Posts

The Shakes :: You Ain’t Alone

Alabama Shakes Brittany Howard The ShakesPosted on

In reference to my posting 'new music' on the blog, I'm often asked what it is I'm looking for. It's simple, I'm hunting for 'the real' -- the stuff that can't be faked...the happy accidents, the sound of strings out of tune from humidity, Ike Turner's busted amp on "Rocket 88," blood, sweat, tears, what-have-you. In short, expressions of the human condition. The real is an elusive chase and one that rarely comes pre-packaged all nice and spit-shined via a PR firm. As such, finding it makes it . . .

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.

Posted on Alabama Shakes Brittany Howard The Shakes

SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

SIRIUSPosted on

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 203: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Abe Vigoda - House ++ Gardens & Villa - Black Hills ++ Love And Rockets - Rain Bird ++ Women - Shaking Hand ++ Girls Names - I Lose ++ The Jesus & Mary Chain - Taste of Cindy ++ Crystal Stilts - Precarious Stair ++ Ty Segall - The Slider ++ Bleached - Dazed ++ Earth Girl Helen Brown - Girls Of My Dreams   ++ La Sera - Devils Hearts Grow Gold ++ The Vaselines - No Hope ++ Eddie The Wheel - Nearsayerfive ++ Twin Sister - Bad Street . . .

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.

Posted on SIRIUS

Peggy Sue :: Long Division Blues

Peggy SuePosted on

Sometime around the reissue of the Raincoats debut LP some friends and I were nerding about, discussing what emerging artists could be considered 21st century heirs to the group's legacy. I recall London's Peggy Sue at the top of the list, a band I'd happened upon randomly in New York a couple of years back while performing in a support slot. Lately I've been working "Long Division Blues," the first track on their album

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.

Posted on Peggy Sue

Letting Up Despite Great Faults :: Paper Crush EP

Letting Up Despite Great FaultsPosted on

L.A.’s Letting Up Despite Great Faults spent a great deal of effort on their self-titled debut album reminding listeners that it’s possible to translate the moody highs and lows of New Order and The Radio Dept. into something fresh and immediate (see “In Steps” and “Our Younger Noise” in particular). Two years later and the band returns with Paper Crush, an ambitious and energetic EP filled with even more urgency, hooks and that sweet spot where twee-pop meets the soaring textures of the Creation Records catalog. That’s not easy company to be aligned with, but if there was ever a band to spearhead the recent renaissance of dream-pop fever then this is the act to get invested in. Don’t get me wrong, LUDGF don’t attempt to bring about any revolution or rekindle a bygone era of music. Paper Crush is a sound owned by its creators.

Mike Lee’s vocal delivery possesses a youthful, carefree tone that eases its way into the songs. He’s not too direct, not too hushed, and fits perfectly with textured keys and sustained guitars. Lee is also bolder and at the forefront of these mixes than on previous releases. This creates an added feel of spaciousness that’s instantly recognizable from the band’s debut album -- allowing heavier guitar progressions, propelling electronic rhythms and candy-coated synths to take shape right in front of you. It’s not a maturity issue we’re dealing with here; it’s simply a vocalist and his band getting better.

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.

Posted on Letting Up Despite Great Faults

Phosphorescent :: South (Of America)

PhosphorescentPosted on

Phosphorescent's sophomore LP, 2005's Aw Come Aw Wry, is at its heart a folk record; albeit a folk record alternately made up of dirges, brass, waltzes, and choirs---a heady, if low-key, bouillabaisse of sound.   It also remains one of my favorite releases of that year. I put this one on late night, for the . . .

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.

Posted on Phosphorescent

Roadside Graves :: We Can Take Care Of Ourselves

Autumn Tone Roadside GravesPosted on

There are two broad views you can take of Roadside Graves latest, We Can’t Take Care of Ourselves: As the concept album that it is, inspired by the S.E. Hinton classic The Outsiders

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.

Posted on Autumn Tone Roadside Graves

Turf War :: Cheers To The Years

Turf WarPosted on

A raucous two and half minutes of sweaty tomfoolery, I debuted this Turf War track on the radio show a couple weeks back after catching the fellas in Athens last month. "Cheers To The Years" is the first taste off the Atlanta band's upcoming full-length, Years Of Living Dangerously, out this September via Old Flame Records. Fellow Atlantan Ian St. Pé, of the Black Lips, produced.

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.

Posted on Turf War

John Lee Hooker & Miles Davis :: Bank Robbery

John Lee Hooker Miles DavisPosted on

A high point on the soundtrack to director Dennis Hopper's 1990 film The Hot Spot, "Bank Robbery" finds John Lee Hooker collaborating with Miles Davis alongside Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers, Earl Palmer, and Tim Drummond. Scored by Jack Nitzchse, the set is a rolling mix of Delta swagger coupled with Davis's (always) blue cool.

MP3: become a member or log in.

Posted on John Lee Hooker Miles Davis

Colossal Gospel :: Circles

Colossal GospelPosted on

15 years ago I would have most likely stumbled upon this recording by way of a dubbed cassette; a decade ago via a hand scrawled, black felt-tipped, CD-R.   Over the past couple of years both have given way to a new homespun, easily produced/distributed, digital counterpart---Bandcamp.

Rooted in traditional folk music, Leeds, Alabama's Colossal Gospel is the songwriting and recording partnership of Stephen Weibelt and Chris Johnson. While reminiscent of modern practitioners such as . . .

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.

Posted on Colossal Gospel

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

Live Upload Series Tom WaitsPosted on

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: become a member or log in.

Posted on Live Upload Series Tom Waits

Aquarium Drunkard: Lagniappe Sessions, William Elliott Whitmore

Lagniappe Sessions William Elliott WhitmorePosted on

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

Welcome to the Lagniappe Sessions. Over the past few months I've been working in conjunction with some of our favorite artists as they cut exclusive covers paying tribute to some of their favorite artists. Today we kick off the series with Iowan troubadour William Elliott Whitmore whose new LP, become a member or log in.

Posted on Lagniappe Sessions William Elliott Whitmore

SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

SIRIUSPosted on

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 202: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ The Blue Echoes - It's Witchcraft ++ Eddie Beram - Riot In Thunder Alley ++ Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley ++ The Velvet Underground - I'm Not A Young Man Anymore ++ Prince Nedick - Back In The Day (I Can't Stand It) ++ Earth Girl Helen Brown - Girls Of My Dreams ++ Michael Kiwanuka - Tell Me A Tale ++ The Ify Jerry Krusade - Nwantinti/Die Die ++ Harry Nilsson - You Can't Do That . . .

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.

Posted on SIRIUS

Daniel Moore :: Daniel Moore (1971)

Daniel Moore Rising StormPosted on

Daniel Moore is one of countless songwriters in the history of early rock and roll music that, despite attaining a measure of financial success through their material, never quite made a name for themselves as artists in their own right. It’s a rather old and tired tale, but what makes Moore’s story so much more frustrating is that in the midst of penning bland, superficial radio hits for artists like Three Dog Night and B.W. Stevenson, he also crafted one of the greatest ‘back to the . . .

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.

Posted on Daniel Moore Rising Storm

Tom Waits :: Under Review 1983-2006 (Full Documentary Video)

Tom WaitsPosted on

After stumbling upon this the other day, it appears a number of the Under Review DVD series are now available (free) via YouTube. Following the standard Under Review M.O., the Tom Waits: 1983-2006 entry rounds up a number of music scribes (Anthony DeCurtis, Robert Christgau, Barney Hoskyns, etc) asking them to reflect upon the material at hand. As with the majority of the series, there are no shocking revelations to be found, but the 80 minutes devoted to Waits, early 80s, re-imagination of himself and career is an entertaining watch (and a nice primer for the curious).

Speaking of, has anyone picked up Hoskyns' recent Waits biography Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits? Thoughts? Good, bad, ugly?

Full 80 minute DVD stream after the jump.

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.

Posted on Tom Waits

The Millennium :: I Just Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye

Soundtrack Enthusiast The MillenniumPosted on

Fans of John Schlesinger's Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy would do well to check out this piece When . . .

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.

Posted on Soundtrack Enthusiast The Millennium