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David Lee Jr. :: Evolution

David Lee Jr. JazzPosted on

New Orleans — birthplace of the syncopated rhythm splinter known as the second-line. Cut to 1974. Drummer and composer David Lee Jr. quietly releases his lone solo LP, the Afro‑futurist Evolution, privately pressed to just 400 copies on his own Supernal Records imprint. A percussive spiritual meditation in motion, the record folds intricate polyrhythms into hypnotic, repetitive loops that sound as urgent and on-point today as they did half a century ago. Four hundred copies. Infinite resonance . . .

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Dagmar Zuniga :: In Filth Your Mystery Is Kingdom / Far Smile Peasant In Yellow Music

Dagmar ZunigaPosted on

One of the most striking records from 2025 finally gets its deserved vinyl release with AD93's issuing of Dagmar Zuniga's in filth your mystery is kingdom / far smile peasant in yellow music. The pluricultural artist's debut was also assembled in a pluricultural environment, across Norway and Greece and Georgia, and found a rapid, cult-like admiration within a certain Brooklyn scene of lo-fi and experimental art—featuring Zach Philips, its success would eventually lead Zuniga to tour with Mount Eerie . . .

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Matt Valentine :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Matt Valentine MV MV & EE The AD InterviewPosted on

The latest Wet Tuna LP is called Vast — and you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a better title for this collection of strange and funky flights. It’s a wide-open, far-flung album, deeply textured and ridiculously detailed, but somehow spacious and inviting. A psychedelic micro-galaxy/macro-dose that teems with life and imagination. Close to a decade in, this is the fourth proper Wet Tuna offering (not counting an array of more “under-the-counter” situations), but the project is just another whistle-stop on the Matt Valentine express . . .

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Posted on Matt Valentine MV MV & EE The AD Interview

Bonnie “Prince” Billy :: We Are Together Again

Will OldhamPosted on

It would be a mistake to take the simplicity of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy’s songs at face value. Certainly, his tunes do have a pared down grace. And yet, listen closely and you’ll catch the embellishments, the flicker of saxophone, the soft cushion of strings, the flutter of flute, the smoke wreathes of communal singing. The center, as always, is Will Oldham, his tetchy, querulous voice, his warm way with melody, his startling, occasionally absurdist sprays of poetic imagery, but these songs are beautifully filled out by a cast of long-time friends and neighbors from the Louisville area . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PST, 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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JJ Cale :: Stay Around

J.J. CalePosted on

If JJ Cale had been any more laid-back, gravity would’ve stopped trying. Understated, and rhythm-first, Cale’s distilled blend of regional blues, country, rockabilly, and shuffle stripped away the kink and left only the groove. If there was indeed a Tulsa sound, he was it. Playing less, feeling more. As such, a posthumous post-script from the Breeze might seem, if not suspect, unnecessary. And yet… the release of 2019’s Stay Around proves that sometimes an afterword can indeed swing, giving Cale a reason to linger a little longer . . .

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Makoto Terashita meets Harold Land :: Topology

Harold Land Jazz Makoto TerashitaPosted on

Recorded in 1984, the unlikely pairing of young Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Terashita and veteran American saxophonist Harold Land was kept obscured for far too long. With its opus "Dragon Dance" originally showcased on the BBE label's essential J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan four-part compilation series, Topology unearths the sensational full session. Like his run seventies Blue Note sessions with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, the unsung tenorist Land is a marvel as a collaborative partner, elevating this set of mostly original compositions by the younger, up-and-coming Makoto Terashita . . .

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Posted on Harold Land Jazz Makoto Terashita

Gil Scott-Heron and His Midnight Band :: Live, January 16, 1978 KALX‑FM

Gil Scott-HeronPosted on

Laid down live at KALX‑FM radio at the University of California, Berkeley, Gil Scott-Heron’s January 1978 engagement with his Midnight Band has long circulated as a well-worn bootleg among enthusiasts. Clocking in at around seventy minutes, the recording captures Heron at his artistic zenith in the ’70s, working in vital tandem with Brian Jackson. As broadcasts go, it remains a vivid testament to his singular command of stage, band, and political pulse . . .

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Bill Frisell :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Bill Frisell Jazz The AD InterviewPosted on

For Bill Frisell, music at its best feels dreamlike. It bends and manipulates time, contracting and expanding. On his latest, In My Dreams the guitarist is joined by longtime collaborators for a spectral set of tunes, including a sterling cover of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan." He joins us to discuss the record, dreams, and Gary Larson's The Far Side . . .

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Ron Carter :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Jazz Ron Carter The AD InterviewPosted on

In more than a half-century of activity, the legendary bassist has played with nearly everyone in jazz, from cult heroes to celebrated titans to forgotten mavericks. but longevity and dedication as a sideman, along with his stint in Miles Davis' fabled Second Great Quintet, tend to obscure his many other major accomplishments. For his Aquarium Drunkard Interview, Carter talked about the inspiration behind his latest project and his hardscrabble and illustrious past, and went into his philosophical outlook and practical methods. Breaking down music as an art, a profession and a discipline, Carter shows that a life spent keeping . . .

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Posted on Jazz Ron Carter The AD Interview

Jean-Claude Vannier :: L’enfant Assassin des Mouches

Jean-Claude VannierPosted on

Jean-Claude Vannier’s 1972 magnum opus endures. Arriving a year after his iconic collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson, L’enfant Assassin des Mouches represents the full flowering of his idiosyncratic vision, expanding the possibilities of contemporary orchestral pop as the rulebook of conventional composition dissolves in its wake . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 37

Book ClubPosted on

Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our irregular gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: melting some winter ice with Beth Lesser's definitive '80s Jamaican Dancehall coffee table tome, Larry Charles' dangerous comedy memoir, the undersung dean of American pulp and grit-lit, Charles Willieford, Haruki Murakami's anecdote-infused biographies of over fifty jazz musicians, and an uncategorizable work that Thurston Moore describes as “akin to a ‘lost’ recording by the Velvet Underground . . .

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The Reverbs :: The Happy Forest

The ReverbsPosted on

Influenced by the sweet jangly spell of early R.E.M., 1984's The Happy Forest is the lone 12" mini-album from Chicago-based outfit The Reverbs. A duo featuring underground pop stalwart Ric Menck (Velvet Crush, The Springfields), the spirited track "Trusted Woods" was previously the launching off point of the archival Captured Tracks compilation Strum & Thrum, surveying the era's understated guitar-pop landscape. With chiming guitars, sparse production and reverb-drenched vocals, the record simultaneously recalls the essential Byrds jangle and then contemporaries from both coasts, such as neo-psychedelia of the Paisley Underground's Rain . . .

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Bill Callahan :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Bill Callahan The AD InterviewPosted on

My Days of 58 is the latest record from singer-songwriter Bill Callahan. What does this record show? It is not only a document, but, as the title states, also an accounting of Callahan at a certain age, portraying who he is as a writer, a musician, a father, a partner, and a human being at a specific moment in time.  He joins us to discuss a recent cancer scare, repetition, and visiting his musical heroes in his dreams . . .

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Elkotsh :: rhlt jdi

ElkotshPosted on

Let it bleed. Egyptian producer Elkotsh's feral debut album, rhlt jdi, embodies a simmering punk-as-fuck ethos. All sweat, the Cairo-based artist plies his polyrhythmic, claustrophobic electro-shaabi across nine relentless tracks, forging a tension that transcends vocabulary, culture, and borders. Under the Cairene sun, Egyptian electronic music mutates in Elkotsh’s grip, tapping into a universal urban freneticism that feels at once visceral and off-world . . .

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