation LG puts out on this one that got me. Wanted to sing it mainly to get it out of my system. Such a fine, simple piece for a massive Top 40 artist to pen.

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Happy Thanksgiving :: Doug Sahm And Friends — Austin, TX 1972

Doug Sahm Live Upload Series ThanksgivingPosted on

Tradition runs rampant around Thanksgiving: generations of old recipes, football, Alice’s Restaurant, The Last Waltz, and, of course, a parade of balloons shutting down NYC. What else do you need? If you thought you were covered in the Thanksgiving tradition department, we did too…until a few years ago, when someone blew the dust off a long lost tape – Doug Sahm’s Thanksgiving Jam.

Thanksgiving weekend, 1972: the Grateful Dead found themselves in Austin, allowing Garcia and Lesh to rendezvous with an old Bay Area running buddy, Mr. Tex-Mex himself, Doug Sahm, and piano-journeyman Leon Russell, at the famed Armadillo World Headquarters for a musical cornucopia of roots music. No genre was left untouched — blues, bluegrass, R&B, rock & roll, honky tonk and, naturally, Bob Dylan. All played with an ad hoc band, including members of Texas psychedelic pranksters The 13th Floor Elevators and Shiva’s Headband, with a setlist that effortlessly bounces from hellcat versions of Kristofferson’s “Me & Bobby McGee” and the Stones’ “Wild Horses”, to a don’t-spill-your-beer “T For Texas”, saddled with stompin-the-nails-out-of-the-floorboard cuts like “Hey Bo Diddley” and “Money Honey”. This is a shitkicker of show, best served turned up, with fistfuls of turkey and pint glass of your favorite sumthin’. | d norsen

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Dead Notes #14 :: The Howard Wales Interview

Dead Notes Grateful Dead Howard Wales Jerry GarciaPosted on

It’s no secret Jerry Garcia was a freak of nature when it came to juggling his time with the Grateful Dead and multiple side projects. In 1970 alone, he was riding high on the FM radio success of American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, which kept the band truckin’ endlessly and tirelessly from university to city theaters. Garcia was averaging four sets an evening, spending upwards of four-plus hours or more on stage. First, an opening set with new country rock group New Riders of the Purple Sage and then three more hours with the Dead. For most folks, getting home from a tour like that would be cause for hibernation and chill out for a while, but instead, Garcia was often found in late night pick-up jams around the Bay Area. One such musician’s haven was the Matrix, a unique free-for-all club originally owned by Marty Balin of the Jefferson Airplane. The haunt catered to the greatest of the hippie ideals of the 1960s: Come all ye faithful and jam.

Towards the tail end of the '60s, Garcia was introduced to a Hammond B3 player by the name of Howard Wales, who held a jam session every Monday night at the Matrix. Howard had a fiery and otherworldly approach to playing, keeping the evenings fresh and fun for all involved, especially Jerry, who started coming down more regularly to play along with a core rhythm section of John Kahn on bass and Bill Vitt on drums. The gigs were kept loose, so naturally the band veered towards jazz -- possibly best described as ‘Owsley Acid Jazz’. The ad hoc gatherings resulted in a 1971 studio album entitled Hooteroll? — a 35-minute album that became a clandestine notch in the discography of Jerry and his cohorts.

Howard Wales & Jerry Garcia :: Space Funk

This coming Record Store Day (Black Friday), the Jerry Garcia Estate is set to reissue antother of Wales and Garcia's recorded collaborations:  Side Trips, Volume 1, available  for the first time since 1998. The 2-LP set -- recorded in 1970 at the Matrix -- is available in a limited-edition run of 2500, expertly pressed by MPO and sure to disappear quickly.

We recently caught up with Wales to explore his time with Garcia and their relationship both on and off the stage. Below is our rap with one of the more mythical musicians in the Grateful Dead orbit. words / d norsen

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Posted on Dead Notes Grateful Dead Howard Wales Jerry Garcia

Transmissions Podcast :: Paul Major / Favorite Reissues of 2017

Endless Boogie PodcastPosted on

Welcome to Aquarium Drunkard's recurring Transmissions podcast. In the first half of this month's episode, we tune into a discussion with Paul Major, legendary record dealer and frontman of Endless Boogie.

Earlier this year, we published an interview with Major and he played selector on the Aquarium Drunkard Show on Sirius XM, pulling out rare psych, private press oddities, and much more. He's the subject of a new book, Feel The Music: The Psychedelic Worlds of Paul Major, and the compiler of an accompanying soundtrack, Feel the Music Vol. 1, both out on Anthology. The book compiles scans of Major’s rare record catalogs, which featured his hallucinatory music writing, alongside essays by his friends, bandmates, and collaborators. In all, the book and soundtrack illustrate Paul’s attraction to “real people” music and testify to his desire to share the weird music and ideas that turn him on.

Transmissions Podcast :: Paul Major / Favorite Reissues of 2017

In the second half of the show, Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage and co-host Jason P. Woodbury explore the sound of ten of their favorite reissues of 2017, including Jackie Shane, Outro Tempo: Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil 1978 - 1992, crucial Pharoah Sanders titles, Acetone's 1992-2001, Alice Coltrane, and more. Check out the full list of reissues after the jump.

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Even A Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973

CompilationPosted on

The best compilations peel back the curtain, offering a glimpse at obscured musical traditions, and leave the listener wanting more. No matter what kept American ears from hearing the varied music featured on Even a Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973 in the first place — distance, distribution, or general unknowing -- the new collection from Light in the Attic introduces a wide breadth of transcendent and sublime musicians. As an introduction and primer to the genres it addresses, Even a Tree leaves a listener clamoring for more from its host of artists. As a master-mixtape, it creates an aesthete and palette that lends itself to repeated listens. And as a historical document exploring a single five-year period, it elicits near-non-stop supplemental web searches, deep dives and YouTube k-holes.

What the compilation is not, is exhaustive. And it is better for it. The biographical and contextual write-ups that accompany each song provide ample information. It also delicately finds a balance between honoring and extolling the featured artists, but not so much as to infer that these were the only artists of the time, or as if they were the only ones worth hearing. The history of the period is learned not through an exhaustive essay (though Yosuke Kitazawa’s serves as an illuminative introduction to both the comp and period as a whole), but through the songs themselves, contextualized within the various scenes across Japan which the artists were reared in.

Kazuhiko Kato :: Arthur Hakase No Jinriki Hikouki

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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 501:  Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ The Beach Boys - Our Prayer ++ The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (mono) ++ The Beach Boys - I Went To Sleep / Let The Wind Blow (AD edit) ++ Psychic Temple - Isabella Ocean Blue ++  The High Llamas - Goat ++ Maston - Swans ++ Parsley Sound - Ease Yourself And Glide ++ Michael Kiwanuka - Place I Belong ++ Wolf People - Village Strollin’++ John . . .

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Michael Rault :: Sleep With Me

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2015's  Living Daylight showed Michael's Rault pop versatility, veering from arena-level arrangements to Apples in Stereo bombast seamlessly. Since then, the Edmonton-born composer has swung through New York, and signed up with Wick Records, the rock imprint of the illustrious Daptone. "Sleep With Me" is the first taste from the collaboration, recorded at Daptone's own House Of Soul studios. With mixing and string arrangements from label co-founder Gabe Roth, the track is a lush and swirling taste of the growing virtuosity Rault wields, blending his pop sensibilities with a dab of early McCartney.

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The Beach Boys :: Sun…Baked (A Medley)

The Beach BoysPosted on

Faded, bearded and worn-in like 15 year old denim; saltier than the rim of a pitcher of margaritas.  Aquarium Drunkard presents nearly three hours of (mostly) 'post-Murry' Beach Boys. Unbending never ending tablets of time ...

The Beach Boys :: Sun...Baked (A Medley)

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