Seasongs Greetings From Sound Out Loud... (feat. a Beatles Christmas)

Just because I'm jewish doesn't mean I cant celebrate the birth of our true lord and savior.  Well at least thats what my this guy yelling on the street told me.  I am tempted to believe him, I mean why shouldn't I?  Should the opportunity Christmas provides be that exclusive? Shouldn't succumbing to the pressures of social obligation and consumerism in order to shamelessly curry favor among our closest friends and family be a global right?  An opportunity, a time of renewal when we can admit our wrongs with the veil of sincerity that only the "Holiday Spirit"could provide to even our most proud and childish actions of self preservation.  Like that time you made fun of your Aunt Gladys's goiter at Thanksgiving in order to ensure that the whole family knew that YOU, had the best joke about the abnormal protuberance on her neck.  Now only a month later one has the perfect opportunity for a most appropriate apology, while maintaining your untouchable reputation, and without the worry of having to sound like you mean it.  In fact it may be the perfect opportunity to include an inconspicuous slight, referring to her unusually large jowls or perhaps her gluten allergy.  A sample apology for this situation could go:

"Hey Aunt Gladys, I am so glad I could see you this year for Christmas.  I think the goiter is looking much better now actually, and that necklace makes it almost unnoticeable.   I really hope that we can forget about the comment I made over Thanksgiving.  I would hate it if the memory of my immaturity was to ruin this years Christmas, I even made special effort to find gluten free flour, so as not to repeat last years bloating incident. "

Yes, let the season do the talking.  No one wants to be blamed for "ruining the holidays" by holding grudges because of something frivolous or especially  something they are told is frivolous.  This is the lesson that people of all races, religions, and ethnicities from the whole world take to heart at Christmas time: forgetting all wrong doing  in order to come together and exalt mighty Jesus, despite the heinous problems of accuracy still plaguing current editions of his biography.  So while we go forth through this holiday season keep my advice in mind.  Go repair some burnt bridges, so as to burn them again.  This season, is a veritable playground for all the malevolent self-interested games you know you love to play.  But why should you create a scene in the middle of dinner and deal with everyones immediate scorn, when you can assert your unreasonable sense of entitlement not on but through Christmas, to New Years, and well into easter by learning some false sincerity, all while behaving in accordance to your obvious superior standing.

-Sound Out Loud


Seasons Greetings From The Beatles - The Beatles (1964)

Happy X-Mas(War is Over) - John Lennon


(For all Beatles Christmas Recordings Click Here!!)

Gourmet's Best Cookies: A sweet goodbye.

Watch Cookie Monster Muppets Sesame Street Letter C in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Since this last November, Gourmet magazine has shut its presses.  This tragedy in the world of food journalism is both a telling sign of the times and a chilling reminder of Bon Appetite's monolithic presence as the cold indifferent journalistic face of big-agro and big-food-services(well....maybe not so much).  Anyways, to relive this magazines historic journey and explore the ever evolving American palate, they have posted a journey through the best cookies of the past 70 years.  Because of my particular geography, I am deciding to single out the black and white cookie as a recipe to post.

MINI BLACK-AND-WHITE COOKIES

MAKESABOUT 5 DOZEN COOKIES

• ACTIVE TIME:1 HR
 
• START TO FINISH:1 1/2 HR

DECEMBER 2005

The unofficial cookie of New York City is shrunken down to dainty proportions just right for the holiday dessert tray. Using a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip, pipe rounds 2 inches apart.

This is just one of Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008. Although we’ve retested the recipes, in the interest of authenticity we’ve left them unchanged: The instructions below are still exactly as they were originally printed.

FOR COOKIES

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

FOR ICINGS

• 2 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 to 6 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

• 
  

  SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: 

  a small offset spatula
  
  

MAKE COOKIES:

• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
  
  
  
  
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.
  
  
  
  
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing just until smooth.
  
  
  
  
• Drop rounded teaspoons of batter 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. Bake, switching positions of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed, edges are pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool.
  
  

MAKE ICING WHILE COOKIES COOL:

• Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. If icing is not easily spreadable, add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as vanilla icing. Cover surface with a dampened paper towel, then cover bowl with plastic wrap.
  
  
  
  

ICE COOKIES:

• With offset spatula, spread white icing over half of flat side of each cookie. Starting with cookies you iced first, spread chocolate icing over other half.
  
  
  COOKS’ NOTE: Once icing is dry, cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.
  

An Audio Representation:

Black and White World - Elvis Costello

Avante Undergrad: the Undergraduate Composers Concert

So last night we had the undergraduate composers' concert in the Silver Building at NYU.  This is the highly anticipated recording of our concert that I made.  If anyone else in the class has recordings let me know if/where you post them online.
To those of you who weren't in attendance this recording is the culmination of my principals of composition course that I took this past semester.  It was a great night with a great array of different sounds and insights into the compositional process. Thanks a lot to prof. Kampela for being such a dedicated instructor and everyone in the class for providing your insight.  It was great seeing what we all did this semester, I wish you all the best with your music in the future!

Introduction

A Display of Mackerel - Adam Waller

To Whom it May Concern...

(or: To the Customer Service Dept. at Shoe Mania in Union Square) - Joshua Cahan

Fluid Foliage - Nana Kaneko

Sunrise Blinding - Melisa Magrath

But you have a song - Christine Malvasi

Flutequartet Paralysis - Chris Shim

A Transfigured Home - David Aragona

This is what I wrote about my piece:

First and foremost I would like to thank prof. Kampela for guiding us all along our way with our pieces.  Without his direction, insight and gentle critical hand my piece, to its detriment, would not have taken the form it did.  To Whom it May Concern... is about ideas and memory.  About the places we go in our mind that excite and intrigue us.  Whether writing a letter or composing a piece of music, turning conception into representation at any level requires fluency, logic, and the common decency of art.  But what occurs between an idea and its eventual representation; the carving, the molding, the frustration, inspiration, and resultant feelings involved are all part of the creative process.

The mysticism with which the creative process is represented, as being ascribed to genius or the result of an opportunity, I feel dilutes the emotional journey involved in art, science, or even something as mundane as writing a letter.  Roland Barthes speaks of Einstein as being popularly characterized by his simultaneously magical and mechanical brain.  This places the realm of creativity relegated to a gifted few at one end and tediously manufactured by drones. at the other.  Neither is true in my mind.  My conception of conception, so to speak, is closer to that of a feeling grounded by experience, delving into the essence of ones intuition. That making and recognizing beauty is an act of involving oneself in ones undertakings speaks to the very impulse of art, thought, and science. Which is what I attempt to represent and present with To Whom it May Concern... .

As a mind begins putting idea to paper, knowledge from all areas are drawn upon, compared, related, and prioritized.  Often we prepare, but if we are ruminating over the years or days we meander through our momentary recollections. If, through our efforts, we are lucky enough to land upon something exciting or intriguing (regardless of intellectual weight, revolutionary implication, or even individualism), pride bubbles through in that we can now hold on to a new facet that may have never appeared weren't it for the chance encounter of mind, effort, and experience within ourselves.  Confusion, anxiety, rays of hope, and (in the case of this piece) triumphant conclusion are all part of the story of art, science, faith, relationships, and study.  Day in day out.  Sense, common sense, and uncommon sense are all manifested through  passion and insight - always producing, jotting down, remembering, reconciling, relating and often times relenting, walking through a world with ones head blissfully above the clouds, but only if we listen...

                                               piano m.26 

Cookin' W/ Sharon' : Sharon and her Dap Kings on IFC's Cooking with the Band

So being related to both food, one of my very first blog posts, and one of my favorite bands I was super excited to hear that Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings would be making an appearance on IFC's new show with LES tattooed hipster chef Sam Mason  called "Cooking with the Band".  Food and music, together? Like that would ever be interesting... What type of twisted individual would ever think of syndicating a show focusing on two such disparate topics?  Well the Village Voice didn't much care for the new show, calling it "the end of reality cooking shows or the death of indie rock or both".   Really Village Voice? I mean really?  Frankly I would expect more from the Voice.  Indie rock has clearly been dead for at least a year.  And who ever said they had enough of Padma Lakshmi?

Well anyway, being a fan of the band (I know admittedly little about the guy they are cooking with, besides that I always go running past his restaurant, W-50,  on Clinton St.), I certainly enjoyed the episode although I would have preferred that Sharon or some other members of the band had shared their own recipes instead of just kinda awkwardly standing around.  I learned a few things too from the show.  For starters I never knew that drummer Homer Steinweiss has a food blog and I am definitely going to use my food processor to make a marinade out of cilantro at some point in the near future.  Anyways, my business is not in TV reviews, so my advice is to check out the article and video preview on the New York Times website.

For your enjoyment I am going to put up the song that got me hooked on Sharon Jones oh about two and a half years ago.  This song is, in my opinion the best protest song I have ever heard from this past (understatement) tumultuous decade entitled What if We Stopped Paying Taxes?  Also coincidentally I ran into my friend Evelyn who works at Human Rights Watch and gave me their new fundraising cd entitled Causes 2 produced by the record company Waxploitation (of Danger Mouse and Gnarls Barkley fame) which includes a new track by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, covering Bob Marley's tune It Hurts to Be Alone.  This is a great new little number.  I don't think that Sharon has the best vocal performance on this one but there is most definitely something about those horns. The thing about the Dap Kings, being a great band, is that they always pull through.  Yes, something about those horns indeed...

The Momofuku : David Chang

Meet David Chang.  I mentioned one of his many east village establishments not too long ago, Momofuku Milk Bar, with their very delicious pastries and cereal milk soft serve.  A new "it" chef, of sorts, in New York City, Chang is quite the character.   This is a great video of him getting drunk, eating korean fried chicken, and then cooking up some munchies... its as good as it sounds. If only they could find someone. in addition to Anthony Bourdain, to do this on T.V.



David Changs Pork Recipe (From video)

"A couple teaspoons of salt

Some black pepper

And a couple hours of don't fuckin' worry about it."

Roasted Pumpkin and Fingerling Potatoes with Thyme and Black Mission Figs

So this is a riff on a recipe I got from my old Harmony and Counterpoint professor Jairo Moreno, who you may remember from my roasted chicken post. He mentioned the original pumpkin free recipe in class last fall and I have been trying to make it for some time, but I must admit finding all the proper ingredients all in one trip to the grocery store is a little tricky. Even the humongous Whole Foods on Houston St. has fingerling potatoes only sporadically, and happening upon a pumpkin, especially small enough to not be eating pumpkin for the next two weeks, forget about it... Luckily if you want to whip this up in a flash you could use any gourd or small baking potato you prefer though I have to say that the fingerling potatoes have a suppleness and a certain bite size elegance hard to find in other varieties.

The original recipe I heard from Jairo didn't have the pumpkin but a few weeks ago I was invited to a pumpkin food party, and with the right pantry items on hand, I couldn't resist myself.  This is a perfect fall meal.  Hearty, rustic, and elegant this dish would be sure to impress next to your favorite roasted pheasant or quail recipe.  Come on, you know you are tempted...


Fingerling potatoes
Dried mission figs
Oolong Tea
Thyme
Olive Oil
Salt

Boil and prepare the tea in enough water to cover all the figs.  Cover the figs with hot tea and keep submerged till enough tea has been absorbed and the figs are turgid such that they will stay moist during cooking, this should take an hour or two.  Preheat oven to 400.  Put figs in baking pan w/ potatoes (cut lengthwise in half if you prefer) and drizzle with olive oil.  Add salt and thyme, then mix till seasoned evenly.   Bake at 400 till potatoes are for tender (around 45, probably more)

Bulgarian Choral Singing

So I apologize about not posting much this semester. Ever since I lost my big desk, started guitar lessons, and cancelled my Facebook (I highly recommend it, but if you don't care to thats cool too) I haven't been spending much of my free time on the computer.  Needless to say I still have been accumulating sonic and culinary goodies to share with you, my digital friends.  Now procrastinating on a Celtic music paper, I feel inspired to make a quick post.
This friday I met with my thesis advisor to talk about my project on the Old Town School and my plan for next semester.  When I got there I heard some really intriguing and entrancing music coming out of his office.  Being a scholar of post Soviet Russian and Eastern European music, Martin was just showing a fellow music major some Bulgarian choral music, and invited me in to listen.   He explained that the classically composed music I was hearing is based off of their traditional musical language but has been gaining larger recognition in the folk and art music world of late.   So I thought it would be nice to share some with you.
The singers that you hear are all trained to sing in the traditional Bulgarian style in a conservatory setting,  as opposed to the classical conservatory one would find in "the west" .  You can tell that their tone is brighter, sharper, and pure.  I am no expert on Bulgarian singing but this sound is most likely achieved maintaining their tongue much more forward in their mouths when they sing and using more of their "head voice" (though I would imagine, sufficient support from the diaphragm is needed to not ruin ones voice, head singing as its called can be quite tough on the vocal chords).  The music is marked  Also what is strange about the music, as mentioned before is the meter, this first song is  in 7/16.  This means that there are 1 + 3/4 quarter notes per measure,  which means in short pretty weird.  See if you can tap it out on your foot, its difficult. I think it should go "One, two, three; one, two, three, four" with the emphasis on both ones.  The second one sounds much more classically western, I don't really like it as much but its still good.

Bobby Womack: Fly Me to the Moon

The name Bobby Womack never really had great associations in my mind, for one reason or another. The other day however I was really taken by his version of the standard Fly Me to the Moon and decided to check him out. Now I think he is one cool chameleon, if I may say so myself.

I have two selections today. Fly Me to the Moon, is the first song off of his 1969 album of the same title and is a very clever reinterpretation of a classic but, in my opinion, oft tired song. Luckily in this version there is really something to the swing of the band and the way the instrumentation and feeling progresses. The opening guitar riff is warm and natural; and an instant hook. You can hardly recognize the song the weren't it for the horns along with the heavy two's and four's.

Opening with yet another great (though this time shorter, thus one can follow sweeter too) guitar intro is the next song on the album. Baby you Oughta Think it Over, is a textbook example of a great vocal performance. Listen to the saxophones as they emphasize Womack's entrances, each of which he is more than up for the challenge. Really, trust me, listen to it! One of my favorite things about soul music is how the different artists play can around with the many layers of their songs, simply and to such effect. The way that Womack's epic performance is framed by his band makes it that much more valuable, I think. Having a song that fully engages ten to fifteen musicians at all time is a rare thing, and with great soul you can feel the band as a single entity pushing the song forward. This is no exception, but the way that his voice rises above the band is what soul I guess is really about: getting yourself lost in pure unfettered celebration of emotion and then-some...

Caetano Veloso: Sweetness in Song

So this Monday I began guitar lessons with composer/guitarist Arthur Kampela (sweet video included) learning all the ins and outs of the Bossa-Nova style, well... at some point that will be the case but now we are only working on the rudiments of technique. Anyways he gave me some names to check out. Names like Getz, Gilberto, and the so called "Bob Dylan of Brazil" Caetano Veloso (follow link for out of print albums legal for download). Looking up this last name I stumbled upon this little diddy Voce e Linda, and haven't been able to get it out of my head since. The song drips with sweetness, in the smoothness of the voice, the bounce of the guitar, it is everything that makes you want to forget about your work (like now, for both you when you read this and I as I write) and everything attached just to spend your time lost in a world suspended on the six strings of a guitar and the rapidly undulating membranes of Veloso's voice box. Voce e linda, voce e linda, ahh sweetness...

Also highly recommended:

La Flor de La Canela - Caetano Veloso

For No One - Caetano Veloso (Beatles Cover)

Green Papaya Salad

So last weekend I attended a Thai cooking class with my parents at the Institute of Culinary Education, who were visiting New York for the weekend. Armed with a veritable bevy of pungent fish sauce off we went to cook many authentic thai dishes from green curry to steamed fish with a tamarind sauce, and of course the ubiquitous pad thai... with all the fish sauce you ever wanted. Here is what I thought to be the most interesting recipe from the class. It is a recipe for a green papaya (aka unripened) salad. It has a sweet and savory flavor with all the spectrum of flavors that you would expect from a thai dish. Both exotic and refreshing this salad is something definitely worth going out of your way to make, just to try it. And once you do try it, I am sure you will want to make it for company or whoever seems to be around at the time.

For the Dressing:

2 large cloves garlic, pressed/minced

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons palm sugar

1 red bird's eye chili pepper, seeded and minced finely (wear gloves)

Non-Dressing Items:

1 pound green papaya, peeled seeded and coarsely shredded/grated or julienne

2 carrots, shredded/grated

2/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, washed well and dried

Up to 4 tablespoons peanuts, crushed

1. Make the dressing by whisking together pressed garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, and chili pepper until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add the papaya, carrots, and cilantro to dressing, tossing well. Salad may be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving.

3. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve.

Summer of Soul Update: Mayer Hawthorne's "Maybe So Maybe No"

This artist was brought to my attention by Soul-Sides the other day with the track

"Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'"

Soul-Sides' originator Oscar Wang called his most recent album too derivative, as if that was bad thing. Though most people think that being derivative is a mark against ones creativity, I think it is beneficial to the creative process as a whole. Commercial music has been obsessed with standing out and sounding impeccable, often times to great result. But the way music is made today is not how it will always be made, this process creates, in my opinion what is an unrealistic expectation placed on artists, to be completely original. Let me remind you we only have 12 different notes in western music. And especially when we recognize that what most of us consider to be a "good" pop song, follows a I-IV-V-I pattern (maybe with a deceptive cadence here, and a quick key change there). Really with most pop songs the key difference is a guitar riff or two and how angry the lead singer tends to be, speaking plainly of course.

I happen to be of the opinion the music is music, and soul is soul, and that I like soul a lot. With most music regardless of genre as long as the song doesn't bore me to death or hurt my ears, I will listen to it. Soul as a musical form, has an uplifting sound that is both easy to identify with and easy to dance to. In addition it also has a pretty well defined sound which makes it easy to copy for the reason that any listener need not know the theory (beyond basic instrumental or vocal competency) because chances are they already are more than familiar with the feeling. And therefore, if one wished, or if millions of people wished, they could all have soul cover bands and have a good time doing it. This is not the case with a form like American Idol style pop because it is largely based on vocal virtuosity and complicated studio polished arrangements for its effectiveness. Rock and Roll on the other hand seems to be too fragmented these days (between emo, indie-pop, indie-rock, pop rock, garage rock, punk rock, pop punk, etc...) to have a sound to be so recognizable. In my nebulous unprovable opinion I think that this drive for originality drove rock and roll away from its initial instinct in terms of feel, and has not found its way back on course since the late seventies, except for maybe a brief period relegated to the the first two Strokes albums (Room on Fire of course originally being chastised for its sameness with respect to Is This It, while six years later both remain among the top rock albums of the last decade). So my advice, find a sound or a band you love, copy the hell out of it/them with a few friends, and see what you get from there. No one thinks you are going to be the next pop superstar, so why even bull shit yourself into thinking to get the best result by "doing your own thing". Imitation is the purest form of flattery, so just give what you love the respect it deserves.

Here is Mayer Hawthorne's cover of Maybe So Maybe No - By the New Holidays which you of course remember from the Summer of Soul: Electric Boogaloo '09 playlist I posted a while back. Its still warm out I guess, and we haven't had the autumnal equinox, so keep that soul kickin'.

Momofuku's Milk Bar and Bill Withers

So the other night I was having dinner at the Redhead, a great restaurant on 13th St. btwn 1st and 2nd with my Sister her boyfriend and a friend of theirs from law school, a foodie and brooklyn native. I had a great burger there and my sisters fried Chicken was excellent as well (maybe, just maybe better than Harold's in Chicago). I didn't taste the tenderloin or the beet green ravioli, but all reports were positive as well. Also the complimentary cookie they provided at the end of the most excellent repast, was superb. A chocolate fudge cookie devilishly garnished with coarse salt on top. After a chance encounter with an old freind of my sister's on the street we continued down 13th to Momo Fuku's Milk Bar, the home of the famed Cereal Milk Soft Serve. I tried a sample of this frozen, sweetened cornflake milk and was pleasantly surprised by the delicacy and non-grossness of its nostalgic corn-flake essence (though I have lately been into weird ice cream flavors. To wit, be on the look out for an avocado ice cream recipe). We also tried their blueberry pie, and compost cookie which was made with everything from pretzels to coffee. My favorite treat however was their so called "Crack Pie", which is kinda like a pecan pie without the pecan's, so needless to say it is pretty rich. This carmely pie with an oat cookie crust I describe "as almost as good as crack, but not really as good as crack". Overall Momo Fuku's was full of delicious surprises with a nice village vibe that helps to keep the place packed on most nights. I don't normally do restaurant reviews, though I have been told I should (and may do more), the reason I am writing about this particular night was because of the music I heard when I first walked in to Momo Fuku's. Though I didn't know it at the time the familiar voice accompanying my funky funky entrance music was that of Bill Withers, the man behind the ubiquitous singles Lean on Me and Ain't No Sunshine. The song instantly hit me, so much so I had to ask my server what we were listening to so I could share it with you, my loyal reader. So here it is a Bill Withers Remix (though it is not too different from the original) of Lovely Day to go with your crack, or your crack pie, or maybe just some old cereal milk you had lying around.

The Big # 4...

So here I am presenting a pretty rock and rollin' mix to commemorate the beginning of my (and perhaps yours too) senior year of college. Now with most playlists I put up, at this time I would wax poetic about what the mix means to me but in all truth I don't have much to say, but I will try. It is a playlist about excitement and trepidation, certainly something anybody about to enter a new stage in their life feels. It has been a fun and strange three years. The places I've seen, the people that have come and gone, and the times that have been shared. I am happy to be reunited with old friends after a long summer in Chicago, don't know what I want to do after this year, and am pissed as all hell about taking hebrew again... That pretty much sums it up

Here are some key tracks:
Destroy The Heart - House of Love
Knuckles - The Hold Steady
We're Almost There - Michael Jackson
Paris (Aeroplane Remix feat. Au Revoir Simone) - Friendly Fires


THE MIX

Destroy The Heart 2:40 House of Love 12" A side
What Ever Happened? 2:50 The Strokes Room On Fire
What Am I Fighting For? (LA Priest Remix) 3:39 Unklejam What Am I Fighting For? CDS
Dont change your plans 5:11 Ben Folds Five The unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
September Gurls 2:48 Big Star #1 Record / Radio City
In The Fade 4:26 Queens of the Stone Age Rated R
Rock And Roll Remedy 4:09 Alpha Blondy Revolution
Range Life 4:55 Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Waterlooville 2:19 The Minders Cul-de-Sacs & Dead Ends
We're Almost There 3:45 Michael Jackson The Motown Years
Ashes To Ashes 4:22 David Bowie The Singles Collection CD 2
03 - Mr. HUDSON & THE LIBRARY - Too Late, Too Late 3:08 Mr. Hudson & the Library
Brian and Robert 3:03 Phish The Story of the Ghost
Fake Empire 3:25 The National Boxer
Gimmie Panic 3:13 Perspects The Third and Final Report-EP
Knuckles 3:46 The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me
Paris (Aeroplane Remix Feat. Au Revoir Simone) 7:43 Friendly Fires discodust.blogspot.com


-MC Sauce

Peach-Tomato Salsa

So I have been absent from this site for a while. I was out of town for a bit, then took a conscious break to build up the creative juices so to speak. But this week I have been cooking a bit, I made a red mole sauce for grilled Chicken two nights ago that was very good and I may share it with you one day. Also tonight I prepared a peach tomato salsa for some grilled halibut, and because that particular recipe is fresher in my mind and fresher for the season. If you were unaware we are now at the peak of the few but glorious weeks of peach season. There is no fruit more succulent or flavor as divine as a perfectly ripe peach. Whether you like to eat them refrigerated or at room temperature a word to the unwise you best bring a paper towel during this season, the wise already knew this. Luckily for us the bounty of juice and supple flesh provides the perfect foundation for a salsa of the decidedly sweeter, but equally as savory variety. This salsa is perfect on any chicken, fish, or even the dark charry flavor of grilled mushrooms. This is a good recipe to practice knife skills because there is a lot of dicing involved.

2 peaches finely diced

2 plum tomatoes finely diced

1 small red onion finely chopped

chopped mint or basil

1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper (seeded, or not if you are VERY adventurous, or partially seeded as I plan to do next time)

juice of 1 lime

salt

pepper

sugar

Just combine the above ingredients in a bowl and let sit for a bit so the flavors combine.

P.S. Congrats to my longtime favorite chef, Rick Bayless on his recent triumph on Top Chef Masters!! I can't wait to see what the am's will be doing this season.

Old Town School at the Dakhla Festival 2009: Folk Diplomacy in Morroco

So these are some very cool videos by my friend Nashma Carrera formerly of the Old Town School of Folk Music

featuring Chris Walz (also from the Old Town) on the banjo. This is from a trip to the Dakhla Festival in Morroco

funded by the MacArthur Foundation to build a relationship between the Old Town and the Casablanca Music

Conservatory along with finding new groups to bring to the school for their ongoing world music series. This is a

French/Morrocan band, I cant really tell you the name, but they are really cool. If you like these Nashma has a lot more really awsome

that I didn't post here but you should definitely check out.

OMFG...

I thought I would share this awesome blog with you. With this post the summer of soul has perhaps reached its precipice. Now if there is anyone who reads sound out loud and says they don't listen to much soul music you will be dutifully flaggellated by the almighty god of funk (who if you are not in the know goes by the name of Afro-Buddha).

This site is whole soul discographys of the biggest soul names out there from James Brown, to Al Green, to the Ohio Players, to Grant Green... OMFG.

Here is also a really really good world, jazz, and roots blog with whole albums that linked me to this amazing site.

More 45's: The Small Faces

So as promised here is another 45 that I ripped on to my computer. This is the Itchycoo Park single from the band The Small Faces. Despite their current relative anonymity they were an important and influential band in both the mod and britpop scene, going on to join up with Rod Stewart to form the seminal band the Faces. The B-side, I'm Only Dreaming, is a little interesting. As the song starts off you first get the impression that this is going to be some mushy, written in a half hour, love song b-side but once the bridge comes the song moves somewhere good. If you can wait forty seconds (which sadly asks a lot of people) you get an idea of the motion of the song, and it moves somewhere good, so when the second equally gushing verse comes in everything is hunky dory. As far as the a-side goes, standard upbeat pop. It is complete with a frolicking verse, catchy chorus and psychedelic flange in the bridge. I think it is actually pretty goofy to tell you the truth, mainly due to how it is sung (just listen to how he sings the words "Itchycoo Park"), but fun nonetheless.

Itchycoo Park - The Small Faces

I'm Only Dreaming - The Small Faces

Fate the Seductive Mistress of Destiny: A Tale of The Minders

Re: goto Albums

(I have been wanting to post on this one for a while, and I thought that DJ Boff presented me with an opportunity to share the fateful story of how I happened upon one of my favorite albums)

I was paroozing a record store in Lincoln Circle, somewhere on Lincoln Ave. south of the Potbelly's spring of or summer after senior year of high-school following an investigation of some Hofner and Eastman guitars in the Different Strummer (a pretty good selection of new hollow bodied guitars by the way) when I happened upon the album Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends by the Minders used for 2 dollars. It was initially (I was looking in the 2 dollar used CD section so the cheapness had little relative bearing) the cover art that got me, which I admit a bit sheepishly, but for two dollars it was worth it. I guess you could say that I was looking for something out of the ordinary or something that I could attach myself to either through fixating on its thrift or the possibility of finding a good track or two or just finding something weird to share with friends. What I did not expect, I can safely say, would be to pick up what would become one of my favorite albums.

Listening to it on the drive back from the suburbs, I was listening to the album while talking with my dad and sister, I wasn't listening to hard but periodically I would catch bits and think "hey this ain't that bad." I listened through and realized that it was pretty good because I couldn't really even remember a part that put me off. Though I try to be open minded about what I listen too, like with all things I can't necessarily control how music makes me feel from the onset, and if it puts me off I am pretty aware of it. Usually with a mediocre album, if you believe in such things, you can tell the marked difference between how some of the songs are written or the difference in song structure (usually tending towards the more cliche or simplistic) showing lack of inspiration, care, or worse yet consistency (though most often due to a combination of those factors). This goes beyond music as cheesy or saccharine, both can be thought of as positive attributes with the right perspective. I am not talking about a bad show, or a bad solo, or even bad music I am talking about a clear divergence shown in songs like Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and sung by McCartney and Stevie Wonder that despite whatever intrinsic talent after any initial radio honeymoon has ended, it is clear the song just doesn't cut it, lacks something, that inchoate quality known as feeling or ethos or style or relevancy or whatever that signals the presence of passion in music.

As mentioned about three sentences before, not only does Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends not lack that whatever which bestows intrigue upon recordings (meaning that it is good) as does Ebony and Ivory, that feeling is present in every single song. So much so that I am almost at a loss of which ones to show you today. Though I doubt any members of the Minders are as good of musicians or as influential as McCartney or Wonder, they have managed to write enough good songs to make Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends as good or worthy as any other album I've heard, especially for this generation. I don't know much about the Minders, except for the fact that they were an early part of the Seattle based Elephant Six collective that has brought such artists as Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, and Apples In Stereo (who share a few members with the Minders); and were on and off until they officially broke up in 2008 after a long period of relative dormancy.

Cul-de-Sac's and Dead Ends is a compilation of singles and B-sides, which by its consistency proves to be impressive in its own right. Its sound harkens to early Pink Floyd (circa Sid Barret/Piper at the Gates of Dawn) mixed with the pop sensibilities of the Beach Boys and the lo-fi sound that Elephant Six and the Seattle grunge scene helped to popularize throughout the nineties. Though indie lo-fi isn't quite my thing, I have been continually fixed upon this album ever since I picked it up, in part for its obscurity and its chance aquisition but more so because it sounds so good. You don't have to be in the mood for the Minders, the Minders put you in their own little world. It neither relies on overly dramatic or overly fluffy tunes like other bands that have followed in their sonic footsteps (Of Montreal, New Pornographers, and Apples in Stereo most notably). Instead the songs of the Minders seem to exist in a quixotic nether world of upbeat agitated self awareness and dreamy sonic playgrounds. Its the type of music made by late to mid 20 somethings who wish they were nineteen, who sing of longing, despair, youth, and adventure all put through an irresistible uplifting Brian Wilson lens. This dichotomy (between youth/adventure with longing/despair) is mainly drawn between the lyrics and the music, but the more I listen to it the more I find an aspect of darkness buried in the music itself. Maybe I've just gone crazy, maybe not, but Cul-de-Sacs and Dead End's through and through consistency where within its simple contradictions is what makes it an album I love. Maybe its in the blissfully sharp denial captured in the lyrics "Now I Can Smile" or hidden in the haunt of the satirical la la la's of "Chatty Patty" or the albums hopeless title but its there and it represents a large part of what I like about music. The seemingly endless depth at which you can take it, if you want, the rest of the time you just enjoy it.

Hand Me Downs - The Minders

Paper Planes - The Minders

Now I Can Smile - The Minders

Chatty Patty - The Minders

goto albums

i have reservations posting here.. but i''m drunk again so here we go
i want to share with someone the albums that i consider the best i've ever heard

my goto albums.. the albums i can listen to over and over and never get bored
the albums i guess that can define me.

here we go in no particular order (probably alphabetical as i scroll through itunes)

Ill Communication - Beastie Boys

this album is fairly new to the list,

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

Little Man Tate- About what you know

Michael Franti & Spearhead - Stay Human

Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over The Sea

The New Pornographers - (Twin Cinema or Electric Version... take your pick)

At the risk of being cliche.... Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Ryan Adams - Cold Roses

Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise

Tea Leaf Green - Rock N' Roll Band

here's the thing... i'll elaborate on why each of these are great albums individually but you should listen to each yourself and try and feel for a connection... but i have to sleep tonight ... so finally

The goto song... which happens to be not on any of these albums is
Best Feeling by Keller WIlliams... here's a good version for you

best feeling - keller williams

Chicago Folk and Roots Fest

So not last weekend but the weekend before it was the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival, put on every year in Lincoln Circle by the Old Town School of Folk Music. This year was my first time going and only caught a bit of it, but it was a very good time. To start off with the food there was not bad by any means, yes you could get corn dogs and funnel cake but you could also get vegan tacos, African sausage, and some other interesting stuff that caught my eye that currently I cannot remember. The festival was composed of a main stage for larger acts, a stage for the school staff to play at, a gazebo for jam sessions, a dance tent, and a "nuestra musica" tent which was made to display some aspects of the research that the Smithsonian Institute had done on the Latin American community in Chicago with the help of the Old Town School, and its very own instrument petting zoo (no f'n joke).

The music was pretty interesting, I spent a bit of time at the staff tent trying to meet some faculty to interview for my research on the school, but I also witnessed a surprisingly virtuosic Grateful Dead jam at the gazebo, as well as a few shows at the main stage most notably Curley Taylor and the Zydeco Trouble and the Watcha Clan. The Zydeco trouble is, you guessed it a zydeco band from Louisiana. They were quite funky, and definitely down with The Summer of Soul, cause they pulled out some nasty James Brown and Sam Cooke covers.

Also there was this very interesting French-Algerian band fronted by a sephardic Jewish woman. Their music combined North African roots with drum and bass, that painted a pretty cool atmosphere among the setting sun of the festival. I managed to capture a video of part of a song I found interesting, it was a rendition of the famous poem by Israeli poet Hannah Senesh, Aylee Aylee.

Overall the most refreshing aspect of the festival was that, as opposed to the Wells St. Art Fair earlier this summer, I was able to enjoy myself without being elbow to elbow with wasted young professionals. The music was an eclectic mix of folk, rock, roots, soul (they had a jam at the gazebo); Comparable to in talent, but with less choices, which I can deal with, and if I wanted to be dancing or picnic-ing I had my choice without having to sacrifice being able to hear. Which is always a good thing.

אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם

החול והים

רישרוש של המים

ברק השמים

תפילת האדם

Turn Turn Turn-Table...

So I recently started ripping some old 45's that my dad picked last year or so at a garage sale. I do not know how much he purchased the set for, though knowing my father it couldn't have been more than ten dollars, maximum. Still for a cheap garage sale find this collection is an eclectic mix of old sixties garage rock, pop, and psychedelia. There are singles from the Kinks, Peter Paul and Mary, Spencer Davis Group, the Who, the Yardbirds all with the hits (some more than others) and their enigmatic B-sides. I am very excited to introduce this collection to sound out loud' repertoire, and see what insight the dusty shadowed side of sixties hits and obscurity can lend in our mutual (writer and reader) blogging experience!

This first selection is from the Byrds ubiquitous 1965 recording of Turn Turn Turn, the song whose melody was written by Pete Seeger and text based on that one verse from ecclesiastes about time going by... oh how it does go by. The B-Side is a surprisingly well written and catchy tune entitled She Dont Care About Time. It sounds a little Beach Boy/CSNY-eque and has aged surprisingly well from a band that these days often gets thrown only into the background of conversations about the sixties. Though the Byrds are often referred to as a folk band, but with their mop top Amero-phillic style this B-side is further evidence that what was going on in the Sixties, folk or not, is something in its own right, but something that certainly still holds merit in music to follow today.

- MC J-Sauce

Turn Turn Turn(Side A) - The Byrds

She Don't Care About Time(side B) - The Byrds

Fuck You Debut

So here it is, my debut on a blog site. Well not really a debut but I don't count thirteen yearold

attempts at being the greatest blogger in the world (at least I had ambition). So after a few glasses of nectar (J & B scotch) I'll just get on with it. This is good for me, cause I think what

I say is important, even if no one else seems to agree with me, so having somewhere to write my oh so important thoughts may be beneficial (to whom i'm not sure).

This blog (of josh cahan, who i happen to admire greatly) seems to be about music, and from what I'm told food as well, but I'm gonna take this opportunity to rant about music. There is something universal in all music the rythm the melody they all have it in some form or another. So here is my piece of advice... Trust no person that says they do not like a particular genre of music and here's why.

I'm gonna leave alone the fact that all music is related in an enormous music genre tree, and focus on the type of person that could claim they dont like rap or country or classical or electronica... I mean I've heard it all.

Here's the deal.

If you are thinking about music, you don't get it. Its not a thought process, its deeper than that

its subconscious, its instinctual. Why can I get down to some african drum beat from a culture

I don't know (or maybe don't care to)? Its because music is universal, it always has been,

it always will be. Give yourself up to it.

Maybe not thinking about it is too harsh, but all I find thinking does in most people is cause prejudice many would be unhappy to learn that Biggie has a lot to thank of Blondie, but thats just the way it is (as tupac would say)

Certainly the reason I can get down to country (it's fun, the stories are good and the chicks are

hot) is not the same reason I can get down to indie shit (it's got soul and personality and its

interesting) but it doesn't stop me from enjoying both. I mean lets be realistic, some music sucks but it doesnt suck because of its genre, it sucks cause it sucks its unoriginal or bland and uninspiring not because its a bad genre.

So stop saying you don't like pop you dont like bluegrass because to be honest... its just music

so shut up open your mind and enjoy.

Oh, and to cover the food part...

fat people love hot dogs

thanks for reading

oh and listen to this shit

Sincerely,

DJ Boff

walls of jericho -animal liberation orchestra

Dylan Mashed Up

Here is a sampling of Bob Dylan mashups by French DJ ToToM. The tracks are pretty eclectic ranging from upbeat power-pop mixes to Kanye West samples. The style he takes on this one isn't the Girltalk or Jason Forest style of mashing many different songs together, or even the dangermouse style of heavy beats constructed from one song that are applied to another. ToToM takes a simpler route by combining two songs in near stock form to build a song that is greater or at least stranger than their predecessor (probably greater on the non-Dylan side while stranger on the Dylan side, which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all). The whole album is really interesting though I must admit I find some tracks to fall flat in my view (The Man in Me mixed with Eagles of Death Metal to count one) but others just reach this weird level of apocolyptic sentimental gushing emotive power that only Dylan on steroids could reach (Lay Bittersweet Lady... just guess what that one is a mash up of). You can find the whole album here.

Tambourines are From Barcelona

Lay Bittersweet Lady
Fire Coming Out of Oxford Town