Monday, October 26, 2009

Yacht - Psychic City


It's been over a week since I posted about some music, so I'm resolved to post more frequently. To that end, the posts might be shorter. Also, I'm going to be embedding links to the songs in Lala (if they're available), so you should sign up for a free account or use your Facebook account to login to hear the songs.



Every time I hear this song, I'm happy.


It's sexy and groovy and simple and catchy. Vocalist Claire Evans employs a Leonard Cohen-esque, half-talking delivery, and in this song, rather than sounding flat and lacking affect, it comes off as effortlessly seductive. The spare, synthesized beats follow her lead, gilded with found sounds like a water droplet and (I'm pretty sure) a slinky.

I can't get this song out of my head. Maybe it's when Evans sings, "Where you been darlin' darlin'? We been holding this moment for you," but this song makes me want to cuddle (I know some people are going to read this and have trouble with the image of me cuddling, but I'm confident enough to admit that I like a good cuddle now and then).

On a side note, there are several versions of this song, and I actually really like at least two other versions almost as much as this one. I also like the Classix Remix; it's a little more groovy and fluid than the original. The Rory Phillips Remix has a fatter, more beat-heavy flavor, reminding me of 90s techno groups like Orbital.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Good Soup! Thanks, Harmony.


Harmony Fabrizio, ex-Burke teacher and XC Coach, sent me this recipe:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/roasted_pear_butternut_soup_with_crumbled_stilton.html

I made it on Saturday to bring to Dan's pre-marathon pot-luck. Everyone who tried it liked it.

I pretty much followed the recipe except I used cilantro (leftover from the bad soup and it's better than chives anyway).

I learned a few things from this experience:
  • Apparently there are pans in a nifty little drawer underneath my oven. How'd they get there?
  • When Giant prices something by the bunch and you just buy one, you get charged for the whole bunch anyway.
  • Maureen told me that leeks grow in sand. Who knew?
  • Peeling butternut squash is quite difficult because the skin is really thick and the angles are odd.
  • Putting those peels in the disposal will clog your drain.
So the soup was a hit, but now I have to call a plumber. One step forward, another step back...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Bad Soup

I just made a shitload of bad soup, like a feed-a-small-country shitload. I guess it's not really bad. It's just not good.

Some things I learned:

- If the recipe doesn't look good, it might not taste good.
- If the recipe doesn't call for a pound of lentils and you just like lentils, do NOT put in a pound of lentils.
- If you have no clue what spices do what when, don't just throw more in because you think you have to make up for the pound of lentils you added to the recipe.
- If the recipe calls for a whole onion, dammit, get a whole onion.
- If all else fails, more salt and more pepper will make any soup better, not good, but better.

I won't bother posting the recipe because it's not one I'll repeat, but I did learn from this experience. I might have even learned a positive thing or two, but right now I'm not sure what that would be.

I'll be eating this epically mediocre soup for days. Anyone want some?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

J Crew Plays the Good Tunes - Spearhead and The Lions

Mindless consumer that I am, I buy most of my clothes in one or two shopping frenzies each year at the outlet stores in Manchester, VT near my parent's house.

This summer, while in the midst of my lust to be liked by virtue of buying the right clothes, I was in the J Crew store and heard two great tunes playing in the store. I used my handy-dandy Midomi iPhone app to figure out what they were and later bought the songs. In my mind they're linked by J Crew, but they happen to be similar musically as well, so that's why I'm giving you a twofer here.

Michael Franti and Spearhead have a new album out called All Rebel Rockers, and this one is heavier on the reggae than their previous albums by far. The J Crew track on the album is Say Hey (I Love You) featuring Cherine Anderson. Anderson's island accent serves as a call-and-response partner to Franti's growling, earnest rap-singing. They trade turns at the mic over a reggaefied version of the Not Fade Away beat. As with the best Spearhead songs, the chorus is a catchy sing-a-long that sticks with you.

The second track is Think (About It) by The Lions, another reggae soul outfit, who hail from LA. Once again, the song features a female vocalist. In this case she's a neo-soul singer named Noelle Scaggs whose voice is a dead ringer for Beyoncé's. I kept wondering why Beyoncé would be singing on this small band's album with no credit. Finally I did some actual research and figured out that Mrs. Jay-Z was not slumming. I was pretty clueless about the origins of the song as well until a friend heard it and started singing along even though she'd never heard of it. You'd think when Scaggs sings, "It takes two to make a thing go right," something would have clicked in my head. As it turns out, it's a cover of a James Brown produced song performed by Lyn Collins in 1972. The original is one of the most sampled songs of all time, most famously in the dance-floor staple, "It Takes Two", by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. The "woo! yeah! da-na-na!" is instantly recognizable.

The Lions' version is looser and jazzier, featuring the horns more prominently, and adds some reggae flavor while Scaggs belts out the classic soul diva's lament about the no-goodnik men she's forced to deal with. The original is tighter than tight as you'd expect from James Brown, and Collins' vocals sound subdued and prim compared to Scaggs' full-on attack.

PS - Jungle Struttin', the title track, is also a funk flex-fest that's worth a spin.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Quantic and his Group of Barbarians!


I don't know exactly what Will "Quantic" Holland does. I don't know if he writes, plays, produces or all three. All I know is that anything with the Quantic name is going to be interesting. A few years ago, he moved to Cali, Colombia and began soaking up the local sounds. This summer he released his latest project, Quantic and his Combo Barbaro's Tradition in Transition. It's a melange of latin jazz, soul and funk. All 13 tracks are worth a listen, but my favorites are:

The Dreaming Mind, Part I
Mas Pan
Linda Morena
Un Canto a Mi Tierra
I Just Fell in Love Again

The Dreaming Mind, Part 1 has an amazing string section and harp backing up a slow, breezy tune inspired by beaches and sunsets. It reminds me somewhat of Cinematic Orchestra.

Mas Pan is a Latin jazz jam. The expert horns blast a contrapuntal melody over a basic Latin jazz rhythm.

Linda Moreno is the centerpiece of the album. It's an eight minute epic of Afro-Cuban rhythms and traditional story-telling lyrics.

Un Canto a Mi Tierra is the "single". It's short and punchy. The female vocalist croons smoothly in Spanish backed by a salsa rhythm.

I Just Fell in Love Again shows Quantic's soul side. It sounds like a Sam and Dave song, complete with hot organs, plaintive soul vocals, doo-wop girls and those funky horns.

Triple Berry Crisp

When you go to a friend's house, you're supposed to show up with a six pack or chips or something. Over the years, I would say I have not consistently followed this social norm. So I felt like after all this time, I needed to show up with something good. Thus I was inspired to make some Apple Crisp, but then I looked up some recipes and found this one, which was with berries, but looked good. I was also looking for recipes that weren't too fatty and too sugary, so this one fit that bill.

Does anyone have any thoughts on sugar and sweeteners in general in terms of health pros/cons? I mean I'm sure they cook differently, but that's a different question.

The recipe called for fewer berries than were in the packages than I bought, so I just estimated when I poured.

I put in the amount of granola in the recipe and the granola looked lonely, so I probably doubled it, which I think turned out to be a good idea.

I took the concoction to the Sunday poker game and everyone liked it, so I guess it worked even without a ton of sugar and butter.

Here's the original recipe. It was easy, fast and tasty.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Important Cooking Tips for the Newbie

My friend Jeff sent me this after he read the blog. I already know some folks won't agree with all of it, but let's all be friends here. No flaming on my blog. Feel free to add to it for my benefit.

  • don't burn the garlic
  • don't burn the butter
  • fresh homegrown tomatoes + mayo + toast = heaven
  • one glass of wine for the pot, one for the cook
  • never wash cast iron with soap
  • rice is 2:1; water:rice
  • risotto is 7:1
  • brown rice is good but takes 3x as long
(these are starting to get focused on the vegetarian reader)
  • homemade hummus is just as good
  • double the garlic (unless it's served raw)
  • ingredients are important.
  • chocolate is good.
  • a little cream fixes many mediocre sauces
  • if you like soup, get a hand blender
  • everything's better with cheese (except seafood - delicate flavors can be overpowered)
  • know your audience - watch the spice
  • add salt to onions and mushrooms to sweat them in a saute
  • never walk away from heating milk or sugar on the stov, unless you want to clean the stove
  • don't skip the salt in baking
  • kids like choc chip pancakes
  • goat cheese is good in an omelet
  • julia child's original PBS show with the omelet should be required viewing
  • serve a nice drink while you're cooking to distract your guests
  • chili loves beer
  • frozen peas are better than canned ones
  • many soups are better the second day
  • canned broth is better than a bouillon cube
  • keep your knife sharp - it's easier and safer than a dull one
  • never put a good knife in the dishwasher
  • every cook needs 2 good knives: a small paring knife and a 6" chef's knife.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Michael McDonald vs. Grizzly Bear


Practically before Ray LaMontagne or John Mayer were born, Michael McDonald was belting out white-boy soul with the Doobie Brothers. Actually, this was probably before the guys in Grizzly Bear were born also. The guy's older than dirt. In fact, if you had told me he was under the dirt, I would have believed you.

So it came as quite a surprise when I heard this rockin', soulful track and thought to myself, "Is that Michael McDonald? I didn't even know he was still alive." When I heard it was a duet with Grizzly Bear I was not as surprised. The guy has a history of duets and covers. He also has one of those signature voices. Whether you ever liked the Doobies or his cheesy 80s stuff, the man can sing.

The song starts with a guitar chord that sounds like a warning. It's edgy. Then McDonald's silky smooth voice rolls in on rails. As the music patiently builds behind him, the track sounds almost like a Jimi Hendrix track that's been plied with sedatives. During the first chorus, Grizzly Bear members play the roll of doo-wop girls, adding another layer of crooning vocals. The dynamics on this track are amazing. After building up, there's an extended a cappella jam that builds it back up to a wild crazy crescendo as McDonald's belts out, "And what was left!!!" again and again.

Check it out.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Listen to Scarlett Johannson?

Scarlett Johannson is widely regarded as a bombshell. Some also regard her as lacking the skills to act her way out of a bag. I'm more in the former group and less able to care about the latter.

She put out an album a little while back of Tom Waits covers. That mad scientist's abortion, I am definitely not recommending.

I am recommending that you check out two of the songs she does on an album she recorded with Pete Yorn in 2006, but that was released this year : Relator and Blackie's Dead.

They're getting tons of radio play on KCRW. Also, they were on live today, so you can probably hear/see that performance on KCRW's site in the Morning Becomes Eclectic archives.

The tracks are fun, poppy, alt-country-ish and sing-a-long-able. They'll stick in your head. As for your opinion of ScarJo, I'm not sure what this will do one way or the other.

Broccoli Soup, also known as Polyjuice Potion



I somehow have accumulated some cookbooks even though I don't cook. Given my recent decision to cook once in a while with ingredients and not bags or boxes of food, I recently looked over what I had. I settled on Meatless Meals for Working People: Quick and Easy Vegetarian Recipes as my starting point. This seems pretty much perfect for me since I lack skill and usually complain about the time commitment of cooking.

Alex helped me choose Cream of Broccoli Soup as my first recipe and even went shopping with me at Giant. Maureen saved the day when she told me I didn't need to own a steamer to steam vegetables. Already the secrets of the world open up to me.

Then I get home to cook and called Maureen to ask her about whether I should chop the vegetables before steaming them. Then I actually read the ingredients: 1 pound broccoli, chopped. Ah ha. RTFM indeed.

Chopping was pretty easy. By the way, chopping broccoli is really messy.

For some reason this recipe called for using soy milk instead of normal milk. On the one hand this is fine since I don't have milk in the house. On the other hand, it's a Vegetarian cookbook, not a vegan one, so what gives?

Maureen's steaming trick worked like a charm. I even used a Pyrex glass I did not know I owned. Blending in the Oster was awesome. Cooking was pretty straightforward. I had to season with pepper, salt and tarragon twice before it tasted right.

My last question was answered by Rachel when she told me to sprinkle the cheese on as I served rather than while the soup was cooking.

I thought it would be odd because of the funny smell of hot soy milk, but it was pretty damn good.



Notes for future: I didn't use the big stalky parts and this seemed fine. I had four normal bowls and there's a small bowl left. The cheese was Cheshire Farmstead Imported English cheese. It was like cheddar, organge, crumbly, sharp and good.