Michael Hurley - Quiet Life, Brooklyn, New York, March 24, 1990

I’d never heard of Quiet Life, the short-lived late 80s/early 90s Williamsburg music venue, but it sounds like a hoot.

The Village Voice’s Richard Gehr wrote: On most (and only) Saturday nights since last October, dozens — heck, scores — of locals have meandered into Quiet Life after discreetly making their presence known by tapping the door of this appropriately renamed former funeral chapel. In the dark, from the street, it lacks even the suggestion of activity. Pale light gleams through the stained-glass windows; apartment-house mailboxes greet the customer. Pay the man five dollars and mosey into a minimal sitting-and-drinking room. Where the bereaved once grieved, folks now gather in subdued conviviality. It’s a permanent wake, Jake. Pals and strangers, just hanging out and talking about stuff. Work stuff. Music stuff. You know — stuff. No fights, some light necking.

In other words, just the kind of place that Michael Hurley would’ve loved. He played Quiet Life in the spring of 1990, and thanks to the expanding Jeff Lazar archives, we can listen to a crystal clear tape of what went down. An afternoon show, maybe? There’s a baby who starts crying at the beginning of the second set — again, something that Hurley probably would have loved.

Snock is playing solo, and I’m struck by his amazing guitar work; certainly not flashy, but so intricately composed and effective, a jazz orchestra (a Snockestra?) on six strings. But Hurley doesn’t just play guitar here! He hops over to an electric keyboard for several songs, giving us a rare glimpse of his talents on that instrument. By the time he’s rollicking and rambling through a long “Broadcasting the Blues,” even the former funeral home’s ghosts must’ve been bopping along.

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Instrumentals (2016-2026)

Aquarium Drunkard’s Lagniappe Sessions have been rolling along at a steady pace since 2011, bringing together a global lineup of artists to offer up cover versions of a few of their favorite tunes. It’s always fascinating to hear these wide-ranging interpretations, to experience old songs with new ears, to connect the past with the present. Over the last 15 years, Lagniappe contributors have gone in all sorts of directions. There are no rules — the only boundaries are those of the imagination.

And some of the most imaginative Lagniappes have been those that deliver purely instrumental pleasures, embracing melody, rhythm and texture. Head over to AD for a 90-minute sampling of those covers from over the past decade, which range from MPB bliss-outs to Takoma School dreamscapes, from free-funk workouts to orchestral jazz. And beyond! It’s a terrific snapshot not only of the Lagniappe Sessions themselves, but of the ever-evolving Aquarium Drunkard aesthetic, where sounds off all stripes are welcome — as long as it’s the good shit.

Cameron Knowler, “Sunflower River Blues (John Fahey)” ++ Sunwatchers, “Ancestors (Arthur Doyle)” ++ Takuro Okada, “Brown Rice (Don Cherry) ++ Aux Meadows, “The Diamond Sea (Sonic Youth)” ++ Prairiewolf, “Green Arrow (Yo La Tengo)” ++ Bobby Lee “One More (Cymande)” ++ Phi-Psonics, “River Man (Nick Drake)” ++ Yohei, “Egyptian Reggae (Jonathan Richman)” ++ Shane Parish, “Tonight (Sibylle Baier) ++ William Tyler, “Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo)” ++ Emergency Group, “Prayer (Last Exit)” ++ Ezra Feinberg, “Losing True (The Roches)” ++ Mary Lattimore, “Blink (Hiroshi Yoshimura)” ++ Maston, “Beyond Antares (from Star Trek)” ++ Eli Winter, “Something On Your Mind (Karen Dalton)” ++ Cochemea, “Kanga Roo (Big Star)” ++ Kolumbo, “The Warmth of the Sun (The Beach Boys)” ++ Sarah Louise, “Journey in Satchidananda (Alice Coltrane)” ++ Rich Ruth, “Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath)” ++ Resavoir + Matt Gold, “Lua (Caetano Veloso)”

Oh and it went live just a couple weeks back, but definitely add Lau Ro’s incredible cover of Mal Waldron’s “Warm Canto” to this mix …

The Beach Boys - Radiant Radish

It’s true — in the late 1960s, Brian Wilson opened a short-lived health food store called Radiant Radish in West Hollywood; if you’d made your way in there back then, you might’ve even bought your vega-tables from Bri himself.

Not true — there was an unreleased Beach Boys album named after the shop. But the enterprising retrogorilla channel has put together Radiant Radish anyway! You have to tread lightly with these kinds of projects, but I’ve checked it out and it’s great, a cool re-imagining of the Smile / Smiley Smile / Wild Honey / Friends (and beyond) material.

The LP’s tracklisting plays it fast and loose with eras, but that’s fine. This thing flows like cool, cool water. As I’ve mentioned previously, what I love about the Brian Wilson of the late 1960s is the puzzle-piece aspect of the music, how you can mix and match the songs endlessly, finding new connections both intentional (?) and unintentional (??). It all fits together somehow. Brian was operating on some kind of higher plane at the time. Must’ve been his healthy diet.

Derek Taylor Says: [Brian]’d be sitting with me in this restaurant going on and on about this supposed strict vegetarian diet of his, preaching vegetarianism at me while at the very same moment he’d be whacking down some massive hamburger.

Garcia, Mandel and Miller - The Matrix (?), San Francisco, California, August 26, 1970

One thing you could never accuse Jerry Garcia of is laziness — at least at the dawn of the 1970s. To take just one short stretch as an example, on August 26, 1970, Jerry (likely) recorded some basic tracks for American Beauty at Wally Heider Studio on 245 Hyde Street. Then, he apparently hightailed it over to the Matrix in Cow Hollow for a jam session with Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel. A couple days later he’d be back with the Dead for some mysterious acoustic shows in LA, followed by the famed KPIX broadcast on August 30. All in a week’s work, right, Jerry? He was having a high time.

American Beauty we all know well; this 30-minute Mandel/Garcia jam session just emerged out of the Bob Matthews reel to reel collection, which archivist Charlie Miller has been diligently digitizing in recent weeks. And it’s very cool, very much in keeping with some of the excursions Jerry was taking with Howard Wales at the Matrix around the same time. Jazzy, bluesy, funky, experimental, loose and extremely fun. The experts suggest that the other players are Stephen Miller (organ) Larry “The Mole” Taylor (bass) and John Chambers (drums), but it’s conjecture at this point. I’m sure that the three-hour episode of the Deadcast devoted to the reel will get to the bottom of it. (In the meantime, you can dig into my old mix of Jerry at the Matrix.)

And hey, more previously uncirculated Dead arcana from 1970? Yeah, of course. There are some sweet tapes of the band’s legendary Rock Palace stand in Brooklyn that fall that are making their way out into the world in drips and drabs. Definitely check out “Good Lovin’” from these shows, which features Mickey Hart frying bacon onstage. Because why not?

Dean McPhee - Northern Earth

Bradford, UK-based guitar wizard Dean McPhee returns with a transportive/transcendent new album. As is his usual mode, Northern Earth was recorded live with no overdubs — always an impressive feat of concentration, given the long, layered compositions here. But the process isn’t really the point, it’s the result that matters. And the result is awesome. On the three tracks here, McPhee leans into a bass-heavy, dub-infused sound, while still keeping one foot in ancient britfolk zones. Dank Albion?! Maybe. This is deep stuff, burrowing into your subconscious, flowing into your dreams. Go north!

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - The Great Western Forum, Inglewood, California, September 11, 1996

Hey hey my my — 30 years ago this evening, I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse for the very first time. The Great Western Forum, a spot Neil had been playing since 1970. Right at the beginning of my senior year of high school. Old man, take a look at my life, I’m old now too!

Here’s something sacrilegious: I think I enjoyed the Neil + Booker T & the M.G.’s show from exactly three years prior more! This may have had more to do with our seats than the performance … at the ‘93 gig, we had great seats. At the '96 gig, we did not. My other main complaint was the totally snoozy acoustic set in '96 … “Needle,” “Heart of Gold” and “Sugar Mountain”?? Boring. Give us the noize of the Horse!

Fortunately we got plenty of that, as the decent audience tape demonstrates. The Year of the Horse was in full swing at this point, and Neil and the gang seem to be enjoying themselves. The new Broken Arrow material sounds fab; indeed, it’s this majestic version of “Slip Away” that would be included on the Year of the Horse live album in '97.

And the old rusty stuff is as amazing as ever. Listening this week, I was particularly swept away by Ralph Molina’s elemental drumwork on “Cortez the Killer,” like Sunny Murray or Milford Graves, like insistent waves tumbling towards the shore. Amazing. And then there’s the deeply deranged “Fuckin’ Up,” with Neil shrieking about looking at himself in the mirror: “You’re just a fuck-up.” I can relate, Neil, whether I’m 17 or 47. And finally there’s the almost 20-minute “Like A Hurricane” which devolves/dissolves into an MBV-esque storm cloud of distortion and chaos. I wanna love you but you made me realise!

Lou Reed - Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston, New York, September 12, 2006

Someone hail a cab for Lou Reed — he’s got a show upstate! Yes, just about 20 years ago this week, Uncle Lou played the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, NY. Not sure if he wore UGGs onstage, but let’s just assume that he did.

In a couple months, Reed would debut an ambitious re-staging of Berlin, taking that maligned/misunderstood/misanthropic 1973 LP around the world to rapturous crowds. But he wasn’t feeling nostalgic yet — or at least not that nostalgic. Most of the Kingston set is taken up by tunes from the late 1980s through the early 2000s — New York through The Raven. The hits!

And guess what, it sounds great! With that same double-bass lineup of Fernandizing Fernando Saunders and Rob “Basserman” Wasserman that we listened to in Italy earlier this year, Lou is energized and enthusiastic throughout, whether barreling through “Egg Cream” or tearing it up on a long, broody “Ecstasy” — his fuzzed-out solos are killer here. The elegiac rendition of “Dreamin’” from Magic and Loss is a welcome addition, too.

And then there’s “The Raven” itself, which doesn’t get the Metal Machine Music-style pummeling heard elsewhere, instead getting into ambient/abstract soundscape-y territory, only occasionally exploding with malevolent rage. Hey, Edgar Allan Poe was briefly a cadet down the river at West Point , maybe that dude’s weird ghost was floating around the venue?

Trevor Graham-Wilcox - Since When

Breaking news! My extremely talented brother Trevor released his fourth album yesterday. On a Tuesday — just as the good lord decreed albums should be released. Trevor describes the making of Since When: “Recorded at home in the summer of 2026 in between dog walks and World Cup matches.” But that casual attitude doesn’t begin to get at the hook-filled arrangements, the sweet choruses, the imaginative twists & turns of the lyrics … I may say this whenever Trevor puts something out, but this is his best work yet, whether it’s the easygoing electro-anthem of “What We’re Up Against” or the moody ramble of “Easy On Me.” Great music, check it out.

Richard Lloyd - The Grotto, New Haven, Connecticut, March 15, 1986

I pointed you in the direction of Richard Lloyd’s GoFundMe page a couple weeks back — let me point you in the direction of that page again! The response has been great, but if you still haven’t given or can give a little more, the new goal has almost been reached. Hopefully, this infusion of cash will help Richard beat his cancer diagnosis.

Once you’ve taken care of that, check out Alex Butterfield’s typically excellent tape of Lloyd and his band in New Haven in the spring of 1986, touring behind the Field of Fire LP. And yeah, this is a fiery performance, with lots of guitar acrobatics from Richard. His solo career was full of fits and starts over the years, but this era has to be a high point. Thanks for passing along the recording, Alex!

Richard Says: I think the overwhelming sensation in the music is joy; it’s a celebration of being alive. I guess there’s bound to be some sense of flirting with danger, but I’ve seen a lot of people fall by the wayside, and I’m just happy to be here. For a long time, I needed all this energy I’ve got just to stave off the executioner. Now I can use it.

Antietam - The Counting Game

Since we mentioned Antietam in that Run On post last week, let’s mention Antietam again! The very long-running band, formed way back in 1984 by husband and wife duo Tara Key and Tim Harris, has a new album out. Or should that be “new.” The Counting Game in fact features some recordings and songs from decades ago; as noted in the liners “Clearly, time travel is not off the table for Antietam.” But regardless of provenance, the album’s 10 tunes work perfectly together, with Key’s sterling guitar work leading the way as always. Antietam might not be as well known as their pals/peers in Yo La Tengo, but it’s inspiring to hear them in vital form after all these years — underground lifers still searching for the sound.

Run On - Mercury Lounge, New York City, March 9, 1996 / May 3, 1996

We got a Love Child reissue series recently — now, how about Run On?! This multi-talented band, featuring (l-r) Rick Brown, David Newgarden, Sue Garner and Alan Licht (later including Katie Gentile) put out a few records on Matador in the mid-1990s that are well worth discovering. They could be noisy, they could be catchy, they could be weird, they could be sweet; it makes sense that I saw them open for kindred spirits Yo La Tengo on the Electr-O-Pura tour.

Run On live tapes are few and far between, so I was happy that the new Jeff Lazar Audio Collection uploaded two shows taped at the Mercury Lounge from the spring of 1996. Excellent captures of the band in full flight, blasting through the repertoire with verve and style. And hey, another massive taper project, the aforementioned Aadam Jacobs Collection has an even earlier gig in Chicago — this one kicks off with Run On’s killer Nick Drake cover.

Run On is no more, but hey, Rick and Sue are playing as Pretty Rag next Thursday at one of those wonderful Heads Happenings ‘neath the BQE at Mama Tried, alongside Antietam and Sloppy Heads. I wish I could be there! And breaking news, I’m getting word that Alan Licht has a few choice items up for the grabbing on this most holy of Bandcamp Fridays. Run on and on and on!

Secret Knowledge: Malkmus Sings Silver Jews

One of the best bits of ye olde indie rock lore is that David Berman and Stephen Malkmus worked as security guards at the Whitney Museum of American Art back in the early 1990s. It almost seems too good to be true, like some Sundance-bound indie flick — I’m picturing Clerks as directed by Jim Jarmusch or Hal Hartley, with two semi-cerebral/fully baked slackers wandering the galleries and generally doing a bad job. I smell a Palme d'Or! But it’s a true story.

“Those guys would talk about how arduous being a security guard was at the Whitney Museum while they were getting a full education on American art there,” fellow Silver Jew Bob Nastanovich later remembered. “I’d have to listen to them kind of moan about standing all day, and meanwhile I drove a bus all day.”

A lotta water has come over the hill since those early times, but Malkmus is out on the west coast playing some rare solo shows this week, and he’s breaking out some vintage Silver Jews numbers. Always fun to hear — and it’s a tradition that goes way back. So! Check out a little decades-spanning playlist of SM singing DCB, from “West-S” to “Wild Kindness” and beyond. It’s loose as can be and likely not comprehensive, but it’s still a good listen, and even features a cameo from Berman himself, with these two UVA alums duetting on a ragged “Blue Arrangements” sometime in the 2000s. When something breaks it makes a beautiful sound!

Buffalo Springfield - Interview (May 1966)

Alas, no one has unearthed a 60-year-old recording of the Buffalo Springfield at the Cheetah club in Santa Monica. That would be cool, though, right?! The earliest days of the Springfield onstage are frustratingly out of reach for the most part — and the band members themselves (perhaps with a little fuzzy hindsight) usually point to that era as the peak of the band as a live act.

However! A very early recording of the BS emerged recently — an interview conducted in the spring of ‘66 at the Whiskey a Go Go by local LA musician Jennifer Starkey. Maybe the first interview the band ever did? One of 'em anyway; they had only debuted about six weeks earlier. It’s a fascinating time capsule, kind of hectic/manic/chaotic (and occasionally slightly un-PC), with lots of goofing around amidst Starkey’s questions. No music, unless you count a few a capella hijinks (the guys seem to be working out the harmonies for “Burned”).

Neil Young was only 20 years old at this point, but you can hear the drive and ambition in his voice, whether he’s extolling the virtues of country music or dishing on the LA scene. Maybe he was still a kid, but he’d been in the trenches for several years at this point, as had all of the Springfield. Pretty soon, all they’d hear were screams from outside the limousine!

Willis Alan Ramsey - The Bunker, Lockhart, Texas, 2022

This past summer, I was surprised to see Willis Alan Ramsey’s name pop up on E-Town’s upcoming event calendar; I knew the singer-songwriter was still around (and that he maybe lived in Colorado?), but gigs were few and far between. Ramsey is a semi-mysterious figure, having released a classic LP for Shelter Records in the early 1970s and having not released a note since. Would he stumble onstage and deliver a totally burned out and wasted performance? Well, as it turns out, no. Here’s a bit of what I wrote for Aquarium Drunkard’s recent Dog Days installment:

“Throughout his two solo acoustic sets, Ramsey delivered a masterclass in southern-fried tunesmithery, his vocals whiskey-soaked, his guitar work intricate and soulful. Willis’ in-between song banter occasionally rambled, but he was lucid and clear- eyed overall. His sets featured plenty of his lone LP, of course — though not that one song that Captain and Tennille made famous. However, he also had plenty of new material to show off. Maybe ‘new’ means the 1980s, I don’t know, but let’s call it unreleased. And this fresh stuff sounded as good, if not better, than the old stuff.”

Whether or not Ramsey’s mythic follow-up will ever emerge remains unknown. But hey, in a nice synchronicity, Willis’ self-titled debut is finally being reissued by the good people at Superior Viaduct / Antarctica Starts Here. It’s up for pre-order now, coming out on October 16. Good news! In the meantime, check out a great recent Next Waltz session from a few years back, with Ramsey singing and storytelling in an intimate setting. You’re gonna get young before you get old …

Big Circle

We checked out the latest from mssv a few weeks back, so why not check out another Mike Watt group? In the newly formed Big Circle, the bassist has teamed up with two Feelies — Glenn Mercer and Dave Weckerman — along with Dan Francia (who has worked with Feelies friends Speed the Plough in the past) for a short/very sweet EP of groovy instrumentals. And, no surprise, it’s a blast, with the Watt and Francia on dueling basses, Mercer on crunchy guitar and Weckerman holding down the beat. It’s low-key and low-stakes, but absolutely charming; hopefully there’s a lot more to come from this quartet.