Dudes with Beards
I’ve been giving this a lot of thought[1]. What connects dudes with beards? Why grow hair on your face?
One interesting insight from the comments under my original beard post was this:
We were out at a beer event the other night and a non-beer friend remarked on the correlation of beards on beer people. It’s pretty strange, but I’ve noticed it before as well.
[the beard] brings all the girls to the yard.
While I’m not sure the beard actually “brings all the girls to the yard” in the same manner as my milkshake[2], it is interesting that so many bearded faces are those of beer folk. I mean, the examples are endless, just look below…
And, since I focus this blog on indie rock as well, the beards in that scene are just as prevalent…
And there are guys who are just funny/bad-ass who sport beards…
So, what connects all these men? Is it sheer animal magnetism? Is it a shortage of razors? Are they putting extra testosterone in our Wheeties?
Honestly, I think we just like how it looks, makes us feel. Imperfections are easily covered. Our faces never grow cold while out wassailing. WE DON’T HAVE TO SHAVE.
In the end, does it really matter[5]?
Apparently, it does. This is now my second post on the subject[6]. Nearly everyone I run into comments on the beard. They either like it or they don’t. And for whatever reason, they feel the need to share their opinions on my facial hair. It’s as if I’m pregnant and everyone’s commenting on how large I’ve grown while they rub my belly and eyeball that bottle of whiskey and carton of cigarettes in my shopping cart.
The funny thing is that I’ll probably shave the thing off at some point mostly out of boredom. Every time I’ve shaved a beard in the past, it’s primarily to do with boredom. I’ll be done with it eventually.
But for now, it seems to be a hot-button topic here at Building Coalitions. What are your thoughts on beards? What’s the connection between beards? Why does a “beard” also refer to a partner of the opposite sex whose only purpose is to make you seem straight?
As always, comment below and provide me content.
Notes:
1Not really, but I couldn’t sleep and wanted to blog about something.
2My partner does not like it, but she’s tolerating it. For now. My kid loves it, but I may grow tired of her ever-improving grip.
3Yes, the Dude appears to be humping a Sam Adams’ Infinium. I plan to drink and review my own bottle sans fornication.
4Whiskey-drinking bro.
5No.
6And most likely last. At two posts, this is already overkill.
Happy Xmas
Why is it orange? There's an app for that.
Happy Christmas, y’all. It’s nearly been a year on this “new” blog and it’s been fun. Many of my faithful readers from misery past have stayed with me as I attempt to build coalitions through beer and Pavement. And along the way, I’ve gained several new converts[1]. Overall, it’s been a good year.
There are no big announcements this year. I’ll attempt to post once a week as usual[2]. The posts will continue to be long and meandering with many self-gratifying footnotes[3], but I do that you for you, my faithful readers.
So, sit back with some “Gold Soundz” and yet another beer. This coalition is only getting started. We have a world to change, people.
Cheers!
Notes:
1I apologize if I did not link to your blog. I sort of got lost in coming up with links and forgot who’s been linked and who hasn’t. The oversight is just that and not a slight in the least. Of course, if you commented more and linked back to my blog more, I might not have made such an error.
2I fully recognize that I go weeks without posting, but I do have somewhere around 60 posts. That’s more than the 52 required to be a weekly thing.
3Did you really think I’d dump the footnotes?
So, I Grew a Beard
Said beard.
No, I’m not starting a band. No, I haven’t changed my mind regarding hippies. I’m just growing my beard.
Why?
I don’t know. It could be a sort of mid-life crisis thing. It could be pure laziness. Again, I don’t know. It’s just a fucking beard.
However, people have their take on why I might grow a beard. All of the reasons seem to revolve around hipsters and indie rockers. Am I trying to be hip or fashionable? Again, the answer is “no.”
I just quit shaving during Thanksgiving break. That’s all.
Besides, when did hipsters corner the market on beards? Did they invent beards? Is there a law?
Man, I grew my first beard like thirteen years ago. That was way before hipsters was a thing. It made me look older, which helped as 22-year-me attempted to insure confidence in the parents of my first group of fifth-graders. I don’t know whether it worked, but I grew a beard anyway.
The last beard I grew was maybe ten years ago. Still, this way before it was cool to grow a beard. I’m not saying that I was a fashion innovator or anything, but I had a beard before growing a beard was cool.
I’ve grown a beard leading into the coldest months of the year. It keeps me warm. I don’t have to shave everyday. It’s just s beard.
There. I’ve said it. It’s done.
Now, maybe I should shave…
Gateway Beers (and Bands)
Image blatantly lifted from the blog I link to in the first sentence.
One of those beer and whiskey loving brothers[1] posed the following question:
Is Blue Moon good for craft beer, or is it a soul-sucking vortex of all that is good and holy?
Basically, the best selling “craft-style” beer[2] is Blue Moon. For the uninitiated, Blue Moon is hardly considered a craft beer. It is brewed and bottled by the monolithic Coors corporation, maker of all things rice adjunct-ed. So, crafty, Blue Moon is not. It is not the typical American industrial lager brewed with corn or rice, but that still doesn’t make it a craft beer.
However, that’s besides the point. Blue Moon’s status as mistaken craft brew makes it a prime candidate as a gateway to craft beer nirvana. Consumers who typically purchase cases of Budweiser or Coors, might take a chance on a Blue Moon. It’s light in color, not particularly offensive in flavor. So, it won’t scare anyone away. With some clever marketing, Blue Moon even feels like it could be a craft beer or the old-school “microbrew” to the craft beer ignorant. A beer with flavor that’s perceived as crafty might be a short jump to more ambitious brews, but I have yet to witness this effect. Let me illustrate…
Let’s just say that your PBR-guzzling bro orders the BM[3] at Friday’s or Chili’s or wherever BM is the most enticing option. He takes a swig (most likely from the bottle[4]) and holds the bottle out and inspects what he’s just dumped down his gullet. Cirtus. Bubblegum. This beer actually tastes like something other than beer.
“I might have to give some of these microbrews[5] a try.”
The night ends and eventually, your bro finds himself in the beer aisle with yet another case of PBR in-hand when he suddenly notices a display. On the display are some strange beers he’s never seen before tonight, before his craft beer revelation. They’re from exotic locales like Portland, San Diego, and Milton. The styles are even more interesting: India Pale Ale, Russian Imperial Stout, Saison with Brett. He realizes that these are the microbrews he was after. He drops the case and grabs what he thinks is a six-pack, only to find that it’s just a four-pack. That seems cool to him; this bro is low on cash after the trip to TGI Friday’s. Then he’s sees the price tag. “TEN FUCKING DOLLARS?!?”
Your bro carefully puts back the four-pack as if it’s his grandmother’s heirloom ceramic angels that he just super glued back together before she returns from the store. Then he eyes a bomber. “Hey, that’s like a forty. I love me some forties,” he thinks to himself. However, this “forty” is more expensive than the four-pack and has a cork in it. He nearly drops the beer before placing it back on the shelf, grabs his case, high-tails it out of the supermarket, and vows only to drink Blue Moon on special occasions, like eating at Chili’s.
And scene.
Of course, the vignette above doesn’t even address the surprise the craft beer curious experience when they do take a chance on a true craft beer. Imagine the same look the old dude with the bitter beer face from those ads in the early nineties upon a noob’s first sip of and IPA or DIPA in the neighborhood of 85+ IBU’s. Or think about that guy who drinks energy drinks instead of coffee because he doesn’t like the taste of coffee testing a big Russian Imperial Stout. Don’t even consider what happens when the craft beer ignorant try sours or Belgian beers. Forget it. This is not their father’s Blue Moon. If the prices don’t scare them off, the flavors will.
That’s why I think the best gateway into craft beer is…well…CRAFT BEER.
Take my gateway into craft beer, for instance. I started out on rice adjunct, industrial lagers like the rest of you. I tried to mix it up with a Rolling Rock[6] here, some Little Kings there, and maybe a Sapporo now and again. None of those beers satisfied and most imports of the day were skunked. Guinness and Sam Adams soon dominated my beverage choices by the end of college. After that, I often chose these beers or the periodic microbrew, thinking my palate was expanding but never really finding anything that challenged.
Then, the craft beer epiphany[7] happened.
I had ordered a sub sandwich to be delivered and figured I could wash it down with a beer. Of course, I didn’t really need a ton of beer, just a few before I settled in for the night. So, I sauntered down the street to the beer shop, the Pace-High Carryout. After looking around a bit, I noticed a cooler of these big beer bottles. Right at my eye level was a beer with a gargoyle looking back at me with the words “Stone Ruination IPA” etched on the bottle. I liked pale ales and the like and thought a couple of these bottles would do the trick for the evening. Plus, it seemed easier than lugging a sixer down the street.
Upon opening this beer and pouring it in the tumbler I once stole from a bar, the aromatic hops hit me like a ton of bricks. Then the huge malt backbone and tremendously intense hops pummeled my tongue into submission. How was this beer? Where had this kind of beverage been all my life? This was my gateway beer, not effing Blue Moon blandness in a bottle.
Of course, it took me a while to fully figure out this whole craft beer thing. It didn’t help that my local beer retailer had issues restocking their shelves. Either way, I was constantly in search of that big flavor and aroma Stone’s Ruination thrust upon me. The search never stopped, even after finding many, many fine craft beers. Bland beer did not make me a craft beer fan. Craft beer made me a craft beer fan.
The same goes for music[8]. My gateway band was Nirvana. Sure, I had flirted with the likes of U2 and REM, but it was Nirvana that exposed me to indie rock[9]. By the time I discovered Nirvana, they were no longer on Sub Pop, but Kurt Cobain and co’s feet were still firmly planted in the underground, choosing to tour with unknown indie bands, touting Dinosaur Jr on MTV and The Breeders in the pages of Rolling Stone.
I fell in love with indie rock because of indie bands, not bands marketed as indie or alternative. Bands who obviously came from and still supported the underground showed me a whole new world of music that corporate whores could not. Bands developed by major labels for the masses have never made me want to try out new bands the way indie bands have.
The point is that quality is not something one can fake through slick marketing or copying an aesthetic. You can’t beat the real thing, whether it’s music or beer. So, the next time you see your buddy reaching for the sixer of Blue Moon, direct him toward a Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca or Allagash White[10]. Or, really blow his mind with something else entirely, like an Arrogant Bastard or Maharaja. There’s no need to settle for the corporate thing that supposed to taste like the indie thing. Just go with the indie/craft product and we’ll all be happier.
Oh, and as an added bonus, there’s this.
Notes:
1The little one.
2Read “craft-style” as “blatantly ripping off good, hard-working folk trying to keep tradition alive while still innovating and stretching boundaries in order to keep beer real” as that’s really all macro breweries are doing by marketing “craft-style” beers. Check the ratings for such beers on RateBeer or BeerAdvocate. You’ll find that the copycats only resemble craft beer in marketing and image, not flavor.
3I used this abbreviation for Blue Moon on the Brothers’ blog comments and it was pointed out that a “BM” is also a bowel movement. Freudian indeed.
4Because if you drink mocro beer, you don’t care what it smells like. In fact, you may actually hate the smell. I always ask people who drink a good beer from the bottle if they would smell a rose through a straw. Drinking a beer from a bottle has the same effect. Why is drinking from a beer bottle so accepted, but if I drink straight from a bottle of wine or liquor, I’m a lush? Avoid drinking from the bottle if you want to enjoy the beer. Pour it in a glass.
5I use the term “microbrews” as this is what peopel mistakenly call craft beer. I don’t know when/where this started, but I remember first calling them “microbrews” back in the nineties. The problem with the term is that it insinuates that these beers are somehow just smaller versions of the larger macrobrews or industrial lagers. Aside from the crazy numbers corporate beer pushers produce, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, the macros are big, but their beers are not. Craft brewers brew the biggest beers and they are anything but smaller versions of Budweiser et al.
6At the time, Rolling Rock was still a pretty small, regional brewery. I thought I was drinking a microbrew at the time. Little did I know how similar they were to the big boys. Eventually, Rolling Rock was bought out by said big boys. The rest is rice adjunct history.
7Just learned this term in an interview by one of my favorite beer blogger/Buckeye fans, The Beer Wench. Her interview of The Dude from It’s a Fucking Beer is a must read.
8Sorry. This is where my argument gets a bit week. I still contend it applies, but I’m too lazy to really make it work. I’ll tie it all up with a reference back to the beer. Don’t you worry.
9This is a bit unfair to REM as they were and have always been a true ally to indie rock. I think it had more to do with the fact that I wasn’t old enough nor possessed the ability to know about REM and the bands they came up with. For me, they were not a good gateway as they were presented as something so separate from the underground, unlike Nirvana.
10Seriously. If someone likes a Belgian-style white ale/witbier that much, they should try what the style is really supposed to taste like. If they don’t like that, they should try other styles…or just quit pretending to like craft beer with real flavor.
The Ten Best Albums of 2010
Or at least it’s a list of my favorite albums of 2010. Although the year as a whole wasn’t totally impressive, I was able to create a list of twenty albums and narrow them down to the following albums that defined my year.
Along with some words that describe the records’ appeal, I’m including a beer pairing as well as a band or album that fills a similar slot on every year-end-best-of list. For example, I might list The Beatles’ White Album on a list of best records of 1968. The beer pairing might be a Hitachino White Ale or Boulevard Smokestack Series Wit[1]. The Best-Of Cliche might be Pavement’s Terror Twilight as it was recorded under the ominous and inevitable sense of the band’s demise[2]. Neither pairing works perfectly, but I’ll try it anyway.
Keep in mind that like all best-of lists, the listmaker’s life should provide context for the choices. I’m 35, married, living in the nation’s belly button, and a parent. So, my lifestyle is pretty slow. I have life experience that feeds into my music taste, but the busy parts of family and work keep me from being as in touch with music as much as I used to be. That said, I’m including reasoning why I chose each album on this list.
Now for the list. It is in order. I did cut out 9-10 good albums. And I stand by my list.
10. Pavement – Quarantine the Past
To kick off their 2010 reunion tour, Pavement put together what has to be the greatest greatest “hits” compilation ever. I mean it. Of course, there isn’t much to compare. That Doors greatest hits albums was pretty good, right? Smashing Pumpkins? Never mind. If you want to introduce someone to Pavement, give them Quarantine the Past. They’ll do the rest from there.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: This is my band. They did nothing to ruin my view of Pavement by writing and recording new material. They just made me a nice mixed tape of all the songs I loved and a few I forgot.
Slot typically held down by: The Beatles have received good press for releasing crap they already sold us forty years ago. They’re about the only ones.
Beer Pairing: Bell’s Expedition Stout – Warming, rewarding, solid stand-by and good in ice cream.
9. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
Teaming up with Sam Prekop was genius and only the tip of the alt world connections Broken Social Scene seems to be making these days. They’ve used recent success and notoriety to record and perform with their heros[3], just what we’d all like to do if we could. And from this and other collaborations, BSS reinvented itself as a live band with subtle chops only viewable from Chicago or Toronto. What a cool album this was. It’s nice that the band reached this point before calling it quits.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Old dudes like finding cool bands that both appeal to our college years selves as well as stretch our visions of a band. I thought I knew BSS as a rather safe band, but this record proved they can reinvent and be successful while doing it.
Slot typically held down by: The Afghan Whigs gave in to their influences as they progressed from album to album, but it never kept them off year-end lists entirely.
Beer Pairing: Odell’s Saboteur is the brown sour you can drink. It doesn’t always impress the beer nerds who want to pucker to the point of not being able to swallow anymore, but it does satisfy the thirst for sour without losing drinkability.
8. Best Coast – Crazy For You
This formula worked a lot in the 1990’s. A hint of retro over tape his disguised as aesthetic, one great track mixed in with several passable ones, all performed by your indie rock crush…That was basically the Breeders circa 1994, but whatever. Your crush singing about kush and her cat with a grunge dude playing bass just works. Wall of sound and tape hiss always sounds so good.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Did you read my description above? Anything that simultaneously reminds me of mid-nineties lo-fi, girls I had crushes on, and the Breeders[4] has to work for me.
Slot typically held down by: Liz Phair sounded like she was singing about you in your bedroom while you were out. For that reason, you put her on best-of lists for probably one album too many.
Beer Pairing: For something light but enjoyable, I look to The Bruery’s Saison Rue. I can totally imagine sipping on this beer one July evening while Crazy For You plays over the song of mid-summer crickets.
7. Quasi – American Gong
Regularly dismissed and always forgotten, Quasi are the Bad News Bears of indie rock…or something like that. I don’t know why Sam Coomes was overlooked when he played with Elliott Smith. Janet Weiss is just a drummer (for the mother-effing Jicks and god damned Sleater-Kinney). They get no respect, but they make great modern era blues and now they have the guitar-based licks to prove it. Gone is the Rocksichord and here is a little blues guitar and a bassist. The sound is new, more menacing than before, but it’s perfect nonetheless.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: I had a place in my heart for Quasi a long time ago and have stuck with them through the years. They described all my post-college angst when I needed someone to spell it out for me. Without their help, I might still be in that funk.
Slot typically held down by: Quasi is like a Meat Puppets or some other semi-obscure indie band who gained just enough of a following to make it worth while to put out a record once in a while that is typically ignored but heralded by a few.
Beer Pairing: Mikkeller’s Rauch Geek Breakfast is a smokier, dirtier version of the rather popular Beer Geek Breakfast (now with weasel poop coffee!). It’s dark and sweet and somehow smoky at the same time. A perfect pairing for Quasi’s adventures in bluesy dirge.
6. Let’s Wrestle – In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s
Merge finds another gem we all missed. Juvenile, punky, and surprisingly sonic, Let’s Wrestle put out one of the least talked about good albums on a respectable label I’ve heard in a long time. I don’t know how so many missed this record. Sure, most reviews I read were tepid, but no one is even talking about this band. The record is good and at the very least a fun listen.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Maybe the best song of the year (Let’s Wrestle’s “I Won’t Lie to You”) somehow found its way onto a compilation for my kid, created by her aunt. I heard that song maybe 500 times this year and it never gets boring. If a song meant for my kid is that enjoyable, I have to give it a listen now and then. It was only natural that I bought the album, even if it only came on CD.
Slot typically held down by: Though I love this record, I suspect they will be this year’s Harvey Danger. That band put out an enjoyable single as part of an entertaining album that I’ve pretty much ignored ever since. Still, at the moment of writing a best-of list, it makes the cut.
Beer Pairing: Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter is not my typical beer of choice. It’s probably never going to be brewed again. I may have even conveniently forgotten how mediocre it could have been. No matter. The one night I sipped on this great beer will occupy the same space in my heart as Let’s Wrestle. (I also considered my own sticky DIPA, Wowee Zowee, because of its fleeting magnificence.)
5. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Whatever you do, don’t get in between Carrie Wade and her Cox. Just sayin’[5]. That and don’t ignore Deerhunter just because they do a listenable album. Sure, they’re experimental, lo-fi, and shoe-gaze, but the band crafts good songs. Just except it. This band is a mainstay on any year-end list. I don’t think they can make an uninteresting record. They could do bad, but I doubt they can do uninteresting.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Sometimes we dads, formerly of the indie rock jet-set, like to fashion ourselves as ahead of the curve. And after reading one Pitchfork article on a band like Deerhunter, we think we know everything. I mean, Deerhunter and pretty much anything Bradford Cox touches convinces us of this fact.
Slot typically held down by: Animal Collective makes records like Deerhunter. They have their side-projects, but the core group does their best work together. They’ve always got that to fall back on. It’s sometimes sloppy and terribly unconventional while being danceable at the same time. How can anyone leave these bands off a year-end list?
Beer Pairing:Lagunitas Hop Stoopid is what it says it is. Why you refuse to pay $4-5 for this monster hop bomb is beyond me. It’s so yummy and cheap. I’m not sure how it pairs with this record, but I want to drink one right now.
4. Beach House – Teen Dream
I tried to like this band once, but it didn’t work. Then, I kept hearing how great this record was. Like several of my favorites this year, I saw/heard them at Pitchfork and was blown away. What a great sounding band Beach House is. Organs, guitars plucked, and that sexy, voluptuous voice. They are slow and sleepy, but the band filled the entire park with a spooky cloud of sound one could not escape and who wanted to?
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: This is either what we all wanted Cat Power to sound like or we still just miss Mazzy Star that much. Seriously, this is what Chan Marshall could have sounded like had she been able to handle her drugs and drink. Now, it’s too late and she’s a bit boring. Mazzy Star is long gone, but Beach House has filled the void for those born in the seventies.
Slot typically held down by: Portishead or some other female-fronted band that mixes a touch of retro with something new to find their way into every budding male feminists’ dorm room by the end of freshman year.
Beer Pairing: I recently had a Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout at a local restaurant. I liked the beer already, but was eager to try a vintage that happened to say “2007”. The three years in bottle had been kind to the beer and kinder to us. The bourbon was there as well as notes of chocolate and coffee and molasses. A forgotten treasure revealed itself to improve with age.
3. Arcade Fire – Suburbs
This album is not about the suburbs. It’s about our suburbanized perspective on everything and anything. We are limited by the homogeny encouraged by structures such as modern, American suburbs. Even when we think our perspectives differ, we’re really just taking on the viewpoints of our neighborhoods. Arcade Fire challenge these limitations and in anticipation of your assessment, they call you out as well for your cynicism and lack of imagination. So, you hate Arcade Fire for their elitism, their thematic simplicity, and for sounding like Bruce Springsteen. However, you all missed the point. Sure, Win Butler uses the words “suburbs” and “sprawl” ad nauseam, but those are just code for “complacency” and “group-think”. Come on. Wake up. No kids died in a fire playing Pac-Man during the recording of this record. Relax and just enjoy Arcade Fire before they’re gone.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Arcade Fire are our U2. Sure, they’re annoying and a bit pretentious, but their my annoying, pretentious band. I don’t think Funeral is that much better than Neon Bible and I don’t think either are that much better than Suburbs. They’re all different albums that should be appreciated on their own. That and they’re not all about the suburbs. I didn’t grow up in the suburbs, so I don’t have the foggiest idea what that’s like. However, I somehow don’t think everything has to be about that sort of upbringing. This record can have meaning for those of us who grew up in rural Ohio. You suburbanites got John Hughes movies, let us have our Arcade Fire.
Slot typically held down by: Arcade Fire.
Beer Pairing: Mikkeller did this beer called 1000 IBU. The human is thought to only be able to sense something around 100 IBU’s (international bitterness units). The beer was thought to be over the top and just a stunt. It was expensive and came in fancy packaging. I loved it. Never could I have imagined as good a beer as this one. I don’t know that it’s my favorite of all time, but it’s pretty damn close and it’s at least a good talking beer. That is, when you’re done talking about how much the suburbs suck or something.
2. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
I truly got this record after reading about Royal Robertson, the schizophrenic, misogynistic, zealot-level religious fanatic, outside artist who painted his pain in the form of science fiction spaceships carrying God to earth. And that about describes the insanity that is The Age of Adz. Knowing this background along with Stevens’ struggles with faith and his own health provide the context where a cluster-fuck like this actually makes sense. Some have issues with the 24-minute final track, but it’s one of the most complex love songs ever and it all comes out in the wash by the end. Besides, everything before that is this shy of genius.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: Even though I’m not religious, I appreciate a little religion in my life. I do the major religious holidays out of a sense of tradition. I want my kid to understand a religious point of view and come to her own conclusions, not mine. She loves “Chicago” and “The Perpetual Self, or ‘What Would Saul Alinsky Do?'”, so why not just send her to the church of Sufjan Stevens?
Slot typically held down by: Radiohead’s Kid A came on the heels of Radiohead’s greatest triumph and it completely destroyed their brand. The reinvention was accepted by few and rejected by many, but it confused everyone. Eventually, the genius of Kid A was realized, prompting many to include it on year-end lists or retroactive all-decade lists after some time and context had passed. Even with the seismic change in aesthetic, the album is still unmistakable as a Radiohead piece.
Beer Pairing: A 2007 New Belgium La Folie made an appearance at a recent Colorado beer tasting. Noses turned up, mouths wrinkled, beer geeks cringed. The wet horse blanket of a beer was too much for some, nearly undrinkable. I found the beer complex and fascinating. I would have had more had there been more available. La Folie isn’t the same in their new flashy bombers as they were in the simple 750-mL bottles circa 2007. It’s an acquired taste, the La Folie, but certainly worth the acquisition.
1. The Walkmen – Lisbon
The Walkmen don’t make bad records. They just don’t. They dress well. Their consummate professionals. The Walkmen are a reliable lot and this record is nor different from past efforts. It sounds like a mid-August evening, just before schools reopen. I can hear evenings on the deck, sipping on a cold one and avoiding mosquitos. The album is warm, comfortable, and friendly. It moves the listener to move. It’s just a quietly great record and I’m ashamed I haven’t sung its praises until now.
Why a 35-year-old dad likes it: This is my band of the century. They describe my nights out, nights in, and all the nights in between. They know my break up stories as they are their own. If they drink beer, they drink the same beer I do. The Walkmen are my current Pavement and for this I have no other option but to perpetually place them at the top of the heap.
Slot typically held down by: They are Wilco but without a Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to their resume…but also without a Sky Blue Sky. Wilco is the older, more midwestern version of The Walkmen, a band we look forward to drinking with someday, a band that will play the songs we want to hear. Wilco always finds a way into the conversation, so do The Walkmen.
Beer Pairing: Goose Island Nightstalker is as smooth and tasty an imperial stout as you’ll ever have. It’s elegant but blue collar. It’s big city, but warms you as you sit looking across corn fields or verandas or whatever The Walkmen see when they write those songs. Sip on this with Lisbon playing and you’ll understand both.
How did I leave the following off this list? Maybe I should return my indie cred to the record store where I found it.
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Maybe the best record about both the Civil War and moving from Jersey to Boston ever screamed.
Liars – Sisterworld
Most sinister album of the year with a touch of punk made me want to drink nothing but beers brewed in bourbon barrels and ash trays.
Here We Go Magic – Pigeons
Inventive, unique, and sounds just like Talking Heads. Still, this is what Secretly Canadian sounds like in one band.
And these…
The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
Wolf Parade – Expo 86
Los Campesinos! – Romance Is Boring
The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack
The National – High Violet
Spoon – Transference
Corin Tucker Band – 1,000 Years
I know some of you hate my list, but your only choice is to post your own and link back to mine. Do it. That and I dare you to pair beers with your albums.
Notes:
1Also pairs well with fish.
2Not really, but hang with me.
3Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, Sea & Cake, etc.
4See Head to Toe EP.
5Britt Daniel, I’m looking your way.
Unfinishe
As suggested by Steve, I’m posting the beginnings of several posts I’ve started over the past couple of weeks but never finished. There were more, but I deleted them. Honestly, most of this is shite (as Steve might say) and I haven’t read it since first typing it just to get something down. The only one I may still finish is the last one.
Ridicule me as usual…
I don’t tend to write much about TV since I don’t watch much TV. Aside from a small handful of shows and some sporting events, I find TV to be pretty detestable. So, when it was announced that Dogfish Head’s own Sam Calagione would be hosting a show on Discovery, I took notice.
The show premiered a week ago and people had various takes on the program. The beer nerds in my circle mostly hated it, but I think they just wanted a show for them and not the typical Discovery Channel viewer. Twitter was mostly aflutter with glowing praise, but what else can you say in 140 characters about a TV show without coming off as a punk-ass Farker? And the blogospere was primarily taking bets on how long the show will last.
What’s missing is whether or not this show will prove to be good for craft beer. Like when indie kids lamented Nirvana breaking on MTV, beer nerds everywhere are worried their obsession will become no better than the watered-down, rice adjunct-ed swill they’ve rejected for so long. However, like the grunge kids, beer nerds need to relax. Brew Masters will not ruin craft beer. If anything, it should do the industry and community some good. Nirvana breaking big sure produced a lot of copycats for major labels with which to pollute the airwaves, but it also made a much wider range of music available to the average listener. There are still crappy bands, but we would have never heard so many great bands without Nirvana’s breakthrough. Brew Masters is craft beer’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or something like that.
Brew Masters is not made for beer nerds. Beer is but a medium for Discovery to tell a story. Sam Calagione is their protagonist, a compelling one at that. The show will spend an inordinate amount of time on the marketing of beers, trips to find new recipes and ingredients, and basically all the extraneous details that will go into brewing Dogfish Head beer. In other words, the show really isn’t about the beer. It isn’t a demonstration of advanced brewing methods for us to geek out on. The show probably won’t tell us anything we all didn’t already learn about Dogfish Head that we didn’t already know. I mean, craft beer is 5% of the beer market. I suspect homebrewers even make up a smaller percentage of the beer-consuming community than that. If Discovery were making this show for us, they…
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This will possibly be the most overused Thanksgiving meme/theme of the day, but I don’t care. I’ve had trouble coming up with blogable topics and thought this might be an easy way to get going. Besides, there is really so much that I’m thankful for this year. Here are just a few of those things…
Waffle House – It is a Thanksgiving tradition for us to go to the Waffle House for breakfast before we get our cook on. Sure, the food is only moderately good, but we are all entitled this one indulgence. Besides, most decent breakfast joints are closed on Thanksgiving and we need to load up since we won’t eat until 5 or 6. The Waffle House fills those needs and provides a base for all the beer I’ll drink.
St. Bernardus Abt 12 – Typically, a nice Saison would ideally pair well with Thanksgiving turkey, but we smoke our bird. A Saison won’t stand up to the charred smokiness of our turkey. So, I turn the notch up and pour this perfectly balanced Belgian dark abbey ale to counter the strength of our main dish. Sure, there will be DIPA’s and imperial stouts poured before and after dinner, but St. Bernardus is our patron saint of the smoked turkey.
iPod Mixes – Every year, I attempt to mix some songs or simply throw albums-worth of music into a playlist that lend itself to the brisk autumn weather and a harvest time feast. In the past, Nick Drake, Feist, and José González among others have dominated the soundtrack. This year, it’s looking as if Sufjan Stevens and The Walkmen will be joining the fun. Plus, I may have to play a whole heaping serving of Pavement as this is likely the end of the road for my favorite band. At least I saw them two more times this year…
Buckeyes – All kinds of Buckeyes make me thankful this year. The horse chestnuts have brought me luck – I just haven’t been able to figure out what that luck has been. I’m making my own version of the candy sort, using high-end chocolate (without paraffin), natural peanut butter, and fleur de sel. It should be a good topper to Thanksgiving dinner or something good to munch on while I cheer the third sort of Buckeyes as they play their greatest rival this Saturday. I hate that team up north, I won’t even dare to mention their names on this blog. Just know that my Bucks are looking for their sixth straight conference championship, sixth straight win over their rivals (nine out of ten), and a shot at another BCS bowl with a win Saturday.
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There are moments in life that define who we are. Hopefully, those moments are mostly positive, but some can be negative as well. These moments in our lives help define who we are, what we’ll become, and how we’ll be remembered.
For me, I can think of a few such moments. None were earth-shattering for anyone who’s not me, but they have defined who I am. There was the basketball game in 8th grade where I nailed the winning free throws on the same week I learned a new technique for shooting from the charity stripe. There was the night I was recognized for my service to a YMCA camp, earning an award that had only been given to one other individual in the camp’s 80-year history. There was the birth of my daughter.
All of these moments shaped me in one way or another. It was all mostly good.
Sometimes, these moments happen to one person who shines and defines his/her legacy. My Ohio State Buckeyes experienced one of those moments this weekend, specifically their über-hyped quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Pryor seemed to be melting down as usual against a tough opponent. His third-quarter interception set up the Iowa Hawkeyes for the go-ahead touchdown.
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This one’s been on my back burner for a while. It seems every time I turn around, another alt/indie band from my (post)youth is reuniting for a tour or single show at some festival. I guess it means a couple of things: 1) I’m getting old and 2) indie rock really is successful.
One band that is regularly absent from the list of upcoming tours and re-issues is Archers of Loaf. They often come up in pieces where bands list their favorite bands or are included in cover opportunities on influential websites. They were all the rage for anyone in the mid-nineties between Pavement and Superchunk releases. Their live shows were proof that punk was not yet dead. They were fucking Archers of Loaf.
It all started for Loaf in 1990, but their first album didn’t come out until 1993. The hugely influential Icky Mettle had to have been one of the three most dubbed-to-cassette-tape albums of the 90’s. I had Icky Mettle and AoL’s follow-up Vee Vee on opposite sides of a tape that I wore completely out. I acquired my copies of their first two albums around the same time I saw the band for the first time. An Archers of Loaf live show was a thing of…
Beer and Pavement 
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