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The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination :: Amalinja

Spinning Fela Kuti's proto-Africa 70 band,  Koola Lobitos, for an upcoming program, I was reminded of just how seminal, loose (and great) this period of his career arc can be. And if you only know the more politically charged Fela of the 70s/80s, I highly recommended exploring Kuti's--vastly different--sixties output. Like any massive bandleader, from Miles to James Brown, you eventually begin to trace the individual players in the group, session or otherwise. It was this path, digging into the Koola . . .

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AD Presents: Chances With Wolves 2: Hotel Motel / A Mixtape

Our east coast compatriots, NYC's Chances With Wolves return with their second serving for Aquarium Drunkard: Hotel Motel - A Mixtape. As always, it's a heady/essential brew. The CWW squad is in L.A. this week launching the inaugural issue of their new zine at Family Books (tonight) on Fairfax -- with a DJ set immediately afterwards. You can still download the first AD/CWW joint from 2012, become a member or log in.

Clifton’s Corner 19 :: Vintage Soul & Funk 45s

(Volume 19 of Clifton’s Corner. Every other week on the blog Clifton Weaver, aka DJ Soft Touch, shares some of his favorite spins, old and new, in the worlds of soul, r&b . . .

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History Of Spiritual Jazz :: 12 Hour Mix

Sunday listening. Dig into this marathon 12-hour Spiritual Jazz mix compiled by The Black Classical. Playlist and stream via the Word Is Bond. Direct download: here

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Take Me Home :: A Tribute To John Denver (2000)

John Denver died in a plane crash in 1997 -- several years later the compilation Take Me Home: A Tribute To John Denver was released via Badman Recordings. Guiding the artist roster, the compilation sonically concentrated on the somber stylings of the (then) quiet-is-the-new-loud zeitgeist - specifically that of Mark Kozelek, whose Red House Painters appear three times . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard: Astral Blues T-Shirt — Now Available

Only the good shit. Our 'astral blues' t-shirt is finally available, as modeled above by our amigo for life, Cold Splinters' Jeff Thrope. It's spring, and you need a new t-shirt. Wear it as-is, or, if you're like Justin, embrace your inner redneck and whack the sleeves off. Super-soft, pre-shrunk, priced at a real nice twenty . . .

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Kurt Vile :: Wakin On A Pretty Daze

Wakin on a Pretty Daze  is Philly rocker Kurt Vile's 5th solo LP and new best. It is marked by maturity, craft, and confidence, evidence that Vile successfully cannibalized all the parts of his sturdy back catalog -- the howling guitars, bedroom pop, his quizzical, drawling voice, and even the more fully-figured stuff on the excellent Smoke Ring For My Halo. This new album isn't so much a rebirth but a refinement, a peak, an aesthetic streamlining that results in the . . .

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Sid Hemphill :: The Devil’s Dream: Alan Lomax’s 1942 Library of Congress Recordings

Alan Lomax didn’t know what he was in for tearing down the dirt roads of the Mississippi Hill Country in 1942. He was looking for Sid Hemphill, a multi-instrumentalist he’d one day describe as “the best musician in the world.” When Lomax found him, the “boar-hog musician of the hills,”   he was surprised to learn that the fiddle man and string band leader was blind. Not that it mattered. “His face blazed with inner light,” Lomax writes in his 1993 book, Land Where . . .

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Tom Waits :: Never Talk to Strangers (LP Bootleg, 1979)

Recorded at the BBC Studios London, for the “Tonight In Person” show in July of 1979, this vinyl bootleg finds Waits working up material from his Asylum years. This particular performance hit the spot recently as I’d been spending a lot of time with Waits’ transitional Heartattack And Vine LP–which ultimately reinvigorated an interest in the earlier catalog. Download and tracklisting after the jump.

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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. Download this week's Lagniappe Session with Night Beds, here.

SIRIUS 288: Jean . . .

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Bombino :: Nomad

Raised Omara Moctar in Agadez, Niger, Bombino has quickly matured into a young master of the desert-blues. The singer and guitarist got his start as the protégé of Saharan guitar legend Haja Bebe, and eventually Bombino developed his own robust take on the Tuareg style which pushed him onto the international stage. Bombino's latest recording, Nomad, came out this week on Nonesuch and was produced by Dan Auerbach . . .

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Lagniappe Sessions :: Night Beds (Mac DeMarco / Jo Stafford)

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

The Lagniappe Sessions return with Night Beds, the nom de tune of achingly golden-voiced Nashville transplant Winston Yellen. Touring behind his debut LP, 2013's Country Sleep, Night Beds . . .

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Elvis Presley :: Stranger In My Own Town (1970 Rehearsal)

One on my favorite Elvis records is a bootleg -- Cut Me & I Bleed released on Double G Records in 1999. The album is a collection of alternate studio, home, and live rehearsal recordings that present “another side” of Elvis. Pedestal removed, Cut Me & I Bleed presents "The King” in a raw, more human, and often explicit manner -- one that eschews the family friendly image constructed by the Elvis foundation.

Twenty-two tracks total, the . . .

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Andersons All Stars :: Intensified Girls (Blue Cat Records, 1968)

Produced by Gladstone Anderson - 1968, Blue Cat Records. 7" A-Side (flip "Jump And Shout").

MP3: Andersons All Stars :: Intensified Girls

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