Music Monday

Dreaming in Canadian. That's what the band Braids sounds like.

Yes, I know that's a terrible description. "Canadian's not a language, you racist," you might say. You're a bit hostile and jumping the gun on judgement, I'd have to respond, but I get your point. Though have you heard the way they say, "about?" HI-LAR-ious!

My point, overly sensitive reader, is that: A) They are, in fact, from Canada—originally Calgary, now the Williamsburg-of-Canada, Montreal—and, B) They sound SUPER dreamy. Not Jordan-Catalano-dreamy. And not even that west cast, getting-kinda-old, retro, beach-pop dreamy exactly. No, this dreamy sounds a little more my speed—giving a solid, perceptible nod to the beautiful shoe-gazing of yore, but still keeping the band's creative dignity in tact and covering some melodically entrancing new ground while they're at it.

Check out their Song of the Week, "Lemonade," to see what we're talking aboot. Stereogum called it a "baroque 'Crazy Town'" (by old fave, Velocity Girl) a while back, and we can't say we disagree. We just can't. And got nine minutes for an old-school piano-guitar drone? DEFINITELY check out the band's MySpace page and listen to Liver and Tan. Totally pretty. The band's playing Mercury Lounge tonight and then two sold-out NYC shows with kind of beachy dream poppy Radio Dept. and they're set to release their debut, Native Speaker, in the new year on Kanine Records here in the states. You can pre-order it there.

Enjoy, you racists!

Photo by Marc Rimmer.

From the Nest

Thanksgiving is totally one of our favorite holidays. First, because, shortly after moving to New York, we made the bold and not completely well-recieved decision to never travel for Thanksgiving again. I mean, we're gonna' see our respective families in, what, a matter of days over the winter holiday, and—whereas I personally don't mind a sultry pat-down every now and again—neither of us particularly care to travel when, say, EVERYONE ELSE IN THE NATION IS ALSO ATTEMPTING TO TRAVEL. So we are, this year, continuing to opt out of the gigantic game of travel-based musical chairs that is this holiday week. So, add the fact that we get to experience quiet holiday New York—truly a beautiful thing—to the fact that we get to sit around our Brooklyn apartment all day, cooking really good food, drinking really good drinks, and hanging out with really good friends, and the result is a kick-ass holiday. That's just solid math, man.

So, to both celebrate said awesome holiday and help out any fellow vegans, vegetarians, or—maybe most importantly—friends who would like to just add a little compassion to the menu this year, we thought we'd compile some of the many, many, many vegan Thanksgiving recipes and menus we've seen floating around the interweb the past few days along with a favorite TG recipe a friend of ours passed on to us a while back. And to compliment these guilt-free fares, we're posting some photos of our friends at Farm Sanctuary...enjoying not being eaten. Because, for real, just because they can't speak up themselves doesn't mean we should...um...eat them. That's just terrible logic, man.

So, with no further ado, a bunch of stuff:

• Celebrity vegan, Alicia Silverstone, has gotten quite a head start on the holidays, posting her favorite turkey alternatives—any of which we'd highly recommend—and showing off some great-sounding recipes, like wine-glazed Brussels sprouts, golden orchard quinoa, and butternut squash dip. Check it all out here.

• PETA's got a very dignified, terrible-photo-free page dedicated to a wealth of Thanksgiving recipes, including FIVE different types of gravy, side dishes like creamy chive mashed potatoes and maple wheat rolls, and an awesome-sounding 'chicken' and dumplings recipe that really brings me back to adolescent southern Virginia living. See all the recipe categories here.

• Another favorite non-profit, Compassion Over Killing, has a nice page dedicated to Thanksgiving meals that features a pretty sweet-looking mac and 'cheese' if you're thinking you'll go more casual style this year. Their pumpkin pie looks killer too. Take a look at everything else they have to offer here.

• ANOTHER another favorite non-profit, Mercy for Animals, has a nice-looking vegan meatloaf (no, really!) and a lovely cranberry vinaigrette salad to, you know, cleanse the palette between brown foods. Check those and others out here.

• And finally, our good friend, Jenafer, who left New York for New Zealand and then left New Zealand for LA (makes sense), passed on her SCRUMPTIOUS family recipe for yeast rolls, which we coveted since seeing them and happily pass on. They're called Polly Rocks, which, if I remember right, are name after an Aunt Polly? I might have that wrong, but there is NUTHIN' wrong with the way these superb rolls taste. Note that they take a good bit of time to rest and rise—like me in the morning—so make 'em today or early tomorrow! Check it.

Polly Rocks (AKA Awesome Yeast Rolls)

Step 1:

In a mixing bowl add:• 2 packs Active Yeast
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 Cups Silk Almond Milk (or another favorite soy, etc. milk)
Mix and add

• 1 Cup of Flour (We like King Arthur brand)
Add

• 1/2 Cup of Light Olive Oil

Cover and let rise for one hour.Step 2:
To the existing mix, add:• 2 Cups of Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least three hours.Step 3:
Make the rolls by placing a small amount of dough on a floured board, rolling it into a small ball and then placing in a floured muffin pan. Repeat two more times per roll, placing three balls to a section.
Let these rise for 45 minutes.

Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes or until brown.
Eat and Polly Rock out this Thanksgiving!

Commence cute photos of us and animals at Farm Sanctuary. Have a great holiday, everyone.

The Find

If you're ANYTHING like us, you probably put things off for way too long. Example—You hear that one of your favorite living visual artists is having a show a mere subway ride away from you, and you play it all cool, Fonzie-style, leaning up against the jukebox of life, going 'whoa,' and 'eyyyyy' and snapping your fingers and letting the jocks and lame-o's file past you to, you know, do stuff. You probably also REALLY like pistachios. Seriously. They're so good. On the prior, we urge you to not be like us. Most specifically with regards to Japanese artist, Yoshitomo Nara's first major exhibition in New York, now showing through January 2 at Manhattan's Asia Society Museum. We took our own advice on not being like us this past weekend and checked out the show and were REALLY happy we did. Not only was it our first opportunity to see his work up-close, but the exhibit is set up almost as art itself, with music and video accompanying much of the visual art, little shack-like rooms housing familiar and unfamiliar works, and even a tripped out hang-out room with a ginger-bread-looking house and pop-art-style round stages. Seriously, if you're in NYC or will be soon, add it to the very tip-top of your list of things to do. We promise: You won't regret it. And for those of you not in the area, the Asia Society site on the exhibition is actually really nice too and definitely worth checking out.

Music Monday

Dom is a band/guy we were lucky enough to catch during the CMJ Music Marathon a little earlier this year. Well. Sort of. Sadly, we actually saw about one tenth of one song before we mistakingly jetted over to an adjoining room to check out what we THOUGHT was an awesome band from England...but what turned out to be a horrid car crash of a band from England. At that point though, it was far too late to turn back, Dom's room having become packed with less anglophilic, less jump-the-gun types. But we added Dom to our list of Bands to Check Out Post-Festival. Having done that, we must say—we like what we hear. Blissed out, melody- and keyboard-driven songs that make you wish beach days were here again. Check out this week's Song of the Week, "Burn Bridges," to hear what we're talking about and then head on over to their somewhat light on information, heavy on photo collages MySpace page to hear more. And, if you like it, you can order the vinyl 10" of their EP, Sun Bronzed Greek Gods, from Insound here.

From the Nest

Most times, it's a hard knock life for a vegan out to dinner with other, non-vegan friends. Empty bellies, 'steada full, you know? So, say you've got some friends in town and you're rolling deep in Cobble Hill, peeps got a thirst on for some top-shelf whiskey, next thing you know, you're walking into Char no.4, fully expecting to enjoy a robust dinner of spiced peanuts. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hatin.' Just sayin,' lovely atmosphere and REALLY lovely whiskeys is a given walking into Char, but you don't exactly expect a whole lotta empathy for the vegans.

Alas! Katie and I were totally shocked to find out, upon asking, that they've currently got a supremely kick-ass totally vegan, gluten-free entrée on their menu—crispy sweet potato gnocchi with sautéed hen of the woods mushrooms & wilted spinach. And it was truly amazing. We totally get that it's important to support totally vegan/veg restuarants, but we're also very into supporting non-vegetarian restaurants consistently including vegan options on their menu too, so we're more than happy to sing the praises of this dish from the mountaintops. Brownstone-tops, maybe?

In fact, we enjoyed it so much that, the Sunday after this lovely, whiskey-fueled meal, we hot-footed it over to our local farmers' market, procured ourselves some insanely fresh sweet potatoes, spinach, and maitake mushrooms (AKA hen of the woods) and whipped up a slightly altered version of the dish at home. The result—awesomeness. Especially using the amazingly tasty mushrooms from our new favorite farm stand, Madura Farms of Orange Co, NY. The recipe leans to the side of simplicity rather than overly spiced or sauced and dry-sears the gnocchi rather than flash frying them, but we really, really enjoyed it. And, unlike most of the other recipes online, it's totally free of flour or egg-replacers. Plus it's a snap. Check it:

Char(red) Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maitake + Wilted Spinach

• 1 Large Sweet Potato (dense, orange to ruby tubers work well), carefully chopped into large chunks

• 1 Bunch of Spinach, washed well and chopped

• .75 lbs. of Maitake (Hen of the Woods) Muchrooms, washed, air-dried, and chopped

• 2 Large Shallots, peeled and finely chopped

• 4 Cloves of Garlic, peeled, smashed, and diced

• 2 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 tbs. Nutritional Yeast

• 1 tsp. Ground White Pepper (totally optional)

• Salt to taste

Alright, first order of business: steam your un-peeled sweet potato with a couple cups of water. When we did it, we actually just threw a steamer basket on top of a large pot which we had cooking up some vegetable broth. But the main idea is that you should steam the potatoes without having them come into contact with the liquid, so they cook and stay dry. You could probably even microwave them. Stovetop though, cover and steam for 15-25 minutes, depending on the density of your sweet potatoes. Essentially, you want them to get to a point where they're very soft to the touch of a fork and offer little to no resistance, ideally to the point where the skin starts to pull away from the 'meat' of the potato. Once you get to that point, uncover the potato and let it cool a bit so you can easily handle it. Peel the skin off by hand and either discard or, if you want to get all fancy pants, throw them on a baking sheet and make some nice baked sweet potato skin garnishes. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a large bowl, add the nutritional yeast, white pepper, and a little bit of salt and mash with a fork or masher until you've got a smooth, consistent mix. Let it cool for another ten minutes or so.

Now set aside a large plate or platter and start to form small, rounded shapes with the sweet potato mixture, rolling them in your hand and then setting them on the plate with enough room that they don't touch. It should be pretty thick and easy to manipulate, but, if you run into any problem or it ends up too liquidy, you could always add a little flour or some other binding agent. Once you've got your gnocchi ready, you can move on to the rest of the meal, which comes together pretty quickly.

Add your chopped shallots to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, warmed, iron skillet over medium-low heat. Allow the shallots to turn translucent, cooking for about five minutes, and then add your chopped garlic. Cook this for about another ten minutes, browning but not burning the edges of the shallots and garlic. Not throw in your maitake, chopped into pieces that are a couple or a few inches long. Raise the heat to medium or so, stir, cover and allow the maitake to brown and cook down for five to ten minutes, depending on how fresh your mushrooms are how much they break down. Then add your spinach, chopped to about the same size as the mushrooms, and cover. Let it steam for about two minutes and then stir the cooked-down spinach together with everything. Cook for another couple minutes, until the spinach is cooked down to a desired degree but retains its greenness. Once you're done, remove from heat and carefully mix the gnocchi in with the other ingredients. Since it's gluten-/binder-free, the gnocchi's going to be more delicate...but the whole dish really showcases the individual vegetable tastes and the way they combine to create a local farmers' market ho-down in your mouth. Yeehaw!

Enjoy! And, if you're feeling a little lazy and looking to be more pampered than peppered (....I don't know....), head over to Char no.4 and tell 'em how much you like their vegan dish.

The Find

One of our favorite and most stereotypically NYC-sitcom-style-mob-maddness sample sales starts over at Steven Alan HQ this week. Need a cut-rate, high-end plaid shirt? Done. Need 15? Also done. Need to safely vent your exhibitionist tendencies and stand semi-nude in the middle of a gigantic crowd of strangers? Kinda weird, but to each their own, so, also also done. Git yr shop on, NYC.

Music Monday

We know, we know, we know. We missed a WHOLE WEEK of blogging. We've been tossing and turning at night, ridden with the guilt and emotional weight that came with the knowledge that, with each passing day, we were letting you down, dear reader. But rest assured that we do have an excellent excuse—It's a blog, dudes. A blog. Barely even a real word. Plus we've been cray-cray busy lately.

See, that's definitely not a real word.

So, with that out of the way, check out Portland, Oregon's Lovers this Music Monday. They're a three-piece outfit led by the elegantly dark lyricist and song-writer, Carolyn Beck, and backed by synthy Kerby Ferris and performance artist/percussionist Emily Kingan. The result is smooth, shadowy pop that's edges glimmer with catchy hooks and emotive swooning. Totally good stuff. And, sadly, with all the cray-crayness lately, we missed their two shows in NYC this past week, but, if you can, catch 'em on their way back West this fall. This week's Song of the Week is "Barnacle", the opener from their brand new album, Dark Light, out now on Badman that iTunes thing.

Photo by Megan Holmes.

From the Nest

Reader, we could, as many are today, dwell on the current political landscape in America. We could go on and on and on with angry rants or apocalyptic talk on the future of law and land, the crumbling facade that is our political structure and the big-top media that—once upon a time—served to report to the public, not entertain it. We could really take up a lot of space with such writing. Or we could post a Halloween retrospective spanning our last five years in New York. We opt for the latter. Especially given our most recent costumes and their sensible placement in a From the Nest posting.

Below, you'll see our costumes for 2010—owl + nest; 2009—Edgar Allen Poe + the Raven; 2008—marionettes (won a costume contest that year!); 2007—Katie was a black widow...I wore orange sock or something...sorry! We moved like THAT next day. Give me a break; 2006—K-Fed + Britney; and 2005—as you can tell, Mary Kate + Ashley Olsen. Take THAT Tea Party!

Music Monday

If you're a loyal reader of Kindness of Ravens...first off, thanks. That's super sweet of you. Also, you may have heard us mention the band, Oberhofer in the past. We first heard of them in our interview with Magistrate of all Things Indie, Patrick from Oh My Rockness. Then we made them one of the 13 Ultimate Bands in our recent Choose Your Own Rockventure project...which we recently took down. Since first hearing the band in March, we finally got a chance to catch them at the recent CMJ Music Marathon and we were totally blown away. Seriously one of the most talented, enthralling bands we've seen live in a while. We got a chance to talk with the very personable, polite young man who's the brains behind the operation, as they say, and the band's namesake—Brad Oberhofer. Take a look at the interview and, seriously, as soon as you get a chance, catch this band live.

Kindness of Ravens: Okay, first thing's first—we usually start interviews by stating the name of the individual being interviewed and thereafter, for the sake of brevity, abbreviating the name of the person being interviewed. But that'd make you BO, and that's no good. Preferred alternate abbreviation? 'BOber'? 'BrOb'? Just 'Brad'? Something more creative?

Brad Oberhofer: You can call me "broberhofer."

KoR: Tough but fair. So, we just saw you play two of, what, 11 shows in, like, four days at CMJ? What's up with that? Did you win and/or lose a bet or something? That's nuts.

Broberhofer: I didn't lose anything aside from my fingertips, and I didn't win anything. Just had a super good time!

KoR: Yeah, this was our first time seeing you live, so we just noticed that you play sans guitar pick. Did your hand totally explode cheap-horror-flick-style at the 11th show?

Broberhofer: It didn't explode, but it definitely bled a little.

KoR: Count yourself lucky. So, speaking of the guitar, your style's really kinda out there compared to conventional rock picking and strumming. How did you start playing music and how did that style develop, you think? It kinda reminds us of some of the mid-ninties emo guitar work—Cap'n Jazz, Braid, early Promise Ring—but wait, were you like six when that stuff was going down?

Broberhofer: I started playing guitar when I was sixteen and never really tried to learn a technique. Now I've just got this style that’s completely impractical and hurts the hell out of my hand.

KoR: Suffering for your art. Tight. Moving on from Musicology 101 to Geography—word on the street is that you hail from Washington state. That's not exactly the sixth borough, man. How'd you end up in Brooklyn?

Broberhofer: I came to New York to study at NYU.

KoR: They teaches good, I hear. How's the scene in Takoma or in that part of the state in general?

Broberhofer: It's awesome! It's full of the most talented creative people I've ever met. Musicians in Tacoma play world-class shows at their friends’ houses and collaborate with their friends to make album art and t-shirts and stuff—a whole bunch of geniuses that don't have full confidence in their artwork.

KoR: Have you heard of an Olympia band named Kickball? Your guitar/song structure totally reminds us of them in an awesome way.

Broberhofer: I've heard the name, haven't listened, but I'll check 'em out.

KoR: How do you like it here in Brooklyn?

Broberhofer: I have fun here. I ride my bike every day and like the friends I've made. I love my apartment and I think the excitement of Brooklyn is perfect for my life right now.

KoR: So, from what we can tell, most of your songwriting was done very personally—you writing songs for you to perform. But now you're playing shows with a full band, and a pretty great one, at that—your drummer is especially ass-kicking, we have to say. At their root, the songs still seem essentially true to their core, but they've also got a new, more rockingly full sound. Have they been affected by playing with a live band and do you think you'll end up re-recording some of the material going forward?

Broberhofer: I'll definitely be re-recording some songs. Though I still have a very clear vision for each song that would be impossible for me to articulate to a band mate, sometimes they'll play something I like more than my original idea. My music is a complete extension of myself, and I believe that's why it sounds unique.

KoR: So, as of now, we can order a 7" via your MySpace page, yeah?

Broberhofer: A link on my MySpace directs you to Insound, where you can order it.

KoR: How else can our readers get ahold of your fine tunes? Any plans for a full-lengthy thing?

Broberhofer: If you email me at oberhofermusic@gmail.com, I'll send you 7 songs. I'm going to record a full length starting this month.

KoR: Very nice of you. Ya'll are unsigned, as the kids say, yeah? Any plans for that to change or are you perpetually going to be sticking it to the man?

Broberhofer: Yes we're unsigned, and we have no plans, but if we meet someone that we love working with that has a clear and ethical idea of better ways to connect with people, then yes.

KoR: Alright, enough of this music, band, on-topic interview talk! Time for random lightening round! Favorite place in Brooklyn?

Broberhofer: Prospect Park.

KoR: Dogs and cats. Who rules, who drools?

Broberhofer: I can't say who's better, but I prefer dogs. Namely my dog, Boomerang.

KoR: Very diplomatic of you. Least favorite color?

Broberhofer: I'm into all of them!

KoR: Are you running for office on the companion animal/color wheel platform? Embarrassing nickname growing up?

Broberhofer: B-rad.

KoR: Ouch. If you were a mythical beast, you would be a _____________?

Broberhofer: Phoenix. They're beautiful.

KoR: It’s true. New band you're listening to lately? Don't say Phoenix.

Broberhofer: Makeup Monsters.

KoR: Least favorite thing about NYC/Brooklyn?

Broberhofer: Gross smell and garbage.

KoR: Good news—winter’s better for that. Bad news—it’s hella cold. Best lyric ever?

Broberhofer: "Happiness is a warm gun."

KoR: That's from an Outkast song, right? Book you're reading now?

Broberhofer: Guns, Germs, and Steel

KoR: Finally, to get all seasonal on yo' ass, for Halloween, what did you dress up as?

Broberhofer: I didn't really know what I wanted 2 be for halloween, but here's a pic uv me nd my friendz getting ready 2 trick or treat 2nyte.

KoR: What the...?

Check out Oberhofer's excellent Away FRM U, this week's Song of the Week, hear more on their MySpace page, and email Brad if you want those hott tunez. And lucky readers in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio (do you exist?) can check the band out live tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday, respectively. Holla!

Top photo by Shawn Brackbill.