155. Local Natives - ‘Hummingbird’ + Mojo Punch

Local Natives - ‘Hummingbird’ + Mojo Punch

Ingredients: 16 ounces light rum, 16 ounces dark rum, 8 ounces cherry brandy, 3 cans light beer, 2.5 cans 7-Up soda, 2 qt pineapple juice, 2 bags ice. (*serves 10-12)

Mixing Instructions: Mix all ingredients in a large container and stir periodically.

Notes: Art of any kind reaches its apogee when pulling from life’s most deeply emotional experiences.  Since the release of their 2010 debut, Gorilla Manor, the L.A. based indie rock band has added these experiences in bundles noting, “We’ve had the craziest highest highs of our lives in the last two years, and we’ve also had the lowest lows at the same time.” For their follow-up, translating these experiences into song in a meaningful way was aided by The National’s Aaron Dessner who produced the album and provided the creative direction of an older brother figure.  

Slightly darker and more subdued, Hummingbird is a music lover’s album, filled with image-rich lyrics - “Waiting for my words to catch like // I’m trying to strike a match that’s soaking wet”, as well as rolling melodies and percussion that wash over the listener like ocean swells.  As readers take for granted when consuming a great novel, it has its full impact only when enjoyed as a whole - invite over the friends and listen over and over until the punch bowl is empty.  Why punch?  Because punch is a good drink when the drink isn’t the point.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

154. Rodriguez - ‘Cold Fact’ + Southern Cucumber

Rodriguez - ‘Cold Fact’ + Southern Cucumber

Ingredients: 1/2 cup of diced seedless cucumber, cucumber spear, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, 2 ounces bourbon, 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice, 2 ounces chilled ginger ale, ice. 

Mixing Instructions: Lightly muddle diced cucumber with simple syrup in a cocktail shaker.  Add bourbon, lemon & lime juices, and enough ice to fill up your highball glass.  Shake well and pour.  Top with ginger ale and garnish with a cucumber spear.

Listening Instructions:  A lot has been said about Sixto Rodriguez recently with the release of the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man", this following the re-release and rising popularity of his music in recent years.  We are talking about 40-year-old music that was almost completely lost had it not been for a family member that stumbled upon a popular website dedicated to the music, unbeknownst to Sixto himself.  Truth is, the music he released in the early 70s was timeless and clearly came from a place that resonates with listeners still today.  Refresh yourself with Cold Fact and a Southern Cucumber on your next casual afternoon off and you won’t be disappointed.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

153. Deftones - ‘Koi No Yokan’ + Joe’s Koi No Yokan Martini

Deftones - ‘Koi No Yokan’ + Joe’s Koi No Yokan Martini

**Guest Pairing from Joe Day**

Ingredients: 3 ounces Crater Lake Gin (Bendistillery), 1 ounce Imbue Bittersweet Vermouth, 1-2 dashes orange bitters, lemon zest for garnish (small peel using a paring knife). 

Mixing Instructions: Fill a mixing glass with ice, pour ingredients in and STIR gently for 30-45 seconds. Strain into a martini glass. Rub the rim with the inside of the lemon peel, then turn it around so that the outer peel faces the top of your drink and delicately squeeze the oils out. Finally, twist the peel, and drop it in.

Notes: The Deftones captured my imagination with their first album Adrenaline in 1995 during a period where nearly every quasi-metal 90s rock band had their 15 minutes. While the others have joined the dustbin of irrelevancy, Deftones are still at it. With their seventh studio album the Sacramento group is still pushing boundaries, still serving up their signature blend of gritty guitar tones, raw aggression coupled with Chino Moreno’s unmistakable voice. They are artists at creating beauty out of the same ingredients every other metal band uses to create chaos. Koi No Yokan is in some ways the obvious progression of Deftones unlikely career, but it’s rare to hear such refinement from this stream of metal. I think Koi No Yokan displays Deftones utter genius: the best ingredients carefully crafted.

The martini is the drink James Bond stole from the bourgeois. Convention was to stir, he chose to shake.  Introducing vodka was sacrilege. Only a playboy individualist would do that to such a classic. Bond’s iconic drink is certainly enjoyable, but it’s not a martini. A proper martini is a simple mixture of gin and vermouth. It lives or dies by the quality of the ingredients and treating it delicately. So, throw away your Martini & Rossi vermouth and go find a bottle of Dolin Dry or Imbue Bittersweet. Crater Lake Gin makes a great martini, and so does Hendricks. A twist, an olive, or bitters enhance it, but the key is to maintain subtlety.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

152. Toro Y Moi - ‘Anything In Return’ + El Presidente

Toro Y Moi - ‘Anything In Return’ + El Presidente

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces white rum, 1/2 ounce Cointreau, 3/4 ounce dry vermouth, dash of grenadine, orange peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Stir ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled glass.  Add orange peel for garnish and serve.

Notes: In the middle of winter one often finds oneself in need of a quick getaway to somewhere…anywhere, just something different.  For those unable to make such a voyage, Chazwick Bundick’s third album provides a beat-heavy, electronic pop dose of climate change.  The South Carolina-born artist layers effortless vocals on classic R&B-flavored beats and disco-funk bass lines.  The result is pop music, sure, but pop with a bit more texture.  Take a mini-vacation with a delicious rum cocktail and an easily-enjoyed album perfect for a night with friends and a quick escape.   

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

151. Foxygen - ‘We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic’ + The Wink

Foxygen - ‘We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic’ + The Wink

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces gin, 1/3 ounce triple sec, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, 1/2 ounce absinthe (to rinse glass), orange twist for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Combine gin, triple sec, simple syrup and bitters in an ice-filled cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously and strain into an absinthe-rinsed lowball glass.  Twist the orange peel over the top of the drink to release the oils, discard and serve.

Notes: "Is this what it was like hearing the Rolling Stones for the first time in the early 60’s?" — *Actual thought that ran through my brains while listening to Foxygen’s 7-song July ‘12 release Take the Kids Off Broadway.  Managing to pull of an intensely pleasurable blend of 60’s rock a la Stones, Beatles and Bowie with the modern psychedelic-trimmings of Tame Impala, I shook my head at the raw talent, both musically and creatively, running through the veins of the L.A. duo and prayed that they wouldn’t screw it up with their follow-up.  

"Good, they didn’t screw it up….yeah, this is really good" — *Second actual thought that ran through my brains after listening to We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Magic & Peace.  Simply put, if you like rock even slightly you owe it to yourself to experience the musical goodness oozing out of a band that will no doubt turn heads in coming years.  Mix a sneaky, layered cocktail and take note - there’s a good chance your kids might one day ask what it was like hearing Foxygen for the first time way back in 2013.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

150. Parquet Courts - ‘Light Up Gold’ + Rattlesnake

Parquet Courts - ‘Light Up Gold’ + Rattlesnake

Ingredients: 2 ounces rye whiskey, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 ounces maple syrup (Grade B), 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, egg white, lemon peel for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice and shake well, about 15 seconds until the egg white is foamy.  Add ice and shake another 15 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Add lemon peel for garnish and serve. (via Beretta)

Notes: Post punk, indie, garage rock…all of these could in one way or another describe the infectious, straight-forward music found on Parquet Courts debut LP (technically their second album, the first being a casette-only release) - but half the time I don’t know what these descriptors really mean anyway and in this case it doesn’t matter…it’s just great music.  Bare-bones rock with a timeless punk vibe that’s refreshingly focused.  The liner notes explain, “This record is for the over-socialized victims of the 1990’s ‘you can be anything you want’, Nickelodeon-induced lethargy…”  Lead singer Andrew Savage spends the album poetically observing the fallout from such engineering.  Take a night, mix yourself a cocktail with a dark underbelly and enjoy a nod to the best parts of underground rock.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

149. Dent May - ‘Do Things’ + Root Canal Float

Dent May - ‘Do Things’ + Root Canal Float

Ingredients: 1 can root beer, 2 ounces Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, 1 large scoop vanilla ice cream.

Mixing Instructions: Pour whiskey in mug, add root beer and stir lightly.  Top with ice cream and serve immediately. *via Pepper.ph

Notes: Listening to Mississippi-native Dent May is like taking a lake-shore drive around the Southern psyche.  There’s a laid-back lack of self-consciousness in May’s music that many a New York artist have spent thousands of dollars on chemical substances trying to achieve.  His second album is mildly psychedelic and deceptively hooky, marinating and slow-cooking your musical brains like a rack of ribs.  The comparisons to Brian Wilson are accurate…and frankly, that’s a good thing as he creates a mellowness that induces bliss, not boredom.  Paired with a cocktail much in the spirit of May (it has ice cream…why? because ice cream is good, that’s why), take a slow day and “do things your own way.”

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

147. Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound + Jack Rose

Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound + Jack Rose

Ingredients: 2 ounces Laird’s Applejack Brandy, 3/4 ounce grenadine, 1/2 ounce lemon juice, 1 dash Peychaud’s bitters, lemon peel.

Mixing Instructions: Pour brandy, grenadine, lemon juice and bitters into cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Twist lemon peel over drink to release oils.  Rub rim of glass with lemon peel, discard and serve.

Notes:  In 2008, when Israel Nebeker & crew of Blind Pilot released 3 Rounds and a Sound, I had no idea how ready I was for laid-back guitar and soft vocals.  Their difference to the formula that I’ve loved for years came from the flat-out honesty and purity of the sound they put together.  Israel’s vocals evoke a strong sense of emotion coupled with songs that have just enough catchiness to blur the line between folk-pop and indie-rock.  This album served as an excellent foundation to the album that has followed sense, and hopefully many more albums to come.  Give it a spin the next time you need to refresh your taste for heartfelt music and songwriting… you won’t be disappointed.

purchase vinyl:  Amazon  ||  Insound

146. Ty Segall - ‘Twins’ + Dixie Car Bomb

Ty Segall - ‘Twins’ + Dixie Car Bomb

Ingredients: 1/2 ounce bourbon whiskey, 1/2 ounce butterscotch schnapps, 12 ounces Pabst Blue Ribbon

Mixing Instructions: Pour the whiskey on top of the schnapps in a shot glass, drop it into the PBR and drink.

Notes: It’s become difficult to take the term “garage rock” too seriously as it’s often a lazy (or kind) way of describing overly fuzzed-out music that uses distortion and reverb to mask an embarrassing lack of talent or focus.  However, in the case of Bay Area rocker, Ty Segall, it’s immediately obvious that there are no shortcomings in either area.  He doesn’t just do garage rock justice…at this point he’s pretty much defining it with each new album.  His third LP of 2012 (you read that right) has moments of distortion-rich shredding, as well as deep grooves of psychedelic beauty.  Twins is un-ironic, pure, thick-cut rock that deserves time to envelop your senses, preferably while sitting on an old car seat in a smoke-filled garage with plenty of whiskey and cheap beer on hand.

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)

143. Portishead - ‘Dummy’ + Belgian Blue

Portishead - ‘Dummy’ + Belgian Blue

Ingredients: 1 ounce vodka, 1/2 ounce coconut liqueur, 1/2 ounce blue curacao, 7-up (refrigerated). 

Mixing Instructions: Pour first three ingredients in glass, add 7-up to taste.  

Notes: It’s rare for a group to find both the courage and creativity required to carve out not just a unique sound, but a seemingly entire new genre of music.  Even more unlikely is that a band would do so and come out of the gates with and album that would be met with such immediate and widespread praise from music fans.  The debut album from Bristol-based group, Portishead, did just that, helping put trip-hop on the map and cementing Dummy as a seminal work of music history and appreciation.  Dark, brooding, downtempo, jazz and hip hop-infused sound that flows freely back and forth between spy movie and smoke-filled dance club.  This is after-midnight-music made for squeezing the last drops out of the night — a classic album that pairs well with a deliciously smooth blue cocktail.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

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

140. Karriem Riggins - ‘Together’ + Caribou Lou

Karriem Riggins - ‘Together’ + Caribou Lou

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces 151 proof rum, 1 ounce Malibu coconut rum, 5 ounces pineapple juice.

Mixing Instructions: Pour ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a highball glass filled with ice.

Notes:  Sometimes you can tell an album will be worthwhile before you ever pick it up — whether it’s due to the artist’s reputation from past works, the praise and admiration of fellow musicians or simply a crate-digging spidey sense.  In the case of Stones Throw jazz drummer, producer and beat-making aficionado Karriem Riggins, it was both the intensely cool, Blue Note-inspired album art and the fact that Riggins has worked with the likes of J Dilla, The Roots, Erykah Badu and Talib Kweli that caused me to pause and take notice of his recent double album.  Oh yeah, and did I mention he tours with Diana Krall.  Oh yeah, and did I mention he recently collaborated with Paul McCartney.  The 34-track hip hop instrumental album was released as two separate LP’s, ‘Alone’ and ‘Together’.  You’d do well to pick up both as the series of short samples is best consumed as an organic whole with a easy going cocktail in tow.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

139. Chairlift - ‘Something’ + Brandy Crusta

Chairlift - ‘Something’ + Brandy Crusta

Ingredients: 2 ounces cognac, 1 teaspoon orange curacao, 1 teaspoon Maraschino, 1/2 teaspoon simple syrup, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 2 dashes bitters, lemon peel.

Mixing Instructions: Take a small wine glass, wet the rim with lemon juice and dip in super fine sugar, then set aside to chill.  Stir ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker then strain into a chilled wine glass that has been lined with a thinly-pared peel of a lemon.

Notes:  There have been no shortage of bands exploring the outer reaches of 80’s synth pop in recent years, but Chairlift’s second album — their first as a pared-down duo — melds the decade’s ingredients into something that moves beyond nostalgia and into a higher realm of exceptionally well-crafted pop music.  Caroline Palochek’s vocals seem born for the album, delicately expressive and able to float in between the synths like smoke.  An addictive album that grows on you over time, pair it with a 19th century classic cocktail and let a wave of warmth take you into the evening.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

138. Elvis Presley - ‘Elvis’ Christmas Album’ + Egg Nog

Elvis Presley - ‘Elvis’ Christmas Album’ + Egg Nog

**Serves 8-10**

Ingredients: 12 eggs, 1 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar, 3 pints whole milk, 3 cups heavy cream, 6 ounces Hennessy vs Cognac, 6 ounces Maker’s Mark, 5 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg.

Mixing Instructions: Separate the eggs.  Beat yolks w/ electric mixer for approx 1 min until they lighten up in color.  Gradually add 1 cup of sugar and beat until completely dissolved.  Add milk, cream, cognac, bourbon and nutmeg - stir to combine.  Beat egg whites in separate bowl until soft peaks form with the mixer running.  Gradually add 3 tablespoons sugar and beat until peaks stiffen.  Whisk egg whites into mixture, garnish with nutmeg.

Notes:  I’m always suspicious when I hear of yet another artist coming out with a Christmas album - visions of gambling debt, not sugar plums normally dance in my head as I try to conjure up a reason why any modern day artist would see a need to put their own spin on “Here Comes Santa Claus.”  If I were a record producer I would ask any artist considering such a move one question, “Can you do it better than Elvis?”  The answer of course would be no then we would laugh as I handed them a consolatory egg nog, unless they were Zooey Deschanel, then I would blush and write them a check.

Released in 1957, Elvis’ Christmas Album is 30 minutes of Christmas perfection that warms the heart of even the most frosty cynic (pun intended).  Does it have “Blue Christmas”?  Yes.  Does it have “White Christmas”?  Yes.  Does it have “Red Christmas”?  No.  But, that would have been cool and incredibly patriotic.  So, while the family and friends gather to celebrate, take a minute to pass around some satisfyingly potent egg nog, throw Elvis on the turntable, and find solace in the fact that the perfect Christmas album has already been done by a boy from Tupelo…and if no one else does another one that’s just fine.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound

137. Andrew Bird - ‘Hands of Glory’ + Ginger Gold Rush

Andrew Bird - ‘Hands of Glory’ + Ginger Gold Rush

Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces ginger liqueur, 1 ounce Bourbon, 1/2 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice, 1 brandied cherry for garnish.

Mixing Instructions: Place the brandied cherry in the bottom of a martini glass.  Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously and strain over the cherry into glass.

Notes: The companion album to his March 2012 release, Break It Yourself, Andrew Bird’s Hands of Glory takes a more casual approach, filling the space with old-timey country covers that are straightforward, but still full.  If the eight tracks were food they’d be described simply as “good eatin’”.  While listening to Bird and his band bang out old gospel songs, one feels as if they’re hearing the type of music normally reserved for the dressing room after the show…after the bourbon has been poured.  It’s relaxed, sentimental and the kind of album one puts on at the end of a long week when music is needed as a quiet companion with whom to welcome the sunset. 

purchase vinyl:   Amazon  ||  Insound 

136. Django Django - ‘Django Django’ + Cocaine Lady

Django Django - ‘Django Django’ + Cocaine Lady

Ingredients: 1 part Stoli Vanil vodka, 1 part Kahlua coffee liqueur, 1 part Bailey’s Irish cream, 1 splash peppermint schnapps (such as Rumple Minze), 1 part whole milk

Mixing Instructions: Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake, then strain into shot glass.

Notes: When I was young I used to play a django my Uncle had given me.  This is false, but you probably don’t realize why.  A django is not an object, something one misplaces and bashfully exclaims, “Oops, I lost my django!”  So what is it?  Well, Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film about a drifter that is constantly seen dragging around a coffin.  Django is a Python-based, open source web application framework.  And Django Django is the self-titled debut album from an Edinburgh-based band that is doing something really interesting with their music…something that, in my Ringling Bros. mind, masterfully absorbs all the definitions from above.  

They do so by producing a sound that, as Laura Snapes astutely points out, comes “rendered in two basic colors—natural and synthetic.”  A band equally at home with artsy Italian filmmaker and geometrically-minded software engineer, songs like “Default” “Hail Bop” and “Love’s Dart” each derive from a common space-western aesthetic, but energetically test all its boundaries…and oh, how vast those boundaries.  In the same way Yeasayer first tickled ears with “2080”, Django Django takes one to a seemingly futuristic place that feels strangely homey.  Take a night, pour a round of mind-bending shots and know what it means to experience smart, beautiful, addictive art.

purchase vinyl:   Amazon   ||   Insound