summer MUSIC

I will post the contents of a 2010 mix (which will necessarily be several discs long) and try to send out CDs to any friends interested in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I'm struggling, but have only to pare down some artists' contribution to the mix.
For fun, I'll try to articulate the new (to me) stuff that has been important to me and is causing me mixtape stress. This is in order by what's on my ipod or computer most often now.

• 1. (super-hot right now)
  
  
  
  • Surfer Blood - Astrocoast. Obviously, Weezer is the first comparison, but this album has a LOT more to it than that. I have no idea where to start choosing.
  
  
  • The Rosebuds - Life Like. There's something dark about this band that makes the bubbliness of many of the tracks have an ironic tinge that makes it acceptable and amazing for me. Right now, I'm choosing Another Way In, which features the female vocalist, for the mix. I'd like to have one of the male vocalist tracks too, but this is an impossible decision thus far. I love Life LIke, Border Guards, Bow to the Middle (w/ both vocs), Nice Fox, In the Backyard... great album.
  
  
  • Yeasayer - Odd Blood. It took me some time to love the first track "The Children," but the rest of the album latched on like a hive of ticks on first listen. I have no idea how to choose a track from this album. I'm tempted to put track 1 on the mix because it's a bit more 'challenging,' but I'm not sure it's the best or my favorite track. ONE has a good chance, but the "stick up for yourself, son" track has an amazing bridge. This album is what I listen to the most. Several times a day.
  
  
  • The Rural Alberta Advantage - HometownsI don't believe they are from rural Alberta, but the drummer does sound like he's on meth or at least crack. Neutral Milk Hotel comes immediately to mind. Don't Haunt This Place was on a CMJ disc, and it is definitely one of the best tracks.
  
  
  
  



• 2. (awesome)
  
  
  
  • Stars - Nightsongs. The Smiths cover (This Charming Man) is an excellent take on one of the most coverable people out there. Now, I'm waiting for Merritt, Dylan, and Cohen covers. The band's sound is super-poppy, but I like it more each time, and it doesn't seem the band's per-repeated-listen value has peaked or plateued yet.
  
  
  • Notwist - Neon Golden. I love these guys. Some similarities with the Books (that's how I found them through Lala), but a very different style. No one song is particularly compelling. Compelling is the opposite of most of their tracks, which tend to be 'floaty' or 'perpetual' or something like that. However, some tracks, like Neon Golden, are a little more forceful. Tracks like Pick up the Phone are quietly desparate (cliché, but that's a good description) and brooding (brüding sounds good too).
  
  
  • TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain. And Desparate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. These albums are impressive enough to be on the list above, it's just that I've had these albums forever in my collection and just didn't bother to give them the time. Heavy electronics are used very effectively in a rhythmic/industrial fashion. I swear the singer channels Busdriver when he says, "eye contact" on I Was A Lover. This is another super-difficult decision for the mix.
  
  
  
  



• 3. (of note)
  
  
  
  • Scissor Sisters have a new album coming out this week. If you haven't listened to the self-titled album and the Mary EP until you love them, you are doing yourself a disservice. I assume the new album will be supercool.
  
  
  
  
  

Sam Adams' Summer 12-pack

$12 and brimming with potential, if not good and interesting beers, this box was pretty much the only option at Target today. But, it makes for good literature (I know at least 33% of the readership likes hearing/seeing myself talk). I had the Coastal Wheat on tap at Buffalo Wild Wings during US v. Ghana, and it tasted appropriate to the mood. However, I've had it from the bottle before and don't think it is that bad. I think it was skunked or a dirty tap. I think we got two of the Boston lager in there. I might add a picture when I drink those, but no point in reviewing one of the most available beers around. Interestingly, the 12er comes w/ two of the Sam Lights, which I remember being surprisingly good. I will contemplate these as objectively as possible.

1st randomly selected participant: Brewmaster's Collection, Blackberry Witbier (http://www.samueladams.com/enjoy-our-beer/beer-detail.aspx?id=42e434fe-1f92-4e7c-b496-473507bc698b)

picture forthcoming

I'll give them props for putting a lot into this beer, in terms of ingredients and effortful recipe development. Short of a super-expensive geuze or lambic, this is about as good as I could expect a blackberry beer to be. As the website says, the orange peel, blackberry, and coriander flavors DO in fact complement the malted wheat flavor. If you know what to taste beforehand, this tastes a bit like a buttery blackberry scone. If you don't know what to expect (and especially if you serve it slightly warm), you will react the way Laura did in this situation: "That's nasty. Tastes like cough syrup." The nose isn't anything special, but neither is it off-putting. Mouthfeel is 'fizzy' and light. Enough sour, sweet, and bready to be interesting on all parts of the tongue and have a scone-y ale aftertaste. All in all, my attempts to describe the beer have improved its taste exponentially. Sam should take a cue, as the cursory explanation on the bottle tells you less than the name of the beer. Most importantly, good when served COLD. If you can tell yourself "blackberries and orange peel" rather than "cough syrup," or at least compromise, "Flintstones' vitamins," this is an enjoyable beverage. I'd bet it would be quite nice on a hot day if bottomed-up quickly.

drinks and food

Neither beer nor music, but drinks and food are important too.

So, through the torrents of college-ing
and hailstorms,

we've managed to find some novelty.

This drink was called a "daiquiri" (who knew there was that extra "i"), but is really just rum-lime. It's 2 parts light rum to 1 part lime juice and 1/2 part simple syrup:

shaken w/ ice, which gives it a nice foam. I liked including the pulp and some zest as well. It ends up more sour with the pulp strained out. Excellent. And, if you have the fixins, all you need is tequila and some citrus flavor to make margaritas.

Now, on to food. I finally made it back to the local Indian store (the country, not Native Americans as it usually means around here), and found a lot of help and some awesome new things.

I bought these papadum and this cilantro chutney with the extensive help of the lady behind the counter. She thinks that what I'm used to at restaurants is a mix of cilantro (coriander) and mint chutney (total price $4.50), but this chutney is quite nice by itself. It's pretty spicy, and very tasty for coming from a jar. She suggested mincing up onions and cilantro and serving the papadum, which I have not tried yet. The papadum is strange, but all you have to do is microwave each one for 40 seconds and it comes out just like the deep-fried restaurant papadum. This is an excellent appetizer, and I'm super glad I found these things.

back to beermusic

Unfortunately, I haven't checked since before March apparently, as the last two posts were unknown to me until today. They look great.

I don't have a lot of interesting beer or music news, but will try my best.

Laura and I hit Bread & Cup (breadandcup.com) for V-day for a five-course beer-paired meal. It's supposed to be a 'slow meal,' but this was ridiculous. We'd been to a wine-paired one before, and it was amazing. However, the beer one had the same size pours, it took 40 minutes for each course, the pairings weren't all that special, and there was no good way to order beer or anything in between courses. So, we were a little hungry and pissed, but it was interesting anyway. One pairing was particularly good. For dessert, they served some kind of chocolate business with ganache and strawberries, I think, which was quite rich and awesome by itself, but it was paired with Goose Island's Bourbon County stout(Chicago: gooseisland.com). It's a strong, dense, bourbon-barrel-aged stout with a good portion of Willamette hops. The caramel malts and roast barley come through excellently, and obviously the chocolate malts matched the dessert perfectly. We had a four-pack later, and it was still great, though not as great as when we had fresh dessert to go with it. They suggest a pairing of flourless chocolate cake, which may have been what we had. Sounds excellent, anyway.

Here's a picture of Laura and beer at B&C. Probably the Breckenridge 471 IPA, which is quite nice and regularly available.

Goose Island has been good to us. Matilda is on tap in multiple places here, an abbey style golden ale or something. It's not exceptional for a Belgian-style, but quite nice nonetheless especially compared to your typical taps. http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/matilda/25.php. I agree strongly with their pairing of camembert, which is one of the best cheese styles from our best local fromager, Branched Oak. I'm hoping B&C will get this on tap and serve their camembert (the local one) with fig preserves. Goose Island also has a pretty good IPA.