Sonically ever-shifting, Amen Dunes’ Damon McMahon remains resolute in his intent. On “Round the World,” the latest taste from his upcoming album, Death Jokes, he dances amidst a world ablaze, making an impassioned plea for us to live free—in the moment, free from the shackles of societal expectations and pervasive self-obsession, and perhaps to even realize freedom in the belief that the end may only just be the beginning.
Search Results for: depasquale
Rail Band :: S/T
Some serious heat via Bamako, 1973. Having been founded by saxophonist and trumpeter Tidiani Koné as the official orchestra of the Malian state railway three years prior, Rail Band’s self-titled long player, which currently sees reissue via Mississippi Records, is a scorching document of a restless and formative blend of soul, funk, and jazz with traditional West African and Afro Cuban music.
Hiroshi Kamayatsu :: Have You Smoked Gauloise?
Kicking off Nippon Psychedelic Soul 1970-1979, the latest from London-based reissue outfit Time Capsule and the follow-up to their Nippon Acid Folk compilation, is Hiroshi Kamayatsu’s “Have you smoked Gauloise?,” a masterstroke of orchestral, mutant-pop.
The New Eves :: Post-Punk Drone Folk from Brighton
The New Eves—the Brighton-based quartet of Nina Winder-Lind, Kate Mager, Ella Oona Russell, and Violet Farrer—craft a rousing brew of post-punk, drone-folk, and avant-choral psych that evokes The Raincoats, Nico, Television, and Horses-era Patti Smith in equal measure, offering one of the more exciting new sounds we’ve heard this year.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: March 2024
Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month, Chad offers up a misty portal into spring — orchestral pop, psychedelic folk & earthy jazz; then, Tyler delivers some Stereolab-ish situations, from solo efforts and side projects to similarly styled space age bachelor pad music. 4-6pm PT.
Jessica Pratt :: Life Is
Jessica Pratt returned last week with a delicately stunning new tune called “Life Is,” the first taste off her forthcoming new album, Here in the Pitch. The track, which has been on serious repeat, finds Pratt orbiting a Blossom Dearie-like sphere—its big 60s girl group backbeat, staccato strings, and kaleidoscopic production accompanying her on an existential carousel.
Chet Sounds :: Changes Happen To Everyone, Everywhere
His sophomore outing, Chet Sounds’ Changes Happen to Everyone, Everywhere, released this past fall, is a vibrantly slinky and saturated musical trip that rolls along the bayou and floats amongst the cosmos in equal measure. Performed, produced, and mixed by the Australian-based Chet Tucker in a shipping container on his family’s property in the Sutherland Shire, the album takes a lo-fi glossy and groove-laden trip across 70s-am pop, yacht rock, private press outsider folk, library funk, and Rundgren-esque psychedelia.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: February 2024
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns with a new installment of Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering — freak-out funk, moody pop & avant-folk, plus a few tributes to some recently departed heroes. Then, Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb offers up some moody, ambient jazziness, gathered (mostly) from late 2023 and early 2024. Sunday, 5-7pm Pacific Standard Time….
Pedro Ricardo :: Soprem Bons Ventos
Soprem Bons Ventos, the title of Porto-born, Berlin based multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ Pedro Ricardo’s debut album, released last year on Soundway Records, translates to “Good Winds Blow,” a deceptively placid phrase for a record that alchemizes tranquil folk melodies with frenetic energies that meld genre, place, and time.
Rei Harakami :: Wide World And Narrow World
The Hiroshima-born electronic music producer Rei Harakami recorded six albums of long-form, abstract ambience between 1998 and 2011, before passing away suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of forty. He left behind a singular body of work—a submerged sound of delayed, downtempo techno and reverb-laden, leftfield electronic dance music—and even a handful of records with Akiko Yano. Immersed in film and animation as well, Harakami’s creative pursuits proved boundless, as seen via a recent survey of some early homemade recordings, which encapsulate a sojourner of sound at play with the infinite.
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band :: Dancing on the Edge
Ryan Davis is tipping his beer to a world in moral and constitutional decline. Ruminating shortcomings, both inward and out, that seem to have settled into the standard, the Louisville-based journeyman defiantly declares he and his crew “the new vigilantes of the two-drink minimum” on “Free from the Guillotine,” the dryly pugnacious opener to Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band’s Dancing on the Edge, the latest and perhaps greatest notch in the storied songwriter’s belt.
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.
Aquarium Drunkard exists because of the passion of its contributors and the support of its generous Patreon community, so consider pledging your support as we ring in the new year. If Aquarium Drunkard improves your listening life, the Patreon is the best way to reciprocate. Only the good shit, now, then, and the unspecified moments in-between.
Airto & Flora – A Celebration: 60 Years – Sounds, Dreams & Other Stories
There’s an embarrassment of riches to be found on Airto & Flora – A Celebration: 60 Years – Sounds, Dreams & Other Stories, the latest compilation from London’s always dazzling BBE label, this time documenting the work of Brazilian jazz power couple Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. Compiling thirty tracks across just about as many years (1964 through 1996) from the various solo and collaborating outings of the duo (now in their sixty-first year as union), the set examines their evolving alchemy of samba, bossa nova, jazz-fusion, and outré-funk excursions.
Leo Takami :: Next Door
Leo Takami first hit our radar with his 2020 album, Felis Catus and Silence, a beacon of light in a potently dark year, shaping Windham Hill-inspired guitar compositions with elements of jazz, minimalism, classical music, Japanese gagaku, and ambient textures. The Tokyo-based composer and guitarist’s follow up arrives with Next Door, an album that once again finds Takami handling all the controls himself, creating his own fantastical dreamscapes and, this time, leaning a little more into easy listening and lounge.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: November 2023
It’s time for another installment of Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, four hours of sounds from AD selectors and friends. Up first, Chad DePasquale shares The New Happy Gathering Holiday Special: crunchy leaf folk, woolen country, and a palm wine-jazz cocktail. Then, Jason P. Woodbury concludes Range and Basin with a longform instrumental drift, encompassing digital soundtrack jazz, lunar epics, and synths. Then, Tyler Wilcox shares a special Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, featuring tunes heard in his CD-focused Bonus Tracks column. And to close, Gabriel Birnbaum shares a broadcast of his Foxy Digitalis Mix.