Join me and
@davidnilsenbeer
for a very special IG live tomorrow night at 8PM as we discuss two of my favorite topics: vinyl and NA beer.
Find us at
@whatisraregroove
or
@davidnilsenbeer
on the ‘gram.
Crack open a tasty beverage and join the conversation
dude at the gym had a shirt that said “the punisher hates cops you dumb fuck”
my gym is full of cops and my boy looked like he was getting the stink-eye all workout.
but not from me…
i could do a whole thread of Brazilian albums from 1975, arguably the best year of music ever from that country.
f*** it, let's go. 25 Brazilian albums from 1975
Greatest years of Brazilian music part II: 1977
When I wrote that 1975 was "arguably" the best year, 1977 was one of the first years that came to mind.
Let's get into it: 25 Brazilian albums from 1977
Great years in Brazilian music part III: 1972
Another year in the "greatest ever" conversation. Gonna keep the classics at the top, and throw some sleepers a little further down the list.
Without further ado: 25 Brazilian albums from 1972
Great years in Brazilian music Part IX: 1968
Tropicalismo, an artistic movement founded by a group of musicians from Bahia, turned bossa nova “inside out,” as poet Augusto de Campos put it. Let's dig deep into a year that revolutionized music.
25 Brazilian albums from 1968:
Great years in Brazilian music Part V: 1982
The post-disco era in Brazil was marked by some of the most unique boogie records ever made, as well as some overlooked classics by some of Brazil's greatest artists
25 Brazilian records from 1982
Great years in Brazilian music Part VIII: 1980
The first year of the 1980s provides us with an incredible blend of boogie, MPB, funk, and experimental music, many of which are criminally slept-on.
Let's do it: 25 Brazilian albums from 1980
Currently rereading this wonderful book from
@caetanoveloso
. Aside from it being the single greatest English-language resource on tropicalismo, the prose itself is gorgeous, a joy to read.
Highly recommend
Great years in Brazilian music part IV: 1973 (Compacto edition)
For 45 Friday, we're going to explore one of Brazil's most unusual musical quirks: the compacto. Compactos are Brazil's version of 7" records, and 1973 was a standout year for the format.
Seven 7"s from 1973:
been having a bit of a tough week, but seeing so many folks enjoying the music i’ve been sharing has kept my spirits high.
i really appreciate all the recommendations i’ve been getting, too. i’ve gotten turned on to some incredible albums this week. it means a lot.
nite 🙏✌️
Great years in Brazilian music part VI: 1969
1969 was the last breath of the Tropicália movement before Caetano and Gilberto Gil's exiles but also featured some incredible solo debut albums. We'll explore both, as well as some deep cuts, as always.
25 Brazilian albums from 1969
Pulled in the wild this weekend. You don’t see this for $25 any more. Killer arrangements, sounds very much like a bridge between two other great Tamla releases: What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On.
The cover goes as hard as the music.
Link below to 🎧
There are a lot of "Best/Essential Funk Album" lists out there in the Twitterverse, but it feels like it's always the same (great) albums being shared over and over again.
Taking a stab at my own list, here are 25 under-appreciated funk masterpieces that deserve more love
Back at it this Friday behind the decks in the Rockaways at Caracas for some all-vinyl sets with lots of international flavor. Gonna be joined by Gulf Club who always packs a deep bag - you don’t want to miss this.
Music at 6:00 no cover 🌴☀️🌴☀️
emotional morning seeing my piece about the culture of overdrinking in the booze biz finally go live.
my deepest gratitude to all of the folks interviewed for their bravery and vulnerability in sharing their stories
one year sober today. best decision i’ve ever made.
before/after photos are cool, but i assure you the most dramatic changes are the ones you can’t see.
from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for the support - i could have never made it this far alone. ❤️
I’ll never understand why this album is so slept-on. Brilliant compositions, virtuosic guitar, and intricate orchestrations that are reminiscent of the 1972 Verocai album.
Banger of a Cuban psych-funk crossover track. Ricardo Eddy Martinez only cut one full length record, Expresso Ritmico, in 1978 - it’s worth seeking out
Fun fact: he also did the horn arrangements for Conga by Gloria Estefan. This is not that.
Richard Eddy Martinez - Este Tumbao
i just wanted to add my $.02 to the beer twitter topic du jour:
beers shouldn't be poured in pint glasses at all. you should hold your hands like a cup under the tap and get charged $1 per second as you lap beer into your mouth/face. that's how they do it in belgium, i think
Heads might know Junior Mendes from his classic Olivetti/Jorge produced record Copacabana Sadia, but one of his best tracks is tucked away on this hard-to-find compacto. Co-written with Hyldon and released 3 years before that LP, it was a harbinger of the funky things to come
Some of Sade’s best cuts never made it onto the studio albums. Spirit, the b-side to Smooth Operator, is a prime example.
A heavy groove with an infectious hook that was probably ahead of it’s time - to me, it would’ve fit perfectly on Stronger Than Pride
#sadebsides
two legacy craft brands posted april fools jokes yesterday that they'd be making non-alc beers.
great illustration of how out-of-touch with the current landscape they are
today’s taproom music strategy: playing the entire sade discography in chronological order until someone complains — at which point i’ll kick that person out of the bar and keep playing sade
Last week, we lost the magnificent Francoise Hardy, with many of the tributes mentioning her cult-classic 1971 album, La Question.
The album was the result of her collaboration and friendship with a little-known Brazilian musician named Tuca.
(Thread with music below)
two years alcohol free today. wrote about it on instagram at my (shameless plug) new handle:
dry__life
this is the last selfie i took before getting sober. 2:37 AM drunk and miserable on a sunday morning. things are looking a lot better nowadays. so incredibly grateful
it turns out i very much can still talk about beer intelligently after a two year hiatus from the biz.
for instance, someone in the taproom asked me what an altbier was today, so of course, i told them that it was an alternative beer.
i got married on a friday the 13th. seriously. the place offered to knock $20 off per plate if we took that date.
guess what? things worked out fine! 10 years later we're still happily married, and only four people were murdered at the reception under mysterious circumstances
friends i need your good vibes/energy please. chasing a dream, have a big interview tomorrow that could make it possible.
trying to become a teacher by joining a program that provides a subsidized masters degree. teaching a demo lesson in this final interview. gonna do my best.
can't tell you how dope it is, as a non-drinker, that
@dontdrinkbeer
is out here doing incredible, nuanced reviews of NA beers.
not only that, dropping knowledge bombs on process. seriously, go read his review of the Black Butte NA, for example.
Massive thanks to
@eclairydotnet
who compiled all of the albums I’ve shared in my Brazilian music threads (so far) into a handy list on rateyourmusic.
200 albums and counting
two things about lagunitas hoppy refresher:
1) it's fucking delicious
2) after working for lagunitas for the better part of a decade, the shape/feel of that particular type of bottle makes it feel like i'm slamming an actual beer, psychologically
10/10 yardwork/nyr pregame bevy
congrats to everyone who completed dry january.
congrats to everyone who did damp january.
congrats to those who tried and gave up or decided it wasn't for them.
congrats if you just got fucked up all month.
i think you all deserve an ice cream, cmon hop in the station wagon
dear chumbawumba,
great song, lads — except for one thing: can you please specify the kind of lager drink to which you’re referring? is it a doppelbock? an american adjunct lager? do better, you trendy bastards.
submitted a piece to the taco bell quarterly last night - it’s the first piece of fiction that i’ve ever had the courage to put into the world.
i mean it sucks, but i did it.
this was my first CBC since 2019, and my first one sober. i hope it won’t be my last.
grateful to have had the opportunity to talk about how to encourage healthier relationships with alcohol and meet so many folks I’ve long admired.
i love what athletic has done for the NA beer category, but i just can't get down with the amount of perceptible methional (worty, potato flavor) in many their beers.
other folks/breweries are finding clever ways to hide it, and i'm wondering if there's... (1/3)
my piece on overdrinking in the booze industry goes live tomorrow on
@goodbeerhunting
. it got commissioned in october of 2022, which feels like a lifetime ago - i was only 5 months sober. i put a lot into it, really proud of how it came out, and can't wait for y'all to read it
update: i'm going to grad school in january and i'll be teaching in my own classroom next autumn!
thanks so much for the good vibes and energy y'all, so incredibly fucking grateful!
thank y’all so much. find out in 4-6 weeks if i’ll be starting grad school in the spring and teaching special ed in the bronx next fall. any additional vibes and energy during that time would be appreciated but i don’t wanna be greedy, i truly felt them today 🙏
the usa has approximately 9,000 breweries.
fun fact:
if you took every brewery in the country and stacked them on top of each other, you’d have one really, really tall brewery
i've had a really charmed career in beer, traveled the world working some pretty high-profile gigs.
but i don't think i've ever had as much fun as i am right now being a bartender at a fledgling brewpub. it's so much less pressure (and more fun) than corporate bullshit
brewery sale day on twitter:
- “can’t believe it” reactions
- “well i guess i’m not buying (brand) anymore”
- people reminding folks that “it’s a business”
- reactionary folks tweet some iteration of “sellout”
- days pass and everyone goes back to drinking (brand)
had a beer rep pop into my bar recently, told them how i quit drinking after it turned into a problem working in beer. they said they read an article about boozing in the industry that had them rethinking their relationship with alcohol
"was it in good beer hunting?"
"i think so"
There was a point in time for
@MarkLaFaro
when having 30-40 beers a week wasn’t out of the ordinary. But that amount of consumption—sparked by working in alcohol—took him to rock bottom, AA meetings, and therapy. It’s now been a little over a year since he last had a drink.
In
this week, i homebrewed a non-alc beer with a couple of amazing people, including another sober person.
just finished writing 1500 words about that experience and the current state of NA craft beer culture. can't wait for y'all to read it.
4) Quarteto Em Cy – Quarteto Em Cy
Incredible album by four sisters from Bahia, includes a gorgeous cover of Tudo Que Você Podia Ser from the aforementioned Clube Da Esquina
I can’t heap enough praise on Leandro Vignoli’s Brazuca Sounds podcast.
If you want to learn more about golden-era Brazilian music, it’s an *invaluable* English-language resource. It’s also beautifully produced, a joy to listen to.
Highly recommend 🇧🇷
had a dude explain to me last week why he almost never gives a beer 5 caps on untappd (something about 5 being the absolute perfect beer, almost unattainable), and anyways i almost died of boredom by the time he was done, 0/5 caps
ways to make beer fests better:
1. add a laser tag element
2. funny name tags
3. no cover bands
4. expel untappd users
5. mandatory pogo sticks after 10 beers consumed