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Transmissions :: Surya Botofasina

"At this point, I feel that the music I want to be a part of at least, is a music, a sound, a frequency that advocates and promotes some sort of introspection, back to the here and now." This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions: spiritual avant-garde jazz keyboardist Surya Botofasina, who joins us to discuss Everyone’s Children and growing up in Alice Coltrane's spiritual community in the Santa Monica Mountains . . .

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Bill Evans :: Live Footage 1964-1975

Via fan compiled live footage of several sets spanning 1964 to 1975, the meditative grace of Bill Evans. Sweden. France. Denmark. Transcendent . . .

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Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra (1961)

What makes Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra so salient – so casually charming and endearing – is that it belongs to a singular night. It’s not only a live performance, but a sonic documentation of an evening spent at the Alhambra in Chicago . . .

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Fruit Bats

On the heels of their exceptional tenth LP, A River Running To Your Heart, Eric D. Johnson's long-running Fruit Bats return to AD with their second Lagniappe Session. While the 2014 entry found Johnson and co. covering the likes of Richard and Linda Thompson (along with '80s avatar Joe Jackson), this new installment pays tribute to both the lyricism of Ewan MacColl and Fred Neil as well as the enduring nature of the chosen pair of tunes. Giants, both . . .

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Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2

After a few more prolific years as a perpetually in-demand session player, Spencer Cullum's highly anticipated sophomore record is another gleaming display of folk beauty and avant-pop sensibilities. A sorcerer of the pedal steel guitar, the Nashville-via-England musician brings a fresh new approach on the heels of contributing to the sessions of the likes of Angel Olsen's Big Time. The breezy, pastoral atmosphere of an Essex countryside still permeates Coin Collection 2, where the minimalist hums of harp, mandolin and cello flow from a theoretical, cozy pub. All the while, Cullum's vocals shine . . .

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Angel Olsen :: Forever Means

A year on from Big Time, Angel Olsen revisits four songs from that startlingly beautiful full-length’s sessions, paring back to classic country essentials in two pristine ballads and rocking out in a pair of full-band recordings . . .

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Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: April 16, 2023

Coming in hot like mercury. Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard. Gentle drifts, upward shifts, and who knows what else in between. This month, resident DJ Chad Depasquale digs up a blend of funk, country, soul, and folk music—let yourself wander with New Happy Gathering. Next, Jason Woodbury’s desert sojourn Range and Basin after the end of the world. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb with Tyler Wilcox. Some old stuff, some new stuff. All golden! And to close, a special mix from James Adams, a special presentation of Pretty Good Stuff: Bob Dylan in Japan. Airs on dublab . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

Outré California. 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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Transmissions :: Eddie Chacon

In 1992, Eddie Chacon broke out as one-half of Charles & Eddie. Chacon was just a kid growing up in Castro Valley, California, when he decided he would be a music star. These days, he’s making oracular, synth driven soul music that draws equally on the mile deep grooves of Sly Stone’s drum machine and the cosmic synth hymns of Alice Coltrane. His latest album is called Sundown, out now from Stones Throw . . .

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Brenda Sauter (The Feelies, Wild Carnation) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

After The Feelies splintered, bassist Brenda Sauter formed Wild Carnation. Tricycle, Wild Carnation’s 1994 debut, is an under-heralded classic of Garden State folk rock. Feelies fans will find plenty to love — and much more. Tricycle is getting deservedly spruced up in a remastered/expanded form by Delmore Recordings for Record Store Day this month, so Aquarium Drunkard hopped on the phone with Sauter to get the behind-the-scenes details. Like any good New Jersey saga, it features Maxwell’s, Yo La Tengo and a Sopranos cast member . . .

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Steve Gunn and David Moore :: Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet

We last caught Steve Gunn and Bing & Ruth’s David Moore together on Gunn’s Nakama EP, the 2021 disc where the guitarist reimagined five cuts from that same year’s Other You with various collaborators. In an alternate version of “Reflection” Gunn and the minimalist composer expanded and extended conventional song structure but didn’t abandon it entirely. This new joint effort is far more open-ended, letting splayed guitar chords and clear, uncomplicated piano notes glance off one another in a gentle ebb and flow . . .

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The Water Bearer’s Jar :: The Esoteric Jazz Rock of Steve Hillage

Among certain sectors, Steve Hillage will always be known as the “exhibit A’” cosmic hippie rock guitar virtuoso. But part of what made his 1970s work so original was the degree to which his band cross pollinated guitar with synthesizer. Exploring esoteric topics, far out symbolism, and awash in aquatic cosmic tides, Hillage created a body of mystic jazz rock . . .

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Royal Arctic Institute :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Hovering somewhere in the middle distance between ambient country, noir jazz, and post-rock bliss, New York instrumental group Royal Arctic Institute returns with From Coma to Catharsis. Recorded in collaboration with James McNew of Yo La Tengo, the new album sounds, to quote AD's Tyler Wilcox, something like "Tortoise covering Santo & Johnny." John Leon of RAI joins us to discuss . . .

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North Americans :: Long Cool World

Long Cool World by ambient country duo North Americans—guitarist Patrick McDermott and pedal steel wizard Barry Walker Jr—unfolds slowly, stretching time nearly to the point of dissolve, ushering in melodies like spring crocuses after a thaw. The peals and textures of Walker’s steel entwine with McDermott’s own gentle picking with a synergy that reveals each player to be of the same diamond mind . . .

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Shizuka :: Heavenly Persona

The Black Editions label continues to do the lord’s work. In recent years, they’ve been digging through the archives of legendary Japanese psych label P.S.F., giving new life to some truly great and often lesser-known records. The latest is Heavenly Persona, the only studio album from Shizuka, which was released on CD back in 1994. A remarkable record — try to imagine Les Rallizes Dénudés making a record with Hope Sandoval and you’re somewhere in the ballpark . . .

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