212. Forest Swords - ‘Engravings’ + Cunningham

Forest Swords - ‘Engravings’ + Cunningham

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces Dewar’s White Label Scotch, 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 ounce fresh blood orange juice, 1/4 ounce Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur, 1/4 ounce Cherry Heering Liqueur.

Mixing Instructions: Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Notes: Music has the startling ability to create a world simply by the way it arranges sounds in the ear of the listener.  Of course, various time periods are tied directly to the unique sound and style of music that they produced, but aside from historical relationships, the right combination of notes can conjure a scene as vivid as the pen could for Shakespeare.  

UK producer, Matthew Barnes, created his masterful sophomore album at his home in North West England and the sound and visual scenes created in the mind of the listener reflect its geographic origins.  Cold, shadowy, Nordic-like beats and instrumentation support the structure of an ambient album that feels like exactly what a master storyteller would create alone in a small cabin, deep in the European woods.  This album is winter.  Epic.  Solitude.  Layered.  And it’s one of the best albums of 2013.

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210. Darkside - 'Psychic' + Golden Arrow

Darkside - ‘Psychic’ + Golden Arrow

*Guest Pairing by Katie Chow*

Ingredients:  2 ounces whiskey, 1 ounce cherry liqueur, few dashes Fee Brothers aztec chocolate bitters

Mixing Instructions:  Put all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with the single tear you shed when thinking about how unaccomplished you are compared to Nicolas Jaar, who is probably younger than you.

Notes:  Nicolas Jaar likely impressed you back in 2011 with his debut album Space Is Only Noise, and he’ll win you over again with his latest project, Darkside. Bandmate Dave Harrington is pushing minimal electronica’s golden boy to new levels, and together they’ve made Psychic, one of 2013’s top triumphs. It’s a seductive cocoon of smoldering synths and louche guitar licks, cozy and unsettling all at once. These songs will slink into your skull and stay there, sounding a little different every time you hear them.

Album highlight “Paper Trails” is arrestingly intimate upon first listen, thanks in part to Jaar’s underrated verve as a vocalist, but still offers plenty to unpack. The duo’s said that Darkside is about making “body music,” and they’re ready to get physical. The beats and riffs are wrapped in primal insistence, made with no regard for ticking the dance or rock boxes. Psychic’s longest tracks “Golden Arrow” and “The Only Shrine I’ve Seen” guide the album’s nocturnal journey, pulsing with dark energy. The whole thing closes with “Metatron,” a softly glimmering comedown at the crack of dawn. Don’t listen to this record when the sun is out.

Make the drink with bourbon if you want it to go down easily, try it with rye for a deeper flavor. Like Psychic, it can be whatever you want it to be.

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209. Italians Do It Better - ‘After Dark 2’ + Cardinal

Italians Do It Better - ‘After Dark 2’ + Cardinal 

Ingredients: 1 ounce Campari, 1 ounce gin, 1 ounce dry vermouth, lemon twist for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Shake ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with lemon twist and serve.

Notes: There’s something refreshing about a label that has cracked the code on their niche aesthetic and unapologetically camps out there while grinding out groove after mouth-watering groove.  After Dark 2, the italo disco/synth pop compilation from Italians Do It Better, is the much-anticipated follow up to After Dark, released in 2007.  Featuring Chromatics, Glass Candy, Symmetry and others, producer Johnny Jewel takes listeners on a journey into a European club…a discoteca if you will.  I spent four months in Italy one summer and the effortless coolness of the nightlife is exhilarating and contagious…this album took me back to that.  Mix a Cardinal, a slight variation on the Negroni, and let yourself welcome the wee hours of the night with one of the best albums of 2013. 

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207. Chvrches - ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ + Scottish Pair

Chvrches - ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ + Scottish Pair

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce Hendrick’s Gin, 3/4 ounce Glenfiddich Scotch whisky, 2 ounces pear nectar, 1/2 ounce agave nectar, 1 lemon wedge & 1 pear slice for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: mix ingredients in cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktails glass, add garnishes and serve.

Notes: Few indie bands in recent memory have generated as much attention prior to having an album released as Scottish synthpop trio Chvrches (pronounced churches).  Things Chvrches did prior to album release: opened for Depeche Mode in front of 58,000 people, opened for Passion Pit on their U.K. tour, signed with Glassnote, released music videos that generated half-a-million plus YouTube views, made multiple year end “best of” lists, cured cancer (rumor)…I’m shaking my head as I right this. With all the hype, I approached their debut album with skepticism. The jealous child in me wanted it to suck…it didn’t…it was good…really damn good.  Dark, beautiful electronic/synthpop that reminded me occasionally of Niki & The Dove, but tighter and more substantial.  I’m half-Scottish so on top of being quite hairy I’m slightly biased, but this album should be on high rotation this Fall and paired with a Scottish cocktail that makes buying the hype a more tasty affair.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

206. MGMT - ‘MGMT’ + French Margarita

MGMT - ‘MGMT’ + French Margarita

Ingredients: 2 ounces tequila, 1 ounce Grand Marnier, 1/2 ounce each - lime juice, orange juice, sweet and sour mix, 1 ounce Chambord, raspberries and blackberries for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Pour tequila into shaker.  Add Grand Marnier, lime juice, orange juice and sweet and sour mix.  Shake vigorously and strain into an ice-filled margarita glass.  Top with Chambord and garnish with a skewer of blackberries and raspberries. (via Cooking Channel)

Notes:  It’s tough to find a sturdy handle on MGMT’s third album, a heady psychedelic journey that starts as a jaunt with “Alien Days” and quickly makes its way down the rabbit hole, loosening up the song structures along the way.  Wrapped in layers and layers of densely-packed synths, spacey vocals and shimmering guitar riffs, you can’t help, but feel that you’re getting an insider’s tour into the creative influences of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden — in certain parts I swore I heard the neurons in their brains firing.  The fluid nature of the album means that one quick listen simply won’t tell the story.  This is the type of album that evolves with each listen, new details being picked up each time.  Approach this album like the French approach a meal…slow down, make a drink and soak it all in.

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197. Classixx - ‘Hanging Gardens’ + Sea Breeze

Classixx - ‘Hanging Gardens’ + Sea Breeze

**Guest Pairing from Allison Baughman of Rock Couture Dreams**

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces vodka, 4 ounces cranberry juice, 1 ounce grapefruit juice, lime wedge for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.

Notes: Music has an incredible ability to paint a picture for us; it makes us feel as though we are someplace different, and sometimes, in the best occasions, the place it takes us to is a beach during sunset in Miami circa mid 1980’s. Classixx, an electronic duo composed of childhood friends Michael David and Tyler Blake, have been a staple in taking dance music to the depths it deserves. With their amalgamation of disco, house, funk, spunk, happiness and good vibes, these two could soundtrack anyone’s summer. Classixx have been releasing remixes for a couple years now. They released their single “I’ll Get You” feat. Jeppe in 2009 and finally, in May of this year, released their incredibly stunning debut album, Hanging Gardens. So go ahead and throw this bad boy on the turntable, close your eyes, sip your drink, and imagine yourself driving alongside the beach at dusk in the warm summer breeze. 

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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.

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175. James Blake - ‘Overgrown’ + 10 Dollar Shake

James Blake - ‘Overgrown’ + 10 Dollar Shake

Ingredients: 1 ounce amaretto liqueur (Disaronno works), 1 ounce kirsch, 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur, 4/5 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/5 ounce simple syrup, 1 dash egg white, 1 dash Angostura bitters, 1 cherry with stem for garnish.

Mixing Instructions:  Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker full of ice.  Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass, add garnish and serve. (adapted from Adrian Gomes, Aberdeen, Scotland)

Notes: With all the anticipation surrounding the sophomore album from British electronic artist James Blake, it’s easy to forget that less than three years ago (heck, probably two if you weren’t working for a music blog) none of us had any idea who he was.  One of my favorite music writers described seeing him during one of his first major U.S. performances,

When he took the stage at that church, he didn’t seem like some Internet Famous Celebrity: He seemed like a scared college kid in over his head. He hardly made eye contact with the audience at first, and was wearing a hoodie like it had a cloaking device. After the first song, he exhaled audibly into the mic; It was like he had just cleared some hurdle. He tried to talk into the mic, but he stammered. He recovered, and said thanks for coming. Then he played one of the most powerful sets I saw that whole festival.

But this follow-up is different - Blake has traveled a million miles in a couple years and seems to be making music that is less scared and fractured, and more intentional.  Only a few dozen spins will answer whether or not much of his magic was contained within his uncertainty, but it’s a tantalizing musical journey to undertake and one that is best done with a spooky good drink. 

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122. M.I.A. - ‘Kala’ + The Paper Plane

M.I.A. - ‘Kala’ + The Paper Plane

Ingredients: 3/4 ounce bourbon, 3/4 ounce Aperol, 3/4 ounce Amaro Nonino, 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

Mixing Instructions:  Combine all ingredients in a shaker.  Fill with ice, shake until chilled and strain into couple glass, serve. *drink created by Sam Ross

Notes: Intense poverty and racial conflict have historically provided rich breeding grounds for some of the world’s most powerful art, the music of M.I.A. being no exception.  The daughter of a Tamil activist, Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam spent a childhood caught in the fray of the Sri Lankan civil war before being moved to London by her mother Kala out of concern for their safety. Her second album transports one to a dizzying world where lyrics tackling everything from genocide to immigration are layered on top of exotic beats then dropped like hand grenades.  It’s music with balls and brains, full of head-shakingly hooky tracks like “Paper Planes”, “Bird Flu” and “Bamboo Banga”.  An album that goes well with 24k yellow gold, AK-47’s and a stiff drink, enjoy while paying homage to the revolutionaries.

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