The Quest for a new Summer Beer

Sam Adams Summer Ale was once my beer of choice for summer drinking, its now become lemon flavored dish soap.  Horrendous!  I thought I got a bad 12 pack and maybe the bar had a bad batch on tap...I was wrong, it's just plain bad.  So now i've decided to search for a new summer brew by sampling as many as I can until I find a new standby.

So I decided to take a trip to Austin Liquors at lunch to see what I could find.  I've been searching for Bells Oberon and Three Floyds Gumballhead and apparently neither are distributed to Massachusetts.  Oh well.  As I'm browsing the beer aisle the "beer guy" asks if he could help me.  I ask him about the Bells and Three Floyds and he confirms what I thought, or did he.  I explain to him that I'm a fan of wheats and then he hits me with "have you tried Blue Moon?".   Um.  Not to come off as a pretentious asshole and a complete beer snob, I say yes kindly and laugh a bit.  At this point I picked two six packs, one of Troegs Dreamweaver and one of Southern Tiers Hop Sun.  I'm pretty sure "beer guys" next suggestion was going to be Bud Light Golden Wheat.

Beauty and Bombast

Bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Do Make Say Think and newly discovered local band, Caspian,  appeal to me on many different levels.  Music like this is like a metaphor for life to me...they build you up, knock you down, build you up again and then make you explode.  I find music like this incredibly emotional and incredibly beautiful.  I wasn't entirely into these sort of bands earlier in life but really got into them during season one of "Friday Night Lights", which featured music from Explosions in the Sky prominently.  The music was spot on for those big moments when the Smash scored a touchdown or when the Dillon Panthers won a game.  Honestly, it was that first season of FNL that made me fall in love with these kinds of bands.

I recently came across Caspian via Pandora and have been listening to their album "The Four Trees" non-stop. From the opener "Moksha" through the closer "Reprise" it's one hell of an auditory experience, melding beauty and bombast straight through the entire album.  "Moksha" is the standout track for me as well as "Our Breath In Winter".  I highly recommend a listen to this as well as anything from the above mentioned bands...you won't be disappointed.  Hell if its good enough for the Dillon Panthers, East Dillon Lions and Coach Eric Taylor, it's good enough for me.

Kaputt

Yeah, so I got a job back in September which really has left me with very little time to update my blog (not really).  I've just been preoccupied with other things to really sit down and fuss with this again.  I'm going to try to make a genuine effort to update this more often from here on out. 

So lets start with what I've been listening to over and over again lately.  Destroyer.  His new album "Kaputt" is absolutely amazing..I was hooked from the opener "Chinatown".  The album has been called corny, cheesy, yachty...I think its all three but in a fascinating wonderful way.  Lots of synths and sax throughout and oddball lyrics.  Makes for a good listen to my ears.  My standout track "Song For America", which i've heard described as "end of the party we're still dancing and its 3am".  Make what you will of that, but give this album a listen, you won't be disappointed.

Autumn

The air outside is getting cooler, I've worn jeans for the first time in months and there are some leaves beginning to fall from the trees in my yard. I've had Octoberfest and Pumpkin beer...that to me means one thing; Autumn. As you can tell, I have a thing for the fall. I love this season more than the others. I love everything associated with it: apple pie, pumpkins, the leaves, etc. I also find it a prime time to enjoy some music.

I've put together a Autumn playlist with some of my favorite songs for the upcoming season. Most of them have nothing at all to do with Autumn, they just seem to fit the season and most of them are depressing as hell. To me they represent the season and the mood and make for good driving "looking at the leaves" songs. Here you go:


In full Autumn color scheme as well...haha.

S. Carey - "All We Grow"

You may know Sean Carey as the drummer for Bon Iver or you may not know him at all.  His debut album "All We Grow" came out on 8-24 and its been a regular on my ipod since.  It's a fantastic debut and something that will continue to get regular plays from me this fall.  It makes another wonderful companion piece for Autumn.  Carey is opening for the Tallest Man on Earth this fall, be sure to check them out.  Check out these two tracks.

S. Carey - In the Stream


S. Carey - We Fell


"All We Grow" available on Itunes now. 

Love Language and Sufjan

Haven't blogged in a bit, been recovering from the sausage retreat. I'm back today with a short post about two songs I've been loving a lot lately.  First up we have "Pedals" from the Love Language off of their new album "Libraries".  The lyrics get me everytime, especially the end with "lay you down in my chest".  Take a listen.

Second, we have Sufjan Stevens and "Heirloom" off his surprise "All Delighted People" ep.  Haven't given the ep a complete listen but "Heirloom" is wonderful.



All in all two great listens and one short post.  Enjoy.

Mountain Man

Autumn is right around the corner.  Time for sweaters, jeans, fireplaces, pumpkins and Octoberfest beer.  I've recently discovered a wonderful band called Mountain Man, which could turn out to be my soundtrack for the fall.  Mountain Man are Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath, based out of Bennington, Vt.  They remind me of the music from "O'Brother Where Art Thou?" and I describe it as hauntingly beautiful.  Take a listen of a few tracks from their debut album "Made the Harbour" and decide for yourself.  Do yourself a favor and pour a Shipyard Pumpkinhead to get into the spirit. "Made the Harbour" available on the iTunes now.

Mountain Man - Animal


Mountain Man - Loon Song