Transmissions Podcast: Twin Peaks / Desert Oracle / Sarah Louise

The owls are not what they seem. In fact, maybe nothing is exactly what it seems. Welcome to the January 2019 edition of Aquarium Drunkard’s Transmissions podcast, our monthly audio digest of the strange, fascinating, and out there. In this episode— the first of the new year—your hosts Justin Gage and Jason P. Woodbury pay a visit to the Washington town of Twin Peaks, with a conversation about the cult TV show, its many mysteries, and its 2017 revival. Then, a talk with guitarist North Carolina-based guitarist Sarah Louise, whose beguiling new record, Nighttime Birds and Morning Stars, will see release this week via Thrill Jockey Records. To close, Desert Oracle creator and editor Ken Layne joins us to discuss the cosmic vastness of the desert, and of course, Oumuamua, the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Does it signal the arrival of some faraway intelligence? What does it say about the unknown? And more pressingly, what does it say about our collective imagination?

When David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks premiered on CBS in 1990, there was nothing like it. The saga, which veered from comedy to psychic drama to cosmic horror, sometimes within the same episode, hailed the beginning of an era during which television would become a format fit for auteurs. While it only ran two seasons—plus a film, Fire Walk With Me, released in 1992—the mythology it established proved an enduring one, the subject of spinoff books, audio tapes, and discussion in secretive corners of the newly established World Wide Web. In 2017, Lynch and Frost finally made another trip with Twin Peaks: The Return, a meditation on age, trauma, and possibilities. Here, co-hosts Justin Gage and Jason P. Woodbury discuss the show’s influence and impact, on the world of television, fiction, and music.

On January 25, guitarist Sarah Louise returns with Nighttime Birds and Morning Stars, a spectral collection of electronically-treated guitar music. Louise is rooted in Appalachian roots music, but her approach is not restrained, folding in elements of spiritual jazz and new age. Most of all, her music is situated in the concept of wilderness. These are ecological compositions, born from the soil and inspired by the flora and fauna of North Carolina. Nature is really the one continuous thread in my life,” Louise says, and with this record, “[I’ve realized] this is my life’s purpose: I want to share the possibility of connection with the Earth with other people.”

Just as 2018 ended, author Ken Layne published an article on Popula titled “Happy Year of the Alien Invasion!” Layne is the host of Desert Oracle, a weekly radio show and podcast as well as a pocket-sized field guide to the American Southwest. He’s interested in the idea of extraterrestrial life. We hooked up with him to discuss Oumuamua, the subject of his article as well as the idea of the desert as sort of a spiritual beacon for seekers and people interested in the unknown. “Lawrence of Arabia had this great answer for the inevitable question you’d get in England, you know: ‘Why do you love the desert so much?’ His answer was, ‘Because it’s clean.’ It’s a very heavy answer,” Layne says. “It’s this kind of stark landscape that you can project yourself upon…”

Episode Playlist: William Tyler – Four Corners ++ Angelo Badalamenti  – Dance of the Dream Man ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Montage from Fire Walk With Me ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Freshly Squeezed ++ Julee Cruise – Floating ++ Julee Cruise – Mysteries of Love ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Night Life in Twin Peaks (excerpt) ++ Angelo Badalamenti – The Pink Room ++ Julee Cruise -Into the Night ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Audrey’s Dance ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Don’t Do Anything I Wouldn’t Do ++ Angelo Badalamenti — Love Theme From Twin Peaks ++ Angelo Badalamenti – Laura Palmer’s Theme ++ Thought Gang – The Black Dog Runs at Night ++ Sarah Louise – Daybreak ++ Sarah Louise -Journey in Satchidananda (Alice Coltrane) ++ Sarah Louise – Floating Rhododendron ++ Sarah Louise – Late Night Healing Choir ++ Alice Coltrane – Hara Sira ++ Sarah Louise – R Mountain ++ Mary Lattimore – Remember When Your Mom Wore Big Glasses and Played Her Harp