Posts

Soft Machine :: Live At Jazz Bilzen

Dig into this priceless footage of Soft Machine performing an early take of Robert Wyatt's magnum opus, "Moon in June". With bassist Hugh Hopper rounding out the trio (following the departure of Kevin Ayers), this Wyatt/Ratledge/Hopper line-up is the force behind Volume Two and "Moon in June" landing spot, Third, in which the band plunged further into merging obtuse psychedelia with their singular brew of jazz fusion. Joined by the likes of the Ornette Coleman Quartet, Shocking Blue and Keith Jarrett, Jazz Bilzen might have been the perfect setting for the peak of this seminal trio . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Chico Lessa :: S/T

Chico Lessa's debut record, a post-Tropicalia jazz-funk private press release from 1982, has just been reissued by the Madrid-based label Vampisoul. It retains influences from the popular Brazilian funk of the early 1980s, from the then-somewhat-defunct Clube da Esquina scene (whose conductor Wagner Tiso is a center feature of the record), as well as from the exploratory and dissonant MPB of Boca Livre (whose mastermind Maurício Maestro signs the arrangements here). A bright little gem in an otherwise uneventful career that, much like the recent rediscoveries of José Mauro or Hareton Salvanini, makes . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Television :: Tell A Vision

A reluctant farewell to Tom Verlaine, who helped define (and then quickly transcended) the NYC punk scene of the 1970s, inspiring countless groups through the decades.

We’ll likely have more to say about the man in the days/weeks to come, but in the meantime, here’s an hour’s worth of Television covers stretching from the 1970s on through the present day, putting a spotlight on the impact the band had on the generations of artists that followed in their wake . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Old Fire :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

On John Mark Lapham’s second release under the moniker Old Fire Voids, the musician and filmmaker creates a sprawling and meditative odyssey through the darkest corners of the West Texas towns that continues to spark his imagination. A guest-filled journey with vocal and lyrical contributions by Bill Callahan, Adam Torres, Emily Cross and Julia Holter, Lapham pulls elements from post-rock, avant-country, spiritual jazz, and murky drones to soundtrack eroding structures that cast shadows in the desert for nefarious characters to hide . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Journey To Inner Space With The Groundhogs

Built on stones laid down by John Lee Hooker, Tony "T.S." McPhee's The Groundhogs were labeled “post-blues” by the rock & roll press of the late '60s and '70s. The band was farther out than Cream, and they tapped into an end-of-flower-power darkness like a less disdainful The Doors, and shared the medieval attitude of Ladbroke Grove bands like Deviants, Pink Fairies, or Hawkwind. but their journey to Inner Space reflects entirely unique concerns . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

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

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 . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Transmissions :: James McNew (Yo La Tengo, Dump)

James McNew of Yo La Tengo and Dump joins us to discuss This Stupid World, the 25th anniversary of his Prince covers album, the influence of Sun Ra, playing with Yoko Ono, and more . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

King Tuff :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

King Tuff's newest album, Smalltown Stardust, looks back fondly on the place where Kyle Thomas grew up, couching sunny melodies in soft 1960s psychedelia and folk arrangements. In this interview, we talked about small town life Vermont-style and the experiences that shaped Thomas.“ When there’s nothing to do, you kind of make it up. You’ve got to figure out how to fill the time. We would go play music together or just hang out,” he recalls.“I do think that boredom is a huge part of creativity . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Thomas Almqvist :: Nyanser

Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Almqvist's 1979 debut, Nyanser, is a Nordic masterpiece of folk, fusion, and world music. A guitarist first and foremost, he plays the record largely himself, his patient and winding passages often leading the sojourn across the album’s majestic thirty-eight minutes. He also lends his hand at Rhodes, flute, synthesizer, tabla, bass drum, Amadinda, and all manners of percussion, the virtuosity of his playing spiritedly matched with the fervent erasure of genre—flowing freely between folk, jazz fusion, synth-pop, new age guitar, and heady dives into percussive, tribal chants . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Vintage Vs. Modern Audio Gear | Insight from Cambridge Audio

Have you been keeping up with our Mailbag series? Last month a reader submitted a question in regard to our stance on hi-fi. Digging in a little deeper, we caught up with our friend Matt Reilly, of the UK based Cambridge Audio, in regard to gear - specifically, new vs. vintage . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Eddie Chacon :: Step By Step

Like a duck gliding over water, synth-soul maestro Eddie Chacon returns with "Step By Step," another taste of his forthcoming record Sundown, out March 31st on Stones Throw Records. Produced by John Carroll Kirby, it oozes spaced-out bliss . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Bobbie Lovesong :: On The Wind

After catching our attention when it first appeared on Bandcamp back in 2021, Bobbie Lovesong’s debut gets a welcome rerelease on vinyl via Woodsist. A work of both solitude and harmony, On The Wind is an “hallucinatory sonic love letter” to Taos, New Mexico, where Lovesong (aka Madelyn Strutz) lived communally with a small group of musicians during lockdown in 2020. It’s a perfectly played hand of desert solitaire, full of dreamy 60s- inspired pop and woozy instrumentals that pass through the clouds of your mind like lysergic vapor trails against the cosmic American sky . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Videodrome :: Lady In A Cage (1964)

If Lady In A Cage presents a worldview, it’s decidedly misanthropic. Footage of baseball games and fighter jets are juxtaposed with heinous news reports and acts of savagery. This is America in decline, blissfully aware of its ignorance but unwilling to confront the nightmares its pacification has spawned . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

The Tropicals :: Urubamba

Originally released in 1972, The Tropicals’ Urubamba was, until recently, a deeply rare collection of the experimental library sounds of Italian composers Giancarlo Barigozzi aka Ginazzi & Oscar Rocchi aka Chiarosi. An album delighting in all manners of jazz, funk, fusion, easy-listening, and Afro-beat, it saw its first ever reissue last month in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, via the Italian-based Sleeve Records . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Transmissions :: Beauty Pill

The 2023 season of Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions podcast is officially underway. This week on the show, Chad Clark of Beauty Pill. On January 20th, Ernest Jenning Record Co. releases Blue Period, a double LP compilation featuring music Clark recorded for the legendary punk label Discord Records between 2003-2005 . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.