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Norman Blake (Jonny) :: The AD Interview

Norman Blake is a well-known name to people who love their power pop. As a founding member of Teenage Fanclub, he's spent more than the 20 years creating a body of work as catchy as it is gorgeous. Recently, Blake teamed up with former Gorky's Zygotic Mynci frontman Euros Childs to create a project under the name Jonny. Their self-titled debut was released on Merge Records earlier this month and captures two unique songwriters having a great time melding their crafts together. AD spoke with Norman Blake by phone recently about the speed of recording Jonny, the influences in its songs, how Merge Records came on board and why a little humor in music is never a bad thing.
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Aquarium Drunkard: I'm a huge fan of Teenage Fanclub. I've only gotten a chance to see you guys once here in North Carolina in 2005 on your tour for Man-Made.

Norman Blake: Thank you. Obviously we're coming back again with Jonny which is on Merge Records again. That's the record myself and Euros [Childs] made together, pretty much sitting around the kitchen table. It started off as the idea that we could produce a 7" single and take some copies each and take them to shows and sell them and give them away. And that blossomed into an album. The group Jonny kind of happened by accident.

AD: I heard the record only took ten days to record in the studio. Was that writing time also, or was the record written before you went in to record?

NB: We had some songs written ahead - maybe five or six. The initial idea was Euros was going to come to my class in Glasgow and we were going to record there with a computer and a drum machine and just acoustic guitars and a little keyboard. But I was speaking with Paul Savage who runs Chemikal Underground [record label] studio, Chem 19, and he just happened to say they had some downtime that coincided with the week Euros would be in town. So I spoke with Euros and then we had this idea "well, maybe we can get a drummer and a bass player to come in and record the songs that way." So sure enough, we called a couple of friends and they came in and basically recorded the backing tracks in two days. It was all completed in about ten and that's recording and mixing.

It did happen by accident. It started as a much smaller thing; it wasn't even really a band initially. We only realized it would be a band a few days before we started making the record. It was all pretty much spontaneous. We had written maybe five or six songs already and then we had another half-dozen ideas. We had to finish those pretty quickly. I know when we're making a Teenage Fanclub record, I'll agonize over the songs. It may not sound that way. [laughs] But I do agonize over them for a long time when I'm trying to complete them, you know? So with this, we didn't have to. In a way, there was no expectation for this at all. We were just going to release a single and that was it and then we'd move on.

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 26 (SIRIUS), and channel 43 (XM), can now be heard twice, every Friday - Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

SIRIUS 191: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay ++ Eddie The Wheel - Nearsayerfive ++ Gardens & Villa - Black Hills ++ No Age - Teen Creeps ++ Deerhunter - Desire Lines ++ Lower Dens - A Dog's Dick ++ Luna - Sideshow By The Seashore ++ Crystal Stilts - Precarious Stair ++ Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Thought . . .

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Crystal Stilts :: In Love With Oblivion

Scour music blogs and magazines from over the past three to four years and you'll find numerous assessments that clump Crystal Stilts into groups of low-fi indie acts employing mountains of reverb and choppy guitars. Obviously, it fits. These bands offer listeners an endearing, nostalgic throwback sound paying homage to the heyday of important indie rock flagship labels like K, Sarah

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Five Eight :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

In their twenty-plus year career, Athens, GA’s Five Eight has amassed quite an impressive share of critical adoration and a loyal (and vocal) fan base. Despite a short stint opening for REM and a proclamation by none other than USA Today that they were “the greatest live band in the world,” widespread success has been elusive.

The band hopes to change that with its newest release, become a member or log in.

Diversions :: The Black Swans on Larry Jon Wilson

(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)

This week we catch up with the Black Swans Jerry DeCicca as he reflects on his working relationship with the late/great Larry Jon Wilson. Jerry has an interesting vantage point as he produced Larry Jon Wilson's final album; the self-titled LP released in 2008 via Drag City Records. Unknowingly already a fan of his production work, I became aware of the Black Swans through their spirited rendition of Larry Jon's "The Man I Wish for You" from the 2010 split 7” with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Sing Larry Jon Wilson.   The Black Swans new album, Don’t Blame the Stars, is being released next month on Misra Records. DeCicca's words on Larry Jon Wilson, below.

Larry Jon Wilson quoted Plato, Charles Baudelaire, and Mickey Newbury within the first ten minutes we met. Told me he hustled pool with Fats Domino in his teens, rode schooners and freight trains. His voice the sound of Georgia. That last part I knew from Heartworn Highways and 4 records from the 1970s on Monument. The rest---him being a ham and full of shit---I didn't know.

Three years later, Jeb Loy Nichols, Jake Housh and I helped him make a new record. His first in almost 30 years. A label in the UK was giving us money to give him. Recorded in a high rise condominium overlooking Alabama's Gulf Shores, it took 10 days.

He enjoyed our company and attention. People tried twisting his arm into recorded song before. Somehow we broke him with talks of music, history, books, guitars. Ate and drank together. Gave him cash. He trusted us and told us so.

His old records: chunky and funky, sentimental and sweet, a couple years too late from classic sounds, the production a hair too modern. If cut earlier, good people in the world would mouth his name alongside Kristofferson and Tony Joe White. But LJW never wrote a "Sunday Morning Coming Down" or a "Rainy Night in Georgia." His songs are tough to sing, more detailed in how they're personal.

When LJW talked about making a new record, his mind raced with names and instruments: french horn, Reggie Young, cello, Mac Gayden. He had been making it in his mind for decades. But I knew it would be bare bones, no clutter, Live at the Old Quarter minus the drunks and cue sticks. We lied to him a lot to make the record we wanted to hear.

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Quintron :: Sucre Du Sauvage

Continuing to defy categorization, New Orleans eccentric Quintron has a new record out, Sucre Du Sauvage, this month via Goner Records. Sugar of the savage? Sounds about right. Recorded live at the New Orleans Museum of Art, over a four month stint in 2010, Sauvage

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Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

Some folks, particularly those in and around Austin, caught on to Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears shortly before they signed to Lost Highway in 2008. For many of the rest of us, the Black Joe Lewis revelation came in the form of their eponymous EP or, later in 2009, via their debut full-length, Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! Their vintage soul-rock vibe arrived alongside a number of other artists with a similar sound that were starting to get attention outside of various local scenes, blogs and word of mouth. The Black Keys had released their coming out party just a year earlier in Attack & Release, and the Keys’ Dan Auerbach had unveiled his solo debut Keep it Hid in February of ’09. On the smoother (but no less sweaty) side of soul, Sharon Jones had built a respectable following after a few strong releases and an undiscriminating approach to venues she and the Dap Kings were willing to play.

So, it seemed BJL’s unwavering and aggressive tour schedule met with a fortuitous period for their brand of music. For those of us who hadn’t seen them live, but had appreciated their small but stout body of work, they fit neatly in that realm. They were another good band with another good neo-soul record that may have garnered plenty of speaker time in our homes, but little distinction beyond their more critically significant soul brethren at the time. For those of us who had yet to see them live, this approach was a disservice to the band.

It’s pertinent to note that this isn’t a record review of BJL’s March release, Scandalous. Nor is this a live show review of their recent Seattle stopover at The Crocodile. This is what happens when a live show opens your eyes to what a band is, and has you wondering once again–what’s the purpose of music? Is it for a record? Or is it for the live experience?

To put it plainly: After hundreds of live shows at mid-sized venues in numerous cities, I’ve never seen a show like this at a venue of this size, and seldom do I see this type of energy at a venue of any size. Very few bands treat a low-capacity room like a 6,000-seat amphitheater, with a palpable sense of respect toward onlookers, a combustible energy across every stage-romping band member, and a two-encore gift like it was New Year’s Eve at Madison Square Garden with a crowd screaming for more and not going home until they get it. And if that’s not enough, Joe Lewis even played the guitar with his face.

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Howard Nishioka :: Carnivourous Dogaramus

Greetings from Paris. I'm renting an apartment for a week, walking around a city I haven't visited in 14 years, discovering the new while trying to remember some of my old haunts from the late 90s. While I'm largely avoiding the Internet, I do want to share this nugget with you before I get back to it: Howard Nishioka's "Carnivourous Dogaramus," off his 1979 album, Street Songs. Along with a couple other records, this album has soundtracked my trip thus far---great late 70s, private press, psych . . .

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 26 (SIRIUS), and channel 43 (XM), can now be heard twice, every Friday - Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

SIRIUS 190: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ The One Way Streets — Jack The Ripper ++ The Swamprats — Louie Louie ++ The Modern Lovers — Roadrunner ++ Alex Chilton - My Rival ++ Lou Reed - Gimme Some Good Times ++ Smith Westerns - Be My Girl ++ Yo La Tengo - Little Honda (Beach Boys) ++ The Velvet Underground . . .

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Dave Edmunds :: Queen Of Hearts

I grew up in a household where country radio was a staple of our car rides. And I certainly remember Juice Newton's version of "Queen of Hearts" as a song that got quite a bit of airplay. Enough so that, years later, when combing through the vinyl archives of my college radio station, I did a bit of a double take when I picked up Dave Edmunds' Repeat When . . .

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Aztec Camera :: Stray

Whatever it is about Scotland that makes its songwriters singularly smart devotees of pop music, it has continued unabated for some time. Alongside the power-pop titans of Teenage Fanclub and twee-minstrels of Belle and Sebastian stands Roddy Frame, better known with a backing band under the moniker of Aztec Camera. Their 1983 debut, High Land, Hard Rain, has long been lauded as a masterpiece, echoing and refining the sound of contemporaries like Orange Juice, but it was followed by increasingly disappointing returns.

1990 . . .

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Gardens & Villa :: Black Hills

Gardens & Villa: I was recently turned on to this coastal California quintet via their connection to Richard Swift who produced group's upcoming, self-titled LP. Having teamed up with Secretly Canadian on the label front, G&V craft new-wavey pop music, reminiscent of the 80s, complete with just-right synth tones and requisite attitude. Sonically, I'm reminded of the smart left turn Abe Vigoda made last year with the release of their

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra :: Thought Ballune

Portland, Oregon's Ruban Nielson (former guitarist for New Zealand's The Mint Chicks) steers Unknown Mortal Orchestra in many directions (Glam, Soul, Psych). He corners those markets into a cohesive and radioactive brand of flowery, hook-laden rock on "Thought Ballune," taken from his self-titled, four-song EP. Part classic rock, part Sid and Marty Croft outtake for a children's program that never saw the green light, the song nestles its way into your brain with rusty guitar licks and space . . .

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Futurebirds

Before last year's Hampton's Lullaby placed them firmly on the national radar, Athens, GA's Futurebirds self-recorded and released their eponymous debut EP. This week Autumn Tone is releasing a remastered version of the EP digitally in conjunction with a vinyl edition release by nascent Athens label, Holy Owned Subsidiary . . .

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