Sufjan Stevens; making volcanoes erupt...

New week, new song, new blog.  This blog is actually a week overdue.  I was planning on writing this last Saturday, and this was intended to be a weekly blog, but I might have had one too many IPAs that night and was not able to complete my task.  So instead of last Saturday, you get it this Monday.  I was like to welcome the 19th follower to the blog David.  Welcome aboard sir.  You will be issued your standard sailor uniform and cap in the coming weeks. 

Last Saturday's IPA comes from my hometown of Papillion, NE.  My family and friend Jake were in town last week for golf, so my dad was kind enough to bring a couple IPAs to try.  This week's IPA is called Hop God.  It is a Belgian IPA brewed at the Nebraska Brewing Company.  It was a very good beer.  It had a great citrus taste and aroma, and got me pretty drunk!  So for that Hop God, you get:

TWO EYEBROWS UP!

Now to the pick of the week.  I have been listening to the new Beirut so much, that I didn't really find any new albums to select from, so I chose a song off of Sufjan Steven's Age of Adz LP.  This CD is new this year, so it is not that dated.  The truth about this CD, is that when I first listened to it I was kind of turned off because it is so different than music he had put put before.  I loved the previously albums so I felt let down by the new sound, and really didn't listen to it much.  Luckily for my I started listening to it again about 3 weeks ago, and have really started to like it a lot.  My current favorite song on the album is "Vesuvius."  It is the one song on the album that sounds most like his older stuff.  If you have never heard of Sufjan, I highly suggest listening to his old albums.   They are extremely good, and well worth the listen.  Hope you like it!

Sufjan Stevens - "Vesuvius"

And now this (I know this is old, but I just listened to it again recently after a couple years and it is still funny)...

Let's Get to the Beirut of This Folks!

It's me again, Dan Cutler, for another week of senseless music blabber.  No new followers this week, so no one to recognize on another life changing decision.  I am excited about tonights blog.  The first time I heard this pick of the week I couldn't wait to write my blog.  This may be my favorite pick to date, and possibly my favorite song of the year.  Since hearing this song for the first time yesterday, I have listened to it at least 15 times it's so good.  Before the sappy love poems about the band I picked week, let us get to the IPA of the week.

This weeks IPA comes from San Diego, CA.  It was a new item at Lukas Liquors (advertised by a big red arrow that said "new item" on it) and I had to try it!  It is called West Coast IPA and is made by Green Flash Brewing Company.  It has much extreme hops, and I like.  At first glance I thought it would be a lonely eyebrow up, but after further review and a hops chop to the tongue, I dub this beer:

 Two Eyebrows Up folks!

Now it's time....the moment we have all been waiting for....the pick of the week.  The story began on a wild spring break trip with two friends, the ends with a boy becoming a man.  After 6 days, 9 states, a new tattoo, and an overnight in a Houston, TX park I was standing at a bar watching an unfamiliar band at SXSW in Austin, TX.  I had never heard of this band, but they were sandwiched to play between the Mountain Goats, Blonde Redhead and Voxtrot, so I had to watch...and I had to idea what was coming!  What unraveled on stage was one of the best concerts I had ever seen.  12 people on stage playing instruments I had never heard of.  Incredibly what came out was a Eastern European sound with a certain romanticism built in.  The name of the band is Beirut.  They have recently released a new album called The Riptide and the song is called "East Harlem."  The second I heard this song I knew it was the pick of the week, and there is no song I can find to top it.  If you haven't got Beirut, then you need to get it, but if you have already got it, then obviously you get it! So here you go for the pick of the week...

Beirut - East Harlem

And now this...