Aquarium Drunkard - Sidecar (transmissions) - Podcast

Our guest this week is Patrick McDermott of North Americans. His latest is called Roped In and its blissed out guitar-scapes find him teaming up with cosmic pedal steel master Barry Walker Jr, William Tyler, and Mary Lattimore. He reached us from his place in Los Angeles to discuss pleasant zones, video games, and some particularly good lunches.    A quick note: this is the final episode of our season. We're going to take a break but don't you sweat it, we'll be back early in 2021 with more strange conversations for our strange times. Transmissions is hosted and produced by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew Horton edits our audio. Jonathan Mark-Walls produces content for our social media and video outlets. Transmissions art by D. Norsen and Heavy Hymns. Justin Gage, head honcho and executive producer. 

This week, we're joined by returning guest Chris Schlarb of Psychic Temple and Big Ego, his studio in Long Beach. His latest is called Houses of the Holy, a four-sided double-album, featuring a different band on each side: Cherry Glazerr with garage pop, the Chicago Underground Trio with their jazz inflection, psych warriors the Dream Syndicate, and rapper and producer Xololanxinxo. Schlarb took some time out of his holiday season to speak with us about the creative ethos driving his work.    Transmissions is hosted and produced by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew Horton edits our audio. Jonathan Mark-Walls produces content for our social media and video outlets. Transmissions art by D. Norsen and Heavy Hymns. Justin Gage, head honcho and executive producer. 

This week on Transmissions, we welcome back a return guest: desert scribe and radio personality Ken Layne. He’s the editor of Desert Oracle, a pocket-sized field guide to the American Southwest and the host of Desert Oracle Radio, a weekly late-night broadcast out of Joshua Tree. With synthesist RedBlueBlackSilver in tow, Layne offers up tales of the paranormal, the odd, and the arcane. Layne illuminates these damned and or transcendent topics with good humor and dusty charm.  This week, he releases a new book which collects and expands stories from the program and the magazine, Desert Oracle Volume 1: Strange and True Tales From the American Southwest. He joins us for a far-reaching conversation about the new book, the allure of the weird, the late ’80s underground music scenes of Southern California, the early days of digital publishing, conspiracy theory and literature, the disenchantment of modern life, and of course, venturing into the spiritual wilderness represented by the desert.  Transmissions is

This week on Transmissions, we're joined by sound healer, reiki practitioner, and avant-garde composer Devi Mambouka, better known as Masma Dream World. Her latest LP is called Play At Night, out on Northern Spy Records. It’s a blend of subterranean bass, spooky backwards masked poetry, and shifting, nocturnal soundscapes designed to entrance, inviting you to examine your “preconceived relationship with darkness, guiding you to step into it—to play in it.”    Mambouka took some time out of a weekend last month to speak with us about her global backstory, discuss how DJing influenced her alchemical approach, and play around with the concept of darkness.     We hope you enjoy this one. If you do, share it with a friend. Let them know they can listen wherever they get podcasts. If you want to take your support a step further, you can leave us a review, check out our Patreon page, send an email letting us know what you like about the show.   Transmissions is hosted and produced by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew H

You’re tuned into Transmissions, where each week Aquarium Drunkard presents a strange conversation for these strange times. Today on the show we’re joined by Elisa Ambrogio of Magik Makers. The Markers’ new album 2020 is out now on Drag City. It’s a gloriously smeared burst of noise, raw riffs, and damaged country and folk songs. Ambrogio joined us to discuss the importance of good quarantine companion, living out west, and getting into music—really inhabiting it—before you are even sure what you are doing.  We hope you enjoy this one. If you do, share it with a friend. Let them know they can listen wherever they get podcasts. If you want to take your support a step further, you can leave us a review, or check out our Patreon page, where you can help us keep the lights on. Transmissions is hosted and produced by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew Horton edits our audio. Jonathan Mark-Walls produces content for our social media and video outlets. Art by D. Norsen. Justin Gage, head honcho and executive producer.

Incoming transmission from...Yves Jarvis. The singer/songwriter/producer's latest is called Sundry Rock Song Stock, and it's a blur of soft-focus pop and shimmering melodic mirages. He joined us from the Tree Museum in Ontario to discuss his interest in progressive rock, creative approach, the disparate influence of Joni Mitchell, Bill Bruford, and Kanye. Plus, a check in with Vic Berger IV and Doug Lussenhop of Tim Heidecker's Office Hours regarding their upcoming noise-show-slash-audio-visual experience, Drop Concert: The Motion Picture, featuring a baffling sonic collage of clips, loops, and found sound drops combined with Heidecker's improvised keyboard and animation by Ben Levin.    We hope you enjoy this one. If you do, share it with a friend. Let them know they can listen wherever they get podcasts. If you want to take your support a step further, you can leave us a review, or check out our Patreon page, where you can help us keep the lights on.    Transmissions is hosted and produced by Ja

Transmissions…strange talks for these strange days. This week on the show, we’re joined by ambient hero William Basinski and his collaborator and engineer Preston Wendel. They’ve got two wildly divergent projects out this year. In July, they released To Feel Embraced a collection of saxophone-laden lounge and electronica under the name Sparkle Division. And on November 13th, they release William Basinski’s Lamentations, which assembles more than 40 years of archival tape loops and studies from his archives. The dual albums encompass the ecstatic highs and dread-soaked lows of this strange year. We spoke with the duo in September, when it was still warm out enough to take a dip in the pool about doom scrolling, iPhone recordings, cutting loose, and much more. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you enjoy this one. If you do, share it with a friend. Let them know they can listen wherever they get podcasts. If you want to take your support a step further, you can leave us a review, or check out our Patreon page, whe

Bonus episode! We put out episodes every Wednesday and we have already done so this week—a great chat with novelist and podcaster Hari Kunzru—but since this week being the week it has been, we’re in an energetic mood. So here we are. Our guest for this extra episode is John Darnielle. Since 1991, he’s released music under the Mountain Goats banner, in addition to writing a couple of great books, including Wolf in White Van and Universal Harvester.  He’s got two albums out this year—first, a lo-fi boombox recorded tape, Songs for Pierre Chuvin, and now, Getting Into Knives, recorded with the full Mountain Goats band and producer Matt Ross-Sprang at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, the same place people like Booker T. Jones, Alex Chilton, the Cramps, Three-6-Mafia, Roy Orbison and many more have cut albums. His songs have hailed Satan and cast possums in a theological light. He’s written about myths, tragic heroes, and people trying to unwreck themselves. Getting Into Knives is yet another winner from Darni

This week on Transmissions, Hari Kunzru in conversation with host Jason P. Woodbury. Kunzru is a novelist and writer; his latest is called Red Pill. It’s about a writer who receives a fellowship in Germany, where he finds himself sucked into a spiral of reactionary thinking. His other 2020 project is a podcast called Into the Zone, from Puskin Industries. It’s a podcast about, well, to put it in reductive terms, the opposite of reactive thinking. Examining the liminal space between borders—visiting Stonehenge, remarking on the early days of the internet, examining what divides country from the blues, and even what constitutes life—and what constitutes death—Kunzru blurs binaries and swims in the waters of the undefined and fascinating. 

Incoming transmission from Joe Wong. He's an incredibly busy guy: he hosts the Trap Set, a weekly interview podcast he’s helmed since 2015, where he sits down with artists like Mix Master Mike, Sharon Van Etten, Jim Keltner, Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo, among many others. He also makes music for film in TV—you’ve probably heard his work on Master of None, Russian Doll, Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Midnight Gospel.    Joe has long played music with artists like Mary Timony of Helium and Marnie Stern, but recently, he released his debut solo long player, Nite Creatures. Produced by Timony, who also plays on it, it finds him joined by members of Flaming Lips, War on Drugs, and that dog. for a set of deeply cinematic psychedelic pop, which brings to mind the mystical lushness of Scott Walker, the Zombies, and Pink Floyd. One of the albums best songs “Dreams Wash Away” was featured in Duncan Trussel’s Midnight Gospel finale on Netflix—one of the most affecting thin

Incoming transmission from...Joe Pera and James Wallace, who’s better known as Skyway Man. The two worked together on season two of Joe’s TV show, Joe Pera Talks With You on Adult Swim. Describing “what happens” on the show doesn’t really do it justice. Nothing too out of the ordinary occurs—characters go on hikes, they stay up late watching videos on the internet, they deal with the passing of loved ones. But it’s how the show unfolds—gently, unhurriedly—that makes it such remarkable viewing. It’s a very funny show that takes its time, offering up space and comfort to the viewer while also skewering its characters lovingly.   On The World Only Ends When You Die, Skyway Man also puts his characters through the ringer. It’s a psych-folk opera of spaced out country and sci-fi gospel and blues, laced with mythology and nods to George Van Tassel, legendary Ufologist. It’s due out this week on Mama Bird Recording Co, and while it certainly grapples with some heavy existential issues, it’s also a lot of fun to

The release of the new career-spanning collection Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland continues a wave of new appreciation for the pioneering folk, electronic, and experimental composer's celestial and enveloping songs. Offering a holistic look at Glenn-Copeland's diverse songbook—ranging from early folk-jazz stunners to electronic devotionals and breakbeat-inclusive pop—the compilation also features a new song, "River Dreams," one of the many songs he says was "downloaded" via the Universal Broadcasting System, a sort of sonic radio signal generated by the universe itself. Beverly Glenn-Copeland joined Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss picking up signals from the cosmos, aliens, Star Trek, and the new documentary, Keyboard Fantasies.   If you enjoy this talk, please share it with a friend. They can listen wherever they get podcasts or head directly to Aquarium Drunkard, where they’ll find all our shows, plus 15 years of great music writing, interviews, reviews, radio playlists

Incoming transmission from...Sam Prekop. For more than 25 years, he's released music with the Sea and Cake and on his own. With the band, he's responsible for guitarwork and providing signature vocals, cool, aloof, and melodically clear. But his last few solo albums have found him focusing less on pop song craft and more on analog synthesizers and ambient textures. His latest for Thrill Jockey records is called Comma and on it he blends serene soundscapes with twitching electronic rhythms. Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury reached him in Chicago to talk about hunkering down, synths, and how he and his Sea and Cake bandmates continue their remarkable work together. If you enjoy this talk, please share it with a friend. They can listen wherever they get podcasts or head directly to Aquarium Drunkard, where they'll find all our shows, plus 15 years of great music writing, interviews, reviews, radio playlists, features, and more. If you want to take your support a step further, check us out on Patreon. Trans

Our guest this week is legendary guitarist Bill Frisell. In the 1980s, he served as ECM Records’ in-house guitarist, and he’s been hard at it ever since: partnering with John Zorn for a long series of unclassifiable records, playing alongside Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vic Chesnutt, and many more, all while making his own records, which blur the lines between jazz, avant-garde, country, surf, blues, and gospel. His latest is called Valentine. It’s out now on the Blue Note label, and it finds him in a trio setting, joined by Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. It features Malian folk, standards, and originals, and it’s as deft, nuanced, and emotive as you might expect. Bill joined me early on a Saturday morning to discuss the record, his friendship with the late Hal Wilner, his deep listening practices, and telepathy. If you enjoy, please share with your friends. They can hear Transmissions wherever they get podcasts. And if you want to take your support a

Our guest this week is Jerry David DeCicca. Perhaps you know him best from Black Swans, or maybe some of the great albums he's produced by so called "outsider" songwriters like Ed Askew, Larry Jon Wilson, and Chris Gantry, among others. Since 2014, he's been putting out great records under his own name. His latest is called The Unlikely Optimist And His Domestic Adventures. Jerry describes it as “an anti-Hallmark ode to positivity." Who couldn’t use some positivity this year? In advance of its release on October 16th, Aquarium Drunkard correspondent Chad DePasquale joined Jerry to discuss Texas, his pets and social services work, and of course,  Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, which JDD idiosyncratically reviewed for Aquarium Drunkard. 

Our guest this week on Transmissions is Jerry Williams Jr., but if you know your musical cult heroes, you probably know him by the name Swamp Dogg. Since the early '50s, he's lived as a true record man—writing songs, producing artists, self-releasing music, and putting out major label flops that have gone on to achieve lost classic status. He’s always walked the line between R&B and country, making a joke of the music industry’s intentional segregating of white and black audiences. He managed Dr. Dre early on, and he's been sampled by Kid Rock and Talib Kweli. The country pop classic, Don’t Take Her (She’s All I’ve Got)?” He co-wrote it.    The line where Jerry ends and Swamp Dogg begins is transitory. In the early '70s, after a career of singing under his own name, Jerry needed Swamp Dogg to serve as an outlandish avatar who could satirically tackle societal mores. His provocative jokes about civil rights and politics earned him hangs with Jane Fonda and the anti-war crowd and put him afoul of J. Edgar H

Our guest this week is Chris Forsyth, guitarist, bandleader, composer, and DIY lifer. His studio albums evoke the punk psychedelia of Television, balancing ‘70s rock grooves the loose, exploratory feel of the Dead. But as good as his studio LPs are, it might be live recordings that best showcase his sound. His latest is called First Flight. On it, he’s joined by guitarist Dave Harrington, drummer Ryan Jewell, and bassist Spencer Zahn on stage at Nublu in New York City on September 20th, 2019.    Who knows how long it will be before we can safely cram into a room to take in some live jams, but in the meantime, the 40-some minutes of First Flight should help those missing the thrills of unexpected and immersive live music. Forsyth joined Transmissions to discuss his roots, time spent studying with Richard Lloyd of Television, and his motivations in opening a DIY space in Philadelphia, Jerry’s on Front.    Does Transmissions make your listening life better?  Help us continue doing it by pledging your s

This week on Transmissions, we're joined by songwriter, Dr. Dog drummer, and noted Twitter personality Eric Slick. His new album of classic pop songcraft is called Wiseacre. Best known for his work with Dr. Dog and his wife, songwriter Natalie Prass, Wiseacre was inspired by the golden-hued melodies of Harry Nilsson, Haruomi Hosono, and a general '70s gloss. It's a deeply personal record, one that explores contentment and domesticity, as well as unpacking no small amount of personal weirdness and trauma.   Eric joined Aquarium Drunkard contributor Ben Kramer—you might know him from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard’s The Tonight Zone, as featured on the Adult Swim live stream to get into it all: how his marriage to Prass influenced the lyrics of the record, how his meditation practice informs his songwriting, and what it's like to get into a real songwriting groove. 

On Mama You Can Bet, her new album under her Jyoti alias, Georgia Anne Muldrow embraces her jazz roots. Born and raised in Los Angeles, her parents were immersed in the city’s jazz community. Her father Ronald Muldrow worked with Eddie Harris; Rickie Byars-Beckwith, her mother, worked with Pharoah Sanders. And there’s the matter of her spiritual lineage: the Jyoti name was bestowed upon her by Alice Coltrane at her ashram. “I’ve had many experiences in that woman’s force field, and I’ve never forgot any of them,” Muldrow says, discussing how Coltrane’s work felt like “music from her home planet.” Mama You Can Bet leans into Muldrow’s jazziest tendencies, incorporating two remixes of works by Charles Mingus, whose influence is palpable. But Muldrow is her own creation, and her love of electronic funk, ambient, and hip-hop colors and shades the album. Ahead of what would have been Turiya Alice Coltrane’s birthday  on August 27th, Georgia joined Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury via Skype to discuss the n

Our guest this week practically invented kosmische guitar. As a member of Neu!, Harmonia, and an early incarnation of Kraftwerk, Michael Rother's fluid, emotive playing helped define the sound of krautrock, as the music came up out of Germany's avant-garde underground in the late '60s and headed for the cosmos in the '70s. In 2019, he released of Solo, a multi-disc boxed set that documented the first part of his solo career and on September 4th, the Forst-based guitarist and composer follows that collection up with Solo II, which includes 1983's Lust , 1985's Süssherz und Tiefenschärfe, 1987's Traumreisen, 1996's Esperanza, 2004's Remember (The Great Adventure) and a brand-new album, Dreaming, which finds him returning to the spaced out pastoral drift of his classic albums. He was kind enough to join us on Transmissions to discuss his musical youth in India, his days as a conscientious objector, his collaborations with Klaus Dinger, Roedelius, Moebius, and his experiences with younger musicians who were insp