When Bands Become Conventional
There was this funny phenomenon back in the day when Pavement would release an album. Fans and critics would complain that they were losing their edge and making conventional classic rock records1. Part of the “problem” was that each album’s production value improved as better recording studios became accessible to the band. They moved away from their lo-fi beginnings as they recorded on better equipment with better engineers2 turning the nobs. Also, Stephen Malkmus started crafting songs instead of just throwing sounds together over the hiss of the tape. All this growth coincided with the band becoming a proper outfit3. They left day jobs and became full-time indie rockers4.
The transformation into a conventional rock band spit in the face of everything for which their fans thought Pavement stood5. Of course, complaining about a Pavement album is a right of passage for every Pavement fan6. Those who knew them from the early Slay Tracks era hated the slick sounding Slanted and Enchanted. I remember every Pavement fan I knew hated Wowee Zowee when it was released only to love it as soon as “that piece of shit” Brighten the Corners hit the shelves. The phenomena even worked retroactively. I discovered Slanted after Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain thought it superior in every way despite my obsession with the newer record. A lot of us blamed this regression on the band giving in to traditional rock band structures, becoming a conventional rock ‘n roll band.
Of course, this was all ridiculous as each Pavement album stands on its own merit, regardless of the state of the band. In fact, one could argue that they were less of a cohesive band by their farewell album, Terror Twilight despite how so many die-hard fans complained of its adult contemporary-like accessibility. Regardless, that’s the impression fans and some critics had. Punk rock ruined us all. We love sloppy, ramshackle rock bands7. They always made us feel like we could do the same thing. We couldn’t, but the fact that our favorite bands were fuck-ups made them so attainable.
Wolf Parade is a different band. They were a combination of other bands those in the underground love(d). Each member has his share of other projects with nearly as much clout as Wolf Parade. However, none of those bands ever recorded an album as glorious as Apologies to the Queen Mary. That was their debut, relegating them to careers aimed at surpassing that achievement8. Every album the members release on their own or collectively is compared to Apologies which is too bad as each album should be judged on its own merit, within its own, unique context.
The band’s follow-up was the forgettable9 At Mount Zoomer. However, had their sophomore album been the debut of another band or a piece in any other discography, it would have hailed as a great record. It just didn’t measure up to Apologies.
Now comes Expo 86, maybe the band’s most cohesive effort to date. I still can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. That’s why it’s taken me over a week to put these thoughts in a blog post. Despite my doubts, the album is good. I can’t wrap my head around it as of yet, but I’m working hard on this one10. I’m not getting that punch-in-the-gut feeling Apologies gave me, but there is a slight tingle.
Never have the writing and vocal styles of Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner fit together so seamlessly. I always felt their albums were battles to see which style would win out. In the end, both would go back to their various projects dejected. There, Krug and Boeckner would find themselves again and return to the fight that is a Wolf Parade record. Not so on Expo 86. I had trouble keeping score between the two primary musicians, losing track as to who was singing and whose song they were hacking. The album fits itself from beginning to end. I can’t deny the cohesion11.
Then I wonder if this is a good thing. Should I not only feel that punch in the gut but also that slap to the face? Apologies grabbed me from the opening beats. It took me to the woodshed and had its way with me. I was hypnotized despite its uneven, two-pronged attack. Of course, the cohesion on that album was somehow created from Isaac Brock’s production in which he stripped both Krug and Boeckner of their identities…but I digress12.
Expo 86 is, at the very least, worth several listens before writing it off. Some will complain about its mediocrity, that it’s neither good nor bad.
At its very best, it’s a challenging album that takes time to appreciate, an album that stays in the rotation because it’s too interesting to dismiss and thought-provoking enough to garner discussion and debate.
Either way, the transformation of Wolf Parade into a conventional, cohesive band is having an effect. Expo 86 might not be the end of this story. It might just be the beginning. The direction the band takes from here will be telling as to whether this move toward a conventional rock band is a good or bad thing. For me, Expo 86 will appreciate if the conventional turns out to be the same thing that drew me rock ‘n roll in the first place13. However, this development might just give me fodder to complain about each successive album, only appreciating the previous release once Wolf Parade releases another. Then, maybe Wolf Parade will be a lot like Pavement.
Notes:
1Which is so laughable in retrospect. Pavement couldn’t make a classic rock record of they tried. And besides, what the hell is “classic rock”? I feel like it used to be the Beatles, Stones, maybe Zeppelin. Now it’s as if every hair metal band from ’83 is classic rock. Classic rock might be the worst moniker for a genre of music this side of indie, crunk, and slow-core.
2Sorry, Gary Young. You were a shitty drummer, gymnast, and record producer. Pavement was better off without your burnt-out California, gun-toting, plant man shtick.
3And by “proper”, I simply mean that they practiced a bit before they toured, maybe rehearsed before recording. I don’t think they ever all lived in the same city at the same time. Pavement might be more proper than ever just by simply doing this reunion thing.
4I believe that I read somewhere that Bob Nastanovich actually left another day job in order to join the reunion. He was maintaining some horse racing database or something.
5The emphasis should be on the what the fans thought here. I don’t think that it was ever Pavement’s collected stance to abstain from becoming a real band. They certainly toured a shit-ton in the mid-nineties and played nice with some alt-rock luminaries (sans Smashing Pumpkins, but who played nice with that asshole Billy Corgan?). Pavement were a vehicle for their fans to reject anything conventional even though the band was a pretty conventional rock outfit for the most part – dudes with guitars played loudly.
6Just wait for all the blog posts from their upcoming summer dates around the country.
7See Black Flag who was hated by their own fans once they started incorporating metal riffs and grew their hair long. Of course, we’re all thankful Henry Rollins stuck with the dirty gym shorts and didn’t discover spandex.
8Another band who did this but has failed miserably in trying to attain the same heights as their debut is Interpol. Turn on the Bright Lights is as perfect a debut as there has ever been, but when when the following two duds are taken into consideration. I haven’t heard the new Interpol record. I think it’s safe to say that it will be a dud as well.
9I only use this term because no one ever remembers this record. It had a really bad cover and strayed far from Apologies, ironically making a sound much closer to what the band members intended for their first go-around.
10I’m still listening to it constantly, trying to piece together a coherent thought beyond the coherence of the record. Is that coherent? Coherently coherent?
11Or overuse the term, apparently. That, I guess, is a characteristic/flaw of my writing. I’m redundant and use the same word over and over, in case you haven’t noticed. Good thing I don’t do this for a living.
12That’s what the footnotes are for. I actually really love what Brock did to Wolf Parade. A synth-heavy debut would have come off contrived, pretentious. Looking back, it’s actually quite surprising Brock stripped the music down so much considering his tendency to overdo it. Somehow, he made it work but at the cost of what makes the individual parts of Wolf Parade so amazing. A good topic to debate would be whether Isaac Brock ruined Wolf Parade or did he make them great?
13You know, rebellion, your parents hate it, has a good beat, danceability, etc.
Craft Beer “Week”
Beer is in the blog’s title, so I should give it space. Last week was American Craft Beer Week. I took full advantage in exploring the many ways one enjoys craft beers1. Granted, my celebration was more than a week, but that’s the time I needed in order to fully experience all that one does with craft beer.
It all began where many American craft brewers began. A friend2 and I devised a recipe for a strong dark Belgian ale while drinking a few Belgians along the way. A lot of the best craft brewers started out brewing their own after discovering the many possibilities for beer in Belgium. We threw back three nice beers over cheese and crackers while pouring through books and websites that would help us formulate our brew, which is tentatively called “Belgian Budweiser”. However, if the lawyers at InBev and I have any say, that moniker will change3.
The following day was a rainy afternoon where I found myself in front of a Wallace & Gromit marathon with my daughter. In order to fight off the cold, rainy weather, I sipped on a Great Divide Oak-aged Yeti. We beer geeks love our imperial stouts, but we love them even more when the vanilla-like esters are released from the oak barrels4.
A friend stopped by a little later to share an Avery Maharaja, his favorite beer. His love for batch 9 carried him through a somewhat disappointing batch 10 last year in hopes batch 11 would not let us down. It didn’t. Upon finishing the hoppy, mango-like nectar, I pulled out one of those batch 10’s just for a comparison beer geeks refer to as a “vertical”. Batch 10 was still the lesser beer, but I have to say it’s fared well over the last year.
Officially, American Craft Beer Week started with a happy hour on Monday at one of the preferred watering holes here in Columbia, Sycamore5. Though small, the bottle and tap lists are loaded with the best that Missouri distributors can conjure6 . Of course, the best part of any happy hour is the conversation. Folks I knew from the Columbia Beer Enthusiasts as well as a few people I met on Twitter7.
The week also called for some travel. My daughter and I flew to Ohio for a couple of days in order to celebrate my grandparents’ 90th birthdays. Of course, there were beer stops after landing in Columbus. I dropped some cash at Palmer’s and Weiland’s for some nice out-of-market brews. Another mark of beer geekdom is our commitment to beer tourism. Even when we don’t go on a trip specifically for the beer, we’re always sure to pick up something not available in our home states.
I didn’t just buy; I consumed. A Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale8 paired well with my North Star Thai burrito. Jeni’s Ice Cream supplied me with both a Kona Stout ice cream as well as a Cherry Lambic Sorbet to go along with my scoop of Buckeye State. There was some Great Lakes’ Commodore Perry IPA waiting for me at my parents’ place. We followed that with my own Wowee Zowee.
Maybe the best part of craft beer geekery is finding a hidden treasure. On our way to my folk’s place after the birthday party, we hit a small town drive-through for some beverages, hoping I didn’t have to break into my haul from Columbus just yet. Luckily, this was Ohio and Great Lakes beers are everywhere. Bernie’s Drive-Thru in Bellefontaine had four packs of the Lake Erie Monster. This beer had to be maybe the best of the week and possibly year. It’s one balanced imperial IPA. So hoppy, but with a strong malt backbone. I would have finished the four pack on my own had it not been a 9.1% boozer of a beer.
The return home brought more beer over the weekend. It was also stifling hot9, weather so hot that it motivated my wine-drinking partner to request a beer. Out came the New Glarus Belgian Red, as cherry a beer as I’ve ever had. Despite its girlie fruitiness, this beer hit the spot after a long day of travel through the near-90 degree weather.
A friend showed up10 for dinner and we cracked open a local/STL brew by Schlafly. The Grand Cru was chosen as a beer that would pair well with the shrimp and saffron over homemade pasta we had slated for dinner. It did go nicely and I finished the night off with one of my Ohio imports, a Dogfish Head Immort Ale11.
The following day saw us smoking meats all day long. I opted for a standard go-to beer to split among three of us. Lagunitas’ Hop Stoopid is just that kind of beer. And at $4, the price is definitely right.
That evening also happened to be the series finale of Lost12. I volunteered our house guest to join me in my second vertical tasting of the week. We sipped on Dogfish Head World Wide Stouts from 2007 and 2008. The ’07 was quite phenomenal: complex, smooth, boozy. The ’08 was pretty great as well, but it had a strong coffee thing going and some of its fizz gave it more mouth feel. Of course, after drinking 12 oz. worth of an 18% ABV beer, who knows if I remember the details accurately.
The long “week” that was dedicated to American craft beer ended appropriately13 at a local brewery where the Columbia Beer Enthusiasts gathered some of our favorite pale ales and IPA’s for a tasting14. The bottles were passed quickly around the table, nearly knocking me on my ass. A Gordon here, Hop Henge there. The hops were flowing, finally wearing me down after a great week of drinking.
Appropriately, I finished the last of the Wowee Zowee. My beer stood up well to a powerful list of IPA’s Monday night. And as my beer ended its run, so did the longest American Craft Beer Week ever15.
I don’t know exactly what the point of this post was supposed to be. I guess I just wanted to share all the ways in which craft beer can be enjoyed16. There’s the getting back to the roots of the movement through Belgian beers and homebrewing. I drank beers that suited the weather or the cuisine. Vertical tastings were experienced as well as old stand-bys. Beers were shared and beers were smuggled in my suitcase. It’s a big deal and certainly worth more than a week of my year. I guess that’s why I celebrated eleven days.
Notes:
1It’s not like I don’t do this all the time. I just did more than usual over the last week+.
2Who happens to be a chocolate maker, the same chocolate maker who sold me some cocoa nibs for a beer I brewed a couple of weeks ago.
3I’m thinking that the name of our “brewery” might be Belgium Budweiser or some mashup of the two terms. The beer itself should be based on some scary Belgian folktale. Anyone know of any evil characters from Belgian folklore?
4Seriously, if you drink an oak-aged beer, pay close attention to that vanilla character. Some brewers use actual barrels while others just toss in a load of oak chips.
5Well, the official part is Monday, not necessarily our happy hour/Tweetup.
6 Which is better than we sometimes give credit. They do a nice job of bringing in beers from Michigan and Colorado. If we could just get more beer from the coasts…
7We had a “Tweetup”. They call it a “Tweetup”.
8This may be the best beer to pair with any food. The dark malt gives it a sweetness and roastiness that pairs with fatty meats that are either grilled or smoked. The hops hold up to anything with spice. The balance of the beer means that none of these characteristics overtake the others. Really. It’s the perfect beer for food.
9Summer has arrived in Missouri, a time when we officially change the name to “Misery”. (This is not a reference to my old blog.)
10Oddly enough, from Ohio where I had just left via plane. We passed over him on our way home.
11A bit of a letdown, but at 11% ABV, I could cellar it and see what happens.
12This has got to be the best show in TV history. However, why can’t good TV shows make good finales. It was good to a point, but a letdown in the end.
13Actually, I felt as though I ended the craft beer debauchery this evening with another smuggled beer, Green Flash Imperial IPA. What a great beer. I may have to take a few days off from the hops.
14My friend and I brought Three Floyds Apha King, Alesmith IPA, and the very last Wowee Zowee.
15Not counting the dudes who have 2-3 really good craft beers every night of the year. Their weeks never end.
16Of course, I don’t know whether I’ve accomplished this, but I don’t have time for revisions. I can hear my readers ending their real simple subscriptions to my blog as I type this.
Beer? Give me Bloodbuzz.
I’m originally from Ohio. Whenever there’s a reference to the Buckeye State, I smile. So, when I heard The National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (from the just released High Violet) I couldn’t keep the corners of my mouth from rising a bit.
I realize for most, Ohio is just another, depressing, fly-over, Midwestern state. While there’s truth to that, that’s not the whole story. The part of Ohio from which I come was pretty rural, pretty rundown. Then, Honda came and the industrial jobs popped up everywhere. There was steady growth. Folks built new homes and bought bigger cars. The second half of my childhood saw a boom in Ohio’s economy, standard of living. Superficial and consumptive? Sure, but it was the kind of wealth people from that part of Ohio rarely enjoyed.
And as the rest of the economy has gone, so has Ohio. In fact, Ohio may be worse off than most states. It’s in really bad shape and it doesn’t help that so many people racked up loads of debt to build those new homes and buy those bigger cars. It’s pretty depressing these days.
The most depressing part for me is that I don’t really have a piece of Ohio anymore. Yes, I have family and friends there, but that’s still just a Facebook connection or familial tie or both. Ohio’s not part of my being the way it used to be. Ohio’s tattooed on my arm, but she doesn’t remember me.
Anyway, Matt Berninger of The National gets that sentiment. There’s something to be said for the laments of white guys who are suddenly smacked in the face with the responsibility of a family and mortgage as the rest of the world crumbles around them. It’s a privileged life, but one is not allowed to feel sorry for one’s self when the American dream is being realized.
Then, I think about Ohio. These things go in cycles. Will things always be this hopeless/full? That kind of stress weighs on me. Apparently, it weighs on Berninger as well.
And this is why I appreciate The National. Everything they do is weighty. They feel the pressures I do. They drink to forget…or to remember. I can’t figure out which.
There’s the low grumble of a Cohen poetic. Strings carry; grooves ground. There’s space in their songs, but it fills arenas with its echoes. There’s the urgency of the moment. There’s experience. There’s something real going on here.
I won’t bore you with my white-guy-in-his-mid-thirties bullshit anymore. I won’t bother with footnotes. The potential for them in this post is eternal. I’ll just leave you with the fact that The National make good, heady music. Here’s a record you should buy. Let it marinade for moment. As it sinks in, remember or try to forget. High Violet is the kind of record in which one can get lost or find one’s own Ohio. I can’t figure out which.
Forgiveness Record Review
There’s this guy I know who has a pretty realistic perspective on movies. If he reads on various film review sites that it’s a C movie, he looks for it to be the best C movie it can be. No one went to Gigli expecting Citizen Kane. If someone actually pays money to see a Gigli, they hold it up to I Know Who Killed Me, Glitter, or Showgirls. My friend lowers or raises his expectations based on reviews before entering the theater, allowing for the most enjoyment possible for lesser cinematic fair1.
Music sort of works that way for me as well. If I read some lukewarm-to-bad reviews of albums, my expectations are automatically lower. The same goes for bad performances or a string of less-than-stellar releases. I only expect the album to be so good. If it meets that low expectation, the album has done the best it can do in my eyes. Sometimes, that’s OK.
Enter Broken Social Scene’s Forgiveness Rock Record.
Every person or outlet I trust thought this was a lame duck at best and a crap sandwich at worst. I was beginning to regret pre-ordering the thing as visions of the last two Broken Social Scene Presents… inhabited my nightmares2. There was virtually no reason for me to like this record.
Then I listened to the record.
Forgiveness Rock Record is as varied and textured as any other Broken Social Scene record. It may not be the best effort from the Canadian super-group, but it has to be better than 90% of the crap that passes for music these days. It has highs and lows, but it was fine. The record wasn’t anywhere near as bad as folks wanted me to believe. It met and exceeded my expectations.
But what if I don’t take those reviews into account? What if I judge the album on its own merits? What’s wrong with this record?
The LP opens with “World Sick”, as big a BSS rave as any song in their catalog, starting easy and breazy only to blow up into a chorus that’s all “hey, everybody on stage NOW” kind of a moment for which BSS is known. “Chase Scene” is just what the title suggests. Imagine every chase scene in the history of action movies and then imagine a mashup of all the accompanying songs played during those scenes. There’s urgency, horns, and some cheesy-ass keyboards3.
“Texico Bitches” is a moving, danceable ditty with odd word-play found all over BSS records. In “Forced to Love”, the band picks up the pace and devolves4 into something electronic with the entrance to “All to All” which reminds me of a Stars song through and through. The movie meme returns with the bombastic and Motown/Stax horn-driven “Art House Director” calling into memory the band’s cinematic collaborations5.
The sleepy “Highway Slipper Jam” breaks the momentum with hushed vocals, looped acoustic guitar, and whistling. The poetic profanity that makes me smile whenever I listen to a BSS record kicks in with “Ungrateful Little Father”6, bouncing over a blip-heavy percussive love-fest. “Meet Me in the Basement” is proof that no one does an instrumental like BSS by including prog rock, pop flourishes, and that ever-present urgency. This leads into the quiet opening to “Sentimental X’s” which continues the Stars love as it speeds into some blips, bleeps, and more prog.
A cool, white-boy R&B track known as “Sweetest Kill” comes in to kill the mood in a good way. The song cheeses its way to the following track, “Romance to the Grave”. I don’t know whether it’s supposed to be Northeast country-western, Canadian surf, or just another indie movie soundtrack, but this instrumental leads into basically a Sea and Cake song, complete with Sam Prekop vocals7.
After such a strong start and middle, the album fades a little. “Water in Hell” is the all-American rocker BSS rarely plays. The album continues to jump genres, eras, and made-up clichés as they play a song comfortable on any grassroots rock record from 1974. It might be the low-point of the record, but it’s inoffensive enough to simply ignore. “Me and My Hand” opens like a Wayne Coyne ballad complete with off-kilter guitar strums and off-key vocals. It doesn’t close any better.
Despite the two final tracks, I find very little wrong with Forgiveness. It’s a crisper sound than previous work, more hi-fi than lo-fi. There are an annoying amount of blips, bleeps, and blops, but they’re harmless enough. The prog touches are a bit off-putting, but they generally work with the material. I see where a BSS fan would be disappointed, but this is a seriously good record.
I place a lot of the blame/credit for all the new sounds on producer John McEntire8. This record just sounds like a Tortoise/Sea & Cake record. That’s all and I’m fine with that. Sure, BSS broke down a lot of limitations put on (indie) rock in the mid-nineties, particularly by bands from Chicago. However, their willingness to embrace these origins and influences is a great strength of the Toronto collective. To prove this point further, BSS enlisted the help of such folks as the aforementioned Sam Prekop, Spiral Stairs, Doug McCombs, and Sebastian Grainger9.
Broken Social Scene’s ability to create new music that also nods to its forefathers is something I admire in the group. It sets them apart from so many hipster acts who merely rip-off their predecessors. There’s a collaborative aura around BSS already, but when they include indie rock luminaries the result becomes rich with substance and context10.
Forgiveness Rock Record has nothing for which it needs to apologize. I get why folks might not like it, but it speaks to me loud and clear. Broken Social Scene is still the most engaging, exciting band in the scene at this very moment. Sure, one can argue that other acts are more esoteric, post-ironic, or punk, but those bands are not as consistently good as BSS.
So, were my expectations lowered? Sure, but that only allowed me to be open to what this record had in store for the listener. I can hear Broken Social Scene at its best as well as all their influences in Forgiveness. I can appreciate the Chicago post-everything scene from which McEntire developed. It’s all there and that makes for a complex, thrilling, and emotive record I will put on repeat throughout the summer11.
Notes:
1Except that this means most movies with great reviews will likely not meet expectations. So, my friend sees a lot of crappy movies in the process. Of course, he can always be counted on to see a summer blockbuster at a minute’s notice.
2This explains why I have yet to purchase the massive 10-song EP they released of outtakes. Who does that? Even a band like Pavement waits for the re-issue to tack on the outtakes. No one releases 10-song outtakes. Hell, Caribou’s last record only had ten tracks and it’s an LP!
3Actually, the lyrics are a bit silly. They remind me of something straight out of Team America: World Police with its rather literal lyrics about the scene of his life. A little silly, but an interesting track nonetheless.
4Actually, the only thing that’s “electronic” is in “All to All”. It’s sort of hard to tell when one track ends and the next begins here.
5Well, there’s really only been that teacher/crack-addicted hipster movie a few years back, but there’s word that they are composing soundtracks for a couple projects as I write this.
6I guess “mother fucker” is a synonym for “father” in a way. Kind of makes me feel dirty.
7And is it just me or does Kevin Drew often call upon his inner-Prekop on such tracks? A little post-modern to actually include Prekop in the proceedings.
8I am not much of Tortoise fan and have learned to tolerate Sea & Cake’s development over the years into Tortoise-light.
9Which barely speaks to my point, but he’s another name to add to the list. Sadly, no J Mascis this time around.
10Who’s not hoping that they’ll join the stage with Pavement on any of the bands’ corresponding tour stops. My bet is on the Toronto show where my sister will surely give me a full report.
11I realize that records cannot generally be put on “repeat”. The iPod will play this album a lot this summer and I will drop the needle as often as I find time at home. I hope this clarifies everything.
Sometimes I Want to Remember
The best part about an iPod is that one can periodically revisit music that hasn’t been heard in months or years on the spur of the moment. Normally, to listen to an album or song, one would have to plan ahead or wait until they’re home, in front of their collection to put that one record on he just has to hear at that moment. The iPod is a luxury as it places an entire collection in the palm of one’s hand1.
Such was the case as I drove home the other day2. I wanted to listen to something old and comfortable, something to which I could sing along. This sent my mind wandering to a times when I turned to a record for comfort in times of trouble making the words of the songs on that record a part of me. It didn’t necessarily have to be a great record. It just had to be the right record for that moment in time.
I scrolled through the iPod until I landed on Eef Barzelay’s 2006 solo effort, Bitter Honey3. I don’t know that it made any end-of-year lists, but it made mine. 2006 was the middle of maybe the two worst years of my life4. Barzelay’s sad, sad album spoke to me. The album’s sadness allowed me to be comforted by the fact I was not alone in my own depression5. There were even moments of anger and hope which carried me through that time. The album’s place in my all-time list has less to do with its merit than it does its meaning to me and that time.
Similarly, Modest Mouse’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About came to mind as a record that helped me through a tough time. My last year of college sucked ass. I went through a crisis of what to do with my life in May, after graduation. Some things happened that called into question my educational trajectory at the worst possible time. My girlfriend/fiancée of three years decided to cheat on me and leave me for an accountant with a house6. I made an ass of myself on a weekly basis with various rebound attempts. Then, when things were starting to work in my favor again, it all went to hell. I was set to live in Seattle – my dream city – when some unforeseen events caused me to return to my parents with my tail between my legs7. And through all of this, Long Drive was there. In fact, that chapter of my life falling apart and coming around was framed by two Modest Mouse shows8.
When I listen to these albums, it’s hard to separate them from my experiences in order to judge them solely on their quality. I can’t give either record or others with similar meaning a true rating. I might include them in this list or that list, but it’s completely based on the episodes associated with the music. It’s why some music stays in the rotation and others fade no matter how great the product9.
So, I think I will have to revisit some of these records. Bitter Honey is as good a place as any. I’ll try not to bore you with the details of my personal struggles from 2005-2007. Just know that the sentiment expressed by Mr. Barzelay closely paralleled my own experiences, metaphorically anyway.
That was my ass you saw bouncing
Next to Ludicris
It was only onscreen for a second
But it was kinda hard to miss
Bitter Honey open with the title track10 which also happened to be the hook that convinced me to buy this CD. The song is just sad and at that time in my life, that’s how I felt11. Nothing was going my way. I needed some company to go with my misery.
Anyway, the track moves on, describing sad moments in a woman’s life. It’s always odd to hear a feminist lament from a man, but somehow Eef Barzelay delivers without a tinge of condescension or even sarcasm. He’s just telling a woman’s story of a life where her only value is as a sexual object, caregiver, or both. There’s no preachy moment, Eef just tells it.
While “The Ballad of Bitter Honey” just made me sad, “Thanksgiving Waves” was the first song that crushed me. It puts forth this idea that it’s you and your lover in this predicament together. We turn to those we love and trust most in tough times, only to lose our love under the stress. Luckily, I didn’t lose my love. The thought of that possibility scared me every day. “NMA” is that apathetic kind of sad. The third track builds off of the second and wonders when the us-against-them attitude devolves into detachment.
“Well” is the track that still cuts a bit. My crisis had to do with work performance. I wasn’t performing well for many reasons, too many to get into here12. This song fills me with the fear of being found out. You know, that fear deep inside that everyone you love will discover you’re a fraud, a liar, a cheat. And on top of it all, you’re incompetent. Then, the focus of the song suddenly shifts or at least it did for me. Somehow, Barzelay’s phrasing made me think of my superior who was partially responsible for making me feel this way. My fears and anxieties shift to anger as this song carries on. The final line says what I have always wanted to say…
The truthfulness must leave the room
If I ever wish you well
The next several tracks focus on hopeless love stories. “Words that Escape Me” imagines his love dieing just so he can see how he’ll feel. “Little Red Dot” is a nice little ditty that would fit the bill for a lifelong love as much as a child13. “Let Us Be Naked” is about the exposure one experiences in the sweetest of loves. In “I Wasn’t Really Drunk”, the protagonist pretends to drink in order to be closer to his alcoholic lover, only to discover she has no feelings for him when they’re sober14.
“Escape Artist” gets back to escape from one’s reality that only a lover can provide. It’s risky. It probably won’t work, but we’re desperate.
Oddly, the record finishes with “Joy to the World”. I don’t know why, but it works. After the rest of Bitter Honey would drag me down, there’s a slight glimmer of hope in a Christmas carol sung by a Jewish country singer from Brooklyn that makes it fit. I don’t know. At this point in the record, I’m drained of cynicism and am ready for something else.
Is there a record that you often revisit not for its prowess but for the feelings and memories it stirs inside of you? Please share the albums that have meaning to you. You don’t have to go into details about the events surrounding those albums, but you can if you’re in need of some therapy.
Notes:
1It really is quite an amazing human accomplishment. To think that we’ve gone from vinyl to eight track to cassette tapes to CD’s to MP3’s in my lifetime is akin to folks who lived before the Wright Bothers and eventually flew a commercial airliner.
2I drive a lot for my job. This will hopefully slow in the coming year, but I’ve logged more than 20,000 miles on the Prius in less than a year. That’s a lot for me.
3Admittedly, this is not an old record, but it does fill the comfort I was seeking.
4I will try to keep the details to a minimum. There is no need to rehash that time. It will just make for an uncomfortable silence in the comments.
5I attribute this idea – for me anyway – to something Wayne Coyne once said about why we all love sad songs so much. The idea of finding community in sadness is a comforting one. I may have to write a post on it.
6In her defense, he did play bass in a band and was unnaturally tall. Still, it was sort of a jerk move.
7Of course, if none of this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t know my partner and certainly wouldn’t have my daughter. I completely recognize how fortunate I am.
8The first was my first MM show overall in a basement bagel/beer dive known as Bernie’s. The second was my third MM show in Cincinnati at a bar/laundry joint known as Sudsy’s. Both shows were extremely memorable.
9Due to a pretty meh lifestyle at the moment, I find it hard to keep listening to music just a year old. I guess that’s a good thing.
10The actual title is “The Ballad of Bitter Honey”.
11No, I didn’t have a complex about the size of my ass. It was the helplessness one feels when being judged. I explain it better in the next paragraph.
12I probably should have been on something. Oh well. That which doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger or some shit.
13I’m already planning the second birthday video invite.
14This happened to me once, the first night I drank in fact.
Caribou’s ‘Swim’ vs. Russian River’s Supplication
The advancement of the internet and shipping options has made it possible for me to survive a somewhat ho hum lifestyle in Middle Missouri. If I want a particular record, I usually have to mail order it from Insound. Certain beers are only available through similar means. Unlike ordering records online, beer costs the consumer quite a bit of money on top of the price of the beer for shipping. So, I don’t order too many bottles online unless someone puts together a group order.
Such an order landed me a Supplication from Russian River. The beer takes all of eighteen months to create as it is dumped into Pinot Noir barrels full of cherries1. Brettanomyces yeast and Lactobacillus and Pedicoccus bacteria give the beer its flavor and overall character. This is one of those white whale or bucket list kinds of beers. I was lucky enough to get in on an order that provided me one bottle.
As I said before, records are easier to come by. Distribution of music isn’t policed by the government the way alcohol is. The problem is when you live in a town that only has two “record stores” that often run out of copies or never order certain records in the first place. I have no patience for this and so I order my records online.
Caribou’s latest Merge release, Swim, was dropped off late last week. The MP3 was downloaded immediately, but I’d have to wait for an opportunity to drop the needle on the record2. Earlier this week, my wait for both indulgences ended as I sat down with Swim as it should be heard and poured my beer in a proper glass.
The Stats:
Band: Caribou
Album: Swim
Label: Merge
Medium: Vinyl (although had been previewed using the digital version.)
Packaging: Gorgeous bi-fold with bright colorful artwork inside and out. Merge always comes through with some pretty slick packaging3.
Best Song: “Odessa”
Record Porn:
Let me get right to the crux of the situation. “Odessa”, the first track, is as good a song as I’ve heard in a long, long time. It’s complex and shows off Caribou’s ability to make even dance music seem interesting4. It’s just really cool. Check out the video…
CARIBOU – Odessa from Caribou on Vimeo.
Then there’s the rest of the record. To be honest, I don’t really want to write about it at all. It doesn’t excite me. It doesn’t anger me. I feel pretty meh about the whole thing. So, in order to protect a band I like a whole lot5, I’ll just leave it at that. By the way, have heard Andorra6?
Beer: Supplication
Brewery: Russian River
Style: Sour Brown Ale
Beer Geek Stats: 7% ABV,
Packaging: A cool Belgian-style bottle with a cork that reminds you to use the proper glass7. The artwork is an woodblock print of an aeration device (I think), but for some unknown reason, RR persists to use COMIC-FUCKING-SANS8 all over their labels!!! I’ll revisit that later.
Glass: Tulip
Beer Porn:
Pop! Actually, the cork made more of a drippy faucet sort of sound as I slid it from its place at the bottle’s mouth. The pour left me a beautifully foamy, tan head that didn’t want to leave. Clinging to the sides of the glass, this beer produced legs…er I mean lacing that slowly slid down the sides of my glass. The color was a rich, mahogany. My nose sensed Brett, caramel, cherries, funk, Pinot, fig, oak…I could go on and on. In fact, I may have smelt this beer too long.
The flavors were even more varied as the sour quickly gave way to the tartness of the cherries. The malt backbone was pronounced and worked with the cherries as opposed to one overpowering the other. The mouthfeel is nice as it coats your mouth. It’s not syrupy, rather, this beer is thick and it blankets your mouth instead of sticking to it.
I don’t often address packaging for a beer, but I have to continue a meme I started a while back concerning Russian River. STOP USING COMIC SANS!!! They craft some of the most tasty and beautiful beers in the world, take great care in branding their products through classy illustrations, and market themselves as the must-have brewer in an otherwise overcrowded market9. So, why does Russian River undercut their efforts by using comic sans on their labels?
Well, the beer is good. So, maybe it really doesn’t matter.
Winner: Supplication
This really wasn’t even close. When I first thought to pit a beer versus a record/show, I thought this would be a good pairing. However, it was a blowout. In the future, I will try to do better. I have plans in the works to do a series of these posts with my homebrew Wowee Zowee against its namesake, Dark Lord versus the Liars’ record, and possibly a Mikkeller 1000 IBU versus another Pavement record or one of the three or so records I like from this year. Stay tuned and congratulations to Russian River. You have won the first ever Rock vs. Beer contest in BICTB&P history!
Notes:
1There’s a video here in case you’re interested.
2Sometimes a record doesn’t make sense to me until I listen to it on vinyl, at home. It’s too easy to not pay attention in the car.
3I think this is one thing that separates them from many indies. The label’s packaging is not overtly extravagant. They just do what they can to match the artists’ vision, price be damned. Funny thing is that it usually pays off.
4Despite being named “best dancer” in my high school senior class, I can’t stand dance music, primarily anything electronic. I find its appeal fleeting. I welcome any examples that might prove me wrong. Animal Collective doesn’t count.
5I once saw these guys play in St Louis with backup drummer Ahmed Gallab and was simply blown away.
6Unbelievably great album. It was number 25 in my best of the oughts list.
7I don’t know if I took a picture or not, but the sides of the cork feature an illustration of a tulip glass and a pint glass crossed out.
8Easily the worst font of all fonts. That’s a fact.
9So, maybe Russian River doesn’t market themselves this way and the craft beer market is certainly not overcrowded. Allow me some license for a little hyperbole.
Wowee Zowee: When Worlds Collide
In case you hadn’t figured it out, I blog about beer and music. Rarely do these two interests fit together, at least in quality, but I find a way when I can. There are the Hi-Life/PBR-guzzling indie rock fans or the craft brew-drinking fusion jazz dudes. In these instances, high quality beer does not match high-quality art. There is a disconnect.
Of course, the idea of high-quality music is way more subjective than similar thinking about beer. You can love Phish or Steely Dan1 and appreciate Magic Hat #9 and make an argument that you enjoy good music and beer. I won’t spend this post putting down those opinions because your heart is in the right place. You listen to the one Phish bootleg from the ’93 tour and it sounds amazing to you2. The vegetable in a bottle of #9 suits your tastes for respectable craft beer3. I get that. However, when you choose to see No Age/Pavement/Sonic Youth while swigging a can of PBR, knowing that the occasion should demand something better for your pallet, that is unacceptable4.
My point is that great beer should be paired with great music. I think you know where I stand on music5. I won’t argue my band versus yours. However, drinking swill because it’s cheap is not doing the experience of a great live show or essential record any good.
That said, I wanted to mesh my two interests. Since I am only a consumer of music, I decided to brew a beer in honor of one of my favorite albums by my favorite band. I present to you: Wowee Zowee Double India Pale Ale!
It doesn’t always work, but somehow this beer turned out. It’s a dank, dirty, stinky mess of a beer6. The aroma of grapefruit smacks you in the face as you open the bottle. It’s not even in the glass and you can tell what’s coming. The beer sticks to the sides of the glass7, almost to the point that is looks more like potato starch than beer residue. The Simcoe8 does not overwhelm the palate as the other hops and the strong malt backbone balance things out. And there’s booze. Lots and lots of booze9.
How does this fit with Pavement’s third proper LP?
I don’t know that I could have answered this question when I formulated the recipe. I knew that I wanted to make a big DIPA with lots of high-alpha hops. The recipe is a bit insane as far as the amount of ingredients. Folks worried that it would be too sweet or too bitter10, but the huge amounts of malt extract and a pound of hops balanced the scales. All that has nothing to do with the music.
Wowee Zowee the album, like the beer, is boozy and loopy throughout. There are moments of sweetness as well as bitterness, making both hard to swallow. Either way, both are packed with ingredients and complexity that somehow come out coherent and plausible at the end, momentarily staining the walls of your glass and your cerebral cortex in the most enjoyable way. I sometimes forget how much I like my homebrews and big, hoppy DIPA’s just as I’ve lost touch for periods of time with Wowee Zowee. Of course, whenever I reconvene with either, I get it again11.
I will never be able to create an album like Wowee Zowee (or any Pavement album for that matter), but I was able to create a beer that does one of my favorite records justice. Next up is a listening party with just my beer and Wowee Zowee on vinyl. Great beer can pair with great music.
Notes:
1Actually, you can’t enjoy either…I’m kidding. Just don’t play that shit in my house…I’m kidding again. No. Seriously. Don’t ever play a Phish CD in my house EVER…I kid. No, I don’t.
2Of course, you’re stoned out of your gourd, but that’s besides the point.
3It doesn’t mine, but I can except that Magic Hat is a green-conscious microbrewery. So, they deserve some support and respect.
4Even when one cites cost, I can’t accept bad beer at a good rock show. Instead of drinking five PBR’s for about $10 at 4.7% ABV, drink a bomber of Avery Maharaja at 10.3% and actually enjoy your beer the same way in which you can enjoy your music.
5Like: Pavement, Sonic Youth, Wolf Parade, etc. Dislike: Phish, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne, etc.
6These are actually good things in a beer. Sure, some will be turned off by such a beer, but it’s at the very least more interesting than a bland, rice-based beer with it’s fizzy yellowness and three hops.
7This is known as lacing, considered a sign of quality in a beer. Wine drinkers say that the wine has “legs”. Same thing.
8Simcoe is a hop that gives a beer a grapefruit flavor/aroma. It’s a high-alpha hop, so it also provides a lot of bitterness and character to the beer.
9Original estimates had this beer somewhere around 11%. That’s rather ridiculous for an extract homebrew. I bet it actually lands closer to 10%, but it’s boozy either way.
10A common concern among fellow brewers was that I’d never be able to fully ferment all that sugar, causing bottles to explode. Also, it was suggested that the beer would be just sugary and sweet. Then they worried about the hops making it too bitter, almost on the verge of undrinkable. Then they put the two together and just wanted to drink the beer.
11I still remember the road trip back from Coney Island where I saw the first ever Siren Festival. One of my traveling companions put on WZ and I fell in love with the album all over again.
Priorities
I had a couple of choices of what to do with my evening the Saturday before last. There was the rock show at an undergrad dive featuring some locals I like and an interesting interloper. Then, at the last minute, a fellow Beer Enthusiast invited me over for a tasting1. Knowing the host and the other guy he invited, my choice was easy. (I’ll get back to this later2.)
However, the choice did not sit well with me. Sure, the beer and conversation was a pretty nice way to spend a Saturday evening, but I wondered what was happening to me. I used to always go out to see rock shows, especially locals with new out-of-towners sharing the bill. Was it a case of old age sneaking up on me? Am I too old to hang out at college bars drinking bad beer3? Was I not a good friend/cyberfriend4 to one of the band members who’s been unsuccessfully inviting me out to shows for a while now? Was I choosing beer over rock ‘n roll? Is that even possible?
The answer is not easy. On one hand, I’m too old to rock, making me rather boring. On the other hand, I’m a jerk who all but promises show after show to demonstrate support for the local scene, but never follows through5. Neither answer paints me in a very good light.
Of course, I still go to rock shows. Last Monday, I did see Japandroids. I arrived way too early, opting to sneak out for a beer or two at a bar with a much better selection. I completely missed the two openers for a chance to down a good west coast IPA in a can6 and an expensive Saison I’ve already forgotten.
Granted, my time for such pastimes is precious these days with a nineteen-month old telling where to sit and choreographing my every dance move7. That child even makes me more accountable to my partner who needs a break now and again. The time for one interest is barely there, much less the time for two hobbies. Yet, I still find a way to pack in some of it.
Someone will point out that it’s about priorities, but I don’t think that’s completely accurate. For example, I was fully prepared to make my inaugural trip to Dark Lord Day this spring. Then, there was Schlafly’s Repeal Fest this past weekend. And beyond that, there were little beer trips here and there to plan and scheme8. I was fully prepared to make myself into a full-fledged beer tourist.
That was all before Pavement decided to play the Midwest. I bought my three-day passes to Pitchfork in Chicago along with train tickets and a hotel room. (Plus, I bought a ticket for their September gig9 in Kansas City.) Beer tourism was put on hold for Pavement.
So, I haven’t totally prioritized beer over music. It just happened that way on one particular weekend. My age is not the problem; lack of time is. So, that’s why I’m trying to blog about both in this space, trying to show how together, (craft) beer and Pavement can build international coalitions for peace, love, and happiness.
Or some shit like that.
…
Back to the beer.
We drank this:
The blank bottle is my homebrew, Wowee Zowee, which is a huge double IPA named for a Pavement record by the same name. I’ll post on this some more once the labels are affixed to the bottles. Just know that this beer is filthy.
Next to the homebrew is De Proef Signature Les Deux Brasseurs Ale brewed with Jason Perkins. I know, I know. It’s not the catchiest name for a beer, but it is gooooooood. Those dudes at De Proef keep tapping into the best and brightest brewers in the US for these special releases. I can’t remember exactly what it tasted like, but I remember that it’s good. I’d say you should buy any 750 mL bottles you find with the De Proef name etched on its label. For reals.
Moving right, the beer with the frog on it is a Hoppin’ Frog IPA. It’s as solid an IPA as any west coast IPA and it’s from OHIO10.
Let that sink in for a moment: a great west coast IPA from OHIO.
Then there’s The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel. Supposedly, there’s Thai basil in them thar bubbles, but we couldn’t taste ’em. It was really, really good. I need to get a hold of some more beers from The Bruery.
After that is the Mikkeller 1000 IBU. I’ve had this beer before, but it somehow tasted even better on this particular Saturday. You’d think a beer with 1000 IBU’s would be so bitter that it would teeter on the edge of undrinkable, but the malt backbone holds up well. Mikkeller is an interesting “brewery”. They’re these hipsters who travel from brewery to brewery, stirring up their magic concoctions and charging an arm and a leg for them, but somehow it’s worth it. With the rise of bourbons and vodkas made by hipsters, it seems that their true calling is in booze and not music11. Just sayin’.
I know almost nothing about Southampton Cuvee Des Fleurs. It was murky and stank. That’s a good thing. It’s sort of like a garage band with a fat-ass bassline who laments everything and is really not appealing in any way…but you love them anyway.
The last is the Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter. Yes, that is a mouthful and so was the beer. Don’t go looking for this badass porter at your local pharmacist. I’m pretty sure they’re all gone. Normally, porters are not my thing, but the coffee is so rich in this one. It must be the coconut.
In summation, the beer was good. We talked about our kids but mostly the beers. Priorities, man.
Notes:
1A fancy term for getting together, pouring a few beers, and shooting the shit.
2Skip down (up from the footnotes) to read about the beer and to skip my mid-thirties crisis.
3I sort of outgrew this early on, aside from a few disastrously embarrassing evenings/mornings.
4I say this b/c we’ve struck up a good online friendship, but in our only face-to-face meeting, I ran the other direction. Of course, I was taking my daughter to the restroom to wash her up for dinner at a brewery where said-friend/cyberfriend was working, unbeknown to me.
5I blame this on Evites and event invitations via Facebook. It’s easy to mark “maybe” or even “yes” and then not show up. I am guilty of this over and over again.
6A Caldera which is always delish.
7Seriously. When we dance, she now tells/shows me which dance moves are appropriate when.
8I have been working on wine country (also plenty of beer), Portland, Colorado, and Belgium trips for a while now.
9On the same day as my kid’s second birthday.
10The best part is that it will soon invade my current home state, Missouri.
11Sort of growing tired of hipsters branding themselves as authentic music “aficionados”. Sort of wish hipsters would leave the music blogging to those of us who “really get” music. Feeling jealous of their ability to brand their lifestyles as “music-obsessed” and “with it”.
Beer and Lifestyle Music
I don’t know whether I read it or saw it, but Kurt Cobain once referred to the popular rock music of his time as “beer and lifestyle music”. You know, music that wasn’t serious. Bands focused on getting wasted and doing lots of chicks1. It was about fun. No one needed a serious REM or U2 to ruin the enjoyment.
That was so long ago that music has come full circle. Beer and lifestyle music is OK in serious music circles. This happened years ago, but it’s not always done well. Jon Spencer did it well for one, maybe two albums2. Bob Pollard practically made a career out of music for beer drinking. Beer and lifestyle music has come a long way since the days when Kurt Cobain despised it.
Enter Japandroids. They write serious songs about beer and lifestyle3.
I loved, loved their full-length debut, Post-Nothing. The unbridled exuberance of youth of this record is completely captivating. They make me believe again. Japandroids make me want to mosh and throw half-empties at bands again4. The music has that effect on people.
So, tonight, I saw this twosome that sounds like a five-some play a local club.
They went bat-shit-crazy. There was a mosh pit. A mosh pit.
I was so giddy, I bought my third choice of t-shirt and a 7″ I never intended on purchasing.
So, if by some chance you have the opportunity to see a Japandroids5 show, do it. And don’t do it for me. Do it for you.
Notes:
1This has not changed and probably never will. The point is more that bands wrote songs about this shit. It was pretty shallow stuff, really.
2Mo Width was great, but I haven’t listened to it in years due to a cassette dub that was lost to my car stereo years ago. Orange is a classic forever.
3Or I’ve fallen for their trap of making me feel young again.
4I moshed at one time, but I never threw a half-empty.
5I never did get back to beer and lifestyle music, did I? Basically, Japandroids make it seem cool for the first time ever. I think I need to address this issue in a future post.
Collections
No matter how many records I buy, I can’t fill this void.
When I was younger, I collected baseball cards. I bought some complete sets and some valuable rookie cards1. I kept my cards in plastic sheets, locked in binders. To an outsider, my collection was an obsession. To someone who obsessed over baseball cards, my collection was a nice, little hobby. I collected those cards to fill time, shoe boxes, and to connect me with a community of collectors. I suppose the hobby filled a void, a void only Eric Davis could fill.
The same can be said about my two current collections. I collect beers and music with the same tempered affection2 with which I collected baseball cards in order to fill some sort of void or need/want. Collections do not rule me or put me into great debt. They are hobbies that provide me some enjoyment and something about which to talk. If that so-called void is filled, that’s OK too.
The music collection has gone on for a while. I gathered cassette tapes and records in my early days throughout the eighties3. This eventually shifted to CD’s as labels switched formats. Aside from the random 7″ or LP, I gathered hundreds of CD’s4. I also collected concert experiences which included ticket stubs, t-shirts, or just memories. As the LP came back into fashion, I’ve come full circle in limiting my collection to just vinyl5.
The beer thing hasn’t been a hobby until the past couple of years. Sure, age and availability was a factor, but I didn’t really get into craft beer until I started trying more kinds of beer, spending a little more for something a lot better6. Now, I even have a beer cellar7 where some beers have sat for nearly two years. Some bottles contain beer that is actively evolving into a drinkable beverage8. And I collect through drinking9, not just holding. There are beer dinners and tastings. I break open something that’s been sitting around all the time. Beer is to be consumed not contained.
The key to collecting is the enjoyment. It’s not the conquest or filling an emptiness. It’s not compensation for something you’re lacking. A collection is only worthwhile if you can enjoy it.
That’s why I’ve taken more to the collecting of experiences rather than things. With music, I love the experience of placing the needle on the record only to get up twenty minutes later to flip the record and do it again. Although I love the ritual of playing an LP, nothing beats a great live show. Similarly, sampling a rare beer at a nice beer-centric bar with a buddy makes it all the more enjoyable. I also don’t believe in holding onto a beer too long just for the sake of the collection. If it’s been in the cellar for a couple of weeks10, it needs to be consumed.
With boys and men, the quantity is often the goal. We one-up each other all the time with the number of beers in our cellar or records on the shelf. Whole rooms are dedicated to collections. This, however, is not usually my goal. Sure, I am running out of room for records, CD’s, t-shirts11, etc. And there are more beers in my cellar than I can realistically consume on my own over the next several months. Any collection is about quantity, but the key is not to let that rule your life.
More importantly, a collection is about quality. I only buy the records I believe are good and that I actually want to hear12. I choose rock shows that I really want to see12. The beers I buy anymore are primarily because I know the style and/or brewery is good. I only want my collections to represent what I feel is the best. Quality also has its limits. I don’t own every record I want or think I should have13. There just isn’t room in my basement nor wallet to buy all those records. Same goes for the beer. Most of the beer I can’t have costs almost as much to ship as it does just to buy. So, I temper my beer mania and join a group order now and again or go without14.
If the size or character of a collection is too much, it ceases to be enjoyable. I’ve gone through periods where this was the case. Most of the credit card debt in my life is directly attributable to spending sprees at record stores, sometimes for a bunch of material I don’t even listen to anymore15. At times, my beer cellar is overflowing with beers of a shelf-life of six months or less. I’ve since learned to limit these sorts of brews as I stock up on beers that can stand to sit on a shelf for a year or two.
I could go on and on about the specifics of my collections. I could inventory my entire vinyl stockpile, but I won’t16. I could do as the guy below did and record my beer cellar7 for all to see, but I won’t do that either.
My collections pale in comparison to those mentioned above, but I’m OK with that. My music and beer collections are what I can handle. It’s all I need for enjoyment outside of my family and friends. There’s still that Flaming Lips t-shirt from 1995 to remind me of one of the two or three best shows I’ve ever seen. All of my Dogfish Head 120-minute IPA’s have been consumed and savored17. There are records still to play and some beers to drink in the near future. The enjoyment is not over.
Consume your collections. Don’t let them consume you. That’s what I’m trying to do anyway.
Notes:
1Eric Davis was my favorite. Too bad he was so injury-prone.
2I don’t love them any less than the next guy. I have just learned to control my obsessions.
3Of which I have almost none. Between selling them to used record shops and being redistributed to my family, I have very little to show for this period of my life.
4Which, oddly enough, are kept in binders much like those still holding my baseball cards.
5And the digital downloads which accompany the vinyl.
6This is the obstacle for everyone to get over when starting a hobby in craft beer. You will spend more than $4 for a sixer of a good beer. You may even spend $10 for a bomber which is the equivalent of two beers. Think about that for a moment, PBR drinker.
7Really, it’s just a closet under the stairs. Did I mention this before?
8Homebrewing represents something I was never able to do with music: create my own.
9as evidenced by my expanding belly.
10Or up to two years if the beer is cellar-able. This would primarily be anything imperial, stouts, barley wines, certain Belgian brews, Lambics, etc. Beers to drink ASAP, for me, are primarily low ABV and highly hopped. Hops lose their potency as a beer ages.
11I recently retired a pile of rock concert t’s to a bin for my daughter to have when she gets older. How cool will it be when Lucia shows up in art class with an Archers of Loaf t-shirt featuring the hockey player from Vs. the Greatest of All-Time EP? Actually, no one will get it. I better just hang on to that one.
12Although, this does not always work out.
13I really wanted that vinyl copy of Gentlemen I found on eBay last year.
14Or empty the local shelves.
15Shuffle reveals embarrassing material all the time.
16There is nothing wrong with Nardy’s list. I am amazed not at just the breadth of his collection, but the depth as well. He not only has one Marvin Gaye album, but three; Led Zeppelin occupies six spots; and the Beatles – yes, those Beatles – provide 12 LP’s. I’ve seen it in-person. It’s quite impressive.
17I’ll get more.
Beer and Pavement 
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