Music Monday

Calm down. You're on the right site. And no, we're not posting about Skins or devolved into an oddly timed fixation on celebrity booby shots. We have, however, posted this week's Song of the Week, which comes from the Auckland band, The Naked and Famous. I'm told they're usually fully clothed and, though they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves—touring like crazy and playing the many, many summer festivals in their native southern hemisphere (jealous)—I wouldn't necessarily call them famous. That said, with a sound that straight-up sounds like a heavenly mish-mash of Passion Pit and MGMT, all signs point to some high-flying success once they kick it state-side this spring (in NYC, at Terminal 5 (booo) with Foals and Freelance Whales (yaaay) May 4). I'm sure they'll eventually bore out their own space in the indie sonic soundscape (yes, that sentence DID rule), but, in the meantime, we're content to enjoy them as are. As is? As are. Check out their superb "Punching in a Dream." It sounds like summer. Glorious, glorious summer.

Also, seemingly, black jeans are SUPER-in in New Zealand...

From the Nest

Okay, so one thing we have never gotten is why, when you're out at a restaurant and you're feelin' a hankerin' for, let's say, a vegetarian reuben, the fake-meaty ingredient is always, without a doubt, tempeh. Don't get me wrong, we love tempeh just as much as the next guy...assuming the next guy likes tempeh...but it's not exactly authentic to the makeup of the original, super-meaty sandwich. Though the exact origins of it are debatable (Omaha vs. NYC—suck it Kulakofsky!), the meat ingredients of a traditional reuben are always corned beef or pastrami—heavily brined, thinly sliced rare beef. How does that resemble fermented whole-soybean patties? So, we recently accepted the following self-assigned-mission: Craft a nearly entirely homemade, awesome, tempeh-less reuben sandwich. I know. What what?!

The Best (Vegan) Reuben Ever...No Joke

• 1 Whole Loaf of Jewish Rye

• 1-2 Loaves of Homemade Seitan or 8-16 oz. Store-Bought

• Vegan Russian Dressing (recipe follows)

• Sauerkraut (we like Bubbies, which is vegan and crazy-ingredient-free)

• Daiya Vegan Cheese (Mozzarella Style)

• Vegan Margarine (we like Willow Run as it's vegan and doesn't include any palm oil, which can be a bit rough, eco-/primate-habitat-wise)

Okay, so, obviously most of the ingredients are quantity-less...because...you know, these are sandwiches. So, if you like more seitan, great. If you like a lot sauerkraut, load it up, man. And, as for the seitan, it's totally cool to use some store-bought, like White Wave's or some from a local producer, but in the past year or so, we've gotten SUPER into making the seitan from Terry Hope Romero's recent cookbook, Viva Vegan, which has an excellent beef-style seitan and a really great pork-/chicken-style seitan. It's easy to make, yields a lot so you can use it for lunches, dinners, and such later in the week, and it really tastes so, so good. This recipe by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is great too. Anyway, long story short, homemade seitan's great, but store-bought's 100% cool.

Second order of business—in our research, we found that reubens are made with either thousand island dressing or russian dressing and that the former is essentially a simpler, dumbed-down version of the latter, with a lot less depth, pungency, and interestingnesses.... So we obviously opted for working up a vegan version of the russian, which rules.

Thirdly, we recommend using Daiya for your vegan cheese here. If you haven't had it yet, you should—it's melty, soy-free (if that's a concern for you) and pretty stupendous. Definitely the closest we've ever had to dairy-based cheese. You can find places that carry it near you here.

Okay, so, first thing's first—if possible, go to a nice little bakery and get yourself a fresh loaf of Jewish Rye, unseeded. If you've never had fresh rye, you're missing out. So good. We're lucky enough to have a great bakery across the street. I know. We suck. So, place the whole loaf of bread, unsliced, in the oven and bake it at 350ºF for ten to fifteen minutes, until the crust is crunchy. Set the loaf aside and let it cool. Keep the oven on.

While the bread's cooling, get a sharp knife and slice as much seitan as you want as thinly as you can. Now take a large piece of aluminum foil and place the slices of seitan on it, drizzling a little water or vegetable broth overtop of it and then wrapping the foil around it so that none of the liquid will leak out. You can even use fresh beet juice if you want more of a...um...bloody, meaty look...but maybe that gets into some weird ethics, right ? Anyway, place the wrapped seitan in the oven and allow it to steam a bit before assembling the sandwiches.

Once the bread's cool, take a serrated knife and cut the loaf at a 45º angle so that the slices have a larger area than they would if you just cut it width-wise. Now take your bread slices and spread the margarine on one side of each and slather the other side with your Vegan Russian Dressing. Here's that recipe:

Vegan Russian Dressing

• 1 C Veganaise

• .25 C Vegan Sour Cream

• 3 oz. Tomato Paste

• 1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

• .25 C Bread + Butter Pickle Chips (finely diced—again, Bubbies is awesome)

• .25 C Chives (we actually used some garlic chives from the farmer's market, which were great)

• 3 tsp Capers (finely diced)

• 4 tbsp Prepared Horseradish

• 2 tsp Vegetarian Worcestershire

• 1 tsp Chipotle Adobo Sauce (we usually just use some of the sauce from canned chipotles)

• 1 tsp Simple Syrup (you can just dissolve some sugar in as much water)

• .5 tsp Smoked Paprika

• Salt (to taste)

• Freshly Ground Pepper (to taste)

Basically, finely dice or process all of the whole ingredients, then mix everything in a large bowl. This yields a lot, so, if you're not into having this around as a salad dressing or sauce for a wrap or the like, feel free to cut the recipe in half. It's nice to have around though and keeps well. So, like I said, take a few spoonfuls of the dressing and spread the it on the insides of the bread slices. Then layer the ingredients, bottom-to-top, seitan slices, sauerkraut, Daiya, topping with your other piece of bread, dressing-down, obvs. In a heated heavy iron skillet, press the sandwich with a skillet weight or just with your spatula until the bread's browned, like 5 or so minutes. Now carefully flip it and do the same to the other side. If it looks like the vegan cheese isn't quite melting, throw a little water in the warm skillet and cover so the interior is steamed. Remove the sandwich from heat and serve it up. Furless ushanka's optional but recommended. Especially given the weather lately. Budem zdorovy!

Music Monday

Our friends over at COPILOT Strategic Music + Sound are obviously experts on all things audible, so we count ourselves lucky to be on their mailing list for the annual holiday (virtual) mixtape they put together. This past holiday season, one track in particular stood out for us—that of Brooklyn's own Minarets. Intrigued, we asked Jason at COPILOT for an intro to this previously—to us—unknown band. The result: A quick interview with Minarets' main man, Jon Weinman and a lovely Song of the Week. Check it—

Kindness of Ravens: So, tell us about Minarets. Going off your site, all I know is you're "electronic pop from Brooklyn." Very mysterious. Is the band just you?

Jon Weinman: Minarets currently exists mainly as my solo recording project. I like to play all my instruments and produce and engineer everything myself. I do have some amazing guest musicians on some of the tracks, but for the most part it's just me. We are currently working on putting together a lineup and a live show that we hope will be ready for the summer.

KoR: Originally from Brooklyn or are you a fellow transplant?

JW: I'm originally from Rockland County, New York, about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. I have lived in various neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn for the last 4 years while I have been attending school at NYU's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music.

KoR: How long have you been making music under the current moniker? ...I totally sounded like Data from Star Trek with that question....

JW: The moniker is pretty new, actually. We just released our first singles at the end of 2010, so I'd say I've been using the name since about that time last year.

KoR: So, does the band name have any significance? Subtle nod of support to the "mosque at ground-zero"? Huge fan of that old Dave Matthews album...?

JW: The name is kind of just an aesthetic thing. I've always loved the architecture of minarets. The soft curves, ornate patterns, and monolithic power of the structures have always caught my eye and imagination. I also just like how the word rolls off the tongue.

KoR: Nice, indeed. This can sometimes be an overly lame question, but how do you generally do your song-writing?

JW: I generally have a couple different approaches that I favor. Sometimes a song exists first as a single line or melody in my head, and I use my computer or guitar to orchestrate around it. Other times, the orchestrations come first and I write melodies and lyrics afterwards by examining the emotional needs of the song and trying to best serve them. For the three singles that I currently have up on the internet, I used the latter technique, taking little bits and pieces of orchestration and chopping, manipulating, and gluing them back together until the song achieved the emotional feel that I was after.

KoR: I hate the 'what music inspires you' question, so I'll instead ask—What have you been super-keen on lately, music-wise?

JW: I just recently saw Broken Social Scene for the second time in the last few months and I once again had my mind blown. I think what they are able to do as a true artists' collective—blending the spacey, far-out soundscapes with the anthemic album rock—is really special. They give back so much to their crowd and you can truly feel the joy they have up on stage, which I appreciate. In terms of a new artist, I got really into Twin Shadow's record last year. Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear produced it and I am just so into his sonic footprint, as well as George Lewis Jr.'s amazing melodies and vocal double-tracks.


KoR: Oh, totally. We got really into him last summer and included him on this...somewhat bizarre musical choose your own adventure we did. So, any plans for some formal, long-play releases or you more into doing things tapas-style, serving up the music as it's ready via the interweb?

JW: We are going to be sticking with the tapas-style releases until we really have a great live show on its feet. An album is a huge endeavour, and when we do it, we are going to have a unified vision and do it right. For now, though, I am thrilled with the response that we've been getting by releasing our songs hot off the presses and I think we will continue to do so. We are also working on a little promo campaign to give away new songs using special edition stickers with QR codes that link to free downloads placed throughout the city.

KoR: You mentioned live shows. So you're thinking this summer?

JW: We are currently working on putting the live show together. I recently had some friends return from studying abroad who are going to be key pieces of that puzzle, and I think we are all stoked to get in the practice space and start adapting these compositions for a live setting.

KoR: Can't wait. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us, Jon.

Check out Jon's contribution to our Song of the Week series—"Raised in the Light"—and, when you're done with that, head over to their Bandcamp page to listen to two other fine, Brooklyn-made pieces.

Journal of the Movement of the World

the moon this morning was amazing

hanging low in the red sky

behind crossed bars and stilled cables

of cranes in shipyards blocks but worlds away

with no camera

i try in vain to capture this with words

pull it down with spines and stems and serifs

wrap it tight

hold it close

breathe it in

but pictures can prove as weak as words

thin-barred prisons for moments that capture me

old women in the subway

detritus on the street

steeples in the skyline

all ask me

where is my god

there is my god

in the rounded down stone that marches around us

in the deadened cranes and failed words and lost photographs

in the quiet of brooklyn at 6AM

in the beauty of the ordinary

there is my god

there is my god

Music Monday

We woke up Sunday morning to find the above written out on our typewriter...along with a LOT of post-party debris. It was like a terrible, terrible piñata had exploded. And we wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks the ton of well-wishing and over-exuberant jubilation, friends.

This week's Song of the Week is brought to you by Fierce Creatures. No, no, not the almost-sequel to A Fish Called Wanda. Fierce Creatures is a new band from Fresno (Fresno?) that sounds to us like some sort of hybrid of Local Natives and Freelance Whales and your other favorite indie folky rock-y band, but still manages to sound relatively un-derivative and fun as hell to listen to. Like if half the party you're at suddenly started singing and playing in time. That didn't happen this weekend, by the way. Our only complaint. Oh, plus, Australians: Please stop smashing things. In general and specific, I think.

While we wait for that request to come to fruition though, let's all have a listen to Fierce Creatures' beautiful and oddly titled "Satan is a Vampire," from their debut EP, I Mostri Feroci. You can buy the CD over at Big Cartel and listen to more over at their MySpace page. Peace!

Journal of the Movement of the World

Nikki McClure has held a place in our hearts for a long, long time. First, in college, as an independent musician, then, later, as one of favorite visual artists, taking single sheets of paper and carving into them a detailed, whimsical world of beauty and grace. So, needless to say, we were beyond excited and unbelievably humbled when she agreed to do an interview with us. Below, we talk about her papercutting process, misheard lyrics, and, of course, crows. All images © Nikki McClure (obvs).

Kindness of Ravens (KoR): Alright, first of all, thank you SO much for agreeing to e-talk with us. You're seriously one of our favorite artists and have been for years now. It means a lot to be able to speak with you.

So, for anyone who doesn't already know your work, can you briefly describe what you do and how you do it?

Nikki McClure (NM): I cut images from paper using an x-acto knife.

KoR: Well, THAT'S a bit of an understatement. How long does an average(-ish) paper cut take you?

NM: I usually give myself a week, but sometimes it takes longer. The week timeline is usually a combo or procrastination and scheduling.

KoR: And do you always work from a single sheet of paper? I feel like that's understandably one of the most impressive parts of your process to us.

NM: Yes. But sometimes there are separate pieces, but that’s very rare. I like to keep it all connected—a visible example of interdependence.

KoR: So there’s an artistic significance to the process or is it mostly a structural thing?

NM: Yes and yes. It started out as structural, a game, a challenge—the set of rules that I operated under—like math. But the artistic significance has been revealed slowly. We are all connected.

KoR: Nice. Are they always in black only originally?

NM: Mostly. Sometimes I will add an additional color, but it has to be the right color and the right paper. I like black and white.

KoR: It is classy. So, then with some of the prints based on your paper cuts, you add color, correct? Is that a silkscreen thing or a computer thing?

NM: It's a computer thing. The images that most people see of my work are the graphic versions of my art. I sit in my friend's basement and work on it directing him over his shoulder, or I scan and send it and we do it all via email. Hands-off.

KoR: We actually have a little old apple book that looks like it was colored in with red crayon. Guess that doesn't happen much anymore eh?

NM: Ah, hands-on. Yeah...I have tied a lot of ribbons, punched a lot of holes, colored in a lot of red apples....that book has my 1st papercut as the illustration on the first page. It will be reprinted in 2012 by Abrams. No hand coloring this time.

KoR: I should hope not. So, do you ever get near the end of a piece and totally, say, take out a tree that supports the whole thing and have to ditch it all?

NM: No. Usually I mess it up earlier than that! Every piece has mistakes. None are perfect. I usually make do...or even better, believe that it is doomed and then I just keep going liberated from the fear that I will "mess it up". It is already messed up and now I am free to try new things since I can't mess it up more!

KoR: Very Zen. So, how did you get into this very specific realm of art? Were you ever into traditional Scherenschnitte?

NM: I had a period of folded scissor-cutting but it was mostly Valentines. I started with technical pen and ink, moved to scratchboard, then linoleum, then papercutting. Each step was consciously trying to move away from a technical tendency in drawing. I wanted to make mistakes. I wanted to make it not be perfect. Drawing with a knife is my therapy.

KoR: Certainly one of the more constructive ways to express yourself with a knife…. It seems like the subject matter in your art has been veering more and more toward the natural world and 'simple' living—farming, manual labor, sewing, canning, birds in trees. Is that just a reflection of your day-to-day life or should we pull more meaning from the subjects?

NM: I make pictures about my life. So yes, it is a reflection of that living...yet I also make pictures based on a broader community-based memory. I concentrate on evoking memory, from last week to ten thousand years ago—things that humans do. Positive things that humans do, I should add. I focus on our strengths: Hands, tools, dreams. We need to remember what we are fully capable of. It is not shopping or typing at a computer (I am making chicken soup and just revived the fire during this interview).

KoR: About all I can handle is coffee-drinking while I type. And even that's a little dicey. So, for both Katie and I, much of our development—artistically, morally, educationally—took place when we were in college together in the early and mid-Nineties and we inundated ourselves with the Riot Grrrl and new new punk movements. So we're familiar with you as an artist in two ways—first, in your work with K Records, Kill Rock Stars, and your own, edgy vocal-centric music; then only later did we come to know your visual work. While we're big fans of both of these artists, it does seem like a big gap to bridge in terms of style and subject matter. Did one realm of work lead to the other at all?

NM: It is still the same me! The music definitely gave my voice confidence but it was nicer to just stay home and make a book that one person WANTS to read—maybe with a child in their lap—as opposed to sleeping on floors and waking up next to a pit bull ("Dont worry, he's nice!") and making people listen to me un-miked in a bar when they just want to hang out with their friends without some lady yelling at them (nicely…in a singy-sort of way). There’s less stage fright involved and now I get hotel rooms and 11AM story time tours. But the music was an awakening. Now my voice is refined and printed. No more yelling. Even the words I use are not in your face...but suggestive reminders.

KoR: I was personally always a huge fan of the song, “Omnivore”...though I was constantly singing the words wrong, it turns out.

NM: That is perfect. You made up your own song. I like that my pictures have a very specific memory for me...yet they evoke a different memory to others.

KoR: I don’t know…I think I was singing something like, “Baby I’m on the voor”…. I’m bad with lyrics. So, are you still involved with the Olympia music scene at all or has it all evolved from music into...I don't know...organic bakeries and local bookstores as its members have grown?

NM: There is still music. I mostly stay home. I have a kid and cannot bear staying up past 10PM much less waiting for a band to fiddle with cords. I get the singles downloaded weekly from K Records. I like to think that keeps me current...yet I never listen to them. I was always a LIVE music listener. Now if only someone were to serenade me...but only chickadees. So I listen to birds.

There are bookstores, bakeries, burritos, clothing stores, and cafes that are punk-based ventures. It has been exciting to participate as reader and eater.

KoR: You've been somewhat of a keystone seemingly in the Olympia community for years now. How have things changed there?

NM: Ahh...to be a keystone. I have been here a long time! About the same time I had a child (6 years ago), there was a cultural exodus from Olympia to Portland, mainly. I became a hermit in my Mom Cave. BUT, there is still Evergreen State College and there are still young dreamers and makers arriving all the time. A handful stay and CONTRIBUTE!! So that is still the same yet ever evolving.

KoR: Over the years you've translated your work into a variety of formats—books, posters, amazing calendars, notepads, shirts…. Any new products in the pipeline we can get excited about? Life-size paper cut sets for the stage? Capes?

NM: Capes??? You may have something there. I am dreaming of large silk-screen duvet covers.

KoR: Those would SO do well. Can we call dibs on a crow one? Now, in closing, and speaking of, we have to ask—what's with the crow fascination?

NM: There are crows everywhere in Olympia. I keep time by them. They are me.

KoR: Crow clock. Amazing. Why didn't we think of that?! Alright. Lightening Round. New band/music you're listening to lately?

NM: Tender Forever.

KoR: Favorite recipe?

NM: Kale salad—massage the kale with salt, add some apple cider vinaigrette, some chopped apple, toasted sunflower seeds, golden raisins.

KoR: Yum. Best place in Olympia?

NM: Home.

KoR: Do they do brunch…? Cat or dog person?

NM: Bird.

KoR: Of course! Favorite piece of your own, ever?

NM: The one I am about to make.

KoR: Nice. Totem animal?

NM: Crow. Duh. Or chicken, according to my son (he gets to be a puma...grrrrr—I mean "cluck!").

KoR: Favorite area artists that's not you?

NM: Marilyn Frasca.

KoR: Odd thing not many people know about you?

NM: My ears are lopsided, so I can't wear sunglasses comfortably.

KoR: Ah. My head’s weirdly thin, so I have to wear, like, designer kids’ sunglasses. Boooo. Finally...can we be crow buddies?

NM: Cawww!

You can see some of Nikki's work below and much more on her site. And, while you're at it, check out her extensive collection of awesome things at Buy Olympia.

The Find

Whether you're of the mind that horse-drawn carriages are quaint, charming throw-backs to a time long-lost or you think they're a totally cruel, unnecessary, inhumane tourist trap, you most likely at least agree that shouldn't be used up and thrown away—literally sometimes—with the garbage. But that's what's happening with some of the carriage horses from New York City. As is, there aren't any governing laws that require any documentation whatsoever when the horses are taken out of the city. So owners can do pretty much anything they want with these animals.

So take, like, one second, and sign this petition at change.org. It proposes the radical (italics denote sarcasm in this case—I'm not an ironic qoute marks kinda guy) notion that owners of carriage horses in NYC be required to sell the animals to private individuals or legit animal sanctuaries. Nothing crazy.

As you may have already guessed, we happen to fall in that second camp, by the by, and think that the whole industry is fucked, and guess what? That lady from Glee agrees with us! ...though she didn't use that exact wording. Check out her totally not lip-synched video below. It's actually very enlightening and well-done. Then, if you want to speak up for the 200 horses working day in and day out on the rough (currently super-snowy) streets of New York, take another quick second and visit this site. Seriously. Like, seconds to speak up for these poor creatures who can't speak up themselves.

And thanks!

Photo above, courtesy of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages; video, courtesy of NYCLASS/PETA; and poster image by us, from a campaign we did with NYC vegan shoe store, MooShoes a couple years ago.

Music Monday

Okay, I know it's just now the new year, but still, it's weird that 2007 was four years ago, isn't it? You'd think we were getting old or something. Anyway, more to the point, we first heard Ms. Lykke Li back in 2007, which really does not seem that long ago, but whatever you say, Gregorian calendar. Whatever.

Anyway, Li is a Swedish singer and songwriter who was really riding the crest of the internet-born music wave back in '07, having 'released' song after song on the Web well before her actual hard-copy debut in 2008, Youth Novels. Now, of course, that's pretty much the norm, but back then it was exciting—hearing a this tiny woman's whispery, child-like voice woven through solid, melodic instrumentation, and not having the slightest idea where any of it was coming from. It made us fans of hers long before her record ever came out.

Now Li's set to release her sophomore effort, proppa style, at the end of next month or beginning of March (you know how these things are). It's emotively named Wounded Rhymes and is said to have been produced by Bjorn of Peter Bjorn and John. And she's keeping to her 'o7/'08 playbook, releasing somber album cover art here, leaking snippets of tracks there, putting out two-song EP's—all leading up to her full-length's release and all via her (very well-done) site. We weren't totally crazy about the first single released, "Get Some", but she just released a second one that's got us a'buzzin' again and—you guessed it—it's this week's Song of the Week. The track's called "I Follow River" and, whereas it's now the feel-good dance track we promised last week, it's mighty tight. In a moody, Swedish, barely twenty sort of way.

As an added bonus, below's the video from 2007 that provided our introduction to Frau Li and, though she's grown a lot musically since then, it's still super charming. We love the heckler in the window who bookends the song. And we have no idea what he's saying.

Raise your hand if you know Swedish!

Journal of the Movement of the World

The Find

You know how you sometimes come across something—usually something tiny, something you can easily hold in your hand—and it totally intrigues you, totally pulls you in? Whether it has a much of a function or a purpose or not, you want to take it with you and make it part of your life somehow. Well, last month I happened across a store that's essentially a gallery of such items.

The store is KIOSK, and walking up it's near-hidden SoHo staircase, you feel like you're suddenly walking into that old, slightly dangerous, very neon, very graffitied, very cool New York. Take a right and another right, and you're in a diminutive museum where you can buy many awesomely strange, oft-tiny, well-storied items. Little aluminum olive oil dispenser from Portugal? Got it. 1940's Swedish stapler that weighs as much as a tire iron? Done. Spool of nylon twine form Germany? Um, ya, natürlich wir haben die. One of the coolest parts about the store? The fact that everything really is displayed like it's in a little gallery, each individually with well-thought-out, well-written descriptions that seriously makes you, eh, want to buy a spool of nylon twine form Germany, say.

As they put it themselves:

KIOSK is a travel story depicted through objects, a collection of interesting things from around the world, a study of material culture, a shop, several people's efforts to preserve unique and indigenous objects, an installation, maybe just something other than what we are used to. At KIOSK we feature the things that generally go unnoticed, products that are the result of local aesthetics and needs. Our motivation is to give attention to these anonymous objects and support independent producers. Hopefully what we share encourages you to go out and meet and talk and learn and see and show.

Plus, seriously—check out how much Allister F. McVittes, LLC loves their Japanese matatabi Cat Toy. That's love, man. That's love.

Next time you're in SoHo, skip the Mac store and step into old, weird New York.

All photography—minus Allister's glamorshot—© KIOSK.

Music Monday

Holy shit, it's 2011! I straight-up JUST watched Patrick Dempsey explain to Amanda Peterson that by 2007 there'd be colonies of people living and working on the moon. AND HE WAS TOTALLY WRONG!! AND YES, I WATCHED CAN'T BUY ME LOVE ON TV!!!! But I think that proves I wasn't alone in picturing the aughts ('00s) as a hell of a lot more awesomely sci-fi. And as we enter mid-tweens, I have to say, I'm not holding out a lot of hope in the jet pack and hover car departments, respectively. These guys know what I'm talking about.

So what better way to start out the new year than with false starts, cursing, and an indie party song played with half-hearted vigor? This song is far too cool to dance, but I bet it'd sort of nods at shows. Said song starts out the new year as the first Song of the Week of 2011 and is called, somewhat appropriately, "Confetti." It comes from the search-engine-fighting Pittsburg duo, 1,2,3 and sounds sort of like a slowed-down, crunched-out, much looser version of an early 90's brit-pop number, all Americaned up. They'll be releasing something...sometime...on NYC-fave Frenchkiss Records...so stay tuned! For something!

Now we present this song, reader, as our slow, stretching yawn as we wake to the new year. We're TIIIIRED. But don't worry. We'll totally play some party down, get on up music next week, once we've thawed out from all the thundersnow storms up here in Brooklyn. THUNDERSNOW!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

THUNDERSNOW!!!