Relatively Clean Rivers - Relatively Clean Rivers
The first time I heard this record was maybe ten years ago, and I was in a car, in the evening, on a road trip. It isn’t lost on me that that feels decidedly a bit on the nose for something I would consider (at the very least) a contender for peak late 60’s/70’s American psych. But someone better at music than me had made a banger of a playlist peppered with things I knew and things I was sure I knew but didn’t, and there you have it. From start to finish this record has a quiet and expansive flow with real hippie americana vibes. Every track is laced with weed and desert and canyon and nostalgia. Phil Pearlman was a veteran of the American psych rock scene and had already put out a record with Beat of the Earth, an Orange County improv/psych crew. Relatively Clean Rivers put him more squarely in the post-American Beauty kind of concept but the album still relies heavily on an effortless spacey prog rock sound which is what hooked me HARD. This album was privately pressed to start, with a pretty sparse release. It’s easy to understand why it was practically vaulted into obscurity and became a hidden gem and holy grail of west coast counterculture either found in a dusty dollar bin or going for the price of a good used car on some fanatics distro site. I’m thrilled to finally be able to put it in that part of my record bin that sees A LOT of action.
- Briana Holt, Head Baker 8/30/21
El Delfin - Tarrazú, Costa Rica
Another killer Costa Rica, you say? Absolutely. This honey process Catuaí from Mauricio Jiminez is as sweet as they come, which seems to be the overall trend for all of our lots from Costa Rica this year. El Delfin is a smaller, newer project from Mauricio who named the plot of land after his uncle. We will have another honey process lot from our pal this year from his larger farm, San Martin. The Catuaí shrubs that grow here are close to 2000 meters above sea level, and the resulting slow cherry maturation means denser beans and sweeter, more complex flavors. While the dominant flavors here are exactly what we love about Costa Rica—baked apple sweetness and rich brown sugar—there is also a surprising florality to this coffee that can't be overlooked.