From the Nest

When we moved into our new studio in Boerum Hill this past November, we realized we needed to replace some of our old furniture. Things like run-down Ikea desks, found-on-the street weird wrought iron stools, and a multi-function filing cabinet/printer stand/cat sunning station weren't cutting it any more. So, we looked into some options and realized, as many sadly do, that our taste in material things and pickiness had far outgrown our actual budget. Boo to that, right? So, we did what any red-blooded American in her or his right mind would do. We wrote Katie's dad to see if he could help us build some badass desks. Katie's dad, Joe, is an accomplished carpenter and we were pretty sure that, with him on board, we'd end up with something that A) looked a lot better than most everything else out there, B) wouldn't end up as a pile of Scandinavian particle board dust in a year or two, and C) wouldn't require that we name our first born as a down-payment. Joe graciously agreed to help us out and we sketched a very primitive schematic up of what we were thinking—simple, yet functional plank top desks made out of solid wood—and started talking materials and timeline. We decided to go with oak wood over pine because, while pine was cheaper and lighter-weight, oak had a really nice density and seemed like it would stand up well to all the nervous tapping, impromptu table-top dance parties, and other design-related ware they were sure to endure over time. We figured, if we were going to make these things, we wanted to make them right. From there, Joe figured out what exactly we would need and how best to construct everything, then, while we were down in Virginia for the holidays, leaning on Joe heavily in figuring out how to do everything, we made ourselves some desks.

Joe had cut the major pieces down for us by the time we got there and even assembled the tops—5 planks each at .75"x6"x60". He had used biscuits—not the flakey, buttery kind—between the planks to strengthen the table tops and then cut the tops down to the finished width and length, sanding everything down with 120 grit paper. Once we got there, we used a .25" round-over bit to ease the edges on all sides. And yes, most of this terminology is straight from Joe himself. I barely know what I'm typing here.

We made the legs out of 2.5"x2.5x36" pieces of oak and cut them down to a length of 29.25" with a compound miter saw once we figured out about how high we wanted to aprons to sit above our knees. That's Katie cutting one down there, with her dad making sure limbs stay intact in the process. We then rounded the edges of those with the .25" round-over bit as well. This was especially important on the bottoms of the legs so, when the desks are moved, for instance, they don't catch the floor and splinter or anything. We drilled two pilot holes at the top of each leg so that they could each receive 5/16"x2.5" hanger bolts, which would let us attach the legs to the apron rather than attaching them directly to the top. Then we sanded them down with a 120 grit too. Oh, and if you've never used a rotary electric hand sander, you should. It's like holding a hundred tiny magic sanding elves in the palm of your hand.

The apron itself, which is basically just a box that sits underneath the table top, giving the legs a place to more securely attach, was cut to size from .75"x4" pieces. To allow for the corner braces that would be holding the legs to the apron, we cut an 1/8" saw kerf 1.75" from the end of each apron and an 1/8" slot cut 1/2" from the edge of one side. So, basically we cut channels in the wood that would allow the corner braces to fit in snugly. Again, we finished the apron with 120 grit paper. And magic elves. We fastened the corner braces to the hanger bolts using nuts and lock washers and then used pan head screws to fasten the corner braces to the apron. Next, we turned the table top over on the workbench and set the assembled apron and legs on the underside of the it. We inserted table top fastener clips into the apron slot, using four fasteners on each side apron and 2 fasteners on the end apron. Then we carefully marked and drilled anchor holes in the underside of the table top for #8-5/8" round head wood screws, making sure that the screw lengths weren't too deep for the top, and installed all the screws, loosely at first, then going back once they were all installed to firm them up. Then we turned the whole thing over, sanded down with 120, and did a lot of cheering.

The next step involved securing the one-way rental of a sizable enough vehicle to get these things back to New York, sitting in a lot of traffic on the New Jersey Expressway, and then a coat of a light Golden Oak finish to give them a more...um...finished look. We waited 24 hours and then applied three coats of a satin water-based polyurethane finish to prevent marking and give them a more durable exterior.

Again, half...if not more than half of what I just wrote, I barely understand...even though I was nearly involved with their making form start to finish. Which is a pretty cool feeling. That said, Katie and I owe a great debt to Joe for giving us some beautiful desks and that old school feeling of making something beautiful and substantial out of a pile of wood. If anyone has any question or would like any clarifications on my likely very rudimentary write up of these, feel free to post. I'll see if I can get Joe on the line to clear things up. In the meantime, we have to work on our plans for next year: A clockwork gyro-copter!

The Find

We're ceding our posting duties today, first to Joshua over at the lifestyle blog, the Discerning Brute. He just put up a Whistle While You Work piece I've been meaning to write for a while on Dan Black and Seitan Daube. Whistle While You Work is a project where I write up a review of a particular musician's work and then pair that work with a vegan recipe that, in some potentially vague or possibly even offensive way, relates to the music or musician or some such thing. That's here. Then our friend Cheryl posted on her blog about homemade tamales we made with her and her beau, Justin. Here's that. Blogorific!!!

Music Monday

A few weeks ago, Katie took me to see Passion Pit play for my birthday. Wait, just to be clear, Passion Pit didn't play *for* my birthday, they just played around the time of my birthday and Katie, knowing how much I like them, bought us tickets. Alright, that's straight, so let's move forward. Points being: A) Passion Pit is in fact amazing, no doubt, and B) We were lucky enough to catch a few songs by the band opening for them, a nice trio out of Toronto called The Rural Alberta Advantage, though they seem to refer to themselves as RAA most times, which is MUCH more fun. So, anyway, RAAAAA came off really well. It's often hard hearing a band for the first time live, depending on the sound tech, let's say, or how loudly the seemingly pre-teen couple beside you is making out and taking about how awesome this show is to their friend on the phone...sorry, sorry...breathe, old man, breathe... But, again, back to the point, sometime bands with excellently complex rhythms and tones can just sound like a wall of mess live. RAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! didn't sound like a mess, but I couldn't quite tell if they were awesome or just eh. Turns out, awesome. Thanks again, Canada. Their songs seem to be based on solid singer-songwriter bits and the main guy—who sings like Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel after eating a bunch of ground up glass—even retains his acoustic on-stage, giving everything a folksy feel, even when he's strumming his strings like a crazy punk rock jackrabbit and yelling his head off. Build up some keys and nice tight drums around that and you've got RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Their debut full length, Hometowns, came out last summer on Saddle Creek, so I'm a bit behind the times, but, nonetheless, check out "Don't Haunt This Place", this week's Song of the Week.

Photo by Joe Fuda.

Music Monday

We first saw Sweden's Shout Out Louds play with our friends' band, Metropolitan at the now defunct NYC club, Sin-e back in 2004. We were both totally blown away and have been fans ever since. They'll be releasing their third full length, Work, on indie super-label Merge Records next month. In the meantime, they've graced us with a beautiful, catchy single that showcases a stripped-down, more honest sound that we hope is indicative of the coming record. You can hear it as this week's Song of the Week and even check out a video for another single, "Fall Hard". Their first show of the tour, at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, has already sold out, but you can still catch them at Webster Hall in May and a number of other lovely cities around our fine country. Pre-order their record here, if you like.

And while we're talking free music, our NYC music champion and record store, Other Music, is offering up new tracks from Owen Pallett (who formerly recorded under the moniker Final Fantasy and whose new record we are truly excited about) and Spoon's new release, Transference. Just sign in to their site and get downloading.

Journal of the Movement of the World

Music Monday

Tomorrow, In a Year

Reader, as you well know, we like us some birds. Be it due to their otherworldly aerial grace, the visceral impact of their stark form flocked against a pale sky, or just the inspirational inference of them in the mega-hit 'Wind Beneath My Wings,' as popularized by Bette 'The Rose' Midler, we think they're pretty much top-notch. So, needless to say, we may be a bit more intrigued than your average bear with the self-described 'electro-opera,' Tomorrow, In a Year—a collaboration between weird-goes-awesome Swedish duo, The Knife, and Germans Mt. Sims and Planningtorock that is based on Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of the Species'. The production was commissioned by the Danish performance group, Hotel Pro Forma. Though The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson (who performs and records solo under the moniker, Fever Ray) and Olof Dreijer admit there was a lot of hard work and research involved in preparing for the piece (they admit never having been to an opera), judging by the song they released last week of the score's studio recording and the video and stills we've seen, their unique and traditionally inexperienced perspective has made this one opera we'd gladly sit through. Though it's being performed in the coming months in faraway, what we can only assume are super-cold lands, there does seem to be some planning for additional live dates. We can only hope that brings them to New York. But, in the meantime, the two-disk studio recording is said to be released March 1st though, and we suppose that'll do for now. That and a bunch of cray-zay youtube videos. The first track to be released from the recordings, Colouring of Pigeons, is this week's Song of the Week and, though a listen'll take a good 11 minutes out your day, it's a beautiful rising-falling-crashing-crying-chirping slice of melodic drama and well worth a download. You can also get it here by signing up for The Knife's newsletter. Hooray, evolutionary electro bird opera! Photo by Claudi Thyrrestrup.

As the Crow Flies

No, No, It's for a Good Cause...

Still don't have a calendar for the first year of the tweens? Fear not, because the evidently very weird but kind-hearted people at United Bamboo—the fashion label, not the Chinese gang—have just the thing for you. They've eschewed their usual skinny, fancy, modely models and are taking the whole catwalk thing WAY literally, dressing these furry-headed little gals in the finest miniature versions of UB's new duds. And, so that we don't feel bad about dressing up animals up to make a buck, a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit KittyKind, a NYC non-proift, no-kill cat shelter (probably about 20% according to a rep at the NYC store). And, with Martin Luther King, Jr. day coming up (Monday, Jan18), we all now have one more option for volunteering. After we all buy the calendar. Get yours at Bird (hah). Photography by Noah Sheldon.

All of NYC had That Dream Where They Forgot Their Pants

That's right, it's time again for the annual No Pants Subway Ride. Want to participate? It's this Sunday and all you have do is: 1) Meet at one of five meeting points around New York; 2) Be prepared to take your pants off and ride around the city all day; 3) Be ready for people to look at you like you're nuts (pun intended); and 4) Keep a straight face the whole time. Me, personally, I'm just going ride the subway fully-clothed, comfortably warm, and thoroughly amused. Details here. And here are some photos and video from last year.

Au Revoir Dance Party

Love Au Revoir Simone but have the need to dance those winter blues away? The Teenagers have got you covered. They've just remixed ARS's "Shadows" from their most recent album, Still Night Still Light, with startlingly excellent results. Well done, Frenchies. Head on over to rcrdlbl.com for a free download. Photo by Imma Varandela.

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Go To This Show

Our favorite Smiths tribute band, The Sons and Heirs, is playing the Bellhouse, everyone's favorite new Brooklyn venue. Believe us, they've got this thing down. Well worth it for any Smiths/Morrissey fan.

And This One

And, finally, we're beyond psyched to go see Passion Pit at Terminal 5 tonight, the first of three shows they're playing in a row there, all sold out (sorry). But, if you can't go to the show and you're not super old, like me, you should check out the official after party at Webster Hall. Holy Ghost and members of Passion Pit are DJing and it's only $1 if you RSVP and get there before midnight. Check out Passion Pit's Manners recording session with Brooklyn's P.S. 22 Choir. Super cute. Passion Pit photo by Oliver Lopena.

See ya'll.

A Triumphant Return

Dearest readers, at long last, we are back. We've journeyed our way through the cold, cold months of November and December largely without you, being harrowed by the frost and many tragic calamities along the way, and, through it all, that which chilled us most was the lack of you, dear reader. You have been missed, silent, mostly-hypothetical audience, and we are overjoyed to once again be locked in your somewhat limp, unengaged embrace.

No, no, we kid. You're the best. We just had to step back and focus on that pesky "real world" thing for a little while (booooooooo). But, we've now successfully moved our home from the wastelands of Brooklyn to the kind-of-can't-believe-how-cute-it-is-maybe-this-is-a-trick neighborhood of Carroll Gardens; moved into a brand new, slightly cold office in an old brewery in Boerum Hill; finally furnished said slightly cold office; and even went as far as remodeling the old Web log a tad bit (pretty, eh?). And we seem to be none the worse for wear. So, apologies for the extended absence, but we are now officially back. Hi.

And, with our backness, and in an effort to remedy the fact that our last Song of the 'Week' was up for...um, I think almost seven weeks...we give you this week's Song of the Week, 'Horchata'—the single from Vampire Weekend's new album, Contra, out next Tuesday.

Now, I have to be totally upfront with you, reader...I can't lie to those vapid, empty eyes...I totally did not like Vampire Weekend the first time I heard them. That whole 'hey, look look, we're preppy preppersons and we play music in boat shoes and sing about yachts' thing really kept me at bay (get it?). Even when one of my most revered music strongholds— Other Music—touted them as the next big thing that actually deserves to be the next big thing, I couldn't do it. It wasn't until I saw them play Saturday Night Live, with a full string section and more fleshed out sound, that they reeled me in. And as a result, I gave them a chance and, I must admit, much like all of America, I now think these guys are great. With Ezra Koenig's superbly strained singing over jangley, Police-like guitar and strummed-like-a-guitar drum kit with the occasional Afro-centric rhythm, despite what any critics say, I think these guys have pinned down a great sound. And it's a sound that's definitely their own, one that can be and has been emulated, but can't be done better by any other than them. So, obviously, the next question is, are they going to hit the sophomore slump with Contra. Seemingly, no way. It looks like they've answered the bated breath with the perfect formula: A Lot of the Stuff that Worked Before + Some New Still Awesome Stuff + A Little Vocoder. How could that not work? Not tired, but not straying too far from what sounded fresh and catchy the first go around. And I, for one, am psyched that they haven't let the criticism that they're a bunch of Ivy League white boys stealing African structures and rhythms veer them away from doing just that. They seem to be doing it even more blatantly actually. And it totally works.

But I'm just some guy at a keyboard, reader. Check out 'Horchata', the Song of the Week, for yourself. And, in fact, thanks to the boys' lovely use of the Interweb, you can listen to the whole album on their site right now.

Oh, and you read this in time, Other Music and SPINYC are holding a record release party tonight at SPINYC—48 East 23rd Street. Be sure to RSVP and show up early though. Info here.

Alright, that's all for now, readers. Oh, and we love you.