Transmissions

Writing about The Modern Folk’s Modern Folk One in our AD 2022 Year in Review, we called it, “A blend of field recordings, astral zones, freak outs, leisurely jams, and rustique concrète from the ever-prolific Josh Moss.” That gives you a little sense of the kind of music Moss creates with his ultra-prolific recording project. Head over to his Bandcamp and you'll find dozens and dozens of releases...

Welcome to Transmissions. The name Bruce Licher commands respect in the underground world of independent rock. As musician and letterpress artist with Independent Project Press, he’s created art and bespoke album packaging for artists like R.E.M., Stereolab, Camper Van Beethoven, and more, and created music with post-punk combo Savage Republic, instrumental rock pioneers Scenic, and other projects...

This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions: ambient country trio Suss. On their own, Suss members Jonathan Gregg, Bob Holmes, and Pat Irwin have been involved in musical projects, with artists like k.d. Lang, the B-52s, John Cale, David Bowie, Norah Jones, the War on Drugs and Wilco—Irwin even contributed music to Nickelodeon's Rocko’s Modern Life.  Since 2018, they—along with the their departed...

Today on the show, we’re joined by Allyson McCabe, author of the new book: Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters. McCabe is a writer, broadcaster and producer, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, BBC Culture, Wired and on NPR.  Writing about the book for an installment of Aquarium Drunkard Book Club, JJ Toth of Wooden Wand states, “Though McCabe’s impassioned defense of O’Connor in the wake of he...

We're pleased to welcome Alex Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay on today's episode. Together, they have created a tremendous and deeply entertaining new book about one of Aquarium Drunkard's favorite bands: Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors From The Songs of Steely Dan.  The Danaissance is in full swing, and in Quantum Criminals, Pappademas writes that Steely Dan...

Our guest this week is mystic poet, writer, publisher, and performance artist Janaka Stucky, who’s been hailed as “extraordinary" and "riveting” by no less an occult authority than Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. We were first introduced to Stucky through his work with Third Man Books, the literary division of Jack White’s Third Man empire, which released his 2015 collection The Truth is We Are Perfec...

Today on Transmissions: Vashti Bunyan. Though her 1970 Joy Boyd-produced Just Another Diamond Day album was barely heard upon original release, its rediscovery by key members of the burgeoning freak folk scene in the mid-2000s helped make it a cult classic, a tender work of imagination and melody. Recently, Bunyan published her first book, Wayward: Just Another Life. It charts her youth in the orb...

This week on Transmissions, Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner, the psychedelic folk duo Elkhorn. Their new album, On the Universe In All Directions, finds Jesse once again at his familiar 12-string acoustic guitar, but instead of Drew joining with his trademark Telecaster, he’s moved over to vibraphone and drums for this outing. Have no fear: the familiar Elkhorn magic is here in spades, but in bran...

This week on Transmissions, we’re joined by writer and musician Jana Horn. Her new album The Window is the Dream is out now on No Quarter Records. Writing about it, Andy French at Raven Sings The Blues calls it a “delicate exfoliation of dream and reality.” When she’s not penning oracular folk rock songs, Horn teaches fiction at the University of Virginia and writes short fiction.  The Window is t...

This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions: spiritual avant-garde jazz keyboardist Surya Botofasina. His new album is called Everyone’s Children and it was created in collaboration with previous Transmissions guest Carlos Niño, members of Botofasina's family, and other collaborators. Listening to his blissful synth meditations, listeners are treated to an open, cosmically vulnerable sound. This...

In 1992, Eddie Chacon broke out as one-half of Charles & Eddie, his soul music duo with Charles Pettigrew. Their single "Would I Lie to You?” was a major international hit. Chacon was just a kid growing up in Castro Valley, California, when he decided he would be a music star. Before meeting Pettigrew, Eddie had played in a teenage band with Cliff Burton and Mike Bordin, later of Metallica and Fai...

Of all the ways to discover a song, there are few more inviting and experiential than driving down a desert highway and hearing something come in over the radio—a real life transmission. That was the case for host Jason P. Woodbury driving to Tucson, Arizona, in 2022, when “Puedas Decir De Mi,” by Adrian Quesada featuring Gaby Moreno came over the airwaves of KCXI Tucson community radio. Quesada i...

This week on Transmissions, we’re talking past selves with Sharon Van Etten, who’s recently released an anniversary edition of her landmark 2012 album Tramp. Raw, personal, and born from personal upheaval, it's a gleaming example of what makes her songcraft so resonant. Something kind of unexpected happened when Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury revisited Tramp, which was produced by future Tay...

Today on the show—two British Invasion legends: Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies. The band formed in the early ‘60s in St Albans, and remarkably, they are still out on the road and making new music. The band’s new album is called Different Game, and it’s out on Cooking Vinyl Records on March 31st. The album is being released in advance of a new feature documentary as well, called Hung...

Today on Transmissions, we’re joined by Saskatchewan-born songwriter Andy Shauf to discuss getting sober, God, and how these big topics relate to his latest album of introspective folk pop, Norm. Fans of his ‘70s-styled songcraft will still find lots to love here, but as we discuss, the production is deeply rooted in modern experimentation and the anything goes sonic possibilities of digital recor...

To quote album art master and AD visual guru D. Norsen: “Dorothy Moskowitz might not be a household name but was a musician on two of the headiest albums I know: 1967's Vocal And Instrumental Ragas From South India on Folkways and 1968's United States of America on CBS.” Moskowitz is our guest this week on Transmissions. She joins us to discuss not only the pioneering psychedelia she made in the p...

This week on the show, a conversation with Philip Selway. You might know him best as the drummer of Radiohead, but he’s moved deeper and deeper in the last 13 years. His latest is called Strange Dance, and it’s out now on Bella Union. It’s a sweeping and textural listen, envisioned by its creator as something like a "Carole King record meets Daphne Oram." We caught up with Phil to dig in. Along th...

This week on Transmissions, we’re settling in for a tremendous conversation with Jason Stern and Don Fleming of the Lou Reed Archive. A decade on from his passing in 2013, Lou Reed's work remains as vital as ever, thanks in no small part to the efforts of people like Jason and Don. Working together with Laurie Anderson, they’ve helped bring a number of projects into existence, including the New Yo...

We’re hanging out with Mac DeMarco this week on Transmissions. For the last decade plus, he’s been a reliable source for laid back DIY music—a post-indie sleaze crooner with a warped sense of humor and charm. His latest album forgoes lyrics in favor of instrumentals. It’s called Five Easy Hot Dogs and it came about as the result of series of recording sessions Mac underwent while on a road trip. C...

This week on Transmissions, a revelatory talk with Max Turnbull of Badge Époque Ensemble. Last year, BEE released two great projects: the remix album Clouds of Joy: Chance of Reign, a collaboration with producer Lammping and rappers like Boldy James, THE03, and others, and the magisterial Clouds of Joy, which landed on the Aquarium Drunkard Year in Review best of the year list. A stirring blend of...

This week on Transmissions: Nina Persson and James Yorkston join host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss The Great White Sea Eagle, their low key and homey collection of folk rock. Created in collaboration with the Second Hand Orchestra, it’s saturated with soul and kind wit. Calling in from their respective places in Sweden and Scotland, Persson and Yorkston joined us to discuss how the improvisatory a...

We're joined this week by James McNew of Yo La Tengo and Dump. For decades now, he’s been a prolific source of engaged independent rock music—the kind we like here at Aquarium Drunkard. As past work like I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass proves, YLT are masters of a great sardonic album title, and on February 10th, the band continues that tradition with its 16th album, This Stupid Wo...

Our 2023 season is officially underway. This week on the show, Chad Clark of Beauty Pill. He and his bandmate Erin Nelson joined AD in March last year, and on January 20th, Ernest Jenning Record Co. releases Blue Period, a double LP compilation featuring music Clark recorded for the legendary punk label Dischord Records between 2003-2005—including the full-length LP The Unsustainable Lifestyle, th...

Welcome to the final episode of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions’ 2022 season. We saved a great one for the finale: Kid Congo Powers. Born Brian Tristan in La Puente, California, he eventually adopted the stage name which appears on the cover of Some New Kind of Kick, a new memoir that documents his time in The Cramps, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and The Gun Club, with whom he’s credited for “exce...

Writing about the Bedhead career retrospective 1992-1998 for Pitchfork, writer Mark Richardson put it nicely: “Bedhead had no time for or interest in anything extraneous to the music…And this is what it sounded like—serious, intense, smart, beautiful, occasionally frightening...” Today on the show, we are joined by the Kadane Brothers, who founded Bedhead in 1991 in Dallas, Texas. Matt Kadane call...