Stories — Releases

I first met (and heard) Dae Han at the January 2017 preview screening for our (still in progress) Aloha Got Soul documentary film. He was the drummer for Maryanne Ito's outfit, which also featured Gilbert Batangan on bass and Jabari Prevost on keys. My first impression is still the same: Dae's swift, technical style suits just about any sound, from jazz and R&B to reggae and hip hop. That evening, they played mostly original tunes — in fact, the band was so good it convinced me from that moment that Maryanne needed to record a live album, to try and...

An excerpt of my interview with Richard Reb'll appears on Aquarium Drunkard, in anticipation of the new From These Shores compilation. You can listen to the compilation here. Looking back at all the amazing Hawaiian records Oliver Seguin has hipped me to over the years, I can quite distinctly remember the time and location of when he’s shared particularly mind-blowing tracks with me. We were at Kakaako Waterfront Park in 2015, a sunset picnic with our families. Oliver played a digital rip of Richard Reb’ll’s "Reb’ll Message" from his phone. Blew me away. It’s a highly unusual, poetic mix of...

I'm pretty sure the first time I heard this song was at Idea's (then Jelly's) during a small in-store event that Oliver and I organized. It might've been when Meaty Ogre was here, which was years ago. In any case, it was Oliver who flawlessly mixed into "Waves" during his set, the song's epic, sweeping swirl of guitars and synthesized sounds of the ocean immediately consuming my attention. What the hell is this? In typical Oliver Twist fashion he smiled, shrugged a little, and shared the record with me. "I got it from the guy himself, at the swap meet."...

Introducing a new compilation entitled From These Shores, the otherworldly sound of softly psychedelic, cosmic folk and psych from Hawaii. Hazy, lazy, steeped in sunshine; these 13 tracks are gathered here thanks to Aloha Got Soul curators Roger Bong and Oliver Seguin. Spanning the 1960s throughout the 1980s, From These Shores offers curious finds from every corner of the Hawaiian Islands — from the North Shore of Oahu (Gordon Broad) to the streets of Honolulu (Burgess & Brooks), the spiritual escapes of Maui (Merrell Fankhauser) to the spirited efforts of Bahá'í musicians (East Of Midnight), the low-key lounges of Waikiki...