Two decades after its network demise, Twin Peaks fervor has once again gripped Los Angeles of late; most recently in the form of this month's In the Trees: Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary Art Exhibition at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown LA. All manner of the cult show's eccentricities were on hand, from the slavish near-worship of coffee and pie to works by Lynch himself. See the pieces, online,
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Spiritualized :: Lazer Guided Melodies / Revisited
Lazer Guided Melodies, the gorgeous debut album from space-rock pioneers Spiritualized, gets a well-deserved reissue. As unflashy and traditional as the packaging looks it still reminds me of the floating ghosts that inhabit each song, and I imagine those centerpieces to be Jason Pierce and Kate Radley as their relationship is the album’s central focus. You can also take comfort in knowing that the . . .
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Sevens :: Alex Chilton – My Rival
(Sevens, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
There is an understood snarl to much of Alex Chilton's latter work beginning with Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers. While it was certainly detectable on the group's first two LPs, it was in no way so pronounced...so visceral. "My Rival," culled from Chilton's 1979 solo debut, become a member or log in.
The Los Angeles Gospel Choir: The Gospel According To Dylan
Of the many, many tribute albums concerning the Dylan catalog, The Gospel According To Dylan stands as one of the most coherent. Produced and directed by Lou Adler at Sound Recorders in Hollywood, this 1969 set by The Los Angeles Gospel Choir takes the bard's material and works it from the fairly straight up and down renditions of the two tracks below to the full gospel workout of the 18 and 23 minute versions of "All Along The Watchtower" and "C
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Lucinda Williams :: The AD Interview
After more than three decades, there's not a lot that hasn't been said about Lucinda Williams' music. A towering figure in the genre of alt-country and roots-rock, her albums, dating all the way back to 1979's Ramblin', full of her literate and emotive songwriting have been a consistent presence, even if she hasn't always released albums in a consistent manner. 1998's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road marked the beginning of a much more regular release of albums and on March 1st of this year Williams will release her tenth studio LP, Blessed. Lucinda Williams sat down with Aquarium Drunkard via phone to talk about the new album, working with Don Was and Elvis Costello, how themes are a tough thing to nail down sometimes and why she probably shouldn't read blog comments about her own records.
Aquarium Drunkard: The new record, Blessed, will be out here on March 1st, your first record since 2008. That's a bit longer than between your previous records this decade, but I also heard you went on a bit of a writing spree for this album.
Lucinda Williams: Yeah and it was going to come out earlier, but we ended up remixing it with Bob Clearmountain. Then it was remastered and the artwork took a little bit longer.
AD: Why'd you end up remastering and remixing it?
Lucinda Williams: We got Don Was on board and one of the reasons was that we wanted to know what he thought. We wanted another set of ears and his influence. The opportunity presented itself and one of the things he suggested, after we had it all mixed, he said "you know, is it okay if we send a couple of tracks to my buddy, Bob Clearmountain, to remix," and we said, yeah, sure, that's why you're on board. So we sent them, got them back and knew then that we needed to have him remix the album and it pushed everything up a couple of notches. I'm very pleased with the sound.
AD: It's a rich sounding record. There were a number of records in the earlier part of the 2000s that were more loose sounding, working with a set studio band. Maybe Don Was has been more sympathetic to the sound you were looking for?
Lucinda Williams: Yeah, that's why we wanted to get him in there. We didn't want to make the same record twice. The last album it was Tom [Overby] and Eric [Liljestrand], our engineer, and me. We met Don at this Neil Young tribute thing about a year ago. Don was in the house band and I was performing and we were hanging out back stage and initially hit it off. When we got ready to go do the album, Tom talked to me about "what do you think about bringing Don Was on board?" And Don was real excited about doing it. We were familiar with the stuff he'd done. I loved the Kris Kristofferson albums that he did, the production on those. He has such a varied background musically, the stuff he's done with the Stones and all that. One of the things Don said as we were going in was "no matter what goes on, musically, as we're recording, I want everything to revolve around Lucinda's vocals." And that was the right thing to say. I knew I was in good hands. That's one of the most important things for me, to have the lyrics right out there.
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Drive-By Truckers :: Go-Go Boots
Nine studio albums and a decade and a half into their career, the Drive-By Truckers have created their own mythology; a mythology that is at once self-contained yet continually feeding off the external world. Some might call it folklore. Explicit at times, but more often than not, subtle, the ever-expanding web the Truckers weave via their albums is one of nuance---shades of light and dark that often touch on the 'duality' highlighted on their breakout LP, 2001's Southern Rock Opera. To understand . . .
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The Band :: Genuine Bootleg Series 4: Crossing The Great Divide
The Band's Genuine Bootleg Series 4: Crossing The Great Divide.
"3 CD The Band bootleg released in 1997, not to be confused with the official Across the Great Divide box set. This is the third release in The Genuine Bootleg Series, for some reason sub-titled Take 4. The two first bootleg boxes, The Genuine Bootleg Series, and The Genuine Bootleg Series, Take 2, were mainly filled with Dylan material. Take 4 only . . .
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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 181: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Arif Sag - Sun Samsunun Evleri ++ William Sheller - Exitissimo ++ Ersen - Gonese Don Cicegim ++ Nina Simone - Save Me (Aretha Franklin) ++ Creation - Making Time ++ Jacques Dutronc - On Nous Cache Tout, On Nous Dit Rien ++ The Rolling Stones - She Smiled Sweetly ++ T. Rex - Mambo . . .
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Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: Sebadoh Performing Bakesale
Next Friday at the Echoplex, February 25th, Aquarium Drunkard presents Sebadoh performing their 1994 classic Bakesale in its entirety. We have several pairs of tickets for ya'll. To land a pair leave a note below with your favorite Bakesale jam, your name and an email we can contact you with per tickets. Winners chosen at random---tickets held at will-call . . .
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Diversions :: Telekinesis/Vintage Automobiles
(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)
Those of you who have owned, or by proxy know someone who has owned a vintage automobile, are aware that it's not just a ride to get you from point A to B. Instead, it is an investment---one of both time and money. An investment that comes with its own share of frustrations, repairs, expensive bills and other unforeseen events. The flip-side is that it's not just a ride to get you from point A to B. It's your baby. Telekinesis' Michael Lerner knows this. Below, the Seattle based power-popper waxes on his vintage BMW 2002 (pictured above). Lerner's new Telekinesis LP, 12 Desperate Straight Lines, dropped this week via MERGE Records.
I can't exactly remember when my love affair for the BMW 2002 came about. I just remember when it came time to start thinking about driving, I was hell bent on getting one as my first car. I would scour eBay after getting home from school, and send links of amazing finds to my Mom and Dad. Hinting, of course, but really screaming out to them that I had to have one! I was obsessed. It wasn't hard to convince my dad that these were cars worthy of my interest, him being a BMW nut himself and all. So, he would quell my fantasies by telling me all about the 2002, and how they were the cars that saved BMW from going out of business.
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Ambulance LTD :: Arbuckle’s Swan Song
With "Arbuckle's Swan Song," Brooklyn genre-benders, Ambulance LTD, somehow teleport back to Los Angeles, circa 1975, expertly capturing a whiff of the city's laissez-faire hedonism. Culled from the band's New English EP, the track was included in our LA Burnout 2 . . .
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Telekinesis :: 12 Desperate Straight Lines
When Michael Lerner recorded the self-titled Telekinesis debut, it was full of travel imagery, of wishes to be with someone he was separated from and the listlessness of constantly wanting to be elsewhere. The follow-up,become a member or log in.
Bill Fox :: Over And Away She Goes
I worked as the music supervisor for my friend's upcoming film, Natural Selection (it premieres at SXSW/Film should you find yourself in Austin next month). While I couldn't find a spot for Bill Fox's "Over And Away She Goes," the track has long been on my short list of tunes that I've been expecting to pop up in "the next" indie/quirky/comedy. Charming like a bedroom recorded Ray Davies, it's surely only a matter of time.
MP3 . . .
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Jim White :: Sounds of the Americans
If I were performing a play titled The Americans, I'd want Jim White to write the score for it as well. It just makes sense to have one of the great songwriting documentarians of the weird, wonderful, holy and sacrilegious aspects of the American South on board to document something with as broad a title as The Americans: Part 1: The Lay of the Land. The play, based on the collected works of Sam Shepherd, was performed at the Juliard Drama School in February of 2010 and White, along with Dan Nettles, composed a set . . .
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Shuggie Otis :: Freedom Flight
The oldest cliché in rock is the casualty list. There are the high-profile heroes of misadventure: Buddy Holly, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan. There are those that couldn’t handle success and took the ultimate way out: Nick Drake, Kurt Cobain. But perhaps saddest of all are those huge talents who unaccountably chose simply to fade into obscurity, often in self-imposed seclusion: Brian Wilson, Peter Green, Emitt Rhodes...and Shuggie Otis.
Johnnie Velotes Jr was a precocious musical polymath. Son of extrovert jump . . .
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