#drew gardner

[officialhbo]

Search Party (2016-2022). The Inferno.

[colonellickburger]

Drew Gardner. Austin Morris, a college soccer player in Alabama, from The Descendants of Black Civil War Combatants

[dracoj]

drew strikes me as the kind of guy who was unaccustomed to and unprepared for the level of passion dory would begin to inspire in him starting in season 2. this newfound intensity, combined with his natural passivity and cowardice, keeps drawing him back again and again against his better instincts and I think he really did mean it when he screamed he was “addicted” to her. and on dory’s side, what she wants the most in the world is to be significant. i wouldn’t go so far to say she cultivates his dependence, but she does enjoy it and knows how to play it. together, they’re almost uniquely posed to make each other worse. drew is too weak willed to reign dory’s delusions in, or even stop tacitly supporting them by helping dory deal with the consequences. dory is too egotistic to really encourage drew to grow a spine. AND layer on top the familiarity that comes from a multi-year close friendship followed by a mediocre but cordial relationship. i really think they DO love each other but the versions of each other they liked are no longer people that exist.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Drew Gardner - Cygnus A

The Elkhorn boys can be tough to keep up with — for several years now, there’s been a steady stream of excellent releases for an array of labels, working in a wide variety of settings. And then there’s Drew Gardner’s killer solo work, too. Cygnus A is his latest and it is very much worth your time. Here, Drew adds mbiri and zither to his arsenal, creating a gorgeous, moody song suite. Hypnotic, minimal, beautiful — somewhere in between Laraaji and Alice Coltrane. Get into it.

[dustedmagazine]

Elkhorn — The Red Valley (VHF)

Photo by Sam Erickson

The two guitarists of Elkhorn meet up again for a bout of mesmeric drone, the sound this time more electric than pastoral but as open-ended as ever. As always, Jesse Sheppard mans the 12-string, whether acoustic or electrified, while Drew Gardner plays the six, as well as a few other instruments notably zither and vibraphone. Gardner is responsible, as well, for the pounding, grounding percussion in The Red Valley, nothing complicated but a key component of making this duo sound like a band. And finally, Jesse Sparhawk contributes lever harp and pedal steel. It’s a lush, enveloping sound, nothing minimal about it.

“Black Wind of Kayenta” runs dark and more turbulent, building ominous, western-tinged expanses in distortion blasted low-end runs. An acoustic dances atop these shadowy foundations, bending and flowering in high blues licks. I hear a sunset here, the air darkening, the clouds lit up with brilliance, a few stray rays of sunlight still on hand but not for long.

“Inside Spider Rock,” by contrast, is a prickly blossom, all pizzicato runs and trebly flourishes, aided by Sparhawk’s lever harp. This is an instrument favored by Celtic musicians for its quick, hand-manipulated tunings (as opposed to the classical harp which works with pedals), and Sparhawk makes the most of its sparkling, note-flurrying radiance, an excellent match for the ethereal overtones of 12-string.

Elkhorns roots are in blues, folk and country, though you won’t hear much of the latter until “Jackrabbit Hops” with its eerie masses of pedal steel (Sparhawk, evidently) and bent notes melting like Dali’s clocks. A jangle of bells, a slash of cymbals works as atmosphere, but not really as timekeeping. This track moves on its own schedule, stretching minutes out like taffy and snapping back in quick rhythmic bursts.

“Gray Salt Trail” is the long one, quiet reverie that sits at the intersection of blues, folk and raga, very much the neighborhood Jack Rose inhabited when not in Dr. Ragtime mode. There’s a bit of rock churn in the way that the guitars roar up, a bit more distortion and dissonance than on, say, “Cathedral et Chartres,” but the vibe is similar. The song goes on for more than nine minutes, but who’s in any hurry when the shimmer hits the shadow like this?

Jennifer Kelly

[thegardencharts]

July

Demetrio Cecchitelli : Jump

Concrete Cedars : Gold Code

Dark Fidelity Hi Fi : Formations

Dan Melchior UND DAS MENACE : Natural Anxiety

Drew Gardner : Cygnus A

Flaer : Burrow

FMSAO : У​л​ь​т​и​м​э

Sour Widows : Revival of a Friend

Bianca Scout : Pattern Damage

John Cale : POPtical Illusion

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"The helpful flute riff. The blurry moments. The gigantism of open-mindedness. Feeling what kind of person you want to be, and letting that guide you. A kind of strength that comes from unfolding layers. Flammable things that never burn. You travel by staying in one place."

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

[pjotwitter]

500 followers post special featuring all the characters that have been in my posts + a few new ones ! ty for 500 followers 💖

[owlch333]

Cabin Counselors (Version 2025!)

[beuatifulbuttercup]

bitches be like “oh i love the pjo series!” then only ramble on about the minor characters and ignore what is written in cannon

its me i’m bitches

[bugwolfsstuff]

Headcanoning the Stolls as sons of chthonic Hermes and Katie as a daughter of Demeter Erinys (Demeter when she was grieving Persephone and killing everything) is fun because

A. using the epithets gives ways to explore powers for non-big three kids (THEY ARE CHILDREN OF GODS WHY THE FUCK CAN THE HERMES KIDS ONLY OPEN LOCKS AND RUN 'FAST')

B. Demeter got another one of her daughters falling for a Chthonic dude and she does not like it.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Women in stem(sacrilege,transfeminism,enrichment,mythology)

[dracoj]

there are all these little glimmers of genuine friendship and affection between this awful foursome and i feel myself latching on like a starved beast. ESPECIALLY between drew and dory. because their combination of passivity and paranoia is so dysfunctional it makes you so desperate to see moments of real connection. some proof of the emotional dark matter holding their terrible relationship(s) together

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Elkhorn 2023

A very busy year so far for the Elkhorn guys. Let's get caught up ... First, the duo has a new LP out on Centripetal Force — On The Whole Universe In All Directions, which features Drew Gardner on vibes throughout instead of his usual electric guitar. The change-up works magnificently. (Oh and I reviewed it in a recent issue of Uncut.)

Next, we've got some Aquarium Drunkard action: a great Transmissions episode with Gardner and 12-string-er Jesse Sheppard chatting with Jason P. Woodbury for an hour and change. And! The pair also taped a fresh Lagniappe Session for AD — just one song, but it's a doozy, an inspired re-interpretation of Miles Davis' interpretation of David Crosby's "Guinnevere." Did you get all that??

What else? Definitely head over to NYC Taper to dig into a recent Elkhorn live set taped by Kliked at Tubby's; here, Gardner and Sheppard are joined by ace drummer Ian McColm for a set of heavy/heady jams.

And definitely get Gardner's latest solo album, Flowers In Space, where the guitarist reunites with the all-star rhythm team of Andy Cush (Garcia Peoples) and Ryan Jewell (everybody) for four long and groovy explorations. Brent Sirota calls it a "slab of sympathetic magic from what amounts to a veritable dad psych supergroup." And he's right!

Finally, there's The Return, a previously unheard archival release from a Gardner group that played together in San Francisco in the 1990s. Over a quarter century old, but its spiritual jazz modes sound as fresh as ever.

[dustedmagazine]

Drew Gardner — Flowers In Space (Feeding Tube)

Photo by Christopher Bruno

Flowers in Space by Drew Gardner

As is often the case for musicians with strong chops and ideas, Drew Gardner is a busy guy. Around NYC, you can catch him playing guitar in free improv settings. He brings blues consciousness and lucid counterpoint to Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders. In Elkhorn, his often-augmented duo with 12-string acoustic guitarist Jesse Sheppard, his instruments vary, but Gardner’s usually the guy pushing the music outside of Takoma school parameters.

Flowers In Space presents yet another angle; Drew Gardner, purveyor of hypnotic, late-night vibes. It was done in one spring day in 2019 with Ryan Jewell (Chris Forsyth, Ryley Walker) on drums, Andy Cush (Garcia Peoples) on bass, and Jason Meagher (Black Dirt Studios) behind the board. Parts of that session have already been released by Eiderdown on a self-titled cassette, which concentrates the day’s looser moments. This LP, which has finally escaped vinyl supply chain purgatory, draws sustenance from a diverse set of influences. His resonant tone and rhythmic tension recall mid-1960s Gabor Szabo; his liquid lyricism, Peter Green’s dreamier moments with Fleetwood Mac; and the room he leaves for forward-facing improvisation synthesizes a few vintages of the Grateful Dead. 

Cush, as one might expect given the name of his main band, can engage Gardner conversationally, Like Phil Lesh in the Dead. But he and Jewell also lock together to provide crisp, swinging time keeping that sustains momentum and direction. Their exchanges are reflective, keeping the focus on Gardner’s fluent playing, which evidences a welcome compositional consciousness. He has bag full of stinging licks, and he doesn’t mind letting us know about them, but they’re means to articulate and develop tunes, not ends in themselves. The album’s four tracks all last between eight and 12 minutes, but Gardner’s management of tension and release makes it easy to stay the course with him. 

Bill Meyer

[apollocabinrep]

PJO PRIDE HEADCANONS (FEATURING CAMP HALF-BLOOD) Pt1?

The Apollo cabin is by far the one filled with the most lgbtqia+ members. They hold late night gossip sessions and will tease each other /relentlessly/.

Followup for above; Austin, from canonical characters, as the resident aroace sibling has the most blackmail on his siblings because of these sessions.

Camp Half-Blood has always been a safe place for lgbtia+ demigods no matter what time period (the gods have had lovers of both genders since ancient times + Chiron training Achilles & Patroclus). Members of the community were often year-rounders for this reason, because even if they died young they could be their authentic selves.

Drew Tanaka is on the aroace spectrum and when she was younger thought there was something wrong with her due to not falling in love like her siblings. Silena Beauregard is the one that helped her through it.

Annabeth has to be careful in the state of Florida because a camera caught her beating up a homophobe. (Yes, it was a mortal. She had gone with Malcolm as support for him to come out of the closet to his mortal dad and step-mom.)

Every year before Manhattan, Jake (Mason) and Michael (Yew) would risk getting eaten by harpies to stargaze on top of the Apollo cabin roof. After the Battle, Travis and/or Connor would help Jake get up there and let him stargaze for the night. Mysteriously, the harpies avoided the area as if they had orders to leave it alone.

Cecil is the biggest ally in camp, so much so that he says things no straight man would ever dare.

Cecil: "I'd kiss a guy to show my support."

Lou: "That's not how it works. Also, you're dating me!"

Cecil: "Yeah, but allyship Lou Ellen. Don't be homophobic during pride month."

Lou: "I'm literally pan!"

The Hermes cabin has a list with everyone's flags and are like pride flag fairies.

Clarisse was the first person Will came out to as bisexual. She found him crying by the lake because he didn't think he would be accepted. They got to talking and she told him she was bi as well. "Take a look around, Solace. Times are changing and we can like who we like. Hades, look at your own cabin. You guys may have a single straight ally in there, because the rest of y'all sure arent straight."

Katie and Miranda help everyone decorate with flowers and put bouquets together.

Mitchell and Valentina have a betting pool on which couples are going to 'do the most'.

Nico's first pride month is definitely interesting. He had no idea that the camp would be so accepting or that there would be so many others like/similar to himself. (He spent most of it in a state of shock and talked Jason's ear off over Iris message.)