204. Explosions in the Sky - ‘The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place’ + Steam Roller

Explosions in the Sky - ‘The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place’ + Steam Roller

Ingredients: 1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur, 1 ounce rye whiskey, 1/2 ounce Heering Cherry Liqueur, 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 Anchor Steam Beer, Lemon Twist

Mixing instructions: Combine St-Germain, whiskey, cherry heering and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker, half-full with ice.  Shake vigorously.  Strain into a cocktail glass and top with your bottle of cold Anchor Steam. Garnish with lemon twist.

Notes: **September Record of the Month for Vinyl Me, Please**  We’re coming up on the 10 year anniversary of Explosion in the Sky’s masterpiece “The Earth in Not a Cold Dead Place” (Nov. 4th, in case you’re curious) and it’s an album that has not only stuck with us, but has continued to overwhelm us since we first heard it. If you haven’t heard this record before, or haven’t heard it in awhile, then get ready to get wrecked. Called their “attempt to write love songs” by guitarist Munaf Rayani, this record captures moments few others have and they do so with pure instrumentation, making this even more of an anomaly and treat. This should get you ready for everything Autumn has in store for you quite nicely.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Vinyl Me, Please

199. Kurt Vile - ‘Wakin On A Pretty Daze’ + Sloe Gin Fizz

Kurt Vile - ‘Wakin On A Pretty Daze’ + Sloe Gin Fizz

Ingredients: 2 ounces sloe gin, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, 1 teaspoon super fine sugar, club soda.

Mixing Instructions: Mix ingredients in cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Collins glass and fizz an inch or so from the top. Splash the soda on top so that it foams.

Notes: All you need to know about Philly-rocker, Kurt Vile’s fifth studio album can be found in the opening track, “Wakin on a Pretty Day”. That absolutely is not to say one shouldn’t listen to the rest of the album, but simply that the DNA contained in the sauntering 9:30 ballad showcases all the ingredients that make Vile’s music sneakily addictive. The silvery twang of the guitar stretched out alongside Vile’s meandering vocals make music that could easily be passed by on first listen, but contain the intangible quality of get-under-your-skin-ness that all artists desire and few attain. Vile’s lyrics are sharp, his understanding of his own musical strengths is beyond his years. Putting it all together the result is a strong album that can be paired with no other drink, but a sloe gin fizz…I seldom feel as strongly about an album/cocktail match. Cheers!

purchase vinyl: Amazon

187. Deerhunter - ‘Monomania' + Death at Dusk

Deerhunter - ‘Monomania' + Death at Dusk

Ingredients:  1/2 ounce crème de violette, 5 ounces sparkling wine, 1/4 ounce absinthe, and a maraschino cherry.

Mixing Instructions:  Pour the crème de violette and wine into a champagne flute.  Float the absinthe on top, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Notes:  Do you have any friends that you occasionally feel like you need to “prepare” your other friends for before you introduce them?  That’s how I feel with Bradford Cox of Deerhunter whenever I tell my friends about his music… even if I think they’re a good fit.  Bradford Cox can be a quirky guy, but not without his reasons.  If your first introduction to him was on his recent Jimmy Fallon performance, I can see how you might approach his music with some trepidation.  One thing I’ve learned though is that Cox usually gets the responses that he is looking for, and I always end up loving his music no matter how “out there” he presents himself.  True artists in that sense, along with a catalog of phenomenal music, Deerhunter is a band I appreciate time and time again.  I glazed over the new album the first time I heard it and had to really talk myself into listening to it the second time I played it.  But something happened on that second listen that stuck with me… some piece of the title track that I couldn’t get out of my head, and lately I listen to the album in full a couple times a day.  I expect that to continue…  monomania, you might say.  

Enjoy this album with a Death at Dusk, a cocktail suited for the likes of Deerhunter.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

182. The Shouting Matches - ‘Grownass Man’ + Diamondback

The Shouting Matches - ‘Grownass Man’ + Diamondback

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounce rye whiskey (such as Rittenhouse), 3/4 ounce applejack (such as Laird’s), 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse

Mixing instructions: Combine ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir for 30 seconds then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry… or not, it’s your drink! If it’s too sweet, dial back the chartreuse a bit.  

Notes:  You know what I like about The Shouting Matches debut album Grownass Man?… Everything.  Sure, you might recognize one of those guys on the cover more than the other two, but this is a cohesive group playing off each others talents in a way that makes you feel like they’ve been playing together their whole lives.  We’re confident this album will stick with you well beyond this years best-of lists. Careful though, this Diamondback cocktail pairing will knock you on your Grownass, Man… don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Vinyl Me, Please is the best damn vinyl of the month club out there and this album was chosen as their record of the month for May 2013. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a membership—Physically owning your music has never felt more rewarding. 

purchase vinyl:  Amazon   ||   Insound

174. Evenings - ‘Yore’ + Leap Year

Evenings - ‘Yore’ + Leap Year

**April selection for Vinyl Me, Please - the world’s best vinyl-of-the-month club**

Ingredients: 2 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth, 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier, 1/4 ounces fresh lemon juice.

Mixing Instructions: Combine ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel twist (optional…always optional). 

Notes: The debut LP from Harlem-based producer Nathan Broaddus is the type of music I listen to when I’m sick of music. That might seem an odd thing to say…it’s not sick of all music per se, but just the typical day-to-day fare that can begin running too closely together at times. The minimalist, ambient atmosphere created over the course of Yore serves as a welcome reset button, breaking music down to its elements and reminding the listener of how much emotion and energy can be contained within a single note or drum beat.  Don’t be fooled, this isn’t simple music - it has a depth of sound and feeling that is both beautiful and stirring.  The type of album to throw on the turntable (plug the headphones in for full effect) when you feel musically weary, mix a classic cocktail created by legendary London Savoy barman, Harry Craddock, and cleanse your musical palate.     

purchase vinyl: FoF Music

173. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - ‘We the Common’ + Dawn Chorus

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - ‘We the Common’ + Dawn Chorus

Ingredients: 1 ounce Southern Comfort, 3/4 ounce port, 1/2 ounce Punt e Mes red vermouth, 1/3 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon grenadine syrup, 2 ounces cola.

Mixing Instructions:  Mix all ingredients, but cola into a cocktail shaker.  Shake and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and top with cola.

Notes:  The opening track of Thao Nguyen & Co.’s latest album is listed as “(For Valerie Bolden)” a reference to the young woman that Nguyen met during her first visit to San Francisco County Jail with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.  She did so while taking time away from music to live a regular life after years spent on the road touring with her band.  The result of her musical sabbatical is 'We the Common', a punchy folk-jam LP mixed with beats and banjo licks that would draw smiles from fans of Dilla and Sufjan both.  The type of music that begs to be played live, or at least at a party with friends and good drinks, Thao tapped John Congleton (Bill Callahan, St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky) for the production work and the result is sonic bliss.  Invite the neighbors over, mix up some cocktails that can match the fuzz of Thao’s guitar and lift your glass to an album that deepens your love a music just a little bit more. 

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

172. Phosphorescent - ‘Muchacho’ + Leather Hammock

Phosphorescent - ‘Muchacho’ + Leather Hammock

Ingredients: 1 ounce mezcal reposado, 3/4 ounce Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, 1/3 ounce maraschino liqueur (like Luxardo), 3/4 ounce fresh orange juice, orange peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Pour ingredients into an ice-filled cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Add orange peel for garnish and serve. (via Gaz Regan)

Notes:  This isn’t Matthew Houck’s first rodeo and the progression of his music in both sound and style testifies to this truth.  His music has always been great, but Muchacho feels like it could be a breakout record for the Alabama native.  Framed by a clear opening and closing track, Muchacho is meant to be heard as a whole.  Don’t get me wrong, I could keep the stunning ‘Song for Zula’ and rhapsodic ‘Quotidian Beasts’ on repeat for all of eternity… but they serve as vivid highlights in an album that paints an entire creative canvas.  Phosphorescent has a knack for beautiful lyrics, showing weakness, rage, vulnerability, and triumph in his storytelling… but on Muchacho we get a taste of how powerful those same feelings and emotions can be conveyed when paired with Houck’s best production work yet — a fullness of sound that envelopes you as you listen.  Written largely while on a solo trip to Mexico, pair the album with an appropriate mezcal cocktail and celebrate the work of someone who truly cares about their craft.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

170. Devendra Banhart - ‘Mala' + Masala Chai Punch

Devendra Banhart - ‘Mala' + Masala Chai Punch

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces Chai-infused Rum, 2 ounces milk, 1/2 ounce rich demerara syrup, fresh grated nutmeg.

Mixing Instructions:  Chai-infused Rum—Measure 4 tablespoons of loose Masala Chai tea into a 750-ml bottle of rum.  Let steep for 2 hours, agitating periodically.  Strain and rebottle.  THEN—mix ingredients into cocktail shaker 3/4 full of ice, shake & strain, and garnish with nutmeg (via Gaz Regan).

Notes: Devendra Banhart can be a tad-bit unpredictable at times.  He’s clearly a genius-caliber musician and artist, but you never know when you’re going to get the unbelievably beautiful Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon Devendra Banhart or that Megapuss-style Devendra Banhart (although, there were a couple songs off that Megapuss album that were pretty good).  Fortunately, with the occasional misstep from such a great artist, the perfect opportunity for surprise is presented to the casual fan when an album like Mala shows up seemingly out of nowhere.

Mala still has numerous hints of Banhart’s playful demeanor and sense of humor… but the overall feel of the album is much more laid back and more in-line of succession to Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (which I couldn’t possible love more).  If you’ve never known where to jump in with Banhart, or you tried before at a previously inopportune time… do not hesitate to start over again with Mala and see how it suits your fancy. 

purchase vinyl:  Amazon ||   Insound

167. Youth Lagoon - ‘Wondrous Bughouse’ + The Maple Leaf

Youth Lagoon - ‘Wondrous Bughouse’ + The Maple Leaf

Ingredients: 2 ounces Bourbon, 1/2 ounce Maple Syrup, 3/4 ounce Lemon Juice

Mixing Instructions: Combine in cocktail shaker with ice, shake & strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Notes:  When we paired Youth Lagoon’s debut LP The Year of Hibernation last year, we didn’t have much to say about Trevor Powers’ approach to singing, his songwriting, or his music. A young guy from middle america, we might have been more caught by surprise by the sounds and undertones of the album itself than the artist.  Whatever it was, we recognized we loved the music and needed to feature it.  

Now here we are again, in awe of what the still-rather-young artist has created and packaged for us.  An album of art to be sure—THIS is how albums are supposed to be made.  A clear beginning, a flowing series of songs, and a dreamy ending that just makes you want to start it all over from the top.  Sure, there are standout songs… but this album was meant to be heard from start to finish.  A practice that we advocate passionately.  You might notice this Youth Lagoon album has an even more polished sound, even better themes and songwriting, and is even easier to lose yourself in.  Or maybe you’ll just love it with no context for the development of Youth Lagoon as a staple of great music in todays scene.  Either way, try this album out for size… but do it right.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

166. Leagues - ‘You Belong Here’ + Harvest Moon

Leagues - ‘You Belong Here’ + Harvest Moon

**March selection for Vinyl Me, Please - the world’s best vinyl-of-the-month club**

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey, 1 ounce Lillet Blanc, 1/2 ounce apple brandy, 1/2 ounce Green Chartreuse, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, orange peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Stir with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with an orange peel twist. 

Notes: Age matters in music.  Young twenty-somethings often strive for an overly-original sound that can back them into a corner of irrelevance in a hurry - yet also contains huge potential for magic.  Later in life most musicians abandon novelty for simplicity, riffing on classic song structures and melodies and suddenly thinking a greatest hits album is an ok thing to do.  

Made up of early-thirties Nashville musicians with loads of experience, Leagues walk the high-wire separating the two musical territories with ease, delivering a highly pleasurable alt-rock album that will find appreciation among fans of Kopecky Family Band and The Black Keys.  Start to finish there are few songs that won’t induce a head-bob or foot tap, it’s just deliciously catchy work.  An album for the next neighborhood party, pair it with an equally satisfying rye cocktail and pay homage to the perfect mix of experience and joy.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon  

162. Atoms For Peace - ‘Amok’ + Prado

Atoms For Peace - ‘Amok’ + Prado

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces tequila, 3/4 ounce lime juice, 1/2 whole egg white,  1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

Mixing Instructions:  Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry and lime wheel.

Notes:  For most listeners, the story and background of AMOK precede the music it contains so much that you might feel like you’re just supposed to accept that it’s the best thing happening in the music world.  The artists involved (Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Flea from RHCP, Nigel Godrich, Mauro Refosco, Joey Waronker) all have successful music careers and have come together to both tour Thom Yorke’s solo album, The Eraser, a few years back and present us with AMOK just a few years later, today.  With as much hype as an album like this brings with it, the first listen can be daunting.  Do I like this?  Is it everything they said it would be?  If I’m not immediately in love with it, is there something wrong with my taste?  These are all valid questions to consider.

Fortunately, AMOK is an all-out success in its execution.  The sound is unique.  Not just unique like Thom Yorke’s The Eraser was to the typical Radiohead sound in 2006, but unique to the new group.  Let’s not be mistaken, Atoms for Peace is Thom Yorke’s motivation.  But aside from that point, the individual pieces of this puzzle come together incredibly well, creating a new and original sound that will now define Atoms for Peace for the foreseeable future. Take the time to overlook the hype…

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

158. The Flaming Lips - ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' + Rasmopolitan

The Flaming Lips - ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' + Rasmopolitan

Ingredients:  1.5 Ounces Vox Raspberry Vodka, 0.5 ounce Cointreau, 1 ounce Cranberry Juice, squeeze of fresh lime juice

Mixing Instructions:  Mix ingredients into a shaker half-filled with ice, strain into Martini glass. Garnish with raspberries or lime peel.

Notes:  The Flaming Lips, and specifically Wayne Coyne, can be a rather divisive conversation topic.  On the one hand, they’re from Oklahoma (of which their loyalty to earns them little more than a rolling of the eyes) and lead singer Coyne can be rather outspoken and abrasive.  The other side of the Coyne (*sigh*… sorry) is that they have a track record of excellent albums and brilliant production that matches well with their live performance grandiosity.  Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is a release that still today sounds like it’s a fresh and forward thinking style of music.  A must-listen, take some time and let Yoshimi play…and of course, mix yourself a delicious pink cocktail to make the experience complete.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon  ||   Insound

156. Ducktails - ‘The Flower Lane’ + Seabreeze Cocktail

Ducktails - ‘The Flower Lane’ + Seabreeze Cocktail

Ingredients:  1.5 ounces vodka, 4 ounces cranberry juice, 1 ounce grapefruit juice

Mixing Instructions:  Pour vodka over ice into highball glass, add mixers and stir lightly.  Garnish with lime wedge.

Listening Instructions:  Matt Mondanile’s group Ducktails may never fully escape the shadow of his other project, Real Estate, despite the growing argument that the shadow is starting to cast itself from the opposite direction. Truth is, Ducktails keep releasing consistently high-caliber indie rock music that is progressing beautifully with each new release.  if you’re keeping track, this makes 3 consistent releases to only two full length releases from Real Estate.  Those comparisons are unnecessary as both projects are independently great… but as Real Estate fans continue to wait for their next LP… maybe it’s time they realize great things are happening in other places.  

purchase vinyl:  Amazon // Insound 

148. Christopher Owens - ‘Lysandre' + Paddy Cocktail

Christopher Owens - ‘Lysandre' + Paddy Cocktail

Ingredients:  1.5 ounces Irish Whiskey (my vote, Jameson), 1.5 ounces sweet vermouth, 1 dash angostura bitters

Mixing Instructions: Stir in ice for 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass.

Notes:  Christopher Owens has a special place in my music catalog.  His work as the driving force behind Girls, and the two great albums that were produced therein, have a knack for nudging me in an emotional direction that I don’t find myself very naturally; guilt mostly, with a taste deep sadness.  You might ask then, why would you seek out music that makes you feel that way.  The answer is, I don’t, I just keep going back to it because it’s so good.  The music is just indescribably great… and the emotion that you get when listening to it is oddly real and powerful.  So when I heard Girls would be no more but that Christopher Owens would release music as a solo project, I knew I’d have to approach it cautiously.  As it turns out, Owens’ still has a story to tell and he tells it well.  Lysandre is a beautiful progression from his work as lead for Girls and may just break the mold enough to be an album I listen to and share with others more readily.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

145. Cold War Kids - ‘Loyalty to Loyalty’ + Grateful Dead

Cold War Kids - ‘Loyalty to Loyalty’ + Grateful Dead

Ingredients: 1 ounce tequila, 1 ounce vodka, 1 ounce light rum, 1 ounce gin, 1 ounce Chambord raspberry liqueur.  

Mixing Instructions: Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Pour into an ice-filled highball and serve.

Notes: There is a desperation in the voice of Nathan Willett that makes you listen.  You can almost picture the Cold War Kids lead singer being dragged away like a crazed man to a prison cell as he pleads with the listener throughout the course of the band’s second album, Loyalty to Loyalty.  Filled with political and philosophical meanderings, the album is the darker, more interesting sister to their debut, Robbers & Cowards.  One should approach this album like they’d approach getting lost in a dense jungle, with reckless curiosity and strong drink.

purchase vinyl:  Amazon ||  Insound

144. Alexander - ‘Alexander’ + Cherry Sling

Alexander - ‘Alexander’ + Cherry Sling

Ingredients: 2 ounces cherry brandy, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 twist lemon peel

Mixing Instructions: Pour brandy and lemon juice into an old-fashioned glass over ice and stir.  Garnish with lemon twist and serve.

Notes: Alexander Ebert said in an interview that a large part of overcoming his drug addiction had to do with facing and accepting death.  As one listens to his solo project under the name Alexander, as well as his work as front man for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, one senses that his proximity with death produced in him a much sharper focus concerning life — as if he sees the world in HD, while most are stuck with standard definition.  The contrast of vividly introspective lyrics in songs like “Truth” with the casual, sing-songy manner in which the songs are styled makes it seem as though the wisdom contained within can only be received with a child-like heart…and maybe that’s the point.  An album that always draws smiles when brought out for friends, make a round of Cherry Slings and let Alexander stir your soul. 

purchase vinyl: good luck, very rare (try Discogs/eBay)

142. Here We Go Magic - ‘A Different Ship’ + Hurricane

Here We Go Magic - ‘A Different Ship’ + Hurricane

Ingredients: 1 ounce vodka, 1/3 ounce grenadine syrup, 1 ounce gin, 1 ounce light rum,  1/2 ounce Bacardi 151 rum, 1 ounce amaretto almond liqueur, 1 ounce triple sec, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice.

Mixing Instructions: Pour all, but the juices, in order, into a hurricane glass 3/4 filled with ice.  Fill with equal parts grapefruit and pineapple juice, and serve.

Notes: Listening to Here We Go Magic’s third studio album is a lot like swimming in a deep mountain lake…peaceful, beautiful, mildly hypnotic, but always tinged with the unsettling, hollow-gut feeling of terror that comes with not being able to see the bottom — having to trust that there is a bottom at all.  When Radiohead producer Nigel Goodrich offered his services to the band for this album he did so with the intent of helping better communicate their trance-inducing feeling on tape.  It worked.  The layers and waves of sonic magic that Luke Temple and Co. create meld together in a delightful way.  It’s an album that swirls around you and one that needs a Hurricane in hand to match its timbre.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

141. Fleet Foxes - ‘Helplessness Blues’ + Deshler

Fleet Foxes - ‘Helplessness Blues’ + Deshler

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce rye whiskey, 3/4 ounce Dubonnet Rouge, 1/2 ounce Triple Sec, 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Mixing Instructions: Fill two-thirds of a cocktail shaker full of ice, add all ingredients and stir until chilled.  Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Notes: If I were a band manager I would pray that my band’s first LP was decent, but not great.  The pressure that ensues when a band jumps out of the gates with an instant classic, as Fleet Foxes did with their EP and self-titled album in 2008, can tear a group apart at the seams.  So, when the Seattle-based indie folk band released their follow-up, nearly three years later, their fan base breathed a collective sigh of relief.  Helplessness Blues was and is a masterpiece — a testament to the growth of Robin Pecknold as a songwriter and to the band’s ability to test artistic boundaries without losing their collective soul.  With a slightly darker, more “realistic” (Pecknold’s description) feel, the album ponders major philosophical questions that are both sincere and universal.  An album that thunders down from the Cascades, one should choose a night when concentration and meditation is possible and listen with an open heart and a substantive cocktail.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

135. The Band - ‘Music from Big Pink’ + The Revolver

The Band - ‘Music from Big Pink’ + The Revolver

Ingredients: 2 ounces bourbon whiskey (a rye-heavey bourbon like Bulleit or Buffalo Trace), 1/2 ounce coffee liqueur, 2 dashes orange bitters, orange peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Combine bourbon, coffee liqueur, and orange bitters in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir until well-chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Twist orange peel to release oils over drink, flame the orange peel and drop into drink as garnish.

Notes:    Music from Big Pink is the first album from a group of guys that got their start by performing as a back-up band, eventually becoming “The" back-up band for Bob Dylan in the Sixties.  It might explain why their music stylings are so polished for their first album… they figured themselves out as musicians by touring heavily before their own debut release. The value of Music from Big Pink is almost palpable; “Big Pink” refers to the house that members of The Band were occupying in upstate New York when they originally composed the tracks that would end up on this album and where The Basement Tapes would eventually be recorded by Bob Dylan and crew.  Whenever I think I have a pulse for the music, I imagine what it might have been like to be a fly on the wall in that house when this earliest music was being created in a place now so significant and I start it over from the beginning.  

purchase vinyl:  Amazon   //   Insound

129. Joanna Newsom - ‘Ys' + Elderflower Martini

Joanna Newsom - ‘Ys' + Elderflower Martini

Ingredients: 1 ounce elderflower cordial, 1 ounce Bombay Sapphire gin, 1 ounce Cinzano dry vermouth, 1/2 ounce lime juice.

Mixing Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.  Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Notes:  If I have to sum up Joanna Newsom in a short note, I’d say you’re probably not likely to fully understand her at a glance.  She has the ability to unfold a beautiful story with thoughtful lyrics, an unmatched technical skill on the harp even among other performance harpists (she makes polyrhythm seem like something anyone could do.  *note—you probably can’t), and she has the ability to make a harp a primary instrument across an entire album and never get dull.  Don’t get me wrong, her voice can sound a bit quirky if something like that is likely to turn you away, and the harp IS a non-traditional instrument to hear through your stereo by itself… but sit down with an Elderflower Martini and listen to Joanna Newsom masterfully perform the tracks on Ys.  It is an exercise worth completing.

purchase vinyl:  Amazon  ||  Insound