iJamming.net

As evidenced by the lack of new music reviews on the front page of late, I’ve been spending (too much of?) my time immersed in older music for the book I’m writing on the history of the various New York music scenes. Throw in the fact that I’m living in the country these days and it would seem all too easy to fall out of touch with, especially, the ever-underground, always-changing, small-production electronic music scene.

Sometimes all you need is a good kick up the rear. (And a Broadband connection.) The combination of the sound systems out at Burning Man and the phenomenal Underworld show in Central Park served to reinvigorate my enthusiasm for this music – which is as wide and varied as any other genre you’d care to name. Thanks to the Internets, I’ve thrown myself back into a few of my favorite Podcasts, made note of Pub recommendations and taken to jotting down other tracks that have been doing it for me. All in all, it’s enough to make me want to get out and DJ again. Here’s some of what’s been twisting my melons, man, beginning with the great video for Ceephax Acid Crew’s ‘Trolley Service,’ in which one of the act’s mum’s introduces us to the very techno concept of Face Dancing. Thanks to Riot Nrrrd in the Pub for the recommendation.

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From the IndieFeed.com Electronic Music Podcast (at least three free songs a week)
Fat Hooks – Odd Nosdam
Think Tank – Primordial Cocktail
M̼m РDancing Behind My Eyelids
Air Bureau – Let Me Know
Windowwalkers – Jaybrown
Kicksville – Homage To A Subversive
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From KEXP’s Music That Matters Decibel Festival special preview
Claude Van Stroke – Who’s Afraid of Detroit?
Olan by Alo – darter disco
DJ T – Philly
Strategy – Running On Empty
Rafael Anton Irisarri – A Thousand-Yard Stare
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And a special nod to a classic KEXP Song of the Day
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip – Thou Shalt Always Kill
(Can anyone tell me more about this act or this track? I love the lines

“Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music
Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music”

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From DJ Shaggy’s excellent pod-casted radio show Shortwave Sessions
Audiofly X – Don’t Panic Till I Say So
Evol Intent – Flipside
Hexstatic – Roll Over
Ran Shani – Sunshine
Mode Selector – Let your Love Grow
Alloymental – I Am
Ignatious – Trappings
Joachim J – Camellia
Matthew Dear – Porn Porn
Deadmau5 – Faxing Berlin
Apparat – Arcadia
Jape – Floating (Prins Thomas 0.75 Remix)
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I also subscribe to DJ sets that come from A Brooklyn Life and Ibiza Voice, each of which sends me over an hour’s live mix a week, and have been grooving particularly hard on Omnidrive’s Electro Lullipot mix from the former and Timo Maas’s live spring-time mix from the latter.
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Thanks to all Podcasters and enthusiasts. This dance is on me.

Visiting south-western Virginia this summer and seeking out winery recommendations, I had a couple of people point me to Fincastle for its small scale and, particularly, its Cabernet Franc. So on a scorching hot Friday afternoon in mid-August, having already visited two wineries that day, I pointed the car north up Interstate 81, out past Roanoke, up towards the town of Fincastle and then, like almost every other winery I visited in Virginia, further up and down some back roads with a couple of wrong turns (this one including the not-merely-proverbial rail tracks) until I finally found my destination.

Fincastle Vineyard and B&B, only just off I-81 but hard to find.

The Fincastle tasting room is set at the front of the family house that doubles as their bed-and-breakfast. There I was met by Georgia Sawyer, whose husband Richard and son David grow the grapes and make the wine; indeed, in five of the six wineries I visited in Virginia, I got to talk with one of the family members involved in the production. A couple of lovely fat cats also kept us company as we worked through a very small portfolio.

To be blunt, I wasn’t taken by Fincastle’s whites. The Fincastle Chardonnay 2005, aged for six months in oak, had a steely character that was almost brittle and the oak rendered it, well, wooden. There were only 54 cases produced and for whatever reason, there is no new vintage planned. I was equally unimpressed by the Fincastle Hybrid Vigor 2005, a blend of Vidal Blanc, Chardonnel and Traminette with 1% RS. While I generally enjoy the first of these grapes, I’d had a most unpleasant introduction to Chardonnel earlier in the week, and though the Vigor had a spicy nose that indicated something interesting and a mineral quality at the front end of the palate, the rest of the experience was somewhat nasty. Georgia explained, almost apologetically, that it was their “token sweet wine,” for those (beer drinkers?) who drive all that way off the beaten path and don’t want to leave without buying something.

On, then, to the reds, the reason I came. At the winery, the Fincastle Cabernet Franc 2004, unfiltered, aged twelve months in American oak, had what I noted were “very appropriate aromas, right color, very pleasant taste, clean pure and simple Cab Franc.” As it was only $14 a bottle – a steal by American winery standards – I bought a couple and recently opened one at home, where it sang its charms with clarity and confidence. The nose offered up everything you’d hope for from a (east coast) Cab Franc: some tobacco notes, some dark cherry, a little touch of cedar, and that “pencil shavings” note that always confuses neophytes but seems perfectly apt when you’ve got your nose in the glass! On the palate, it was soft and delicious, perfectly vibrant, the oak unobtrusive, offering the same notes mentioned above, but then with that giveaway taste towards the back of the palate that I can never quite identify in words but which screams “Cabernet Franc.” (If anyone knows what I’m talking about, please offer the correct descriptors and metaphors.) Truly a joy, this was probably the best value red wine I tasted on the whole trip. The 2004 has apparently just sold out, but the 2005 has stepped in to take its place and, says David Sawyer, “the winemaker thinks the ’05 is going to be a superior vintage.”

The Fincastle: Best Value Cabernet Franc on the East Coast?

Last on the portfolio was the Fincastle Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, aged thirteen months in American oak. The nose was more muted than the Franc, and the fruit itself tasted a little green; that said, the finish was quite lovely, showing off the grape’s darker textures and again, doing so without obtrusive oak. At $16 it was also well-priced, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the Cab Franc. And indeed, the side-by-side comparison was instructive. Though several of the wineries I visited do bottle it solo, I didn’t feel the same sense of fondness towards Cabernet Franc in Virginia as I have in my various visits round New York State wineries. Rather, I noticed that many wineries are persisting with Cabernet Sauvignon, despite the uphill struggle: at least a couple of the six that I visited admitted to enormous problems just getting the grape out from under its canopy and ripening properly –assuming the vines hadn’t been destroyed in this past May’s devastating frost. Given the Fincastle experience, and that of Villa Appalachia before it, I really hope more Virginia wineries focus on Cabernet Franc over the Sauvignon. To me, it’s the flagship red grape of the entire east coast.

In retrospect, I should probably have skipped visiting Fincastle as part of my one-day wine-tasting adventure; it added at least sixty miles to the odometer and, dealing as I was with I-81 traffic on a Friday and the overall heat, I was too hot and bothered to really enjoy the place, and certainly couldn’t risk swallowing the wine. I should instead have just stopped in on our 600 mile drive home (the next day!), done without the tasting, and simply picked up the Cabernet Franc on the good word of others. Any other red wine lover making the same drive down I-81 might like to take heed. In the meantime, congratulations to the father, son and wife team at Fincastle for making such a fine and truly honest Cabernet Franc at such a reasonable price.

Is Virginia For Wine-Lovers? Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
The iJamming! Featured Wine Grape: Cabernet Franc

True to my form, I wrote a big piece three months back about the very serious and impending threat to Internet radio and then failed to publish a follow-up. The good news is that, thanks to public pressure, the hefty new royalties that would have put so much Internet Radio out of business have been postponed. The bad news is that it’s only for the time being. This is not an issue that will go away.

The New York Times ran a full page in its Arts section this Sunday about this very issue, focusing on small-time radio host and SaveNetRadio founder, John Draper. Something about his picture reminded me of a healthy-looking Bez (if that’s not an oxymoron) so it was no surprise to finally discover that Draper, even though he lives in Iowa, grew up all over England. I liked this little quote.

After moving to Ames with his family as a teenager, he enrolled in the University of Iowa, where he says he “got sidetracked partying.”

Read the whole piece to understand the issues involved in Internet Radio – and why it’s under seige.

I didn’t get to see the two-hour Burning Man special on Current TV, Saturday night, but that’s okay: a Burner sent me a link to an AdultSwim TV/online cartoon about Burning Man – Lucy, Daughter of The Devil – instead. Remember that I wrote how important it is to have a sense of humor about Burning Man? (You don’t? Then read it again, here.) Fortunately, that’s what Adult Swim is for. Synopsis:

“The Prophesy tells us that if DJ Jesus doesn’t perform at Burning Man an unholy sand storm will destroy the American west. The wind is rising and everyone’s waiting for him, but DJ Jesus gets lost in the desert where Satan is waiting to tempt him with a food court, an electronics superstore and finally a magical place called Temptasia.”

Satan tries to waylay Jesus from getting to Burning Man with a trip to Temptasia.

And here’s some sample dialogue, from when the dust storm hits and Jesus and Satan are stuck in the Nevada desert, still miles from Burning Man:

Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan.”
Satan: “What? What did you say?”
Jesus: “I said, get behind me. I’ll shield you from the sand. I’ve got glasses on. We can try to make it inside.”
Satan: “Oh, great. But don’t say ‘get behind me,’ I got a thing about that.”
Jesus: “OK But seriously dude, if you like these chicks, you’ve got to check out Burning Man, it’s like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Satan? really
Jesus: It’s all glitter and bodypaint. No-one wears clothes

Further jokes in bad taste concern edible mushrooms, molten candles, DJ Judas and the harsh truth that at Burning Man, “everyone’s a DJ.” Adult Swim warns that it’s not suitable for children under 17, but that might be a little harsh. After all, it’s like not there’s any nudity involved. In the cartoon, I mean. Check out the full 10-minute cartoon here.

I was so knocked out by the New River Pale Ale in Virginia (see story below) that in picking up a six-pack I also purchased, on sight, a six-pack of Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale. What the hell, I figured: I already had over a case of Virginia wine in the car to bring home; what difference would a few beers make to the load?

I was interested in the Tuppers’ Ale partly because it was, like the New River Pale Ale, custom-brewed by Old Dominion, but also for its announcement, on the label, that half the profits go to homeless charities. You’ll be used to seeing companies, especially those jumping the green bandwagon, announce their generosity – but half the profits? Were these people at Tuppers not out to make money?

Not really. Not by the look of their web site, where they freely admit that half the profit on a bottle of Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale, once you allow for all the manufacturing and distribution costs, amounts to all of about one and a half pennies. They readily suggest that their drinkers skip buying their beer occasionally and give the price of a full bottle directly to their supported charities instead.

The Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale gives half its profits to homeless charities – and now, itself, looking for a home.

“They” are Bob and Ellie Tupper, and their enthusiasm for craft beer surpasses that of almost any of the wine geeks I’ve come to know. In the early 1990s, having traveled America, Europe and despite having made notes on some 6,000 beers, they still “envisioned an ale that no one had made—one that would encompass bold American flavors and traditional European brewing techniques.” To this end, like New River a few years later, they asked Old Dominion Brewing Co., which they believed to be “one of the very best craft breweries in the country,” to custom-produce this beer, and Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale was the result.

Though I bought it untasted, I couldn’t imagine being disappointed and, indeed, the Hop Pocket Ale gave the New River Pale Ale a close run for its money. In some ways it’s an even better beer – it’s fuller (and slightly higher in alcohol at 6%), rounder, more luxuriant and golden, as you’d expect from a beer conditioned in both keg and bottle over a six-week process. As such, it’s also a tad more “serious,” and the same way that every wine lover has their “easy-drinking” bottles and their “special occasion” bottles, I’d be more inclined to reach for a New River for refreshment, and save the Hop Pocket Ale for a long meal or a special friend.

All of which is currently irrelevant: both six-packs were drained and shared a long time ago. Still, I’m almost as enamored with the Tuppers’ story as with that of the deceased Kenny Lefkowitz at New River. The Tuppers have been able to donate $150,000 to charity since launching their Pocket Ale. They’ve established a Pils. And they’ve continued treating beer as a hobby first, business second: they’ve now made notes on over 15,000 beers, many of which can be found online.

But changes are afoot. Old Dominion, once revered in the DC/Virginia area, has been purchased by a new company, itself a partnership of Fordham Brewing and Budweiser giant, Anheuser-Busch. And as happens any time an indie is swallowed by a major, the roster is being reduced, costs are being cut. The new company, Coastal Brewing, decided to drop the Tupper Pils from its roster; the Tuppers have rightly decided not to split their beers across two different companies, and are currently seeking out a new custom producer and distributor for both their Pils and their Pocket Ales. The quality and success, at least of the latter should ensure they don’t find themselves homeless. (Old Dominion is continuing to produce both beers in the meantime.)

Bob and Ellie Tupper, for your contribution to both culture as both producers and reviewers, and for putting charity above profit, this beer’s for you. Cheers.