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

Menahan Street Band: The Sound of Funky Urban Distopia

So these guys have been out for a little while, their first and only album debuted last October on Dunahm records (a subsidiary of Daptone) and was a collaberative effort between musicians from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Antibalas, and Budos Band. Since its release it has been sample by the likes of Wale (look at my Fela Kuti post), Jay-Z, and I'm sure others but Jay-Z is enough to know you are ballin'. Menahan Street Band and their related acts specialize in a kind of nuevo-soul sound that essentially sounds like a frankenstein combination of a speakeasy cliche, a Graham Greene mystery, urban despair, and the unarticulated wailings of a thousand crying soul musicians... if that makes any sense, it shouldn't really. I think a more concise less vague, and perhaps more relatable way of putting it is the sound of a "The Funky Urban Distopia" (The Budos Band also falls under this distinction). This sound is a combination of a style that has both a patina of the familiar while incorporating fresh melodies that borrow from a variety of sources. Its main sonic contributors latin jazz, afro-beat, hip-hop, dub all have found themselves in dark smokey basement clubs and their sound tries to capture that. I think it is music like this that highlights the importance of hip-hop in that it is the essential element that bridges the gap between all these vaguely related forms and pulls them together into something that can be adopted into mainstream listening habits. Hip-hop in effects provides the enabling ingredient that begs us to accept this musics repetitive, perhaps by that same token almost abrasive nature and just listen to the music. To dwell in the space that it creates, outside of our daily experience, but not too far. As French spectralist composer Tristan Murail says "Music is the architecture of time", and music like this that is so specific to a style yet decidedly vague in what it actually presents is a good example of this. That is to say that the music has a strong affect but in the absence of lyrics or even a strong improvisational presence, the music makes up for the lack of the human element in its strong atmospheric presence. This presence I imagine to be the expansive hallowed proverbial walls enclosing that seedy funky underbelly of the urban distopia, what the distopia is like and exatly how funky it may be is up to you.

The Traitor - Menahan Street Band

Going the Distance (with hidden track) - Menahan Street Band

The Contender - Menahan Street Band

Michael Jackson and the New Music Paradigm: The Interweb, the Decline of the Major Record Lables, and the Day Pop Music Died.

The death of Michael Jackson marks the end of an era. The news of his death certainly delivers a blow to the triumphancy (I know its not a word, but it should be) of the Summer of Soul, and to pop music fans around the world. In many ways there is no artist that epitomized the transcendent powers of pop music and the corrupting powers of fame. Born in Gary Indian (a suburb of Chicago, and now one of the poorest cities in the united states) his tremendous talent was utilized at a young age with his involvement in the Jackson 5 (singing on such seminal soul tracks as ABC, I Want You Back, I'll Be There and many others) that elevated him to a permanent status in popular culture around the world that has been achieved by few public entertainment figures (The Beatles and Michael Jordan are really the only two comparisons that I can think of now). His tremendous fame at such a young age certainly took its toll as we all know, leading to strange stories about his personal life, erratic behavior, and drug use.

All this aside though (such a topic is not appropriate for such a post in my opinion) his 1982 album Thriller is far and away the highest selling album of all time selling over 100 million copies, and at its peak selling over a million records a week. Its sound was a mix of funk, soul, rock n' roll, and the burgeoning influence of synthesizers (still incredibly present in music today) that has proved to be one of the most influential records of all time. Listening to Thriller today, it is hard to listen pop music as it sounds today without hearing its overarching presence. But this brings me to an interesting point. With the increasing prevalence of the internet (with such cultural phenoms such as YouTube, illegal downloading, and the blog-o-sphere) and the demise of radio never has the music that we encounter has been more diverse and accessible.

What I am hinting at here is the demise of mass produced music, well at least on Michael Jackson's scale and the fact that Thriller will unlikely be usurped from its standing as the highest selling album of all time in our lifetime or possibly in this century or beyond. With the dying record industry and increased accessibility to homegrown forms (such as the availability of digital recording and myspace) the age of celebrity, at least in music, seems to be on its way out. I experienced this first hand when working at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater (formerly the Tweeter Center, formerly the World Music Amphitheater) by my house in Tinely Park. One of Chicago's largest music venues, when working I saw not a single sold out show. Not for Nine Inch Nails, not even for Bruce Springstien. The format seemed tired: overpriced tickets, overpriced food, seating about a quarter of a mile from the stage. This is not music. If any one of those people took the time to find a music blog they liked they could have found a show of similar music for a third of the price at a small venue in the city and had a good time to boot. The

Lets be honest, we all have our favorite artists, but everything is relative, especially in music. Familiarity is nice but when it comes down to it, but nowadays with increasing musical accessibility, it is easy to point out that many artists big and small across the world make music that are much like each other and are comparable in quality. The recordings probably aren't as good with smaller artists but with a few beers in you (that are not eight dollars for a budweiser) and an intimate setting, most live performances of small semi-professional bands (forget punk ass emo bullshit highschoolers though) are great. Anyone in the biz will tell you its more about style and who you know, not what you play.

Sociologists have reported (the article is blanking me right now, and I think I left it in new york) that during times of increased commercialization of music and un-sated demand communal music forms have taken prevalence (i.e. folk forms based on principals of locality and live performance) over commercial. What we have been experiencing at least since WWII is a dominance of the commercial music market place over local forms. Of course previously in Europe and even America, classical composers, were promoted as national artifacts and symbols of western intellectual dominance due to their theoretical complexity. In general the superiority of western theoretical dominance due its rigorous complexity, western classical music theory was often hailed as irrefutable evidence. This point has since been refuted by many most modern music scholars, in particular in the 1950's with the ethnomusicologists at UCLA citing the complexity of Balinesian Gamillan music used in traditional religious practices. Similar to the pre-conception of western classical music's dominance the advent of the phenomenon of pop music and the modern music industry, have caused many to think that music had been permanently altered towards sound with a highly visceral affect (this is an opinion I hold, being that pop music tends to focus on pumping one up or marking one cry, so to speak) and one model of dispersion.

The other day my friend Spencer and I were talking about how we thought that U.K. dub-step could probably be the "next big thing". It is being played more and more in clubs and raves all around the world, as well as its influence becoming increasingly more prevalent in hip-hop and pop. The model of electronica I think probably serves as one of many new models of musical dispersion in the coming future. For one reason it doesn't rely on radio play or album sales for income, and thus the ability for people to dedicate their lives to their craft. People who want to be pop-stars will be hard pressed to find a network of venues or even the community of dedicated artists to share their craft, hence the lonely desperate souls we see on American Idol giving all their hope to a single shot in the dark. I guess, someone who wants to be a pop singer could enter the world of session recording for commercial music banks, but that pursuit is notoriously unfulfilling. Connoisseurs of electronic music/technology have a pre-established network where they can find gigs as DJ's, trade their tapes with fellow artists, remix and produce other peoples work, or use their knowledge of their local scene to contribute to blogs, magazines, etc... This is the same in any sub-culture, but electronica, as a worldwide form and electronically based (which makes for easy transfer of recordings) is primed to be a refuge for many makers of music.

But what's that you say, all electronica sounds the same? I think people who say this are right, in terms of musical texture, and often musical language, this isn't a bad thing though. My argument, what is wrong with that? The same goes for rock or jazz or folk. When music is similar to itself it allows people to who enjoy that form to subtly modify it to their own taste, maybe, just maybe come up with something new. As is the case with dub-step, or Thriller. The Jackson 5 were a great group that managed to make a number of hits, but listening to the Summer of Soul playlist I think it is easy to see that many people were out there making songs of similar quality, whether they had big names or not. Jackson is of course incredibly talented. It was when Michael Jackson made Thriller that his unique background and life of music had culminated into the greatest selling album of all time and perhaps the most influential pop-recording of the last twenty years, when Jackson created a sound we could no longer return from (thus his incredible stature).

But here is what really got me thinking. The death of Michael Jackson, the king of pop, marks the end of one of the biggest superstars the world has ever seen. With the increasing diversity of music we are exposed to do we really have the capacity to obsess over a single sound or artist the way we did in the eighties? This fact is compounded by the continual decline in record sales that has not been supplemented by digital downloads (in addition to peak oil, global warming, and the increasing chance of nuclear holocaust). This all makes me feel there is potential that Thriller may be the largest selling album of all time... for-ev-errrrr (sandlot reference). The more easily accepted point is that the way we receive music is changing and the passing of Michael Jackson marks a paradigm shift that has been occurring for the last decade or so from the heyday of commercial pop-music to the atmosphere surrounding its current decline.

Will Thriller ever be ucerped? I don't think in my lifetime, I put the odds at one in five.

Here are the songs I chose to commemorate Michael Jackson

Maria - Michael Jackson (I took this one from soul-sides summer section from a few weeks ago, they have some good not oft' heard tracks up now)

P.Y.T. (pretty young thing) - Michael Jackson

I will also take this opportunity to repost the link to The Summer of Soul : Electric Boogaloo mix

Summer of Soul Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo '09.

and a link that will help you to keep your heart healthy.

A Cultural Icon: King Khan

One part Iggy Pop, one part James Brown, and two parts awesome is the recipe for one of my favorite new-ish artists. Between the triumphant horn lines, raspy vocals, and upbeat driving bass lines Khan's sound is refreshingly original, while still managing to pay appropriate homage to some great periods of Rock n' Roll. He sings songs about everything from the expensive eating habits of the obese women he has dated to his own personal inadequacies and from living in the fast lane to true love. Often donning nothing but a necklace and some tight briefs, the energy of his and the passion he puts behind his music is hard to miss and would perhaps make you doubt his canadian origins for a perhaps more balls-out country such as the U.S.A. He is so much fun, his music is awesome. He is best known for his work with his backing band The Shrines, but he also collaborates with old music partner Mark Sultan to create a neo-grunge do-wop band called King Kahn and the B.B.Q. show. I would suggest going out and buying "The Supreme Genious of King Khan and the Shrines" right now... so DO IT!!!!

Burning Inside - King Khan and the Shrines

Welfare Bread - King Khan and the Shrines

Got it Made - King Khan and the B.B.Q. Show

Chicago Folk Revival Legend: John Prine

Often there are times - the rainy afternoons, the frustrated evenings, the end of long stagnant weeks or months- when there is just that honest consoling sound we are drawn to. For people this can be anything from Black Flag to Britney Spears, but I think you could guess neither of those examples do much for me in any situation. For me this musical voice is that of John Prine. Coming from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago during the urban folk revival of the 1960's historically speaking he sits alongside such historic figures as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Phil Ochs and many others.

I remember the first time I heard John Prine. It was on a two disc anthology that is still in my mothers car. The first time I heard it I thought it was a type of cliche Americana. An overly simple old-timey sound that would never really garner too much respect in my ears. It was about sometime last year when I gave him a second chance. By this time I was a more seasoned appreciator of folk and bluegrass, and in my second listening instead of finding pedestrian melodies and typical progressions I found something else.

Though the melodic material is not much that warrants accolades; between the deft guitar picking (see Souvenirs), softhearted lyrics, and honest performances John Prine has become one of my favorite folk voices. I find his sound is both tender yet coarse enough to make the music feel approachable and not lofted in production, pop sentiment, or lyrical abstraction. I love his sound and the songs he writes. I find it funny that I didn't appreciate it at first, but that is one of the mysteries of taste and critical intuition, that as I have gotten older I would say the standards for what I listen to have not been lowered but I find myself asking different things from my music. I think when I was younger I was probably (as often happens in youth) I had preconceived notions of what music I listened to was supposed to sound like or do to me (think of how you as a child thought of vegetables, and if you don't like vegetables these days you better chickity check yo-self before you wreck your self, for real), asking for melodies to take me somewhere exciting and new Now, with Prine at least, I ask for his music to take me to something consoling and familiar. Perhaps its the accumulation of memory, or a newfound appreciation of the past. Either way John Prine is one of those many artists that I have grown to love, and as usual I am glad I looked past my youthful dispersions and gave him another chance.

Donald and Lydia - John Prine

Souvenirs - John Prine

Extra! Extra! Summer of Soul Update:

This is a response to the very apt suggestion from good friend and renowned funk saxophonist DJ Jose "Big Denmark" Houlihan. Consider it officially part of your boogaloo summer...

Download the Song

Also, the other night I witnessed history as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings took the main stage for the final show of Chicago's blues fest. Though it was a short set-list (city workers don't really enjoy working overtime, so an encore was out of the question) and the sound system could have been turned up a bit the show made apparent her soulful prowess on stage and for that I was happy.

The important part though is that along with her typical dance repertoire (the funky chicken, among many others) she did.... thats right you guessed it, the boogaloo.

Now it may not have been the electric boogaloo, but considering Sharon was one of the first posts I made on this blog, I think we may have wittnessed a professy on the part of DJ Newmatic... I know, crazy.

Of all the things god hates he may have spared this song, had they sung on key...

My favorite part is at 4:04 when the men yell "The siege is coming!", it kinda reminds me of a line from a Steven Segal movie.

Here is the original song that the Westboro Baptist Church is trying to copy. It still kinda sucks, but at least its fun.

Summer of Soul Pt. 2 : Electric Boogaloo '09

Ahh summer. The long days, the barbecues, the beaches and the beer all represent this special time of the year where, even if you don't have any more time on your hands than usual, you certainly act like you do. Summer is when we all attempt to recall those care free days of memories past that may have existed only for a moment, but are forever encapsulated in notions of everything from pool-side days, fleeting summer romance, and grandiose travel plans that were half baked at best. Last summer DJ Marcus Newmatic had a novel idea, "The Summer of Soul". There are many artists and songs that are perfect for those summer moments, but I think DJ Newmatic was on to something in that there is no genre of music that I feel epitomizes summer more than soul.

Soul music like the idea of summer is in many ways is about escape. Coming from Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and other Black urban centers soul music in a very real way served as a place to overcome and forget the daily struggles of inner city life while promoting hope, celebrating love, and mourning heartbreak. Summer as previously noted with its mythology of freedom, is steeped in nostalgia. And soul music with each horn hit, each upstroke of the hollow-bodied guitars, and each warm crackled cry of a hopeless romantic on the microphone are drenched in the uplifting thoughts of yesteryear. More importantly perhaps is the lasting sonic power that these songs have. Even with the aspects of "old" among its sound are found tunes that connect deeply to the power of pop music while maintaining the musicality and tact that make these songs transcend their period maintaining accessibility to the ears of todays generation as well. Fitting handily on any standard blank cd and playing in any boombox or car cd player, I say without hesitation, that this is the soundtrack of your summer. So without further ado I give you the playlist for the ....

Summer of Soul Pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo '09.

Highlights:

Together - The Intruders

Ole Man Trouble - Otis Redding

Make it Good to Me - Sharon Jones

Whats on it:

As Long as Ive Got You (Demo) 3:16 the emotions songs of innocence/experience

Misdemeanor 2:41 Foster Sylvers Summer Songs '09

ABC 2:59 Jackson 5

Tell Me 2:46 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings 100 Days, 100 Nights

In These Very Tender Moments 3:14 Eddie & Ernie Lost Friends

Maybe So, Maybe No 3:04 New Holidays 7" (Soul Hawk)

Make It Good To Me 4:52 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Dap-Dippin' With...

Respect 2:28 Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Seven Years 2:19 The Impressions The Young Mod's Forgotten Story

You're No Good 2:50 Harvey Averne Viva Soul

Cold Game 3:34 Myron & E with The Soul Investigators

Ole Man Trouble 2:36 Otis Redding The Dock Of The Bay

Goodbye Baby (Baby Good Bye) 3:23 Solomon Burke Rock 'n Soul

Many Rivers To Cross 2:42 Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come-The Definitive Collection

A Change Is Gonna Come 3:13 Sam Cooke Ain't That Good News (Remastered)

Together (Album Version) 2:56 The Intruders The Best Of The Intruders: Cowboys To Girls

I Heard It Through the Grapevine 3:05 The Temptations Clould Nine

(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay 2:45 Otis Redding The Dock Of The Bay

05 - Slip Away 3:02 Hank Ballard Can't keep a good man down - 1969

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted 3:00 Jimmy Ruffin

Woman's Got Soul 2:18 The Impressions Big Sixteen

11 Lost Someone [-] 2:42 James Brown Live at the Appollo

He Ain't Comin' Home No More 3:10 Nina Simone High Priestess Of Soul (Originals)

This Time 3:07 Dj Shadow The Outsider Hip-Hop

Tired Of Fighting 3:32 Menahan Street Band Make The Road By Walking

This Magic Moment 2:34 The Drifters Atlantic Rhythm & Blues (1947-74) - Disc 4 (1957-60)

Happy Listening,

MC J-Sauce

p.s. if any of you readers have your own summer playlist feel free to share it in the comments sections I will surely take a listen.

Patrice Rushen: Pizzazz

While walking around in Brooklyn, showing my visiting cousin around the city, I stopped at one of the many tables of people selling records.  Looking through this guy's collection and thinking his price for a Joe Pass album was more than I wanted to pay I happened upon a copy of Patrice Rushen's 1979 release Pizzazz.  Though I am relatively unfamiliar with her catalog, I had heard a few songs by her and knew of her talent as a musician and it was worth five dollars to me to check it out... and I did.  Much to my joy this record turned out to be, what I will call, "an uplifting parade of soul".  Though trained in jazz, in this album Rushen is able to deftly maneuver a more pop sound.  Between the vocal and orchestral arrangements what is found is a sound that blends aspects of everything from Parliament to the Talking Heads to create a sound that is both soulful and oh so utterly retro-fun.

I hope you enjoy.

Let the Music Take Me  - Patrice Rushen 

Keeping the Faith in Love - Patrice Rushen 

Yucatecan Garlic-Spice Marinade by Rick Bayless

This is one of my favorite recipes by renowned Chicago chef and Obama favorite Rick Bayless. I have made a few times it to use as a marinade for chicken and served it with steamed squash. This recipe is based off of a common flavor combination, reminiscent of North African flavors, sold in packets or as a seasoning paste in Mexico's Yucatecan markets. This marinade has a complex combination of flavors that can be applied to almost anything you need to marinade. And as Bayless notes in his book Mexican Everyday this marinade can also serve as a killer dressing for tomatoes, green beans, or steamed chayote.

1 head of garlic (about 12 cloves)

1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil

6 tbs vinegar (apple cider is traditional)

A pinch of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1/2 teasponn ground cinnamon, preferably Mexican canela

1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Salt

Cut a slit in the side of each garlic clove. Place them in a microwaveable bowl, cover with plastic and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Cool until handleable, then slip off the papery husks. One by one, drop the cloves into a running blender or food processor, letting each get chopped thoroughly before adding the next. Stop the machine, remove the top and add the oil, vinegar, spices, herb, sugar, and salt. Recover and process until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Scrape into a small jar, cover and refrigerate for up to a month or more.

Note: This can be made without a food processor. For that method I would recommend finely mincing the garlic by smashing individual cloves with your knife and giving them a thorough chop while intermittently pressing the garlic with your knife and repeating the chopping process. For extra mixing potential I would recommend a whisk.

America The Playlist

So I started this blog in part kind of intending it to be an off shoot of a project on Folk music I have been working on for my honors thesis. Semantics and discourse aside, I have been listening to a lot of different types of music native to this here great land and would like to share with you a sweet playlist that I think is representative of the general quality and diversity of music connected to (and some part of) that old American sound that to many sounds just archaic and weird. Those people are clearly wrong. Well, not really, but I do feel that considering the deep impact a lot of those recordings (like the Anthology of American Folk Music) have had on the modern musical landscape, that point is a little moot or so they say. Plus I think it is time to fully admit, these days a lot of new music is just sounds tired to me, too many synthesizers and too impersonal. Like, I get it, your in a band, am I supposed be impressed or something or just accept you playing your instrument like a cold fish? JK JK... As per-usual this playlist is a little of the familiar and a little of the unfamiliar, anyway I hope you enjoy it.

The Playlist

Beams of Heaven 2:43 Rosetta Tharpe

Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard John Prine Prime Prine

The Fugitive 2:58 Merle Haggard The Definitive Collection

this land is your land 4:31 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Naturally

Cold Rain & Snow 6:44 Grateful Dead Dick's Picks Volume 5 (Disc 1)

Lonesome and a Long Way From Home 3:56 Delaney & Bonnie & Friends Motel Shot

Sugar Man 3:48 Sixto Rodriguez Cold Fact

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 2:43 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (CD 2) 1

Spike Driver Blues 3:17 Mississippi John Hurt Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 3B:

When You Got A Good Friend 2:40 Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers Blues

Little Martha 2:07 The Allman Brothers Band Eat A Peach

Drifting Too Far From The Shore 4:54 Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice The Pizza Tapes

The Unwelcome Guest 5:06 Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Avenue

House of the rising sun 5:45 Dave Van Ronk Just Dave Van Ronk

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4:09 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited

Is This Enough 4:48 Roadbirds Live in the Wilde

Georgia Stomp 2:48 Andrew & Jim Baxter Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 2A:

Have you ever wondered where you could listen to whale noises on the internet?

http://www.iserenity.com/environments.htm

Amadou and Mariam

Amadou and Mariam are musicians from Mali, who also happen to be blind which I think is kinda interesting(they met at some school for the blind in Mali and are now married, says wikipedia). They are getting bigger these days, as a result of their 2008 release "Welcome to Mali" which has been received with wide critical acclaim. Also west african music is pretty hip in general these days (see fela kuti post, also the new Animal Collective album which also has wide critical acclaim I feel harkens to this trend with similar rhythms and song structures) so naturally their combination of African and elctro sounds are a good introduction to this trend. Anyways, I think this music is really cool music, despite the fact that pitchfork likes it too.

PEACE

MC J-Sauce

La Realite - Amadou and Mariam

Djuru - Amadou and Mariam

p.s. This is my 30th post... WOOOO!!! Don't you love arbitrary reference points.

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jaques Torres

I am reprinting the recipe for supposedly the "best" chocolate chip cookie around (according to renowned pastry chef Jacques Torres) . Really there are two things that make these cookies special, one is that the dough is refrigerated for 24 hours to promote some kind of chemical reaction in the dough that I don't know about. The second is that this recipe calls for a special expensive french style of chocolate chip (its really more of a disk) that you can only find at specialty stores, Whole Foods, or the like. I'm not sure what difference it makes but these cookies are undoubtedly the shit, and taste like they came straight from a professional bakery.

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.