Odesza ‘My Friends Never Die’ Cover Art – Credit: Odesza

Odesza hails from Seattle and is the project of Harrison Mills (aka Catacombkid) and Clayton Knight (aka BeachesBeaches). The duo released their first EP Summer’s Gone a year ago – which received a vast amount of praise – and have just released their second EP, My Friends Never Die, which you can download both for free on their website.

Closing out their new EP is “Keep Her Close”, the single offers up a slight dreamscape with the initial intro and then merges into a soulful chant and drum machine that almost teeters on a Jamaican melody and rhythm. Odesza uses words and lyrics as instruments to complement the song versus using them as a building block that they build a song around. This leads to a bit of a hypnotic listening session, with the repetitive loops reigning you in. The artful mash-up of pop samples with synth and other digital elements breathes life into older songs, like Gotye’s ubiquitous “Somebody That I Used To Know” in Odesza’s “Without You”.

Odesza is currently on tour and can be seen playing various festivals like Decibel in Seattle on 9/28. If you enjoy their music and have downloaded any of their music for free please make an effort to attend their shows and purchase their merchandise. That is the best way to show support to your favorite artists!

Caldera Ginger Beer – Photo credit: Lindsey Scully

Beer: Ginger Beer 

Brewery: Caldera Brewing

Style:Summer Ale/Spiced Ale

ABV: 4.7%

While most beverages that are categorized as a “ginger beer” are really just a bubbly concoction of ginger flavoring and soda water, Caldera blends together a summer ale with zingy ginger and produces a ginger beer where you can actually taste the beer. The beer is light, with a golden straw, honey color and a white head that dissipated very quickly. While this brew has some fizz to it there is not a lot of bubbles or carbonation coming from it. Upon smelling for the first time you get a large dose of ginger followed immediately by acetone. The taste is similar to the liking of a summer ale or pale ale – with the obvious addition of ginger – with hints of citrus notes like mandarin orange and a dab of floral from the hops. Caldera does not specify what hops or malts were used in their plain Ginger Beer but they do mention online that light Belgian candi sugar was used which definitely attributed to the sweetness in this beer. On their website they mention a Hibiscus Ginger Beer that is a year-round Summer release that is constructed using Premium Two Row, Carafoam, Light Munich malts with Willamette hops that make out to be 15 IBUs (International Bittering Unit) and 4.9% ABV (alcohol by volume), so we are not real clear on if we drank the Hibiscus Ginger Beer or a plain Ginger Beer (seeing how our bottle did not state anything about hibiscus). This beer came from a 22oz bottle and you should be able to find it at your local grocer or bottleshop easily (if distributed in your state) as it was recently released.

The pairing of the two might not make sense on first review, after all a ginger beer paired up with EDM? But let me make the case for this pairing. Both are refreshing, really that is what it boils down to. The crisp, earthiness of the ginger in the beer has a slight spiciness to it that you get from fresh ginger while also giving off floral and citrus notes. While an EDM duo is nothing new on the musical horizon, Odesza does bring a breathe of fresh air to the genre with their thoughtful sampling and looping techniques. Their bass lines are not atrocious nor do their drum machines wear out their welcome. Odesza has figured out the perfect formula for their music and “Keep Her Close” is a fine example of such.