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The Lagniappe Sessions: Strand of Oaks

Lagniappe Sessions Strand Of OaksPosted 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.

Beginning in 2011, one of the first Lagniappe Sessions commissioned was Timothy Showalter's (then nascent) Strand of Oaks with a pair of disparate covers (Michael Hurley and Moby). True to form, Showalter returns with his second session paying tribute to Glasgow's Primal Scream and Manchester's Stone Roses...along with a recent discovery of his own, the music of Phish. Showalter, in his own words, below.

Strand of Oaks :: Dirt (Phish)

I might be the newest Phish fan in the world. I was never exposed to them until this summer. My manager asked me to go to both nights Phish played at Wrigley.   Of course! So in anticipation of the show I started listening to a lot of their music and quickly fell in love. Those two nights at Wrigley we’re some of the most genuinely fun times I’ve had in a long time. Just getting to spend time with my manager Ryan, not in any work capacity, us just having fun. And if anyone ever has doubts about Phish, please just go to a concert. Being basically hugged by 30,000 people is hard to combat against.   I needed those fans and needed those four wonderful musicians that night. I chose "Dirt" simply because it basically has the same chord structure of an Oaks song (which is good because I don’t know that many). Its also just a beautiful melody.

Strand of Oaks :: Damaged (Primal Scream)

Screamadelica is easily one of my top five records ever. I dare you to find another record that creates its own utopia more. I’ve listened thousand of times and it's one my beacons of inspiration.   I wanted to do "Damaged" because the lyrics speak so much to how I love my wife. "Stoned in love with you", - yup, I could never say it better. Bobby Gillespie’s range is really underrated too. I had to stretch to hit some of those notes. I also refused to touch the guitar solo, no way. That is one of the prettiest, perfect selection of notes I’ve ever heard. Pure ecstasy.

Strand of Oaks :: Made of Stone (The Stone Roses)

This song has lifted me from darkness ever since I was a teenager. When I decided to cover it, I started to do a pretty literal translation of the song. It obviously wasn’t working because those four humans cannot be replicated EVER. Then I picked up my acoustic guitar and added a shit ton of woozy chorus and delay and the song started working. But so different, it quickly become terrible touching and bittersweet. “Sometimes I fantasize…” took on a whole new meaning, thinking about these dark, dark times we are living in. Knowing how much hope and beauty the Madchester scene represented made me long for that in my own life and the world I live in. I want that light to be in all of our lives. Whether through friends, good chemicals, and general love for another, I just want that so, so bad right now.

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Harriet Tubman :: Blacktal Fractal

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In the liner notes of NYC jazz trio Harriet Tubman's new album, Araminta, the great pop critic Greg Tate writes: "This is the music of lyrical and mythopoeic Blackfolk with liberated, decolonized and highly elevated consciousness. It is lyrical, righteous and volcanic." Evoking the modern civil rights cry of our time, "Black Lives Matter," Tate concludes, that on this record -- which features the guest trumpet work of the legendary . . .

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

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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 470: W-X — Intro ++ BBC Radiophonic Workshop — Vespucci ++ Shintaro Sakamoto — Mask On Mask ++ The Makers — Don’t Challenge Me ++ Peter Gabriel — We Do What We’re Told ++ Shintaro Sakamoto — In A Phantom Mood ++ Ramases — Dying Swan Year 2000 ++ Jeff Phelps — Excerpts From Autumn ++ Starship Commander Woo Woo — Master Ship ++ Ty Segall — Squealer . . .

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Broadcast :: The OST Radio Show / Air-Date – January, 2011

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In December 2007, Trish Keenan and James Cargill of Broadcast joined Trunk Records impresario Jonny Trunk on his OST Show to play and discuss some of their favorite library and film/TV music. Fascinating selections aside–traces of which can no doubt be heard in Broadcast's own music–the two-hour program is a wonderful and welcome glimpse at the personalities behind one of the very best groups of the modern era. Re-aired the day after . . .

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Mind Over Mirrors :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Mind Over Mirrors The AD InterviewPosted on

At first glance Mind Over Mirrors and Paradise of Bachelors may seem like an odd fit. After all, this will be the first release from the North Carolina label that doesn’t feature a guitar. Jaime Fennelly, the songwriter and mastermind behind the Mirror, prefers to compose his songs on the harmonium. But upon further analysis, Undying Color (Out 2/17), is fueled by the same cosmic drift that underlies the core ethos of Paradise’s philosophy. This is an album that celebrates the questions rather than yearns for answers. We recently spoke with Fennelly about solitary lifestyles, the brutal Chicago winter, and expanding Mind Over Mirrors into a full band.

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Will Johnson :: Hatteras Night, A Good Luck Charm / Predator

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Over the course of two decades Will Johnson fronted the Denton, TX based yin and yang that was Centro-matic / South San Gabriel. Ever prolific, the songwriter also took part in a number of collaborative projects in addition to recording music under his own name. With Centro-matic having shuttered in 2014, Johnson returns next month via his fifth solo effort -- become a member or log in.

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Yazz Ahmed :: The Space Between The Fish & The Moon

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Trumpeter and bandleader Yazz Ahmed's resume includes work with Lee "Scratch" Perry and Radiohead (she contributed flugelhorn to King of Limbs) but it's the sounds of her remarkable forthcoming album, La Saboteuse, which truly proclaim her as a must-watch figure in jazz world. Following the Bahraini's debut My Way Home (which she released at the age of 19) and her 2015 suite Alhaan al Siduri, La Saboteuse features progressive elegies, awash in post-rock, ambient and In a Silent Way-style textures. Set for . . .

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The Lagniappe Sessions: Steve Gunn – Smiths Versions

Lagniappe Sessions Steve GunnPosted 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.

This latest installment of the Lagniappe Sessions hits close to home -- Steve Gunn taking on a pair of Smiths tunes. Gunn, in his own words, below. His latest LP, become a member or log in.

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Fear & Loathing On The Road To Hollywood: BBC / Omnibus 1978

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Like many who become enamored with the work (and life) of Hunter S. Thompson, my own fascination began in the early 90s around the age of fifteen. And like many, the initial attraction had more to do with the outsize caricature of the man and his exploits than his prowess behind his IBM Selectric. And while the outlaw tales of drugs, decadence and depravity may have been the initial hook, it was Thompson's use of language that kept me around and coming back. Whatever you care to call it, 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 469: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++W-X — Intro ++ Singers & Players — Thing Called Love ++ Snakefinger — The Model ++ Glenn Mercer — Twenty-Nine Palms ++ David Bowie — A New Career In A New Town ++ Brian Eno — Dead Finks Don’t Talk ++ Ty Segall — Diversion ++ Lilliput — Die Matrosen ++ Fat White Family — Satisfied ++ Silver . . .

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Michael Kiwanuka :: Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye (Leonard Cohen)

Leonard Cohen Michael KiwanukaPosted on

In a year pock-marked by artistic loss, the passing of Leonard Cohen in 2016 particularly stung. With a body of work spanning 14 albums over the course of five decades, Cohen's influence is boundless, his words and music embedding themselves in the DNA of not just music, but culture writ large. No stranger to tribute (his work has been covered Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, et al.), the following rendering is a recent favorite -- British musician Michael Kiwanuka's take on "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye". Lifted from Mojo magazine’s become a member or log in.

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Dungen :: Kalifen / Hî¤xan (Limited Deluxe Version)

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The end of 2016 saw the return of Dungen, via Hî¤xan - an instrumental album commissioned by Anders Annikas of the Swedish Film Institute. The gig was to create a new original score to Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. As firsts go, the film is notable as the oldest surviving feature-length animated film; preceding Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by nearly a decade. As score's go, Dungen's is notable in that it highlights the group's varied, chameleon-like, strengths via 14 inspired soundscapes.

The group is set to perform their live score to  The Adventures of Prince Achmed at six dates across the United States, beginning March 15th in Philadelphia and wrapping in Los Angeles at the Getty Museum on the 21st. To coincide with the run a limited deluxe version of Hî¤xan is now available--of which the above video (directed by Jenny Palen, on Super 8) is culled.

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Address Los Angeles: 23000 Santa Susana Pass / Paul Wibier

Address Los Angeles Paul WibierPosted on

Address Los Angeles, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, explores the lesser-to-unknown corners of LA: be it an address, an artist, or a fleeting thought.

LIFE Magazine laid them out like a high school yearbook. 242 young men, “One Week’s Dead.” “The numbers of the dead [from May 28-June 3, 1969] are average for any seven-day period during this stage of the war.”

Back home in America, a savage biker gang by the name of The Satans are busy terrorizing the deserts of California, raping and murdering, taking what and whom they want. It’s “the most vicious & violent film of the decade,” a “wild rebellion,” and “wild beyond belief.” If the cover of LIFE, the face of a single one of those 242 soldiers, is too heavy, the film Satan’s Sadists is having it’s second world-premiere in Montgomery, Alabama, at the Jet Drive-In, June 7th, 1969.

Out in California, Sidewalk Productions is on the front cover of that morning’s Billboard magazine, heralding a music production agreement with five major labels, as well as the soundtrack and scoring for a number of upcoming films. Only in passing, and incorrectly named, is their work on “The Satans” mentioned.

25 miles northwest of their offices, at 23000 Santa Susana Pass in the town of Chatsworth, on the near-derelict ranch where the film had been shot only a few months prior, a maniacal and sadistic man has transfixed a small band of people swept up in the drugs and mystical nature of 1969. They’d loitered around the set, walking around or watching the filming with a glazed stare. The father of this family fixed a couple of dune-buggies for the film. His follower’s devotion to him is absolute.

15 hours ahead, into the morning hours of Sunday, June 8th, 1969, the singer of the theme song to Satan’s Sadists is in Vietnam. He's cut his tracks with the people at Sidewalk — his old friend Harley Hatcher and future Acting-Governor of California Mike Curb — after basic training, but before shipping off.

Two months and two days later, the film is starting to gain some momentum, playing at more and more drive-ins across the country — and Sharon Tate, along with 6 others, have been murdered in a mass killing the police are calling “ritualistic.”

Paul Wibier :: Satan (Theme)

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Jake Xerxes Fussell :: Furniture Man

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Next month sees the return of Jake Xerxes Fussell with his sophomore lp, What in the Natural World. Like its predecessor, this new offering again finds the Georgia native exploring traditional folk songs of the American south. Previously released single “Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine?” found Fussell stretching his vocals to new heights, working a gorgeous, airy falsetto balanced  gently against a shuffling country rhythm.

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Funkadelic :: Live At Meadowbrook 1971

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The only official, full recording of an early Funkadelic concert was first released on CD in 1996 -- thankfully Tidal Waves Music have (finally) issued the set on vinyl. The recording itself seems to deeply divide P-Funk fans, as it showcases a group in transition with new members that had no rehearsal time (and in some ways suffers for it). However, it’s a beautifully recorded document of Funkadelic on stage in a Detroit suburb, captured shortly after the release of their epochal ’71 masterpiece Maggot Brain. The sound of the vinyl is superb, and has much more range than the flat-sounding CD. For those reasons alone, it’s essential.

As George Clinton has always presented P-Funk concerts as a Parliafunkadelicment revue, this set starts off with 20 minutes of instrumental intensity from ‘Funkadelic’ before George and the ‘Parliament’ vocalists step up to their microphones. Kicking off with a blazing instrumental version of "Alice In My Fantasies" (itself not released by the group until 1974 in a vocal take), Eddie Hazel’s epic guitar solo "Maggot Brain" follows, and the onstage troubles begin. Drummer Tiki Fullwood and rhythm guitarist Tawl Ross had quit the band days before this concert. The rhythm guitar is handled rather flawlessly by Harold Beane (a Stax session cat whose awesome performance here shows that he was undoubtedly familiar with the records, and probably a fan himself), but Tyrone Lampkin behind the drum kit wasn’t able to set aside his flashy overplaying to settle into the deep pocket that Tiki laid down (a crucial element of the Funkadelic foundation).

As for "Maggot Brain", even Tyrone's showboating cannot diminish Eddie Hazel’s masterful playing. Of course the studio version is definitive (which is mostly just the two guitars, as Clinton mixed out the band tracks, as he has explained they played too poorly), but this full band version, flaws and all, is essential listening as well. According to the liner notes, original Funkadelic bassist Billy ‘Bass’ Nelson, was barking commands at Tyrone in an attempt to get him into the pocket throughout the show.

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