There are many prolific musicians out there, so I want to be careful using any superlatives to describe Daniel Romano's prolific nature. Suffice it to say, he produces a lot of music. "Preservers Of The Pearl" is the new LP from Daniel Romano's Outfit. There's only one song and the beginning of "Autopoiet" really made me think I was going to get one of the best songs from The Monkees.
I also love it when the band themselves give you all the band comps you need. The Bandcamp page starts by describing the band as "messengers of the new wave of underground rock and roll, pushing the movement forward alongside fellow trailblazers Mystery Lights, Sheer Mag, Shadow Show, Uni Boys + more."
Romano is based in Welland, Ontario (near Niagara Falls). This LP (and much of Romano's catalogue) is released by You've Changed Records.
CBC Radio decided that everybody with their alarm set to 7:30 AM should wake up to this today. I need you to imagine waking up in the morning and immediately being asked to parse this wizard bullshit.
The singer-songwriter Amy Rigby got her start in the late 1980s and early 1990s in spry, New York-based country throwback groups Last Roundup and The Shams. Starting with 1996’s Diary of a Mod Housewife, Rigby has steadily released solo work that can break your heart with the contagious ache in her dry, distinctive voice or make you laugh out loud at the concussive put-downs she doles out. Rigby has a particular knack for turning the quotidian mythic and reminding us that the mythologized are ultimately just some guys. The music has remained rooted in country, but not confined by it. Hers is a guitar-forward style that can incorporate the bright highs of acoustic pop rock, crunchy roadhouse grooves, R&B, and even jazz. Alex Johnson, in his review of Rigby’s most recent release, Hang In There With Me, called the album “tough, witty rock and roll…[that] catalogs a lifetime of drags, uncertainties and disasters, but returns, again and again, to the people, moments and experiences that make it worthwhile, or bearable enough.”
Here are some things that Rigby has been listening to lately.
Warmduscher — “Eight Minute Machines”
Discovered via an online review of their Brooklyn show last year, one that made me want so badly to be sweating in a crowd with this band onstage.
Amelia White — “Get To The Show”
One of my Nashville pals and I love this track from her latest album. Amelia is always out working and rocking, written with the great Gwil Owen… Sometimes I really do miss Nashville!
Daniel Romano — “Impossible Green”
You know when you discover an artist and think wow, this kid’ll go far, then realize they’ve been at it for years, made tons of records, play all the instruments, write, sing and tour their ass off? That’s how it is for me with Daniel Romano. This track comes from his 2017 album Modern Pressure.
Gina Birch — I Play My Bass Loud
Gina’s debut solo album came out just a year ago — I’ve been a fan since hearing the Raincoats in the late 1970s and getting to see them live when they came to NYC back then. She’s one of my heroines for being an artist and uniquely herself in whatever it is she does — music, video, painting. The bass and her opening line: “Sometimes I wake up, and I wonder — what is my job?” Pure Gina/genius!
Wreckless Eric — Inside The Majestic
He’s my husband and labelmate so what the hell — this is from his most recent album Leisureland. People know Eric for his voice and lyrics and guitar, but this is an instrumental track that’s just glorious. I want to see the movie it soundtracks, or at very least a choreographed dance routine with Eric at the piano in a tuxedo.
Michele Stodardt — “These Bones”
A big attraction for me with the Magic Numbers was Michele Stodart’s bass playing and cool vocal contributions, love hearing and seeing her do her solo thing.
Meshell Ndgeocello — The Omnichord Real Book
For the last dozen years, I was bartending/selling books at a small shop in New York’s Hudson Valley. The first time Meshell came in I was tongue-tied, knowing her as a bass playing legend and poet, and thought if she lives here, it’s kind of the center of the universe, right? I really hope to see her play live sometime.
TBHQ — “Planet of Pain” from TBHQ
A radio host on a show I guested on was playing this great track when I walked in. “I really like that,” I thought, and then realized it was my daughter Hazel Rigby who records under the name TBHQ. She’s been performing and recording for years, often instrumental/noise but her voice and lyrics are so wise and honest.
Dory Previn — “The Comedian”
There’s never been anyone like Dory Previn, the pain and ridiculousness of being a human so acutely depicted in song. There’s a new documentary about her, On My Way To Where, by my friend Julia Greenberg with animated segments by Emily Hubley, just making its debut out there. She had a fascinating, fruitful, difficult beautifully productive life and I can’t wait to learn more about her.
Mary Timony — “Dominoes” from Untame The Tiger
Love everything about Mary Timony’s latest solo album Untame the Tiger — the songs, the guitar playing, her voice, the cover!
Swamp Dogg — “Synthetic World”
One of my favorite tracks of all time. Jerry Williams (Swamp Dogg) is still out bringing his music to the people. I’m looking forward to seeing the new documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted — there’s just nobody like this guy.
December is probably my favorite time of the year. Winter really starts to set in, which brings the snow and cold weather, making everything beautiful. Christmas festivities, movies and music are everywhere, and it also gives you a chance to look back at the past year. Looking back on this year in terms of music, I listened to 294 albums released in 2021, and have narrowed it down to my top 20. This was a very deep year for music, the top 3 on my list stood above all the others as being great and deserving of a top 3 listing. After that though, I could make an argument to change the order of any of these albums, they were all very good in their own ways. Some of these I've seen on other people's "best of" lists, but some I haven't seen anywhere except here. Hopefully you can discover something new here, my goal is always to introduce people to new music.
20. Lana Del Rey- Chemtrails Over The Country Club
19. Kacey Musgrave- Star Crossed
18. Justin Bieber- Justice
17. Pearl Charles- Magic Mirror
16. Durand Jones & The Indications- Private Space
15. Pokey LaFarge - In the Blossom of Their Shade
14. John Mayer- Sob Rock
13. Hayes Carll- You Get It All
12. Daniel Romano's Outfit- Fully Plugged In
11. Charley Crockett- Music City USA
10. Alan Jackson- Where Have You Gone
9. Ben Howard- Collections From The Whiteout
8. Humbird- Still Life
7. Charley Crockett- 10 For Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand
6. Anthony da Costa- What Plans?
5. Cat Clyde & Jeremie Albino- Blue Blue Blue
4. Aly & AJ - A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun
The Aquarium Drunkard Guide To Daniel Romano’s 2020
Talk about making the most of the pandemic. Unable to continue his own never ending tour, the already-prolific Romano threw his weight into releasing albums—both newly and previously recorded—like never before. Nine full-lengths and one EP from the shape-shifting Canadian polymath and a handful of trusty collaborators—not to mention a book of love poems. Here’s Aquarium Drunkard’s guide to Daniel Romano’s year that was, as of the end of September.
“The individual life is distinguished from all other things by the rectilinear course of its movement, which, so to speak, cuts through the circular movements of biological life. This is mortality: to move along a rectilinear line in a universe where everything, if it moves at all, moves in a cyclical order.”
- Hannah Arendt
Photograph by Matt Charlton.
Dark Blue is coming soon.
