the musical fruit: movement #4.

the musical fruit: movement #4.
song: "blue diamonds," the long winters
fruit: blueberries
guest blogger: allison felus


photo from the original long winters-blueberry connection flickr page

when i was first introduced to them in early 2004, i quickly became smitten with the long winters. i spent many happy evenings that summer walking home from work listening to when i pretend to fall on my portable cd player. (portable cd player! this is pre-ipod, people! you know i was committed to the rock if i was carrying around a portable cd player and a small sleeve of disks everywhere i went.) depending on how fast i was going, i could basically get from "blue diamonds" through "prom night at hater high" by the time i was unlocking my front door. the band continues to be one of my faves, one of those groups that i will unquestioningly go see whenever they're in town, and i will buy whatever albums they release. all their stuff is great in its own way, but when i pretend to fall is probably their masterpiece (so far). it's just an immaculate stunner of an album. friend of the band and general man-about-the-internet merlin mann says in this video, "it stands up to repeated listens like...like a dylan record. i mean, it's really, really good"; he even used that awesomely sneaky rhodes piano figure from album-opening track "blue diamonds" as the theme music to the merlin show (now sadly on hiatus).

unlike the kind of big "here i am, world!" album opener that grabs you by the lapels and insists you pay attention, "blue diamonds" has a patient, insinuating charm. it's the perfect tone for telling this oblique story of some sort of criminal act gone wrong and also shows masterful restraint on the meta-level of the album's sequencing. any other band probably would have kicked the album off with that sublime organ whine, chugging drums, and honking horn section at the beginning of "scared straight," which follows, but the production team knew it was smartest to reel listeners in here. this song also contains some of my favorite lyrics ever penned by el-dubs impresario john roderick: "you make a gang sign framing your face," "it feels like this is happening in tree time," "these chickens are fish in a barrel." he also sings, in the first verse, "delight at my first try at being sly." which i invariably do every time i hear this song, knowing that it's going to set me off on a musical journey that remains as fresh five years on as it did when i first heard it in '04. it's left intentionally unclear where these blue diamonds are being smuggled from, or for what purpose, so i can only assume they're headed straight into our hearts.

which is a good ultimate destination for all the much talked about antioxidants in blueberries. filled with vitamins a, c, and e, blueberries consistently rank high on lists of easily accessible, often-overlooked, non-exotic superfoods. apparently a small serving--enough to cover the top of a bowl of cereal--gives you "1,773 international units of vitamin e." (international units! ooh la la! whatever those are.)

even if you think all this business about superfoods is bullshit, it's hard to deny the no-nonsense appeal of the blueberry. unlike cherries which must be pitted, strawberries which must be denuded of their green tops, and raspberries and blackberries which can occasionally feel grainy thanks to their tiny hairs and tiny seeds, the blueberry is exceedingly low maintenance. give 'em a quick rinse, and they're basically ready for action. you can make them into a pie--raw pies are deceptively easy to throw together and so healthy you can eat them for breakfast (check out an all-purpose recipe here). you can chuck 'em into the blender with a banana, some water, a tablespoon of almond butter, a dash of vanilla, and a sweetener like medjool dates or agave nectar for a thick and creamy and brightly colored shake/smoothie. or, of course, they're delightful to munch on by the handful, whether from a bowl (if you're fancy) or straight from the pint container (if you're lazy and eager to commence with the snacking, like me). speed and ease are always of the essence if you're on the run from the law, as any good jewel thief would tell you.

allison felus likes to turn people on to the long winters any chance she possibly gets--like here and here. she sometimes talks about other stuff too at wrestling entropy.

the musical fruit: movement #2.

the musical fruit: movement #2.
song: "killed by the boom," the veils
fruit: kiwifruit



wow. lord of the rings sure made new zealand look like the bestest place on the planet, huh? lush greenery, short people, creepy flightless birds...what's not to love about it? they also have flight of the conchords, but they're not really a real band really. as far as real bands go, the best i've heard from new zealand is the veils. they're fronted by finn andrews, a dude with a voice that alternates between sounding like jack white, nick cave, richard ashcroft (the verve), neil hannon (divine comedy), conor oberst, thom yorke & probably somebody else throughout their three albums. not pete doherty though, at least vocalwise.

...so the veils released their third album & first in two plus years, sun gangs, back at the beginning of april. the top track on it at the moment for me is "killed by the boom," the fourth track in. the veils' catalog contains a handful of poppier, loungier songs with humurously tragic lyrics, but this one's a rocker. the tragic lyrics are still intact. in fact, the chorus even contains the lyrics "oh no what a tragedy." andrews brings out his jack white voice & they do some serious rocking out, muse/queens of the stone age style. think lord of the rings, but with guitar. quality stuff. apparently they put on a good live show too. damn. i guess they just played around the friggin corner at bell house on monday night. ball = dropped. culprit = me.

in honor of these musical kiwis (well...two of them are kiwis at the moment), yesterday, i started my day with a kiwifruit for breakfast & had another as my last snack of the day...a kiwi kick in the ass & nightcap, respectively. i forgot just how good these hairy ass fruits are. they're sweet & tart all at once, with seeds & acceptable consistency & that different-colored center. you can basically eat the whole thing other than the fur, which is a definite bonus, especially if you're like me & enjoy picturing the kiwifruit screaming as you peel off its skin before eating the ENTIRE THING.

who makes the most kiwis worldwide? new zealand, right? nope. italy! take that kiwis! the mafia muscled in on your kiwi racket. how's #2 feel? anyway, the best part about the kiwifruit is that you can't even tell it's genetically related to a bird! crazy! doesn't taste like chicken in the least! what'll new zealand's fruit geneticists think of next? a treat called a "koalafruit?" i hope so! i can't bear to eat the mammal equivalent.

the musical fruit: movement #1.

welcome to the inaugural edition of "the musical fruit." i love music almost as much as i love snacking, so to feed that love, i've created "the musical fruit," a column offering insight into fruits & songs, doled out (put not intended) in single fruit-song pairs. as a bonus, each song featured will include a link to hear/buy the song & if need be, figure out what the hell the writer's talking about...fruit tasting/buying links not provided.

the musical fruit: movement #1.
song: "gold soundz," pavement
fruit: golden raspberries



back in freshman year of college, there was a guy on our floor from chicago, a guy who listened to pavement & played guitar & had acne & slightly-weird hair. at the time, i had no idea who pavement was, but halfway through the year, they released crooked rain, crooked rain, an album that many consider their finest. this guy on our floor listened to it over & over again to the point where his roommate, a friend of mine, used to mockingly sing "stop breathin" on occasion, particularly the lyrics "stop breathin'. stop breathin'. breathing for me now."

now that i'm older & wiser & aware of who pavement is, for me, the money song on crooked rain is "gold soundz." it's perfect for this month, since the third verse begins with the words, "so drunk in the august sun and you're the kind of girl i like because you're empty and i'm empty and you can never quarantine the past." any girl that can appreciate that is the kind of girl i like...sweet short solo in the song too.

so...golden raspberries. hmm. they're basically the same thing as regular raspberries without all the usual tartness. as you can sort of tell from the picture, they have the typical raspberry hairs on them, but because the berries are so damn yellow, the hairs stand out like stubble on the surface of the berry...& they're made with REAL GOLD! the only drawback is the extremely short shelf life, which is around two days tops.

these particular ones come from driscoll's, a berry grower based out of cali. they have growers in various areas of the u.s., mexico & south america and according to their website, these berries were grown in either southern cali or mexico, meaning that they've probably had quite the adventurous cross-country journey on the way to my stomach! carbon footprint = oops.

#112 - fork n stick goose berry.

...so after much chatter & anticipation on my part, last thursday, i finally took myself a lil vacation out to chicagoland for three days of city-roaming adventure & festival music & hanging with ms allison, lover of sparks in moderation & owner of a much better camera than i. the festival--the annual indie rock shindig put on by pitchfork in union park--began on friday night & since she was doing the working thing during the day, i decided to do some exploring. basically, i walked from lincoln park down to wrigley, trained it down to millennium park for a bit & then trained it up a couple stops on the red line to chicago ave & along the way, hit a record shop, a taco joint, a CVS & a mostly empty cafe (inspired by a nyc joint) for a few 4pm beers.

the first night of the festival featured sets from a lineup of old-timey indie rockers--tortoise, the jesus lizard, yo la tengo & the headliner, built to spill. it was a "write the night" day (the fans voted on the setlist) & it was also apparently "thirtysomething indie rock fan night." we missed tortoise, but got there in time for the jesus lizard, which, as expected, was a bunch of chugga chugga guitars & a sweaty dude jumping into the crowd. i've had my fill of yo la tengo, so they were background music. as it got dark, built to spill closed out the night. i'm only vaguely familiar with them, but seriously enjoyed their set & even recognized a few songs here & there.

on saturday, we arrived at the park mid-afternoon, just as fucked up were finishing up & i did three hours straight of hopping between the three stages, catching a little bit of every act playing during that time--the pains of being pure at heart (solid fuzz), bowerbirds (folky), final fantasy (twee), ponytail (bouncy), yeasayer (yawn), wavves (eh) & DOOM (lots of white boy dancing & head bopping). after that string, i ran into a chicago-based friend who i know from nyc & we waited in line for the bathroom for 40 minutes, catching up before we headed over to watch beirut. she was there to see them & pretty much nobody else, but i wasn't all that impressed with them. the night ended with the black lips on one stage & the national on the main stage & we hung out & watched the national. my assessment: weird headliner, too slow at times, quite good when they actually rock & fall into garbage cans & whatnot.

the final day started pretty early. i'd considered heading in at 1pm to check out the mae shi (who apparently played their last show before all but one band member left the band), but decided to pass on them & instead began the day around 2pm with scotland's frightened rabbit. i expected them to be boring, but they sort of rocked & are now my 2nd favorite rabbit named musical act. sorry, eddie. when they finished up, we moved on over one stage to check out portland's blitzen trapper. i don't know much by them, but that furr song (live/video) rules. from there, we caught a few songs by women before heading to the main stage for the thermals. i friggin love them. in addition to their own rockin ass, jumping jack inducing songs, they played covers of sonic youth's "100%" (which i missed), nirvana's "sappy," the breeders' "saints" & green day's "basket case." SO GOOD. after them, i caught parts of sets by the walkmen, japandroids, m83, grizzly bear & mew. very impressed with the first two, not at all with the last three.

the flaming lips were on the main stage to close out the festival, with the very best playing opposite them on the schedule. for the lips, we were so far away from the stage & removed from the spectacle that we decided to check out the very best instead. three words: nighttime dance party. we boogied for a bit & they finished up with an actually slightly touching remix of michael jackson's "will you be there." the lips were still on, so we headed back to catch the end of their set. we got to hear "yoshimi" & "she don't use jelly" before they closed up with "do you realize?" as we left the park with the lips still playing, wayne coyne was still repeating, over & over again, the words "do you realize?" i don't think he realized the festival was over & it was time to go home. i hope somebody eventually told him.

#112 - fork n stick goose berry.
snack: the chicago diner corn dog
drink: goose island brewery 312 urban wheat



my eating strategy for the festival was essentially to eat beforehand & then subsist on beer & cigarettes all day long. classy. although there were a ton of vendors there, i only ended up getting food on the last day. my twice-tasted delicacy of choice that day was a corn dog from the chicago diner, who had a booth set up along the main strip of vendors. since the chicago diner's been "meat free since '83," it was one of them veggie-type corn dogs. side note: this girl also came from new york to eat both corn dogs & (weirdly coincidentally) the jerk seitan sandwich at earwax cafe in wicker park--my saturday pre-concert meal. i didn't even notice that i was being followed.

the veggie corn dogs...you can't go wrong with a corn dog, especially since it comes on a stick. these chicago diner dogs came on a spear, which was pretty cool, because after i finished sliding the corn dog into my mouth & sucking the remaining corn dog juices & batter from the spear, i could jab it into the ground to mark my territory. i spaced & forgot to add condiments the first time around, but wised up & lathered that dog up with a zig-zaggy line of ketchup the second time. mmm veggie corn dog.

goose island was the official brewer of the festival & when i approached the beer booth for the first time, i didn't realize that they had two kinds on tap--the i.p.a & the 312 urban wheat, so i asked for a "goose island." the women looked back at me with scorn & said "goose island is a brewery." oh really, lady? thanks for the enlightenment. since i'm all about tasty wheat beers, i opted for the 312 & stuck with it throughout the weekend, since i was scared of the other alcoholic choice--sparks.

goose island has been brewing for over twenty years & they put out a ton of tasty beers & sodas. the brewery's named for the only island in the chicago river & the 312 urban wheat is named for the downtown chicago area code. throughout the weekend, i gained immeasurable pleasure from asking for a "three-twelve" instead of a "three-one-two." oh the "oh dumb kid from some other place" looks i got for that. priceless. i'm sure they got that all weekend long, but them cats need to chill. i've got the 4-1-1 on the 3-1-2, yo & even if i didn't...no need to stress over it, chicago. i tell you what...if you promise not to stress over it, i promise i won't make fun of you when you come here & mispronounce "houston st." deal? deal.

#109 - five to remember/five forgotten.

make no mistake. i've said it before & i'll say it again. i like the indie rock. i read pitchfork.com at least four times a day & am heading out to chicago for their annual festival a week from today (booyah). i trip over myself getting to friends' indie recommendations. i gush over npr's all songs considered, especially this week's edition, entitled "do record labels matter?" rather than being a study into the fading importance of large record labels, it dealt which indie labels they liked the most. much in the same way that i'm drawn to specific film directors (i.e.--jim jarmusch, hal hartley, wes anderson), i tend to prefer specific indie labels (i.e.--merge, jagjaguwar, kill rock stars) when i'm looking for new music, because i usually know what sort of quality or style i'm getting.

thus far this year, my five favorite albums are all from indie labels. each one's held serious lockdown on my daily playlists & i'm pretty sure the dude i share an office with can faithfully sing the words to at least a handful of songs from these albums by now. anyway, you should check these five out if you haven't...get ready for the gushing. here they are:

	passion pit, manners (frenchkiss) - i didn't start off as a fan of passion pit. they're from cambridge & all, so i gave their EP from last year more than a few shots, but wasn't feeling it, partially because my roommate is a DJ/electronic musician who worked on a remix of "sleepyhead" for two weeks straight & partially because lead singer michael angelakos' high-pitched voice bugged me at times. regardless, when manners (their first full-length) came out in may, i decided to give it a shot. it's head bopping dancy & revelatory & spacy & solid all the way through. i'm much more into it & it's perfect walking around the city during the summer feeling awesome music.
	white rabbits, it’s frightening (TBD records) - for a couple weeks there, this album, white rabbit's second, was my favorite. other than a few songs, i didn't really connect with the first album, but they have a sound akin to the walkmen, who i enjoy & this one's produced by britt daniel from spoon, whose music i love. the opening song, "percussion gun," is by far still my favorite album opening song of the year & the video's pretty damn good too. next step is to catch these guys live. too bad the only local date scheduled is at all points west. f all points west.
	dirty projectors, bitte orca (domino records) - as i mentioned about a month back, i HATED the dirty projectors' last album, rise above, but i'm into this new album a ton. whereas the last album was too up & down for me, this album's songs are a lot more structured & catchier. the first three songs--"cannibal resource," "temecula sunrise" & "the bride"--make up an impressive twelve minute start to the album. they're playing a show here in brooklyn next sunday, but i'll be taking in indie rock in other time zones when they do (booyah), so new york readers...go! it's free & part of the new incarnation of the annual williamsburg summer "pool parties," so if you go, you'll be instantly hip...& speaking of these "pool parties," have you seen this year's schedule? absolutely sick.
	japandroids, post nothing (unfamiliar records) - i exchange fairly frequent emails with my two high school era indie rock-loving friends, mr todd martin, who you may remember from his dealings with spotted dick & chris leduc, who you remember from his adventures with figs. one day, there was a simple email from martin that read, "i like these guys. admittedly sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom (AKA low-fi?)." that's a ringing endorsement if i've ever heard one, so i checked it out & today, still rock out to it a few times a week. i have a ticket to see these dudes at tiny pianos on saturday & am pretty much ready to got the venue now. it'll be a rare paid show for me. i used to go to concerts every week or so, but these days, my concert going's generally limited to events i don't have to pay for, so it'll be a friggin treat...& maybe i can catch them again next week out in chicago (booyah).
	st. vincent, actor (4AD) - for some reason, i ignored st. vincent's first album, marry me, which came out almost two years to the day. it got rave reviews & all, but two years ago, i guess i wasn't enchanted with the type of woman & musician that lead singer annie clark seems to represent. she's basic & unassuming on the covers of her albums, but makes music that absolutely blows me away. sometimes it's all fuzzy & rocking out. sometimes it's angelic but she's singing sad lines like, "all of my old friends aren't so friendly. all of my old haunts are now all haunting me" also, she's short/cute/artsy.  that's like the shawn trifecta. it's a lovely album. i went back & checked out the first album as well...just as good.

#109 - five to remember/five forgotten.

...time to break down the fourth wall. even this blog has outtakes. a lot of the time, i find myself taking pics of snack/drink pairs before i eat them, just in case the mood strikes me. sometimes the pair ends up working its way into a column but occasionally, i get too bored/blocked/tired/drunk/A.D.D. to produce something & after a few days, i find i've moved on. these are five pairs that have been left behind:

	snack: goldfish chocolate graham crackers drink: coors banquet i got these one night while hanging out with the infamous mike weber before a trip to the 5th ave bars. by the time i got home from later that night, my old man ass quickly passed the hell out & i never got around to documenting the evening. i kept the photo around though, figuring there was a good chance i'd partake in the same combo again soon, but a few weeks later, i ended up writing about a night hanging with mike weber anyhow, so i ditched the coors/goldfish idea altogether. it's probably for the best. if i had written about the combo, it would've been like shooting a banquet of fish in a barrel.
	snack: onyums louisiana hot sauce flavor drink: hornsby's crisp apple hard cider how could i possibly resist a snack called "onyums" that's flavored with louisiana hot sauce? i couldn't. that's the answer. they were basically the same thing as the infamous funyuns, but every time i ate one, my taste buds were all "that's hot! i gare-on-tee!" then they were flattened by a hurricane & abandoned by the government for a few days. in memory of them, i abandoned this snack/drink combo. as for the cider...um, it was a cider. it had a rhino on the front of the bottle. that was pretty cool.
	snack: grandma's homestyle fudge chocolate chip cookies drink: crayons tickled pink lemonade i picked up this combo a few days after writing meditation #91, which dealt with my artistic endeavors & began with a story about time spent my grandma's house. it was too soon after though, so i put off writing about it & eventually resigned it to the digital waste bin. the pink lemonade's all natural & made by dads, so that's cool. as for the cookie, grandma makes a pretty good cookie. i think about how excited i was when they released soft batch cookies back in the day & compare it to grandma's cookies & feel like i was being played for a sucker by those feisty keebler elves.
	snack: doritos atomic chile limon flavor shots drink: redhook copperhook do you think you can make doritos better than frito lay can? if so, you're in luck. they've come out with a line of chips--doritos flavor shots--that come with a flavor packet, so once you open the bag, you get to take out the enclosed flavor packet, sprinkle it all over the chips, seal the bag up & shake it around. the results? a ton of flavor powder stuff on the chips, but nothing that a machine can't do. the difference? the satisfaction of participatory snacking. the redhook copperhook is your basic ale, with a color reminiscent of stripping a house to support a meth habit. i'm pretty sure i enjoyed these on a night where i followed the internet down a rabbit hole.
	snack: boulder canyon malt vinegar & sea salt chips drink: atwater block brewery cherry stout i picked up this combo late one night after a trip to the bars, but once i got them home, although i enjoyed them, i was more in the mood for episodes of fringe than i was for writing. a few days later, i married fringe to another atwater beer, so i let this combo fade away. the cherry stout had beer & cherries, so win win there. salt & vinegar is a chip flavor combo that i just can't refuse & since that vinegar was of the malt variety, it felt slightly british & slightly sophisticated...sort of like salman rushdie, but with less danger & less ability to cut ties with hot women who love food.