Aquarium Drunkard - Sidecar (transmissions) - Podcast

Social distance dispatching. Some background, to start. In recent weeks, we've been assembling elements—interviews, readings, scripts, segments—for the next season of the Transmissions podcast. But the onset of global pandemic has caused us to consider: What feels important right now? Would discussing it help? To that end, we're taking the Transmissions podcast weekly for now, and featuring check-ins between AD founder Justin Gage and editor Jason P. Woodbury. We have a lot of plans for the podcast in the coming weeks, from guest interviews to audio collages, but expect it to be loose. Stay in, wash your hands, reach out to those who need you. Remember you need them too. Stay in touch.

New year, new decade. Welcome to the future, it’s 2020 and you’re tuned into Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard’s monthly podcast, featuring, as always, sounds and ideas that inspire us, the team behind Aquarium Drunkard. Your hosts are founder and editor Justin Gage, and editor Jason P. Woodbury. Our guest this episode, is guitarist and composer Jeff Parker. Parker is best known for his work with Tortoise, the Chicago Underground Quartet, and Isotope 217, and he’s worked with a wide cast of notable players, including Brian Blade, Bill Callahan, George Lewis, Makaya McCraven, Joshua Abrams, Rob Mazurek, Joey DeFrancesco, and many, many more. In 2016, he released The New Breed, a tribute to his late father, and now, a record for his mother: Suite for Max Brown. Like The New Breed, the new LP blends deep, Dilla-Inspired grooves, clipped R&B samples, and Parker’s beautiful guitar—often languid, occasionally frenzied, but always powerfully soulful.  The record is yet another winner from Chicago’s International An

Welcome to the final 2019 episode of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast. On this episode, we sit down with educator, synth pioneer, and all around genuine soul Don Muro. Earlier this year, Flannelgraph Records continued its archival dig into his treasure trove of sounds with a reissue of Anthology, his 1981 LP featuring jazzy funk, synth pop, and progressive fusion rock. Back before synth culture was a thing, Muro and his compatriots adhered to a DIY ethic. I sat down with Don to talk not only about how he got his hands on advanced musical tech, but how he started his own label to distribute his music, and what it’s been like to see a whole new generation embrace it. Then, Josh Neas offers a personal reflection on Dead Man's Pop, the 2010 Replacement boxset that creates a kind of alternate timeline version of the band's 1989 lp Don't Tell a Soul.

Boys and girls, All Hallows’ Eve is here, and you’re tuned into the October edition of the Transmissions podcast. The veil is thin and we’re back with another round of discussions and digressions. On this episode, Chicago’s Whitney discusses Forever Turned Around, the group’s sophomore lp. Then, New Age pioneer Don Slepian takes us back to the early ’80s. And to close out, a long ramble about Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ haunted instant classic, Ghosteen.   Whitney’s second new album, Forever Turned Around, is out now on Secretly Canadian records. Like their debut, Light Upon the Lake, it’s a balmy, breezy record. Produced by Brad Cook of Bon Iver and Johnathan Rado of Foxygen, it sees the duo of Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich expanding and deepening their sound. Sitting down for a backstage interview with AD, Kakacek says “more of our own true emotions” made it into the new songs, which were informed by the constant touring that followed the band’s first album. “We knew better what it felt like to play th

Welcome to the September edition of our monthly Transmissions podcast, our series of conversations with musicians and artists about why—and how—their art exists. On this episode, Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage sits down at AD HQ with Devendra Banhart to spin selections and discuss his new album, Ma. Then, Jason P. Woodbury joins Throwing Muses founder, solo artist, and writer Kristin Hersh backstage to discuss future sounds from Throwing Muses and Don’t Suck, Don’t Die, her book about her friend, the departed Vic Chesnutt. And to close out, Jason rings up Bill Orcutt, whose latest release, the sparse electric guitar noir, Odds Against Tomorrow, sees release October 11th.