Anchored by an incendiary score by Dennis Bovell, 1980's Babylon is an essential watch for those interested in the diasporic tendrils of Jamaican roots reggae as witnessed in the UK during the late '70s and early '80s. Come for the sound system, stay for the story . . .
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Richard Dawson of Newcastle Upon Tyne. This is how the songwriter credits himself on the cover of his new record The Ruby Cord—the third part of a possible trilogy (beginning with medieval Peasant, and modern times in 2020) which finds him delving into the different timelines of communities in England. Alex Riggs joins Dawson (and a cat named Trouble) to explore more . . .
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No static at all. 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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The whole of Automne Six is an imaginative drift, one free of purpose and reveling in the logics avant-pop can follow. Each track offers an exercise in constrained lyricism, trusting intuitive intention yet sensitive and willing to submit to subtle movements. The beauty is in watching these two use those parameters to create an oddly attractive set of songs . . .
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The brilliantly colored and exquisitely crocheted hand talisman on the cover of Headdress beckons you in. The fingertips of the sunburned hand touch the waning crescent moon. It is a good reminder that Sunburned Hand of the Man knew how to sling that cosmic slop. Of all the free rock bands that emerged around the turn of the millennium, Sunburned were definitely the loosest and funkiest . . .
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When Bob Dylan's Christmas album appeared in 2009, it was both totally unexpected and 44 years overdue. In this instance, we're glad he waited. Christmas in the Heart features Dylan singing songs you know by heart in a voice without restraint. There's fun for the whole family, and all for a good cause. It's enough to make a believer out of anyone . . .
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The outstanding new Light/Flux reveals a band that is very much still evolving. It doesn’t really sound much like Hawkwind or krautrock jazz or Scandinavian psychedelia at all. It is a lower, darker affair, steeped in American slowcore and southern California desert rock . . .
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Warren Zevon once said “We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.” But even if your towering “too read” pile can’t guarantee immortality, those pages can make life feel even more worth living. In this month's stack: a comprehensive look at the early years of New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records, the life and work of Chet Baker, kranky records, and the story of Impulse Records . . .
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Born Patrick Flegel, musician Cindy Lee walks around Seattle chain smoking cigarettes while his brother’s band, Preoccupations, plays a set for KEXP. He is surrounded by huge concrete slabs and dons an orange ski cap. We spoke via Zoom and for a while, we couldn’t see or hear him. When we do, he sort of looks like someone without a cellphone. Someone who walked into the last Radioshack and stole a few things. He is not in drag. Not yet. He looks like a man . . .
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Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson brought an archaic weirdness to Canned Heat. Obsessed with traditional blues and well versed in the boogie dialect of John Lee Hooker . . .
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Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our new 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: Holiday music recommendations, the art of the music documentary, Lee "Scratch" Perry lost treasure, Charles Stepney, and a grip of AD favorites for normals . . .
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Kranky Records co-founder Bruce Adams recently published a book, You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music, which succeeds as both a memoir and a cultural history of a brief wrinkle in time when a few Chicago neighborhoods seemed to comprise the center of a then-flourishing underground rock universe. Aquarium Drunkard spoke to Adams about kranky kommandments, the ways in which the world of publishing differs from the world of music, and the trappings of “functional” music . . .
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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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As the Turkey-fare winds down and the boxes of Christmas decor make their way from the basement, a transition is needed. Ringing in the holiday season in subtlety requires a look no further than America’s finest composer and most innovative maestro of steel string. With a discography expanding beyond 40 titles, it’s possible to overlook the holiday offerings among masterworks like Fare Forward Voyagers, The Yellow Princess, and those first five Takoma releases. Smack dab in the middle of John Fahey’s first decade shifting around the tectonic plates of traditional music came The New Possibility . . .
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It’s been more than 50 years since Neil got together with Crazy Horse, but still — nothin’ else matters. Young has just released the Rick Rubin-produced World Record, his third album with the band in as many years, and the heart of the group remains the same as it was back in ’69: drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot, who together have provided the elemental rhythmic bedrock that Neil has relied on for all these years. Aquarium Drunkard caught up with Talbot from his South Dakota home to get the lowdown on the Horse’s past, present and . . .
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