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

Shuggie Otis = The Man

So this is another addition to keep your summer of soul rolling, and this is a big one. Shuggie Otis' (who is still alive by the way) classic 1975 album Inspiration Information is one of my favorites. Ebbing between dreamy atmospherics, heroic guitar, and hard funk this album is one of those rare recordings that capture in still frame many musics synthesizing, progressing, and ultimately capturing our imagination (as well as our hearts). From the sprawling triumphant scape of Strawberry Letter 23 to the laid laid back cool of Sparkle City this album goes from track to track through moody overtones and heartfelt melodies in that way that we have come to expect good albums to be (I mean this in the Sgt.Pepper's sense in that there is an effable and subtle connection between tracks , cause anyone can say that any album has more "good songs" or is "better" ). Here are some of my favorite tracks, though I suggest you find a copy of the real thing. Island Letter, I think is my personal favorite. Not because it is catchy or particularly emotive, but perhaps the opposite. It kind of provides this soulfully pensive zone (see if you can find it) but really builds into this short lived but oh so tasteful guitar part that is oh so divine.

Inspiration Information - Shuggie Otis

Strawberry Letter 23- Shuggie Otis

Island Letter - Shuggie Otis

Sparkle City - Shuggie Otis

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, Otherwise Known as Salsa Verde

So you know that green kinda tangy salsa that always sits alongside the familiar red stuff at the restaurant? That salsa is referred to as salsa verde which means, you guessed it, green salsa. This variety of salsa, despite common conception is not made from green peppers or even green tomatoes. Salsa verde is made from an husked vegetable called the tomatillo, that is similar to a tomato but with a husk, and can be found at most grocery stores. This serves as the base of the salsa and can be modified with any pepper (preferably green so as to not make brown salsa) for heat or flavor.

I cannot stress how easy it is to make this salsa and how versatile it is. I whipped up a batch of it in about thirty minutes last week and used it on salmon (especially good if mixed with tahini, sounds weird I know, but very very good.) , chicken, chips, and my brother even used it with his eggs. In addition I would imagine that it would go well with about any roasted vegetables, as a compliment to pita and hummus, or whatever your heart desires.

Heres how it goes...

Preheat oven on at about 350-400

Take about 6-7 tomatillos, remove the husks, and rinse.

Place tomatillos on a baking sheet along with 1-2 jalpeno or serano chillies.

Put baking sheet with chillies and tomatillos in oven.

When one sides of the skin of the vegetables is blackened (about 5-10 minutes) flip and blacken the other side.

While this is going on take two whole cloves of garlic with skin on and blacken both sides in a pan till tender.

Take tomatillos and chillies out of the oven and wait till they are able to be handled... or not its your choice

Cut off stems from peppers and remove seeds, by halving them then running your blade perpendicular to the inside scrapeing the seeds away from the flesh. (trust me you want to do this, and wash your hands afterwards)

Put tomatillos, chilles, and whole garlic (de-skinned) in blender or food processor and blend till smooth.

Add water till it reaches the smooth texture and taste of your liking and season with salt, lime, or cilantro to taste if you wish as well.

Enjoy!

-Josh