Working the same vein as Black Merda and Band of Gypsys, 70s psychedelic funk outfit Kool And Together are getting the Heavy Light treatment next month. Forged in south Texas, the group merged raw, thick-grooved, soul and r&b with era-appropriate rock & . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
With its picture of the gorgeous Bobbie Gentry superimposed in monochrome over a fallen-down shack, The Delta Sweete promises the peculiarly Southern music that Gentry is known for. Released in 1968, it was Gentry's second album, coming on the heels of the tremendous success of one of the most memorable, if bizarre, hits of the 1960s, "become a member or log in.
Wednesday night: AD presents Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle with Caitlin Rose at the Music Box in Hollywood. The last time I saw Earle and Isbell paired together on a bill (at Spaceland) was an inspired evenig of music. I have no doubt this will be the same. We're giving away some pairs of tickets to AD readers. Hit up the comments below . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard twice, every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.
SIRIUS 209: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Howard Nishioka - Carnivourous Dogaramus ++ Michael Kiwanuka - Tell Me A Tale ++ Bill Withers - Better Off Dead ++ Amanaz - Khala My Friend ++ Wendell Stuart & The Downbeaters - Hey Jude ++ Santa Nguessan :: Manny Nia ++ Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina ++ Henri Texier - Les "lî -bas" ++ Aguaturbia - Rollin' 'N' Tumblin' ++ Randy . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
(In 2009, with news of a long awaited Circulatory System lp follow-up, I asked Athens, GA's Lucas Jensen to catch up with and interview Will Cullen Hart. Now, two years later, The Olivia Tremor Control are once again a working unit with a variety of tours, reissue projects and an album on the horizon. Below, Lucas interviews the beloved Athens group. The OTC are set to perform in Los Angeles this Saturday at the FYF Festival. - AD)
I have lived in bucolic Athens, GA since 1998 and have enjoyed all 13 years of its incestuous, experimental, try anything once, form a band every night music scene. The first three or so years of my stay here really were something special, and not just viewed through the gauzy soft-focus of nostalgia. I’m not a spiritual or mystical guy, but there was something in the air here...an energy, if you will, that permeated those early Elephant 6 shows, a sense of coiled chaos. Onstage lineups were amorphous, with band members subbing in and out like hockey players. People bowed banjos and turned baby heads into horns. Parades broke out with surprising regularity. It was a fun time, and none of it felt forced or artsy. It was communal and celebratory. The Olivia Tremor Control, along with fellow travelers Elf Power, The Music Tapes, of Montreal, the Gerbils, and, of course, Neutral Milk Hotel, dominated my show-going docket, and I was rarely, if ever, disappointed. The Olivias always killed it, careening between pop sensibilities and more inscrutable experimental concerns and never less than transfixing. They had great press, toured with some great bands in Europe, and then it was just...over. There were rumors of fallings out and OTC founders Bill Doss and Will Hart, each had their own fantastic new projects, The Sunshine Fix and Circulatory System, respectively, and that was that. Except, thankfully, it wasn’t. In 2005, the band reunited for a series of shows that found them in top form. And they have been going at it, however slowly and behind the scenes, since. Now the band is “out” again, with new tour dates and new material. As wonderful as the different band members’ myriad projects are—it would take us years to list all of them!—it’s great to have an energized and productive Olivia Tremor Control back in our lives.
OTC members John Fernandes, Bill Doss, and newest band member Derek Almstead graciously consented to an extensive interview. Will Hart showed up a few minutes in. Unfortunately, Eric Harris and Pete Erchick could not make it. The interview got off to an...auspicious start, as yours truly accidentally turned on the metronome on his recording device, aka iPhone.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
It must be the season for new Richard Swift. Last month we shared the troubadour's ode to a maimed hand, "Broken Finger Blues," and today Swift offers up "Whitman," the first taste from his forthcoming release, Walt Wolfman. A fine ode from one American iconoclast to another, "Whitman" -- all propulsive chugging drums and keys -- finds Swift's r&b falsetto . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Ah, yes. I've always had a perverse love for some of the King's most trite work -- case in point the beach-party-ready "Do The Clam," a song that clearly belongs on any dis-respectable Labor Day soundtrack.
MP3: Elvis Presley :: Do The Clam
------------------------
_____________________________________________________________________________________ . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
- Over the weekend I donned my correspondent cap for FOK and hit up the Arts & Leisure closing party event at Space 15 twenty in Hollywood. My findings are now online.
- Remember those homemade, New Kind of Mambo, compilations I raved about last summer? No? If not, dig in here. Their are now thirty more volumes available for download, each one heavily stacked. Links after the jump.
- The mighty Awesome Tapes From Africa is set to begin releasing records this Fall. Their first entry is Malian singer Nî¢ Hawa Doumbia's La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3 -- an album she recorded in 1982.
- Soul Sides remembers the late Nickolas Ashford and Jerry Lieber with a selection of personal favorites.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
As promised, here is the follow-up to last year's Bomboclat! Island Soak :: A Reggae/Dub Mixtape. Compiled, once again, by our old friend John, this companion set is comprised of 24 choice vintage Rocksteady jams from his days spent in Kingston. Get this joint before Summer fades into Fall.
Download: Bomboclat! Island Soak 2 :: A Rocksteady Mixtape (Zipped folder)
1. "Dreader Than Dread" - Honeyboy Martin & The Voices2. "That Girl" - Lloyd . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Speaking of neo funk/soul classics, this subterranean monster was released on Philip Lehman's short lived early '00s imprint, Soul Fire Records, following the dissolution of his revival imprint, Desco Records, (his partner, Gabriel Roth, went on to found the ever-steady Daptone). Released in 2001, JD & The Evil's Dynamite's
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support. To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard twice, every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.
Download Desert Island our new MONDO BOYS mixtape here
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support. To continue reading, become a member or log in.
(Welcome to the second installment of Clifton’s Corner. Every other week on the blog Clifton Weaver, aka DJ Soft Touch, will be sharing some of his favorite spins, old and new, in the worlds of soul, r&b, funk, psych and beyond. - AD)
I've often been accused of being 'retro'. Fair enough. I do have an appreciation for old styles of fashion, art, architecture . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
"Terra Incognita," the first taste from the forthcoming Atlas Sound LP, Parallax, out November 8th on 4AD. In addition to the tune, I'm digging the LP cover art's Bobby Darin crooner-vibe. (via pitchfork)
MP3: Atlas Sound :: Terra Incognita
------------------------
_____________________________________________________________________________________ . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
(Sevens, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
Though it’s no fault of his own, any time Bruce Springsteen sings a phrase like “Come on baby, you gotta dream, baby, dream,” it’s gonna sound hopeful. It’s gonna sound like a heartfelt plead, and it’s gonna run right up to the border between profound simplicity and simple platitude.
Such is the case in The Boss’s live version of proto-punkersbecome a member or log in.
Nice mention from an unexpected source of last year's excellent 60s/70s Thai compilation, The Sound of Siam, in yesterday's LA Times. They ran a brief piece interviewing Mick Jagger discussing what he was presently listening to -- this caught my eye: "when I was in Argentina I was listening online to one of those American . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.