Transmissions

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 listen to. They joined us to discuss their work together, the paranormal, and mortality. If you enjoy our show, please spread the word. Leave a rating or a review, and tell your friends about the show. If you want to take your support a step further, checking out Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon.

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, features, and more. If you want to take your support a step further, check us out on Patreon. Transmissions is produced and written by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew Horton edits our audio. Jonathan Mark Walls does video production. Executive producer, main man, and guru Justin Gage.

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. Transmissions is produced and written by Jason P. Woodbury. Andrew Horton edits our audio. Jonathan Mark Walls does video production. Executive producer, main man, and guru Justin Gage.

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 little deeper, check us out on Patreon.

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 Hoover and the Nixon administration. These days he puts out records on Joyful Noise. His latest is called Sorry You Couldn’t Make It, and it pairs him with producer Ryan Olson, Bon Iver, Jenny Lewis, and the late John Prine, who sings “Memories” and the beautiful “Please Let Me Go Round Again.” Over the many years, Swamp Dogg has embraced auto-tune, twang, and ambient flourishes. He’s a world class adapter, a weirdo hero who refuses to yield to expectations, sometimes at the expense of good taste, but remember: it’s never Jerry doing the offending, that’s Swamp Dogg. Let that be your content warning: this episode contains language some listeners might find objectionable. Need more Swamp? Check out his 2013 Aquarium Drunkard interview. This week’s episode was written and produced by Jason P. Woodbury and Michael Krassner, Andrew Horton edited and engineered. Justin Gage, executive producer. Video production by Jonathan Mark Walls. Imagery by D. Norsen and Heavy Hymns. Does Aquarium Drunkard make your listening life better? If so, you can support us through Patreon. Help continue to produce mixtapes, podcasts, radio shows, audio visual presentations, interviews, features, and much more.

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 support via our Patreon page. Doing so will get you access to our secret stash—including bonus audio, exclusive podcasts, printed ephemera, and vinyl records—and help us keep an independent publication going.

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 new record, the West Coast jazz tradition, and maintaining a long running creative partnership and independent label with her husband, Dudley Perkins. Mama You Can Bet is available wherever you get music August 28th. This week’s episode of Transmissions was written and produced by Jason P. Woodbury and edited by Andrew Horton. Executive producer Justin Gage. Art and imagery by D Norsen and Heavy Hymns. If you dig what we do at Aquarium Drunkard, share our podcasts, features, interviews, mixtapes, radio shows, and sign up for our Sidecar newsletter. If you wanna take your support a step further, head over to Patreon and look us up. We appreciate it. Music heard in this episode includes “Mama, You Can Bet” and “The Crowrie Waltz” from Mama, You Can Bet (SomeOthaShip Connect). One more note: On August 29th, get to your favorite independent record store to get your hands on our vinyl release with ORG Music, The Lagniappe Sessions Vol. II. 13 performances from your favorite artists covering songs they’re inspired by on beautiful clear vinyl. Listen to the entire album now at Aquarium Drunkard.

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 inspired by his sound, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth.

Our guest this week is Colin Dickey, author of The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession With The Unexplained. Bigfoot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, phantom islands like Atlantis and Lemuria…the paranormal haunts our collective imagination. In his new book, Dickey smartly explores the lore woven into these topics, and along the way, he describes the way occult literature, pulp magazines, pop culture, and media myth-making influences and shapes our perception of these damned subjects. It’s a book packed with ideas, but easy to read, thoughtful, good humored, and sharp. Dickey determinedly engages with the currents of nationalism, colonialism, hucksterism or outright ill-intent, and racism that often accompanies these topics. This stuff is no longer confined only to the fringes. With the weirdness of our age getting ever weirder, the need to know how to navigate the strangeness is clear and present. Colin Dickey steps up to the task with your host, Jason P. Woodbury, this week on Transmissions.

Since the late '90s, Phil Elverum has remained at work on one of the strangest and most beautiful discographies in independent rock. As The Microphones, he created genre-defining records like 2001's The Glow Pt. 2, which has been hailed by critics like Heather Phares, who praised its "kaleidoscopic sounds...pastoral folky ballads, playful symphonic pop, and gusts of white noise," and Elverum's "strangely hymnal lyrics." In 2003, he abandoned the name The Microphones and embarked upon a series of records under the Mount Eerie moniker. They not only retained that sense of spaciousness, but greatly expanded it, incorporating the influence of black metal and extended song lengths. In 2016, Genevieve Castree, and illustrator, musician, and cartoonist, and also Phil’s wife and the mother of their daughter Agathe, passed away from pancreatic cancer. Phil recorded a set of harrowing, beautiful, and extraordinarily human albums about the experience, including A Crow Looked at Me, Now Only, and Lost Wisdom Pt. 2, recorded with Julie Doiron. Along the way, he married actress Michelle Williams and moved to New York City, though that relationship has ended and he and Agathe are back in the Pacific Northwest these days. It’s hard to sum up Elverum’s story, but in a weird way, that’s kind of what he does on his new record, The Microphones in 2020, which features one, 44-minute long song. It’s his first time using the Microphones name since 2003, and to hear him express it, it’s kind of an album about identity. While it’s no less autobiographical than his recent records, it’s a step in a different direction, temporal poetry about transience and the way a person becomes a different person—but somehow, it's also how they stay the same person. Once again, we’re dabbling in paradox and contradiction. Elverum created a film to go along with it, in which he displays decades worth of personal photographs, occasionally brushing them from the frame, where they are replaced by new images. And that’s where we find Phil: in the midst of trying to figure out how time shapes and creates us, and how we shape and conceive of time. This week on Transmissions, he opens his (virtual) door and invites us in to discuss the new album, personal history, identity, and Weird Al.

This week on Transmissions, we’re joined by songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Jenn Wasner. She had planned on spending a fair amount of 2020 on the road playing guitar, keys, and singing with Bon Iver, but instead she’s spending it in a manner probably familiar to readers: watching TV and drinking coffee, thinking about the potential end of the world. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t kept busy: this week, her duo with Andy Stack, Wye Oak, releases its new EP No Horizon, a collaboration with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. And she’s got another EP out too, the recently released Like So Much Desirefrom her solo project, Flock of Dimes. Both projects are great showcases for her progressive songcraft, which pairs oblique and exploratory lyrics with swooning avant-pop. Wasner has never settled comfortable into just one mode—scanning through her discography reveals folk, synth-driven art rock, and guitar epics—but her inquisitive, intricate lyrics serve as a throughline. She joined us to discuss the role of imagination in creating the future, staying sane, what’s keeping her company on the turntable, working with Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver collective and what she’s learned from producing singer/songwriter Madeline Kenney.

Lots of records evoke a place. But Mossy Kilcher’s 1977 lost folk gem Northwind Calling does more than that: it welcomes the listener into the spirit of her treasured place of origin, Alaska. Born to homesteading parents who’d fled Switzerland during World War II, Mossy was raised near Homer, Alaska, and her beguiling songs are filled with references to the land, paired with field recordings she made there. At 76, Mossy is experiencing a late career rediscovery following Tompkins Square Records reissue of the album, which earned her a great story in the New York Times by Grayson Haver Currin, who praised her “soft, welcoming voice,” which “floats over delicately picked acoustic guitar and an occasional banjo or fiddle, or her own recordings of birds.” This week on Transmissions, Mossy joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss returning to her masterpiece more than four decades after its release, the utopian dreams of her parents, her relationship with the land, and the work of Jewel, her niece. Oh yeah, did we mention Jewel is Mossy’s niece? Northwind Calling is available now from Tompkins Square Records.

Our guest this week is Johnathan Ford of Unwed Sailor. For more than two decades, he’s led the post-rock band Unwed Sailor. In that time, Ford has steered the band—an ever-evolving collective that’s included members of Pedro the Lion, Fleet Foxes, Danielson Famile and more—through a searching string of albums, incorporating the influence of ambient music, shoegaze, new age, math rock, and drone into its body of work, which constitutes one of the great under-recognized discographies in all of indie rock. Unwed Sailor’s latest is called Look Alive, and it showcases the collective’s more driving side, marrying Peter Hook-inspired basslines to rumbling soundscapes that evidence the early influence of groups like Bedhead and Tortoise. I caught up with Ford to discuss his history in American indie rock, and how he made his way from the grinding math rock of Roadside Monument to the slow-core folk of Pedro the Lion, and Unwed Sailor’s vast genre-diverse tapestry of sounds—and all zones in between.

Welcome back to another episode of Transmissions podcast, our weekly talk show. Our guest today is Don Bryant. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Bryant was one of the premier songwriters at Hi Records, where he wrote material for Al Green, O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, and his wife, Ann Peebles. He released Precious Soul under his own name in 1969, but mostly kept behind the scenes, baring a few gospel records he released along the way, but in 2016, he returned to making records under his own name with Don’t Give Up On Love, released by Fat Possum Records. He’s got a new one, too: You Make Me Feel. Produced by Scott Bomar, it’s a raw, live feeling record, but it also showcases the subtle lyricism and sophistication of Bryant’s songwriting chops. He joined host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss highlights from his massive songbook, his marriage and creative partnership with Ann Peebles, and his return to the stage.

Our guest this week: Joe Casey of Protomartyr. One of the most exciting rock bands of the last decade, the Detroit-based post punk band will release its fifth album, Ultimate Success Today via Domino Records July 17th. The word prophetic isn't a stretch. With its references to disease, institutional brutality, and gross inequality—symptoms of “a cosmic grief, beyond all comprehension”—the new record matches the apocalyptic mood of the US, and much of the world, in 2020. But it also speaks to the continued growth of the Protomartyr aesthetic, pairing guest vocals and contributions by players associated with free jazz and experimental music with reverb-drenched guitars and brittle rhythms. Writing about the album, Ana da Silva of the Raincoats says: “Our world has reached a point that makes us afraid: fires, floods, earthquakes, hunger, war, intolerance..there are cries of despair. Is there any hope?” For this episode of Transmissions, Jason P. Woodbury asks Casey to answer that question, as well as Protomartyr's artistic growth, the uncanny influence of Robocop, and other doomed and damned topics. A reminder: Transmissions relies on our supporters on Patreon. Everything at Aquarium Drunkard does—so if you enjoy this show, our mixes, the Lagniappe Sessions—where your favorite artists cover their favorite artists—our weekly Sidecar newsletter, and the rest of our efforts, consider helping us by pledging your support of our independent outfit.

We're back. This week, we’re featuring Jesse Locke’s interview with Jack Cooper of Modern Nature. The band’s new mini-album, Annual, is the follow up to the band’s debut, 2019’s How to Live. Inspired by the group’s time on the road in support of that album, this new one demonstrates the way live performance and improvisation has informed Cooper’s continually more expansive approach to Modern Nature. Drifting, seasonal, and often focused on the subtle saxophone work of Jeff Tobias of Sunwatchers, the album also features percussionist Jim Wallis and Kayla Cohen of Itasca, who’s been a guest here on Transmissions as well. That talk’s available in our archives, like all our past episodes. This show is sponsored—like everything at Aquarium Drunkard—by our listeners, who support us directly via Patreon. Supporters receive access to bonus audio, notes, special mixes and other projects.

Welcome to another episode of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast, our weekly interview series. Our guest this week is Lisa E. Harris, whose new album with Nicole Mitchell is called EarthSeed. It was recorded live at Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago and features the Black Earth Ensemble—an all-star collection of Chicago improvisers and free jazz artists—backing up the two composers. Presented alongside a gallery of artist Cauleen Smith’s Human_3.o Reading List, EarthSeed was inspired by the work of Octavia E. Butler and will be released June 22nd, on Butler’s birthday. It’s the third album from Mitchell to draw from Butler’s work. It also represents a return to the ideas of Butler for Lisa Harris. An interdisciplinary artist, composer, and activist from Houston, Texas, Harris had been at work on an opera called Lilith before even learning of Butler’s work—but says that learning the author’s pioneering science fiction opened her up to new worlds of thought.

Welcome to another edition of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast, our weekly interview show featuring artists reflecting on their creative process, history, and work. This week, counter culture icon David Crosby. Anyone familiar with his Twitter feed knows Croz is a fount of opinions and insight, capable of immense warmth and good humor, but never one to pull punches. On July 31st, he’s reissuing the catalog of CPR, his cheekily named late ’90s and early 2000s supergroup with guitarist Jeff Pevar and Crosby’s son, keyboardist James Raymond. Alongside the trio’s two studio albums, 1998’s CPR and 2001’s Just Like Gravity, two live albums, Live at Cuesta College and Live at the Wiltern (featuring guest musicians Graham Nash, Marc Cohn, and Phil Collins) round out the overview of the group that set Crosby off on a late career renaissance that continues with recent albums like 2018’s Here If You Listen. A quick note. Crosby spoke with Transmissions co-host Jason P. Woodbury as the mass Black Lives Matter that began in late May were beginning. The conversation does not reflect the remarkable events of the last few weeks. The latest issues of our Sidecar newsletter is dedicated specifically to the inspirational struggle for justice happening in the streets of America right now.

And we’re back. Welcome to another edition of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast, our weekly series of conversations with artists, writers, and creators. This week: a discussion with sitarist and ambient composer Ami Dang, whose new project is called Meditations Mixtape, Vol. 1. Dang is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, and we reached her there to discuss her particular fusion of sounds and the way she explores the middle ground between what’s considered sacred—and what isn’t You can her her new album wherever you listen to music—we recommend heading over to Bandcamp to support Dang and Leaving Records directly by purchasing it digitally or on cassette. We'll be back on Wednesday with a conversation with David Crosby. Thanks for listening. We'll be back on Wednesday with a talk with David Crosby.

And we’re back. Welcome to another installment of Transmissions. For this episode, we’re bringing you one from the Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard’s archives: a live conversation with Ben Kramer and our founder Justin Gage, discussing 15 years of Aquarium Drunkard. Though RFAD is on pause, keep your eyes open for the eventual return of the Tonight Zone, Kramer’s late night call-in show. For now, tune in and drift as Kramer and Gage discuss the evolution and vision behind Aquarium Drunkard.

And we’re back. Welcome to the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast—our series of strange conversations for strange times. My guest this week is pedal steel player Luke Schneider. He’s got a brand new album out this month called Altar of Harmony, released by the venerable Third Man Records. Luke is best known as a sideman for country artists like Margo Price and Orville Peck, but he takes the pedal steel for a cosmic ride on his new album, conjuring up uncanny sounds that seem to bend the ear, recalling Robert Fripp guitars one moment, or the shapeshifting keyboards of Harold Budd the next, but all fashioned from raw pedal steel performances. It’s a gorgeous record—another example of Cosmic Pastoral aesthetic Schneider’s friend and collaborator William Tyler has discussed here on Aquarium Drunkard. The new record could be “justifiably be described as ‘new age’ in the most essential sense,” writes previous Transmissions guest Douglas Mcgowan in his bio. It “represents a radical new approach to the versatile and cosmic instrument of the steel guitar…This is something new under the sun, a total reinvention of an iconic instrument. Quite literally, there has never been anything else quite like it.” But we’ll let Luke describe what he’s done on this record himself via this interview we recorded back on Mother’s Day. Thanks for tuning in. A reminder that you can rate and review us on Apple Podcasts—and that you can use the handy share buttons on Spotify, Stitcher, and Tune In to put our show directly into the various feeds of people who might enjoy it. Aquarium Drunkard is funded by our supporters on Patreon, so if you like what we do—this podcast, Justin Gage’s weekly two-hour show on Sirius XMU, our mixtapes, our 24-hour pirate radio stream, the Lagniappe Sessions, where your favorite artists cover their favorite artists—consider chipping in a couple bucks over there. We do appreciate it. We’ll be back next week with a special archived broadcast from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard’s The Tonight Zone—a longform interview with AD founder Justin Gage. But first, Luke Schneider, exploring his Altar of Harmony.

Were joined by singer/songwriter/producer/guitarist Steve Gunn for this episode of the Transmissions podcast—completing our round of talks with the participants of the Gunn/Lattimore/Tyler canceled tour. But there’s much more to hear here than another pandemic rap. Topics of conversation include the new Livin’ In Between EP, which pairs Gunn’s last Lagniappe Session with a brand-new cover of Neil Young’s “Motion Pictures,” Steve’s hardcore youth, immersion in the experimental Philadelphia scene, and his longstanding creative partnership with drummer John Trucinski.

On this episode, we caught up with guitarist and songwriter Buck Curran. Formerly one half of the psychedelic duo Arborea, Buck is currently situated in Bergamo, Italy, in one of the areas hit hardest by COVID-19. Though he’s quarantining with his family, he decided now was the right time to release his third solo album, No Love is Sorrow. It’s a gorgeous and comforting record. Writing about it for AD’s Bandcamping feature, Tyler Wilcox said the lp was full of “melancholy but uplifting folk visions” from Curran, whose label Obsolete has also released tributes to Jack Rose and Robbie Basho, as well as archival works by the latter. “There are traces of both Basho and Rose in No Love Is Sorrow, of course,” Wilcox. writes, “But Buck has his own thing happening, too, managing to expertly balance ominous vibes with heartfelt devotionals.” We connected via Skype to discuss his journey from Maine to Italy, how the new album came together, quarantining with family, and of course the episodes of Star Trek he’s been watching. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by Patreon, which will allow readers and listeners to directly support our online magazine as it expands its scope while receiving access to our secret stash, including bonus audio, exclusive podcasts, printed ephemera, and vinyl records. Your support will help keep an independent cultural resource alive and healthy in 2020 and beyond.

Welcome to the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast, and this episode, we’re encouraging you to watch UFOria, a 1985 science fiction comedy starring Cindy Williams, Fred Ward, and Harry Dean Stanton. At once sweet, earnest, silly, and wry,it was a flop upon initial release and has subsequently slipped through the cracks of cinematic history—but thanks to an enterprising YouTuber, you can join AD’s Jason P. Woodbury and Chad DePasquale in falling under its strange spell. “This is one of those movies in which you walk in not expecting much, and then something great happens, and you laugh, and you start paying more attention, and then you realize that a lot of great things are happening, that this is one of those rare movies that really has it,” Roger Ebert wrote in his review. “UFOria is not just another witless Hollywood laugh machine, but a movie with intelligence and a sly, sardonic style of humor. You don’t have to shut down half of your brain in order to endure it.” Aquarium Drunkard is powered by Patreon, which will allow readers and listeners to directly support our online magazine as it expands its scope while receiving access to our secret stash, including bonus audio, exclusive podcasts, printed ephemera, and vinyl records. Your support will help keep an independent cultural resource alive and healthy in 2020 and beyond.

And we’re back. For this episode of Transmissions, we’re joined by author, WFMU DJ, and historian of all things “heady,” Jesse Jarnow. His writing has been published by Relix, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, and in addition to his beautifully written and deeply researched books, which include Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock, Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America, and Wasn’t That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and the Battle for the Soul of America, Jarnow pens a recurring column for Aquarium Drunkard called Blanks and Postage, where he covers the intersection of psychedelics, art, and technology. His weekly WFMU program, The Frow Show, is an essential listen. With society in a state of monumental flux, it felt like the perfect time for Transmissions co-host Jason P. Woodbury to ring Jesse up to discuss the radical possibilities of the current moment, science fiction, various dystopian and utopian happenings, jam culture’s ahead of the curve embrace of live streaming tech, and his next book, which will document the alternate history of the recording industry via bootlegs and grey market releases.

For the last decade, William Tyler’s widescreen guitar epics have told wordless stories, about forgotten histories, American myths, backroads, and mystic visions. On this episode of Transmissions he discusses traveling to Nashville as the pandemic spread and the art he’s been enjoying while hunkered down.

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 Anthem, which has established itself as one of the key labels in underground jazz, and it’s released in collaboration with the legendary Nonesuch imprint. Episode playlist: William Tyler-Four Corners + Jeff Parker-Go Away + Jeff Parker-Fusion Swirl + Jeremy Cunningham featuring Jeff Parker-1985 + 「ゴドメス星人」より侵略者のテーマ Art via D. Norsen

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 them every night.” You might recognize Don Slepian’s name from Light in the Attic’s I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America 1950-1990 compilation, where he appeared alongside Laraaji, Joanna Brouk, Iasos, Steven Halpern and other early practitioners of cosmic devotional music. Two of his early ‘80s works have recently been reissued—Sea of Bliss by Numero Group and New Dawn on Morning Trip—and he had plenty to tell guest interviewer Jesse Locke about those heady, early days. Earlier this month, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released their 17th studio album, Ghosteen. A double album, ambient in nature and featuring two longform spoken word performances, it’s one of Cave’s most tender, centered on the loss of his son, and the idea of “a migrating spirit.” Marty Sartini Garner, longtime Aquarium Drunkard writer and a frequent guest on this podcast, wrote a review of the album for AV Club, praising its “otherworldly and spiritual quality.” He and co-host Jason P. Woodbury got together to discuss.

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.