King Krule’s 6 Feet Beneath The Moon cover art – Photo credit: KingKrule.co.Uk

King Krule is the moniker of Archy Marshall, a 19-year-old British singer/songwriter who has talent well beyond his young age. Marshall’s thick accent is very prevalent in his songs, there are parts in various songs of his that you can’t make out the lyrics. But perhaps that’s also the charm of King Krule; you don’t have to focus on the lyrics he is singing you get to just focus on the song in general.

“Easy, Easy” is off King Krule’s recently released album 6 Feet Beneath The Moon that came out last August. Marshall has claimed that he got influence from various genres and samples, taking snippets of jazz, dubstep, and experimental into the new album. The simplicity of “Easy, Easy” is what really stands out, you hear just one repeated riff and vocals for the first 30 seconds of the song. Even at the climax of the song you don’t hear filler of a large amount of instruments, you get guitar, bass, and drums. “Easy Easy” is just shy of three minutes in length but yet feels like if it were any longer it’d ruin the experience of the song. It’s a nice dose of British dark-wave and down-tempo rock.

King Krule is on tour currently with another month to go, you can view their upcoming dates here. Make sure to snag a ticket quickly, many of their shows are already sold out!

Bear Republic Brewing’s Racer X – Photo credit: Lindsey Scully

Beer: Racer X

Brewery: Bear Republic Brewing

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.3%

Racer X by Bear Republic gives off hints of citrus – not in the sense of Sprite with lemon and lime but more so of mandarin and grapefruit, exotic citrus. You can smell it in the first whiff and you taste the citrus upon first sip, it lingers until the last gulp as well. You get an upfront sweetness then it switches to malty then a bitterness closes out the experience. When you exhale after drinking you get a nose full of hops, you’ve been warned. Racer X claims to have 100 IBUs (International Bittering Units) although it did not seem to be overwhelming in the hops department.

Racer X poured a slightly hazy honey wheat color bordering on a light orange/copper hue, with an off-white head that stuck on to the glass for a little while. One thing to note about this double IPA is that it didn’t cling or coat your tongue. While it clocks in at around 8% it didn’t taste boozy, it was actually quite the easy drinker in my opinion. But perhaps that is what sticks out the most about Racer X for me, while it does have its following it is for the most part an unassuming beer that truly has something great to rave about. There’s no plastering of medals won all over the beer’s label, Bear Republic does not need to gloat. Just like King Krule’s “Easy Easy”, the singer/songwriter is a tall, slim red-headed British man whom you would not fully expect vocals like King Krule’s to come out of. Sometimes you take a chance on a beer, song, or artist and you are blown away by the unassuming exterior with the fantastic interior. Such was the case with this copper-colored beer and a red-headed singer.