Aquarium Drunkard - Sidecar (transmissions) - Podcast

Writer, musician, and prolific TikToker Sasha Frere-Jones joins us on Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard's weekly talk show podcast to discuss music criticism, listening habits, and self forgiveness. As a player, he's known for his work with the fantastic post-rock band Ui, whose funky rhythms dipped into dub and electronica, the avant-rock band Body Meπa, where he plays alongside Greg Fox, Grey McMurray, and previous Transmissions guest Melvin Gibbs, and the ambient project Calvanist. As a writer, he's penned essays and criticism for The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, and dozens of other outlets. Most recently, he's focused on the S/FJ Substack newsletter, where he shares music he's interested in and other cultural ephemera. Today on the show he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss recovery, navigating online life, and music. A note for audiophiles: just like online life, there's a lot of extra clicks and noise in this one, but we believe the talk is more than worth sharing. Enjoy.

Today on Transmissions, guest Owen Ashworth of Advance Base/Casiotone For the Painfully Alone and Orindal Records joins host Jason P. Woodbury for a conversation covering life as an indie artist/label head, the merits of "gloss era" Bruce Springsteen, the influence of David Bazan of Pedro the Lion and Joe Pera, CCR, working primarily as a solo artist, and diving into the heartland country music of KT Oslin and Nancy Griffith. Also covered? The importance of cool uncles and raiding your parents' record collections. Ashworth is a DIY lifer and a true head, and this conversation is as openhearted as you might expect.

Today on an all-new episode of Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard's weekly interview podcast, we're joined by artist and creator Meredith Graves. She’s best known for her work with the punk band Perfect Pussy, her label Honor Press, and as the director of music at Kickstarter, where she’s also the Head Witch in Charge, responsible for the Magic and Divination section of the crowdfunding site. Graves joined host Jason P. Woodbury to speak about magic and arcana, about the “purgative ritual” that is Perfect Pussy’s 2014 album Say Yes to Love, the work of previous Transmissions guest Mitch Horowitz, her time at MTV News and the incredible artists that allowed her to interact with, Lana Del Rey, Wilco, and so much more. 

Roll up/that's an invitation...Today on the show, we're joined by a return guest, Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills. He’s appeared here on the show previously to discuss his great Van Morrison book, Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 and now he joins host Jason P. Woodbury for a conversation about Van Morrison, the paranormal, and mystic corners of The Beatles' universe. On April 1st, you're going to want to head over to ESPeatles.com, to discover a truly freaky Beatles project, related to the obscure occultist HX Newhaven. To learn more, press play...

Right from the top of LABYRINTHITIS, the 13th album from our guest today, new wave art rock master Dan Bejar of Destroyer, you get an example of what makes him such a compelling artist. “It’s in Your Heart Now” starts, and then its real beat stutters in, interrupting a briefly established groove. But rather than feeling like an intrusion, this feels like blooming, and from there the song builds in layers of Cure-esque guitar and cascading synthesizers, with Bejar doing his signature vocal and lyrical darting a top the neon landscape. Today on Transmissions, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the perils of making the new record, This Night, the virtues of being a dilettante, nu-metal, Van Morrison, New Order, and much more.

Our guests this week are Chad Clark and Erin Nelson of DC post-punk band Beauty Pill. Clark emerged from the DC/Dischord punk scene with his band Smart Went Crazy, and he worked on records by Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan, Lungfish, Q & Not U, and many more. He formed Beauty Pill in the early 2000s and it's proved a musically restless unit ever since. He's allowed the band to shift and morph in public and in 2012 the group was commissioned to craft the album Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are live in public. Most recently, the band has released some great EPs, including Instant Night and Please Advise. For this episode of Transmissions, host Jason P. Woodbury spoke with Clark and Nelson about the oblique lyrical references in these works—get ready for our most Matt Damon-centric episode yet—as well as dig into the influence of Miles Davis, William Eggleston, and collaborations with the Taffety Punk Theatre Company.

Though Sonic Youth ended a decade ago, the band's archives have continued to surprise. The latest from the SY vault is In/Out/In (Three Lobed Recordings), a collection of instrumentals recorded during the band's final era, including some with Jim O'Rourke and contributions from The Eternal bassist Mark Ibold. Ahead of the album's release, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth join host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss The Simpsons, the band's Geffen years, stolen (and recovered) guitars, the science fiction of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, and much more on this episode of Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard's weekly podcast.

"Anything that knocks ya out, hits you harder than you planned," sings Matthew E. White on "Genuine Hesitation," which opens K Bay, the third solo album from the Spacebomb founder. And it's a knockout of a record, to be sure. A spirited producer and collaborator known for his efforts with Natalie Prass, Mountain Goats, Flo Morrissey, Sharon Van Etten and many more, the album finds him situating his traditional song craft in a future funk and avant-pop setting. On today's episode of Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions podcast, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the album, as well as his duo recording with former guest Lonnie Holley, Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection, which serves as a mutated musical twin to K Bay. Along the way, he touches on his communal approach, Miles Davis, his youth in the Philippines, and the transcendent qualities of The Flamingo's "I Only Have Eyes For You."

This week on the show, we’re joined by Ade Blackburn of Clinic. The Liverpool-based duo of Blackburn and Jonathan Hartley released a great record last year called Fantasy Island, full of skittering drum machines, cavernous sounds, and fuzzed out melodies, and this week sees the 20th anniversary of their sophomore album, Walking With Thee. The band’s trademark strangeness draws the listener in, and our talk with Blackburn focuses a lot on the allure of leaving room for mystery in music.  We also get into his countercultural inspirations, the blending of rock & roll and the avant-garde, discuss the dub-influenced side Clinic offshoot Higher Authorities, and chat about collaborating with Roky Erickson and John Cale. We had a great time speaking with him and think you’re going to enjoy this one. If you do, please consider doing us a favor: leave a rating and a review for the show, recommend it to your friends, and help us spread the word.

This week on the show, we're joined by world renowned whistler Molly Lewis. Last year, she released a great EP called The Forgotten Edge via Jagjaguwar. With its exotica and spaghetti western motifs, the EP is a supremely playful and lovely listen. And Lewis is a charming conversationalist too. We got into her roots in competitive whistling, being in the studio with Dr. Dre, working with John C. Reilly and whistling for the late, great Harry Dean Stanton.

"Transmissions is a lovely name; I think that's a very crucial name for this age." So says mystic musician Laraaji, our guest this week on the show. Sitting down with host Jason P. Woodbury, His Orangeness (AKA Edward Larry Gordon) discusses his new collaboration with NOUS and Arji OceAnanda, Circle of Celebration, plus his upbringing in the Baptist church, initial entry into meditation, the spiritual qualities of laughter, and much more. Introduced to the world by Brian Eno, who heard him playing electric zither and subsequently produced Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, Laraaji has created music constantly since, teaming up fellow artists like Carlos Niño, Bill Laswell, Blues Control, Shahzad Ismaily, and many more. "Metaphysical thought [has] influenced my music in that it prepared me for having an inner hearing experience, a paranormal hearing experience," he says. Join us today on Transmissions to explore his sound visions even deeper.

Today on Transmissions: Cate Le Bon, who, for the last decade plus, has made some of our favorite modern records, as well as producing great work for other artists, like Deerhunter and John Grant, who joined us last year on the podcast to talk about their collaboration The Boy From Michigan. Her new album is called Pompeii, an art pop gem out this week on Mexican Summer records. "I think the underlying theme of the record is we will forever be connected to everything," she says, joining host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the album's genesis, the religious quality of the album's art, wood working, and much more.

Welcome back to our weekly podcast Transmissions. Today on the show, occult scholar Mitch Horowitz. He’s the author of a staggering number of metaphysical books and the tremendous historical project, Occult America, a deeply researched book that examines how America’s alternative spiritualities and esoteric scenes—from freemasonry to Spiritualism and beyond—have influenced the country’s politics, social movements, and general character. Traveling along the ins and outs of the Psychic Highway, Horowitz brings an even-handed and intellectually honest approach to topics concerning mysticism, parapsychology, New Thought, and the study of unidentified aerial phenomena or UFOs. Horowitz can currently be seen in Ronni Thomas’ The Kybalion, an adaptation of the 1908 occult manuscript which explores the seven principles of Hermetics, and his forthcoming book, Daydream Believer, is now available for pre-order. For this talk, Horowitz opens up about his musical roots, Bad Brains, his vast t-shirt collection, music

Welcome to a bonus edition of Transmissions with David Bazan of Pedro The Lion joining host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the release of the band's surprise album Havasu. Like 2019's Phoenix, the record focuses on Bazan's youth in Arizona. In this loose conversation, Bazan describes how he approached writing about his early teenage years, the enduring artistic influence of Fugazi, his initial relationship with Christian rock, and the work of Tom Petty.

Our guest today is Haley Fohr, better known as Circuit des Yeux and Jackie Lynn. Her latest is called iO, and it’s a stunning work of art rock bravado. In our 2021 Year in Review contributor Tyler Wilcox wrote: “On the new Circuit des Yeux album, Haley Fohr has pulled off quite a magic trick. She’s crafted her most accessible (occasionally even poppy) effort yet without sacrificing one iota of her strange, fearless musical vision. Fohr’s inimitable vocals here are bolstered at various times by ornate orchestral arrangements, minimal post-rock, and idiosyncratic electronics. ‘There’s an avalanche inside of me,’ she sings at one point. Prepare to be buried in it.” No one sounds like Fohr—she possesses a four octave voice—and few artists are pushing as intensely as she is these days. She joined us to discuss the evolution of Jackie Lynn, her label buying her a star, and of course, stunt work. 

This week on Transmissions, the final episode of the season: Steve Berlin. Steve plays saxophone in Los Lobos, whose new album is called, Native Sons. It features Los Angeles-centric covers by the likes of WAR, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, and Thee Midniters. But Steve’s a fascinating figure on his own. He came up in the punk scenes of LA, playing with The Blasters and the Flesh Eaters, but since then he’s gone on to work with everyone from Rickie Lee Jones to The Replacements, The Go-Gos to R.E.M. and many more. Transmissions will return in January 2022, until then, follow Aquarium Drunkard for more and dig into the archives. 

This week on Transmissions, our weekly series of strange conversations: Roberto Carlos Lange of Helado Negro. His new album of electronic bliss pop, psychedelic ambient, and soulful love songs is called Far In. Lange joined host Jason P. Woodbury for a talk about Marfa, his journey through the world of independent music, expansive views of consciousness, and the early days of his musical practice—as well as much more.

This week on Transmissions, our weekly series of strange conversations: Scott Hirsch. Perhaps you know his name from the credits of albums by William Tyler or Alice Gerrard. Or perhaps you're into his solo records: the nocturnally grooving Windless Day is the latest. He's a long time collaborator of M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, and their relationship stretches back to the post-hardcore band Ex-Ignota. Hirsch joins host Jason Woodbury from his Ojai studio Echo Magic. On this episode, we discuss JJ Cale, the spiritual topography of California, and his punk rock immersion into the broader world of independent rock.

This week on the Transmissions, Jeffrey Alexander of The Heavy Lidders and Dire Wolves. For decades now, he's been a fixture in the psychedelic mutant underground. He's got a great new self-titled record out now on Arrowhawk with his song-oriented project the Heavy Lidders, a vast catalog with Dire Wolves, and a forthcoming split cassette with Rhyton. Alexander joined us for a conversation about science fiction and fantasy, the Dead, improv, and his life in independent music. And as a bonus, we're presenting a live performance over at Aquarium Drunkard, featuring Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard of Elkland and drummer Scott Verrastro.

Hey, welcome back to Transmissions, we're so glad to have you here tuning in. Today on the show, I’m joined by two lifers of independent rock, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. Their latest is a tremendous album called A Sky Record. Reviewing the record for Aquarium Drunkard, Tyler Wilcox called it “one of Damon & Naomi’s most purely gorgeous sounding records—and considering the glories of what’s come before, that’s a real accomplishment.” It features the guitar work of Michio Kurihara of Ghost and White Heaven, and he adds washes of sound and melodies to the duo’s deeply felt folk rock. Our talk covers a lot of ground—touching on the duo’s days in Galaxie 500, Naomi’s interest in boxing, Damon’s ever fascinating and insightful takes on the state of the industry, and much more.