Posts

Scott Hirsch :: Hey Perdido

Via Ojai, CA, Scott Hirsch returns this spring via his latest full-length, Lost Padres, officially out today on Echo Magic. Hirsch describes the record as a roadmap, “a sonic strategy to get back home. A touchstone test to hold what you value as truth to see if it’s real or fool’s gold . . .

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Bennie Maupin :: The Jewel In The Lotus

Out of print on vinyl since 1977, Bennie Maupin’s solo debut, The Jewel in the Lotus, makes its welcome return to the format this month via ECM’s Luminessence reissue series. A counterpoint to the playful funk of Hancock’s Headhunters, The Jewel in the Lotus swings the pendulum well beyond Mwansishi’s heady explorations into more earthy, deeply spiritual turf.

A true headphone journey and an aural balm for a world that’s spinning a bit too fast . . .

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Punch-Drunk Sounds :: The Imagined Music of Jeremy Blake

In his delightful, dizzying, and surrealist take on the romantic comedy—2002’s Punch-Drunk Love—the writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson infuses a number of elements that both support and subvert the audience’s expectations around the love story at the center of the film. These include the repeated and persistent use of the color blue and the idiosyncratic score by Jon Brion. Another such component is a series of so-called “time-based paintings” by visual and digital artist Jeremy Blake, which are deployed as interstitial moments throughout the film as well as a backdrop for the . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

Witchi tai to. Via satellite, transmuting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

SIRIUS 846: Jean-Michel Bernard – Générique Stéphane ++ Bernard Chabert – Il Part En Californie ++ The Beatles – Flying ++ Jacques Dutronc – L’espace D’une Fille ++ Jacques Dutronc – On Nous Cache Tout, On Nous Dit Rien ++ Nancy Sinatra – Drummer Man ++ Kevin Ayers – Puis Je? ++ Ray Davies – There’s A New World Just Opening For Me ++ Sandhy & Mandhy – Vuelve A Ser El De Antes ++ The Millennium – I Just Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye ++ The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up (Piano Demo) ++ The Kinks – Fancy ++ Emiitt Rhodes – Somebody Made For Me ++ Margo Guryan – Sunday Morning ++ Kathy Heiderman – Sleep A Million Years ++ Curt Boettcher – Lament of The Astral Cowboy ++ Tony, Caro & John – Eclipse of the Moon ++ Pugh Rogefeldt – Små Lätta Moln ++ Slapp Happy – The Drum ++ Harpers Bizarre – Witchi Tai To ++ Mark Fry – Song For Wilde ++ Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem Pour Un Con ++ Linda Perhaps – Paper Mountain Man ++ Yves Simon – Au Pays Des Merveilles De Juliet ++ John Cale – Barracuda ++ Lou Reed – Charley’s Girl ++ Kevin Ayers – Song For Insane Times ++ Harry Nilsson – Many Rivers To Cross ++ Ed Askew – Moon In The Mind ++ John Cale – You Know More Than I Know ++ Jacqueline Humbert – Androgyny ++ Jan & Lorraine – Number 33 ++ Michael Farnetti – The River ++ Jeff Cowell – We All Know ++ Mayo Thompson – Fortune ++ Loving – On My Way To You ++ Big Star – Don’t Worry Baby ++ Curt Boettcher – Off The Cuff Bridge (Cecily) ++ Karen Dalton – In My Own Dream ++ The Velvet Underground – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

Smith Perkins Smith :: S/T (1972)

Via their 1972 self-titled debut, Smith Perkins Smith’s “Say No More” was highlighted by Board Of Canada’s Marcus Eoin as part of his Campfire Mixtape. Spanning John Denver to Joni MItchell, the 10 selections that constitute Eoin’s imaginary cassette were intended to serve as a rough guide of aesthetic touchstones that informed the vibe of their forthcoming record. As a song cycle it works, with the inclusion of the Perkins tune being both the highlight and most enigmatic of the bunch . . .

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Keith Hudson :: Pick A Dub

2024 heralded the 50th anniversary of this seminal dub record – one of the first of its kind – and it's no exaggeration to say this release from Jamaican producer Keith Hudson remains one of the genre's high-water marks. Recorded in a nascent scene, Pick A Dub's edges are rough, but the riddims are pure and shot straight from the heart boasting a simplicity and honesty that is nothing short of enchanting . . .

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Transmissions :: Deerhoof

On the cover of Deerhoof’s new album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, is an image of the band’s lineup—Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Greg Saunier—collaged together into one strange visage. Given that the album’s title is drawn directly from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this cobbled together assemblage makes sense, but it also doubles as a handy metaphor for Deerhoof’s identity as a band. Together, they equal more than the sum of their parts; working together in radical co-operation, they become  one art rock organism . . .

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Jeffery Broussard & The Nighttime Syndicate :: Bayou Moonlight

Like a lot of traditional art forms, zydeco is regularly reinterpreted by oncoming generations of hot shot musicians. Younger artists blend the form with hip hop, jazz, rock and pop, using electric instruments and booming amps. But Jeffrey Broussard likes his zydeco unadulterated. You can equally imagine these tunes blasting out of a remote juke joint in Louisiana’s swampy hinterlands or drifting out onto the cobblestones in the French Quarter . . .

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Grails :: The Sounds Behind Miracle Music

Grails has never been afraid of big moments—David Axelrod’s bold, dramatic arrangements come to mind. However, Miracle Music isn’t all crescendo and climax. There’s a subtlety and sensitivity at work here, an attention to detail that pays off enormously. And though the group leans towards the darker side of things, there’s a lot of joy to be found as well, musicians doing exactly what they want to do and generously sharing the goods with the rest of us. And speaking of sharing, Grails’ Emil Amos, Alex Hall and Ilyas Ahmed have put together a useful . . .

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Billy Strayhorn :: The Peaceful Side (1963)

Dim the lights. Chill the glasses. Loosen your tie; kick off your heels. For the latest installment of our "Midnite Jazz" column, we look at Billy Strayhorn's The Peaceful Side (1963), a ghostly offering of sparse jazz standards that showcase Strayhorn not as Duke Ellington's right-hand man, but as a formidable solo artist in his own right . . .

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Janine :: Muda

Just like the early MPB of Marília Medalha, Nara Leão, and Elis Regina, Janine Price's music comes from the theater tradition, where she built her musical persona and developed warping intonation techniques. Just like their early MPB too, her music is centered on the tenor vocal range, which prepares grand orchestrations to a sequence of unexpected soft landings . . .

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Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Composers Wadada Leo Smith and Vijay Iyer are inveterate collaborators. Compile their past work together and you're staring down a list that includes Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, Pauline Oliveros, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, and more. But something singular and deeply special happens when they work one on one, as they do on the recently released Defiant Life. "We just create," Smith says. "You could call it 'composition' or 'spontaneous composition' or 'spontaneous improvisation' or some kind of stuff like that. But the truth is, all the serious documents about humans on this planet refer to creation . . .

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Cash Langdon :: Dogs

With a tight full band setup reminiscent of his own version of Crazy Horse, the sophomore effort from Alabama-based musician Cash Langdon brings a rugged, heavy country rock feel. Langdon's muse of forthright melodic songcraft however still delivers the melodic goods, capturing a gritty power pop sensibility. Dogs is an increasingly impressive work, from the uniquely southern identity in the lyrics to electric, shambling song frameworks that hit exactly as hard as intended . . .

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Florry :: Sounds Like

Florry, from Philly and now headquartered in Burlington, VT, makes a tipsy, slurry, utterly fetching variety of country rock, the notes wobbling all over the place but fizzing with unstoppable electric energy. The band spins out songs like a country joyride, rattling, banging, jolting hard on the ruts, but full of unfussed beauty. Sounds like a good time? Sounds like Florry . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

Patois. Via satellite, transmuting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

SIRIUS 845: Intro ++ Lee “Scratch” Perry – Soul Fire ++ King Tubby and The Upsetters – Reggae Bus In A Dub ++ King Tubby and The Upsetters – Doing My Thing In A Dub ++ Dr. Alimantado – Ride On ++ Lee “Scratch” Perry – Huzza A Hana ++ Scientist – Drum Song ++ General Echo – Arleen ++ Roots Radics – Mission Impossible ++ Horace Andy – Money Money ++ King Tubby / Tommy McCook – The Dub Station ++ Dr. Alimantado – Plead I Cause ++ Junior Murvin – Roots Train ++ Niney The Observer – Bring The Couchie Come ++ The Upsetters – Curly Locks ++ Earth, Roots & Water – Awakening ++ Ernest Ranglin & The Sound Dimension – Surfing (Extended Mix) ++ Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown ++ Max Romeo – Smokey Room ++ Keith Hudson – Darkest Night (Version) ++ Mikey Dread – Resignation Dub ++ New Age Steppers – Fade Away ++ Ranking Dread – Girls Fiesta ++ Phil Pratt – African Communication ++ Ranking Dread – Sister Lorna ++ Jah Iny – El Rockers Chapter 1 ++ Hopeton Lewis – Sound And Pressure ++ Scotty – Clean Race ++ Mikey Dread – Saturday Night Style – Dub ++ Junior Murvin – Cross Over (7” Mix) ++ Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari – Sam’s Intro ++ The Wailers – Rastaman Chant (Live At The Record Plant ’73)