194. Stevie Wonder - ‘Hotter Than July’ + Julius Special

Stevie Wonder - ‘Hotter Than July’ + Julius Special

Ingredients: 2/3 ounce Jamaican dark rum, 1/3 ounce lime juice, 1/3 ounce Cointreau

Mixing Instructions: Pour ingrédients in cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.  Shake vigorously, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve.

Notes: When Andrew Winistorfer asked if we’d want to synch up this Stevie Wonder pairing with a post on his own blog, Vinyl In Alphabetical, I said yes, honestly not even caring what the album was. We love his blog/writing enough that questions like, “Do I own this album?” or “Do I have anything to say about this” or “Hey, I’m a white kid from Wyoming born three years after the release (1980) of an album written by a blind African American gentlemen to honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and highlight the still simmering racial tensions in America - is it ok for me to pair it with snazzy Jamaican cocktail and slap it on our Tumblr?” didn’t come up until after the deal was done.

Better that it happened that way I suppose, as otherwise it’s possible I would have gone my whole life thinking that Songs in the Key of Life was all I needed to check the Stevie box.  Is Hotter Than July his best work, no.  But, sometimes you need to listen to the “other” albums to even begin to understand the mind of an artist and the historical context within which he/she was working at the time.  And sometimes you have to accept that fact that a good reggae track, “Master Blaster (Jammin’) provides all the excuse you need to buy some Jamaican dark rum and toast a legend.  

purchase album:   Amazon   ||   Insound

193. Portugal, The Man - ‘Evil Friends’ + Vodka Soda

Portugal, The Man - ‘Evil Friends’ + Vodka Soda

Ingredients: 1 ounce vodka, 3 ounces club soda, 1 lime wedge & 1 lemon wedge.

Mixing Instructions: Combine ingredients in a rocks glass over ice with a lemon and/or lime wedge.

Notes: The seventh studio album from Portland-based rockers, Portugal, The Man, isn’t an album one should listen to passively. Of course, many of you will and who the hell are we to tell you otherwise, but to do so ensures you will be listening to a completely different album than if you were to sit down with a drink in hand and pay attention. The band’s first collaboration with producer Danger Mouse (Broken Bells, Black Keys, Beck) is noticeable and pleasing to the ear.  Much like Foxygen’s We Are the 21st Century…from earlier this year, there is a seemingly infinite number of influences, styles, time changes, etc. packed together in a finite space and yet it all miraculously fits together. I reached out to the band about which cocktail to pair with the album and got the following: “…in Berlin I ordered a vodka soda. A German observer turned & said ‘a clean drink. R U a nihilist?’” Not going to improve on that - with such a complex album best to keep the drink simple and “clean” - unless you’re a Bazarov, then drink whatever you want.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound 

192. Sister Crystals - ‘Sister Crystals’ + Fake Dream

Sister Crystals - ‘Sister Crystals’ + Fake Dream

Ingredients: 2 ounces Cocchi Americano, 1 ounce soda water, half a lemon’s juice, 1 dash Malort.

Mixing Instructions: Stir in a mixing glas with ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.

Notes: Remember the giant dog-like creature from The Neverending Story? His name was Falkor and he was luckdragon, not a dog (thanks Wikipedia). He was also the first thing that popped into my head while listening to the debut album from Chicago dream-pop duo Sister Crystals. As I was grasping for visual imagery to help capture the floating, psychedelic bliss coming through my ears I imagined Beach House and Tame Impala sitting cross-legged on his back casually mingling (probably over some obscure cocktail) as mighty Falkor swam through the air. Full of lofty reverb-drenched vocals, fuzzy guitar and a constantly driving beat Sister Crystals manages to capture the dream/shoegaze aesthetic without getting bogged down in it. You always feel like you’re moving along in the journey as you would on an ocean wave…or of course, the back of a luckdragon. An album made for immersion, mix an aptly-named concoction delivered to us from the album’s sound engineer (see here) and enjoy a band who will be fun to watch in the years to come.

purchase vinyl:   Walk-In Records

191. Phosphorescent - ‘Pride’ + Oskar’s Key

Phosphorescent - ‘Pride’ + Oskar’s Key

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey, 1/2 ounce St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 ounce brown sugar simple syrup, orange bitters.

Mixing Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.  Shake well and strain into an old-fashioned glass.  Top with 2 dashes of orange bitters. (via Saveur)

Notes: The first time I heard about this album was from a 2009 interview with then Fleet Foxes’ drummer, Josh Tillman, who was asked to organize a fictional music festival (he called it “Tillmania”) on the spot with any artists dead or alive.  He chose Nick Drake, John Lee Hooker, Maurice Ravel, Neil Young, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Phosphorescent.  There might have been more, but I stopped watching at that point intrigued by this shirtless gentleman being thrown in with the legends.  **Pro tip: If a musician lists a largely unknown contemporary artist alongside names like Hooker, Ravel and Young as inspiration for his current work it’s ok to be suspicious…but still track it down.  I soon discovered Tillman was right, the album being sparse, beautiful and full of blood and guts.  If your only contact with Phosphorescent thus far has been “Song For Zula” the epic single from his latest album, 'Muchacho' then take a quiet evening, make a whiskey cocktail and respect a piece of art that can carry its weight right alongside the big boys.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

190. The Rolling Stones - ‘Exile On Main St.’ + Spitfire

The Rolling Stones - ‘Exile On Main St.’ + Spitfire

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces Merlet Cognac, 1/3 ounce peach liqueur, 3/4 ounce lemon juice, 3/4 ounce egg white, 1/2 ounce gomme syrup, 1/3 ounce white wine.

Mixing Instructions: Combine all ingredients, less white wine, in a cocktail shaker.  Dry shake (no ice) for 15 seconds, then add ice and shake.  Strain into a chilled coupe glass.  Garnish with a white wine float (via Tony Conigliaro at Le Coq)

Notes: Few albums in music history so completely sum up a genre of music as Exile On Main St. did for rock & roll upon its release in 1972.  Rebellion, check. On the run from the taxman the band wrote and recorded a large portion of the album in the basement of rented villa in southern France. Drugs, check. Lots of heroine. Love, check. Mick Jagger got married during the making of the album. What makes Exile on Main St so head-shakingly good, however, is its magnetic pull on all the rock & roll influences up to that point in history.

The band originally formed around its affinity for American bluesmen like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and early rock & roll pioneers like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Covering many of these artists in the early days, Exile is where you see the band taking what they’ve learned and expertly creating their own variations on the theme.  Guitarist, Keith Richards, was in peak form and in his words was using, “…five-string, open tuning to the max.” A double album’s worth of classic, hip-shaking rock, revisit one of the greatest albums ever made and get cheeky with a cocktail well-suited for a Brit working in France.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   || Insound

189. Laura Marling - ‘Once I Was An Eagle’ + Elderthorn

Laura Marling - ‘Once I Was An Eagle’ + Elderthorn

Ingredients: 1 ounce brandy, 1/2 ounce St-Germain, 1/2 ounce Cynar

Mixing Instructions: Stir with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. (via Robert Hess)

Notes: Age and maturity normally run in parallel with each other, but somehow Laura Marling got a head start on all of us. Once I Was An Eagle is the British (now-L.A. transplant) folk musician’s fourth album…she was born in 1990. And while past albums may have carried the extra novelty of a child playing like an adult, Marling’s latest has the unquestionable feel of a woman in complete control of her craft. Standout track “Master Hunter” seems an apt description for the sparse, methodical way she controls the ear of the listener throughout with each bleeding lyric and surgical guitar pluck. Recorded in just over a week, there is an intimate feel to the entire effort that reminds one of a small theater production. It’s art. It’s beautiful. Take it all in with a cocktail that effortlessly balances the sweet and the bitter…fitting to say the least.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

188. Autre Ne Veut - ‘Anxiety’ + Caprice

Autre Ne Veut - ‘Anxiety’ + Caprice

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce dry vermouth, 1/2 ounce Benedictine, 1 dash orange bitters

Mixing Instructions: Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and serve.

Notes: Last summer, with 'Total Loss', Tom Krell (How to Dress Well) shined a bright light on the 80s/90s R&B renaissance that had remained in the outer boroughs of music culture up to that point. With his sophomore release, Brooklyn’s Arthur Ashin takes the baton and propels the sound even further.  Filled with cascading walls of sound and over-the-top emotion (in a good way), songs like “Play by Play” and “Counting” strike an incredible balance between classic R&B sounds (a la Prince) and more modern vibes like Timbaland and Kanye. Late night music to bask in with friends, mix a cocktail delicate enough to add, rather than distract from one of the year’s most compelling albums. 

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

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

186. Mikal Cronin - ‘Mc II’ + Barbadian Gin Punch

Mikal Cronin - ‘Mc II’ + Barbadian Gin Punch

Ingredients: 2 ounces genever, 2 ounces coconut water, 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice, 1/2 ounce rich Demerara syrup (2:1), 2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Mixing Instructions:  In a tall ice-filled glass combine ingredients and swizzle/stir until glass is chilled.

Notes: Before listening to the sophomore album of California power-crooner Mikal Cronin, my only connection to him was as a shredder in the Ty Segall Band - a musical red herring that left me quite surprised when opening track “Weight” pulsed out beautifully balanced, Beach Boys-esque pop. Of course the “power” part of the equation is still there with fuzzed-out guitar chords and head-banging beats, but unlike his work with Segall there’s a feel good vibe running through each of the ten tracks on Mc II that promises to keep this album on heavy rotation during the summer months…and make you inexplicably happy. Both achingly and wistfully beautiful, pair this album with a sleepy Caribbean cocktail and let Cronin pull you into the sun.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

185. The National - ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ + The Newark

The National - ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ + The Newark

**Guest Pairing from Joe Day**

Ingredients: 2 ounces Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, 1 ounce Vya sweet vermouth, 1/4 ounce Fernet Branca, 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur.

Mixing Instructions: Combine ingredients and stir in mixing glass with ice.  Strain into chilled coupe glass.

Notes: There’s so much to love about The National’s new album Trouble Will Find Me. Matt Berninger & co. are picking up where they left off after High Violet, which may go down as one of the best records of the post-indie era. The brooding melodies, the persistent sadness, the fatalistic inevitability, the distant ship’s smoke on the horizon type sonic portraits are all there, as are guest appearances by St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten and Sufjan among other indie luminaries. Such beautifully crafted sound requires an equally complex and challenging sip.

The Newark. It’s PDT’s tweak of the Brooklyn. Author Jim Meehan tells me “By the time John and I came up with this Brooklyn variation, there were so many cocktails named after neighborhoods in Brooklyn, we claimed Newark, New Jersey.”

New Jersey. Between Ohio and NYC. The National.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

184. Vampire Weekend - ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ + Park Avenue

Vampire Weekend - ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ + Park Avenue

Ingredients: 3 ounces gin, 1 ounce pineapple juice, 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth, 1/2 ounce orange curacao.

Mixing Instructions: Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled couple glass and serve.

Notes: It’s hard to think about Vampire Weekend without some sort of collegial association. This angers me because I know the whole thing is overblown, yet it’s tough to shake the music media mind morph. Fans and critics of their 2008 debut each zeroed in on the boat-shoed Ivy League air that flowed through their music; fans lauding them for putting their brains to use in their songwriting, critics dismissing them with vague accusations of yacht club elitism. Regardless, the college vibe flowing through their debut was distinctly undergraduate. It was easy to imagine them playing these songs in the quad while philosophy students drunkenly debated reality next to the Zeta Tau bake sale.

Their third studio album, on the other hand, is the band’s PhD theses — their 10,000 hours album.  Leaving behind the Afro-pop cheekiness of their youth they create a sound that is more round and ear-pleasing, while still retaining the lyrical sharpness and instrumental complexity that softens even the most critical listeners.  Songs like “Step” “Hannah Hunt” and “Ya Hey” are all songs that ordinary bands could hang a career on, yet in the context of the album they show up simply as slightly brighter stars in a large constellation.  After their first two albums it was still possible to debate with some credibility the overall merits of the band…with this album one can make a cocktail, put the record on the platter and drink to the fact that the debate is over, they’re good.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

183. Thee Oh Sees - ‘Floating Coffin’ + Root of All Evil

Thee Oh Sees - ‘Floating Coffin’ + Root of All Evil

Ingredients: 2 ounces bourbon, 1/2 ounce Cointreau, 3/8 ounce Fernet Branca, 1/4 ounce Maraschino liqueur, 2 dashes orange bitters, orange peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with orange peel and serve.

Notes: The ability to bottle up a Molotov cocktail of emotion and energy, light it on fire and fling it unflinchingly at the listener is what makes the San Francisco garage rockers, Thee Oh Sees, a magnetic listen.  Like their Bay Area brother Ty Segall, they exude a rawness that makes you wish you were in a band, or at their show, or a groupie, or pretty much anything that involved getting to stick your head next to a stack of amps pumping out their biting guitar riffs, deep/dark bass lines and thundering drums.  An album filled with head-boppers, slower psychedelic beauties and noise, hypnotic noise - wait until you’re bored with the limpness of everything else you’re listening to and give this a spin with a S.O.B. of a cocktail.

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

180. Low - ‘The Invisible Way’ + Lion’s Tail

Low - ‘The Invisible Way’ + Lion’s Tail

Ingredients: 2 ounces bourbon whiskey, 1/2 ounce pimento dram, 1/2 ounce lime juice, 1 teaspoon simple syrup, 1 dash Angostura bitters

Mixing Instructions: Mix ingredients in cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a a chilled cocktail glass. (via Cafe Royal Cocktail Book)

Notes: The simple fact that Low’s 10th album was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy was enough to rouse me from my slumber and give it a spin. Thankfully, the music is good.  Maybe it’s the fact that in 20 years playing together the Duluth-based indie band has well over the requisite 10,000 hours and has morphed miraculously into a single entity, but the whole thing feels effortless.  Mimi Parker leads on nearly half the album and tugs at the soul in much the same way Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom does with a powerful, melancholy voice.  Songs like “So Blue” and “Waiting” contain the ingredients that carry much of the album, sparse instrumentation that combined with the vocals create a sound that is surprisingly full.  Make a Lion’s Tail cocktail, put this album on after dinner and enjoy a band that truly understands their sound.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

179. Kings of Leon - ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’ + Southern Harmony

Kings of Leon - ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’ + Southern Harmony

Ingredients: 1 1/4 ounces Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey, 3/4 ounce Southern Comfort peach liqueur, 4 ounces sweet and sour mix, 1 splash lemon-lime soda, 1 lemon wedge.

Mixing Instructions:  Build over ice, stir and serve in a sour glass.

Notes:  Trying to follow up a debut album as viscerally satisfying to the rock ‘n’ roll soul as 'Youth & Young Manhood' is damn hard work.  Luckily, the Followill’s had a key creative ingredient on their side as they worked out their sophomore effort - obscurity.  While the response to their music in Europe was immediate and massive, the scene in America at the time was dominated by boy bands and rock groups like Creed…the cultural equivalent of walking around with cotton-stuffed ears.  

Thus, 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' began where number one left off, but with a natural progression of artistic maturity that resulted in downtempo songs like “Milk” and “Day Old Blues”, broadening the range that the foursome was capable of pulling off.  The sound no longer felt like it was coming from the basement or garage, but it was still far from the stadium finding itself perfectly at home in a smoke-filled dive bar - intimate, emotionally jagged and raw.  One of the greatest one-two punches in rock history, stir up a Southern Harmony and sit down with this album ONLY after listening to their debut in full.

purchase vinyl:  Amazon ||  Insound

178. Phoenix - ‘Bankrupt!’ + Peach Soju Cocktail

Phoenix - ‘Bankrupt!’ + Peach Soju Cocktail

Ingredients: 2 ounces fresh peach juice, 2 ounces soju, splash of Welch’s grape juice.

Mixing Instructions: Mix peach juice and soju in an ice-filled cocktail shaker.  Shake and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.  Add a splash of grape juice and serve.

Notes: Phoenix, the endearing French foursome, made us wait several years for a follow-up to their beloved 2009 release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.  During that time they found themselves suddenly at the hazy indie/mainstream borderlands, winning a Grammy, hitting the late night circuit and playing every major festival.  Ironically, in 2010 they also contributed to a film score for Sofia Coppola’s tale of celebrity boredom, Somewhere.  This exploration of the perils of the soul when faced with immense privilege and success is central to their latest album, Bankrupt!.  

Song titles like “S.O.S. In Bel Air”, “Bankrupt” and “Bourgeois” all help keep the theme tightly wound.  And slight departures from the expected pop formulas serve their purpose of never letting the listener completely drift off into a comfortable daze.  It seems Phoenix spent the four years between Wolfgang and now taking stock of their musical progress and coming up against the walls of the immensely pleasurable niche they created - much like Jim Carey in The Truman Show running his boat into the end of his known world.  However, unlike Truman, and much for the betterment of the listener, Phoenix remains just inside that world choosing to playfully explore without busting down the fourth wall — meaning one more highly enjoyable album and one more excuse to drink a delicious drink.

purchase:   Amazon   ||   Insound

177. Tito Puente - ‘Quatro’ (The Definitive Collection) + Spanish Harlem

Tito Puente - ‘Quatro’ (The Definitive Collection) + Spanish Harlem

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounce Anejo tequila, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, 1 rinse of maraschino liqueur (like Luxardo), 1 dash Angostura bitters

Mixing Instructions: Rinse the inside of a chilled coupe glass with maraschino liqueur, discard excess.  Mix tequila, vermouth and bitters in a cocktail shaker full of ice, shake, strain and serve.

Notes: It is seldom that an individual has such a profound influence over a specific genre of music that they should be called the “King” of said genre.  Yet, the pronouncement of Tito Puente as “The King of Latin Music” draws nothing, but nods of approval from those familiar with his remarkable body of work.  With a career spanning 50 years, the New York native drew from his Puerto Rican heritage and the liveliness of the Spanish Harlem community in which he was raised to compose and perform music that had a uniquely magnetic pulse - one which enabled his work to transcend both musical and social boundaries.

Any music lover owes it to themselves to spend just one weekend with the beautiful 5-LP box set (180g vinyl) which includes four of his landmark albums with original artwork + a bonus album containing hits like “Ran Kan Kan”.  It is the type of music that caused every single one of my friends who stopped by last weekend while I was playing it to stop, bob their head a few times and say, “whoa…this is good!”  Educate yourself, pay homage to a legend and do so with an aged tequila variation on the Manhattan in hand.    

purchase:   Amazon   ||   B&N (cd set)

*for more info on the box set see here

5 Vinyl + Cocktail Pairings for Record Store Day 2013

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Blitzen Trapper - ‘Blitzen Trapper’ + Cheap Rum & Coke

Ingredients: 2 ounces cheap rum *if you’ve heard of the brand it’s probably too expensive*, 5 ounces Coca-Cola.

Mixing Instructions: Pour rum into a plastic cup *no glass…we’re not puttin’ on the ritz here* filled with ice.  Fill Coke to top and serve.

Notes: V+C: “ we’re pairing your debut LP for RSD - any idea what you guys were drinking back then while making that album?”

Blitzen Trapper: “ don’t quite remember but I think it was High Life. And coke with really cheap rum.”

“Blitzen Trapper’s debut album from 2003 will be available for the first time on vinyl in celebration of it’s 10th Anniversary…A very limited edition run, the record is pressed on 180g vinyl with a free digital download of the entire record with five previously unheard bonus tracks from the original sessions.” - RecordStoreDay.com

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Nicolas Jaar - ‘Brian Eno // Nicolas Jaar // Grizzly Bear’ + Strega Sour

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce Strega, 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 ounce egg whites, 1 teaspoon Earl Grey honey syrup (2:1), 4 dashes Angostura bitters (as garnish).

Mixing Instructions: Dry-shake, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Drizzle bitters on top of the foam and serve. (adapted from Junior Ryan, Portland, OR - ht Gaz Regan). 

Notes: "Brian Eno, Nicolas Jaar, and Grizzly Bear are teaming up for a Record Store Day release. Warp will release a limited edition 12” featuring Jaar remixes of “Lux” from Eno’s LUX and"Sleeping Ute" from Grizzly Bear’s Shields.” - via Pitchfork

 

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - ‘Patterns’ EP + Sazerac

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey, 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, dash of Angostura bitters, dash of absinthe, 1 sugar cube, twist of lemon peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Put the sugar cube in a second old-fashioned glass and moisten it with water, then crush it. Add the rye, bitters and a few cubes of ice and stir.  Discard the ice from the first glass and pour in absinthe.  Coat the inside of the glass with the absinthe then pour out the excess.  Strain the rye mixture into the absinthe-coated glass. Twist and squeeze the lemon peel over the glass.  Rub the rim of the glass and discard when finished. (via CHOW)

Notes: The Detroit duo doles out “Four unreleased tracks from the upcoming album. Contains a download card for two additional remixes. Limited to 3,000 worldwide.” - RecordStoreDay.com

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Phosphorescent - ‘Aw Come Aw Wry’ + White Whiskey Punch

Ingredients: 2 ounces white whiskey (such as Death’s Door), 2 ounces fresh pineapple juice, 1 ounce fresh lime juice, 1 ounce simple syrup, pineapple wedge for garnish. 

Mixing Instructions: Mix ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake vigorously for 28 seconds, strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with pineapple and serve.

Notes: Special RSD re-issue of Phosphorescent’s sophomore album - includes slightly modified album cover, download of full album + never-before-released live songs.  

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The White Stripes - ‘Elephant’ (10th Anniversary) + Creeping Death

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce white whiskey (such as Death’s Door), 3/4 ounce Alvear Amontillado Sherry, 3/4 ounce Dolin Blanc Vermouth, 3/4 ounce lemon juice, 1/4 ounce simple syrup.

Mixing Instructions: Mix ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel. (via Matthew Seiter)

Notes: The 10th Anniversary reissue of The White Stripes fourth album and one of the greatest rock albums of all-time. “If you don’t already know about the White Stripes, just start here. LP1 is on split-color black and red vinyl, and LP2 is on white vinyl, all housed in a double pocket gatefold, tip on sleeve. It features an MP3 download card, printed inner sleeves and is mastered direct from the original analog source.” via Third Man Records.

176. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience + “The Maggie”

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience + “The Maggie”

Ingredients:  1 ounce Gin, 1 ounce Sweet Vermouth, 2-3 ounces Fresca, Fresh Lemon/Lime

Mixing instructions:  Pour Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Fresca over ice (in that order) and stir.  Squeeze and drop fresh lemon & lime.

Notes:  Justin Timberlake can be a divisive artist, but not in the most typical fashion.  He’s not really controversial, if anything he just seems really nice.  He’s got a lot going for him… a triple-threat if there was one.  He’s funny (not afraid of self-depreciating humor), he can sing (he sounds like you might think you sound in the shower), and he’s seen successes in movies beyond what many actors dream about.  And so the divisive piece comes in when there is typical jealousy, or that other thing where people act like they’re too proud to say they like what he does or appreciate his talents.  Let’s not put ourselves in either of those categories.

Truth is, Justin Timberlake has raw talent coupled with a work ethic that puts him over the top for success.  The 20/20 Experience consists of 10 tracks (so far) of what will turn out to be a larger product when completed in the future.  But this album, these ten tracks, are a complete masterwork in themselves.  There are a lot of ways JT could have gone with it… no shortage of trends he could have jumped on or producers he could have worked with in order to essentially take over the airwaves for the foreseeable future.  Instead, we get a shockingly tight collection of songs with clear vision and direction with Timbaland, his proven partner in previous success.  Artistic and well rounded, and this is just half of the final product.  I, for one, can’t wait to hear the whole masterwork when it’s complete.

Purchase Vinyl:  Amazon ||  Insound