Welcome to back to Strange Brew our monthly column dedicated to – as you probably have already guessed – beer. Each month, we’ll take a close look at a new or notable brew, or just one we think you should be drinking.

While we’ve focused our first few columns on some more widely distributed offerings, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to feature a beer from the small Asheville, NC-based Craggie Brewery that was brewed specifically for the afro-beat act Toubab Krewe (who also called Asheville home), that they’ve cleverly dubbed Toubab Brewe. Deriving their name from local North Carolina history, the Craggy line was a trolley line that ran from downtown Asheville northward, the brewery has been committed to its strong community ties and brewing its two signature beers Battery Hill and Swannanoa Sunset, as well as rotating seasonal offerings since 2007.

Toubab Brewe,  is the latest in the line, an unfiltered Bavarian-style lager that utilizes local organic and seasonal ingredients and is truly a collaborative effort between Craggie and the band. The partnership extends just beyond brewing the beer, as with each keg sold of Toubab Brewe the brewery will donate $5 to Instruments 4 Africa – a non-profit selected by the band which works to preserve music and arts in Africa.

Why You Should Drink It: If you live anywhere in the greater-Asheville area you’ve got a leg up on everyone as Craggie is pretty much a local affair serving their beer at their public house, and distributing to bars around town – I was lucky enough to have two ad-hoc bottles sent my way. Being an unfiltered, Toubab Brewe pours slightly hazy with a rust color and thin white foam head. This extremely easy drinking, light-bodied beer has a crisp, slight dryness about it and it recommended for fans of German-style lagers.

Brewer’s Description: A Bavarian-Style Zwickel Beer. Organic Munich and Pilsen malts are bittered with Organic Hallertau Tradition. This unfiltered Bavarian lager is crisp and malty with a slight hoppy flavor. ABV 4.2%

Availability: Seasonal, on tap, in growlers or kegs

Have you tried Craggie’s Toubab Brew? Leave your thoughts about their latest offering in the comments section below …

Since the major festival season ended a few weeks ago, we haven’t heard much from the good folks at iClips…until now. Our favorite webcasters head to the Crescent City on October 24, 25 and 26 to broadcast live from The Voodoo Experience. Unlike most of the festivals iClips webcasts, New Orleans’ Voodoo festie favors modern rock bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, The Gutter Twins, Nine Inch Nails and R.E.M. over the jammers.

Let’s see what else is happenin’ as we start the week…

• Lollapalooza returns to Chicago’s Grant Park on August 7-9
• State of Mind shares pictures of Electron w/ Mike Gordon in VT
• Jambase reveals more details on Toubab Krewe’s new live disc
• The LA Times examines Branford Marsalis’ brand new project
• Pop Matters looks at how the downturn has effected music mags
• It’s List Time: Get Back names the ten best bootlegs of all-time

If you check out the message board of nearly every jamband, you’ll see each band’s fluffers and haterz debating the effect Phish’s upcoming return will have on their favorite artists. Some think the Phab Phour’s comeback will prevent fans from traveling to see other acts, while others argue that Phish 3.0 will bring more fans to the Jamband Table. Ray Waddell of Billboard thinks the return of the Vermont quartet will help revitalize the scene.

As YouTube continues to add millions of videos a day to their already vast archives, it has become harder to find the best clips the site has to offer. One way to keep your eyes on the prize is to create an account on the site and use the subscribe feature on your favorite channels, so that you can see all the videos that may interest you on the YouTube home page every time you visit.

Now, you’re probably thinking: “what channels should I subscribe to?” We’ve got you covered with this week’s B List, which features 20 YouTube channels that even the most jaded of jamfans will dig. If you think the channel we’re suggesting would be worth subscribing to, just click on the name of the user and click “subscribe.” It’s that easy! Let’s get started…

1. tDBvideos – The Disco Biscuits official YouTube channel offers videos from throughout their career.

Disco Biscuits – Shem Ra Boo 04/23/2008

READ ON for 19 more channels you need to see to believe, as well as 19 clips from jam dandys such as the Jerry Garcia Band, Phish, Umphrey’s McGee, Widespread Panic, RAQ and so many others…

Two of our favorite blogs got in a bit of a catfight after My Bloody Valentine announced they are reforming to play three gigs in the UK. Idolator started the fray by taking a swipe at TDS in August after The Swarm used links to message board posts as proof of a pending My Bloody Valentine reunion. The Daily Swarm wasted no time with the “I Told Ya So” today by reminding readers of Idolator’s distrustful post only ten minutes after the shows were confirmed.

Idolator responded by bashing The Daily Swarm for being a shill/front for a buncha publicity firms among others. It was totally like an episode of The Hills. We’ve given those blogs enough attention for now, so let’s check out a few others:

• Kudos to Band of Horses for turning down Wal-Mart
• Philly Festival?: Live Nation and C3 Promotions square off
• The Police win Billboard Tour of the Year
  
• Rolling Stone chooses Liam Finn as an artist to watch in 2008
• Does anyone doubt Led Zeppelin will play more shows?
• Largehearted Boy has already started compiling 2007 Year-End Online Music Lists
• Andy Gadiel addresses the community about Ben Chambers’ departure from TLG
• Rock Music Daily devotes Mule Mondays to Grace Potter
• Toubab Krewe announces a four night New Years’ run

Finally, Paul McCartney tells Billboard that The Beatles are finally going digital next year. We’ve heard that one before.

Twenty-four hours ago we posted, and this is a technical journalism phrase, “a wickedly kickass” photo gallery of the inaugural Echo Project’s first day from the masterful Dave Vann. If you missed it, you can click here and make up for your unforgivable transgression…or you can be a stubborn dick about it. As the legendary philosophers from Black Sheep once directed, the choice is yours.

Thankfully the Illustrious Mr. Vann is back with the second of his three sweet galleries. Saturday mixed the usual festival touring bands like Disco Biscuits, moe., Tea Leaf Green and Perpetual Groove with electronica-based acts like MSTRKRFT, Thievery Corporation (above) and Brazilian Girls, adding a touch of hip hop from Common, folk rock from the Avett Brothers and some singer/songwriter shenanigans from Cat Power. Oh, but there’s plenty more as well, so get goin’…

So read on after the jump for the second of three photo galleries from Echo, and hey, if you’ve got some stories from the festival, let ‘em loose in the comments.

If you thought the summer was chock full of shows, just wait until you see what’s in store for the fall. Many of my favorite bands have just started long tours that will keep them busy through the end of the year. This week’s edition of GTA looks at four shows from four bands that will each play a slew of upcoming shows.

We start with Smashing Pumpkins, who have already been on the road for nearly four months with no end in sight. And since Ace got all indie on us this week with his ACL reviews, we’ll go back to the well and check out shows from jamband favorites RAQ, Perpetual Groove, and Toubab Krewe. Just by listening to these downloads, I can tell it’s gonna be one helluva fall for us.

Smashing Pumpkins 09/08/2007 DAUD [FLAC]

We checked out a Smashing Pumpkins show shortly after they reformed, so now let’s see where the band is at after a full summer of performing. Just last week, the Pumpkins played a terrific set as part of the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal. Billy Corgan & Co. headlined a terrific lineup that included Bloc Party, Damien Rice and Apple’s new pitch-girl, Feist.

Thanks to a first time taper named Matt we were able to find a crispy recording of the Pumpkins’ first post-hiatus concert in Canada. The band did a nice job of mixing in old classics among a slew of tunes from this year’s Zeitgeist. Corgan gave 1979 the solo acoustic treatment, which really shows off his underrated vocal abilities. Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes, who play guitar and bass respectively, have come a long way over the past few months. They back up Corgan really well on both Tarantula and Superchrist. The Pumpkins are back, and they sound as tight as they ever did during the James Iha/D’arcy years. Read on for more GTA…

Well then, you’re in luck: New fall tour dates are rolling in to Hidden Track Headquarters faster than a Joba fastball, and many of these tours are requiring hefty amounts of your free cash flow. Plan accordingly, folks…get involved.

• Bob Dylan with Elvis Costello and Amos Lee (kickoff: 9/16)
• Gov’t Mule with Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (kickoff: 9/3)
• Jesus and Mary Chain adds five West Coast dates (kickoff: 10/20)
• The Hold Steady and Art Brut plan a massive tour (kickoff: 10/21)
• The same goes for Toubab Krewe — huge tour (kickoff: 9/8)
• Regina Spektor announces a 26-show tour (kickoff: 9/19)
• Morrissey unveils a U.S. tour of multi-show residencies (kickoff: 9/21)
• Umphrey’s McGee adds some dates after Echo Project (kickoff: 10/16)
• No joke, Tesla reveals a full slate of dates (kickoff: 8/28 at Lupo’s)

I’d see at least one of each, which may explain why I’m both tired and poor, though unlike the poem, not exactly yearning to breathe free. Just tired and poor.

Genesis returned to the stage last week to play three songs for VH1: Rock Honors (Heart, Ozzy Osbourne and ZZ Top also played the show). In a pretty cool move, Genesis performed one song from each decade of their history — here’s the setlist and some amateur videos for those of you that don’t want to wait until Rock Honors premieres on Thursday at 9 pm Eastern:

Turn It On Again (1980)
No Son of Mine (1991)
Drum Duet / Los Endos (1976)

Other news from around the rock world this week:

• Getcha tour dates here: The Slip have a busy June planned, and Toubab Krewe also has a busy start to their summer
• Derek Trucks played In Memory of Elizabeth Reed with the Wynton Marsalis Septet at Lincoln Center this week
• Spin and Rolling Stone are fighting over Amy Winehouse
• That Truncheon Thing has mp3s of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot demos
• Gothamist’s guide to outdoor shows in NYC this summer
• moe.’s Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey talk guitars
• The NY Times review of the Arctic Monkeys at the Hammerstein
• Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis has quit his day job and is going on tour
• The first installment of Burning Oak’s Summer Camp 2007 Artist Series
• Newmradio shares a tune from the Quincy Jones/Bill Cosby album
• Summer tour dates from The Cat Empire and The Mooney Suzuki
• Keith Richards is shopping a book — Gawker “obtains” excerpt
• Weirdest pairing of the summer? The Fiona Apple/Nickel Creek tour
• Classic alternative suicide songs
• Felt Forum > The Theater at Madison Square Garden > WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
• Neeko pointed us in the direction of Jesse Jarnow’s Marc Ribot interview

Anyone out there hitting up some live music this weekend? Anything good? Leave us a message below and tell us all abooot it…eh?

It’ll be more patchouli than pacifiers, blotter than beans. The Deadheads must be much happier than the Biscokids today following Jam Cruise’s initial lineup announcement that includes Dark Star Orchestra and Warren Haynes making their first appearance on the six-day floating party festival at sea.

On January 4th, 2008, Jam Cruise 6 will depart from Ft. Lauderdale with a full boat and a lineup of musicians that mixes heady ship vets with a couple of new additions. Soulive, Toots and the Maytals, Sharon Jones, and The Funky Meters join Warren Haynes and DSO amongst the newcomers. Returnees include Karl Denson, Perpetual Groove, Galactic, and Yonder Mountain String Band. And it’s officially a festival: Michael Franti will be on the boat. How you feeelin? Seasick!

Noticeably absent from the initial lineup are Jam Cruise fixtures Umphrey’s McGee and the Disco Biscuits (no B.D. Eggman Revisited?). Strange, seeing as this is one festival that doesn’t even attempt to book bands outside of the scene. You won’t find Dr. Dog or Kings of Leon chillin’ on the Jam Cruise poop deck.

Rotan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico — two places we’ve never heard of — serve as the ports of call for this year’s festival. Read on full Jam Cruise 1-5 lineups and an insane amount of downloads from past Jam Cruises…

You’d think by the fourth round of additions, any festival, no matter how big in size or diverse in lineup, would be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

But 10KLF continues to come up with a net full of quality stuffs. Check out the seven latest acts to sign onto the already-packed roster:

Galactic
Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Toubab Krewe
Dubconscious
Kaki King (Big-Time HT Seal of Approval for Kaki)
Green Lemon
New Primitives

Call me craisins, but I’m thinking that aside from Bonnaroo, this might be the best lineup going this festival season (at least if your musical tastes match up with mine). I’d hesitate to say there’s any real eclecticism here, but there is something for everyone. Those seven additions join this lineup, already in progress: 

Bob Weir & RatDog, Trey Anastasio, Umphrey’s McGee, moe., Gov’t Mule, Keller Williams, The Disco Biscuits, The Tragically Hip, Zappa Plays Zappa, Little Feat, The Derek Trucks Band, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, The Everyone Orchestra, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Particle, Blueground Undergrass, Outformation, The Lee Boys, Big Organ Trio, Pnuma Trio, Trampled By Turtles, WookieFoot, God Johnson, GypsyFoot, Smokin’ Bandits, Bump, Mr. Blotto, Madahoochi, Stealin’ Strings, Rhinestone Diplomats, Kinetix, Down Lo, Unity, The Burnin’ Smyrnans, The Heavy Pets & Moses Mayes

Now, how the fuck do I get out of the wedding I have that weekend?

In scanning the blog’s archives, I realized there’s one name that’s gone almost entirely unmentioned: Jaco Pastorius. A preliminary search turns up two drops of the Jaco name, but for a bassist this ludicrous, that’s just not nearly enough. So let’s change things up and pay homage to the man that put Come On, Come Over on my radar — here’s The Chicken from the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1982.

How much do you love the Bob Ross lookalike playing the sax in that video?

• Ever heard Joe Cocker’s version of The Letter without saying, “Holy fuck, man, that’s, like, the best song of all-time”? Me neither. I say we all turn and watch this sicky sicky performance from the days of Mad Dogs & Mutton Chops (Jim Keltner’s second quasi-appearance on this blog today).
• The Cocker video features a disinterested Leon Russell ripping up the keys. This video features a skinnier version of Tony the “Neo-McCarthism, I like that” nerd from Dazed & Confused on keys. And maybe watching what could be a pair of lesbians sing to each other brings out the lady in me, but this video of Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne singing Mohammed’s Radio in December 1976 is fucking beautiful. Just beautiful stuff.
• Brand new to YouTube, here’s a well-shot clip of Beck playing Where It’s Out and Odelay in Seattle. The Kidz love The Beck.
• Judging (Amy) by the number of views, I’m guessing this has escaped your attention like it did mine. At long last, a piece of the Coventry Soundcheck hath made it to the ‘Tube — it’s only two minutes, but it’s at least a little glimpse at the most salvageable moment of Phish’s last dance.
• I’m gonna let Scotty close us out: “Lifetime isn’t exactly a television station you would expect to catch the hijinks of Dean and Gene Ween, but shit happens when you promote a record. Ween visited the short-lived Jane Pratt Show in 1993 to play their single Freedom of ’76 on one of the more awkward TV appearances of all-time. This was before they had a touring band, so the duo play the song with the help of a DAT recorded drum track. Old school.”

Any videos catch your lazy eye this week? Throw ‘em on out there…

In two weeks Ace and I will be down in Sunrise, Florida for the 5th Annual Langerado Festival. Ace last attended the festie in 2005, while I had the time of my life at last year’s. As someone who doesn’t get to many festivals, I think the best part of going is the enjoyment I get from checking out artists I haven’t seen before. So for this week’s edition of The B List, Ace and I will look at the five bands each we’re excited to see for the first time at Langerado:

1. Girl Talk: I wasn’t a big fan of the whole mash-up trend that seemed to hit its peak a few years ago, but then I heard Girl Talk’s Night Ripper. Night Ripper is the opposite of every other mash-up I’ve heard that were all ill-conceived and poorly executed. Greg Gillis, the producer who doubles as the one-man gang that is Girl Talk, expertly mashes together killer riffs and vocal samples from tracks’ artists that are familiar to even the most mainstream of music fans.

Gillis uses samples fast and furiously on Night Ripper. My favorite part of the album is the beginning of the track Peak Out, where he throws in samples from 2 Live Crew’s We Want Some Pussy, Pavement’s Cut Your Hair, and Wings’ Silly Love Songs in the span of about 20 seconds. Imagine hearing those three songs on the same radio station, let alone on the same track?

When the Langerado schedule was announced last week there was only one conflict that created a problem for me. Girl Talk’s set is right smack in the middle of Widespread Panic’s headlining set on Sunday. Luckily Langerado is small enough that I can catch the first few songs of Panic before heading over for the brief five-minute walk to the Swamp Tent where Girl Talk is performing. Hopefully I will miss drums and can get back to see the end of WSP’s set. –SB

Read on for nine more great bands we’re excited to see for the first time…