What's Cooking with Still Blue Still Turning?

Some bands exist only to make music (see Stockholm). There is nothing wrong with that, they know what they want and that is all that they want to do. Still Blue Still Turning (originally included as part of my Caper Crusader Mix) is not one of those bands. Ray Duer and Ryan Brady, the creative geniuses behind Still Blue Still Turning, balance a number of things outside of music. These include, but are not limited to, student life, psychoanalysis and architecture projects. Recently I got hold of the band and asked them to introduce themselves and share some things that they've been cooking up.

What's is the story behind Still Blue Still Turning? Here's how Ray and Ryan describe themselves:

Still Blue Still Turning is a collision of minds—Ray Duer and Ryan Brady, each a different artist in his way. Ray is a senior at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass, while Ryan is a junior at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. We share copies of Lacan’s books and trade Eno albums, but we come from different places in life, bringing different manners of seeing, hearing, and thinking. Still Blue Still Turning is about symmetry and difference, the natural and the evocative, the emotional and the instinctual, the mind-churning and peace-considering.

The idea of symmetry despite differences is intriguing, sort of like a Newton's Law of Motion for the Musically immersed. Each note is connected and counteracted by the next. Still Blue Still Turning has an EP and full length to their name (both can be downloaded for free at their bandcamp page). What's next for these two?

Musically, we've taken a different course lately than we may have anticipated. We found our beginnings with Simone, an album that was driven by a merging of sounds and genres. However, we've been working for the past several months on an album featuring a reduced sound palette and minimalist qualities. This album, American Artist, features tracks currently available online such as "The Task of Creation and Nothingness" and "Leaving the Old House," and the full album should be available before the end of 2010. American Artist will also include a companion release, Song for Stacking, a work written for Ryan's latest sculpture, Stacked Structure (pictured at the top).

Still Blue is also thinking past American Artist toward a quicker, stronger, more rhythm-driven album. To get a taste, we've posted one of these tracks, "Threshing Floor (For Kevin Shields)" on our myspace and we will be featuring more of these tracks live this fall and winter at Home Sweet Home and elsewhere.

After talking music, one works up an appetite. So what is Still Blue Still Turning cooking in their kitchen?

We like to cook with and eat foods like kale, pine nuts, farfalle pasta, mangoes, granola, milk with ice, olive oil, garlic, red wine and big steaks. Fresh, simple, substantial-at least when we can afford it.

In honor of the band, I cooked up a quick appetizer using pine nuts, Parmesan, baguette, quinoa and pesto. For the quinoa crostini recipe, click here.

The premiere:

Still Blue Still Turning-Unstacked