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 , the You Are Right To Be Afraid EP, and a whole slew of outtakes, demos, and rarities. When this mus...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Season 8Ep. 1
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 “excessive feedback, guitar and slide guitar, whirling whirlies, maracas and ancient mutterings.” And th...
Nov 16, 2022•57 min
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 calls in from his place in New York, where he teaches history, and Bubba Kadane from Texas, where he co...
Nov 09, 2022•1 hr 6 min
On Slow Fawn , Sam Cohen, a producer, songwriter, and musician known for his work with Apollo Sunshine, Yellowbirds, Kevin Morby, Danger Mouse and Karen O, creates a glowing, meditative space. Inspired by Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air and drawing from long jam sessions with his collaborators, it reflects Sam's desire to "create a world without friction, where you could float and feel joy." Combining dashes of jazz, synthesized new age, pop, and minimalist grace and it’s a record we've re...
Nov 02, 2022•57 min
This week on the show, Joe Rainey. Hailing from Minnesota, he’s a powwow singer of the Red Lake Ojibwe tribe. He’s known for collaborations with Bon Iver, Chance the Rapper and Alan Sparhawk of Low, and in May he released his debut solo album, Niineta on Justin Vernon’s 38do3d label. Created in conjunction with producer Andrew Broder, it pairs his vocals with samples culled from his vast collection of powwow tapes, thundering percussion, and dense, thickly layered electronic soundscapes. With it...
Oct 26, 2022•59 min
This week on our weekly interview podcast, a wide-ranging interview with Clem Burke of Blondie. He joins us to discuss the band’s early years, interactions with luminaries like Robert Fripp and Giorgio Moroder, the fashion forward cultural shift, disco, and Numero Group’s monumental box set collection: Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982. A game conversationalist, Burke brings a quick wit and sharp intellect to this chat, which traces the group's evolution, early days, and his work as a case stu...
Oct 19, 2022•1 hr
This week on the show, Danalogue (Dan Leavers), Betamax (Max Hallett) and Shabaka Hutchings, known collectively as the improvisational crew The Comet is Coming. You might know Dan and Max from Soccer96, and Hutchings from his many projects, including Shabaka and the Ancestors and Sons of Kemet. Their new album is called Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam . Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, it’s a blur of electronic music, funk ferocity, and free jazz squall. As that title likely sugg...
Oct 12, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Welcome to another episode of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, we're so glad to have you here. Today on the show, Ken Shipley of Numero Group. October has arrived, but the storied Chicago label was still in the midst of its September ‘90s month celebration of reissues from Codeine, Karate, Current, and Unwound when we taped this conversation. Since then, the label has announced a truly bonkers 20th anniversary celebration for 2023, which will see Unwound, Codeine, The Hated, Karate, Ida, Chisel,...
Oct 05, 2022•58 min
With his debut book My Life in the Sunshine: Searching For My Father and Discovering My Family , Nabil Ayers walks a tightrope, balancing personal and familial history with stories about a life spent playing music, working in record stores, and falling in love with music. On this episode of Transmissions, Ayers discusses it all with host Jason P. Woodbury: wild record store tales, formative live music experiences, his work with 4AD, The Control Group, and Beggars Group, and his complicated relat...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Welcome to another episode of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson and guitarist Yonatan Gat join us to discuss their collaborative work as Medicine Singers, which pairs the powwow drum and the voices of the Eastern Medicine Singers with Yonatan’s electrified guitar and contributions from experimental composer Joe Rainey, Ikue Mori of DNA, Thor Harris of Swans, previous Transmissions guest Laraaji, and the late jamie branch. Tapped into a kind of fre...
Sep 21, 2022•57 min
Today on Transmissions, representatives of the Cosmic Network Gloria de Oliveira and Dean Hurley join us to discuss their new album of dream pop bliss and New Ages swoon, Oceans of Time , out this week from Sacred Bones Records. Dean is best known for his work with David Lynch, with whom he’s collaborated on sound design, music, and more since 2006’s Inland Empire. Gloria is a German-Brazilian songwriter and singer. Without ever meeting in person, they fashioned Oceans of Time . Part Cocteau Twi...
Sep 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min
We're sitting down with Chicago sisters Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney, who join us to discuss the work of their father, the late Charles Stepney. As a producer and arranger, Stepney was at the helm for incredible '60s and '70s work with Earth, Wind & Fire, Rotary Connection, The Dells, Muddy Waters, Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Terry Callier, and many more before his passing in 1976. But on Step on Step , a mind-blowing new collection from International Anthem, a new vision of Stepne...
Sep 07, 2022•1 hr
Our return guest today on Transmissions: Chris Forsyth. The Philadelphia-based guitarist and bandleader is back with a new album, Evolution Here We Come . On it his backed up by an all-star cast including Tom Malach (Garcia Peoples), Douglas McCombs (Tortoise), and Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker), with guest appearances by Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon of The Dream Syndicate, and more. Produced by Dave Harrington, the album leans into electronic textures, conjurin...
Aug 31, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Today on an all-new episode of our weekly interview podcast: Steve Marion, better known by his recording name Delicate Steve. As a sideman, Steve’s joined up with folks like Paul Simon, MacDeMarco, Tame Impala, The Black Keys and Yeasayer, but all along he’s made his own instrumental guitar recordings. His latest album is out on Anti Records, and it’s called After Hours , and it blends viby rhythms with cyber rock riffs, always placing an emphasis on emotionally compelling melodies. For this tal...
Aug 24, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Built on loops culled from doo wop, psychedelic pop, and early rock & roll records, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's new album Reset is an exuberant and oracular listen. Mining resonance in the past—including musical themes that recall their past work, both solo and in Animal Collective and Spaceman 3—the duo create the kind of ecstatic music that renders time elastic. In this all-new episode of our weekly interview podcast Transmissions, Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Peter Kember (Sonic Boom) sit...
Aug 17, 2022•57 min
If you’re a fan of jittery guitar-driven indie rock, you’re probably most familiar with our guest today, Glenn Mercer from his work with The Feelies. While this episode of Transmissions doesn't skimp on Feelies discussion, Mercer also discusses the diversity of his catalog, including work The Trypes, whose 40th anniversary edition of Music for Neighbors was released earlier this year, and his solo canon. Along the way: the Velvet Underground, The Dead, Peter Buck of R.E.M., his tribute works to ...
Aug 10, 2022•58 min
We’ve been captivated by the striking music featured on Cheri Knight’s American Rituals lately—one of our favorite songs from it opens this episode, the mantric “Prime Numbers.” Recorded in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, Knight’s experimental compositions recall the minimalism of John Cage or Meredith Monk, but are shot through with a post-punk streak, all delivered with meditative, repetitive vocal abstractions that evoke her interest in Buddhism...
Aug 03, 2022•58 min
Our guest this week on the show is Mitch Horowitz. Perhaps you’ve heard the occult scholar and author on Coast to Coast AM or The Duncan Trussell Family Hour or perhaps you’ve heard him right here on Transmissions . With the occasion of his new book, Daydream Believer: Unlocking the Ultimate Power of your Mind , out this week, as well as the forthcoming essay collection, Uncertain Places: Essays on Occult and Outsider Experiences out on October 18, we invited Mitch back to the show for another f...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Welcome to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. Our guest today on the show Glenn Jones, who joins us to discuss his new album Vade Mecum , out now on Thrill Jockey Records, as well as touch on and illuminate the complicated legacy of John Fahey. Both solo and as a member of Cul-de-Sac, Jones has been a force of creative energy in the world of solo acoustic guitar, guitar soli, or American Primitive music, a term we discuss in this chat. Before we get into the talk, we want to acknowledge a debt of ...
Jul 20, 2022•54 min
Crossover time. Today on the show, Canadian podcaster, broadcaster, music journalist, and music lifer Vish Khanna. He’s the host of the long running and inspirational Kreative Kontrol , a podcast dedicated to creativity. Here’s what Bonnie “Prince” Billy said about talking with him: “…it’s rewarding, relaxing, fulfilling to engage with Vish, as the exchanges have always been just rife with that rarest rarity: communication.” Alongside Will Oldham, Vish has hosted members of Pavement, Sonic Youth...
Jul 13, 2022•1 hr 26 min
On Joan Shelley's fantastic new album The Spur , the singer/songwriter reaches out from a place of solitude, seeking connection. Rooted in Britfolk aesthetics, it's an album that feels intimate but spacious too, all finger picked acoustic guitars, Richard Thompson inspired electrics, and sparse percussion. Alongside her collaborators, who include producer James Elkington, Bill Callahan, with whom she sings a duet, and Shelley's husband, archivist and guitarist Nathan Salsburg, she explores deepl...
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr 4 min
As leader of The Hold Steady and a solo artist, Craig Finn specializes in unlikely redemption stories. His latest is called A Legacy of Rentals . Like his best work, it traces the lines of down and out characters, imbuing them with humanity and inner drama. Finn is one of the most empathetic indie rock writers out there, and to that end, he’s also launched a new podcast called That's How I Remember It , dedicated to exploring the connection between memory and creativity with guests like Fred Arm...
Jun 29, 2022•56 min
This week on Transmissions, a post-punk roundtable with Mark Stewart of The Pop Group, Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire, Eric Random (The Buzzcocks, Nico). On Mark’s latest album, VS , they team up for “Cast No Shadow,” which was made in response to the Simon Reynolds book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 , and Nikolaos Katranis, Russell Craig Richardson, and Academy-award winner Leon Gast’s forthcoming documentary of the same name. How did post-punk hit their respective places...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, with your host Jason P. Woodbury. This week on the show, we're joined by Andrew Khedoori and Mark Gowing of Longform Editions . Home to extended experimental works by previous Transmissions guests like William Tyler, Carlos Nino, and Angel Bat Dawid—plus, many more avant composers and music makers—it’s tempting to think of Longform Editions as a “record label,” but Andrew and Mark consider it an online gallery for musical works. Every two months, ...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 5 min
This week on the show, we're joined by Chicago indie trio Horsegirl—Penelope Lowenstein, Nora Cheng and Gigi Reece. Their new album, Versions of Modern Performance , out now on Matador Records, echoes classic indie rock—think Sonic Youth (after all, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley guest star on one song), Dinosaur Jr, The Clean, and The Breeders. But what really makes it such a compelling listen is the interplay between these three young people. Horsegirl does everything as a group, from answering...
Jun 08, 2022•43 min
This week on Transmissions: producer, television music maker, radio host, and overall interesting guy Ben Vaughn. His new album is called The World of Ben Vaughn . It was released physically on vinyl back on Record Store Day and digitally earlier this month. Rooted in gentle strums,much of its sweetly traditional songcraft was recorded out in Vaughn’s Relay Shack studio in the Mojave Desert, and it echoes the most rustic of selections he plays on his great radio show The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn...
Jun 01, 2022•58 min
Today on Transmissions, London-based jazz and beat artist Ben Marc. He’s known for his work with Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke and with Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead and Shabaka Hutchings of Sons of Kemet. His new album is called Glass Effect and it blends classical, electronic music, and deeply felt spiritual jazz. He joined us to discuss his work with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Astake, working with Jonny Greenwood and his bandmate Tom Skinner’s work in Radiohead side project The Smile. You can...
May 25, 2022•48 min
Today we're joined by Jeff Cloud of Velvet Blue Music , known for his work with Pony Express, Joy Electric, and California dream pop band Starflyer 59. Cloud founded Velvet Blue in 1996, and the label has been home to pivotal releases by people like Richard Swift, with whom Cloud played in Pony Express and Starflyer 59, the Broadway Hush, an early project headed by Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw of Cotton Jones, Fine China, and many more. Totally blue collar in spirit and independent, the label ...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Welcome back to Transmissions. Today on the show we’re joined by Sarah Martin of Glasgow's Belle and Sebastian. The legendary Scottish indie band has a new album out now on Matador, A Bit Of Previous . Offering sunshine pop, disco-inflected groovers, and plenty of jangle, it's a record that finds Belle and Sebastian sounding very much refreshed. Martin joined the band just after it started, linking up with songwriter Stuart Murdoch right before the recording of the landmark album If You're Feeli...
May 11, 2022•55 min
"It's funny, I was working up to it for so long...it's been my dream." This week on an all-new episode of our weekly Transmissions podcast, return guest Kurt Vile joins us from his basement studio Overnight KV to discuss his great new album (watch my moves) . Loose, sprawling, and filled with spacey but intimate jams that couple drum machines, smoke-curled guitars, and off the cuff vocals, the record feels like being invited into Vile's head to sit down and hang out a spell. Since emerging from ...
May 04, 2022•53 min
