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 of those guitarists. As a founding member of legendary indie band The Smiths, as well as a collaborator with groups like The The, The Pretenders, The Cribs, Modest Mouse, and Electronic, his sound is recognizable, a blend of jangle, chime, bite, and attitude. 

But this recognizability never comes at the sake of the song. In fact, that’s what makes Marr so iconic, not just his tone or his parts, but the way he operates in first and foremost as a composer—turning the guitar into an instrumental of orchestration, a way to bring each song to life. 

On October 2nd, Marr releases his latest solo album, The Age of Everything. Inspired by the everything-all-at-once pace of our current age, it’s a record that finds Marr sounding spry and loose.

In this conversation, Marr reflects on the new album, and gets into his philosophy regarding collaboration. It’s not just that Marr played on a Modest Mouse or Cribs record—he actually joined those bands full-on. What makes him so willing to dive in? What makes for a great artistic team-up? Marr drops his takes on those questions here. 

Along the way, we also get into the global influence of The Smiths, discuss how Black American musicians inspired his sound, and share some of his less apparent influences, including Neil Young, who if you hear Marr tell it, played a rather pivotal role in the development of British punk rock. Style, sound, and spirit—Johnny Marr brings each this week, so tune in.

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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. 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.” 

Baldwin is just as likely to devote page space to warning about being on time to the gig, stressing moral and internal rectitude, and the exposing dangers of social media as he is to dispense tips like “stop using a flat pick” and “play banjo for a while”—both solid tactical suggestions he espouses.

When he’s not writing or exploring ketamine therapies, Baldwin makes music himself. His latest LP is called Welcome to Your Pool, a wonderfully languid set of instrumentals housed in a fully 3D lenticular cover sleeve—it’s a wonder to listen to, but also just a wonder to see.

On October 3rd, Baldwin will perform at one of my favorite Los Angeles places, the Philosophical Research Society, with fellow traveler Imaad Wasif. In this talk, we discuss his own guitar journey, the paranormal, John Fahey, Philip K Dick, and much more. Dive in: the water is fine.

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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. 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—something deeply specific to his own life and interests. In other words, if you're coming for Donald Trump impressions, you're out of luck. But if you're one of the, to quote the special, "seven other people who know who David Fricke is," it's tailor-made for you.

That signature blend of the genuine and the goofy is also on display in Johnson's music work. If you search him on your streaming service of choice, you’ll find some great Bob Dylan covers. Obviously, Johnson is a great impressionist, but he’s not so much aping Bob's signature vocal styles with these songs as much as he is genuinely inhabiting them.

It all lands somewhere between earnest sincerity and all-out goofs—as does this conversation. We want to thank our Talkhouse compatriots The Jokermen for connecting us after I listened to their great talk with James. Do support them on Patreon, they are in the midst of their new Leonard Cohen series.

James Austin Johnson’s He’ll Yeah is currently available exclusively on Gorilla Comedy+ before launching on 800 Pound Gorilla’s YouTube channel on September 22. 

So press play and dive in as Johnson talks his comedy, dig into the filmography of Wes Anderson, and reveal what he said to Scarlett Johansson when he met her, is James Austin Johnson on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions.

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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.

Inspired by songwriters like Dan Bejar of Destroyer, who’s appeared here on Transmissions and Bruce Springsteen, who has not appeared on the podcast—yet—Take Leave rattles with downcast charm. Its songs are sly and full of knowing. Take opening track “Some Bands” for instance, where Sodomsky sings, with poetic scope: “Some bands break up/Some stay together/Ice sculptures in the front yard/Melting in the sun.”

When he’s not making records, Sodomsky writing about them, primarily at Pitchfork. Here, he discusses his songwriting process, how he keeps hearing new things to love in the work of Springsteen, and where he thinks music journalism is headed.

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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, who you may know from the 2012 doc Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, 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 book of poetry, The Immeasurable Equation. 

The documentary has ⁠launched a Kickstarter campaign⁠ to raise finishing funds that will run for the month of September, offering unique array of premiums at all donation levels, including a selection of vinyl recordings from the Modern Harmonic label, and limited edition t-shirt and large format art prints from legendary jazz photographer, Veryl Oakland.

Now, settle in as we explore the Sun Ra's esoteric ideas, hear his singular voice, and explore the Arkestra's vast lore and history. Crack open this door of the cosmos and enter in.

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Since 1998, Jim James has led My Morning Jacket. In the early 2000s, the band's blend of Southern rock, psychedelia, dub, classic songcraft, loner country, and experimental folk put them on the forefront of festival stages.

Last year, MMJ released its 10th studio LP, the Brendan O’Brien-produced Is, and earlier this year, they dropped Peacelands, an anti-ICE collection of acoustic music. And now, James has a new solo album: Wowed Out. It’s his first solo music in eight years, and a killer return to form. 

Inspired by the nonstop deluge of information we are all exposed to and the process of attaining a little peace in the midst of it all, many of the songs here first began as cues for a film project that never came to fruition. But when James returned to these snippets, he found them deeply inspiring, which caused fully formed songs to begin pouring out. 

Touching on soul, psychedelic pop, folk, and ambient sounds, it’s some of the most spiritual music James has ever recorded, and tellingly, this conversation takes a heady, mystical turn.

In it, we focus on meditation, and the personal—and entirely personalized—ways that we come up with to navigate the world. Anyone who has listened to James’ songs understands the way he taps into the universal via the personal—Wowed Out is an example of him working in his highest capacity. 

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Welcome back to Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. This week on the show, another talk that spun out of our Big Ears hang out, a conversation with a journeyman musician Fred Thomas.

Even if you don’t know Thomas’ name, you’ve heard him: In the ‘90s, he was responsible for the math rock band Chore; from there, he joined up with Warren Defever’s genre bending indie rock outfit His Name Is Alive, alongside groups like Lovesick and his own band Saturday Looks Good To Me, who melded Detroit R&B and soul to twee indie pop. 

Thomas has stayed busy too: in addition to his solo albums and archival projects from Saturday Looks Good to Me—more on that in this talk—he’s a member of Winged Wheel, alongside Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, who are responsible for one of our favorite albums of 2026, Desert So Green. And you may have seen him as a guest musician with Detroit post-punks Protomartyr ahead of the release of their new album, Hotel Usona, out September 25th on Domino Records. And then there’s Idle Ray, Mighty Clouds, and so many more projects.

In addition to all that, Thomas is also a prolific writer about music, namely for the Allmusic guide. All this makes him an ideal guest for Transmissions—an artist who isn’t hemmed in by any single genre. We spoke with Thomas out at Big Ears in Knoxville—and as was the case with last week’s Dust-to-Digital episode, we reconvened after Big Ears to tape a proper chat. Transmissions editor Andrew Horton joins in as co-host for this one, as he has unique insight into Thomas’ electronic efforts: Horton released one of Thomas’ many projects, All Energy Must Continue Upward, on his great label, Good Glass Records. 

From pre-fame adventures with Andrew WK to his work as a music writer, from Ethio-jazz to house music, this conversation runs a wide game. So here it is, presented this week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, produced in collaboration with the Talkhouse Podcast Network. 

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Since 1999, Atlanta label Dust-to-Digital has created lavish boxsets, books, and collections of gospel, folk, blues, field recordings, and other sounds sourced from deep global archives.

Led by April and Lance Ledbetter, the label has been responsible for works like Goodbye, Babylon, a landmark 2003 gospel collection which inspired Brian Eno to say, "I love this kind of archaeology of the beginnings of music, in this case soul and rock ‘n’ roll …[it] features hair-raising sermons, the greatest hits of pastors." Other engrossing deep dives include Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959; Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World's Music; and the John Fahey collection, Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You (The Fonotone Years 1958-1965), alongside many others.

This week on Transmissions, we present a loose hang with the Ledbetters, a lowkey look into the normal day-to-day of people who have dedicated their lives to the extraordinary effort of archiving sounds of the past. 

And now, Dust-to-Digital has launched an app: Dust-to-Digital Radio. Featuring a rotating selection of music released by the label and archival material digitized by the Dust-to-Digital Foundation, the app makes good on the label’s namesake, bringing historical music directly into the digital present. And it’s fun too—in an age of endless choice, it’s a treat to hand your ears over to these expert curators. 

In late March, we met the Ledbetters at the Big Ears Musical Festival. A few days after we all settled into our respective homes, we reconvened on Zoom to discuss the label’s mission, navigating the algorithms, and of course, some of the most notable Dust-to-Digital fans, including the aforementioned Eno and Law & Order's Carey Lowell.

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Describing the sound of Sacred Harp singing can be difficult. Arcane, otherworldly, and overwhelming, it’s a unique a cappella form of shape note Christian hymn singing that was born in England in the 18th century, but took root in the American south. It’s not something you listen to so much something as experience. 

This week on Transmissions, host Jason P. Woodbury speaks with Matt Hinton. Along with his wife, Erica Hinton, he’s the director of the 2006 documentary Awake, My Soul: The Story of The Sacred Harp; in 2025, the duo returned to the film, remastering it and crafting a full update. This month, the film is screening in the Los Angeles area, including showings in Glendale, and Santa Monica, at the Laemmle Glendale, Laemmle Royal, and the Monica Film Center. 

Sacred Harp utilizes a  shape note system, in which shapes—triangles, circles, squares, and diamonds—are paired with syllables—fa, sol, la, and mi—to represent the notes in the traditional scale. Awake, My Soul explores the culture that centers around this form of communal worship, and invites viewers into this strange musical world. 

In addition to his work as a documentarian, Matt Hinton is a musician himself. He’s a member of the rock band Luxury, which features three Orthodox priests. He made a film about that group too, the 2019 movie Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury. 

Though the soundtrack for Awake, My Soul, as well as a companion disc, Help Me to Sing: Songs of the Sacred Harp, featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Danielson, Richard Buckner, The Innocence Mission, author Rick Moody, and more, have long been out of print, they returned to streaming last month as the film celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Join us this episode as we dig into the nature of communal singing, folk traditions, and the mysteries of sacred sound. 

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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. This week on the show, we welcome Nashville-based music journalist, critic and author Erin Osmon, to discuss her tremendous book, Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America, which chronicles how heartland rock, typified by artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and more, brought a populist, Americana-inspired sound to the airwaves of the radio and MTV.

Along the way, Osmon shines a light on lesser heralded artists in the heartland canon, including Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, and Tracy Chapman, explores the impact of the shift from vinyl and tape to compact discs, the ubiquity of synthesizer technology, and the progressive undercurrent that propels this music. 

Osmon’s writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times, and she’s the author of a 33 ⅓ book on John Prine and Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost. With Won’t Back Down, she traces the origins of heartland rock and its influence on artists like The War on Drugs and The Hold Steady, and best of all, offers deep insight into the complex characters of its most notable figures. Especially intriguing is the Indiana-born Osmon’s focus on fellow Hoosier John “Cougar” Mellencamp, who emerges as one of the most fascinating characters, a hothead with a leftist heart and punk rock verve. 

This year marks the 250th birthday of America, and this conversation was taped just a few days before the 4th of July. We haven't been feeling all that patriotic—maybe it has something to do with the fascists governing our country and their endless commitment to foreign wars and environmental destruction—but Osmon’s book reminds us that this country has at its core something more noble, some promise that has not been stamped out just yet. As the Boss once sang: “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact/But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” 

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Occasionally, a song breaks forth from the void and strikes you like a bolt of lightning. That’s how we felt first hearing “Rockcurry,” from the late dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry and electronic duo Mouse on Mars’ Spatial, No Problem, released earlier this summer on June 5th via Domino Recording Co.

The song feels a little like plugging a fork into an electrical socket, à la
Twin Peaks: The Return. Shock. Boom. A whole new world.

This week on Transmissions we're joined by Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, Mouse on Mars, calling in from Germany to discuss creating Spatial, No Problem with Lee. The two have been friends since they were kids. In 1993, they formed Mouse on Mars, drawing from electronic traditions, live instrumentation, breakbeats, and a propensity for collaboration with other artists, including Mark E. Smith of The Fall, members of the National, and Stereolab—who, hey now, provide our show’s theme song: “Flashes in the Afternoon."

Though Lee is best remembered for his foundational contributions to reggae and dub music, his collab with Mouse on Mars is not a reggae record per se. Sure, that’s one element in the stew, but it simmers alongside ingredients suggesting jazz, krautrock, ambient music, and even some blues. Originally recorded back in 2019, Spatial, No Problem showcases just how dynamic Lee was as a creative force in the years before his passing in 2021.

The LP demonstrates how The Upsetter could do any sound. From the Neu! ready strut of “Rockcurry” to the Eastern-tinged jazz of “Spatialee” to looping ecstatica of “Hallo Shiva,” the album blends generations and approaches, equal parts live instrumentation and chopped loops. It’s a  fitting final statement from a shamanistic artist who vibrated with trickster energy right up to the end.

This week on Transmissions, Jan and Andi share memories of working on the album, with detours into discussion of some of their other collaborations, with artists like Mark E. Smith and another Transmissions favorite, Swamp Dogg.

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