Brewblog, Entry Seven

August 7, 2010 - Brewed Matrimonial Ale 6 (MA6)

With most bottles of Matrimonial Ale 5 gone, it was time to start the cycle all over again. The consensus (two out of three, anyway) for MA6 was that we should try the same Imperial IPA concept of MA5, but with the citrus hops of MA4. And that's pretty much exactly what I devised in BeerSmith on the morning of brew day. I say "pretty much" because I had a new 15 gallon pot to work with.

After using a friend's 8 gallon pot for over a year, we finally saved up enough money to purchase a big pot of our own in July. With twice as much volume to work with in the new boil pot, we are now able to create 10 gallon batches (38L) of some beers instead of the standard 5 gallon (19L). I say "some beers" because we haven't yet upgraded our cooler mash tun, so there are limits on how much grain we can use in a batch. We can easily make 38L of a 4% beer, but as the alcohol content goes up, we can make less and less volume, until we bottom/max (depending on your perspective) out at 19L around 9%.

(We will not brew 38L every brew day, just because we now can. Between only three guys, that's simply too much beer. We just like now having the option to go big if we want to.)

Having previously maxed out our cooler with Blackout Stout, I had a vague idea of how much grain and water I could fit in the mash for MA6. I planned the recipe for a 22L batch of 8% beer, requiring nearly 8 kg of grains. The cooler was definitely maxed out once again.

I had been very happy with the Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast's performance with the Wee Heavy so I wanted to give it another chance to impress on a strong beer. My first attempt to reuse a ranched yeast (the Denny's Favorite 50 in MA5) had been a dismal failure, but I was confident that a yeast starter was key to success. And I was right. MA6 had a very healthy primary fermentation with more than a foot of krausen and better than expected attenuation. Like the Wee Heavy before it, MA6 easily crossed the 9% threshold.

MA6 was bottled on September 4, so I will reserve comments on the finished product for a few more weeks. The samples have been promising. The dry hopped aroma is excellent.

The Matrimonial Ale series, for me at least, has always been about experimenting with American IPA and Imperial IPA recipes to find what kind of crazy things we can make, but one member of the club wants us to settle on an MA recipe and start making that over and over. I expect that MA4 will be the model for future Matrimonial Ales, putting the series firmly back in American IPA territory (it started American, went Imperial by accident, then American, American, Imperial, Imperial).

However, as a big fan of MA5 and hopefully MA6, I am not giving up on the Imperial IPA series. So I need a new name. Aside from Blackout Stout, I haven't really done anything creative with our beer names. Matrimonial Ale was not my idea. Everything else is just named after its style. It's a little boring. But I'm a little boring. So, "Imperial IPA" it is?

August 21, 2010 - Brewed Belgian IPA 2 (BIPA2)

The first Belgian IPA was soured and a big disappointment, but everyone liked the concept enough to try it as our first 38L batch. The plan was to bottle 19L in the standard way but keg the other 19L in Simon's newish kegerator setup. In a month or so, we will do a bottle vs. keg taste challenge.

Not coincidentally, the size of the grain bill for the Belgian IPA 2 was identical to the previous week's Matrimonial Ale 6, maxing out the mash cooler. The extra volume for BIPA2 was added during the sparge process. Ignoring the size difference, the recipe was only slightly revised from the original BIPA, with the same hops, malts, and yeast.

For this double batch, we used the Wyeast Belgian Abbey II liquid yeast that had been ranched from Trevor's Blonde. That yeast has been in my fridge for a few months, and had been ranched and cleaned sloppily and possibly incorrectly, but I made a starter for it two days before brew day, and it seemed healthy enough. And it was. It did quite well.

Simon, unsurprisingly and understandably, wants nothing to do with the sour epidemic of this summer, so his half of the Belgian IPA is currently sitting in a glass carboy, just in case. So far I have detected no obvious sourness in the Belgian IPA, but I am checking on a weekly basis out of paranoia.

August 28, 2010 - Brewed Extra Special Bitter 2 (ESB2)

On this brew day, we wanted to do another big batch (35L or so) to split between bottles and a keg, but of a simple light beer. English Pale Ale was a good fit, especially considering the unused Wyeast London Ale III yeast sitting in my fridge. The first Extra Special Bitter (aka English Pale Ale) was brewed well over a year ago, and I can barely remember how it tasted. In the meantime, we have brewed two Standard Bitters that were solid if unspectacular.

I completely ignored the recipe from our original ESB, instead taking inspiration from various online recipes and our previous Standard Bitters. For malts, it was mostly Pale, with some Crystal 80 and a little Biscuit. For hops, I went with Northern Brewer for bitterness, Goldings for flavour, and Fuggles for aroma.

As I write this, I am racking ESB2 into its two carboys. I detected no sourness in the sample. And it seems like it will be a crisp, refreshing, mildly bitter brew. Nice.

September 4, 2010 - Brewed Simon's Sapporo Lager (SSL)

We don't make many lagers. They require tight temperature control and at temperatures much lower than you'll find anywhere in my house. The first, a Pilsner, fermented and lagered in Simon's basement, had turned out okay (once the sulfur smell went away) despite being fermented and especially lagered at higher than recommended temperatures. But with Simon's kegerator setup, making lagers properly is now a much more realistic prospect.

For our first kegerator lager, Simon wanted to try to make a Japanese rice lager like a Sapporo, so that's what we did. All we could get on short notice was two pounds of rice flakes, so eighty percent of the grain bill was still Pale Malt. I did some research on hops and determined that Saaz and Hallertau were the best fit for bitterness and flavour/aroma respectively.

Other than the rice flakes in the mash, it was a pretty standard brew day. We did only 19L for this batch so it can all be kegged.

Next time on Brewblog

As I conclude this post, I am preparing the London Ale yeast starter for Saturday's Imperial Stout.

A Month in Review, Aug 8 to Sep 6

For a month in review post, this one is actually quite short. I haven't really done that much of note in the last month. Christina moved in, so there was that. And we watched a lot of episodes of So You Think You Can Dance and Queer as Folk. And I've read a lot of reddit threads. And I've been busy at work for a nice change. And I listened to a ton of music as research for the favourite albums posts. It was overall a pretty good month, just not very blogworthy.

The Month in Movies

I can't believe I forgot to review Inception last time. As a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films (Memento and The Prestige, mostly), I was quite excited to see his latest mindbender. What took me by surprise was the fact that it is actually a pretty straightforward storyline. The ending is left open to interpretation, but Inception is otherwise completely logical in structure and easy to follow, once you accept the premise's rules. Repeat viewings are not required to understand Inception, but there are enough details and subtleties to keep the movie interesting in repeat viewings. That is good movie-making. And Inception also features top-notch acting and action. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's zero-gravity scenes were the highlight for me.

As good as Inception was, I enjoyed Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World even more. I haven't read the source material (soon?), but this live-action video game of a movie was entertaining from start to finish, features one of the coolest soundtracks I've ever heard, and even made me like Michael Cera again. From Spaced to Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz to this, Edgar Wright has yet to disappoint.

The Month in Music

Disturbed's "Asylum," released August 31, is a solid hard-rock album. All of the songs are pretty good, but there is an undeniable sameness to a lot of Disturbed's songs since 2002's "Believe," and I certainly don't think they broke out of that rut with "Asylum." Disturbed is clearly unconcerned with diversity. "Asylum" is a more consistent album than 2008's "Indestructible," but "Indestructible" had better stand-out moments, so I'll call them even. Best Disturbed album is... hmmm... I'll go with "Ten Thousand Fists," I guess.

The Month in Television

My first TV task of August was catching up with Eureka's in-progress fourth season, which has surprisingly been the best season of the series to date. The writers took a big risk in the season premiere that could easily have backfired in a huge way, but have so far managed to make it work rather well.

More recently, I also finished all six series/seasons of hilarious British comedy Peep Show. This series might just be my new favourite comedy series of all time. If I compare only its first two seasons with the two seasons of The Office, The Office wins, but Peep Show kept getting better throughout its third season and hit its comedy genius stride in season four. It's embarrassing how often I identify with pathetic sad sack Mark Corrigan. A seventh season is coming later this fall, so: yay!

It is now September, so that means the return of endless television viewing. I'm looking forward to (in alphabetical order) 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Dexter, Fringe, fucking Glee, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Modern Family, The Office, South Park, and Stargate Universe. I'm reluctantly also going to watch The Amazing Race, House, How I Met Your Mother, and Merlin. I'm undecided about Survivor. And I'm annoyed that Caprica and Parks and Recreation are being held for midseason.

As for new shows, I'm not watching any of them, at least not at first. Not even the promising No Ordinary Family. I can always catch up later if the buzz is strong.

Loved: Futurama (7x9-12), Penn & Teller: Bullshit (8x10), Sherlock (1x3)
Liked: Eureka (4x6-8), Hung (2x6-9), Mad Men (4x3-7), So You Think You Can Dance (7x22/23), So You Think You Can Dance Canada (3x1-11), True Blood (3x8-11), Warehouse 13 (2x6-9)
Meh: Entourage (7x6-9)

In the best news of the month, Futurama continues to kick all kinds of ass. I can definitely count on twenty minutes of hilarity every week.

Sherlock's third episode/movie, "The Great Game," was the second best of the three, ending with quite the unexpected jolt. I'm looking forward to more of this series, in a year or two or whenever...

Bullshit's season finale, "Vaccinations," was definitely one of the strongest episodes in the eighth season. In particular, the duo's episode-opening demonstration of the effectiveness of vaccinations was eye-opening. Anti-vaxxers need to fuck off and die.

Eureka and Warehouse 13 had fun crossovers this month that I enjoyed. Eureka has definitely been the better of these two similar silly shows this season, but I nearly always guiltily enjoy both.

Sadly, I'm getting a little bored with the rest of the shows. Like with its second season, True Blood's third season lost a lot of momentum in the second half and is now getting kinda boring sometimes. Mad Men seems to have no dramatic thrust this season, so is just there. Hung is still mostly just okay. Entourage is up and down and all over the place. The three HBO shows end their seasons this coming Sunday. I am still pretty excited for True Blood's finale, as episode eleven did have quite the awesome cliffhanger ending. Perpetually overrated Emmy-winner Mad Men still has half a season to impress.

The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 3

Wow, I've been busy these past couple of weeks...

Better late than never, at long last, I present my top five favourite albums. To make up for the delay, I put a little more effort into each entry this time, including my favourite lyrics from my favourite songs.

If you are late to the party, please check out part one and part two.

5. Catherine Wheel - Happy Days (1995)

The video from Waydown was my introduction to Catherine Wheel. I didn't know what to make of it at first, but it was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic in 1995 and grew on me to the point where buying the album became a necessity. It's fun to remember those days when music wasn't so easily sampled for free, buying albums based on one song you liked was common, and you often quickly came to regret the fifteen bucks you had just wasted. Some music stores let you sample the album in-store, but I rarely took advantage of that; I was a risk taker. This particular risk was well worth it. Happy Days is the best album I ever purchased on the strength of only one song without any prior exposure to the band.

It was only when I checked out Catherine Wheel's previous albums that I realized how much of a departure Happy Days was for the band. Fans of Ferment and Chrome, their two quite similar previous albums, were not necessarily fans of Happy Days. The lyrics and vocals have an awesome angry edge, and it is a much harder rocking album musically. Catherine Wheel continued to change their sound significantly with their final two albums, Adam and Eve and Wishville, because they insisted on never stagnating. I love all of Catherine Wheel's albums, but Happy Days is the one that I fell in love with first, and you never forget your first.

Essential Tracks:
"Waydown" - "I breed deep in me a beautiful thing / And I need energy for my beautiful thing / But pain for days has stayed with me / Expect to see some change in me"
"Heal" - "I can climb a tree and push up through the leaves 'cause / Only when I try am I happier to see / My head's in some kind of space where boyhood used to be / It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal"
"Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck" - "Eat my dust you insensitive fuck"
"Shocking" - "But won't you listen to me, why can't you believe / That you're breaking my heart / And these moments were part of our lives / And it destroys me to see you destroy them / Every time"

Filler Track: "Fizzy Love"

Runner-Up: Chrome (1993) - "The Nude"

4. Silverchair - Diorama (2002)

Diorama is one of those albums that comes out of nowhere to completely blow you away. Previously, I had only moderate interest in Silverchair, just enough to pick up their "Best Of" album at a used CD shop in the winter of 2001/2002. The best song on that greatest hits collection was "Emotion Sickness," an awesome orchestrated rock ballad that showed promise of much greater things to come. Now much more curious about Silverchair, I also tracked down a used copy of 1999's Neon Ballroom, which is definitely a solid rock album, but with no other songs in the same league as "Emotion Sickness." The next album, Diorama, was the much greater things.

As soon as "Across the Night" starts, you know you are in for something special. I've always been a huge fan of orchestrated rock music; the orchestration just gives it that extra kick, a little epicness. Diorama is the best orchestrated rock album in my collection. The influence of the orchestration ranges from subtle touches in some of the harder rocking songs to songs that are effectively built around the orchestration. Another big reason Diorama stays in my playlist is the diversity of songs. In this one album, there are brilliantly quirky songs "Across the Night" and "Tuna in the Brine," awesome hard rocking songs like "Without You" and "One Way Mule," and beautiful ballads like "World Upon Your Shoulders" and "After All These Years." This is an album that repeatedly rewards the listener from beginning to end.

Essential Tracks:
"Across the Night" - "Never seen the sunshine / From higher points than sunrise / I don't wanna be lonely / I just wanna be alone"
"Without You" - "Old incisions refusing to stay / Like the sun through the trees on a cloudy day"
"Too Much of Not Enough" - "A close look at something so close / It's too much of not enough / When all we need is just a taste"
"After All These Years" - "All those years / I was hurting to feel / Something more than life"

Filler Track: "The Lever"

3. King's X - Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous (2000)

King's X's Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous (herein referred to as PCHMB) has a lot of elements working against it. It was written and recorded spontaneously in studio as an experiment, entirely self-produced, features the most ridiculous title and cover art in my entire collection, has foreign language tongue twisters between tracks, jumps from lyrical absurdity to profundity between songs and sometimes within songs, and even includes a beat poetry breakdown. All of these elements actually lend the album a quirky charm. PCHMB is a diverse, crazy mish-mash of an album that works because the songs all work.

Although the members of King's X always share writing credits on all of their songs, on most of their albums it is not difficult to pick out which songs were originally written by Ty or Doug or Jerry, as they all bring different sensibilities to the music. And that is a big reason why PCHMB is special, because the songs don't feel like Ty or Doug or Jerry songs, but Ty and Doug and Jerry songs. And this group effort led to some of the band's best, most melodic songs, really living up to their reputation as the hard rock Beatles, and some of my favourite songs of all time. "She's Gone Away" and "Bitter Sweet" are my favourite songs about marital separation; "Move Me" (annoyingly split over tracks nine and ten) is my favourite song about losing faith in god; "Smudge" and "Charlie Sheen" are my favourite songs about complete nonsense; "Julia" is my favourite song about Julia. (Yes, that last sentence was largely a joke.) PCHMB is a quick listen, far, far too short, leaving you wanting much more, but that's ultimately the best thing you can ask for from an album.

Having said all that, there is no way that I could claim with a straight face that PCHMB is King's X's best album. That honour belongs to 1994's Dogman, which, like Catherine Wheel's Happy Days, found the band at their angriest and hardest rocking. Old school fans might go with 1989's Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, but Dogman was my first King's X.

Essential Tracks:
"She's Gone Away" - "I've got a lot I call my own / My house is full of things / But it's just an empty home / And all day long I walk around / Seeing reminders and reliving all I've found / She's gone away"
"Smudge" - "Any day... yesterday... there's tomorrow to say / Let's forget it anyway"
"Bitter Sweet" - "Ever reading... something's bleeding in my soul / And I can't seem to fill up the hole / And I love you... thinking of you... bitter sweet / So I bury the feeling and empty my head / Just to sleep... too deep"
"Move Me" - "Wish I could whisper how much I need you / After tomorrow I might forget to / If it's only from a story"

Filler Track: "When You're Scared"

Runner-Up: Dogman (1994) - "Cigarettes"

2. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity (1999)

I have already told the story of how I discovered Jimmy Eat World in my second Soundtrack post, so I won't repeat that here. Once again, thanks former co-worker!

Clarity is another diverse album. (If you are starting to notice a pattern, that's because diversity is very important.) It is also unique. Opening track "Table for Glasses" is a slow, quiet, amazing song, not at all representative of Jimmy Eat World or the rest of the album. Album-ending track "Goodbye Sky Harbor," which is awesomely rockified when played live, is seemingly over after three minutes but somehow keeps going for another thirteen. (I used to despise that repetitive instrumental ending, but it grew on me as I started noticing the subtleties of the changing arrangement.) In between, there are catchy pop songs "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Believe in What You Want," rockers "Your New Aesthetic" and "Crush" and "Blister" and "Clarity," epic "Just Watch the Fireworks," and beautiful songs "Ten," "A Sunday," and "For Me This is Heaven." And then there is "12.23.95," the one song that I wish had been left off the album; it's pretty, albeit a little boring, but its worst offense is that it is a fucking Christmas song. It is not bad enough to tarnish the album, but I have been known to pretend that "Ten" comes after "Crush."

Clarity was a major departure, and significant step up, from Jimmy Eat World's emocore major label debut, Static Prevails, and while some of their newer albums have approached its quality level, most notably 2004's Futures, it is still their best overall album. Seeing as Jimmy Eat World is my favourite band that is still together and still at the top of their game, it should make sense that they come in pretty high on this list.

Essential Tracks:
"Table for Glasses" - "Not asking of me anything / Saying nothing about what it means / Without anybody telling me what I should feel / Lead my skeptic sight"
"Just Watch the Fireworks" - "What giving up gives you / And where giving up takes you / I've had and I've been / Here in center frame / Here, there's only air / And just enough space to fit"
"For Me This is Heaven" - "And the time's such clumsy time / In deciding if it's time / I'm careful but not sure how it goes / You can lose yourself in your courage"
"Clarity" - "Wait for something better / Will I know when it can be us? / Wait for something better / Maybe that doesn't mean us / Wait for something better? / I shouldn't, it's not enough / Pull one excuse from another"

Filler Track: "12.23.95"

Runner-Up: Futures (2004) - "23"

And, Now, The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For

1. Live - Throwing Copper (1994)

Like Catherine Wheel, I was introduced to Live by the heavy rotation of their first single "Selling the Drama" on MuchMusic. It was awesome, but I was hesitant to buy the album Throwing Copper based on only the one song. (The difference between this situation and the Catherine Wheel situation is that Throwing Copper was released in 1994, when I was a poor high school student with no job, and Happy Days was released in 1995, when I was heading off to university with lots of money from a summer job and scholarships.) The next single, "I Alone," tempted me further, but I was still broke and very frugal. By the time "Lightning Crashes" was in heavy rotation both on MuchMusic and local radio, I could no longer resist Throwing Copper's pull. Three amazing singles in a row was enough justification to spend fifteen bucks of my birthday money.

It should come as no surprise at this point to read that Throwing Copper is a diverse album. Between the distorted wailing vocals of slow-building album opener "The Dam at Otter Creek" and country-infused hidden track "Horse," numerous alternative rock styles are represented. A number of the songs rely on predictable quiet verses, louder choruses song-writing, but that shit is classic and overused because it works. And Live mixes it up wonderfully with a "Top" here and a "Stage" there. And then they throw in the indescribably fantastic "Waitress" and the epic "Pillar of Davidson." Every song on Throwing Copper is terrific in its own way.

Throwing Copper is easily Live's best album. I was never a big fan of their debut album Mental Jewelry, which makes Throwing Copper a hell of a sophomore improvement. 1997's Secret Samadhi and 1999's The Distance to Here have some excellent songs, but are much less consistently strong throughout. There was a brief time that I considered The Distance to Here to be Live's best album, but those days are long gone. The band almost went completely off the rails with 2001's V, but 2003's Birds of Pray was a surprisingly strong recovery and the last worthy Live album. 2006's Songs from Black Mountain commits the unforgivable sin of being thoroughly boring. And then Ed Kowalczyk went full dick and screwed over his bandmates and Live is no more. What a sad ending to my favourite band from 1995 to 2000.

Essential Tracks:
"Selling the Drama" - "And to Christ: a cross / And to me: a chair / I will sit and earn the ransom / From up here"
"Lightning Crashes" - "Lightning crashes, a new mother cries / Her placenta falls to the floor / The angel opens her eyes / The confusion sets in / Before the doctor can even close the door"
"Waitress" - "After all, everybody's good enough / For some change / Some fucking change!"
"Pillar of Davidson" - "Warm bodies, I sense / are not machines that can only make money / Past, perfect, tense / Words for a feeling and all I've discovered"

Filler Track: "Iris"

The End... finally!

Now back to regularly schedule blog content. Brewblog and Month in Review posts should show up early next week... I hope. And, next Friday is my one year blogiversary!

The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 2

In part one, I listed ten of my favourite albums that I can't get enough of. If you haven't read part one yet, you should obviously start there.

Before I get into the top ten, what about those albums that didn't quite crack the top twenty but were damn close and are at least worthy of a brief mention?

Honourable Mentions

The following albums are presented in alphabetical order by band name.

Collective Soul - Collective Soul (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Untitled," "The World I Know," "Where the River Flows," "Gel"
Filler Track: "Bleed"

Copeland - You Are My Sunshine (2008)
Essential Tracks: "Should You Return," "The Grey Man," "On the Safest Ledge," "What Do I Know?"
Filler Track: "Strange and Unprepared"

Extreme - III Sides to Every Story (1992)
Essential Tracks: "Warheads," "Stop the World," "Rise 'N Shine," "Who Cares?"
Filler Track: "Seven Sundays"

Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Essential Tracks: "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park!" "My Hero," "Everlong"
Filler Track: "See You"

Galactic Cowboys - Space In Your Face (1993)
Essential Tracks: "You Make Me Smile, " I Do What I Do," "Blind," "About Mrs. Leslie"
Filler Track: "Space in Your Face"

Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)
Essential Tracks: "Agoraphobia," "Talk Shows on Mute," "Southern Girl," "Here in My Room"
Filler Track: "Priceless"

Mae - The Everglow (2005)
Essential Tracks: "We're So Far Away," "Someone Else's Arms," "The Ocean," "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making"
Filler Track: "Anything"

Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Essential Tracks: "Wave of Mutilation," "Here Comes Your Man," "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "La La Love You"
Filler Track: "Crackity Jones"

Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just," "My Iron Lung," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Filler Track: "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was"

The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
Essential Tracks: "Cherub Rock," "Today," "Disarm," "Mayonaise"
Filler Track: "Sweet Sweet"

Without Further Ado: The Top Ten

10. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)

Dream Theater is composed of some of the best musicians on the planet, so impressive musicianship is expected. But their song writing is hit and miss, so this can lead to excessive noodling and showing off, and songs that are three times longer than they need to be. James LaBrie's vocals are sometimes thin and he is easily the band's weakest element. All of these issues arguably apply to Scenes from a Memory, but it is still 77 minutes of pure heavy metal magic and Dream Theater's best album by a wide margin.

Scenes from a Memory is an elaborate concept album about past lives, illicit love, and murder, opening with a session of hypno-regression and ending with an unexpected jolt. There is no album that I've listened to from start to finish in my car more times than this one. It's an awesome album for a long drive.

Essential Tracks: "Overture 1928," "Strange Deja Vu," "Home," "Finally Free"
Filler Track: "Through Her Eyes"

9. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)

I remember the first time I heard Porcupine Tree's "Blackest Eyes," album opener to In Absentia. It was a bizarre blend of heavy metal with REM/U2-style pop rock, and I wasn't sure if I liked it. This was another Amazon.com recommendation, and I had purchased it entirely unheard on the strength of the rave reviews. Fortunately, second song "Trains" was an instant classic, soon becoming one of my favourite songs of all time. And I now love "Blackest Eyes," too.

In Absentia is a diverse progressive rock album, with no two songs sounding alike. It is arguably a concept album about social deviants, but that's not a major factor in my enjoyment of it. It is musically adventurous, unendingly interesting, and, like all Porcupine Tree albums, even better in DVD Audio surround sound. I'm also a big fan of Steven Wilson's atmospheric, layered vocals.

Essential Tracks: "Trains," "The Sound of Muzak," "Gravity Eyelids," "Heartattack in a Lay By"
Filler Track: "Wedding Nails"
Runner-Up: The Incident (2009) - "The Incident"

8. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance (2000)

What is amazing about The Swiss Army Romance is that it is only Chris Carrabba and his acoustic guitar (plus awesome use of female backing vocals), but it never feels like anything is missing. His guitar playing is brilliantly rhythmic and almost percussive, providing a surprisingly complete soundscape for his passionate vocals to soar over top of. I was doing similar things with my acoustic guitar before I knew Dashboard Confessional even existed, but I was never even close to this successful at it.

Most importantly, every song on The Swiss Army Romance is something special. There are few albums that are this emotional, this powerful, while being so deceptively simple.

Essential Tracks: "The Sharp Hint of New Tears," "Turpentine Chaser," "A Plain Morning," "Age Six Racer"
Filler Track: "Living in Your Letters"
Runner-Up: So Impossible (2001) - "Hands Down"

7. Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)

Alice in Chains was the best thing to come out of the Seattle grunge scene of the early 90s (even though it is tough to compare their distinctive sound to other great Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana), and Dirt is their undisputed masterpiece. Lyrically dark and honest, musically eerie and unique. Years before I was doing the Dashboard Confessional thing with my music, I was trying to do something more like this, but with none of the life experience and absolutely no understanding of real pain. (And no guitar skills anywhere near Jerry Cantrell, who was my guitar hero until Ty Tabor came along.)

Essential Tracks: "Them Bones," "Rooster," "Angry Chair," "Would?"
Filler Track: "Hate To Feel"
Runner-Up: Jar of Flies (1994) - "Nutshell"

6. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)

I was a pretty big fan of Green Day during the Dookie era, but they dropped off my radar in a big way in the mid-90s. When American Idiot was released, it received mostly rave reviews, but I was skeptical and held off checking it out until the release of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as a single. When I finally listened to it, I was definitely impressed. Green Day had come a long way from Dookie. "Jesus of Suburbia" was an amazing achievement for the band. But I still didn't really care. I didn't give the album the time it deserved.

Fast forward to 2009 and the release of 21st Century Breakdown. Impressed again by Green Day's growth, I gave American Idiot another listen. And, holy shit, this whole album is fantastic! Where previously I had fixated on "Jesus of Suburbia" and the singles, and hadn't really paid attention to the through story, I was now recognizing the album's depth. Every song adds to the whole. It is not only one of the best concept albums in my collection, it has become one of my favourite albums period. I don't even really consider myself to be a Green Day fan, but... probably I should.

Essential Tracks: "Jesus of Suburbia," "Give Me Novocaine," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," "Homecoming"
Filler Track: "She's a Rebel"

To be continued... again... sigh.

Sorry, due to time constraints, I am saving the top five for part three, hopefully going live later this week.

Three of the top five have already been sussed out by my brother in the comments to part one, if you are curious. My brother isn't really familiar with 5 and 3, so it's not a big surprise that he didn't figure those out.

Edited to add: part three is here.

Money and Happiness

This is a rare spur of the moment blog post. On this fine Friday night, I have absolutely nothing to do. I'm all caught up on my TV, except for the shows I'm saving to watch with Christina. I took care of some brewing tasks, but those details will be saved for the next Brewblog (spoiler: another sour beer?!) which I guess I could have written right now instead of this--but no!

I'm sitting outside on my patio swing, patiently waiting for my ThermaCell to scare away the mosquitoes, blogging while drinking an amazingly delicious Honey Nut Brown--we made this, you guys!--and enjoying every minute of it. Daisy and Duke are frustrated; I think they just want to go downstairs and relax on the couch, but fuck them.

I've recently realized something profound that I need to blog about. The realization was triggered by a raise at work that bumped me into six figures (one milli--er, no, that's just one hundred thousand...). And it was the following: holy shit, I'm rich! And then: where the hell does all my money go?

Actually, I know very well where all my money is going. I don't know anyone that budgets and records expenses as thoroughly as I do. So this allows me to say with 100% confidence that I have been led astray by the motherfucking American dream for far too long.

Of the five thousands of dollars that are deposited into my bank account every month, a large portion (approximately 35%) goes to my non-voluntary living expenses (mortgage, property taxes, utilities, etc.). That's life. Approximately 10% goes to Christina (down from nearly 20% last year), but that's actually far less than the amount that went to her when she was my wife, so I'm not too annoyed by that. That leaves... hm, let me see... 55%? What? Seriously?

That's a lot of money. But I'm not writing this post to brag about how much money I have. Because I don't have lots of money. More than half of that discretionary spending money is put towards my stupidly large debt every month. Dammit, Past Scott, what were you thinking?

Past Scott was a sucker. He believed capitalism's lies that having stuff will make you happy. "I will take all of my money and buy stuff," Past Scott said, "and then I will be happy." Sadly, happiness still eluded Past Scott. But capitalism had a solution. "I can't quite afford this super awesome stuff right now, but I will pay for it with credit and then I will be happy."

Now Scott wishes he could punch Past Scott in the face. Now Scott knows that buying stuff can not ever make you happy. So, what does make Now Scott happy? Experiences!

I am greatly reducing my spending on stuff. And when I say stuff, I mean consumer goods. I don't need to buy that new Blu-ray movie; I can just pira--er, I mean, rent it through legal means, of course. I don't need a new TV. I don't need a new car. I don't need new anything. I have everything I could ever possibly need when it comes to stuff.

I want to spend my money on experiences. I want to travel. I want to spend time in places that I love. And I want to see places that I've never seen. I want to drink expensive beers that I love. And I want to drink crazy beers that I've never drank. I want to eat expensive foods that I love. And I want to eat crazy foods that I've never eaten. I want to live. Having stuff is not living. Doing stuff is living.

Now Scott is going to live, dammit! And maybe happiness will follow...?

The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 1

As I mentioned in my previous Month in Review post, I don't blog nearly enough about music considering how hugely important it is to my life. The concept of this post, a discussion of my favourite albums of all time ("desert island discs," if you will), has been banging around inside my head for a few months, but it was only recently that I started putting it down on "paper."

The following list would be somewhat different if I took a Soundtrack to My Movie approach to it, but what I wanted to do was actually talk about my favourite albums now, not albums that were awesome in their day. If I can still listen to the album as a whole today and love nearly every minute of it, it belongs on this list. I had one simple rule, only one album by any given band, which gave me a hell of a challenge at times.

The list is more or less presented in opposite order of preference--so the best is saved for last, of course!--although that is a little absurd when they are all albums I love. I will attempt to justify each album's placement in the list with a short discussion of its merits. After each entry, I have also listed: the four best songs on the album, in order of their appearance; the one song that I could take or leave (ignoring short instrumentals and hidden tracks); and, if I had a tough choice picking only one album from a given band, I cheated and listed that band's second best album along with its highlight track, just to confuse the matter. You should not be surprised to see a lot of overlap with the Soundtrack to My Movie (and I do strongly recommend starting with that post before reading this one).

20. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil (2005)

I only started listening to Avenged Sevenfold in 2009. Every other band and album in this list has been a part of my life for years. This made it tough for me to decide whether they deserved a spot in the top twenty. Will I still be listening to Avenged Sevenfold in the years to come...? The recent release of Nightmare is good evidence for "Yes, definitely."

It was Avenged Sevenfold's 2007 self-titled fourth album that first got my attention, and for the longest time, I preferred its straightforwardness to City of Evil's progressive thrash metal sound. (Their previous two thrash metal albums do little for me, so they are irrelevant.) But over the course of 2010, I have found myself going back to City of Evil much more than the self-titled album. It is something truly special. The last half of the album, in particular, is insanely good.

Essential Tracks: "Bat Country," "Seize the Day," "Sidewinder," "Strength of the World"
Filler Track: "Blinded in Chains"

19. Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein (2003)

There was a time that I hated Third Eye Blind. Stephan Jenkins has a unique vocal style that took me a while to appreciate. "Semi-Charmed Life" was such an overplayed song that it was years after its 1997 heyday that I actually appreciated its brilliance. But, in 1999, 3eb released awesome single "Never Let You Go" from their second album and I decided that maybe I should check them out. And I was shocked to learn that their self-titled debut album was actually fantastic from beginning to end. Songs that I had never wanted to hear ever again on the radio sounded perfectly acceptable in the context of the complete album. Their second album, Blue, was also quite good, although much less consistent.

Third Eye Blind's popularity had waned by the time Out of the Vein was released, but sales never reflect quality. Out of the Vein is unquestionably 3eb's best album, diverse, never boring, and frequently catchy and singalong worthy. I didn't even really appreciate it until a few years after its release, when I listened to it again on a whim and was blown away. Although it starts off strong with "Faster" and "Blinded," the album really hits its stride with "Crystal Baller" and especially "My Hit and Run," which is arguably the best 3eb song.

Essential Tracks: "Crystal Baller," "My Hit and Run," "Misfits," "Palm Reader"
Filler Track: "Can't Get Away"

18. Our Lady Peace - Gravity (2002)

Before Gravity was released, I was sure that Our Lady Peace's best days were behind them. I was a big fan of OLP from the very beginning when "The Birdman" and "Starseed" took MuchMusic by storm. Naveed and Clumsy were both awesome in completely different ways. But the two following albums had been mostly disappointing.

Gravity was like a rebirth for a band. Original guitarist Mike Turner had been replaced with Steve Mazur, and a new guitarist meant a new guitar sound. And what a great new sound it was. "All For You" and "Not Enough" are the best examples of Mazur's influence.

Essential Tracks: "All For You," "Innocent," "Not Enough," "A Story About a Girl"
Filler Track: "Made of Steel"
Runner-Up: Naveed (1994) - "Naveed"

17. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

There are times that Amazon.com's recommendations are shockingly good, such as the time that the site recommended that I check out Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica. I sampled a couple of tracks, was intrigued, and bought the album mostly unheard. This was my first exposure to Modest Mouse's unique guitar sound and song structure. And, for me, it is still the best album they've ever released.

Essential Tracks: "3rd Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything," "The Stars are Projectors," "Lives"
Filler Track: "I Came as a Rat"

16. Queensryche - Rage for Order (1986)

Rage for Order is the oldest album on this list, and Queensryche is one of only four bands in the top twenty that even existed before the 90s. If there are older folks out there reading this, you may now be grumbling about all of the awesome albums from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I am missing out on (there's nothing good before the 60s), but it should be no surprise that the music that sticks with me is the music that I have grown up with. The only older albums that were in contention were something from The Beatles and some classic Rush (see next entry!), but there ultimately isn't a single The Beatles album that I enjoy from start to finish. And it should also be no surprise that most of the music I listened to in the 80s is not worthy of this list, because it was mostly garbage. (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard's Hysteria came closest, almost making the Honourable Mentions section in part two--yeah, I copped out again and made this top twenty an unofficial top thirty.)

And now I have to somewhat embarrassingly reveal that the first time I heard Rage for Order was in 1996, ten years after it was released. (So, none of the music that I listened to in the 80s made the list.) Actually, this is a testament to its quality. It is an unapologetically 80s metal album, but unlike nearly all of its peers, it hasn't aged miserably. It definitely helps that the subject matter is never partying and rarely girls. It is political. It is dramatic. It is awesome.

Essential Tracks: "Walk in the Shadows," "The Killing Words," "Neue Regel," "Screaming in Digital"
Filler Track: "Gonna Get Close to You"
Runner-Up: Operation: Mindcrime (1988) - "The Mission"

15. Rush - Counterparts (1993)

It's a bit blasphemous for a Rush fan to give the top nod to Counterparts, Rush's surprisingly successful reinvention of their sound for the 90s (technically, this reinvention started in 1989 with Presto, but that's a minor detail), over their numerous classic albums from the 70s and 80s. But that's simply the way this Rush fan feels. I can't pretend that this doesn't have a lot to do with the fact that it was Counterparts that made me a Rush fan.

It's even more blasphemous to then give the runner-up nod to their newest album instead of Moving Pictures or Hemispheres or Signals. But, shit, Snakes & Arrows is awesome, the best thing Rush has released in more than ten years, and it very nearly bumped Counterparts off the top.

Essential Tracks: "Cut to the Chase," "Nobody's Hero," "Double Agent," "Everyday Glory"
Filler Track: "The Speed of Love"
Runner-Up: Snakes & Arrows (2007) - "The Way the Wind Blows"

14. Anberlin - Cities (2007)

Cities is the newest album in this top twenty. If you haven't heard it, this may seem like a bold choice on my part, but it's really not. There are a few minor missteps in the first half of the album, but everything from "Alexithymia" on is breathtaking, and you may recall that its amazing album-ending "(*Fin)" made my Soundtrack. Anberlin's Stephen Christian has one of the best voices in alternative rock, and I mean that both in terms of his strong (albeit Christianity-infused) lyrics and his unique vocal tone.

Essential Tracks: "The Unwinding Cable Car," "Inevitable," "Dismantle. Repair," "(*Fin)"
Filler Track: "Adelaide"
Runner-Up: Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) - "Paperthin Hymn"

13. Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)

Deja Entendu is the second album on this list that I discovered because of Amazon.com's recommendations. Like with Modest Mouse, I bought the album mostly unheard. (Lest you think based on two examples that this practice always turned out well, there are just as many times that a recommended album was a disappointment. This is also a practice that I've long abandoned in these days of easy access to free downloadable music.)

Unlike Modest Mouse, Brand New isn't really a unique sounding band. They have a pretty standard alternative rock sound, with a couple memorable song exceptions. Deja Entendu is awesome mostly because of the quality of the song-writing. The song titles are ridiculously long and pretentious but still somehow work, and the songs are all fantastic in their own ways.

Essential Tracks: "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades," "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis," "Good to Know That if I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do is Die"
Filler Track: "Tautou"

12. Weezer - Weezer (1994)

Weezer's "Blue Album" is a classic. Everyone owns it; everyone loves it. And we all shit our pants the first time we saw Weezer interacting with the cast of "Happy Days" in the brilliant "Buddy Holly" video. While Pinkerton is arguably the better Weezer album, I'd rather listen to their debut on most days.

Essential Tracks: "My Name is Jonas," "Undone - The Sweater Song," "Say It Ain't So," "In the Garage"
Filler Track: "Surf Wax America"
Runner-Up: Pinkerton (1996) - "Butterfly"

11. Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993)

I don't know if there's a band that has squandered more of their potential in my life time than Pearl Jam, but once upon a time when I was in high school they were the shit. Vs. was my favourite album for a long time. It has slipped a little over the years, but it's still a great goddamn rock record. "Go" is the perfect album opener, clearly establishing what type of album it is going to be, and that energy rarely lets up.

Essential Tracks: "Daughter," "Glorified G," "Rearviewmirror," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
Filler Track: "Leash"
Runner-Up: Ten (1991) - "Black"

To be continued...

I'm--of course!--saving the top ten albums for part two, which should be up early next week. For a tease, the top ten includes five albums from the 90s and five albums from the 00s, where: 10 begins with hypnosis; in 9 the summer is always slipping away; 8 has no percussion; 7 ends with a question; 6 is from a band that didn't have any representation in my Soundtrack, not even the honourable mentions; 5 feels that it's at 45 degrees; 4 is from a band that made the honourable mentions in my Soundtrack with a song from a different album; 3 pretends to have ten songs by splitting one long song into two tracks; 2 has an album-ending track that refuses to end; and 1 is the best album from 1994.

Edited to add: part two is here.

The Big Move, 2010

It's done. Christina has moved in.

Er, no, not really. Not quite yet. Yes, most of Christina's stuff has been relocated from Calgary to Regina, but the majority is still occupying my garage, and Christina won't be back in Regina to start unpacking until Monday. She's back in Calgary cleaning her old place right now and is going to spend the weekend with her mom in Hanna before heading back.

The move itself went reasonably smoothly. I drove to Calgary on Tuesday, leaving Duke and Daisy in a kennel in Regina. With some help, and over the course of a few hours, we packed most of Christina's stuff into her mom's horse trailer on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning, we finished the last of the packing, and then hit the road. Christina came with me in my car, and Christina's mom drove the truck and horse trailer with one of Christina's younger cousins that came along to help carry the heavy stuff. (Aside: I did not appreciate the "Here's something light for Scott to carry" meme.) In Regina, we unpacked most of the trailer into my garage. And while Christina and her cousin assembled her bed, her mom and I sat outside and enjoyed a fire pit.

When I first mentioned that Christina was going to move in with me, I noted at that point that it could only be derailed by something crazy. And something pretty crazy did happen in the last week. But it derailed nothing. Our arrangement is on solid ground until September of 2011, which not coincidentally is the same time that my financial obligations to her will end.

So, what does this all mean for me? For the next year, I will benefit from the following life improvements: more diverse and interesting meals, because left to my own devices I eat sandwiches and hot dogs almost every day; someone to watch my daily TV with, which helps it feel a lot less empty; a dogsitter for Daisy to minimize her destructive tendencies; a partner for exercise activities and ballroom dancing classes; and a subject matter expert of sorts to help me once again navigate the soul crushing world of online dating. On the negative side, there will always be a part of me that is frustrated that we can be such good friends yet fail at marriage.

I will have no shortage of alone time, something that I think everyone needs every once in a while, because Christina will be spending a third of her time not in Regina. I will, more or less, spend both my alone time and Christina time doing the exact same things I've been doing over the last year. There really wasn't much difference between the last year and the one before, other than population. I'm ultimately completely content with the ways I choose to spend my time at home.

I am less content about how much time I spend at home. And I don't mean just getting out of the house to go to a restaurant or bar or club or whatever. What I really need to do is get the fuck out of Regina more often.

So, as silly as it seems to drive to Calgary one day and drive back the next, I actually quite enjoyed the trip. And I definitely made it worth my while. While in Calgary, I visited Zyn, an awesome booze store near downtown, and spent $140 on thirteen big bottles of beer (including one growler). I picked out ten beers from Rogue, two from Tree, and one from Cannery. I've had a couple of them before, but most are beers I've never seen in my life. I'll work my way through them slowly over the next few weeks. Awesome.