Click (Music): Celery Root, Johnny Kills, Smash Boom Pow and SOFI TUKKER

I've been doing the celery root/white bean shuffle this week. Here's how it played out in the music I listened to (and the videos I watched):

"Pitted" by Sløtface

Happy Saturday night. Right now I'm playing "Never Have I Ever" with a group of friends. While they load up on utterly loathesome bulls**t like Coors Lite and Milwaukee's Best, my cup is full of Matthew Biancaniello inspired cocktails made of celery root. Not the best things I've ever downed from a cup but at least I'm not pulling strings from my teeth like I was during my initial celery root phase.

Last round I made the statement, never have I ever skipped going out so I could watch Netflix with the sound off while listening to a Norwegian alt-rock band get all anthemic about spirited introverts on their debut album. Everyone just stared at me. I took my shot.

I give you "Pitted" by Sløtface. The song that just cost granted me a shot made from alchoholic infused celery root.



"My Shirt Guy is High" by Johnny Kills

Johnny Kills described "My Shirt Guy is High" as summer evening slacker-psych music. I would call it unshaved bikini line in the dark pool music. Maybe the best approach is to marry the two and say "My Shirt Guy is High" is unshave your bikini line because you are a slacker in a dark pool on the summer evening...psych music.

Sorry dude, gotta run. Spin Magazine (the online version) is currently on my cell phone. They said they want to hire me because of my "nobody understands what I'm talking about" song descriptions.



"Way Too Much" by Smash Boom Pow

Smash Boom Pow is a blood brother duo from Vancouver, BC. Brother Ulysses [vocals/guitar] came up with "Way Too Much" to quell two primordial needs: therapeutic release and indie rock fanboy.

The brothers have pointed out that the chorus “you’re asking way too much of me” is not written because their mom expects them to clean their rooms (or some other unreasonable labour request) but rather a response to unfair emotional demands that can inflict some serious psychic damage. Be true to yourself, compromise for the sake of the relationship or move to a farm during rainy season and watch your prized celery roots swell, crack and brown at the heart? That is the essential question "Way Too Much" sets out to illustrate.



 "Subtitles for X, Y, Z" by Creo

Creo's new song, which is the title track from their upcoming EP mind you, is "all about getting out of your own head, fucking off agendas and accepting that those innocent quirks you try to hide need to be loved by yourself, first and foremost.” Take a page out of the celery root's playbook. Don't be afraid to let your warts, knobs, rubbery roots and meshed tentacles hang out for everyone to see. You'll be all the better for it.



Videos:

"She Believes in the Devil" by Send Medicine

This video can best be summed up as Woman claims this mid-century bungalow house as her own. She then has her way with it.



"F*ck They" by SOFI TUKKER

It took a while for this song to sort of grow on me. Actually, strike that, I'm still not convinced it has grown on me. As far as the video goes, I'm way down with the bar/restaurant in it. All those crazy colors, slaughtered vegetables and freaky movements. What's not to like? Just wish the celery root could've gotten a bit of love.



"A Place to Drown" by John Joseph Brill

In case you missed last month's Food Flavored Album review of John Joseph Brill's latest EP, I said that "A Place to Drown" might be tragically romantic or it might just be tragic. Either way it is haunting. The only thing that I would like to add to that breakdown, after seeing the video, are the words celery root. I haven't quite figured out where they fit but there is absolutely no denying that they belong in their somewhere.



"Pitted" by Sløtface

Two things have occured tonight thanks to Sløtface's "Pitted." I'm getting really gøød at making the ø øn my cømputer and I'm alsø develøping a bit øf an affinity før Prøseccø as a celery røøt chaser.

Cheers!



Get All of 2017's Click Tracks (when available) in One Spotify Playlist:

Food Flavored Song of the Day: Caffeine on an Empty Stomach by Tattoo Money

Current Initiatives held their Christmas in July event at Hidden Springs Ale House last night. I took Z-Bot and a box of Legos, thinking it would be a good time to teach her about the importance of caring for other people. Once we were at the bar I decided I didn't want to be that lame guy that just downs water, so I looked for something non-alcoholic on tap. The only thing they had was Commune and Co.'s Nitro Brewed Coffee. Even though I had already had coffee in the morning and hadn't eaten much during the day, I ordered one anyway. I knew I was going to die. I texted as much to J-Fur. The drive home from the bar was one of the roughest I've had. I alternated between thinking I was going to puke and feeling like I was having a heart attack. When I did finally make it home, sleep was not in the cards. Weird dreams kept me up half the night, cold sweats kept me up the other half.

When I left the bed this morning my first thought was I know exactly what Tattoo Money means when he says "Caffeine on an Empty Stomach." Based on the video and the rest of the lyrics, I don't think Tattoo Money is talking about drinking too much coffee at the bar. The video depicts everyone's desire to put Tattoo Money in a box. He is an African-American that plays guitar and owns records by Avenged Sevenfold, Arctic Monkeys and Cold War Kids. The white guys in the video want to deck him out in gold chains, Jordans and have him shot baskets. The African-Americans in the video want him to choose between Elvis and Notorious B.I.G, the white girl pop star or the African-American one and take a swig of Hennessy. There is, however, a happy ending. The end of the video finds all the haters in a field where Tattoo Money starts putting on a show. To their surprise, both the white guys and African-American guys enjoy themselves.

The video:



Just the sounds:    

Food Flavored Album Review: I'm Not Alright by John Joseph Brill

My 13th favorite song last year belonged to the "brandy-warm baritone songsmith," John Joseph Brill. This year, JJ Brill has been hard at work on his brand new EP, I'm Not Alright, which was released about two weeks ago. I decided to give I'm Not Alright the Food Flavored Album treatment alongside a Chickpea Indian Bowl I whipped up the other night (except I was out of chickpeas so it became a Cannellini Indian Bowl).

JJ Brill spent his early 20s as lead man in the London based heavy rock outfit Burning Beard. In 2013 he wanted to explore a more confessional and honest form of songwriting. He left Burning Beard and went out on his own. It was here, as a solo artist, that he began writing and performing songs about heartbreak, death and friendship. "I'm Not Alright," the EP opener and the one the EP is named for, explores the former. The track was born out of a breakup that left Brill out of both money and home. The more he put into "I'm Not Alright" the more it transitioned into something more than just a breakup song. It is about people who are hurting or scared or not well having the right to just speak up and say "I'm Not Alright." The music for the track has a relaxing and comfortable 80's feel to it.

"I'm Not Alright" exists on this EP in the same space that the beans take up in the Indian Bowl. For one, the chickpeas being replaced by cannellini (can this still be an Indian bowl then?) is definitely something that traditionalists will claim is not alright. More than that, beans are a comfort food, something that can turn a mood because they remind you of something in your past that was positive. Beans are also super cheap. They are the kind of meal that you eat when you are broke and/or broken.  


"Smoke," the second track on the EP, is an atmospheric electro-pop ballad that slowly builds in passionate intensity. It seems to be about escapism and turning to vices to forget the pain of meeting someone that fulfills everything you've ever wanted and then losing them ("You were all I wanted...wrapped up in smoke").

In the Indian Bowl those vices would be symbolized by the chickpea sauce. This sauce is created by combining all kinds of powders (curry, cumin, cinnamon, ground ginger, coriander), tomatoes and coconut milk. These items, when put together just so, can deliver you from your heartbreak...at least for a little while. Then, like all vices, that feeling fades and you are back chest deep in broken-hearted suffering.



"A Place To Drown" is another ballad, although this one is steeped in piano. If "Smoke" seemed like balladry that would be found in a Future Islands discography, "A Place to Drown" is more Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The theme of "A Place To Drown" is one that I waiver back and forth on. My first take was that JJ Brill was pouring his love out in a strangely dark way. I mean "If you need a place to drown, I'll be the water" is tragically romantic. But on repeated listen it became clear that the subject wasn't ok. He was suffering from violent outbreaks, a silent phone, a former partner's laughter and ghosts of the relationship that crumbled. So this idea of drowning, was that just another way of signifying the violence felt? Like literally, if you need to die, let me be the one that helps with that?
Whatever the case, "A Place To Drown" is haunting. It is also, in my opinion, the strongest track on the album because of its staying power.

The staying power of the Indian Bowl (and the piece that "drowns" and appears "ghostly") would have to be the coconut milk. It is also the ingredient that ties the whole recipe together.



"The Leaving Song" focuses on just that, leaving. It is about the ending and the confusion that comes along with it. The pain of hearing those words you never thought you'd hear and wondering why it had to happen ("Why'd you'd have to go and say a thing like that, such a dreadful thing as goodbye"). This song utilizes more indie rock techniques than the others. If we are considering it a ballad, which it still comes off as, it would be more of your power ballad. This song is the yin to the EP's yang. There are the backup vocals that are distant and screamed, there's also the sparks of musical elements at the end which seems like it could've come from the Postal Service.

"The Leaving Song" is like the lime in the Indian bowl. The lime is the acidic spark that ignites the dish, the yin to the coconut milk's yang (or the sour to the sweet).


John Joseph Brill's I'm Not Alright EP wraps multiple takes on ballads around painful, introspective lyrics of violent heartbreak. Most of us have been there before and can immediately relate to what Brill is dishing out. Immerse yourself. It will hurt and painfully remind but it will also perform a function that vices cannot. I'm Not Alright will help put you on the track to being alright.

Do it with an Indian Bowl of replacement beans and you'll get there twice as fast.*

*Not scientifically proven, testing is in the early stages.

Food Flavored Album Review: Recharge by the Tambo Rays

The first time I experienced Larabars was at the finish line of a half marathon. The company sent someone to hand out samples. I grabbed a handful, scarfed them down, remember liking them and then moved on. Years later, those little bars began showing up in grocery stores. Every time I thought about purchasing a box, I'd look at the price and head the other direction. Those bars, in all their plant based and gluten free glory, were definitely not cheap. To combat the drain on my wallet, I did what most adventurous kitchen types would do, I started making my own version..

Then Larabar brought out a new line of products called Larabar bites. These were essentially the bars rolled into truffle like bites. So, I started making them too. Recently I've become enamored with the double chocolate brownie bites. These bites consist of just six ingredients: dates, cocoa, dark chocolate chips, coconut flour, almonds and sea salt. In my kitchen I added a seventh, coconut shreds. To make the bites just stuff all these ingredients into a food processor and pulse until they become tiny bits. Then add a little water, pulse a few more times and voila, start rolling chocolate snowballs. While working out the logistics of this recipe, I listened to the new Tambo Rays EP, Recharge (released on July 17th via OIM Records). Both the bites and the Tambo Rays EP had a lot in common.

Recharge kicks off with the upbeat, sun soaked, pop rock of "Yes and No." According to the band it is a song about letting go of old habits, the uncertainty of wandering through new territory and confronting the difficulties that arise from leaving behind the safety net of the status quo. Hmm...sun soaked, letting go of the status quo, releasing old habits. Sounds a bit like coconut flour if you ask me. Coconut flour is born and bred from a fruit that hangs out on a tree that is found in tropical, sun soaked climates. In the bites that I created, the coconut flour took the place of traditional flour. It can be tough to let go of white flour, and it certainly is the road less traveled, but sometimes it can be so worth it. These bites were one of those times.



Recharge's second track, "Always Down" embraces the same sort of glimmering pop as "Yes and No" but the lyrics hint at something a bit more melancholy. "Always Down" was written about being there and supporting a friend who is dealing with some dark days. The necessary support is most apparent in the lines "And I'll always be there for you, situations unknown, and I'll always be there for you, to take you where you want to go to." These lines are ambiguous in the sense that they allow the darkness to remain unnamed. When a friend says they need you, it doesn't really matter what the situation is, you go. And if they need you to take them somewhere, again, the destination isn't relevant, you drive until they are satisfied. Satisfaction, underlying darkness. Not only do these words describe, "Always Down" but they could just as easily represent the chocolate chips and cocoa powder found in this recipe.



"Wrong Turn" takes the adage go big or go home and makes it reality. This isn't just a pop song. It is a sonic, tilt-a-whirl of wavy synths, moody percussion and sexy guitars. These elements provide a stylized base to prop up Sara DaMert's emotive lyrics. "Wrong Turn" is the second most evocative track on Recharge. Long after the EP fades to silence, the lines and sounds of "Wrong Turn" remain in your brain like little earworms of enthrallment. The Medjool dates used for these bites are every bit as enthralling, moody and evocative as "Wrong Turn." Medjools, because of their elevated status in the date world are often referred to as kings, diamonds or crown jewels. Not sure you can get more enthralling than that. They have a rich, sweet taste that brings to mind differing food moods like caramel, honey or cinnamon.



What ties these chocolate bites together is the almonds. The "almonds" of Recharge is the closer, "Get It Right Now." This track is the most evocative of the lot because it combines aspects of each of the previous tracks. "Get It Right Now" features some of the same sonic elements as "Wrong Turn," the upbeat, sun soaked pop of "Yes and No" and the underlying melancholy of "Always Down." Its chorus seems to say that despite the fact that you are going through or have previously gone through some tough moments, time will heal those wounds ("To fall in love it just takes time"). Same with those pesky almonds. Pulse a bit and try to roll these bites and you'll be met with the tough almond exterior. But give it some time, pulse a bit more and you'll wind up with an easily moldable nutty treat.



Recharge by the Tambo Rays and Double Chocolate Brownie Bites have a number of things in common. Ultimately what stands out is the staying power of each. This staying power is created in both of these by combining catchy immediacy with a subtle and brilliant nuance.

Food Flavored Song: Bear Claws by The Academic

Let's take a nostalgic look over our shoulder for a few moments. Look over there, I see the 1980's. Ah and the 50's, they were pretty sexy in a completely harmless way. Here we are, the 1920's. That's where we want to be. It was here, in the roaring 20's, that the sweet, yeast-raised pastry, known as the bear claw came into being. A bear claw, for those not in the know, is a pastry filled with almond paste (and sometimes raisins) that is shaped like a semicircle with slices along the curved edge. As the dough rises, it separates evoking the shape of a bear's toe. Thus the name, bear claw.

Just twelve days ago Irish indie rock band the Academic also decided to send a nostalgic glance over their should. They too saw "Bear Claws." But in their world bear claws are not pastries, they are themselves, as teenagers, trying to navigate their way through the "minefield that is youth socializing." The song is, according to the band, about all the stupid things that they did during their youth. It is about thinking only in the short term, not worrying about long term implications. It is also asking people to be honest and open rather than holding back. Something that is much easier said than done.

You want honesty? Looking nostalgically over my shoulder to my youth, I realize that I only ate a bear claw once. I didn't like it all. Thankfully the Academic version of a bear claw is so much easier to stomach.

Artist's Cookbook: What's Cooking With Swine Tax?

Vince Lisle likes to cook Italian food. Well, maybe likes isn't strong enough of a word. Vince Lisle is passionate about cooking Italian food. He is so passionate about it that every day for two years he would cook (and eat) a different dish of risotto or pasta. He collected his favorite recipes, notes and stories about Italian cooking and published them on his blog Cibo Di Chenzo.

Aside from cooking, eating and blogging, Vince is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for Newcastle upon Tyne alternative rock trio, Swine Tax. These guys make music that is well structured and warmly laid down. Lyrically they deal with personal themes like social alienation, uncertainty in love and chronic pain (something that Vince suffers from).

Swine Tax's second single, "Brittle," is hot off the presses. The song instantly struck me as something I would be listening to on the regular. First there's Vince and his vocals. He presents the lyrics in a variety of fashions throughout the track. There's the high pitched siren, not a grating siren that is blaring right next to you, but a more restrained one shooting off in the distance. There's the hypnotic choir like sounds. And the pogoing chorus. All of these surround the frenetic verses that border on losing control but never quite do. Then there is the lyrics themselves. How the hell can you not find yourself relating (and singing along) with introspective lines like, "Please don't love me, I'm not worth it, please don't love me I don't deserve it"? Backing (and sometimes fronting) the vocals are spirited guitars which roam around distorted and garagey in places and clean shaven singer-songwriterish in others. Sometimes they shake fast, sometimes they move slow, other times they just make you wonder if the dreaminess you are experiencing is a sign that you are asleep. The song's drums play out in a similar manner. They slow down, they speed up, they hypnotize. Swine Tax's "Brittle" is indie rock at it's finest. All those changes in timing, vocal deliveries and style lead to a truly unique and scrumptious listening experience.

After blasting through "Brittle" about a dozen times, I asked Vince which of his recipes he would suggest pairing with it. He said the Pasta with Sardines, Almonds, Olives and Blood Oranges. Hmm... I thought that comparison made total sense to me. I mean you have a pasta made up of a number of distinct elements, including crunchy almonds and salty olives. Just like the music in "Brittle." Then you throw in something as stand out, complicated and subtly brilliant as a blood orange and you've got a meal that is off the charts. Or, as Vince says, "seriously scrumptious." That's the vocals and lyrics in "Brittle."

Scrumptious meal, scrumptious music.

Listen: Rose Avenue, Basement Revolver and Olivia O'Brien

You're all set with your kiwi, it's drying nicely in the oven, so let's check on some tunes to make the next seven hours go as fast as possible.

"Losing It" by Rose Avenue sounds like a sink full of bowls and a cabinet void of them. It's handful after handful of breakfast cereal shoved straight into your mouth (no filler). "Losing It" is the soy milk that is poured directly from the carton into your mouth, that falls down your chin and onto the floor. It is the neighbor who rings your doorbell and says something hilarious about your car's flat tire. It was such a hilarious statement that you lose your cereal all over your welcome mat and immediately call for your kid to bring her stuffed animal to clean up the mess while you go get a shot of kiwi flavored kombucha. It is being a professional football player, getting pulled over for driving under the influence, and blaming it all on that kiwi kombucha.

In non foodie terms, "Losing It" is like reliving the best day of your life, remembering your greatest friends and telling your teacher to stuff it over and over for four minutes and seven seconds.



Next up is the heartbreaking single "Tree Trunks" from Basement Revolver. The song was written by lead singer Chrisy Hurn when she started experience panic attacks for the first time. She felt an increasing need to find someone, someone professional, who could teach her better ways to cope. The song also mirrors how she imagines the environment to feel. This is partially due to the fact that the environment is tied to a lot of people's mental health. Chrisy was able to find the help she needed and now she is passing that experience on to you. In her own words, "I would encourage everyone to go after the mental health resources that are available to them."

I'm going to go ahead and add my two cents, therapeutic cooking. Try it out. If nothing else, your kitchen will smell great and you just might create something worth eating.



Olivia O' Brien's "RIP" (pronounced R.I.P not rip) is about those people in your life who are important to you (or who you are romantically invested in) that switch things up and become something you don't recognize anymore. That old version of them, the one you knew, is dead and gone and won't be back.

In kiwi terms, "RIP" is like when you put that shit in the oven for seven hours, even though the temp is only 170. When it comes out you won't even recognize it. That juicy, vibrant fruit has been replaced by a wrinkly, chewy, shriveled thing.  

Click (Music): Sacred Hearts Club, Punk Super Groups, Plastic Picnics and Nine Inch Nails

"Miss It Still" by Plastic Picnic

A picnic in paradise. Edible flowers strewn all over a plastic tablecloth laid out in the sand. A delivery guy riding a scooter bringing bags full of Cuban food. Fried yucca. Yellow rice. Black beans. Garlic dipping sauce. Crushed styrofoam containers ditched underneath the lifeguard chair.

That's "Miss It Still," the first ever release from Roll Call Records new singles label Highland Park.



"Here With You" by Lost Frequencies & Netsky

Brunch at a tiny cafe located alongside the riverwalk. People dodging in and out. You hardly notice because it is just you, her (or him) and the giant Belgian waffle covered with fresh fruit compote. A street performer comes up and busts a move. This time you do notice. You offer him a waffle as payment. He takes it down the street holding it like a wrapped burrito in his hands.

That's "Here With You" by Belgian hit machine Lost Frequencies and producer Netsky.



"Glass" by Sunset Lines

A dingy bar. A weird stained glass window stuffed into the corner of the men's (or women's) room. Your favorite guilty pleasure starts playing on the jukebox. You grab a hot chocolate from one of those 70's style vending machines and make your way to the dance floor.

That's "Glass," the debut single from San Francisco based Sunset Lines.



 "Bicep" by TR/ST

A narcissist suffering from an elongated battle with impurity and worthlessness. Taking a walk through a field in the middle of nowhere. Picking wild onions. Stirring them into a soup that is left behind uneaten because of a lack of hunger.

This is "Bicep" by Toronto based musician TR/ST.


Videos:

"Legends" by Sleeping With Sirens

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, your new official song for Team USA on their road to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics..."Legends" by Sleeping With Sirens.



"Less Than" by Nine Inch Nails

A lyric video in which the lyrics are written in a video game. How awesome of an idea is that!



"Witches" by Good Kid

A lyric video in which the lyrics are written in a video game. How awesome of an idea is that! Wait, what? Didn't I hear that somewhere else recently?

I do think I'd rather play this one.



"That Thing" by Hazel English

Hazel English's video for "That Thing" is an ominous experience in isolation. The lone figure on screen throughout is English and she finds herself sitting on a bed, in an empty theater and swimming in a pool. At every twist and turn it almost seems as if the person watching the video shouldn't be there, like you are some dirty peeping tom. The exception seems to be the theater. There it was the shadowy figure on the stage that seemed like they didn't belong.

The filmmakers for this video, Kelia Anne and Luca Venter did an awesome job with the colors. Each scene and outfit have connects which just adds to the eeriness.



"If There Was Ever A Time" by Armstrongs

The "super group" called Armstrongs consists of two famous elder Armstrongs and two of their younger relatives. We've got Tim Armstrong. Tim has spent the last three decades in band's such as Operation Ivy, Rancid and the Transplants. Accompanying Tim in Armstrongs is his nephew Rey. And we've got Billie Joe Armstrong. Billie Joe has been in Pinhead Gunpowder, Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network and, most famously, Green Day. Accompanying Billie Joe in Armstrongs is his son Joey (of SWMRS fame).

Armstrongs first release "If There Was Ever A Time" is being released via Hellcat Records. All proceeds from the song, yes 100 percent of them, will got to 924 Gilman: a DIY, nonprofit, all-ages venue for music, art, and community events in Berkeley, California.




"Sit Next to Me" by Foster the People

Only one week left until the release of Foster the People's new album Sacred Hearts Club. Seems like the perfect time for a new single. So here it is:



"Don't Delete the Kisses" by Wolf Alice

This video confused me for about two minutes when I first saw it. I hit play and immediately clicked into a new tab. Every time I looked back at the tab with this video the picture was the same but the music continued to play. I couldn't figure out why my computer was glitching so bad. Turns out, it wasn't my computer. This video has no movement in it. "Don't Delete the Kisses" comes from Wolf Alice's upcoming album, due out in September. Of course, you could go ahead and pre order the album and get "Don't Delete the Kisses" as an instant gratification gift single. Your call. Are you patient? Or not?



 Get All of 2017's Click Tracks (when available) in One Spotify Playlist:

Food Flavored Artist: Swedish Death Candy

I dozed off last night while watching American Anarchist, the documentary about author William Powell. While I was sleeping I had this crazy dream that Malcolm Mooney, Tony Iommi and Willy Wonka started a band together. At one of their practices the three got the crazy idea to take a break and cook up some recipes from Wonka's copy of The Anarchist Cookbook. They started with Powell's version of homemade napalm. When the napalm was finished, Wonka hid it in his drum kit. He took it back to his lab and turned in into a batch of Swedish fish.

At this point in the dream, I woke up. As I stumbled back to my bed I thought to myself, damn man, that dream needs some sort of soundtrack.

This morning I logged into my email and I got that soundtrack. It comes courtesy of the band Swedish Death Candy. Their new single "Oh My" is a psych-pop killer. The song starts humbly with an organ a la the Doors. Then the crunching, heavy riffs, clanging cymbals and fuzz pedals take over. At some point singer Louis begins dropping lines of the fleeting nature of love and beauty and taking a chance on something before its luster fades.

The fuzziness of "Oh My" reminds me a lot of UK fuzz band Eat Fast who had an impressive run of singles last year. I'm hoping that means that Swedish Death Candy can make the second half of 2017 their year.

Let 'er rip:
 

Artist's Cookbook: What's Cooking With Aggressive Swans?

There is this story that was thrown around a lot during my childhood. It was the story of my Great-Great Uncle Istanbul. Istanbul used to leave church every Sunday and head straight to the lake to do some canoeing. One Sunday he took a lady friend along. The two of them rowed too close to a swan. The swan attacked, capsizing the canoe and breaking Istanbul's hand. Thanks to some quick work by his lady friend, Istanbul survived, though he never returned to the water. He sold his canoe and took up bicycling. Through this story I learned two things: when you entertain a lady in a canoe make sure she is a strong swimmer and stay away from aggressive swans.

I heeded this advice of staying away from aggressive swans until June 15th, of this year. That was when I received a Facebook message from a two-piece alternative pop band based out of Munich who called themselves Aggressive Swans. Oh wait, you thought I meant that I actually went near the wild animal swan? Ha ha, yeah, fuck that shit. Not happening.

Janko Raseta and Christopher Chlupacek, the two people who make up Aggressive Swans, are both classically trained musicians. As a band, they write music without compromises. They fuse elements of modern pop and electronica, with the spirit (and instrumentation) of the 80’s and psychedelic constructs and melodies of the 70's. Aggressive Swans further define their sound with clear riffs, vocals that are both demonstrative and memorable and lapping waves of synths. You can try the band's debut single, “Every Teardrop,” on for size at the bottom of this post.

Before we go there (although you are welcome to scroll and jump at your own pace) let's hit up the kitchen. Both Janko and Christopher are crazy about cooking. So I asked the band to share a recipe, one that possesses some of the same creative components as "Every Teardrop"? Aggressive Swans responded with one of their favorites: Aggressive Swans' Walnut, Cranberry and Blue Cheese Pasta.

Now on to the single:



Find Aggressive Swans on:

Web
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube

Four For the Fourth: Mushroom Ceviche

Poem for America

Well America, we made it another year.
For a time there I wasn't sure you could do it what with all the people who seem to be willing to sell you to highest bidder.
But you hiked up your bootstraps,
pulled your red, white and blue bloomers tight
and drug yourself across the finish line.
You may be battered and bruised but,
at least for now, you are still standing.

In honor of you and your ever remaining hereness, I am spending the day basting a sh** ton of mushrooms in lime juice and calling it a Ceviche.

Here's the four songs that will accompany that yummy textural conundrum:

MR. RUSSIA can best be described with the following math equation: Bass + Drums - Guitar. His work is designed to show how much can be done with only a tight rhythm section and cantankerous. MR. RUSSIA's new album, Big Noise, is scheduled for release on August 18th. One of the two singles that have already reached the internet is "Bang Bang Romance." Check it:



The video:



LA-based riot pop act WASI released an EP back in May. The EP, called Coup, features a collection of songs that are about finding the power within oneself as well as within activism and community. As a staunch supporter and participant in LGBTQ/feminist causes, perhaps nothing speaks louder this 4th of July.

Here's the video for "Floor Talk." It follows a group of all female sky divers as the fall towards the ground.



Just the sounds:



Disco Fries are back and serving up a delicious summer helping of their seasoned dance music. The track, "Reckless" combines smooth drums with seamless melodies and the powerful vocals of Jared Lee. "Reckless" comes from the Fries' forthcoming EP, DF, which is due out later this summer.



And finally, the Tambo Rays. The band says about new single "Always Down": "'Always Down'" is an uplifting song written about being there for a friend going through dark times. While holding a strong, loving space, all we could do was acknowledge their sadness and bare witness, gently knowing we're always there." America definitely needs to hear that sometimes. Now is probably one of them.

Where We Eat: Love Food Central

I was ready to drive all the way to Orlando to celebrate Father's Day when I came across Creative Loafing's 2017 food issue. The issue featured a rundown of the newspaper's 50 favorite sandwiches in the Tampa region. One portion of the rundown was reserved solely for the best vegan/vegetarian sandwiches in the area (dubbed the Classics Go Veg).

Looking thru the list, I realized that I had only eaten two of the five sandwiches highlighted. So I made it a point to knock one of the other three off the list. A friend had hyped Love Food Central in St. Petersburg numerous times the past few months so I selected that as the place.

I knew what I was getting before I even walked through the door. The jackfruit bbq and a nut milk shake called to me and promised that they would do me well. J-Fur came to the conclusion that the g-mash toast (smashed garbanzos, avocado and toast) was where it was at. Z-Bot, who doesn't normally like anything we order for her at solely vegan restaurants, was slightly more of a challenge. I went over the menu three times to no avail. Just as I was about to give up and order her a piece of pie for lunch one of the employees came by to announce the father's day specials. The specials included chocolate chip pancakes. Bing, bing, bing. There it was. Z-Bot loves pancakes like squirrels love to fall in our backyard pool. That is to say, a lot.

The Pulled BBQ Sandwich was everything Creative Loafing and my friend hyped it to be. Love Food Central's "bbq" is created by smothering savory jackfruit in their homemade bbq sauce. The jackfruit is then topped with arugula, avocado and Veganaise and served on toasted sourdough. The subtle flavor of the bbq sauce, slightly peppery arugula and buttery avocado pair nicely with the creamy Veganaise. On typical bread, a sandwich like this would turn into a sloppy mess. But the toasted sourdough that Love Food Central serves (from Sami's Bakery) has some sort of magical ingredient that allows it to hold up to those creamy and saucy ingredients well. It completes the sandwich magnificently.

Pulled BBQ Sandwich

The nut milk shake didn't really do it for me. The shake consists of nut milk and Love Food Central's homemade vegan ice cream. There are a whole slew of toppings that can be added to the shake to pep it up a bit. The shake's taste was fine. It wasn't too sweet or overly strong. That I liked. It was the shake's consistency that left me wanting more. Instead of a uniform creaminess throughout, the shake was very thin in places and slightly thicker in others. That's not how I remember milk shakes being. With all the other vegan desserts on the menu, I regret that I wasted my time, money and calories on the shake.

The Nut Milk Shake

Love Food Central's Father's Day deal was a free soft serve ice cream for all fathers. Even though I had already consumed the milk shake, I wasn't going to turn down a chance to try their free ice cream. The bowl of soft serve was absolutely incredible. As wrong as the consistency seemed with the milk shake, the soft serve consistency was that right. It was absolutely spot on. The flavor was mirrored the shake in that it was not overly sugary like I've come to expect from some vegan ice creams. The flavors of Love Food Central's soft serve changes (not sure how they rotate it daily/weekly/etc.). Unfortunately I didn't catch what flavor they were serving on Father's Day.

Vegan Soft Serve 

While I sort of snickered as J-Fur ordered the G-Smash (what a simple dish!), I wound up being super impressed with this open faced sandwich. The garbanzo mixture had a nice garlicky taste to it. The creaminess of the garbanzos and avocado, offered an incredible contrast to the the toasted sourdough bread. J-Fur (and I) liked this item so much that we have recreated it at home three times since that day. Yes, that includes going to Sami's Bakery and getting our hands on their gluten free sourdough.

The G-Mash Toast

Z-Bot ate as much of the pancakes as her little stomach could. What she left, I finished. By the time I got to them the chocolate chips had melted throughout the pancakes so each bite was a rush of vegan chocolate. Texture wise they reminded me of your typical, non vegan pancakes. That's a good thing, especially when you are trying to get a four-year-old to not think that vegan restaurant food is weird.

Overall I was as impressed with Love Food Central. The only unfortunate thing, aside from the nut milk shake, is that it is such a long drive from Wesley Chapel that we won't be able to visit regularly. Maybe my letter writing campaign to get them to open a location up here near all the other places that are opening up will work. Only time will tell. If not, we always have birthdays and fatherly celebration days.

Food like Love Food Central's is the type of thing you fantasy and dream about. That's why Violet Days single "I'm a Dreamer" was played on repeat during our ride across the bay.

Listen: Lines, IV League and a Toasted Black Fly

You're almost ready to cook up a big pot of couscous, cauliflower and toasted almonds. All you need is some music. Try these tracks for best results:

I'm pretty sure "You" by Swedish lounge/dance group LINES is about a person. That being said, without much squinting at all I could easily convince myself that the song is about tossing couscous, cauliflower and toasted almonds together on one plate. It's super sexy like that.



I'm in the zone, cooking up a s**tstorm. My hands are too oily to reach over and stop my work issued computer from rolling from one Soundcloud tune to another. Playing on my computer, is something catchy, progressively poppy and refreshing. Who is doing that? I pull the computer towards me and see that it is some Australian band named IV League. Even though their song "Bleached" has a time stamp of eight months prior sitting at its head, I can't help but feel enamored with it. Enough so that I want to share it with you even at the risk of seeming outdated. I mean, dear reader, I know you probably caught wind of these guys ages ago but just humor me and pretend it's as new to you as it was to me. Damn, that's nice....

Somewhere in a bedroom in the backwoods of Vermont, surrounded by vast woodlands and mountains, a gothic synth artist known as Black Fly makes his musical mark. His latest track "Dipped" is about taking a step back and realizing that your life is out of control. It is about recognizing that someone is responsible for that and letting go of them so that you can move on to whatever's next. "Dipped" is melancholy. But it is also very danceable. Those are two worlds that are not easily navigated in one song. Somehow Black Fly has figured a way to balance the two. It is the musical equivalent of crunchy toasted nuts and soft, melt in your mouth, roasted cauliflower.

Food Flavored Video: Hobart by Sail On! Sail On!

We all know them. Maybe. They are the beefy guys at the party who show up with a bag of chips, do a couple of bro hugs and start raising the roof while the other party goers chant "Dip! Dip! Dip!" They are the slimy greasers who take an ice cream scoop of pureed chickpeas, slop it on some lady's breasts and proceed to dip those babies clean. They are the loud male sports fans at the bar high-fiving and plinking Sabra tubs together when their team scores a point. They are the people that suffer from hyper toxic hummasculinity.

Over the last week Sail On! Sail On!'s social media has been besieged by these hummus bros bragging and belching about how they can eat more hummus than the band. It all came about because of the band's video for their single "Hobart." Skinny, one of the members of Sail On! Sail On! asked some friends to bring a plate of vegan food over to his house. 90 percent of them brought hummus. So Skinny and Ethan (another band member) decided that during the 2:50 song they would attempt to eat 1kg of hummus while also taking turns singing the lines of the song. The band completed the video in one take, no way they would be able to eat that much hummus again, and uploaded it to Youtube. Then the hummus pissing contest began. Vitriol like "DZ and Dunies were at least impressive. This just nasty and music doesnt suit :/" and "mate, you can't even finish a 1KG tub of hummus between the two of you" was sent their way. The band calmly suggested that if people wanted to try the challenge themselves they could film it and send it to the band. If anyone could successfully sing the lines in the song while finishing a 1kg tub of hummus in 2:50, Sail On! Sail On! would send them a free record. Just by attempting the challenge a person could earn a free download of the album.

Watch Sail On! Sail On!'s hummus challenge:



Hummus Free Version:

Click (Music): Veggie Both, Panama, BANNERS and Sealing Things With a Kiss

"Undertow" by Panama

Traditionally my cooking "undertow" of choice is a big glob of semi frozen olive oil. Pop that thing into almost any pan and watch the crispy, caramelization take hold. With the doctor ordered fat drive shifted way down to low, olive oil has been off the table. It's been veggie broth for days. I can't say it has been easy, it definitely took some readjusting the way I handle certain things, but I'm finally feeling like I'm getting the hang of it. As for Panama's "Undertow," this track is a beautifully written, slow burning, heartbreaker. The track is actually a letter that Panama wrote to a friend who committed suicide. "Undertow" can be found on Panama's sophomore EP, Hope for Something, which hits the streets on June 23rd.

 

"Let Me Down Easy" by Gangs of Youth

One of my social media sites caught fire last week when I suggested that veggie broth is where vegetables that have made nothing of value are "given a platform to take things of value and treat them as nothing." Some of my veggie loving friends were super pissed. Of course their straw man arguments kept returning to cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. I let the haters down easy by relaying that everyone knows you don't put those veggies in a broth because it leaves it bitter and lonely.

In a similar vein, Gangs of Youth spent some time internet dueling last week after they suggested that the internet is "the place where those whom have made nothing of value are given platform to take things of value and treat them as nothing." A follower fired off a long, angry response, only to eventually realize that a) he was demonstrating their point and b) they were quite possibly in agreement with each other but had trouble conveying that over the interwebs.

Grab some popcorn (simmered in veggie broth of course), fire up Gang of Youths Facebook page to watch the fireworks and turn on "Let Me Down Easy." Trust me, it will fill in the missing piece that is needed to complete your day.



"Someone to You" by Banners

I've pretty much spent my last two days riding my bicycle around town, handing out free quarts of veggie broth and blasting “Someone to You” by Banners. This track is uplifting and magnetic. It captures all those warm, cozy feelings that are associated with falling in love/pouring a fine veggie broth into a steaming hot pan. "When someone loves you (and your veggie broth), you feel like a rock star, like a hero. This song is about that, about wanting that and about making someone else feel that too,” says BANNERS.



Covers:

 "Sealed With A Kiss" by You Are Number Six

You Are Number Six celebrated the 30 degree first day of Summer by releasing a cover of "Sealed With A Kiss." The track is sung in half-french / half-english and features Anissa's innocent voice over a bed of dark melancholic melodies. Now, where have I heard that description before? Oh yeah, I used that same description in my first cookbook when introducing my veggie broth recipe.



Videos:

"I Still Wait For You" by XYLO

The stripped-down video highlights how the band's mesmerizing vocals and hypnotic chords can play anywhere, even a garage.



"We Could Run" by Beth Ditto

"We Could Run" is the third single from Beth Ditto's upcoming debut album (Fake Sugar, due out on June 16th). The song highlights Beth's powerful vocals and resonating lyrics in an 80's power ballad sort of way. I can definitely see one or two similarities between "We Could Run" and say "Pour Some Veggie Broth On Me."



Get All of 2017's Click Tracks (when available) in One Spotify Playlist:

Listen: Good Kid, VHS Collection and High Signs

Nothing spices up a simple vegan vichyssoise better than a pinch of:

Five computer programmers from the University of Toronto competed in a programming competition. The group won first prize. As fate would have it, first place meant a free trip to Asia. It just so happened that one of those programmers had grown up in Shanghai. So while the five programmers traveled through Asia, they made a stop there. The programmer who was from there led the other four on a tour. He took them to some cool places. He also took them to some shady places. One of those was a fortune teller psychic lady who told the five of them that they were going to die very, very soon. The group freaked out hearing their fate and decided to write a song about trying to make it out of Shanghai alive. Those computer programmers go by the name of Good Kid. The song detailed above? It's the band's new single called "Witches."

"Witches" is a mile a minute wild, wicked ride over a spiceless landscape. It's the kind of track you'd find those creepy female pepper smugglers that hang out in public restrooms at midnight listening to. It's definitely something you want to keep hidden when those "good girls" you like to hang with come over to play.



After the frenetic pace of "Witches", we need a few minutes to catch our breathe. That's where NYC-based VHS Collection and their new slow burner "So I Met Someone" comes in. "So I Met Someone" was written to capture the space that exists where an old relationship ends and a new one begins. It is a bittersweet spot to stand. VHS Collection does an awesome job of exploring both of those tastebuds. The track starts with by delivering a verse that is low key and moody. Using both the lyrical delivery and music, the band successfully evokes sadness from the listener. This is the end. When the band hits the "so I met someone" chorus and the "away, away" portion of the track the listener can't help but feel upbeat. This is where the new beginning takes shape. Its up and down throughout the rest of the song, probably signifying that life itself is a bunch of stops and starts when it comes to relationships and human interactions.



Ok. Let's shake off the laziness, reroughen the edges, and head back to Toronto where High Signs (formerly Write Click Cook Listen favorite Terrorista) is busy getting their energetic punk sound on. When the band's debut single "A Much Larger Ocean" starts, it offers a sound that is both vigorous and throaty. Punk fans will immediately start tapping their thigh, nodding their head and whispering "this is the shit" (this is probably the punkest thought I've had today). Then, somewhere around the thirty second mark, "A Much Larger Ocean" veers into the world of lo-fi melodic pop. For ten straight seconds the track becomes just you and your thoughts over a bed of lo-fi instrumentals. Just before you fall down some sort of emo rabbit hole, High Signs returns with their throaty lyrics and, from here on out, blends the punk with the melodic in a way that early 00's emo bands only wish they had done. Damn, if this was the type of music that sold eyeliner, I would've f**king played the part.

Substance wise, "A Much Larger Ocean" is a song about the struggle to remain positive and hopeful while going through that rough patch in life that requires you to just take things one day at a time. If you were wondering about the title of the song, it references an overview effect that was provided by an allegedly inebriated astronaut when answering about the possibility that the moon landing was a fake.

Food Flavored Video: Barf Day by Diet Cig

Ever wondered what a birthday party featuring members of Diet Cig, Daddy Issues, Pardoner and Plush would include? Well wonder no more. Diet Cig gives you a little taste, excuse me, a giant vomit dripping taste in their video for "Barf Day."

The birthday starts dull enough. There is some burgers being flipped by a grill master who definitely has better places to be. Then the crew joins each other in a kum ba yah half circle around a juggling clown (who also acts like he has better places to be. Come on man, look alive. Do you know who you are performing for? That's Diet Cig, dude. That person there? Daddy Issues. Yep, Pardoner and Plush as well). The clown is so dull that one of the party goers, I believe it is Alex from Diet Cig, resorts to digging in dirt.

At this point, the ballon circled cake comes out and everyone pledges allegiance sends happy thoughts to the birthday girl. Here's where things go a bit awry. Instead of slicing the cake and sharing it, Alex smashes it on the table and runs from the party singing "I just want to have ice cream on my birthday." As she leaves the party, of course, she finds an abandoned ice cream truck (ok, there is a driver in front but seriously, he doesn't put up much of a fight at all). She climbs in through the window and starts doling out cold sweet treats to the party goers who have followed her. Then, Diet Cig steals the truck and proceeds to turn it into a moving concert vehicle. This signifies the end of an absolutely perfect "Barf Day."

See it all yourself:



Just the sounds:


Diet Cig Upcoming Tour Dates
June 08 - Columbia, MO @ Rose Music Hall #
June 09 - Indianapolis, IN @ Musical Family Tree #
June 10 - Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe #
July 23 - Seattle, WA @ Capitol Hill Block Party
Sep 07 - Hamden, CT @ The Ballroom at The Outer Space *
Sep 08 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Sep 09 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
Sep 10 - Portland, ME @ SPACE
Sep 11 - Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall *
Sep 12 - Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt *
Sep 13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ The Funhouse at Mr Smalls *
Sep 14 - Gambier, OH @ Horn Gallery - Kenyon College
Sep 16 - Lancaster, PA @ Lizard Lounge *
Sep 17 - Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery *
Sep 23 - Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Sep 25 - Paris, FR @ Supersonic
Sep 26 - Antwerp, BE @ Trix VZW
Sep 28 - Lausanne, CH @ Le Romandie Rock Clubl
Sep 30 - Osimo, IT @ Loop
Oct 02 - Vienna, AT @ B72
Oct 04 - Munich, DE @ Orange House
Oct 05 - Berlin, DE @ Berghain Kantine
Oct 06 - Denmark, CP @ Stengade
Oct 07 - Hamburg-St. Pauli, DE @ Molotow
Oct 09 - Köln, DE @ Blue Shell
Oct 10 - Münster, DE @ Gleis 22
Oct 12 - Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre
Oct 13 - Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade Nottingham
Oct 14 - Lancashire, UK @ Lancaster Library
Oct 16 - Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
Oct 17 - Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete's
Oct 18 - Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
Oct 19 - Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
Oct 21 - Bristol, UK @ Simple Things Festival
Oct 23 - Cambridge, UK @ Portland Arms
Oct 25 - London, UK @ Moth Club
Oct 26 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin

# = with SPORTS
* = with Ratboys

Food Flavored Song of the Day: Coca Cola by Animal House

Special K and I were out stroller walking this morning when we noticed a Pepsi truck up ahead. There was a man in the process of emptying said truck. He stopped and eyed us suspiciously. I gave him the universal symbol for "don't worry, I'm not here to steal your emoji covered soda because I'm much more interested in the brand with the bottle that can act as a detachable festival bracelet." He still seemed a bit dubious. So, to better ease his mind, I pulled out my phone and loaded up "Coca Cola" from Animal House. I let the chorus rip:

"With Coca Cola we know how to party, with Coca Cola we know how to sing."

This seemed to do the trick. The truck worker nodded and returned to unloading while Special K and I continued on our emoji free way.

"Coca Cola" by Animal House is cheeky as a baby, raucous as an inebriated seaman and catchy as the flu. It, along with the rest of Animal House's catalog, seems to exist to show/remind people that it is ok to get off your ass and dance wildly to guitar music. The band is gearing up for the release of their new EP Hot Bodies. The EP, which features "Coca Cola", is a cohesive and well-thought-out barrel of guitars, shakers and raspy, sexy vocals. It is also marvelously stupid and perfectly satisfying on a hot day.

Where We Eat: Farmacy Vegan Kitchen & Bakery

It is 7:45 on a Sunday morning. Both Z-Bot and our newest addition, Special K, are making lots of noise. J-Fur is pounding my back telling me to wake up and do something so that she can sleep a bit longer. I take a deep breath and I wonder what a vegan daddy of two should do so early on Sunday. Church? Nah, still too early for that. A run? Special K is still too young to put into a jogging stroller. Then it dawns on me. Creative Loafing. That's where it's at.

A recent edition of Creative Loafing, Tampa's free newspaper that has everything about everything that is happening in the world of Tampa, ran an article about the opening of a new vegan bakery and quick service restaurant located inside Duckweed Urban Grocery in downtown. The joint, called Farmacy Vegan Kitchen + Bakery, features a bevy of desserts (think donuts, muffins, raw cheesecakes, brownies, cake pops, cobbler, breads and power balls) all made sans meat or dairy. Farmacy also serves a handful of vegan meals including lentil soup, Avocado BLT and a hummus wrap, kale salad, lentil salad, Shepherd's Pie, veggie lasagna and black bean meatballs. So here we are, Sunday morning, with two kids craving a new adventure. Let's go get ourselves some vegan treats.  

When we arrived on the Farmacy scene, I realized quickly that deciding on one thing wasn't going to be an easy task. There was a lot to like (by the looks of things). Z-Bot made her decision quickly, a vanilla donut with sprinkles. I went with a vanilla donut with Oreo cookies and caramel and a sticky bun. Special K was fine just drinking breast milk.

Our assortment of donuts and sticky bun

The donuts were really good. Their consistency reminded me of the vegan donuts you can get at Buttermilk Provisions in Wesley Chapel. They were soft and moist and held together well. They had a consistency that I normally associate with cake. Unlike Buttermilk Provisions, which glazes all of their donuts, Farmacy's were topped with chunks of fun (be it Oreo or sprinkles or something else). The toppings added a subtle sweetness, a slight flavor contrast and a different texture to the cakey donut. I really liked that about them. Normally when it comes to vegan donuts, Z-Bot doesn't always finish them (yeah, more for me). At Farmacy, she scarfed that entire sprinkled beast down. I asked her how it was and her eyes lit up and she said "Good!" That's about as animated as I see her when it comes to food. I'll chalk her up as a fan of Farmacy's donuts as well. 

Speaking of fandom, I grew up a huge fan of sticky buns. As a youngster, that was my "breakfast dessert" of choice. But it had been years since I had eaten one. This abstinence was partially because no one else seems to have the same affinity for sticky buns as I do (and I wind up eating the whole thing myself) and partially because I haven't found a good vegan one in Florida. Unfortunately, I still haven't. That's not to say that Farmacy's version was bad or inedible. It absolute was not. I just didn't find the taste of their sticky bun to be all that interesting. I wanted a little something more, something that stood out and caught my attention. I think consistency wise the sticky bun was excellent. It showed great promise. Tastewise, eh. I found myself wishing I had selected multiple donuts instead of the sticky bun.

My goal for my next visit, yes there will be a next, is to convince the kids that they want to sleep in just a little bit longer so that I can do a sort of brunch thing that meshes Farmacy's donuts with their Avocado BLT. That would probably just about make my Sunday.

Making my Sunday's for the last two months (yes, this track has been sitting in my inbox since the end of March) is You Are Number Six's "Midnight Blue". The track has a sugary darkness to it. That's why it seems like the perfect musical metaphor to a donut topped with an Oreo.

Expect a new YANS track, "Sealed With a Kiss", sometime this week. Expect to see it on the blog sometime in September.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Click (Music): Quinoa Bowls, Cathedrals, Scrambled Eggs and a Heavenbound Mt. Wolf

"Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf

Maybe it was the vanilla coffee I was heavily under the influence of but I swear I saw Jesus in my red quinoa this week. I tried to grab the nearest person for confirmation. Unfortunately, that happened to be a priest, and things got way too convoluted between my mouth and his ears. It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Jesus chose to show his face in the dark, rounded Peruvian grain that became a staple of my many varied vegan bowls this past hebdomad. I mean, I was doing a lot of soul searching, reflecting and meditating and most of the time there were some pseduocereals involved. Speaking of pseudocereals, Jesus and meditation, have you checked out "Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf yet? This anthemic little single feels a bit like the National in terms of its melodic songcraft. Add in the sky-scraping atmospherics that have become sort of a Mt. Wolf trademark and you've got the type of thought-provoking single that men have hummed while walking through amaranth fields for centuries.



"Link in Bio" by Diet Cig

I'm in the store getting some avocados and broccoli, because what is a quinoa bowl without those two ingredients, and I see some old guy checking out. He's talking to the lady at the cash register. Well, probably it would be more accurate to say he was talking at her. Somewhere in the midst of his conversation he suggested that the lady should smile more because life isn't that awful. After that suggestion, I couldn't help but think about "Link in the Bio" by Diet Cig.

As Alex Luciano notes, "'Link In Bio' unpacks this idea that women + femmes should be any specific way and says uh NO. It's an extra special fuck you to the notion of a 'chill girl' that I swear was created by cis men to make women + femmes feel bad about voicing their feelings. It's me screaming that it's okay to be loud and bossy and sensitive and kind and weird and angry and ecstatic and literally any other emotion that you feel because YOU ARE A RADIANT AND NUANCED HUMAN BEING WHO IS GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD

Old man...if that lady behind the cash register wants to be pissed off because life recently took a shit on her, then she has that right. You don't get to decide how she should or should not feel.



"Man Up" by Everywhere featuring Rebecca Nohr

Along the same lines as Diet Cig and the old guy in the grocery store, "Man Up" by Everywhere explores themes of unfulfilled expectations, dominant partners and living up to an old fashioned idea of what it means to be a man.

I've done some being a man exploration this week, thanks in large part to a series of radio spots by a frozen cheesesteak company that I heard way too often. From these ads I discovered that "manning up" absolutely cannot take place on a vegan diet. Real men eat frozen cheesesteaks! Terrified that I wasn't a real man, I decided to enroll at The Real Man Institute hoping that I could be cured of my lack of manliness. The institutes gauge whether you have been cured of your non manliness is sort of rorschach test involving Everywhere's "Man Up." They play the line from the song,"You gotta man up, or I will eat you whole" and then ask you what you are thinking about. The first few times I told the institute's technician that it was avocados I was thinking about. He sighed and sent me back in for more "treatment." Finally I got wise and told him cheesesteak. I was thinking about cheesesteak. He gave me rubber stamp and an "I am a real man" sticker and sent me on my way.

In GQ terms (is that manly enough for ya?), "Man Up" is dressed in an electro-pop suit, sports funky basslines, analog synths, and features an appearance by Swedish singer/songwriter Rebecca Nohr. "Man Up" could be a part of Everywhere's album that they are currently working on. There is nothing set in stone yet but they hope to have it out this fall.



 "Try to Fight" by Cathedrals

If the previous tracks were the veggies and quinoa in the bowl, "Try to Fight" by Cathedrals is the sauce that ties it all together. You want it sweet? Salty? A combination of the two? You want it hot? Spicy? Somewhere in the middle of it all? Those are the questions that "Try to Fight" sets out to answer. I interpreted "Try to Fight" as a vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter and sweet chili paste combo. But, as the scorpion and the frog always say, you do you.



Videos:

"Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf

The official music video for "Heavenbound" captures the essence of a man’s final minutes, projecting the sense that love will always be so much stronger than hate.



"Losing It. Finding It." by Empty Lungs

The video for "Losing It. Finding It." by Belfast's Empty Lungs is a sort of tour diary, filmed when the band was touring down the east coast last year on their way to FEST. Yes, that fest. The one in Gainesville. The band even played the pre-fest show that takes place in Ybor. Yes, that Ybor. The one right down the road. Why wasn't I there? Um, I stayed home to rinse my pseduocereals. In hopes that it makes me a little less lamer, I've regretted not going to New World Brewery every day since I've seen this video.



"After the Party" by The Menzingers

"After the Party" brought all those memories of brushing my teeth with my fingers outside of the Dairy Queen, laundromat fights, karate battling the ATM and dining and dashing back full force. It also reminded me that, after the party, it is just me and you (and a big bowl of quinoa, veggies and sauce). A sobering reality unless you like the one your with.



"Skin" by Rag'N'Bone Man

I usually avoid videos that have upward of 8 million views but sometimes there is power in numbers. It feels good to fight alongside 8 million of my friends for once.



"Scrambled Egg" by Eat Fast

I'm pretty sure I've made this video a thousand times before. The only difference is my eggs are usually called "egg like product." Egg like product really goes well with quinoa and veggies.



"If U C My Enemies" by Rubblebucket

The story behind the video for "If U C My Enemies" is that there is this kitchy haunted horror cabin where people go and just hang out on their cellphones. No chatting, just texting. A gender ambiguous fashion witch comes on the scene and takes the cabin crew hostage. This villain teaches her/his victims how to love and be present with each other (bloodily killing them is so 2010).



Get All of 2017's Click Tracks (when available) in One Spotify Playlist: