One of the primary inspirations for Consumer Goods (And Bads) was a package that my editor Jessica received in the mail that contained a bottle of beer, a vinyl LP with the same name and label art as the beer, and no additional explanation. It’s right around then that we decided that we needed to start reviewing some of the weird shit we get sent in the mail.
It was quickly surmised that the package came from Eugene, Ore.'s Ninkasi Brewing Company, and that the album was put together to mark the promotion of the brewery’s Dawn of the Red India-Style Red Ale from a "special release" brewed in limited batches to their Flagship line of year-round brews. Since Jessica doesn’t drink and I, on the other hand, love to, she sent it my way.
IPAs have become almost the default setting for craft brews, and breweries have come up with more variations on the theme than the casual beer drinker can keep up with. Dawn of the Red is darker and less intensely hoppy than most other IPA types. At first there’s a hoppy bite and a hint of mango but that fades quickly into a mellow malty flavor. It’s way more drinkable than the crazy hop-splosive IPAs that have become such a big thing. I can imagine putting back a few of them in an appealingly rundown Pacific Northwestern bar while talking to an older back-to-the-land about geodesic dome designs.
The Dawn of the Red compilation consists of five songs by five different acts hailing from Ninkasi’s distribution area along the West Coast, each one named "Dawn of the Red". Each has a different musical approach, but all sound very much like someone you’d catch playing in a West Coast brew pub. There’s a little Americana, some crunchy indie rap/electronic hybrids, and a band that reproduces first-wave Seattle grunge with Sub Pop 200-like accuracy. My copy came on black-streaked red vinyl, but it’s also on SoundCloud. Listening through it takes about the same time as drinking a beer, and it occurs to me that more records should be like that.