BAND This band has been dominating my headspace for weeks now and it hasn't gotten the least bit annoying. HOUNDMOUTH is an Indiana-based quartet that seems to have combined all the best elements of the past decade's buzz bands. They've got the soulful backbone of Alabama Shakes, the reverb of My Morning Jacket and a handle on country-tinged songwriting that puts actual country acts to shame. Their debut album, From The Hills Below The City, has been out for a year now, but festival appearances featuring their bombastic live shows have gained them some momentum this summer. Check out "On The Road" for an introduction.
TV I like this idea: Take a super-complicated yet popular novel and adapt it not into a movie, but a TV series. I like the execution of that idea when it's THE LEFTOVERS on HBO; not so much with Stephen King's Under the Dome on CBS. Damon Lindelof, the guy who pissed a lot of people off with the last few seasons of Lost, is at the helm here, adapting Tom Perrotta's novel about a small town coping with the aftermath of two percent of the world's population mysteriously disappearing a few years earlier. Now, people are breaking off into weird cults, including one that encourages chain-smoking, and a small-town police chief has to try to keep it all together while battling his own demons. It's some spooky stuff.
BEER | Make the trek out into the netherlands of east-central Spokane and you'll find Iron Goat Brewing making some of the best beers in the state, in an unsuspectingly cool spot in the shadows of old grain elevators. This summer, I recommend you join me in obsessing over their LAWN MOWER ISA. It's a low-alcohol take on an IPA, with a light, crisp finish that goes perfectly with their sun-drenched patio and something from whatever food truck is parked outside. If there's such a thing as hot weather craft beer, this is it.
