Category: News

  • The Western Reserve – An Archival Celebration – Episode 041

    The Western Reserve – An Archival Celebration – Episode 041

    This brand new episode of The Western Reserve (which non coincidently times up with me being off from school) celebrates the two brand new Aquabear Legion archival releases that are coming up with a whole bunch of music from before 2004. Seriously though, pre-order the new comps now at igg.me/at/aquabear2021, do it before June 5th…

  • Aquabear 2021: Two Archival Compilations, New Merch, and More!

    Aquabear 2021: Two Archival Compilations, New Merch, and More!

    PRE-ORDER THE NEW AQUABEAR COMPILATIONS AND MORE on Indiegogo right now! Since 2004, Aquabear Legion has served to promote and support Ohio music and art and has been run by founders Brian Koscho and Todd Jacops since then. With 17 releases (mostly compilations from over the years) since then on vinyl, cd, tape, and digital,…

  • The Western Reserve – Down to High Street with Tim Minecci – Episode 040

    The Western Reserve – Down to High Street with Tim Minecci – Episode 040

    Brian sits down with author/podcaster/musician/researcher/fellow Ohio music obsessor Timothy Minneci who hosts the Dig Me Out podcast, runs the fantastic Columbus music blog Down to High Street, and just released his new book The Black Sky. The conversation goes to all of those projects and interests and Tim’s slate of Columbus music he brings to…

  • The Western Reserve – 5th Annual Ohio Holiday Spectacular – Episode 039

    The Western Reserve – 5th Annual Ohio Holiday Spectacular – Episode 039

    I am joined by the wonderful Sherri Oliver for the annual holiday tradition of playing a bunch of Ohio related songs of the season here on The Western Reserve. This is the 5th year running and even with 4 years of holiday songs already in the bag. 2020’s edition does not disappoint. Happy holidays! Stay…

  • The Western Reserve – All Nelsonville Music Festival Part 2 – Episode 038

    The Western Reserve – All Nelsonville Music Festival Part 2 – Episode 038

    Sunday at the Nelsonville Music Festival was always the best. I think most of my personal memories relate to happy Sundays, when you got to soak it up for one more day and the greatest work was behind us. It felt like I could relax a little bit. I wanted to make sure to put…

  • The Western Reserve – All Nelsonville Music Festival Part 1 – Episode 037

    The Western Reserve – All Nelsonville Music Festival Part 1 – Episode 037

    (photo by Danielle Petrosa) Happy NMF! I know, I know… no one expected to be stuck in our houses this weekend and not enjoying the best four days of the year in Nelsonville, Ohio, but much like so much these past few months we have to miss the festival. This weekend would have been the…

  • The Western Reserve – Episode 036

    The Western Reserve – Episode 036

    NOTE: This was recorded during the Covid-19 Pandemic, but before the events of this week related to the murder of George Floyd by 4 Minneapolis police officers. While recognizing that this is just a small Ohio music podcast on a far-flung website I still feel it is important to use the platform I have to…

  • The Western Reserve – Guest Host: J.R. Fisher – Episode 035

    The Western Reserve – Guest Host: J.R. Fisher – Episode 035

    We have a special guest host for the new episode of The Western Reserve: Columbus musician and all around solid human being J.R. Fisher! J.R. hosts episode 35 and curates the playlist for this one too. A sampling of some fantastic music from Ohio including The Sundresses, Wussy, Dead Boys, and Raven. Enjoy! New City…

  • Aquabear Releases Dead Winds of Summer’s New Album, All Proceeds From This and All Aquabear Releases Go To Athens County Covid-19 Response Fund

    Aquabear Releases Dead Winds of Summer’s New Album, All Proceeds From This and All Aquabear Releases Go To Athens County Covid-19 Response Fund

    We are excited to release the newest Dead Winds of Summer album False Past on Aquabear Legion (ABL-017). This record and all of Aquabear’s streaming releases are all “pay what you want” and all funds raised will be donated to the Athens County Covid-19 Response Fund hosted at Rural Action. This is the newest release from Andrew Lampela’s drone/experimental…

  • Surprise! Aquabear Puts Out Volume 8 For Free Online, Our Third Release of 2020

    Surprise! Aquabear Puts Out Volume 8 For Free Online, Our Third Release of 2020

    In what is by our far our most Beyonce-move, Aquabear Legion is releasing a surprise, free, online 17-song Ohio music compilation today! Right now! You can stream and download Aquabear Legion Volume 8 over at our Bandcamp page right now. It’s free to download, but you can name your price and throw us a couple…

  • The Western Reserve – Peter Laughner – Episode 034

    The Western Reserve – Peter Laughner – Episode 034

    We have been working on this one for a bit and are excited to share an all-Peter Laughner episode of The Western Reserve! In addition to an interview with Susan Schmidt-Horning (Poor Girls, Cinderella Backstreet, Chi Pig), we talk with Andrew Russ from right here in Athens about his involvement in the project, research, and…

  • The Western Reserve – Best of Ohio Music 2019 – Episode 033

    The Western Reserve – Best of Ohio Music 2019 – Episode 033

    Happy New Year! We join in on all the year-end, list-making fun here at The Western Reserve and set you up with just over an hour of some of our favorite music from Ohio this past year. Everything from The Kyle Sowashes to Matthew J. Rolin to no stars to Tiger Village. Enjoy! Kneeling in…

  • The Western Reserve – 4th Annual Ohio X-Mas Spectacular – Episode – 032

    The Western Reserve – 4th Annual Ohio X-Mas Spectacular – Episode – 032

    Your favorite all-Ohio music podcast celebrates the hap-hap-happiest season of all with our own holiday tradition: the annual Ohio X-Mas Spectacular! Brian is joined as always for this one by Sherri and they play one solid hour plus of great Christmas tunes from the Buckeye State. Topics covered include favorite songs, traditions, and even a…

  • The Western Reserve – Colemine Records – Episode 031

    The Western Reserve – Colemine Records – Episode 031

    New episode of The Western Reserve is ALL-Colemine Records this time. We curate an hour or so from the catalog of this Loveland, Ohio based label featuring music from Ohio and elsewhere. From the label’s website: “Colemine Records was founded in late 2007 with the simple idea of putting out raw, authentic SOUL music on…

  • The Western Reserve – Episode 030

    The Western Reserve – Episode 030

    No themes this time around, just an hour or so of great Ohio music past, present, and future. Lots of brand new stuff from Brat Curse, Kneeling In Piss, Fan Fiction, Water Witches, and more. We would love for you to go support and pre-order the new Aquabear Legion compilations right now if you could…

  • Athena Headache – Episode 003

    Athena Headache – Episode 003

    A brand new episode of Athena Headache is here, bringing you the best Midwestern music that is experimental, improv, weird, and everything inbetween. Brian hosts this one, and sticks mostly in Ohio and vicinity for the playlist, but stays away from the Athens-heavy lineup of the first two episodes. You will hear from everyone from…

  • The Western Reserve – Aquabear’s 15th Birthday Compilations – Episode 029

    The Western Reserve – Aquabear’s 15th Birthday Compilations – Episode 029

    The Western Reserve is back with a pretty spectacular episode for Aquabear Legion’s 15th birthday! Aquabear is celebrating by releasing two compilations: the new Ohio music compilation VOLUME 7 (on vinyl) and an Aquabear Legion Archival Release called MOTHER OF PRESIDENTS (on cassette). This episode I play stuff from both of those releases, talk about…

  • Aquabear Turns 15, Celebrates With Two New Compilations – Pre-Order Now!

    Athens based Ohio music and art collective Aquabear Legion will be celebrating 15 years with the release of two compilations. Aquabear Legion Volume 7 is a compilation on vinyl featuring new Ohio music from around the state, and Mother of Presidents is an archival compilation on cassette featuring classic Ohio bands. Pre-order and support these…

  • The Western Reserve – Double Cheeseburgerfest – Episode 028

    The Western Reserve – Double Cheeseburgerfest – Episode 028

    It’s almost time for Double Cheeseburgerfest here in Athens on Saturday, April 20th! 18 bands playing a self described “backyard burger festival” just outside the city limits in a beautiful garage. Brian talks to Head Burger in Charge (and Athens musician) Tony Longanbach about this year’s sequel to 2018’s Cheeseburgerfest and much more all while…

  • The Western Reserve – Episode 027

    The Western Reserve – Episode 027

    Just a regular ol’ episode of The Western Reserve here, packed to the brim with great Ohio music. There are new things (Herzog, DANA, Mery Steel, Leggy), older things (Great Plains, Mirrors), and some inbetween too. If you like this podcast please support us by subscribing, leaving nice reviews, telling friends, etc. We will back…

  • The Western Reserve – Best of Ohio 2018 – Episode 026

    The Western Reserve – Best of Ohio 2018 – Episode 026

    We are back from our Winter break here at Western Reserve with a belated, but still lovingly produced, Best of Ohio 2018 episode! This of course just scratches the surface of the great music put out from the Buckeye State last year, but it’s a solid 51 minutes of tunes. The Breeders – “Nervous Mary”Wussy…

  • 6 Bs and a P – To Catch A Tyrodittory – Episode 073

    6 Bs and a P – To Catch A Tyrodittory – Episode 073

    Browns beat the Panthers (we recorded this after week 14) to improve to 5-7-1 and remain “in the hunt” for the playoffs (you kidding me?) . Brian, Brian, and Ian get together to catch us all up on an exciting season of Browns football led by the greatest QB of all time: Baker Mayfield. We…

  • The Western Reserve – Requests! Again! – Episode 023

    The Western Reserve – Requests! Again! – Episode 023

    So many good requests we had to make two episodes! In case you missed it, our 22nd episode of Western Reserve was also all-request. Lots of great music on both episodes and in this one you will hear Brainiac, Supernobody, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Ward Jarvis, James Gang, Ass Ponys, and more. And it is the…

  • Athena Headache – Episode 002

    Athena Headache – Episode 002

    Welcome to another episode of Athena Headache (number 2 if you are counting) here on Aquabear Legion, this podcast is the place for all of the weird, strange, noisy, improv, and experimental music from the Midwest we can jam into it. Episode 002 is hosted by Andrew Lampela. We hope you enjoy!  Perfect for your…

  • 6 Bs and a P – Karmic Clapback – Episode 72

    6 Bs and a P – Karmic Clapback – Episode 72

    We’re back! The Browns have gone 1-31 the last two years, so we didn’t do as many episodes. And what do we get upon our return? A tie. Which is not a loss. Brian and Ian discuss the off-season, the draft, Hard Knocks, and the first game of the season. Luke can’t make it because…