“If you were to pair this beer with a song what would it be?”

At the Boonville Beer Festival I recently asked for a musical pairing with each beer sample I received.  Set against the beautiful Anderson Valley, Booneville beer festival brings together the best of Northern California’s population – hippies and hicks. But when the beer is flowing politics are left behind and the surrounding campgrounds are filled with strangers playing cornhole,  jovial campfire stories, and even a few stray bottles of moonshine.

While immersed in this culture-clashing event it seemed quite perfect to get to know this community even better through my favorite form of currency – drunk music recommendations. The link between music and alcohol is as old as civilization itself; serving as therapeutic escapes from the hardest of times. Both of these sensory treats complement each other as they transport one from an imperfect reality to more harmonious state of mind colored by a symphony of sound that also tantalizes the taste buds.

So to cast a true “Cheers!” to this oft overlooked merriment pairing I conducted a rigorous survey of beer and music duos. This expert knowledge was gathered straight from the hop-swiggin’ hooligans themselves, a myriad of west coast breweries presenting at Boonville Beer Festival. The answers to my survey were surprising, enchanting, and even educational (see: LEGO Movie theme song). I went into this melodic journey expecting a bunch of bluegrass and jam bands, but was happy to find music tastes as diverse as the beers being presented.

Music to Your Beers: Booneville Edition  (Link to Spotify Playlist)

Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, Not For Sale Saison with “Take a Chance on Me” ABBA

How a Saison relates to ABBA is still a mystery to me, but the beautiful Aussie pouring could have told me the pairing was “Spice World” and I would have smiled in agreement.

Societe Brewing Company, The Apprentice with “Half Moon Rising” Yonder Mountain String Band

Sweet sunshine-filled tune that pairs beautifully with this light colored, hazy, just-hoppy-enough American IPA.  

Napa Smith Brewing, Golden Gate IPA with “Truckin’” Grateful Dead

The brewers sang me this song choice with the lyric “What a looooong strange trip it has been!”, which helped explain their euphoria from premiering this new and notable hoppy ale last month.

North Coast Brewing, Brother Thelonious with “On the Sunny Side of the Street” Dizzie Gillespie

North coast’s delicious dark belgian ale is paired expertly with up beat saxophone and the soulful, sultry baseline of this Jazz classic. Throw on a smoking jacket and you’ve got yourself an evening.  

Coronado Brewing Company, Sock Knocker with “Twister” by Keith Swift

Enter the surprise 90’s slow jam admission: the brewer at Coronado was so quick with his pairing response that I’ve got to believe he’s throwin’ back this jam while crying into his strong ale. We got you dude, hang in there.

Sudwerk Brewing Company, The Big DIPL with “Wild Thing”  The Troggs

Described as “a bold brew that is a super nova of hop bitterness & aroma” I’d agree that this 9% Pale Ale could easily be compared to the 1960’s hit “Wild Thing” which recounts the singer’s unabashed passion and lust for a formidable temptress.  

Third Street Ale Works, Zero Dark Thirsty  with “Holier Than Thou” Metallica

This ferocious black IPA deserves the bold, head-banging sound of Metallica, so it’s no wonder that my tasting buddy yelled “Rock on!” as we sipped it down.

Eel River Brewing, Acai Berry Wheat with “Everything is awesome” LEGOS MOVIE

While tasting this fruity (and perhaps antioxidant filled) wheat beer I was serenaded by the euphoric tune: “Everything is Awesome!!” by Tegan and Sarah, & Lonely Island. After not recognizing the song on the brewer’s first attempt he was joined by two charlatans in the tasting line to reprise the chorus in unison with big grins. When I still looked on with a blank stare and confessed to not recognizing the song they yelled: “IT’S FROM THE LEGO MOVIE! C’mon!”. Their cumulative insistence of this fact revealed that  all reasonable people should know this and I had been living under a rock. Consider the knowledge bomb dropped.

Uncommon Brewers, Siamese Twin Ale with “We Intertwined” The Hush Sound

Siamese Twin is a sweet and malty Dubble ale that mirrors this lovely piano rock ballad by The Hush Sound, a quartet with Ben Folds Five-esque melodies that recently reunited for the first time in 5 years.  

Grand Teton Brewing Company, Pursuit of hoppiness with “Paranoid” Black Sabbath

Kick ass hops and full flavor make Pursuit of Hoppiness is a killer brew, no matter how aggressive the soundtrack. 

Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Boont Amber Ale with  “Cosmic Girl” Jamiroquai

Since the festival was themed “super hero” my costume was Cosmic Girl and as such this song paired beautifully with the host brewery’s delicious amber ale. Later that night we sipped this Anderson Valley classic while dancing around the grain room during our own private brewery tour.

St. Florian’s Brewing, Flashover Belgian IPA with “Cheeseburger in Paradise” Jimmy Buffet

Left field pick here! To be sure, it struck me as a joke from the brewer or that she was a closet Jimmy Buffet fan eager for a confidant.

Golden Road Brewing, Wolf among Weeds IPA with  “Weekapaug Groove” Phish

Golden Road has stood out amongst a large field of breweries in California (not a small feat) and so it seems fitting to pair this phenomenal brewery with a similarly infamous jam band.  

Dust Bowl Brewing Company, Hops of Wrath with “This land is your land” Woody Guthrie

As the sun dipped low in the sky, the brewers got a bit more sentimental with their song choices. This pairing denotes the folksy community of tipsy new friends that (at this point in the day) were more than happy to share a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pour together. 

Mendocino Brewing, Rock Point IPA with “Someone saved my life tonight” Elton John

This song was explained to me in a desperate voice, the voice of a man who has poured “180 tasting cups” and is ready to join the festivities himself. So with my sip of Mendocino Brewing’s well balanced session ale I helped the brewer tap his keg and brought him one step closer to an alcohol-infused salvation. Huzzah! 

Why do you love Beirut?  The question was being posed to me at a house party, one where the host’s superior collection of craft beer had turned me into a blushing and slightly over exuberant conversationalist with all the new cute strangers I met. This new cute stranger demonstrated enough basic hipster fashion trends (Warby Parkers and Japanese Denim) that I knew he’d heard of the indie band Beirut, but for whatever reason, had not come to worship them like I did.  By answering his question “Why do you love Beirut?” I would have to craft my argument in an eloquent and fun fact-based manner, maybe even provide this information with a few coy half smiles, to reveal that I too had more secrets to reveal.

Alas, my drunken reasoning that night didn’t amount to any romance with said hipster disbeliever, but I did wake up the next morning perplexed that I had recounted this conversation so many times. Why did it seem like so many well meaning music fans, even well read music fans, had not been bitten by the Beirut bug? How do you explain to a stranger how a band can follow you through different states and countries, falling in and out of love, and still magically feel relevant in 2015?  Did the band’s dramatic pairings of Balkan brass melodies, mixed with ukulele solos, guided by soaring vocals not captivate their wanderlust ambitions?

Perhaps not, but Beirut has been my musical companion for almost a decade and I believe a North American tour is in the band’s near future. After they premiered two new songs in 2014 “Rumeli” and “No No No” at Brooklyn’s Northside Festival, I’m hoping there will be 2015 tour announced soon (and maybe even a few new fans will join me on the dance floor). So lets see if I can take you on a journey of exploration and appreciation of Beirut that befits this glorious global fusion band whose eclectic sound is both intoxicating and cathartic.

I was immediately drawn to Beirut when I first heard them in college. After spending many years obsessed with Wes Anderson, I was already captivated by any artistic opportunity to escape the drudgery of real life for stories of a more beautiful and poignant world. Beirut’s cinematic grandeur of multi-instrument melodies paralleled the movies I had come to love for illustrating basic human experiences of love and loss in a fresh and more contemplative way. There was a maturity and curiosity to Beirut’s music that amplified those common themes I was currently struggling with in college. Living out of state was my first real taste of independence and Beirut’s music beautifully showcased that sense of adventure mixed with self reflection and doubt that I grappled with on a daily basis. The European and Latin American flare of Beirut’s music added a color of romance to the challenges and victories of early college life, thus helping me stay hopeful that adulthood would soon turn into a beautiful and poignant experience.

The first Beirut song I fell head over heals for was The Penalty. This beautiful ballad was introduced to me by a friend who played the Ukelele-based tune by campfire one cold and starry night. Before you sigh and make a snarky comment about Moonrise Kingdom, I would like to remind you that this was 2008, so chill the f*** out.

The Penalty is a great Beirut primer because the listener is introduced to lead singer Zach Condon’s soaring and penetrating vocals with minimal instrumental distraction. His lyrics are lightly complemented by a Ukulele melody (that is surprisingly un-Hawaiian) and finishes with the support of an accordion and drums. Ukelele is a cornerstone of Beirut’s sound due a childhood injury that rendered Condon unable to play the guitar. The Penalty provided me with solace in college, a refreshing sonic source of simplicity in the ever more complicated adult world. It is a great song for gentle reflection or dozing off after a few too many IPAs.

After getting hooked by “The Penalty” I dove in my typical intensive research mode and learned about the fascinating history of Beirut the band. It began as the brainchild of New Mexico native Zach Condon. He created 5 solo bedroom recordings after dropping out of high school; these recordings eventually turned in Beirut’s first EP, Gulag Orkestra in 2006, with the help of Jeremy Barnes from Neutral Milk Hotel. To illustrate the band’s early Balkan sound listen to “Postcards from Italy” which I love for it’s hauntingly beautiful sound that showcases Condon’s talented ability to play trumpet, euphonium, mandolin, accordion, various keyboard instruments, as well as ukulele (did I mention he is also adorable? SWOON). This song is a perfect example of Condon’s efforts to pair old world European instruments with melancholy lovesick lyrics that were instantly relatable. From the same EP the song “Scenic World” denotes Condon’s interest in electronic mixing, and his ability to play with this art form while still holding on to his gift for lyrical story telling with cinematic ambiance. This EP was a fantastical beginning for a band that would soon sweep us away in dreams of adventures abroad.

After the initial EP Beirut matured from Condon’s bedroom side project to a full fledged 8 piece band in 2007. The band’s maturity and cohesiveness is showcased in the song “Elephant Gun”. The combination of electronic drum machines mixed with European brass instruments is tantalizing and intoxicating. As an aging adolescent it was comically easy for me to relate to 20 year old Condon as he croons  “If I was young, I’d leave this town, I’d bury my dreams underground…”. Only now as I reflect years later do I see how ridiculous this would sound to the well sensed music critics who baffled at Condon’s Hemingway-tinged romanticism and cynicism at the time. But luckily Beirut ignored the press and carried on to release the band’s first full length album,The Flying Cup Club, later that same year.

By the 2007 release of Beirut’s album “The Flying Cup Club” the band had moved from fringe indie band with global influences to a major music attraction that was touring the country. It turns out I wasn’t the only college student discovering their sound by campfires and dreaming of Wes Anderson themed backdrops.

 The Flying Cup Club begins with a disorienting 20 second intro of fog horns, but quickly gives way to “Nantes” a beautifully uplifting melody befit the procession of a king. This album format enriches the cinematic theme that helped me fall for Beirut in the first place, if Wes Anderson were to ever film a romance tale in France I’m guessing he’d chose some of these melodies for the soundtrack. “Sunday Smile” would start a scene of sweeping views of the French countryside while “Fork and Knvies (La Fete)” would accompany a lake boat ride scene in which the protagonist confesses his love to Feolinia, his third cousin visiting from Prague. French Wes Anderson movies aside, this album is still my favorite of all Beirut’s history, and a milestone in the band’s history of legitimizing their unique sound to the world. 

Not to be outdone, two years later in 2009 Beirut dropped another EP “March of the Zapotec” which further baffled critics because it highlighted traditional Mexican music and completely ignored Europe all together. It was as if the band had become bored with their major in “European History” and instead opted to study “Latin American Studies” just for the thrill of it. This EP includes a full piece traditional mariachi band and a seemingly Franco-phile departure from their previous sound. Condon’s obsession with brass instruments can be seen in the “The Akara” and I often wondered if this departure from European music was simply another “F*** You” to the music community that had only just recently learned how to classify Beirut’s eclectic sound. Foot stomping aside I think that March of the Zapotec was a demonstration of the band’s reverence for different music cultures in the Americas, but it left fans like myself feeling a bit confused none the less. I longed for Beirut’s old sound, but knew that their unpredictability couldn’t guarantee I would hear that again.

In 2011 I had the delight of seeing Beirut perform many of their early hits live for the first time in a cramped music hall in Washington DC. Since their last album I had graduated college, moved back East, and was begrudgingly trying to accept adulthood realities that were less imaginative and “world changing” than my liberal arts dreams had hoped. In many ways Beirut’s release of their 2011 newest album, The Rip Tide, was exactly the musical remedy I needed. A soundtrack to stoke my sense of adventure and romance, a melody to crystalize my hope for a less corporate future. The album was published on Condon’s new record label, Pompeii Records, an independent label that demonstrated Beirut’s hope to create uncharacteristic music in an uncharacteristic way. Lucky for me, this album was unlike their Mexican EP and instead a more mature version of their early brassy, lavish sound that had captivated me all along.

The first time I heard the title track of The Rip Tide,  “A Candle’s Fire”, I felt a rush of excitement and anticipation. Like a visit from an old friend, this song harkened back to Beirut’s classic orchestral melodies, but felt a bit newer and cleaner, like the trumpets had gotten polished and ukelele had gotten restrung. The album continued with the familiar dramatic emotional range of songs, but with an unfamiliar regional focus – this time on the US. For once Condon was paying homage to his homeland instead of some romantic locale abroad, as if adulthood had taught him to appreciate his roots a bit more.

Only four months after that show I left DC to set down some new roots, while using The Rip Tide as my steadfast musical compass. I hummed along to “Vagabond” as I rode the train through Boston and dreamt of my impending adventures on the coast. One cold and starry night in Maine I listened to “Goshen” on repeat for two hours as cried my heart out – finding solace in piecing together the lyrical parallels with my own life, easing my heartbreak with the song’s poetic reverence.  By the end of the year I was headed back to my homeland on the west coast, and Condon’s soliloquy to his hometown “Santa Fe”, felt quite fitting to reflect upon during the plane ride.

In 2013 I saw Beirut perform at the Fox Theater in Oakland. I gathered up my closest friends  around me in the audience as I sang along loudly, teared up often, and soaked up all the musical grandeur like a sponge. It was a transcendental experience to be sure. Beirut’s musical mastery is something that can’t be easily described, not even by a super fan like myself who feels such a deep and visceral connection to the band’s music. But even if you haven’t fumbled into adulthood alongside Zach Condon and his band of miscreants I’d think it’s worth giving Beirut a listen. Its’ not often that a band with Southwest roots integrates such diverse and foreign sounds from Europe, Mexico, and even Hawaiian instruments to create such a powerfully beautiful musical experience. It’s a unique sound that speaks to the adventure seeker and wanderlustful music lover in us all.

Except maybe that cute hipster.

Welcome Home Karl. 

For those San Franciscans who long for a seasonal excuse to slip into cozy socks and cook Kitchari, the return of Fog this afternoon was a welcome respite.

My new favorite band, Howard, is a perfect complement to SF’s much needed sweater weather. They captivate listeners with polyphonic rhythms that are reminiscent of Radiohead and Eddie Vedder-esque vocals that parallel his expansive “Into The Wild” Soundtrack. Enjoy getting lost in this band’s slow building electronic swirl this Monday evening…

Asgeir is another great choice for this cozy and foggy night. Keep an eye out for a review of their recent set @ The New Parish soon.

Until then…it’s showtime! Literally.

Spring Shows

February 26th: Les Sins @ The New Parish 

The solo project of Chaz Bundick (Toro Y Moi), this upbeat remix of the band’s trademark shoegaze vibe is a welcome new sound. Have a listen to this toe tappin’ single: Why

February 27th:  WET @ The Rickshaw Stop

After enjoying  to this little indie band for the past 3 years, I’m excited to see one of my lo-fi favorites in person. Their simple melodies charm the senses and sound incredibly fresh. The hook on “You’re the best”  @ :45 secs. gets me every time  

March 16th: Warpaint @ Le Trianon (Paris, France) 

Next month my musical adventures will go Euro as I sway alongside Parisian hipsters while listening to this all-female indie folk band. Warpaint has mastered the murky expansiveness and stripped-down arrangements of this genre. Listen to Billie Holiday 

April 2nd: Ibeyi @ The Independent 

This sassy duo of french sisters are doing a crazy awesome afro-funk jam that has me groovin’ in my seat. Enjoy their hypnotic music video: River, Stream their new album here

April 16th: alt-J, Jungle @ The Greek Theater

After two dynamic sets at Treasure Island last Fall, I can’t wait to see both these bands again:

Alt-J has been breaking down indie rock silos for the past few years and audiences can’t seem to get enough of their strange and tantalizing sound, Listen to “Every Other Freckle” to hear one of their best lines  “I want to turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet”…

Jungle with animalistic intensity this band integrates funk, rock, and pop into a fluid sound that is both catchy and fresh. Throw in some hand claps and you’ve got yourself a keeper – Listen to Busy Earnin’

April 21st: Slyvan Esso @ Fillmore

Like many lo-fi favorites these days sleepy Slyvan Esso has a sound that sneaks up on you, slowly unraveling itself to the listener who sinks deeper & deeper into their hypnotic musical world.  After getting some hype due to their popular musical samplings on NPR, they released a full album in 2014 to much fan fare.  Now Sylvan Esso have taken their eclectic beats and sultry vocals to the stage and we couldn’t be happier. Listen to Coffee and Dress

Hey Music Lovers,

Today is my half birthday. Yes, January 13th is halfway to July folks! So for everyone who did not grow up as an attention-seeking Only Child who made up holidays in order to bring cupcakes to class during their “school year birthday” – You’ve been warned, we’re halfway to the real deal bitches!

But before you berate me for this needless holiday lets remember what this date is all about – Celebration for the sake of celebration! And celebrate we shall, for this is the inaugural edition of Music on My Mind.

As if you needed a REASON to boogie and shake to this compilation of my six favorite tunes in January (to celebrate the past six glorious months)…but here you go. You’re welcome.

Ibeyi – River

Knockout lyrics where indie chic vocals meet a Lauren Hill-worthy beat

What So Not – High You Are (Branchez Remix)

Beats droppin’ like woah. Just try not to dance to thiz…. JUST TRY

Snakehips – Days Without You

Electronic dance jam perfect for rollerblading down the beach boardwalk with the wind blowing through your hair

Panda Bear – Boys Latin

One of the most innovative artists mixing music right now. Light up a spliff and take it all in…

Borns – Electric Love

Passion Pit vibe mixed with Electric Guest and a tinge of Vampire Weekend

Big Data (featuring Joy Wave) – Dangerous

Phoenix-esque vocals with coarser pop rock edge