Podcast - Aquarium Drunkard

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with your host Jason P. Woodbury. We've entered the holidays, aka the official "Vince Guaraldi Season." This week on the show, we're digging into the work of Guaraldi with Peanuts historian and author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, Derrick Bang. We discuss it all: Guaraldi's fascination with the bossa nova sound in the late '50s, his status as a composer who didn't write or read music—writing from a purely melodic standpoint, his work with Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete; his groundbreaking Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass; and of course, his work on the animated Peanuts specials. Plus, we explore that lingering mystery: did Vince Guaraldi ever play with the Grateful Dead? Did they jam?

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Our guest this week on the show, Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets, is used to swimming in waters where science fiction weirdness and musical expression mingle. Shabazz Palaces' new album, It’s a Style Sport, represents a new high water mark for the Seattle-based rapper; at once memoiristic and mystical, it’s a strange and beguiling listen. This week, he joins Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss basketball, his "Afro-fractal" artistic approach, the influence of artists like the Cocteau Twins, and of course, that goofy old standby: what's it like being a middle aged guy in rap?

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This week on Transmissions, we're speaking with return guest Joe Casey of Protomartyr. The band's new album, Hotel Usona is a timely meditation on our empire in decline but also a document of defiance and even a kind of hope. Check in, tune out.

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Hippies, Thugs, and Heroes finds guitarist Richard Thompson sounding as savage, lyrical, and eloquent as ever. This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, we're pleased to welcome Thompson back to the show. If you dig Transmissions, there’s a pretty solid chance that you already know that he's one of the founding fathers of British folk rock, known for his work with Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, his former wife Linda Thompson, Nick Drake and others.

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This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, Peanut Butter Wolf of Stones Throw Records. We hooked up for him to spin the yarn about how ST went from a small backpacker hip-hop imprint to an Adult Swim-boosted powerhouse, and how, 30 years in, the label’s roster is as diverse as ever, featuring post-punk, electro, future-forward R&B, and art-soul October 16, 17, and 18th in Highland Park at the ⁠Stones Throw 30 music festival. In this career spanning conversation, Wolf takes us back to the label’s earliest days, discusses his own major label experiences, and traces the thread that connects the Stones Throw artistic lineage.

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Certain people play guitar in a way that is immediately recognizable, no matter the context. Our guest this week on Transmissions, Johnny Marr, is one such guitarists. A founding member of legendary indie band The Smiths, his sound is undeniable a blend of jangle, chime, bite, and attitude. He's back with a new album The Age Of Everything, which he joins us to discuss.

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This week on the show, guitarist and psychotherapist Matt Baldwin, who is here to teach you How To Play Guitar. OK, not exactly. But Baldwin is the author of ⁠How To Play Guitar⁠, a series of zines that have been collected into a handsome book edition. If you’re just picking up the instrument, well, Baldwin isn’t writing about how to play a C chord or run scales. These aren’t “how to” guides so much as “why to” prompts, stressing intuition over technique, dismissal of music industry norms, and the imperative to hone a singular, personal philosophy regarding the instrument—think Captain Beefheart’s “Ten Commandments of Playing Guitar.” In this talk, we discuss his own guitar journey, the paranormal, John Fahey, Philip K Dick, and much more.

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This week on the show, comedian James Austin Johnson joins us to dive into the music nerd obsessions of his new comedy special ⁠He'll Yeah⁠. You've likely seen JAJ on the TV. He's known for portraying Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and occasionally, Bob Dylan, on SNL. But He’ll Yeah’s vignettes and on-stage footage find Johnson creating a more "indie rock" styled special. Along the way, we talk Bob Dylan, the perils of political comedy, and much more.

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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. This week on the show, writer and musician Sam Sodomsky, who records and releases music—a lot of it—under the name The Bird Calls. His latest slice of literate folk rock and alt-country songcraft is called ⁠Take Leave⁠, and it was released on August 28 via Ruination Record Co. Take Leave rattles with downcast charm. Its songs are sly and full of knowing. Sam joins us to discuss, talk about his Springsteen fandom, dig into The Blue Nile, and more.

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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. This week, we’ve got something extra special: a behind the scenes look at the forthcoming documentary, Sun Ra: Door of the Cosmos, a sonic cinema odyssey through the life, work and philosophy of the surrealist composer and musician. In addition to a conversation with director Drew DeNicola, this episode will present archival material gathered for the film, including interviews and statements from Ra himself, rare recordings of the Sun Ra Arkestra in action, and previous Transmissions guest Camae Ayewa, also known as Moor Mother, reading from Sun Ra’s The Immeasurable Equation. 

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