Here’s the problem with seeing Sleigh Bells in concert: There are almost no words in the English language or any other that are fit to describe what happens. It’s almost like an alien abduction. You know what happened, but you can’t describe it in a way that others would believe. One minute you’re standing around listening to Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm” over the house speakers and the next you’re thrown into this outrageous mosh pit that can only be compared to that of a Limp Biskit concert circa 1997 and you’re covered from head-to-toe in glitter (true story). The photo provided sums it all.

This past Thursday, Boston’s recent de rigeur of concert halls, Royale, was hit 7.8 on the richter scale with Sleigh Bells and Die Antwoord. I’m not going to speak on Die Antwoord, because I wasn’t all that interested in seeing him. Not that I’m not a fan or anything, but I’m still having night terrors over this video. When Sleigh Bells finally took the stage (almost a half hour late), everything erupted. I’ve literally never seen two people evoke such emotion from a crowd like these two did. Matt and Kim sort of accomplished this when I saw them, but what Sleigh Bells did was of biblical proportions. And what song do I accredit this to? “A/B Machines.” When the verse hit everyone changed. I literally am not the same person anymore. This pretty much sums up their entre set. I made my way up front and in the process lost about 55 pounds (due to continuous sweating and the inevitable two-biggest-bag-of-smashed-assholes-ever sandwich that many concert goers of today simply can’t avoid, no matter how hard they try).

The partnership of Royale and The Bowery Ballroom (which, in the Hub is now called Bowery Boston) has been such a shot of life to the concert scene in the city. They’ve contracted 100 shows at Royale this far and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a venue name change n the future (can anyone say Fillmore?) All in all, this is a dawning of a new era.

(Check out this post and others at The Record Crate).

A friend recently invited me to go check out this band called Dawes with him at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey.  I generally don’t venture to small, intimate shows of bands I’ve never heard of, but I decided to go anyway.  Before I left I poked around on their myspace, listened to a few tracks, read some show reviews, and they sounded pretty good.  I arrived at Maxwell’s genuinely excited to see these guys play.

The LA quartet released their first album, North Hills, just over a year ago, and it seems that they’ve been picking up steam ever since.  Their sound is definitely rooted in the past but has some clear signs of being influenced by newer acts.  It’s kind of like if Neil Young and Jackson Browne had a baby that became best friends with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and Wilco. Or as they say in the video below, “We do the new school old school, you feel me?”

Their set at Maxwell’s was intimate but heavy.  They certainly play rock music, but it has soul.  What struck us the most was that these guys are alarmingly good for having only released one record and being so young.  Like, scary good.  Their instrumentals were tight and well constructed, their harmonies were passionate, and because of this, they totally won the crowd over.  It’s been some time since I’ve seen a band live I’ve never heard of before but after seeing them instantly purchasing their record, but that’s pretty much what just happened.

Check North Hills out here and their Daytrotter session here.

But before yeast is added, the mash must happen.  Mashing is the part where you put your grains or extract in a large vessel and bring it to a boil for about an hour or sometimes longer.  Hops are added at different times during the boil to impart their particular characteristics in the bittering, flavoring and aroma aspects of the brew.

Next is the magic of fermentation, when the wort (the chilled result of the mashing process) gets to play with the yeast.  The sugars broken down from the starch of the grains or extract are eaten by the yeast to produce the all mighty alcohol and CO2 content.  There are three famous strains of yeast used in brewing: Saccharomyces cevisiae, this ale yeast is the variety that causes foaming on the top of the wort during fermentation while Saccharomyces uvarum is a lager yeast that is known as a bottom fermenter.  Brettanomyces is hands down my favorite yeast because it is responsible for the funky goodness that is lambic.  A brewer can choose between a dry yeast or a liquid yeast which has already been rehydrated as the yeast “starter” and offers the brewer more stability and fewer possibilities of infection in the brew.

Conditioning is another important step.  For homebrewers it means the addition of priming solution (cornstarch and water) or spiese (practice of using unfermented wort) into bottles before the beer is bottled.  This process is important to the development of carbonation in your bottles so your beer won’t be flat.  Most big breweries force carbonate their brews with specialized bottling equipment.  Conditioning can smooth out the flavors of the beer as well as provide carbonation.  It is vital that you keep an eye on the gravity (what determines or estimates the original and final alcohol content of the brew) during the whole process and before bottling.

Now go study …. which translates to, go drink a beer and think about it.

Cheers!

A Hoppy Pipper

THE HARVEST:

Hops are an essential ingredient to beer and are a product of a female plant.  They provide an array of different flavors and aromas in beer when used at different periods of the beer making process which will be discussed in greater detail later.  As for growing hops, something I have yet to try, their process is fairly easy and has been likened to the rapid growth of kudzu.  They are trained up stakes or trellises as they are a climbing plant.  Only the cones/flowers are used in the brewing process and look like spikey, leafy pine cones but smaller and bright green.

Pictured above are fresh hops which can be used in brewing but offer some difficulties in consistency for the brewer.  More commonly, hops in pellet form are being used for their increased stability and consistent flavor delivery during the boil.  If you have access to your own fresh hops, you can crush one of the cones between your fingers then drop in the bottom of a glass and pour say an IPA over it: having crushed the cone you’ve released the aromatic oils of the hop flower which can greatly enhance your drinking experience.

There are many different varietals of hops, each with their own distinct profile that results in a spectrum of flavors and aromas.  Two uses for hops are bittering and finishing: bittering is used to make a beer have a bitter bite to it while a finishing hop is used to produce certain aromas that are citrus/piney/resinous/floral/grassy.

Barley is the second ingredient essential to beer.  It can be grown in two-row or six-row which indicates the style of beer in which it will be utilized.  The row number refers to the amount of barley on the plant that will later be husked for use.  The lower the row number = the higher amount of sugar available for fermentation which yields a higher alcohol content.  Most English Ales and traditional German brews use two-row for this very reason while American ales sometimes use six-row if they’re using additives such as corn.  Barley is malted for brewing use, meaning the barley is soaked in water until it germinates which gets the enzymes working so the starch of the plant turns into usable sugars.  Remember that sugar is what the yeast will feed on later to create alcohol and CO2.

I could go on and on about the complexities of these two important ingredients, but hopefully you get the general idea.  Now you know a little more about what goes into that beautiful thing called the beer in front of you.

Cheers!

A Hoppy Pipper

"Middle Grey", 2007-2009, Ink and acrylic on canvas,10' x 14'.

Mehretu, an Ethiopian-born American artist based in New York, created this suite during a two-and-a-half year residency in Berlin. Almost all of the works presented in “Grey Area” are associated with a particular cityscape. “Believer’s Palace” refers to the crumbled royal homestead atop Saddam’s Baghdad bunker. “Atlantic Wall” draws from the interiors of WWII German trenches along Europe’s Atlantic coastline, and photographs from pre-war Berlin informed “Berliner Plätze”, to name a few. Re-energizing traditional landscape painting, Mehretu revives a Romantic-era fascination with ruins that appeals to the Indiana Jones within each of us. Lest we forget, Mehretu is still an abstract painter; here, her employment of precisely rendered sites, rather than more conceptual representations of desertion, allows a non-art audience to tap into her work. She may be a red hot contemporary artist, but the kid on the bench next to me, bored on a summer camp daytrip, still thought her works made him “feel like Tomb Raider”. Attention, non-Art and Visual Culture majors: it’s contemporary art, but you’ll “get it”.

At first, the impressive size of the paintings implores the viewer to stand back and absorb the spiraling, drifting compositions in their entirety. However, the undulating grey tones created with thin India ink lines, just barely perceptible from this distance, ignited an insatiable curiosity in all of the museum-goers in the gallery during the hour and a half I spent there. Every single person felt the need to inspect at least one of the fourteen-foot paintings from a just couple of inches away. Here comes the conceptual part: Mehretu intentionally creates work that looks very different from different distances, forcing viewers to constantly adjust their perspective to see the piece in full, just as city-dwellers must constantly adapt to frenetic urban life and the flux of modern culture.

Detail of "Berliner Plätze", 2008-2009, Ink and acrylic on canvas, 10' x 14'. Detail shows approx. 4 in x 6 in.

Though I have not read anything Mehretu has actually said on the subject of medium, I thought the use of pen and ink for works on a grand scale imbued politics. When you think ink, you think written word. (Even in the art world, ink is not readily associated with works larger than the average sketchbook.) This painter uses ink, not paint, to comment on the dilapidation of civilization, on the devastation of modern wars. She takes documentation from city planning archives, reproduces it in the exact same medium that some faceless government worker originally used to design it, and she repeats it until she has a lurching, cacophonous swarm of impossible forms. She’s subtle about it though—these works are at home in the institutional white cube, unlike pop-hued street art that has cornered the market for urban political statements. A Mehretu painting would not be the leader of a widely publicized riot on The Man’s front lawn; it would be The Man’s favorite butler who slowly begins to add cyanide to his master’s morning coffee.

My only grievance: this show is too small on its own to justify the Guggenheim’s steep $18 admission ($15 with student ID). Or at least in too small of a space. I think you can make six paintings feel like a serious exhibit of new work if the paintings are big enough, which Mehretu’s are. However, crammed into one of the Guggenheim’s little galleries off the cavernous rotunda, I was disappointed with the decisions made by Associate Curator Joan Young. As large pillars obstructed parts of the paintings when seen from the distance needed to observe the whole width, this gallery seemed better suited for smaller works. I also felt the complexity of the pieces was poorly served by the high volume of visitors always found quickly passing through the lower floors. (Likewise, I think Russian Supremativist Malevich, with his high-impact, extremely spare geometric works now on view, would have been pissed to find himself in a slow, contemplative gallery on the sixth floor, whereas Mehretu would have greatly benefitted.) Young made the only informative wall text, other than a few intro sentences for the complete layman, tiny and awkwardly placed out of the line of sight of the general flow of traffic. I think every show in a major museum should be worth the full admission fare on its own; the Guggenheim sold Mehretu short.

Bottom line: Definitely go! But go on Saturdays from 5:45pm-7:45pm when the Guggenheim is “Pay What You Wish.” (Get there early or face a wicked long line of hipsters on dates.)
Julie Mehretu: Grey Area is on view until October 6th.
Guggenheim Museum- 5th Ave and 89th St (take the 4,5,6 to 86th St)
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/julie-mehretu-grey-area
More info from her gallery: http://www.whitecube.com/artists/mehretu/

Image credits: Exhibition catalog, Julie Mehretu: Grey Area. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. New York: 2010.

I particularly enjoyed the following interviews, but there are many many more on the Creators Project site.  Checkit and sorry the videos start simultaneously.

James Powderly of Graffiti Resarch Lab
Trevor Jackson

I don’t understand country music. What is it about straw cowboy hats and plaid shirts that captivates the American people so much? On top of that, is everyone on meth? Yesterday, we as a country, celebrated the single greatest day of the year: the 4th of July. In Boston, one of these country bros played a concert. I’m embarrassed to say that our country can be defined by a bunch of twangy, depressing bollocks. When people think of “American Music,” they aren’t thinking of Hanson. No, sir. They’re thinking about country music. Don’t get me wrong, I can drunkenly sing Garth Brooks’ “Friends In Low Places” with the best of them, but I’ve decided that we need to make a better name for ourselves. I’ve compiled some videos that I think more accurately exemplify what American music is all about. I’m not saying we need to abandon the National Anthem for these songs but come on, America. You’re better than that.

Ice Cube agrees. Forget about it, Toby Keith.

Ben Folds (an Dr. Dre) say sit down, Lady Antebellum.

Let’s see you do that, Brooks and Dunn.

And finally . . .

Can you do that, Brad Paisley? Didn’t think so.

I think I’ve made my point. Regardless, these colors don’t run. Stay free.

(Check out The Record Crate for more freedom-defining jams.)

…and the Cape Cod Atlantic:

4th of July’s a-comin’. Break out those Rocketpop tanks in true patriotic style.

Photos: A.H.H. Thanks yo.

Collaboration requires a delicate balance. In creating a unified whole, individuals must forgo the full expression of themselves. And, by doing so, the sum embodies a product that the parts are incapable of creating. This is the appeal of subjugating the personal to a group. However, the ingredients must retain their integrity. When musicians come together, it is their participation as a single entity that is judged as well as their contribution and authenticity. Take, for example, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who created timeless music as a folk-rock supergroup. While each shined individually, the group’s identity was fortified in their cooperative performance.

In the hopes of tapping into this spirit, the talented indie songstresses Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn and Thao Nguyen have teamed up to play a number of tour dates. On Thursday night, the two, joined by a backing band as Thao and Mirah with the Most of All, played a packed set at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the opening of the Northside festival. The fortuitous meeting of Mirah and Thao began when the two played a collaborative set at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco. Both artists show flair for charismatic folk pop, perhaps explaining why their temporary union is ballooning into a intermediate tour.

For last night’s show, both women showcased their respective talents. Thao, a perpetual ball of energy, pounded and thrashed while Mirah took a more subdued and introspective approach. They traded songs, most successfully on Thao originals like “Bag of Hammers” and “Know Better Learn Faster.” Though these numbers came late in the set, Thao’s humor and charisma kept the audience present and engrossed. Thus, whether the partnership persists beyond their slate tour dates, it was a pleasure to see two talents share both stage and song.

You can find this piece and many more of my music and/or philosophy musings at Playtonic Dialogues.

Between the Travel Channel, TLC and the Food Network, I don’t know which channel to blame for making me ravenously hungry at inconveniently late hours.  And they always seem to coincide with an empty fridge, lack of cakes and absence of gargantuan novelty menu items in my home.  Such a bummer for me.  Anyways, Man v. Food is a show that can either turn my stomach in that I’m-about-to-hurl way OR it turns my appetite on in a big fat way.

He recently came to Melt Bar and Grilled in Lakewood and I missed the show.  But whatever, because I’ve had the pleasure of eating there in person already, dying and going to Heaven.  I’d tried once at their new Cedar Road location but the wait was so long even at 9:30 pm on a Thursday that I bailed for another night and their original location on Detroit Ave. It was a religious experience to say the least.  I ordered the Smoky Russian — don’t worry I knew what I wanted before I got there because I’d already perused the menu online about 20 times, while I mopped the drool off my face.

The sandwich alone is ridiculously good, like I don’t want to talk to you until I’m done with this good.  The kind of good that makes you chuckle to yourself because you’re so happy and you can’t believe you have the good fortune to be eating this right now good.  But the sandwich is part of a trifecta: the vodka kraut slaw with pickles on top and double fried fries complete the plate, beautifully complimenting its buddies.  The beer selection is also very good, obviously not close to the Beer Engine’s offerings but still very respectable.  The ambiance reminded me of my dorm rooms: Cranberries playing, plastic light-up lawn ornaments over the bar and a Miss Pac Man cooler for bottled beer.  Not to mention the really beautiful blue pressed tin ceiling.  If this place isn’t on your list; you’re either crazy, stupid or have just had open heart surgery and don’t wanna push it.

I repeat:  DROOOOOOOOL WORTHY.

A Hoppy Pipper