January 30th, 2015 - Lost In A New Ale

Happy Friday friends!  The Meista here pairing the amazing "Lost In The New Real" by multi-instrumental Dutch prog master Arjen Anthony Lucassen and an Imperial Java Stout from Santa Fe Brewing Company!  This pairing goes out to my prog brother-in-arms Jeff... cheers man!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Arjen Anthony Lucassen
• Title: "Lost In The New Real"
• Release date: April 23rd, 2012 (Europe) and May 8th, 2012 (U.S.) (2nd solo album)
• Record company: InsideOut Music
• Personnel: Arjen Anthony Lucassen - lead vocals ("Mr. L" character), guitars, bass, keyboards, and other instruments; Rutger Hauer - spoken vocals ("Voight-Kampff" character); Elvya Dulcimer - hammered dulcimer and vocals; Jeroen Goossens - flutes; Ben Mathot - violin; Maaike Peterse - cello; Rob Snijders - drums; Wilmer Waarbroek - backing vocals; and Ed Warby - drums
• Album cover art: Claudio Bergamin
• Musical style: Progressive rock/metal; pyschadelic rock
• Sound: Fantastically complex, progressive, and perfectly executed.
• Major themes: "Lost In The New Real" is a brilliant sci-fi concept double-album about a 21st century man ("Mr. L") who awakens in the distant dystopian future after having been cryogenically persevered for centuries.  Voight-Kampff acts as his guide in this new very foreign reality.  Underlining themes include artistic integrity, loss, alienation, reality vs. virtual "reality", environmentalism, war, the identity of "self", etc. 
• Notes: The album also includes 5 cover track originally recorded by The Alan Parsons Project, Blue Öyster Cult, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Frank Zappa that fit perfectly into the format and concept of the album as a whole.
• Tracks:

1. "The New Real"
2. "Pink Beatles In A Purple Zeppelin"
3. "Parental Procreation Permit"
4. "When I'm A Hundred Sixty-Four"
5. "E-Police"
6. "Don't Switch Me Off"
7. "Dr. Slumber's Eternity Home"
8. "Yellowstone Memorial Day"
9. "Where Pigs Fly"
10. "Lost In The New Real"
11. "Our Imperfect Race"
12. "Welcome To The Machine" (Pink Floyd cover)
13. "So Is There No God?"
14. "Veteran Of The Psychic War" (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
15. "The Social Recluse"
16. "Battle Of Evermore" (Led Zeppelin cover)
17. "The Space Hotel"
18. "Some Other Time" (The Alan Parsons Project cover)
19. "You Have Entered The Reality Zone"
20. "I'm The Slime" (Frank Zappa cover)

  Brew Info:

• Brewery: Santa Fe Brewing Company
• Website: http://www.santafebrewing.com/
• Brew: Imperial Java Stout
• Style: Imperial Stout with coffee beans
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 8%
• Ingredients: 2-row Pale, Roast, Munich, Chocolate, and Carastan malts, along with Bravo and Fuggle hops, and House Ale yeast.  Top that off with East Timor coffee beans blended with New Guinea coffee beans (roasted by O'hori's Coffee House).
• Pour: Almost ink black with a mocha, half-finger, spongy head that leaves spotty lacing throughout.
• Nose: HUGE aromas of bitter dark chocolate, dark roasted coffee beans, roasted malts, caramel/toffee, marshmallow, and vanilla.
• Taste: A very coffee forward stout, this bad boy his chalk full of massive, complex, and rich flavors.  Notes of dark roasted black coffee, bakers chocolate, cocoa, and chocolate muffin abound!   Underlining flavors include notes of molasses, caramel, vanilla, and marshmallow.
• Mouthfeel: Thick, chunky, creamy, velvety, and incredibly smooth... like a chocolate shake!
• Finish: The finish is very dry with lingering and bitter notes of coffee and chocolate.

Overall pairing: Anything paired with Arjen Anthony Lucassen's brilliant works has got to be big, bold, and complex... thus the Imperial Java Stout from Santa Fe Brewing Company!  Like the album, the Imperial Java Stout demands your full attention! 

Proost... Gezondheid!!!

P.S. Make sure you check out my interview with Mr. Lucassen originally posted on this blog back in December of 2013!  You can read it here: http://brewsandtunes.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-6th-2013-progressive-waves.html