It Came from Aquarius Records
This is a seated event.Followed by an in-person Q+A and Discussion with Kenneth Thomas (the Director), John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats), and Emil Amos (Grails, Om, Holy Sons).The award-winning, third music documentary in Kenneth Thomas’ trilogy about indie music culture, IT CAME FROM AQUARIUS RECORDS explores the San Francisco-based independent record shop that helped shape the tastes of Bay Area residents and beyond for nearly a half a century.If you are a fan of any independently released music — indie rock, psychedelic, folk, krautrock, weirdo Finnish prog rock, Japanese noise, glitchy black metal, or anything that makes you feel like you’ve discovered a musical diamond in the rough — there’s a chance you directly or indirectly found out about it through Aquarius Records.The idea of walking into a shop and unexpectedly getting your mind blown by something playing on the speakers is something to be treasured — and it’s places like Aquarius Records that made that experience a reality for people who were lucky enough to either walk though their doors or who subscribed to their encyclopaedic bi-weekly email list of new release reviews.The store influenced and enriched countless peoples’ musical tastes with their curated selections — but this film also shows the realities of an indie record store trying to survive in an increasingly difficult market of brick-and-mortar music shops, especially in the ever-changing and price-gouging Mission District of San Francisco. The store closed in 2016 after 47 years of championing underground and experimental sounds and turning the world onto sound and music of limitless varieties, some of which ended up exploding in popularity out of multiple independent music scenes.Over 60 interviews were conducted for this film: all of the store owners dating back to 1970, other record store owners from around the world, musicians, label heads, music journalists, and INTENSE music collectors. A few of these folks include Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats), Emil Amos (Grails, Om, Holy Sons), Ty Segall, Howie Klein, and Liz Harris (Grouper).Six years in the making, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this.Poster Design by Savage PencilWebsite | Trailer | Instagram | Facebook | First 8 minutes of filmKenneth Thomas is a music documentarian and sound production professor, living in Los Angeles. He has spent most of his spare time from the past 17 years documenting independent music culture that he finds important to include as part of music history.John Darnielle is an American musician, novelist, and actor best known as the primary, and originally sole, member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He has written three novels: Wolf in White Van (2014), Universal Harvester (2017), and Devil House (2022).Emil Amos has made over 50 records on various esteemed labels such as Thrill Jockey, Drag City and Temporary Residence. His podcast, Drifter’s Sympathy, just finished its fifth season and has been widely lauded by outlets from NPR to Wire Magazine. He has written pieces for Dangerous Minds, reviewed records for Ugly Things, and now writes exclusively for Creem Magazine.
Stop Light Observations
Stop Light Observations is a dynamic five-piece hailing from Charleston, South Carolina. Their sound is a unique blend of rock, pop, and indie, infused with electronic beats and soulful vocals. From songs like “2young” to “Trajic Majic,” their music is a true reflection of their unique personalities, and their live shows are a testament to their authenticity and raw talent.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Joy Oladokun: Living Proof Tour
Each ticket includes a $1 Charity Fee for PLUS 1.Joy Oladokun documents her life in songs. For as much as she examines her place in the world as the first-generation daughter of Nigerian immigrants and a proud queer Black person, she also celebrates the little details and the simple pleasures of being alive. Of course, the narrator’s humble demeanor belies the gravity of her extraordinary accomplishments thus far—from captivating audiences on sold out tours and late-night television to finding herself with a guitar in hand on the White House lawn in celebration of equality. After grinding it out for years, she reached critical mass with her 2021 major label debut, in defense of my own happiness. It graced countless year-end lists and led Vanity Fair to declare, “Her name is both prescient and redundant. She oozes energy that shifts a room’s center of gravity and makes you happy for it. It is charisma and she has it in spades. It’s the way she approaches her craft too.” Along the way, she’s delivered unforgettable performances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, PBS’s Austin City Limits and NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert and more and captivated festivalgoers at Bonnaroo, Hangout, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk Festival and Ohana Festival. Not to mention, she’s also appeared on HULU’s Your Attention Please: The Concert and landed prominent syncs on CSI: Vegas, This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, And Just Like That and Station 19, to name a few. Plus, she has joined forces with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Lucie Silvas, Noah Kahan and Jason Isbell for collaborations. Now, she takes stock of the trip so far on her highly anticipated forthcoming full-length album, Proof of Life [Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records].Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Andrew Marlin Quartet
Andrew Marlin is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based out of Chapel Hill, NC. He’s known for his captivating songwriting, presented both lyrically with his band Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) and instrumentally under his own name. During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, Marlin recorded two dynamic, instrumental albums, Witching Hour and Fable & Fire, which followed up 2018’s Buried in a Cape. Witching Hour, which was released February 5, 2021, is redolent of bluegrass and American roots music soundscapes; rich fiddle and mandolin weave through powerful, coursing tunes. Folk Alley said the record “showcase(s) Marlin’s ingenious ways of dwelling in a tune and turning it inside out, grounding it in tradition but carrying it out to new heights through brilliant innovation.” Fable & Fire, which was released two short weeks after Witching Hour, draws more from the sounds of Irish roots music and is reminiscent of the melodies that came over from the Emerald Isle to early Appalachia. Red Line Roots called the album a “masterpiece.” Each album was recorded in a different recording studio but largely had the same crew of instrumentalists, all of whom are close friends and trusted collaborators. Nashville guitarist Jordan Tice and fiddler Christian Sedelmyer have worked closely with Marlin before, as have guitarist Josh Oliver and bassist Clint Mullican, both of whom tour and record in Watchhouse. Award winning fiddler Brittany Haas joined up for a tune on Witching Hour, and Fable and Fire features cellist Nat Smith on every track. Marlin will be joined by Sedelmyer, Mullican, and Oliver on this May tour. Marlin has produced six albums of original works of American roots music with Watchhouse and regularly contributes instrumental performances to other artists and albums. Recent work includes playing mandolin on recordings for Tyler Childers, Waxahatchee, Dead Tongues and Phil Cook. Marlin is also an in-demand producer, and has produced albums for artists including Mipso, Kate Rhudy, Rachel Baiman and Ismay. Over the last decade, he has toured with Watchhouse throughout the U.S and Europe and appeared on high profile programs such CBS This Morning’s Saturday Morning Sessions and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. Website | Facebook | InstagramJosh Kimbrough is a fingerstyle guitarist and composer from Chapel Hill, NC. He learned to play guitar studying Freddie King instrumentals and Fernando Sor classical guitar pieces. His 2020 Tompkins Square Records debut, Slither, Soar & Disappear, has been called “Utterly Moving” by Record Crates United, and “A Triumph” by Folk Radio UK. Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp
Into The Fog
Into The Fog is a string band out of Wilmington, NC that encompasses a wide array of genres from bluegrass to country to folk to rock n’ roll. The band is made up of Brian Stephenson on Vocals and Guitar, Winston Mitchell on Vocals and Dobro/Mandolin, and Derek Lane on Vocals and Bass.Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Hannah Jadagu
Fresh out of high school, Hannah Jadagu released her debut EP, What Is Going On?, a collection of intimate bedroom pop tracks recorded entirely on an iPhone 7, which was, at the time, Jadagu’s most accessible mode of production. An off-the-cuff approach to music making and instinctive ability to write unforgettable hooks belied the intensity of Jadagu’s subject matter. In a short run time, What Is Going On? confronts some of the nation’s most urgent struggles all through Jadagu’s compassionate perspective. “I want my songs to be both super intimate and still universally relatable,” Jadagu says. “With the EP, so many people told me that the songs resonated with them on a personal level, and that’s what I’m always hoping for.”Resonate it did; What Is Going On? is Jadagu’s first Sub Pop release, but she’d been putting out music on SoundCloud for years, garnering a small online fanbase as she settled into an aesthetic, and recognition from a broader audience was overdue. “It really took off when I became a percussionist in my middle school’s band,” she says. “Writing songs started as a hobby and quickly became a passion to the point that I spent all my free time recording.”On May 19th, 2023 Jadagu premieres Aperture, her first LP and most ambitious work to date. Written in the years between graduating from high school in Mesquite, TX and her sophomore year of college in New York, Aperture finds Jadagu in a state of transition. “Where I grew up, everyone is Christian; even if you don’t go to church, you’re still practicing in some form,” Jadagu says, laughing. “Moving out of my small hometown has made me reflect on how embedded Christianity is in the culture down there, and though I’ve been questioning my relationship to the church since high school, it’s definitely a theme on this album, but so is family.”As a kid, Jadagu followed her older sister – a major source of inspiration who she refers to as “the blueprint” – to a local children’s chorus, where she received choral training. “I hated it,” Jadagu admits. “But it taught me how to harmonize, how to discover my tone, how to recognize and write melody.” The aching single “Admit It” is dedicated to Jadagu’s sister, whose boundless love and impeccable taste has been a constant for Jadagu ever since she was a kid. At home, the siblings were raised on mom’s Young Money mixtapes and the Black Eyed Peas (to whom she credits her love of vocoder) but it was in the sanctity of her sister’s car that Jadagu discovered indie artists who would go on to inspire her work.“Lose” showcases Jadagu’s love of contemporary indie auteurs as it weaves a spare and unpretentious guitar riff with barebones piano chords all while Jadagu sings about the thrill and underlying fear that comes with beginning a new relationship. It is, in her words, a “classic pop song.” “The things we haven’t done/ Play out in my mind/ Would you just give me time?” she sings, nearing the end, as the skittering drumbeat propels the song from a place of contemplative yearning to defiance. “Every track on this album, except for “Admit It”, was written first on guitar, which is an instrumental throughline,” Jadagu says. “But the blanket of synths I use throughout helps me move between sensibilities. There’s rock Hannah, there’s hip-hop Hannah, and so on. I didn’t want any of the songs to sound too alike.”Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
The Gone Ghosts, Heat Preacher, Charles Latham and the Borrowed Band
The Gone Ghosts is an Alt-Country Americana/Rock band from Carrboro NC, formed by singer/guitarist and songwriter Dave Hedeman and bassist Dillon Partin from The Vagabond Union. Joined by singer/guitarist Justin Bowlin and drummer Scott Jones.Dave started his music career fronting East Coast college favorite, Puddleduck from 1993 to 2000 before vanishing from the music scene for almost a decade.In 2008, while moving to Carrboro, Dave had a chance encounter with Jason Isbell, who he credits as his inspiration to re-engage with creating music. “I was moving from South Florida to Carrboro and stopped in Charleston to catch one of his shows at the Pour House,” he recalls. “After the show, I walked up to him and struck up a conversation. At one point I said, ‘I used to be a musician.’ He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You still are.’”It was a pivotal moment. Dave found his spirit renewed. And another decade later, he’s bringing to life the lyrics that have haunted his subconscious.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTubeComing out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Heat Preacher combines rock, soul, indie, and alternative influences to create their own brand of modern music. They often work on ideas at the beginning of their rehearsals, and these loose improvisations set the foundations for the group’s songs in a few rehearsal’s time. Heat Preacher has shared the stage with bands like Eyelids, Wild Fur, Reese McHenry, and Youth League. They hope to play in a city near you soon! The band has steadily released singles over the past year, and they plan on releasing a full length LP by the end of 2019. Stay tuned! Website | Facebook | Instagram | SpotifyCharles Latham wields an acid tongue and a poison pen, crafting social criticism, tragicomic narratives, and brutal self-analysis into ramshackle country-rock songs. After a decade of wandering, from Philadelphia to Nashville to Memphis to the U.K., singer-songwriter Charles Latham returned to North Carolina in late 2014, laying roots down in Durham. His 2017 LP, “Little Me Time”, found Latham combining his acerbic wit and quirky songwriting with more polished production values and an expansive sound. In order to bring the songs to life for live audiences, he recruited an ensemble of local talent, now known as The Borrowed Band. Since then, the Borrowed Band’s fluid line-up has solidified into a core group of musicians, forged into a spectacularly energetic and dynamic live band through the alchemy of constant gigging: drummer “Steamboat” Steve Anderson (Kamara Thomas) and bassist Billie Feather (Hank, Pattie & the Current) providing the foundation from which lead guitarist Luis Rodriguez (6 String Drag) and Gordon Hartin’s (Shooter Jennings) pedal steel launch their fireworks. On vocals and rhythm guitar, Latham is joined by Abby Sheriff, creating a vocal blend that recalls Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Molly Parden
With the release of “Cigarette” (Apr 13, 2023) Parden signals the rollout of her 3rd full length album, the effort of 3 recording sessions over 3 years with Micah Tawlks at Peptalk Studios in Nashville. Taking inspiration from The War on Drugs’ “Future Weather”, Kurt Vile’s “Smoke Ring For My Halo”, and Feist’s “The Reminder”, years of influence finally channel into one moody, late-night, windows-down anthem.Website | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud
Julia Jacklin
Since releasing her debut album Don’t Let the Kids Win in 2016, Melbourne’s Julia Jacklin has carved out a fearsome reputation as a direct lyricist, willing to excavate the parameters of intimacy and agency in songs both stark and raw, loose, and playful. If her debut announced those intentions, and the startling 2019 follow-up Crushing drew in listeners uncomfortably close, PRE PLEASURE is the sound of Jacklin gently loosening her grip.Stirring piano-led opener ‘Lydia Wears A Cross’ channels the underage confusion of being told religion is profound, despite only feeling it during the spectacle of its pageantry. The gentle pulse of ‘Love, Try Not To Let Go’ and dreamy strings of ‘Ignore Tenderness’ betray an interrogation of consent and emotional injury. The stark ‘Less Of A Stranger’ picks at the generational thread of a mother/daughter relationship, while the hymnal ‘Too In Love To Die’ and loose jam of ‘Be Careful With Yourself’ equate true love with the fear of losing it.Recorded in Montreal with co-producer Marcus Paquin (The Weather Station, The National), PRE PLEASURE finds Jacklin teamed with her Canada-based touring band, bassist Ben Whiteley, guitarist Will Kidman, and drummer Laurie Torres.PRE PLEASURE presents Jacklin as her most authentic self; an uncompromising and masterful lyricist, always willing to mine the depths of her own life experience, and singular in translating it into deeply personal, timeless songs.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify
Quadeca / quickly, quickly
Ben Lasky adopted the moniker Quadeca during preschool recess, in the necessity to name a superhuman persona. At ten years old, Quadeca took on the heroic task that’d become the central focus of his multi-hyphenate creative career–writing and producing his own expressive style of music. He would go on to attract a cult-like following, where fans are prone to analyze his work and discuss it communally. Quadeca’s first forays into concept albums, Voice Memos and From Me To You, both made impressive debuts across streaming platforms for an independent musician. Lasky responded by shifting the focus of Quadeca towards achieving greatness in his LP’s craftsmanship, and away from the virality of his premier platform, YouTube, where his subscribership was nearing two million. The release of the spectral and impressionistic “I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You” album signified a watershed moment for Lasky. The credits tout contributions from Danny Brown and others, mastering at Abbey Road, but simultaneously stands as the biggest statement-piece of his creative independence: A fully self-produced opus with an accompanying film that has landed him newfound levels of acclaim from music fans and critics alike.. The reception stirred widespread internet discourse about the validity of multi-media creators evolving in the internet age, which culminated towards a short series of analytical videos from critic Anthony Fantano who named the album’s lead single “Born Yesterday” as the 7th best song of 2022. Now, Quadeca’s vision is focused straight ahead, onto the next opus that stands tall outside of its zeitgeist context.Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | SoundcloudThe new quickly, quickly EP finds Portland, Oregon’s Graham Jonson back in his home studio, engrossed in ‘60s psychedelic soul music, imagining some bygone era where it was all about the drum sounds and tape decay. He calls it Easy Listening; the songs are short and inviting, modest yet loaded with ideas. Each started with the drum part, a loose grid for Jonson to paint his idiosyncratic psych-pop across, again playing nearly every instrument. The set follows his 2021 LP, The Long And The Short of It, the 22-year-old musician’s debut on Ghostly International, a coming-of-age jump from the chill beats-oriented corners of the internet to a full-fledged songwriting project with hi-fi sophistication. The moment culminated with Pitchfork’s Rising profile, “quickly, quickly’s Technicolor Pop Bursts Beyond the Algorithm,” and kickstarted the formation of his 6-piece live band for a run of exploratory shows along the west coast. But as the tangible demands for his music pulled him outward and some growing pains in his personal life ensued, Jonson focused his energy back inside; to the comforts of home recording, filling his space with more gear and sessions with friends. Maybe a bit of a droll title for a hard time, Easy Listening briefly pauses for air, offering five of his breeziest basement jams for public enjoyment.Bandcamp | Instagram | Soundcloud
