Aquarium Drunkard :: 2023 Year in Review

Looking back to look ahead. It’s our Year In Review 2023. As always, our list is unranked and unruly. Let it blurb.

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Bongo Joe :: Two Oil Drums And The Truth

Though seemingly lost to history, ‘Bongo Joe’ was one of the best street performers to have ever graced a sidewalk – a musical genius, true outsider artist, DIY instrument builder, and poet-philosopher whose legacy has gone painfully neglected save for those lucky enough to witness his performances. Using a set of discarded oil barrels, a DIY PA system, and custom mallets, Bongo Joe transfixed street audiences across Texas, first performing in Houston, then Galveston, next Fort Worth, and finally San Antonio, where he set up in front of the Alamo for decades.

Albert Ayler :: Europe 1966

Europe 1966 is a 4-LP set documenting four of Albert Ayler’s performances with his quintet that took place over a ten-day period in November 1966. The collection includes the band’s appearances in Berlin, Lörrach, Stockholm, and Paris, where the saxophonist and his group took part in a package tour called Newport In Europe, a George Wein-curated program that also included Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, and Dave Brubeck. Ayler’s group on this tour consisted of his brother Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, William Folwell on double bass, and Beaver Harris on drums. (The latter replaced longtime Ayler accompanist Sunny Murray, who opted not to make the European trip.)

Ghost Riders :: A Compilation

In 2016, Australian label Efficient Space released Sky Girl, a near immaculate collection of gems lifted from small pressings dating from the sixties to the nineties compiled by Julien Dechery and DJ Sundae. Although highly varied, pasting together new wave tones, borderline outsider rock, and haunting folk, Sky Girl is a seamless listen. Six years on, Efficient Space offer their second compilation, Ghost Riders, put together by record collector Ivan Liechti, culled between 1965-1974.

Hiroshi Asada :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Hiroshi Asada’s Greetings From Nashville (You Who’s In My Mind) turned 50 this year, the artist’s expressive aural love letter to Country Music and America. Spoken of reverentially by fans and artists from Japan and beyond, the LP was cut in Nashville at the Acuff-Rose studio with a grip of the industry’s most in-demand session players including members of Nashville’s Area Code 615.

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Erin Rae

Following up the set she laid down in 2019, Erin Rae returns this month with her second Lagniappe Session. Comprised of live, single mic takes cut at a rehearsal before performing at the Newport Folk Festival, the following four recordings find Rae reflecting on the music of her childhood, the wisdom of a young Kathy Heideman, and the aching blues of Karen Dalton.

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Elijah Wolf

Elijah Wolf kicks off the Lagniappe Sessions for 2022. Recorded alone in his Brooklyn apartment at the end of last year, before digitally landing in Los Angeles, London and upstate New York for additional accompaniment, the four covers find the folk artist tapping into 70s stalwarts and contemporaries, alike.