Aquarium Drunkard

Boards of Canada :: Inferno

Justin Gage — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 23:26:22 +0000

In our particulate-dense media environment, a decade-plus silence takes on the weight of a gesture in its own right—an invitation to focus, to stay awhile. Structurally, Inferno is less interested in the tension-release of deep raving than in the discursive backroads of a philosophical sci-fi novel.

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Box of Stars :: Walnut Street

Jason Woodbury — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 17:26:04 +0000

Box of Stars sport a mournful air on Walnut Street, their country-folk tinged songs nodding at life's disappointments with gentle resignation. Through spare, rustic arrangements and the ghostly vocal interplay of Macaulay Lerman and Katy Helmann, the band traces relationships, passing years, and ordinary joys that have slipped out of reach.

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Simon Joyner :: Tough Love

Justin Gage — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

On Tough Love, Simon Joyner returns to the unimaginable heartache that shaped 2024’s Coyote Butterfly, though these songs feel less starkly autobiographical and more willing to inhabit other lives and imagined voices. The grief still looms large, especially in the towering title track, but elsewhere Joyner moves through carefully observed vignettes with patience, detail, and a cruel kind of beauty. It’s shattering work, but beautifully presented, with arrangements and performances that never lose sight of the songs beneath the pain.

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Anika :: S/T (2010)

Justin Gage — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 13:22:00 +0000

Sixteen years on, Anika still feels loosely assembled, held together by bass, space, and the chemistry between Annika Henderson, Geoff Barrow, and the wider Beak> orbit. Recorded quickly and largely live, it arrived already weathered: post-punk stripped to its framework, with vocals seemingly recorded in an adjoining room.

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Bedouine :: Neon Summer Skin

Justin Gage — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Described by the musician as her “first album written with a purpose,” Neon Summer Skin moves with quiet confidence through memory, longing, and emotional residue. Reflections on childhood music lessons and formative instruments drift through arrangements that feel expansive without losing intimacy. Rich orchestration and plainspoken storytelling make this a deeply felt return following Bird Songs of a Killjoy.

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Robert Wyatt :: BBC Peel Sessions II 1972-1974

Justin Gage — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:19:15 +0000

John Peel had a strong case for being the world's foremost champion of musician Robert Wyatt. Both as an admiring fan and personal friend, the legendary BBC disc jockey was always stricken by Wyatt's musical brilliance and singular wit. In addition to the innumerable amount of Peel Sessions with previous pioneering groups Soft Machine and Matching Mole, Wyatt's early seventies solo sets tackle a hodgepodge from his catalogue including charmingly obtuse oddities to the Mellotron aquatic ambiance of 1974's classic solo record Rock Bottom.

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Václav Havelka and James Jackson Toth :: In Conversation

Jason Woodbury — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Václav is something of a Renaissance man, a tireless and deeply creative soul whose Zelig-like 20-year career in the arts has included work as a musician, composer, producer, booking agent, festival organizer, and activist. In addition to this, he has worked as driver and tour manager for everyone from the Butthole Surfers to Father John Misty, and with his band Please The Trees, he's opened for everyone from Steve Gunn and Kurt Vile to Smashing Pumpkins and Robert Plant. He joins James Jackson Toth to discuss his new album A Snake Crawling Up a Broken Ladder.

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All One Song :: Matt Sweeney on “Barstool Blues”

Jason Woodbury — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Here to help us unpack "Barstool Blues," one of the many classics on Zuma, is Matt Sweeney. Sweeney is one of those guys who is impossible to sum up. He’s a musician who has been a part of so many great bands, projects and records over the years—Superwolf, Chavez, Guided by Voices, the Hard Quartet, Iggy Pop, Current 93, Cass McCombs, Andrew WK…the list goes on and on. He’s a consummate collaborator, perhaps the only person alive to have played with both Johnny Cash and Endless Boogie, with both the Dixie Chicks and Baby Dee, with both Adele and Six Organs of Admittance.

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Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes :: Unrelated

Justin Gage — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000

On their fourth LP together, Unrelated, the West Coast duo trades saxophone and bass for synthesized textures, artificial tones, and strange tropical pulse. A wobbly set that ventures deeper into the Uncanny Valley.

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A Barca do Sol e Milton Nascimento :: As Gralhas

Justin Gage — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Recorded through the dawn in a single semi-structured session, Milton Nascimento’s lost collaboration with the young experimentalists of A Barca do Sol drifts between theatrical soundtrack, spectral improvisation, and quasi-spiritual invocation. Conceived in 1978 for a stage adaptation of Franz Kafka and thought lost for nearly fifty years, the music now finally emerges from a forgotten cassette archive.

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SML :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Jason Woodbury — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000

With Spontaneous Music Live, their new album for International Anthem, SML finally documents that experience in full: two sprawling, unedited performances recorded at Zebulon that capture the band shape-shifting in real time. Ahead of SML’s June 26th and 27th performances at Teragram Ballroom celebrating Aquarium Drunkard’s 21st anniversary, we gathered all five members together to discuss improvisation, groove mechanics, communication, martinis, and more.

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Cate Kennan :: Shadows

Justin Gage — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

On Shadows, Los Angeles musician Cate Kennan draws on the intimate folk of Sibylle Baier and Bridget St. John while sharing an affinity with the more fragile corners of Broadcast's demo recordings. Warm, intimate, and saturated, these songs seem almost covered in fingerprints.

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Yesternow: Editor’s Note Volume Seven

Justin Gage — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:30:19 +0000

Twenty-one years ago, Aquarium Drunkard began in a Venice Beach apartment with little more than a stack of records and an internet connection. To mark the occasion, we've gathered a selection of features, series, broadcasts, and recurring obsessions that became part of the site's fabric along the way. A look back at some of the sounds, conversations, and cultural detours that continue to animate the project today.

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Dust-to-Digital :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Jason Woodbury — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:30:00 +0000

April and Lance Ledbetter of Atlanta's Dust-to-Digital join us for a discussion about the label's new radio app, Dust-to-Digital Radio, and the art of sharing archival music in the digital age: "The technology is amazing. I couldn't have imagined it 20 years ago. I mean, maybe Nikola Tesla or some science fiction writers could have, but it’s changing so fast."

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Wax Machine :: The Sky Unfurls, The Dance Goes On

Justin Gage — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000

With Lau Ro's debut solo LP arriving next month, we revisit Wax Machine's 2023 album, a useful point of reference for the Brighton musician's forthcoming work. Prior to stepping out under his own name, Ro was already pulling together a wide range of influences into something distinctly his own. Consider this a preview of the road ahead.

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