Podcast appearances and mentions of Jason P Woodbury

This week on the show, something different: an extra-sized Transmission that's been locked in the vault for years, a two-hour talk with singer/songwriter Damien Jurado.  Way back in 2022, host Jason P. Woodbury sat down with Jurado in the recording studio at Gold-Diggers in Los Angeles for a career spanning conversation, exploring the stories behind his oracular visions, his history, and his collaborators, including the late Richard Swift. The idea was that perhaps the talk would be chopped up for a mini-series, but the project never materialized—and instead this revealing talk was locked away on a hard drive, that is until now, as the time has come to share it via Transmissions. Woodbury been listening to Jurado's music for about 25 years; first encountering his 2000 Sub Pop release Ghost of David, a haunted album of lo-fi folk songs. Years later, Jurado's sound bloomed into psychedelia when he began collaborating with the late Richard Swift for 2010's Saint Bartlett, which was followed by the Maraqopa Trilogy, a series of psychedelic epics. Jurado has been on a tear since—sharing a string of self-produced recordings that include 2021's The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania, 2022's Reggae Film Star, and three albums in 2023, Sometimes You Hurt the Ones You Hate, Motorcycle Madness, and Passing The Giraffes. Recently, he's expanded the view of these albums with a series of demo collections shared also by his own label, Maraqopa Records.   Jurado's songs are worlds meant to be lived in, full of strange characters in dream states, caught between the static on flickering TV channels, and with this episode, the penultimate, which is a fancy word for “second to last” of our 10th season, we explore those worlds with the man himself. You can read a ⁠⁠⁠⁠full transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this conversation at Aquarium Drunkard, where you'll find 20 years worth of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. With your support, here's to another decade. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Stream a ⁠⁠⁠⁠playlist of bumper music featured on Transmissions⁠⁠⁠⁠, as well as selections from our guests. Transmissions is a part of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts.

On the cover of Deerhoof's new album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, is an image of the band's lineup—Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Greg Saunier—collaged together into one strange visage. Given that the album's title is drawn directly from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this cobbled together assemblage makes sense, but it also doubles as a handy metaphor for Deerhoof's identity as a band. Together, they equal more than the sum of their parts; working together in radical co-operation, they become  one art rock organism.  By the time most bands reach their third decade, they've settled into a groove, but Deerhoof seems custom built to resist static stasis or aesthetic complacency. Noble and Godlike in Ruin pulls from free jazz, prog rock, noise, and j-pop, resulting in a sound that is at once recognizable as Deerhoof, but nonetheless surprising, even to the band's members themselves. Focusing in on sci-fi futurism and some of the most directly political songs of the band's vast discography, it's a triumphant work that illustrates what makes Deerhoof one of the most fascinating bands in all of indie rock.  This week on the show, Satomi Matsuzaki and Greg Saunier join Jason P. Woodbury for a winding discussion about the new album, the current political moment, haute cuisine, the function of art, and at the very end—some Star Trek discussion. You can read a ⁠⁠⁠full transcript⁠⁠⁠ of this conversation at Aquarium Drunkard, where you'll find 20 years worth of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. With your support, here's to another decade. ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard. ⁠⁠⁠ Stream a ⁠⁠⁠playlist of bumper music featured on Transmissions⁠⁠⁠, as well as selections from our guests. Transmissions is a part of the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts.

Josh Modell sits down with Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury to preview the new season of Aquarium Drunkard's podcast, Transmissions. Subscribe to Transmissions Read more at Aquarium Drunkard

As the new year approaches, new Arizona laws aimed at increasing the housing supply are set to take effect. Hear how cities are trying to get ready. Plus, singer-songwriter Jason P. Woodbury on the virtues of keeping it simple.

In the world of cult bands, Memphis power pop band Big Star reigns mythically. And while the former teen heartthrob Alex Chilton might be the first member who springs to mind, guitarist and songwriter Chris Bell figures heavily in the band's tragic saga. In this episode of The Spindle, John Howard and guest co-host Jason P. Woodbury drop the needle on Bell's 1978 single "I Am the Cosmos," b/w "You And Your Sister." Released in scant quantities by Car Records, an imprint founded by Chris Stamey of The dB's, the single balances Bell's mysticism with flesh and blood heartbreak. Let the tone arm down and learn more on this all new episode of The Spindle, and visit our sponsors Hello Merch to score Chris Bell merch via Omnivore Records and Ardent Music.Call us anytime at 1-877-WASTOIDS. More podcasts and videos at WASTOIDS.com | Follow us on Instagram and YouTube.

Welcome back to Transmissions—far out conversations for far out times. This week, we're joined by synthesist Jill Fraser. She's lived a remarkable life in music: mentored by Morton Subotnick, she went on work in film and television, with projects like 1974's sci-fi fantasy Zardoz and Paul Schrader's 1979 film Hardcore to her name, in addition to a litany of commercials featuring her inventive sound design. In the '80s, she found herself on the outskirts of LA's thriving punk scene, and now, she's released a new album, Earthly Pleasures, on the storied Drag City label. A science fiction saga in sonic form, it finds Fraser working with tools like her 1978 Serge Modular, Prism Modular and Ableton Push 3 to reconfigure, expand, and transmute revival hymns of the 19th and early 20th centuries, asking the question: what might this music sound like to some extraterrestrial or robotic intelligence countless years in the future? In this thoughtful conversation with host Jason P. Woodbury, Fraser opens up about her working relationship with composer Jack Nitzsche, her excitement about AI technology, and how the sci-fi trappings of Earthly Pleasures belie reflections about art, family, spirituality, and mortality. What did Jill think the first time she say Sean Connery's infamous Zardoz costume, close your eyes and drop into this transmission to find out. Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years worth of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

If you've been listening to Transmissions for a while, you've noticed how often host Jason P. Woodbury brings up “time” when talking about music. And while he's certainly apt to talk about music in spiritual or "out there" terms, songs are in some ways literal time machines: they can take you back to your own past or in the case of traditional music, preserve some essential “nowness” of the human experience. Songsmith Jake Xerxes Fussell grew up understanding this intimately. As the son of folklorist, photographer, and artist Fred C. Fussell, he spent time on the road with his father, documenting the sound and feel of blues singers, indigenous fiddlers, and performers whose songbooks reached back generations.  The younger Fussell carries on curatorial work through his records, applying his alternately smooth and grainy voice to traditional vernacular ballads. His latest collection is called When I'm Called. Produced by James Elkington, it finds the Durham-based songwriter joined by a cast of collaborators including Blake Mills, Joan Shelley, and Joe Westerlund of Bon Iver. Though it's comprised of traditional blues and folk, as is Fussell's trademark, it isn't a work of historicity so much as a document of how songs live; how they can be preserved, and how they can find new life.  In this conversation, Fussell explains, and touches on The Beastie Boys and his time with one of our documentary heroes, Les Blank. Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years worth of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week on Transmissions, we're sitting down with a genuine legend: Joe Boyd, author of And The Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music, out September 24 from ZE Books. On the front cover of the book Brian Eno—a venerated saint in the Aquarium Drunkard canon—declares: “I doubt I'll ever read a better account of the history and sociology of popular music than this one.”  Joe Boyd's career is the stuff of myth. As a producer, he's worked with a murder's row of collaborators, including Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, R.E.M., Richard and Linda Thompson, Incredible String Band, Vashti Bunyan, 10,00 Maniacs, and many more. In 2006, Boyd released a memoir, White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s, which documented his time in the studio during that decade, but And the Roots of Rhythm Remain casts an even wider net, exploring the overlap of musical cultures and the complicated, human negotiations that undergird creative synthesis.  As you'll hear in the early part of our talk, Joe played a pivotal role Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury's music writing journey. In 2008, Woodbury reviewed a Nick Drake box set for the sorely missed Tiny Mix Tapes. The piece also included an email interview with Boyd, whose responses were insightful and in-depth—an experience that inspired Woodbury to chase after interviews. So this conversation picks up the thread some decade and a half later, detailing not only Boyd's new book, but also his experiences with Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan, and many more adventures. Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years worth of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This is the Band Shirt Day Podcast. In this episode, Dylan Gette King and Jason P. Woodbury share band shirt stories from Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers who describes the torn and frayed charm of his favorite Minor Threat shirt, pilfered from his older brother. And then Jess Abbott of Tancred takes us on a guided tour of some of her favorite band shirts, including a killer Taco Bell/Limp Bizkit bootleg, a Shania Twain tee, and her favorite shirt from her wife, Jenny Owen Youngs. On one hand, a band shirt is a simple everyday item, the kind of thing you might take for granted. But when you start thinking about it, the topic encompasses so much more: band shirts help us tell stories about ourselves and what music means to us. And that's why we're here: to think a little more about band shirts and the holiday invented to celebrate them, Band Shirt Day, a global fundraising initiative uniting artists, fans, and the music industry at large on Friday, September 20th.Artists like Portugal. The Man, Wilco, The Revivalists, The Format, K.Flay, Cherry Glazerr, Geese, and Warren G, along with many more confirmed to participate through the Band Shirt Day. Wanna sign up as an artist for fan? Register now.Since launching, Band Shirt Day has raised more than 30k for charities, much of that from the Band Shirt Day Fund in partnership with GoFundMe, raising cash for organizations like Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Project Hope, The Ally Coalition, MusicCares, and Animal Legal Defense Fund.This is the Band Shirt Day Podcast, featuring Dylan-Gette King, the communications manager for MerchFriends, a coalition of merch makers working together to create a sustainable music merch ecosystem, and Jason P. Woodbury, creative director of WASTOIDS.Tune in and get your best band tee ready for September 20th, 2024. Call us anytime at 1-877-WASTOIDS. More podcasts and videos at WASTOIDS.com | Follow us on Instagram and YouTube.

On one hand, a band shirt is a simple everyday item, the kind of thing you might take for granted. But when you start thinking about it, the topic encompasses so much more: band shirts help us tell stories about ourselves and what music means to us. And that's why we're here: to think a little more about band shirts and the holiday invented to celebrate them, Band Shirt Day, a global fundraising initiative uniting artists, fans, and the music industry at large on Friday, September 20th. Artists like Portugal. The Man, Wilco, The Revivalists, The Format, K.Flay, Cherry Glazerr, Geese, and Warren G, along with many more confirmed to participate through the Band Shirt Day. Wanna sign up as an artist for fan? Register now. Since launching, Band Shirt Day has raised more than 30k for charities, much of that from the Band Shirt Day Fund in partnership with GoFundMe, raising cash for organizations like Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Project Hope, The Ally Coalition, MusicCares, and Animal Legal Defense Fund.This is the Band Shirt Day Podcast, featuring Dylan-Gette King, the communications manager for MerchFriends, a coalition of merch makers working together to create a sustainable music merch ecosystem, and Jason P. Woodbury, creative director of WASTOIDS. In this episode, they share band shirt stories and hear how indie R&B singer Vicky Farewell created the kind of rebellious shirt she dreamed about as a young person for her musical project. Plus, official Weezer historian Karl Koch drops in to discuss how Weezer's scrappy lo-fi shirts helped establish a sense of community and share details about some of the rare shirts he's granted permission for us to display at the Band Shirt Day Art Show at Hello Lincoln. Tune in and get your best band tee ready for September 20th, 2024. Call us anytime at 1-877-WASTOIDS. More podcasts and videos at WASTOIDS.com | Follow us on Instagram and YouTube.

From early mystic folk inclinations to more fried and psychedelic work, Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance project has never settled into an easy, definable zone. But 2024 sees the Six Organs sonic universe expanding kaleidoscopically, even by Chasny's prodigious standards. First was Time Is Glass, an album that documented his return to Humboldt County; then Jinxed By Being, a collaboration with ambient dub master Shackleton, and on September 27th, Companion Rises (Twig Harper Remix), which finds Chasny's 2022 album Companion Rises completely reimagined and re-created by sound artist Twig Harper. The results are unlike anything you've ever heard in the Six Organs catalog—though it's all part of the design, Chasny says. For this return visit to Transmissions, Chasny joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his trio of 2024 releases, his experiences playing with David Tibet's apocalyptic avant-garde collective Current 93, his vision for the DIY recording zine Head Voice, the sounds of spiritualism, and cultivating online community through the Six Organs Patreon. Plus: Animator Mark Neeley drops in for a quick chat about Pure Animation for Now People, his new minute-long, hand drawn collaboration with Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week on Transmissions, return guest Yasmin Williams. On October 4th, she releases Acadia via Nonesuch Records. It's her long awaited follow up to 2021's Urban Driftwood, and like that record, it's beautiful—a showcase for a one-of-a-kind artist. And while the focus remains Williams' fluid and lyrical guitarwork, she's joined by a roster of ringers to help fill out the corners: Aoife O'Donovan, Dom Flemons, Kaki King, William Tyler, and Darklingside and Rich Ruth, whose vocal and synthesizer contributions can be heard on the recently released first single, "Virga." Williams first came back on the show way back in the lockdown days, but life has changed greatly for her since then. She discusses some of those changes, and opens up about her desire to create with Acadia something of a refuge from the chaos of the world. Even though the record finds her joined by an expanded cast, it feels even more personal. In carving out enough space for herself, Williams has opened more than enough for the listener too. Ahead of her fall tour dates with Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka and an appearance at London's Pitchfork Music Fest in November, Williams joins host Jason P. Woodbury for a rousing conversation. Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week, we welcome one of our favorite musicians to the show: Mark Lightcap of Acetone and the Dick Slessig Combo. Back in 2017, author Sam Sweet released a great book about Acetone called Hadley Lee Lightcap, accompanied by a stellar Light in the Attic anthology compilation,1992-2001. Writing about it, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury said: Though Acetone were label-mates with the Verve at Virgin subsidiary Vernon Yard, recorded for Neil Young's Vapor Records, and attracted high-profile fans like J. Spaceman and Hope Sandoval, nothing about 1992-2001 indicates a band bound for the spotlight. The trio's music, a heady mix of surf, country, exotica, hillbilly spirituals, and slow-motion indie rock, pulled from thrift store LPs and adhered to its own logic. Hadley, Lightcap, and Lee listened to music deeply, searching for elements beneath the surface. The band uncovered psychedelic qualities in unlikely places, turning up lysergic textures in mood music, Tiki kitsch, and Charlie Rich records.  Coupled with the foundational influences of the Velvet Underground, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, and Al Green, this strange blend takes time to reveal itself. Acetone's music requires patience. Lee's voice seems to float out of the speakers, his bass locked into meandering grooves with Hadley's meditative drums and Lightcap's tremolo and reverb-drenched guitar. Like its contemporaries, Low, Souled American, and Mercury Rev, Acetone created music that deconstructed and protracted rock & roll templates. We've kept on the Lightcap beat ever since. Back in the early days of the pandemic, we covered his other band, the Dick Slessig Combo, and their mystic, mantric 40+ minute version of Glen Campbell's “Wichita Lineman." Last year, New West Records reissued Acetone's discography, featuring illuminating liner notes by J. Spaceman of Spiritualized/Spaceman 3 and Drew Daniel of Matmos/The Soft Pink Truth. The occasion prompted a great conversation with Mark that we published in written form last year. This week on the show, he joins us for a loose talk from his backyard in LA. From “beautiful music” to his run-ins with Oasis, this conversation takes plenty of fascinating turns. There's plenty to read about Acetone and Dick Slessig over at Aquarium Drunkard. Subscribe today for access to all the good stuff, as well as nearly 20 years of music journalism, essays, interviews, sessions, video and radio shows and more.  Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. With your support, here's to another decade. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, Joe Pernice of The Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys, and Chappaquiddick Skyline—as well as books, records, and other projects under his own name.  Since the early 2000s, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury have placed Joe on their personal Mount Rushmore of criminally underrated singer-songwriters. There have always been genres associated with Pernice's work—chamber pop, y'allternative, retro pop, power pop, indie—but it all comes back to those songs: literate, catchy, sly, funny, and often heartbreaking. We published a talk with Pernice last year on the occasion of The Pernice Brothers' 1998 album Overcome By Happiness receiving deluxe reissue treatment from New West Records. But with a brand new Pernice Brothers album, Who Will You Believe, still fresh in record stores, we figured it would be a blast to have him on to talk for the podcast. And we were right—chatting with Joe was a total blast, and you're going to enjoy this wide ranging talk about everything from David Berman to the internet to mortality.  Aquarium Drunkard is supported by our subscribers. Head over and peruse our site, where you'll find nearly 20 years of playlists, recommendations, reviews, interviews, podcasts, essays, and more. With your support, here's to another decade. Subscribe at Aquarium Drunkard.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week, I'm joined by JASON P. WOODBURY (of Aquarium Drunkard) and filmmakers BRIAN LINDSTROM & ANDY BROWN to discuss their incredible new film LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL. We talked about Judee Sill's gnostic relationship to her music and how she backed it up in her lifestyle, what our introductions to her music were like, Sill's disdain of being lumped in with Christian Rock & opening for rock bands, her influence on Andy Partridge of XTC, how the filmmakers shaped the film over the past ten years, Tooth & Nail Records, the mythologizing of a subject's life in documentary filmmaking, Asylum Records and her ups and downs with David Geffen, Some Kind Of Monster, Sill's vulnerability and ego in her diary writings and drawings, how they chose to animate Sill's artwork and found her voice, Sill's influence on a new generation of musicians, her iconic Old Grey Whistle Test performance of “The Kiss,” how the film addresses childhood trauma, addiction, and resilience, what parts of Sill's life didn't fit into the film, and the power of Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Guided By Voices & SST Records, So join us as we talk about one of the greatest songwriters to ever be part of the cosmos, Judee Sill, on this week's Revolutions Per Movie.WATCH LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILLhttps://greenwichentertainment.com/film/JASON P. WOODBURY:https://jasonpwoodbury.comREVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE:Host Chris Slusarenko (Eyelids, Guided By Voices, owner of Clinton Street Video rental store) is joined by actors, musicians, comedians, writers & directors who each week pick out their favorite music documentary, musical, music-themed fiction film or music videos to discuss. Fun, weird, and insightful, Revolutions Per Movie is your deep dive into our life-long obsessions where music and film collide.Revolutions Per Movies releases new episodes every Thursday. If you like the show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on your favorite podcast app.The show is also a completely independent affair, so the best way to support it is through our Patreon at patreon.com/revolutionspermovie. There, you can get weekly bonus episodes and exclusive goods just for joining.SOCIALS:@revolutionspermovieX, BlueSky: @revpermovieTHEME by Eyelids 'My Caved In Mind'www.musicofeyelids.bandcamp.comARTWORK by Jeff T. Owenshttps://linktr.ee/mymetalhand Click here to get EXCLUSIVE BONUS WEEKLY Revolutions Per Movie content on our Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, we're sitting down with Damon McMahon, best known as the man behind the mysterious and compelling Amen Dunes musical project. Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury first spoke to McMahon way back in 2012, when he was touring in support of the second Amen Dunes album, 2011's Through Donkey Jaw. Then, they checked in again in 2018, when he released the tremendous Freedom. Amen Dunes' sound has shifted and morphed all along the way, though some constants have remained—particularly, his mantra-like vocals. Even when it's hard to clearly understand exactly what he's saying, McMahon has a way of making his lyrics felt, as if the shape and sound of the words in and of themselves has some occulted meaning.  McMahon's latest is called Death Jokes. It was released on May 10th by Sub Pop Records and it's a dense, layered gem. Built on beats, piano—a new instrument for McMahon—and stacked with samples of artists like Lenny Bruce and J Dilla, it's a difficult record to grok at first. It doesn't reveal itself quickly. In a media landscape that often asks us to rush through our experience of music, Death Jokes asks us to stop, to listen again, and to listen deeper. It reveals more as you sit with it.  In that way it's a profoundly counter cultural album; it bucks against the mode of our day. This conversation follows suit, examining the way the digital age has tried to reduce human experience down to clean binaries. It's a conversation about spirituality, about the root of music, about the subconscious, and much more. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on Transmissions? Synth legend Steve Roach. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our members. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by subscribing to our online music magazine. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week on Transmissions, author, producer, archivist, and musician Pat Thomas. In the late '80s, he helped take the Paisley Underground overground with his label Heyday Records. Later, he helped bring out reissues by artists like Judee Sill, Sandy Bull, PiL, and more. And as if all that wasn't enough, he's the author of a number of essential counterculture histories, including 2012's Listen, Whitey! The Sights & Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975, 2017's Did It! Jerry Rubin: An American Revolutionary, and most recently, 2023's Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg. As you'll hear at the top of this episode, he was also the first guest we ever asked to be on Transmissions, only host Jason P. Woodbury hadn't quite got the hang of properly recording interviews. While that ill-fated talk was lost to time, this one isn't. Tune in for more on Ginsberg, the forthcoming Judee Sill documentary Lost Angel, and much more on this all new episode of Transmissions. Just announced: Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions Live! at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, feat. Will Sheff (Okkervil River) in conversation author Sean Howe, discussing his book on High Times founder Thomas King Forçade. Secure your tickets now. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on Transmissions? Moor Mother. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our members. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by subscribing to our online music magazine. This episode is brought to you by DistroKid. DistroKid makes music distribution fun and easy with unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings. To learn more and get 30% off your first year's membership, visit: distrokid.com/vip/aquariumdrunkard

This week on Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss big changes coming to Aquarium Drunkard: AD is transitioning to a membership-based model subscription model on April 8th.  Transmissions has a very smart audience and one that's tapped in—so we likely don't need to explain to you how much the online landscape has changed, but this decision wasn't reached lightly, and this conversation will shine some light on the reasons behind our moves. Aquarium Drunkard is coming up on its 20th anniversary; and it's a trusted oasis for music lovers, a place driven by the passion for sharing music both new and old; insightful reviews, extensive interviews, exclusive sessions, esoteric mixtapes, dusty bootlegs, curated radio shows, wide-ranging podcast conversations. It's a place that celebrates creativity and eclecticism, and (importantly) a place that isn't beholden to editorial calendars or flavor-of-the-month topics. Whatever appears here is part of that very basic ethos: Only the good shit. Transmissions will remain free for all and available in your podcast feed, but as Aquarium Drunkard nears its 20th anniversary, we are proud to embark on this next chapter. With your support, we can keep this remarkable project rolling along. Tune in for more detail. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on Transmissions? Reissue producer, author, and experimental musician Pat Thomas. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our members. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by subscribing to our online music magazine.

Incoming transmission from Roger Eno. This week on the show, he joins us for a freewheeling, friendly chat about art, place, and Dune (1984). Eno began his recording life in 1983, when he joined his brother Brian and Daniel Lanois at the latter's studio in Hamilton, Ontario, to cut one of our favorite albums of all-time, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. Imbued with country and western ambiance, it suggests the vastness of space and man's ventures into it. Not only that, but it serves as one of the foundational documents of the "ambient country" subgenre that practically forms its own corner of the Aquarium Drunkard sonic universe.  Eno got started on solo work after that, with Voices, and he's continued to record ever since, both in collaboration with his brother Brian, like on 2020's Mixing Colours, on his own, and with a diverse cast of artists including David Gilmore, The Orb, Jah Wobble, Youth, and Channel Light Vessel, his group with Bill Nelson, Kate St. John, and previous Transmissions guest Laraaji. His latest and second album for Deutsche Grammophon is The Skies, They Shift Like Chords. Eno joined host Jason P. Woodbury early this year to discuss that record, and a lot more: psycho-geography, space travel, and what he can recall about his work on the soundtrack with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on the soundtrack for David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. The sleeper has awakened. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on Transmissions? An interview with Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage. 

This week we're welcoming Elizabeth Nelson of The Paranoid Style to the show for a conversation about music, writing, ZZ Top, and her new album, The Interrogator. Packed with pub rock charm, punk verve, and rootsy, wide-eyed songwriting, the album finds Nelson and her collaborators, including partner Timothy Bracy and Peter Holsapple of The dB's, cranking the amps in service of sharp, literary rock & roll. Sitting down with host Jason P. Woodbury, Nelson explores her dual roles as a writer and artist, details her unique and optimistic approach to posting on X (formerly Twitter), and generally indulges in music geek back-and-forth. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Join us next week for a conversation with Roger Eno.

This week on the show, we're so pleased to welcome John Lurie. Perhaps you know him from his work in films like Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law, Paris Texas, or The Last Temptation of Christ; or maybe you know him better for his music—groups like The Lounge Lizards, his trailblazing avant-garde jazz unit, or his fictional bluesman persona Marvin Pontiac, or the John Lurie National Orchestra. Or maybe you know him from his pioneering and singular television shows, 1991's surreal nature program Fishing With John, or the more recent Painting With John, which ran on HBO from 2021-2023.  This week, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury for a freewheeling chat, his book, The History of Bones: A Memoir, his Hollywood adventures, and Music From Painting With John, which drops via Royal Potato Family on March 15th. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Join us next week for a conversation with Elizabeth Nelson of The Paranoid Style.

This week on the show, a conversation with pianist, composer, bandleader, and writer, Vijay Iyer. He's been at it since 1995, recording for labels like Savoy, Pi, and ECM, and he's collaborated with a diverse and inspiring roster along the way including Amiri Baraka, Matana Roberts, Das Racist, previous Transmissions guest Wadada Leo Smith, and many more. His records have incorporated electronic music and spoken word, chamber jazz reverence and loose, free falling blues.  Last year, in collaboration with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Shazhad Ismaily, he released Love in Exile on the Verve label. Writing about the album for our 2023 Year in Review, we called it “A spectral meeting of the minds. This haunting and luminous se…locates a nexus between ambient, jazz, and classical, all while feeling entirely conjured in the moment—because it was.”  Now he's back with a new ECM release, Compassion, and in another trio, reuniting with his bandmates on 2021's stirring Uneasy, bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Produced by Manfred Eicher, it's a stunning listen start to finish, from its meditative and expansive title track to the dug down groove of “Ghostrumental,” a startling showcase for may Han Oh's thoughtful melodicism, to the thoughtfully chosen covers of Roscoe Mitchell's “Nonaah” and Stevie Wonder's “Overjoyed,” everything about Compassion demonstrates the intentional focus of Iyer and his collaborators. He joins host Jason P. Woodbury to speak about it, reflect on the post-pandemic nebulousness in the air, discuss his mentors Greg Tate and Baraka, and much more.  For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Join us next week for a conversation with John Lurie.

This week on the show: a conversation with Laetitia Sadier. As the main vocalist of Stereolab, her spacey voice shines as the human core in that project's motorik and dense avant-pop, a blend of electronic music, krautrock, space age lounge sounds, and much more.  Outside of that legendary band, Sadier has been an active force on her own. She's appeared in a variety of contexts on albums by Common, Tyler the Creator, Atlas Sound, and Deerhoof. In 1996, she formed Monade, a solo vehicle, and in 2010, she released her debut under her own name, The Trip, on Drag City. Her latest is called Rooting for Love and it's out now. Joined by members of the Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble and a multiple voice choir, these minimalist tapestries, Brazilian glide, and propulsive ambient funk yearn for a kind of gnosis—sacred knowing. We don't often make a habit of quoting directly from album descriptions, but we can't resist sharing this bit: On Rooting for Love, “Laetitia issues a call to the traumatized civilizations of Earth: we're urged to finally evolve past our countless millennia of suffering and alienation.” Sadier joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss, among other things, discussion about taking care of our collective body; the planet itself, the radical potentiality of “love,” what it felt like to reunite Stereolab in 2019, her engagement with hip-hop, and reflections on working with The Trip producer Richard Swift. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Join us next week for a conversation with pianist Vijay Iyer.

Incoming transmission from Hopeton Overton Brown, better known as Scientist. As a protege of dub pioneer King Tubby, Scientist represents dub's third generation—at least that's how his 1981 collaboration with Tubby and Prince Jammy, First Second, and Third Generation, puts it. Originating in Kingston, Hopeton earned his nickname from Bunny Lee due to his highly complex mixing skills, who famously opined, "Damn, this little boy must be a scientist.”  These days he's living in Los Angeles, where he joined host Jason P. Woodbury for this all-new episode. Prepare to cover a lot of ground, as we move from his origins at Channel One and Tuff Gong to divine messages, run-ins with Lee "Scratch" Perry, aliens and angels, simulation theory, his suspicions about modern cannabis strains, the digital vs analog debate, and much more. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Join us next week for a conversation with Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab.

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. We're kicking off our 2024 season with two very special guests: Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy, discussing their love of and tribute to R.E.M.'s Murmur, which they are taking on tour in February. You no doubt know Shannon from his movies and shows, including some of our favorites like Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Midnight Special, The Shape of Water, and Boardwalk Empire. In his essential read Every Man For Himself and God Against All, director Werner Herzog calls Shannon “the most gifted actor of his generation.”  As for Narducy, you've heard him with Superchunk, Bob Mould, Split Single, and many other projects. Together, they've staged tributes to T. Rex, The Smiths, Lou Reed, and Neil Young and more, and now, they turn their attention to R.E.M. It was a pleasure to speak with these two about the Athens, Georgia legends, along with detours into topics like Lou Reed, Sunny Day Real Estate, and best of all, Michael's run in with Bob Dylan.  If you dig Transmissions and want to chip in so we can make it check out Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon. We rely on your support to pay contributors and keep bringing you independent music journalism, mixtapes, reviews, and podcasts. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. 

This week on WASTOIDS With, we're hanging with Marc Masters. You know him best for his work with NPR, Bandcamp, Pitchfork, and of course his biweekly WASTOIDS show with John Howard, The Spindle, where each episode focuses on a different 7” record. This talk concerns Marc's latest book, High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette. Marc was interviewed by Jason P. Woodbury in front of a live audience at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on November 30th, 2023. It was a dreary, rainy night, but the talk was as cozy as it gets. We hope you enjoy this conversation: head over to WASTOIDS dot com if you want to watch a video presentation of it and get more info on Marc's great book, plus see some favorite cassettes from his collection. Thanks to our friends at Changing Hands and everyone who came out for this special event. Got an idea for a WASTOIDS event? Why don't you give us a ring and let us know what you think: 1-877-WASTOIDS.Call us anytime at 1-877-WASTOIDS. More podcasts and videos at WASTOIDS.com | Follow us on Instagram and YouTube.

This week on the show, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury joins Penelope Spheeris, director of The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy, The Beverly Hillbillies, Little Rascals, Suburbia, and Wayne's World. Spheeris is the host of Peter and the Acid King, a true crime podcast set in the Los Angeles punk scene of the early ‘80s concerning the unsolved murder of Peter Ivers. A pop culture wunderkind, Ivers was many things at once: an all-star harmonica player who played alongside Little Walter, a pal of Van Dyke Parks who opened for Fleetwood Mac, and a songwriter who wrote music for David Lynch's Eraserhead and artists like Diana Ross and The Pointer Sisters. In the early '80s, he found found notoriety as host of New Wave Theatre, which showcased Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, 45 Grave and the Angry Samoans. Peter and the Acid King explores that epochal cultural era and its violent end. Working with investigator and co-creator Alan Sacks, Spheeris narrates with 10-part series, which is just about to finish its run, with world weary charm and sly understatement, as well as her signature attitude. If you dig our show and want to support the work we do at Aquarium Drunkard, pledge your support on Patreon and help keep the servers humming.  Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on Transmissions? Matt Werth of RVNG joins us to discuss the music of Pauline Anna Strom. 

Welcome back to Transmissions. This week on the program, we're joined by electronic musician Moby and Lindsay Hicks. Together, they run Little Walnut, a production company responsible for documentaries like Punk Rock Vegan, music videos, and Moby Pod—a podcast dedicated to offering unique perspectives on music, animal activism, climate change, and beyond.  This conversation with host Jason P. Woodbury demonstrates the way Moby and Hicks are brave and open in ways that aren't common in our culture, rejecting the easy cynicism and guardedness that seems to rule the day. And while this talk does get a little bleak at times, it's also a very funny conversation concerning our changing landscape, science fiction, music, and full of quips and jokes. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks so much for spending time with us on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. We know you have a lot of listening options out there on the world wide web, so we are honored you'd carve out the space for us. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on Transmissions? John Carroll Kirby. Be well in the meantime, this Transmission is concluded.  For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. 

Welcome back to Transmissions. We're still buzzing from this last weekend, which saw a live taping of Transmissions at The Philosophical Research Society, the Los Angeles campus founded in 1934 by esoteric scholar Manly Palmer Hall, featuring Jason P. Woodbury's talk with Matt Marble, an artist, author, audio producer and director of the American Museum of Paramusicology, best known for his podcasts, including Secret Sound, an exploration of the metaphysical history of American music, and the interview show The Hidden Present. He's the author of Buddhist Bubblegum: Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russell, and that's what we gathered at PRS to discuss. Hall founded PRS with a dedication “to the ensoulment of all arts, sciences, and crafts,” and we hope you find this talk as ensouling as we did.  Special thanks to our friends and PRS, especially Alex McDonald and AV director Sara Alessandrini, who you'll hear us refer to throughout the episode, for their help making this happen. And we want to thank Steve Knutson of Audika Records for getting the word out, and of course a warm thanks to everyone who turned up for the show, both in person and via Zoom, to be a part of this special presentation.   Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on the show, Maria Elena Silva on her remarkable new album, Dulce. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page. 

Welcome to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions; this week on the show, we're joined by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods. You know his long running Woods band with Jeremy Earl of course—and Woodsist, their record label and Woodsist Festival, which returns September 23-24 upstate with Kevin Morby, Avey Tare, Cochemea, Tapers Choice, Ana Saint Louis, Natural Information Society, Kurt Vile, Scientist, DJ Aquarium Drunkard—that's our own Justin Gage—plus many more. The band also just released a glowing new album, Perennial, which finds the band in a gentle, rambling mode.  Jarvis and host Jason P. Woodbury, alongside Willian Tyler and Sadie Sartini Garner, were all members of a book club through much of the pandemic, reading selections of authors like JG Ballard, Kiese Laymon, Eve Babitz and others. LIVE TRANSMISSIONS: On September 30th, we're hosting a live taping of Transmissions at Manly P. Hall's Philosophical Research Society with Matt Marble, discussing his fantastic book about Arthur Russell, Buddhist Bubblegum. Get more info here. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts. Next week on the show, Coleen joins us to discuss her tremendous new album.

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, so glad to have you here once again. Our guest this week is Will Sheff, known for his solo work and years with the indie rock band Okkervil River. In this conversation, Sheff and host Jason P. Woodbury cover a wide stretch, examining how the indie rock landscape has changed and evolved over decades, exploring the spiritual core at the heart of his music, and hearing stories about his interactions with luminaries like Roky Erickson and Jason Molina. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Visit the Talkhouse for more interviews, fascinating reads, and podcasts, like Drifter's Sympathy, with Emil Amos of Grails, Om, Holy Sons, who will be our guest next week on Transmissions, and of course, No Way Out: An Oral History of Sunburned Hand of the Man, curated and produced by J Kelly Davis and presented by Aquarium Drunkard and Talkhouse.  Support Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions on Patreon.

Back in 2022, songwriter Lincoln Barr got in touch, writing a personal note in which he expressed an appreciation for what we do here at Aquarium Drunkard. "Listening to the topics that come up in your conversations, I can't help but recognize a kindred spirit out there in the desert.” Since then, Barr and Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury have gone back and forth via email, discussing spirituality, art, poetry, Ireland, Sinéad O'Connor, NRBQ, psychedelia, personal work, and much more. And now, they finally link up for a proper podcast discussion. Though their conversation was shaded by the passing of O'Connor, a shared favorite, they covered lots of ground additionally, waxing on mysticism, personal exploration, and Barr's incredible album, Forfeit the Prize. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast network, check out Talkhouse for more great reading and listening. Next week on Transmissions? Darren Jessee joins us to discuss songwriting, playing drums in groups like Ben Folds Five and Hiss Golden Messenger and more. Stay loose until then, this Transmissions is concluded. 

Hataaliinez Wheeler grew up in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation. And though he's just recently released his Dangerbird Records debut,  Singing Into Darkness, he's spent the last few years creating as much art as he can—recording music, making lo-fi videos, and writing poetry.  Sunbaked and sly, the new album is full of strange grooves and quixotic lyrics, and a sound that borrows from country, surf, indie rock, and shoegaze. We first heard Hataałii through Michael Klausman, who wrote about him for Aquarium Drunkard in 2021, saying, "[I]t was probably predetermined that he'd make music, as Hataałii literally means 'to sing.' His songs are weirdly genreless and out-of-time, yet constantly reach for some sort of cosmic agency. You can frequently hear him experimenting and trying different personas on, but the force of his charisma unites all the disparate elements he puts together. He's a master at conjuring a kind of Southwestern saudade," a feeling of longing melancholy that permeates Brazilian music.  Today, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his run-in with and shout-out from Mac Demarco, discuss the influence of his father's record collection, and discuss what its felt like for his personal art project to find a life outside of his own head. Transmissions is part of the Talkhouse Podcast network, check out Talkhouse for more great reading and listening. Next week on Transmissions? Lincoln Barr joins us to discuss the magic of music. For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page.

Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard, JPW) and I bring our mutual admiration society to the mics. It's an experiment. Do you like it?Content warning: UFO/UAP sighting, moments of rupture, dental hell, pretty AND funny, evangelical Christianity, Audio Adrenaline, loop.Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher. Follow Jason @jasonpwoodbury on Twitter and Instagram.Listen to his evocative and mysterious new album as JPW, Something Happening / Always Happening, on Bandcamp.Listen to his fantastic and TIYA-overlapping podcast, Aquarium Drunkard - TRANSMISSIONS.Check out his freaky media project WASTOIDS at wastoids.com.And he has a Substack newsletter, Range and Basin!Follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.And check out my other podcast, Genre Reveal Party!, where I discuss TV and movies with writer and cultural critic Madeline Lane-McKinley.---Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"

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. In 2020, he reactivated his Independent Project label, which he originally founded in 1980. On this episode, Bruce joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his album art creations, his time in the Mojave Desert, the Southwestern dream-pop scene of the ‘90s, his letterpress origins, his work with R.E.M. and much more. He's a lifer and a true example of sticking to your vision—we're really honored to have him on the show this week, and of course honored to have you joining us for this conversation.  Support Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on Transmissions? Next week on the show, The Modern Folk. This episode of Transmissions is brought to you by Dad Grass. Go to Dadgrass.com/Transmissions to try it out.

Jason P. Woodbury discusses his project JPW and its debut album, Something Happening / Always Happening, growing up and finding music in Arizona, his entry into music journalism and contributing to Aquarium Drunkard, the time I was on his Transmissions podcast, interviewing people with the spirit of awe and enthusiasm, the desert mindset, future plans, and much more. Supported by you on Patreon, Blackbyrd Myoozik, Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, Planet Bean Coffee, and Grandad's Donuts. Support Y.E.S.S. and Black Women United YEG. Follow vish online.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/kreative-kontrol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Perfect and 2019's epic poem, Ascend, Ascend. Rooted in horrific imagery and Kabbalistic prose and written over the course of twenty days as its author came in and out of trance states, Ascend Ascend is beautiful and horrifying—a meditation on decay and transcendence. Now, Stucky is presenting a musical version of the text. Recorded at the All Pilgrims Church in Seattle as part of a 7-city tour in 2019, the album finds Stucky joined by cellist Lori Goldston, known for her work with Nirvana, Earth, and Cat Power. This week on Transmissions, he connects with host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the poem, his musical journey, and touch on the ineffable and dread-soaked nature of reality. Support Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on Transmissions? Alex Pappademas and Joan LeMay join us to discuss their new book, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan. 

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 Faith No More. He had an alliance with Luther Campbell of the infamous 2 Live Crew, worked with the Dust Brothers. These days, he's making oracular, synth driven soul music that draws equally on the mile deep grooves of Sly Stone's drum machine and the cosmic synth hymns of Alice Coltrane. His latest album is called Sundown, out now from Stones Throw. This week on Transmissions, Eddie joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his partnership with producer John Carroll Kirby, his fascinating years in the music industry, and his collaborative work with his wife, Sissy Chacon.  Support Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon. Transmissions is a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on Transmissions? A conversation with Surya Botofasina about his incredible synth meditations and growing up on Alice Coltrane's Ashram.

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 is best known as one-half of The Black Pumas, his duo with singer/songwriter Eric Burton. But Quesada's musical output is varied: he's worked with Brownout, a Latin hard rock-tinged outfit, Grupo Fantasma, Adrian Younge, and many more. In 2022, he released his debut solo album, Boleros Psicodélicos, followed that same year by Jaguar Sound. He joined us to discuss his trajectory, his worldwide success, his roots in hip-hop, and much more. Transmissions is produced in partnership with Talkhouse Podcast Network. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its Patreon supporters. Next week on Transmissions? Future soul singer Eddie Chacon takes us back in time and to Ibiza for a conversation focused around his incredible new album Sundown. Subscribe to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions so you don't miss it. This transmission is concluded.

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 Taylor Swift producer and National member Aaron Dessner and signaled a breakout moment for Van Etten. He found it very easy to "return" to the setting of 2012-13, via an interview he did with Van Etten way back then.  Listening to Tramp, one hears the way years can collapse in; Van Etten took time to discuss it with us, as well as her origins, her collaborators, and of course, her time on Twin Peaks: The Return, and why she was worried watching that show with her son in the house.  Transmissions is produced with the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on Transmissions? Producer and musician Adrian Quesada joins us to discuss his psychedelic latin sound, hard rock, and hip-hop roots.

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 album came together, and from there, we explore a bevy of interesting topics, including run-ins with members of Black Sabbath, Nina's interactions with Tom Jones, Yorkston's ill-fated tour with John Martyn, and much more.  Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forward your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its Patrons—if you'd like to become one, visit us on Patreon. Next week on the show, Max Turnbull of Badge Époque Ensemble joins us for a far out talk about music, creativity, and consciousness. 

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 World.   When McNew and host Jason P. Woodbury connected, Yo La Tengo had recently finished its annual Hanukkah celebration, which is where we pick up our talk. But from there, the conversation roves into interesting places: McNew's dalliances with hip-hop, important Dump anniversaries—including the 25th anniversary of his Prince covers album. From Yoko Ono to Sun Ra to the Dave Matthews Band, plenty of surprises pop up in this conversation—just like the YLT discography.  Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its Patrons—if you'd like to become one, visit us on Patreon. Next week on the show: James Yorkston and Nina Persson of The Cardigans discuss their new album, The Great White Sea Eagle.

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 music was originally released, fans accustomed to Clark's pioneering punk band Smart Went Crazy, early Beauty Pill, or Clark's work with Fugazi and The Dismemberment Plan, wasn't sure what to make of its art-pop ambitions, detours into jazz, and complex lyricism. Clark and Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury get into all that, and along the way, they touch on his recurring health issues, race, mortality, what it feels like when critics dismiss your work, and much more. Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its Patrons—if you'd like to become one, visit us on Patreon. Next week on the show: James McNew of Dump and Yo La Tengo.

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 that's not all it covers. Kid's story is a layered one. The book, written with Chris Campion, gets into all of it, including frank examinations of queer identity, struggles with addiction, and his connection to the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce—who's dream visit inspired his 2020 Pink Monkey Birds Latin psych epic “He Walked In.”  At once hilarious, tender, and possessing an almost dreamlike spiritual quality, it's a great read. And it arrives alongside two new records: Summer Forever and Ever, the second album by Wolfmanhattan Project, his trio with Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs and Gories and Bob Bert, formerly of Sonic Youth, and Kid Congo Powers and The Near Death Experience Live in St. Kilda, a live concert taped in Australia. Both will be out physically in 2023—but you can listen to them digitally now. Or rather, after you finish this conversation between host Jason P. Woodbury and Kid, fellow Arizonans. Thanks so much for listening to Transmissions. Our 2022 season closes with this episode. We'll be back in early 2023, keep your eyes on Aquarium Drunkard for more info and check out the Patreon for bonus content we'll be sharing over the next couple months. This season of Transmissions is concluded. 

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 returned to many times over the last few months. Cohen joins host Jason P. Woodbury from his studio in upstate New York to discuss music's power to connect us to each other, his motivation for creating music, and opening up his own studio. Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on the show: Matt and Bubba Kadane of Bedhead and The New Year.

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, Everyone Asked About You, Ui (featuring Transmissions guest Sasha Frere-Jones), Rex and Tsunami for the Feb. 18-19 event, which will be held at Los Angeles' Palace Theater. In this conversation, Shipley and host Jason P. Woodbury discuss how the label has evolved, aesthetics, the new Blondie boxset, Shipley's midwest emo roots and pre-Numero days at Rykodisc and Tree Records, whether or not Numero will ever release a nu-metal reissue and lots more.  Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on the show: The Comet is Coming

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 relationship with his father Roy Ayers. Through out the talk, you'll also hear selections from Valley of Search, the 1975 free jazz album by his uncle Alan Braufman, which Ayers founded the label of the same name to reissue. An open, emotive, and riveting chat, we're thrilled to share this one with our listeners. Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on the show: Ken Shipley of Numero Group.

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 Twins, part Pure Moods, and also entirely its own thing, it's a fantastic recording. In this interview, they join host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss their haunting cover of Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser's “All Flowers in Time,” the myriad ways Lynch influenced the project, and the ever elusive nature of time and existence. Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network. Next week on the show: Medicine Singers.

It's FUGUZT REUNION as we decide to keep talking about Fugazi for another month. And this time we're joined by Jason P. Woodbury of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast and Wastoids to discuss "Argument." Jason shows up around 1:25:36. Follow Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonpwoodbury

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 Stepney emerges: that of a home recording genius. Propelled by a drum machine and warm synths, the music here was recorded alone on a 4-track in his Southside Chicago basement, it retains the sophistication of his studio efforts but presents his sound in a raw, utterly unvarnished manner. As the Summer of Stepney rolls on, the Stepney Sisters join host Jason P. Woodbury to unpack who Stepney was, his relationship with his wife and partner Rubie, his love of science fiction, and his status as one of hip-hop's most sampled composers.  Thanks for checking out Transmissions. If you dig the show, please consider leaving a five star rating or a review—or just forwarding your favorite episodes to a friend. We're a part of the Talkhouse Podcast Network and you can find us on Patreon. Next week on the show: Gloria de Oliveira and David Lynch sound designer Dean Hurley join us to discuss their new age/cosmic synth album Oceans of Time.