Reissued last year via Mississippi Records, slip into this long out-of-print South African spiritual jazz LP from 1971. A songwriter, bandleader and pianist, Ndikho Xaba relocated from South Africa for San Francisco in 1964, falling in with the likes of Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra . . .
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Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com. In this month’s bag: out-of-print albums, new versus ‘old’ music, a Bicycle Day query from New Zealand, record store strategies and more . . .
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Weird times, strange signals. Reverberating from the hills of Glassell Park, California, welcome to episode twelve of the Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show.
Feat: Cass McCombs | Jon McKiel | Quilt | Sean Thompson's Weird Ears | Triptides | Hollow Hand | Amen Dunes . . .
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... the result is Williamson’s lovely Time Ain’t Accidental, an album that balances the lilting heartbreak of classic country with the fresh, modern sound of pop. The songs are restless and yearning, powered by the ache for change and movement. They are gorgeously simple sounding but subtly sophisticated, showcasing Williamson’s clear, pure, vibrato laced voice . . .
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Summer crate staple right here. All propers to Mr. Bongo for the initial hip, as featured on the third volume of their ongoing vinyl mixtape series. Brazil, 1972 . . .
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Recorded over four weeks in Adam Halliwell’s home of Melbourne, Freedom Lapse is inspired by a trip Halliwell made to Mexico shortly before the pandemic. In the liners, Halliwell describes his travels “winding through villages” of the mountains of Mexico, “drenched in color,” a place where “the past, present and future stretch out in one place.” This pliability of time and place is central to the magnetic pace of the album’s six tracks . . .
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Recorded in 1971, and released two years later via ECM, Keith Jarrett's collaboration with drummer Jack DeJohnette marks one of the last times the keyboardist would flex electric. Fresh off his two year stint behind the boards in Miles Davis's electric band, Ruta and Daitya features seven duets produced by label head Manfred Eicher. With a palette skirting between sinuous electric funk and acoustic washes of percussion, flute and piano, the forty-one minute runtime does well to maintain a cohesive identity without feeling aesthetically schizophrenic . . .
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RF Shannon's new album Red Swan in Palmetto, out May 26th on Keeled Scales, finds the band exploring swampier parts of their native Texas. Gone is the wide open, desert-tinged sound of past albums; what has emerged is knottier and more enigmatic. Songwriter Shane Renfro talks to us about the long process of recording the new album and how he uses songwriting to explore and get closer to his natural surroundings . . .
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Signifying a momentum shift in the influence of Brian Wilson, the nineties to early aughts saw a handful of curious, if not downright mysterious Beach Boys/Brian Wilson tribute compilations. With eclectic, avant-garde artists and names like Smiles, Vibes & Harmony, these comps began to emerge intermittently. Spurred by interest in the legendary abandoned Smile project reaching a fever pitch, these hidden relics provide fascinating insights frozen in time. All these decades later, artists of all varieties continue to look at that specific era's creative burst and beyond for endless inspiration. To quote the promotional description for the Japanese . . .
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On May 26, Aquarium Drunkard and Org Music present Jesus People Music Vol. 2. Culled from the BlackForrestry’s AD mixtapes of obscure ’60s and ’70s Jesus People psych, rock, folk, and country. In advance of this collection’s release, we’re presenting its liner notes, written by Jason P. Woodbury . . .
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Funky crudités. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .
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We're pleased to welcome Alex Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay on today's episode. Together, they have created a tremendous and deeply entertaining new book about one of Aquarium Drunkard's favorite bands: Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors From The Songs of Steely Dan . . .
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Glen Brigman, the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Southern California band Triptides, has been dabbling in variations of adjacent genres throughout the band’s nine album tenure. The band, and Brigman, continue to gracefully evolve from their bleached surf rock roots, through their wandering psychedelia breadth. Now, fresh off the heels of last year’s melodic, Heartbreakers-esque release So Many Days, Brigman draws from our collective past, both literally and sonically, to craft Triptide’s most recent LP, Starlight . . .
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Like its lead character, Sling Blade walks a fine line between mishandling sentimentality and portraying somber reality. But its characters are never caricatures, transcending tropes with an often excruciating amount of empathy and depth, none more so than Billy Bob Thornton as the tortured Karl Childers . . .
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When I’m listening to Lael Neale’s new album Star Eater’s Delight, it makes me think of the duality of “resistance.” There’s resistance in the sense of restraint: the songs are skeletal, tenuously built on Neale’s hovering voice, unchanging drum machine, Guy Blakeslee’s minimalist guitar scribbles, and the Omnichord, which drones and decorates the edges. There are no . . .
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