The Most Dire of Straits

An exciting night. A dive back into all that is vinyl. I've had a hiatus. I got engaged. My job has been more than crazy. Upgrades galore. I went to visit one of my best friends in DC this weekend and we were playing a few wax gems. Van Morrison. Little Feat. Zappa. I wanted back into the game.

Grabbed a few beers on my way home. Some I haven't reviewed..... but that's for another night. tonight is all about the music. I got a call from Needle Doctor today. They wanted to post my site on theirs. I feel giddy and stupid. Time to add my piece to this blog.

I have bought some albums recently. My local vinyl shop had a "buy one, get one" this weekend, which was too much to pass up. I ended up with about 20 sleeves under my arm after about 45 minutes. One of which; Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms.

This album is wet. It drips notes. It certainly has the sound of a disc cut in 1985, but the music is at least 10 years ahead. Knophler has a sound all his own, with guitar riffs falling somewhere in between rock-a-billy and full-on rock star. It's hard to gauge the album from the hits. "Money for Nothing" is a great song. The first minute thirty washes over you, like a warm breeze. However, "Walk on By", the next track, sits a little to mainstream for my ears.

Overall, Knophler conveys a unattainable sense of mystery throughout. It's like the speakers throw the sound in front of you, but the reason of the music stays just out of reach. And interesting concept for the time. Wow.

HTPC!!!

UPDATE: Just wanted to let the world know that tonight i build my first HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer). This will replace not only my WD HDTV Live Player in my setup, but also my Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray Player. I'm going to be filming the build and integration of the whole process. More updates will follow.

Home Away From Home: The Hotel Room Review

Southern Tier Brewing Company
Cuvee Series
Series One
Oak Aged Ale, 11% ALC/VOL
Lakewood, NY

So I have a night away from the house. I miss all things common about my place, but there's something liberating about being in my own room again. Something stoic and primordial. As I drove here, I thought "I'm going to be away from that which I love, let's at least do something worthwhile. And here we are, at the first "dual review". Tonight I listen to on full album a drink a beer that only the gods speak of.

So on my way here, I stop at my local establishment (big ups to 7 Courts Liquors). The guys working here know their stuff. It takes a certain type of person to true understand the nature of great beer. You have to A) have a good palette and a large enough vocabulary to dictate it and B) you have to be a bit of an asshole. The guys whole work here fit the bill fine. And since I'm in quite often, they've been keen enough to narrow their "offers" to my specific choice of beer and brand.

Tonight I get a doozy. A rare beer, possibly the rares I've tasted, is here, in stock, and awaiting my gullet. Every inch of this beer oozes class and pompousness. It comes in a clearly mark box; so no person would ever confuse this "cosmic beer" with one of mere mortals.

I bring it back to my hotel room. It sits in front of me, almost pacing on the desktop as I write..... What music could be paired with such a maverick, such a virtuoso. I search my hard drive for something worth the push, and that's when it hits me. Gabriel. Peter Gabriel has weaved his way to and fro between old and new audiophiles across the globe, only feeding his enduring seminal status among the musical elite. I had just gotten back into Gabriel with his new release, Scratch My Back, a disc of covers. A soft poetic disc, but powerful none the less.

But a recent release wouldn't do. I finally landed on Gabriel's "Hit", a definitive collection. I know what your saying...."a greatest hits, are you crazy?". I know the connotation it brings, but this is truly a great collection, one that plays as much like an album as the the next. So I cue it up, hit play, pop the top of the beer, listen, and drink....

The beer makes me react first, like a punch in the face. It's huge. Bold and burnt. The flavor overwhelms my pallet immediately. It takes a while for it all to sink in. There's so much to absorb. I get a nuttiness and bread taste right away. You can't ignore it. But as i search deeper, i find tropical hints. A splash of coconut hits the back of my throat from time to time. This beer is truly unique. I know I just reviewed the Allagash, but this beer wins it hands down. It's complex, but truly attainable. Any light beer chugging frat boy could find joy in this beer. It's a gift.

To the music. I brought my Sony MDR-7506 headphones with me. These cans have been through it all with me and come out the other side unscathed. They have a beautiful sound and plenty of character.

This album sounds as good as this beer tastes. AMAZING. The tracks weave in and out and seem to cater to me and situation perfectly. A few tracks stand out. Sledgehammer, Shock the Monkey, Biko, Growing Up, Red Rain, and most of all, Here Comes The Flood.

This last tune on the disc is a gem. The reverb in the mix is wonderful. I makes you feel liek you are alone with Gabriel in an old theater, just "listening to a practice or an impromptu performance." It's mesmerizing.

Allagash: Interlude

Belgian Style Ale

Aged in Oak Barrels June 2009
Brewed by Allagash Brewing Co.
Portland, Maine
ALC/VOL 9.5%

It's been a long time since my last review. Too long. So let's kick it back in with a bang. I saw this beer staring me in the face the last time I was in my favorite local beer and wine establishment (Beltway Fine Wine, it's insane!). I was having a party that weekend and I wanted "something nice" for a night cap after the guests had left. Well, one things led to another and i had too many type of many beers. Then another few Patron shots later, my fancy night cap was no longer a priority in my state.

So now, a week later, I pull the bottle out with a fresh mind (and liver) to give this complex beer another shot. It comes in a nice thick 750ml bottle with a label that seems to drip "high end". I gave it pour and could tell immediately that I was going have a unique experience. A multitude of spices floated to the top in the head and the unbelievably complex blend of spices hit my nose like a ton of bricks.

OK, enough is enough, lets dive in. Holy crap. Haven't had a beer like this. It's difficult to even paraphrase my initial reaction. You get a lot of citrus up front; what seems most like apricot and pear. As the taste developed on my pallet, it became less acidic, but kept many of the sweet overtones from the initial bite. It's body at this point had almost expanded in my mouth, like rising bread. In fact, I get some slight hints of toast or cracker once the taste fully comes to fruition.

It ends much like a wine, which isn't hard to believe considering it's barrel aged. I get a deep red taste at the end, very plum like. I did a little poking around on the web, and it turns out that this beer is aged in Merlot and Sirah barrels, which fits in this puzzle perfectly.

What surprises me more than the myriad of complex flavors or the strong finish is how tame this 9.5% tastes. At no point does the pure taste of alcohol overwhelm what the brewer was intentionally trying to get across. I've had 9.5% before that have only achieved this by overpowering the alcohol by saturating the brew with a equally strong flavor. Kudos Allagash!

John Mayer: Battle Studies

I didn't think that when I created this blog that I would be blasting a critical review this early. I'm a positive guy at heart. But John Mayer's latest release, Battle Studies, needs to be torn down and beaten with a stick.

A little bit of back story here. I stumbled over John Mayer when I was in my freshman year at college in 2001, before the release of Room for Squares. Some buddy had sent me one of his demos, raving about it. I was primarily acoustic tracks that were built with intricacy, grace, and life. I was immediately drawn to the style and joined the John Mayer street team. This allowed me early access to Room for Squares as well as other unreleased material. Room for Squares, although it now was filled out with a full band, was still filled with the same elements that attracted me to Mayer's music in the first place. From there, Mayer's next releases, Heavier Things and Continuum, fell short for me. This was attributed to 1) the lack of life and joy i enjoyed in the first release and 2) Mayer's stumbles in the tabloid media.

This all changed when he released Try, his first Trio release. While the album completely escaped his normal pop genre by moving into the rock/blues realm, it had a re-energized sound. This great sound also made it's way into Where The Light Is, a amazing three way attack (solo acoustic, trio, band) recorded live in Los Angeles.

Alright, time to get back on track with the impending shit storm. Battle Studies is the worse release yet, missing the whole train. The mix is opposite of my taste. The first thing I notice that makes me want to snap this CD in half is the presence of the large, dry, gated, over produced snare throughout the whole recording. This snare sound is usually reserved for older jazz recordings and sounds completely out here. Secondly, the lyrics could not be more canned. It's like they were written by a tween that just got out of a Twilight screening and is feeling like writing down some of those "mushy" feelings.

In summation, the only tune that is even decent is the a cover or "Crossroads". This album sucks. Lets hope Mayer get the message.