96. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - ‘Cold Roses’ + Twelve Mile Limit

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - ‘Cold Roses’ + Twelve Mile Limit

Ingredients:  1 ounce white rum, 1/2 ounce brandy, 1/2 ounce rye, 1/2 ounce grenadine, 1/2 oz lemon juice

Mixing Instructions:  Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with lemon twist.

Notes:  We know we can’t really go wrong with any Ryan Adams pairing, that’s part of the beauty of the music.  With a catalog as extensive and rewarding as Adams, which continues to develop, we like to catch him at a sweet spot in 2005 with 18 tracks of beautiful music with the Cardinals.  This album was designed and packaged for vinyl, just like the way it is best heard.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

95. Al Green - ‘Greatest Hits’ + Harvey Wallbanger

Al Green - ‘Greatest Hits’ + Harvey Wallbanger

Ingredients: 1 ounces vodka, 4 ounces orange juice, 1/2 ounce Galliano, orange slice and maraschino cherry for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Pour the vodka and orange juice into an ice-filled collins glass. Float the Galliano by pouring slowly over a spoon turned bottom-side up.  Add orange slice and maraschino cherry for garnish.

Notes:  It’s difficult to find a greatest hits album as perfectly on point as the one compiled by Reverend Al Green.  The sixth of ten children and son of an Arkansas sharecropper, Green’s voice is a more powerful instrument on its own than most full bands.  His music ranges from supremely cool as in “Here I Am (Come Take Me)” and “I Can’t Get Next to You” to perfectly elegant, “Call Me (Come Back Home)” and “I’m Still in Love With You”.  This album is a piece of music history that plays well on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Give it a spin and experience the legend Rolling Stone described as being, “…born to make us smile.”

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94. Deer Tick - ‘Born on Flag Day’ + Gentlemen Johnson

Deer Tick - ‘Born on Flag Day’ + Gentlemen Johnson

Ingredients:  2 ounces bourbon, 5 ounces unsweetened iced tea, 1/2 ounce Cointreau, 1 mint sprig, 1 lemon wedge

Mixing Instructions:Fill a highball glass with ice and add  bourbon, Cointreau and iced tea.  Stir. Garnish with the mint sprig and lemon wedge.

Notes:  It takes less than 20 seconds listening to the opening track “Easy” to realize you’re about to be taken for a rock journey with Born on Flag Day.  Just thinking about the track gets my heel dropping to the beat.  When John McCauley comes in with his gritty vocals after the minute-long intro, the album kicks off and keeps you going for the next 40 minutes.  Hard tracks, easier tracks, a killer duet, and a live rendition of Goodnight, Irene… in this case, the right equation for an excellent album and memorable music experience. 

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93. Sufjan Stevens - ‘Illinois' + Sidecar

Sufjan Stevens - ‘Illinois' + Sidecar

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces cognac, 3/4 ounce Cointreau, 3/4 ounce lemon juice

Mixing Instructions: Shake well with ice then strain into a chilled cocktail glass that has had its outside rim rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar. 

Notes: Often referred to as Come On Feel the Illinoise, Sufjan Stevens second concept album based on a state is one of the most complete and expertly executed pieces of art that you could possible add to your record collection.  I couldn’t possibly say enough about how beautiful and complete this album plays through, or how well Sufjan sticks to the theme he set out to with this album, but it’s so well done that it’s possible you’ve heard it and told somebody you liked it without even realizing fully what you heard.  Whether the songs grab you right away (eventually, they will slay you), just listening and cataloging the references to the state of Illinois in each song is an exercise in and of itself.  Put the album on and find one of the many many aspects of this album to love, because the album isn’t missing anything—in this case it’s you.

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92. The Heavy - ‘The Glorious Dead’ + Caesar

The Heavy - ‘The Glorious Dead’ + Caesar

Ingredients: 1 ounce vodka, 1 dash Worcestershire sauce, 4 ounces Clamato juice, 1 pinch salt, 1 pinch pepper, 2 dashes horseradish

Mixing Instructions: Coat rim of highball glass with celery salt and fill with ice.  Shake ingredients with ice and strain into glass.  Garnish with a celery stalk and a lemon wedge.

Notes:  Blues, rock, soul, funk, hip hop…many improperly use the word “fusion” when describing the melding of genres brought together by this English band.  Fusion implies a boring smoothness blended to obfuscation. Instead, what The Heavy serves up is more of a hardy stew, or meat pie more likely.  Each flavor is distinct and delicious in its own right, playing off the other styles like old friends reuniting.  ”How You Like Me Now” was the insanely cool hit from their 2009, 'House That Dirt Built' that music fans are likely most familiar with.  But, if that’s the only connection one has to the band, this album is a great next step.  Paired with a substantial cocktail not for the faint of heart, this is a one-two punch fit for the Queen herself.

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91. Neutral Milk Hotel - ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ + The Long Hello

Neutral Milk Hotel - ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ + The Long Hello

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce apple brandy, 3/4 ounce St. Germain, 1 dash Angostura bitters, champagne to top, ground nutmeg.

Mixing Instructions: Stir brandy, St. Germain and bitters in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a coupe glass.  Top with champagne and grate nutmeg on top.  

Notes:  It’s hard to know where to start when describing an album like this.  There’s the obvious, the fact that it is considered by many to be one of the greatest indie rock albums of all-time with all the requisite fanfare from critics, cult following and top ten list honors.  There’s the somewhat hazy connection to Anne Frank who’s diaries are said to have served as an emotional catalyst for band leader Jeff Mangum (see “Holland, 1945”).  And then there’s the music itself.  

Like the dreamy, turn-of-the-century album cover inspired by an old European postcard, the band produces a sound that is both fantastical and strangely comforting.  The instrumentals border on circus-like, complete with organ, accordion, brass instruments, pipes, white noise…memories and images called forth through Mangum’s songwriting fly fearlessly through the air like trapeze artists.  It takes the listener to a place they feel like they’ve been one time, maybe as a child.  And yet when the album cuts there’s the eerie realization that no place like that on earth exists.  

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90. Arctic Monkeys - ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ + Salty Dog

Arctic Monkeys - ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ + Salty Dog

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces vodka, 4 ounces grapefruit juice, salt

Mixing Instructions: Salt the rim of a highball glass by running a piece of grapefruit around the rim and dipping in coarse salt.  Fill with ice, add vodka and grapefruit juice and serve.

Notes:  It’s rare to see a band debut with as much buzz as the Arctic Monkey’s did when hit the scene in 2004/2005, and an even more rare occasion that they can deliver like the Arctic Monkey’s did with Whatever People Say I am, that’s What I’m Not.  After some timely singles leading this knockout LP, Arctic Monkey’s scored the #1 spot for largest first week sales of a debut album in the UK (note—this is significant).  Many of the songs might sound like the storytelling of 19-20 year olds (that they were, at the time), but it’s the energy and talent that carry the album through… they rock harder than most music you’re probably hearing day-to-day, we’d guess.  Now that Alex Turner and crew have etched their name in history there is a growing catalog of their music to enjoy.  Our advice?… make it a point to go back their earliest work and appreciate where it started.

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89. Blitzen Trapper - ‘Furr’ + Incider Cocktail

Blitzen Trapper - ‘Furr’ + Incider Cocktail

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey (Maker’s Mark works well), 5 ounces unpasteurized (preferably) apple cider

Mixing Instructions: Fill old-fashioned glass halfway with ice, add bourbon whiskey then fill the rest of the way with apple cider.  Stir and serve.

Notes:  There are few albums better suited for Fall than 'Furr', Blitzen Trapper’s fourth album and arguably its best work as a group.  From start to finish the album is deliciously-crafted Americana folk rock, distilled to its purist and most gritty form. The title track and “Black River Killer” are obvious highlights with each grabbing you by the collar with Dylan-esque storytelling, but there isn’t any fluff to be found throughout the album.  The wood-engraved cover art is fitting as the this album exudes the stature a century-old Pacific fir, solid to the core and filled with tales for the ages.

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88. Wilco - ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ + Chicago Cocktail

Wilco - ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ + Chicago Cocktail

Ingredients: 2 ounces brandy, 1 dash aromatic bitters, 1/4 ounce orange curacao

Mixing Instructions: Rub the rim of a glass with lemon and dip in powdered sugar.  Stir ingredients together in mixing glass with ice, pour into prepared glass.

Notes:  By now many have heard the legendary tale surrounding the release of the Chicago-based rock group’s fourth album.  After spending a grueling year in the studio brewing up their most ambitious album to date they handed it over to Reprise Records, a Warner Music Group label, only to have them send it right back, refusing to release it without major changes.  Rightly trusting their artistic instincts, the band gave the corporate execs the middle finger and were released by the label along with the album to go where they pleased.

In the meantime they streamed the entire album on their website for free allowing both fans and critics to confirm what the band already suspected, the album was special.  It was finally released in April of 2002 after the band signed with Nonesuch Records.  The success of the album was immediate and substantial.  Both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork gave it perfect scores.  Few disagreed then or now, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a stunning piece of American rock that will far outlive the band.  It is one of those albums you must listen to before you die…just do yourself the favor of making a decent cocktail first. 

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87. Tame Impala - ‘Lonerism’ + Absinthe Sazerac

Tame Impala - ‘Lonerism’ + Absinthe Sazerac

Ingredients: 2 ounces rye whiskey, 4 dashes Peychaud Bitters (Angostura can be substituted if necessary), 1/2 teaspoon absinthe, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 lemon peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Fill an old-fashioned glass with 1 cup ice and set aside.  In a second glass, stir together bitters, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon water until completely dissolved (30sec).  Add rye whiskey and 1/2 cup ice, and stir well (15sec). Discard the ice in the first glass and add absinthe.  Holding glass horizontally, role it between your thumbs and forefingers so that the absinthe completely coats the interior, discarding the excess.  Strain rye whiskey mixture into chilled, absinthe-coated glass.  Squeeze lemon peel over drink making sure the oils fall into the glass then drop peel into drink and serve.

Notes:  Psychedelic rock is like your reckless playwright cousin who drinks a little too much.  From one minute to another he can either be your closest confidante, solemnly pouring over life’s mysteries with you, or your most imbecile and frustrating acquaintance, babbling nonsense and defiantly calling it grand.  Tame Impala has managed not once, but twice now to make a psychedelic rock album that is absolutely the former and not the latter.  

'Lonerism' is grand and expansive without losing itself in the ether.  As Dan Stubbs of NME astutely observed, “Where most pilfer from The Beatles in the widest sense, ‘Lonerism’ seems to dig directly from one album - 1966’s 'Revolver' - and particularly from one track: ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’”.  Maybe it’s because I consider this one of the greatest songs of all time, but it all works really well.  The DNA matches, but in a way that gives a nod to the past without camping out there too long.  Pick a night that you need to escape for an hour and pair Tame Impala’s majestic album with an equally mind-bending absinthe cocktail.

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86. Flying Lotus - ‘Until the Quiet Comes’ + Aviation

Flying Lotus - ‘Until the Quiet Comes’ + Aviation

Ingredients: 2 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur (like Luxardo), 1/4 ounce Creme de Violette, lemon twist for garnish. 

Mixing Instructions: Combine first three ingredients in cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Shake to chill then strain into glass.  Drizzle Creme de Violette in glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Notes: One of our reasons for writing this blog is to encourage music lovers to listen to albums, not just songs.  Listening to an album from start to finish provides a much deeper engagement with the music…and in the case of Until the Quiet Comes it is really the only option for listening.  Once it takes off, there are really no jumping in points on this absorbing, psychedelic, jazzy dream-hop album.  Either you are on board from wheels up to wheels down or you aren’t really connecting with what Steve Ellison is laying down.  Like Radiohead’s Kid A, the feel of this album consists in boldly pressing the experimental edges of sonic comfort without ever going too far.  Mix an Aviation, one of the best cocktails known to man and let this album take you for a ride.

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85. Wild Nothing - ‘Nocturne’ + Cherry Blossom

Wild Nothing - ‘Nocturne’ + Cherry Blossom

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces Brandy, 1/2 ounce Cherry Brandy, 1 1/2 teaspoon Triple Sec, 1 1/2 teaspoon Grenadine, 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice, maraschino cherry for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Prepare chilled cocktail glass by dipping rim in cherry brandy and then superfine sugar.  Shake ingredients in shaker with ice and strain into glass.  Add a maraschino cherry for garnish.

Notes: This sophomore album from Virginia-native Jack Tatum and co. builds off the highly-praised Gemini, adding a bit more polish.  The dream in “dream pop” is front and center with spacey yet intentional melodies lifting you out of your seat to hover a few feet overhead.  This is an album one gets lost in, time effortlessly passed navigating the beautiful soundscapes laid out by Tatum, always very clearly in control as the master guide.  Make yourself a delicate cherry cocktail and let Nocturne wrap you up for an hour.

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84. Michael Kiwanuka - ‘Home Again’ + The Abbey

Michael Kiwanuka - ‘Home Again’ + The Abbey

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces gin, 1 ounce fresh orange juice, 3/4 ounce Lillet, 1 dash orange bitters.

Mixing Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  *Optional* garnish with burnt orange peel twist. 

Notes: The music of British soul artist Michael Kiwanuka is just starting to garner attention in the U.S., but on the other side of the pond he has been making waves for the past year.  In January he won the BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll, an annual poll of music critics and music industry veterans to determine the most promising new musical talent.  His style is reminiscent of Bill Withers and his voice punches you in the chest with emotional depth that belies his 24 years of age.  Kiwanuka’s music is a refreshing journey back to the strongest traditions of soul without getting lost in sentimentality.  Take a listen to a smooth, powerful album with a similarly constituted cocktail.

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83. Arcade Fire - ‘Funeral’ + The Last Word

Arcade Fire - ‘Funeral’ + The Last Word

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce gin, 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse, 3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur (like Luxardo), 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice, lime twist for garnish. 

Mixing Instructions: Vigorously shake all ingredients together with ice.  Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lime twist.

Notes: In every music lover’s lifetime their are certain albums that act as signposts, transitional moments by which all music after will be held to account.  In 2004 Arcade Fire released one of those albums and called it Funeral.  

In the year leading up to the release of the band’s debut album, three members of the band lost members of their family, hence the title.  While death is always around us, the passing of someone close serves as an emotional ice-bath - shocking, numbing and focusing all at the same time.  This is relevant only because it is hard to imagine another catalyst that could adequately account for the emotional depths reached over the course this 10-song masterpiece.  

One gets the sense while listening to the narrative arc of the album that the band is shedding the remnants of their youth right in front of you…not willingly, but because life has demanded it of them.  Yet, the result isn’t cynicism or apathy, but the life-affirming spirit that comes from dealing with tragedy and choosing to move forward.  ”Wake Up” acts as an anchor for the album and the transition point between innocence and adulthood with the famous lament, “Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.”

There’s so much to say, but honestly one must experience music like this for themselves to truly grasp its significance.  Make yourself a delicately balanced cocktail and attend to the Funeral.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

www.vinylandcocktails.com

82. Fleet Foxes - ‘Fleet Foxes’ + Bufala Negra

Fleet Foxes - ‘Fleet Foxes’ (Self-titled LP) + Bufala Negra

Ingredients:  1 1/2 ounces bourbon, 1 1/2 ounces chilled ginger ale, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, 1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar, 4 basil leaves

Mixing Instructions:  In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 of the leaves with the vinegar and simple syrup.  Add ice and the bourbon and shake well.  Strain the drink into an ice-filled glass, stir in the ginger ale and garnish with the remaining basil leaf.

Notes:  When Fleet Foxes released their self-titled debut LP in 2008, frontman Robin Pecknold was just 22 years old.  It’s a small detail, but one often overlooked as most fans wouldn’t have guessed him below 30.  Really, it’s just a hat-tip to the caliber of music that he and the rest of the Foxes released that year.  Incredible harmonies, beautiful lyrics, genuine emotion and a traveled and experienced feel that borders on timelessness—not usually attributes found in a debut release from a band led by a 22-year old.  

There is no other way to listen to this album than on vinyl… it’s art and no other medium can fully capture it.  The details of the individual tracks, the liner notes, the detail of Netherlandish Proverbs on the cover… all things that not only provide a beautiful physical product, but also a more meaningful artistic engagement.  Even better, paired with a Bufala Negra you’ll get lost in the experience again and again for years to come.

purchase vinyl:  Amazon  ||  Insound

81. Panda Bear - ‘Person Pitch’ + Portuguese Daisy

Panda Bear - ‘Person Pitch’ + Portuguese Daisy

Ingredients: 2 ounces ruby port, 1 ounce brandy, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar (pro tip: make your own by simply pulsing granulated sugar in a blender), 1/2 teaspoon grenadine  

Mixing Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice, shake well and serve in an old-fashioned glass.

Notes:  Released in 2007, the third solo album from Animal Collective member Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) is considered one of the best albums of the decade by both critics and fellow musicians alike.  Lennox produced the album during a two year stretch that saw him get married, have a child and move to Portugal.  Life is always most bright and fresh when starting new chapters and this is evident in the sound and feel of the album.  

Inspirational and bursting with life, Person Pitch is electronic music that makes you forget it’s electronic.  There are no weak points to speak of throughout the album, but the twelve-and-a-half-minute “Bros” in the middle of the album is the highlight.  The track features warm, rhythmic 70’s rock, Cat Stevens guitar strums, vocals that give a tip of the hat to the Beach Boys, and a host of perfectly timed samples that lead one to believe you’re experiencing Lennox’s philosophical treatise on music.  Make yourself a sugary Portuguese cocktail, sit back, close your eyes and soak in the rays of this perfectly crafted album.

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80. LCD Soundsystem - ‘This is Happening’ + Negroni

LCD Soundsystem - ‘This is Happening’ + Negroni

Ingredients:  1oz Gin, 1oz Sweet Vermouth, 1oz Campari, orange wedge.

Mixing Instructions:  Pour gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari into a rocks glass with ice cubes.  Stir well.  Garnish with orange wedge.

Notes:  LCD Soundsystem went out with a bang in 2010 with This is Happening; an album so powerful it feels just as relevant today as the day it was released.  The album is a fearless reflection on a range of emotion and energy—There’ll be moments when you’re ready to take on the world and others where you’ll willingly confess your deepest secrets.  Powerful lyrics and songs paired with a Negroni will have you resetting your needle for another trip on the roller coaster for decades to come.  See for yourself.

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79. Bob Dylan - ‘Hard Rain’ + Rocky Mountain

Bob Dylan - ‘Hard Rain’ + Rocky Mountain

Ingredients: 1 ounce Amaretto, 1 ounce Southern Comfort, 1/2 ounce lime juice.

Mixing Instructions: Shake with ice and strain into a shot glass.

Notes:  It was May 23, 1976 and the second to last stop on Dylan’s famous Rolling Thunder Revue.  The rain was pouring down onto the muddy infield of Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, CO and bottles of Southern Comfort were being passed around as concert goers, many of whom had been waiting in the rain for the past 12 hours, danced and cheered.  Five of the songs on the album were recorded in Fort Collins, and the concert was filmed for a NBC television special, Hard Rain.  While neither the album or t.v. special was well-received by critics, who felt Dylan and his gang had run out of steam, the album contains some gems.  Specifically, a rockin’ version of “Shelter From the Storm” and a fiery “Idiot’s Wind”.  Overall, a classic piece of Rocky Mountain rock history perfect for a Saturday.

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78. Daft Punk - ‘Discovery’ + French 75

Daft Punk - ‘Discovery’ + French 75

Ingredients: 2 ounces London dry gin, 1 teaspoon superfine sugar, 1/2 ounces lemon juice, 5 ounces Brut champagne

Mixing Instructions: Combine gin, sugar and lemon juice and shake well with ice in a cocktail shaker.  Strain into glass and top off with champagne.

Notes: There are albums meant for sitting quietly by oneself and deeply engaging with the artist, soaking in every lyric and instrument, contemplating the deeper meaning of it all…this is not one of those albums.  Daft Punk produces music meant for one thing, pleasure.  Discovery is an album for Friday and Saturday nights with a bunch of friends at the house.  Play at high volume, let the cocktails flow and bust a move.  

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77. The Strokes - ‘Is This It’ + Manhattan

The Strokes - ‘Is This It’ + Manhattan

Ingredients: 2 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey, 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth, 1 dash Angostura bitters, 1 maraschino cherry & 1 orange peel twist.

Mixing Instructions: Combine the bourbon whiskey, vermouth and bitters in a mixing glass with 2-3 ice cubes and stir gently.  Place the cherry in a cocktail glass and strain the mixture over the cherry.  Rub the cut edge of an orange peel around the rim of the glass and twist over drink to release the oils, but don’t drop in.

Notes: For fans of rock in its purest forms, the minimalist, gritty sound of The Strokes’ debut album was a welcome return to the roots of the genre, paying homage to influences ranging from The Velvet Underground to The Ramones.  The songs aren’t overly complex in their structure and yet one can listen to this album hundreds of times without getting bored.  In many ways Is This It paved the way for rock in the modern era.  It is a bellwether album of our times that deserves a classic cocktail and a spin or three on the turntable.   

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