ain't it funky, now...
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The Palm Trees Fall Into The Sea: An August Mixtape
In recurring August fashion we offer the latest in a series of exploratory, atmospheric mixtapes. True to its seasonal home, like its predecessors, The Palm Trees Fall into the Sea exudes a humid, tropical ambiance. Below, dig into a thirty track experiment in openness across the spatial and temporal - and . . .
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Barney Kessel :: Live At The Jazz Mill 1954
Sometimes it’s all about right place, right time. When a 21-year-old Jack Miller camped out at the short-lived Jazz Mill night club in Phoenix, Arizona, for a few nights in late March of 1954, it was just to catch some sets by jazz guitarist Barney Kessel. Of course, with his Knight tape recorder in hand, a small mixer and three mics, he also had an ear for preservation, recording the sound of Kessel and the house band, the Jazz Millers, getting down. Miller scarcely could have known that 62 years later, his recordings would see official . . .
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Unfitting For The Lay People: Entheogens – The Gnostic Mass
During the 90s and the first part of the millennium there was a great UK based mail order psychedelic music store called the Freak Emporium. Their catalogs were as fun to read as the music was to listen to. It would be impossible for all of the albums listed to be as mind-blowing as described, but one of the platters that lived up to the hype was a mysterious album called The Gnostic Mass by a group calling themselves The Entheogens.
The cover art features an alluring female hand beckoning the listener to come behind a set of closed purple curtains decorated with stars. Combined with the album's title it takes on the feel of an invitation to an ancient cult. But an invitation to what end? The flipside shows the band members in negative unexposed film images donning ceremonial robes, furthering the effect.
Entheogens, besides being psychoactive chemicals extracted from plants, were a temporary collective of Swedish musicians who delved in an adventurous yet melodic brand of Eastern-flavored psychedelia; mostly acoustically, using guitar, sitar, flute, organ, glockenspiel, bouzouki, and various percussion instruments. Guitarist and indie-label head Stefan Kery was ostensibly the de facto leader, releasing the album in a limited edition of 500 copies (re-released digitally a few years ago) on his Xotic Mind label. The imprint eventually morphed into Subliminal Sounds, still going strong today, and has the distinction of being the label that eclectic psych/folk rockers Dungen started on.
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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)
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 444: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Stereolab - Diagonals ++ Atlas Sound (w/ Laetitia Sadler) - Quick Canal ++ Suicide - Cheree ++ David Bowie - A New Career In A New Town ++ The Only Ones - The Whole of Law ++ Cass McCombs - Bum Bum Bum ++ Shintaro Sakamoto - Mask On Mask ++ The Limiî±anas - 3 Migas . . .
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AD Presents: Guided By Voices / Teragram Ballroom – Friday
The club is open. Friday night, Aquarium Drunkard presents Guided By Voices at the Teragram. Get tickets, HERE. Wanna roll? Hit us up in the comments with your favorite GBV era; we'll slide a few pairs to some of y'all at random.
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Lou Barlow :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
If a band's going to stage a "comeback," there are few greater examples of doing it right than the one put down by Dinosaur Jr.
Since reforming in 2005, the original lineup of J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph have gone on to put out more albums since reuniting than the three classics they released in the ‘80s -- Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me, and Bug — helping to cement the framework of “alternative rock” in the process. Their latest, the quizzically titled Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, is one of their strongest yet, 11 jammers alternating between whopping riffs and folky sway. Mascis’ signature drawl sounds as craggy as ever, his toasty guitar solos effortless; Murph’s drums are locked in and boomy; Barlow offers his thick, melodic bass and sings two of the record’s best songs.
The fruitful return of Dinosaur Jr. was anything but assured. After Mascis fired Barlow from the band post-Bug, the bassist launched off on his own prolific and influential career, forming Sebadoh and Folk Implosion, and often remarking publicly about his dissatisfaction with Mascis. Eventually, he began releasing records under his own name, maintaining a bare, sometimes shockingly honest emotional tone. But time has a way of smoothing out the creases, and Barlow seems perfectly at ease with his role in Dinosaur Jr. these days.
"When we came around to making these reunion records, [they didn't turn out] a whole lot different from what J had been doing," Barlow says. "He's been remarkably consistent throughout his career. So having Murph and I come back in, we kind of came into his ongoing story."
His solo output hasn’t slowed since rejoining — Sebadoh released Defend Yourself in 2013, and a solo album, Brace the Wave, followed in 2015, and he’s readying an EP for release by the end of the year. He’s feeling creative since moving back to Massachusetts from Los Angeles, putting him closer to his Dinosaur Jr. bandmates, which has brought “this kid of ease and flow to stuff I haven't had of a while, for a very long while," the bassist says.
Below, edited excerpts from an early morning phone talk with Barlow, about the familial connections between Dinosaur Jr. and his work outside the band, about not being classically “cool” and about the uncomfortable realizations that accompany personal growth.
Aquarium Drunkard: Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not is an excellent album -- each of these new records has been better than the last, I think. When you initially reunited more than a decade ago, what kind of discussions did you have about the state of things? Was there any talk about continuing on after making Beyond?
Lou Barlow: We don't have strategy talks. We never did. [Laughs] Every record could be the last as far as I know, has been since the beginning, which isn't a bad thing necessarily.
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Sandy Denny :: Ebbets Field, Denver, Colorado, April 1973
Sandy Denny played with plenty of great bands in her all-too-brief life, from The Strawbs to Fairport Convention to Fotheringay. She even jammed with Led Zeppelin. But the British singer-songwriter didn't need anything more than her voice, accompanied by acoustic guitar or piano, to captivate listeners. Sometimes she didn't even need an instrument: check out the spine-tingling a capella rendition of Richard Farina's "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood," captured on this tape of a 1973 solo performance in the Mile . . .
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AD Presents: Vox Scapo – A Mixtape
Ethereal jazz and slow grooves throughout, this is Vox Scapo. Set it to cruise control and take in a free and easy summer soundscape as August begins to wane. Our fifth collaboration with Portland, OR based record collectors Sam Huff and Colton Tong.
Stella By Starlight - Jorge DaltoAvenida Atlantica — Rieber Hovde, Howard Roberts, Ed ThigpenSuspense - HornetsThe Juggler — FoxFly Away — BarrabasAtaraxia Part I — PassportSeptember 13 — DeodatoTime To Get It Together — Marvin GayeAre You There - AmericaSolar Flares — Sven Libaek and His OrchestraJeffy . . .
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Hank Williams :: The Complete Mother’s Best Collection
In 1951, Hank Williams -- one of the finest songwriters the USA has ever produced -- shilled shamelessly for Mother's Best, a Northern Alabama flour company. And thank the good lord he did. Otherwise, we wouldn't have this treasure trove of radio broadcasts, miraculously preserved on acetate, a collection of 142 time capsule performances that can be counted among Williams' best.
Many of these recordings have been released in smaller sized sets over the past several years, but become a member or log in.
SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)
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 443: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Pot Party — Mike Curb & Bob Summers ++ I’m Five Years Ahead of My Time — The Third Bardo ++ Just Let Go — The Seeds ++ Candle Light — Benny Soebardja & Lizard ++ Mr. Moonshine — Fat Mattress ++ Stoned Woman — Ten Years After ++ Hole In His Hand — Doug Jerebine . . .
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Cyrus Erie :: Get The Message
In this Big Star worshiping world (a church of which I'm a card-carrying member), Eric Carmen’s seminal power pop work with the Raspberries simply doesn’t get the respect it deserves. But that’s another story. Several years before the formation of that group, Eric Carmen and some future ‘berries laid down one of the greatest Who-influenced American 45 of the 1960s.
Cyrus Erie was formed in Cleveland in 1967, with Eric Carmen joining later in the year after being turned down as a member of . . .
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Vetiver/Wolf People/The Men/Woods :: Live From Pickathon
Just returned from Pickathon, the 18th annual "indie roots" celebration out in Happy Valley, Oregon. Held on Pendarvis Farm, this year's happening was, once again, fantastic, maintaining the feel of a jovial party in the forest more than the clustered and claustrophobic feel common at most outdoor festivals.
In between hosting music/interview sessions in the Lucky Barn and DJing on the Woods stage, I caught some exceptional music. Highlights: Wilco songwriter Jeff Tweedy cracking Trump jokes (and jokes about his Trump jokes later in the woods), organist Cory Henry blending the B3 soul of Booker T. Jones with the force of prime Parliament/Funkadelic on the Woods stage, Mount Moriah's fiery "Revolution Blues" cover, Sir Richard Bishop's discussion of "non theoretical" guitar playing, My Bubba inviting the legendary Michael Hurley to the stage, the blackened hardcore of VHî–L on the Treeline stage, and fantastic sets by Open Mike Eagle, Ultimate Painting, Kevin Morby, Julia Holter, Protomartyr, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mac Demarco, and dozens more.
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Garcia Live :: Volume Six (1973) / Volume Seven (1976)
As the jolly Captain Trips once mused: ‘All goods things in all good time’. As such, Heads around the world tuned in and took notice when the GarciaLive series made it’s roaring return with the back to back flashbacks, volumes six and seven. Both elegantly recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson (aka Betty Boards) they capture Jerry . . .
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Lambchop :: The Hustle
Always a pleasure to wake up to a new song from Nashville's Lambchop, particularly an 18-minute plus epic like "The Hustle," the first single in advance of the group's forthcoming For Love Often Turns Us Still -- FLOTUS, for short -- which comes out November 4th on the esteemed Merge Records.
Evoking the minimalism of early electronic music, "The Hustle" pulses with warm reeds and horns, stately piano, and the low vocals of group leader Kurt Wagner. "I don't want . . .
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