Friday, during the first hour of the SIRIUS/XMU show, I am re-airing the Avi Buffalo session recorded last Fall at Infrasonic Sound Studios in Alhambra, CA. A stripped down set with Avi on guitar/vocals, and Rebecca Coleman on keys, the following three tracks present a different side of the group than the psychedelic pop found on the self-titled Sub Pop become a member or log in.
"Who are you?" "I am the Japanese Sandman." And so begins the 1957 Doo Wop jam that is "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am The Japanese Sandman)." I'm working on something that I realized needed a bit of context prior to my posting it on AD, so if you have yet to discover this forgotten Apollo Records gem, there is no time like the present. Dig.
MP3: The Cellos :: Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am The Japanese . . .
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The Love Language: "Heart To Tell" from their forthcoming Merge release, Libraries (July 13th).
MP3: The Love Language :: Heart To Tell
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(Sevens, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
"Arrow Through Me," off 1980's Back To The Egg, finds McCartney dipping into his Stevie Wonder bag of tricks, employing both a laid back, slightly gruff, low-end Michael McDonald coupled with a high falsetto. All good, but what really sets the track apart, and grounds it . . .
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Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits go together like, well, a shot bourbon and a glass of beer. But you already knew that. Back when I was still doing free-form radio, downtown, prior to the show on SIRIUS, I would occasionally air Tom Waits' riff (as DJ Lee "Baby" Sims) to John Lurie, from Jarmusch's Down By Law,
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As promised, continuing with the New Orleans related posts during Jazz Fest, here are two Meters shows from 1977 that I’ve posted several times since 2005. Call it tradition.
I acquired the following 1977 Meters show in 2000 (along with the Showboat Lounge show further down the page) from a friend; both on CD-R. At the time---and this . . .
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The Fantastic Expedition is one of the world's greatest country rock albums, ahead of its time and seriously overlooked even today. I would take it over Sweetheart of the Rodeo any day, as it's my favorite piece of magic from the Byrds' best songwriter, Gene Clark.
Doug Dillard and Gene Clark, after leaving their respective acts (Dillards and Byrds), teamed . . .
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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 138: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Jacuzzi Boys - Island Avenue ++ Sex Pistols - Submission ++ T. Rex - Lean Woman Blues ++ The Cramps - New Kind of Kick ++ Arthur Russell - A Little Lost ++ Thurston Moore - Ono Soul ++ The Breeders - Fortunately Gone ++ Grass Widow - Celebrate The Mundane ++ Turbo Fruits - Trouble! ++ The . . .
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(Sevens, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
Roky Erickson is among the most tortured of our pop ingénues. The Austin singer-songwriter, founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators, and arguable founder of psychedelic rock, is a casualty of the sixties’ oft-ignored fallout; Erickson reportedly took LSD over 300 times in the sixties, was . . .
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Ahoy there. I featured this rare 1978 live recording, from the Montreux Jazz Festival, on AD in October of 2005 as part of the original Live Upload Series. I suspect a good many of you were not following the blog way back then, so with New Orleans' Jazz Fest on the horizon I'm re-upping it here. I have several live "albums" from this New Orleans piano master, and Live @ Montreux is by far the best. Very raw arrangements with Booker backed by a loose pick-up band that just swings. Spiders on keys, indeed.
If you're unfamiliar with James Booker and/or traditional New Orleans piano-based music, this set, some Dr. John and a Professor Longhair collection are a fine introduction. I've long had an affinity for this stuff and will be posting some other choice, related, nuggets leading up to fest so stay tuned. Booker was the king---fucked up, yes---but the king nonetheless. Brilliant. If you can find it (as it's often out-of-print) read the Booker excerts in the Dr. John biography "Under a Hoodoo Moon." Wild/fascinating tales.
The below video of Booker performing “Papa Was A Rascal” is taken either from a French television performance from the same year – presumably from the same tour – or from the Montreux session itself. The exact date of the performance is up for debate among fans.
DOWNLOAD:
MP3: James Booker :: Medley: Pretty Baby/Winin’ Boy Blues
MP3: James Booker :: Pixie
MP3: James Booker :: Medley: Penny Lane/I Saw Her Standing There
MP3: James Booker :: True
MP3: James Booker :: The Long Last Laugh
MP3: James Booker :: Junco Partner
MP3: James Booker :: Look What I’ve Got
MP3: James Booker :: Medley: Tipitina/The Grass Looks Greener
MP3: James Booker :: Papa Was A Rascal
MP3: James Booker :: Let’s Make A Better World
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Interview with John Hallstrom & Legs McNeil of New York's Punk Magazine by Stephen MacLean from Flashez, 1977. Ref. Radio Birdman, Patti Smith, Saints, Ramones, Television, anti-intellectualism et al.
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Welcome to the fourth installment of an irregular series in which I highlight some of my favorite voices online and beyond. Thus far we've featured sets by Raven Sings The Blues, Ponytone and, most recently, L.A.'s Turquoise Wisdom. Today we head back east, to Brooklyn, to catch up with Cold Splinters' Jeff Thrope. Cold Splinters, as all the best blogs do, excels in creating an entire world within its digital framework. Aesthetically it resides somewhere between 1974 and 2010. Riffing on everything from discontinued climbing gear and forgotten trail heads, to Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux, CS is a daily read. Consider Cold Splinters, the mixtape, its aural counterpart.
Thrope is my guest this Friday during the second hour of my SIRIUS XMU show. Grab this mix, bookmark his site and if you're in Brooklyn, do check our his new recording/performing project Ocotillo.
After the jump...Cold Splinters — A Mixtape.
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Poet, lover, troubadour, heartbreaker, songsmith...Memphian. Harlan T. Bobo's third LP, Sucker, was released last week on Goner Records. We previewed the album's final track, the Franco-phile"Mlle-Chatte," in February. Courtesy . . .
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Next Tuesday night, April 27th, Aquarium Drunkard presents Dr. Dog at the Henry Fonda Theater with special guests Deer Tick. We're giving away four pairs of tickets for the show. To enter for a pair: in the comments below leave your name (and an email address we can reach you at) along with your most listened to Dr. Dog LP (not including
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Radar Bros. or Radar Brothers, the group's focal point has, and always will be, Jim Putnam. Just prior to SXSW we caught up with the re-tooled, and newly christened, "Brothers" for an Aquarium Drunkard session at bassist Be Hussey's Glendale studio. The band worked through four tracks off their new Merge Records release become a member or log in.