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Wilco (The Near Miss)

(Several months ago Jeff Leven, whose byline you'll recognize if you're a Paste reader, and I were discussing music and that of young fandom.   Leven told me a great story, from his college days in the '90s, related to Wilco, the power of an album, meeting your idols...and the days of fax machines.   With 'Wilco (The Album') now on shelves, Leven decided to share his tale here on AD.   Enjoy)

The Fabulous Satellite Lounge in Houston, Texas scurried at the frayed edges of Austin’s shadow.   Literally on the wrong side of the tracks on the deader side of downtown’s outermost sprawl, it was housed in what I was always told was an old bank building.   Rockefeller’s — the upmarket showcase club next door — lived in relative opulence in what used to be the bank lobby, while the Satellite, was, unequivocally, what used to be the vault.   Décor consisted of a few oil lights spiraling against the concrete, and the bar ate half of the ample floor space.   If my teenage bedroom was the cauldron where my obsession with music was concocted, for a time the Satellite was one of my most consistent markets for new ingredients.   In a town where the glint of new oil money had slapped fresh varnish across the face of the innumerable strip malls that sprung out of the prairie mile-by-mile across an astounding radius, the Satellite was soulfully dank, that slight bit lonesome and thrillingly almost urban.   It wasn’t a scene per se - there was a mild teenage punk rock scrum at a few venues well up the street.   The classic Townes n’ blues scene had all but died, only to occasionally revisit Rockefeller’s for $50 a ticket.   The Geto Boys were about at their peak but well off my radar.   Occasionally you’d catch Billy Gibbons buying floppies at the Compuserve near the Galleria.   But most of the time you’d drive and drive through the humid wall of air blaring Rush’s “Subdivisions” on KLOL and wondering how a trio of Canadians had so well figured out a place where they undoubtedly had never spent more than a week.   So when the Satellite stumbled into its mid 90s alt country booking jag, it was a slapdash stroke of small “d” destiny.

I never saw Wilco at the Satellite.   The Internet tells me they played there, apparently including the night of my 18th birthday, and then again the next November.   Instead I saw Son Volt.

Continue Reading After The Jump....

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AD Presents :: Son Volt/Cowboy Junkies, LA 7/16

Next Thursday, July 16th, Aquarium Drunkard presents Son Volt and Cowboy Junkies live at The Wiltern in L.A.   Son Volt are touring behind American Central Dust their new LP released last week on Rounder Records.

We are giving away a bunch . . .

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SIRIUS/XM Radio :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

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

SIRIUS 102: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ The Tallest Man On Earth - I Won't Be Found ++ Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 ++ Guided By Voices - Are You Faster ++ The Olivia Tremor Control - Memories of Jacqueline 1906 ++ Pylon - Cool ++ Talking Heads - Born . . .

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Yim Yames :: Long, Long, Long (Harrison Tribute)

Last week I was working on an acoustic-based folk playlist for my show on SIRIUS/XM.   Halfway through I wound up scrapping it as my mood changed, and if music is anything it is mood. The second track, following The Tallest Man Alive, was Jim James' cover of the Beatles "Long, Long, Long" which was just released this week on Tribute To, his tribute to the late George Harrison.

Recorded in 2001 . . .

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The Baptist Generals :: No Silver/No Gold

File under: New to me.   Denton, TX outfit The Baptist Generals released No Silver/No Gold on Sub Pop in 2003, but I didn't catch wind of it until this May while visiting a friend in Atlanta. While definitely not an . . .

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The Emitt Rhodes Recordings :: 1969-1973

The first time I heard Emitt Rhodes self-titled debut LP from 1970 I must have listened to it, and it alone, for a straight for a week.   It's that kind of album.   Recorded in Rhodes' home studio the album is a near perfect piece of unabashed McCartney influenced pop.   Recording to four track tape, writing all of his own material and playing all of the instruments, the album has that indescribable intimacy . . .

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Spriral Stairs :: Maltese Terrier (MP3)

I twittered about this bit of Pavement related news a couple of weeks ago, but in case you missed it...Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs, is set to release his solo debut October 20th via Matador Records. Note this is not to be confused with Kannberg's initial post-Pavement project Preston School of Industry.

Release Details: Following an extended sojourn in Melbourne, Spiral returned to Seattle rejuvenated at the . . .

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Neil Young :: A Perfect Echo Vol II – Pt 1 of 2

In the spirit of the residual frenzy surrounding the release of volume one of Neil's archives, we continue with the Neil Young reposts.   Below is part 1 of 2, of Volume II, of the Perfect Echo compilation chronicling the years 1978-1984. Stay tuned for part two.
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For those interested in the back story, here are notes on the series via sharing the groove:

"Braden Strickler has done it again. He's compiled and lovingly mastered, almost exclusively from soundboard recordings, an 8-DISC SET which runs chronologically from August 1967 to January 2001. It's like an expanded version of the "Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy" concept, but with far superior sound.

This is a compilation of soundboard recordings from 1967-2001. The term soundboard is a bit of a misnomer. By soundboard I mean, basically, not an audience recording. Some are true soundboards, while others are FM, TV, ALD, or video-sourced recordings. The recordings were all taken from cdrs or videos that are circulating in the trading community. There are a total of 115 tracks (109 songs, as 6 get repeated). Some years were heavy with available recordings (1976 and 1989 come to mind). I tried to balance the set by not using too many songs from a single show. The entire 8 discs run in, roughly, chronological order.

+ Tracks removed per Neil Young's attorney's request......

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Diversions :: Roadside Graves on Roger Miller

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

Below Roadside Graves principles, John Gleason and Jeremy Benson, discuss their introduction, and relationship, with the late great (and vastly underrated) Roger Miller. The band just recently sold out their album release show at Pianos in NYC and will be embarking on . . .

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Neil Young :: A Perfect Echo Vol. I – Pt 2

Below is the second half of the Neil Young soundboard-derived live collection A Perfect Echo Vol. I. capturing the years 1974 - 1976.   The first half can be found here. For those interested in the back story, here are notes on the series via sharing the groove:

"Braden Strickler has done it again. He's compiled and lovingly mastered, almost exclusively from soundboard recordings, an 8-DISC SET which runs chronologically from August 1967 to January 2001. It's like an expanded version of the "Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy" concept, but with far superior sound.

This is a compilation of soundboard recordings from 1967-2001. The term soundboard is a bit of a misnomer. By soundboard I mean, basically, not an audience recording. Some are true soundboards, while others are FM, TV, ALD, or video-sourced recordings. The recordings were all taken from cdrs or videos that are circulating in the trading community. There are a total of 115 tracks (109 songs, as 6 get repeated). Some years were heavy with available recordings (1976 and 1989 come to mind). I tried to balance the set by not using too many songs from a single show. The entire 8 discs run in, roughly, chronological order.

+ Tracks removed per Neil Young’s attorney’s request……

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SIRIUS/XM Radio :: Aquarium Drunkard Show

Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XM, channel 26 (SIRIUS), and channel 43 (XM), can now be heard twice, every Friday - Noon EST and then an encore broadcast at Midnight EST. Below is this week’s playlist.

SIRIUS 101: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Destroyer - My Favourite Year ++ St. Vincent - Actor Out of Work ++ Circulatory System - Overjoyed ++ Ruby Suns - Blue Penguin ++ Blair - Rampage ++ Foreign Born - That Old Sun ++ Dump - Raspberry Beret ++ Wilco - Car Can't Escape ++ Dirty . . .

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Well Hung :: ’60s Communist Hungarian Funk

When I'm asked "so, what are you listening to these days?" more often than not, the answer regularly involves some sort of compilation, sanctioned or otherwise, ranging from dancehall, dub, French pop, tropicalia, Ethiopian hybrid jazz/funk to '60s garage-rock, freakbeat, obscure soul and weird psych comps from yesteryear.   While I will always be an admirer of the album format, these collections, in terms of gathering up the one-offs and interesting curios, consistently deliver (see labels: Soul Jazz, become a member or log in.

Wilco (The Album)

Starting with “Wilco (The Song),” which sounds like an upbeat inverse of the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man,” Wilco announce their intentions quickly on Wilco (The Album).   “Do you dabble in depression?” Jeff Tweedy asks, and it’s not the question itself that’s new for Wilco–far . . .

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