Posts

The Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show

Weird times, strange signals. Reverberating from the hills of Glassell Park, California, welcome to episode twelve of the Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show.

Feat: White Fence | PAINT | Sean Thompson's Weird Ears | Color Green | Floating Action | Rich Ruth | Kamikaze Palm Tree | The Babe Rainbow | Kolumbo . . .

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 :: Cisco Pike And The Gargoyles (1972)

For director Bill L. Norton, 1972 was a big year. The UCLA graduate had two movies coming out: Cisco Pike, a counterculture drama starring Kris Kristofferson as a down-on-his-luck musician and ex-con being forced by corrupt cop Gene Hackman to sell a garage full of weed in one weekend ... along with the release of his low-budget made-for-tv movie, Gargoyles. As one might guess, these two films could not be more different from one another . . .

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.

Sandhy & Mandhy :: Para Castukis

Helmed by Argentines Alberto Infusino (Sandhy) and Alberto Vanasco (Mandhy), Para Castukis was recorded in the span of three hours with an ad hoc pickup backing band (farfisa, congas, drums, bass, and guitars). Released in 1969, touching on folk, psychedelia, pop and rock, the one-take affair is charming in its ramshackle naivet . . .

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.

Sonny Sharrock’s Ghost Planet

Several years following the masterful swan song Ask The Ages, the final recorded project of avant-jazz pioneer Sonny Sharrock is a powerful, curious oddity. The otherworldly, zig-zagging riff of Sharrock's signature wailing guitar provided the iconic theme song for 1994's animated hybrid experiment Space Ghost Coast To Coast. Distributed as a limited promotional item, Sharrock's full blistering soundtrack clocks in at a mere fifteen minutes. Expect free-form guitar jams that pull no punches . . .

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 PDT, 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.

Videodrome :: Near Dark (1987)

In retrospect, Near Dark has endured amongst horror aficionados as one of the most eminent genre-hybrids ever made for many reasons: the kinetic pacing that mixes art-house ambiance with multiplex populism, the seamless blending of outlaw-western with vampire-horror, and the synth-soaked score from Tangerine Dream. But Near Dark's under-discussed ace-in-the-hole is that it's a horror film that handles exposition with the utmost confidence and grace . . .

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.

Dead Notes #16: The Dead Tape Collector (Mark A. Rodriguez) Interview

Dead Notes is back—kinda, sorta. Though our normal column remains on hiatus, we had to fire things back up for a talk with Mark A. Rodriguez about his new book of Dead art, After All is Said and Done: Taping the Grateful Dead 1965-1995 . . .

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 :: Clem Burke of Blondie

This week on our weekly interview podcast, a wide-ranging interview with Clem Burke of Blondie. He joins us to discuss the band’s early years, interactions with luminaries like Robert Fripp and Giorgio Moroder, the fashion forward cultural shift, and Numero Group’s monumental box set collection, Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982. A game conversationalist, Burke brings a quick wit and sharp intellect to this chat, which traces the group's evolution, early days, and his work as a case study documenting the physical condition of drummers . . .

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.

Jairus Sharif :: Water And Tools

There’s a moment halfway through “Humility,” the opening track on Jairus Sharif’s Water and Tools, that sounds like the skies opening up. Where harsh, metallic ripples of cold electronic synths were rumbling, the renegade, proclamatory exaltation of Sharif’s saxophone suddenly takes on a warmer, less defiant tone. And the backdrop, too—bright, wooly synths and avian chirps—feels like the arrival of spring as Sharif’s horn elevates with undulating keys—the music pure, joyous, and untethered . . .

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 Lagniappe Sessions :: Sagittaire

For his first Lagniappe Session, the musician who named his debut album after Robert Ashley’s record label surprised no one by selecting a pair of deep cuts to reinterpret. The Necessaries’ “More Real” receives a dubby deconstruction with Mairesse stepping in for Arthur Russell, while his cover of Leslie Winer’s “John Says” is a welcome introduction to the musician and poet called “The Godmother of Trip Hop” by John Peel . . .

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.

Cactus Lee :: Perfect Middle Hall

Cactus Lee, our dear, enchanting nine-to-five troubadour, drops his most recent release, Perfect Middle Hall, on vinyl this week. It's a perfect format for enjoying this one—a tight, cozy six-song cycle of Kevin Dehan’s woolen, lo-fi folk, which introduces a more full-bodied richness into the sonic palette . . .

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.

Matthew J. Rolin :: Passing

The second of Rolin’s two solo outings issued in physical format this year, Passing marks a slight shift in feel and perspective. Where Sea of Stars (released back in May) was an expansive, kaleidescopic cascade of dexterous twelve-string, Passing is more fragmented and hermetic in nature, though no less encompassing . . .

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.

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: October 22

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering, with chilly winds of gospel, country, soul & folk. Then, Jason P. Woodbury takes over with Range and Basin, synth folk, Spanish psych, jazz, and piano meditations. Then, Tyler Wilcox pops in Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, with an hour of Robyn Hitchcock deep cuts, demos, rarities, b-sides and live material spanning his entire career. And to close, Autumn Sweater, woodsmoke, buffalo check and the crunch of broken pine needles underfoot. Tune in Sunday, October 16 from . . .

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.

Bill Laswell Research Institute: Vol I & II

The Bill Laswell Research Institute was coined by a group of like-minded record heads based in Philadelphia. Time and time again, someone in the crew would bring something mind blowing to a listening session and Bill Laswell’s name would pop up in the credits. It’s truly astonishing how Laswell collided with vastly divergent musicians and genres while somehow still representing complementary musical spheres.

While pulling together tracks to compile a mix that we felt would best represent Bill’s work, we realized it was going to take multiple volumes due to the sheer magnitude of his output . . .

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.

Brian Harnetty + Thomas Merton :: Words and Silences

Pairing musings of Cisteritan monk and writer Thomas Merton, recorded alone at his Kentucky hermitage in 1967, with magisterial modern classical compositions, Brian Harnetty's Worlds and Silences, offers, to quote Merton, "the right kind of complexity...a subdued and deep awareness that everything is perplexed . . .

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.