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Tom Waits :: Clap Hands (The Big Time Theatrical Concert)

I enjoy a good magic trick, a bit of slight of hand. I enjoy an entertainer--a changeling, a shapeshifter, a master of ceremonies. While there are fewer and fewer artists tapping into the primordial, the supernatural, we thankfully still have the self-made myth that is Tom Waits.

Captured in 1987 during the the tour for Frank's Wild Years, you could do much worse than spend a night nipping on your favorite bottle of whatever and this tourfilm . . .

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Mount Moriah :: Only Way Out

You wouldn't be wrong to categorize North Carolina's Mount Moriah as "Country Rock," but might I suggest the term "Southern" be used instead. While the songs are often set in motion by electric guitars that lead down country roads, Mount Moriah garnishes their sound with a faithful declaration of spirit. Be it Heather McEntire's sorrowful psalms, the haunting organ on "Lament" or the weeping violin on "Old Gowns," theirs is a requiem with a palpable sense of place. It's the sound of a . . .

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Cure For Pain: The Mark Sandman Story (The AD Interview)

Compared to his contemporaries, Morphine's Mark Sandman came off like more of an out-of-place beat poet than the zeitgeist's 'slacker' guitar sound of the day. With a presence tapped in to the lineage of Tom Waits and Bukowski, Morphine worked the noir and worked it hard. They dubbed their sound "low rock." No one else sounded anything like them at the time...no one else sounds anything like them today.

Below is my conversation with the filmmakers behind the new Morphine documentary, Cure For Pain: The Mark Sandman Story.   Jeff Broadway, Dave Ferino and Rob Bralver discuss the documentary, the process behind it and the case for Morphine in 2011.

Aquarium Drunkard: Why Morphine, why now?

Jeff Broadway: When I was maybe 10 or 11, I was introduced to Mark’s music by my mom and her sisters because Mark was a second cousin of theirs. I thought it was awesome that I had some rockstar of an extended cousin and started listening to a lot of Morphine as a teenager. As I got older and more into Mark’s music and the idea of family, I began considering how a film, most likely a doc, could be developed from his life story. When we started really getting serious about the project in 2008, it was like, okay, so OG Morphine fans are in their 30s and 40s and have seen a decade of music go by without hearing a sound quite like Morphine’s. They miss it. We wanted to remind them of that nostalgia and introduce the music to a new generation of listeners.

AD: Now a decade-plus since Sandman's death, the music feels as timeless and out of step as ever. Your film feels like what could be the beginning of getting the Morphine conversation started again.

Jeff Broadway: I agree. I think enough time has gone by since he passed that people will see the film and immediately reconnect with the music — above all. They’ll go download it. Talk with friends about it. Introduce friends to it. And Morphine will become appropriately relevant again. But beyond the film re-catalyzing the Morphine conversation, I think people will walk away from the film with a deeper appreciation of the evolution and breadth of an artist who left too soon.

AD: What's the temperature like out there? Are young people beginning to discover the band's music?

Jeff Broadway: I think so, but I also think it’s a bit early to say definitively. The film’s been seen by maybe a couple thousand people and needs more time in circulation before we can determine what sort of bump in sales the Morphine catalog might receive as a result of our film. I am confident, though, that the doc will only increase the appreciation of Mark’s and Morphine’s global cult stardom.

AD: Tell me a bit about accruing the doc's footage. Had Mark died in 2009, instead of 1999, I imagine there would have been near-infinite droves of media to delve through due to the advent of camera phones, etc.

Rob Bralver: There was definitely a limited amount of material to work with, and we just had to make do with what we could. The movie is a pretty big grab bag of footage - basically anything we could get our hands on. As you say, Mark was popular before the days of entire audiences filming shows in HD on their phones, so what we had to work with was mostly dusty, distorted VHS tapes we found in the basement of Mark's old studio, Hi-N-Dry, combined with 8mm family footage, plus our own present day interviews. Most of the archival stuff in the movie was shot on analog cameras ten to thirty years ago and then digitized, so while it was limiting in terms of what we were able to use to tell our story, it also gives the movie some of that period feel.

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Wendell Stuart & The Downbeaters

Nick at Ghost Capital must have read my mind as he just shared Wendell Stuart & The Downbeaters, a Bahamian soul LP I've been searching for the past two months having caught a track on the recent Trans Air Records West Indies Funk compilation. Below is their obligatory, yet excellent, take on the Beatles, plus a cover of . . .

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Amédé Ardoin :: Mama, I’ll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings, 1929-1934

Certain strands of rockist kids grow up saying that their favorite music is “anything but rap or country.” For the teenager of the 1990s in Southern Louisiana, the silent addendum to that addendum was “or Cajun or zydeco”. The nasal-honked whine and chank-a-chank rhythms of our cultural forebears was anathema to us, as was anyone who cried “ay-ee!” in exultation, comme les cadiens. Acadiana Open Channel, the local access station for the region surrounding Lafayette, regularly broadcast fais do-dos live from Randol’s restaurant. Even a passing glimpse of the oldsters two-stepping in their starched Wranglers, filtered through the cheap fuzz of a tax-funded lens, was enough to bring out from us sinking and embarrassed feelings of recognition, an emotion that blew from the screen with enough force to pin back our ears. As we struggled to find the remote, at the forefront of our minds was the unacknowledged fact that these were our people–or, that we teenagers were the people of these people. The only hope was in finding the channel changer, and thus in being able to clap our eyes gratefully on Ren and Stimpy or Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; anything that had syndication.

But something has happened. Blame it on the internet, or on Katrina or the BP spill, or even the Saints winning the Super Bowl. Blame it on the nostalgic zeitgeist, or the actual process of easing into adulthood. Whatever the cause, something has happened. All the embarrassed teens are playing the accordion. While the local music scene in Lafayette has always been oversaturated with pick-up Cajun and zydeco groups looking for modest regional success, the past few years have seen a definite shift in the cultural landscape. The local sound is what’s in. Local noise-popsters (and Park the Van signees) Brass Bed are on the verge of releasing a split EP with Cajun group Feufollet, whose sound has been hailed by none less than kingmaker Elvis Costello. When they’re not off playing outdoor festivals in Quebec or Minnesota, local heroes Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole play to overflow crowds at the Blue Moon Saloon just off of Lafayette’s main drag. Young Cajuns, weaned on punk and garage, have made enough noise with their fiddles and accordions to perk the ears of NPR’s Geoffery Himes, who, having caught a Pine Leaf Boys show at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest, wondered aloud whether Cajun string bands might break out and become the next big thing, î  la Mumford and Sons.

So it’s appropriate that, as a new generation begins to push Cajun music out of the provinces and onto the national stage, Tompkins Square has released this set from Amédé Ardoin, the Depression-era accordion player considered by most to be the godfather of both the Cajun and zydeco genres. Mama, I’ll Be Long Gone, which collects for the first time each of the thirty-four tracks recorded by Ardoin, ought to play the same role for young Cajun musicians that Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music did for Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Like many of the songs captured by Smith, Ardoin’s songs have entered what we might call the social domain; songs like “Two-Step de Eunice” and “Les Blues de Prison” have been passed around and reinterpreted for generations, and are genre standards.

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The Rolling Stones :: We Love You (Dandelion A-side)

Around this time last year I took on my first full assignment as music supervisor for filmmaker Robbie Pickering's Natural Selection. The film nabbed both the Grand Jury and Audience awards at SXSW Film in March. It also won best music. More on that later, as right now I want to share a song I've long had grouped in a folder of tunes I'd like to see placed in the context of a film; the Rolling Stones "We Love You."

The A . . .

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Jacqueline Taieb :: 7 Heures du Matin

Cut in 1967, "7 Heures du Matin" follows Jacqueline Taieb's morning as she fantasizes about Paul McCartney (though it's The Who's "My Generation" she riffs on) and spins Elvis records. While readily found on many a sixties Parisian girl-group and yé-yé compilations, might I recommend checking out Taieb's own become a member or log in.

Wheedle’s Groove :: The AD Interview

Filmmaker Jennifer Maas dedicated the last half of the decade chronicling the Seattle soul scene of the 1970s. Her efforts culminate in the new documentary Wheedle's Groove. A project that began following a meeting with Light In The Attic Records founder Matt Sullivan (whose 2004 Wheedle's Groove comp inspired the project) we caught up with Maas to get the skinny on her film and Seattle's all but extinct soul scene. After the interview, be sure to stick around for Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright's cover of "Jesus Christ Pose," found on the Wheedle's Groove: Kearney Barton LP.
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Aquarium Drunkard: Seattle. Not the first thing folks think of when referencing old soul and r&B. Prior to your move to Washington from Austin were you hip to the history of this scene?

Jennifer Maas: No they don't, and neither did I. In fact when I first moved to Seattle, the demographic was so different from what I was used to that I just kept on wondering where everybody was. Seattle is really amazing in a lot of ways, but I would say that the culture from fashion to politics feels more uniform than other places I've lived. It is a great place to sort of plunk down and be pretty much unchallenged in your outdoorsy progressive indie-rock-loving ways. That's certainly not a bad thing, but it's true.

AD: What initially sparked your interest in making the documentary?

Jennifer Maas: I interviewed Matt Sullivan at Light In The Attic Records for a documentary I was making about the infrastructure of a working music scene. I was interviewing record labels, radio DJs, club owners, and music journalists. Matt was probably my 6th interview and as soon as he started talking about this compilation of Seattle soul music that he was about to release, I knew that was going to be my movie. The record release party was a couple of weeks later, and I enlisted a few friends to help me film the event. Five years later, I had a movie.

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Lee Hazlewood :: Love and Other Crimes

Shortly after the release of the million-selling Nancy & Lee, Lee Hazlewood exercised his newfound clout with Reprise and headed to Paris to record a new solo album. Along for the ride were rhythm guitarist extraordinaire Donnie Owens and Wrecking Crew members James Burton, Hal Blaine, Chuck Berghofer, and Don Randi. If Hazlewood’s stream of consciousness notes on the back of the album are to be believed, they lived the life . . .

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Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban :: Drume Negrita

I'm a firm believer that sometimes you find songs and sometimes songs find you.

This one in particular found me last week while in New Orleans---at about 10:30 am---in the midst of nursing a bloody mary. Comprised of the stuff that seems to exist in some sort of twilight netherworld (not unlike Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk") "Drume Negrita" is culled from become a member or log in.

SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

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 193: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange ++ Disappears - Gone Completely ++ Lower Dens - A Dog's Dick ++ White Denim - I'd Have It Just The Way We Were ++ Eddie The Wheel - Nearsayerfive ++ Crystal Stilts - Precarious Stair ++ The Black Angels - Black Grease ++ Kurt Vile - Freeway ++ The Glands - I Can See . . .

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So Many Wizards :: Inner City

The reward of sticking with your favorite local acts as they find their voice is both thrilling and challenging. Being so, I'm happy to say Los Angeles's So Many Wizards have continued to craft their sound, perfecting their enigmatic blend of pop, rock, ballads and zany nuggets into a cohesive whole. While the entirety of their brief body of work has been enjoyable, on their new 7”, the maturity and honed sound is evident.

As a vocalist, Nima Kazerouni has grown completely comfortable in his voice, seamlessly moving from . . .

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Turquoise Wisdom: Heavy Summer Nights (A Mixtape)

Our guest DJ series returns this week with a second installment from our compadre Turquoise Wisdom. Currently based in Los Angeles, Cowie can be found DJing, collaborating with Rodarte and most recently working with producer Sunny Levine. Mixed straight from wax, the following collection is a must-have.

Hackamore Brick - Reachin'Al Stewart - In BrooklynThe Everly Bros - Lord Of The Manor (45 mix)Dory Previn - Lady With The BraidColin Hare - Underground . . .

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Michael Kiwanuka :: Tell Me A Tale

I was hipped to Michael Kiwanuka in Paris a couple of weeks back with only the caveat of "you're going to fucking love this." It's true, I do. I'll spare you the laundry list of influences only to say that it's about time someone picked up the torch from Terry Callier and Bill Withers. Highly recommended.
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Muddy Waters :: Electric Mud

Sometimes you need an album that kicks down the fucking door. This is one such album.

A little history: Electric Mud was produced by Marshall Chess and released in 1968 in part to rein in a new audience weaned on the burgeoning wave of psychedelic rock whose progenitors both aped and worshiped at the temple of Muddy Waters and his blues brethren. The results, depending on your age, vantage point and general attitude was . . .

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