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November 24, 2023

Andre 3000

New Blue Sun

I’ll be damned.

November 11, 2023

The Bug Club

Rare Birds: Hour of Song

I don’t know how the Bug Club does it. In fact I don’t even know what it is they do anymore. They just released their third (?) album (?) of 2023, which consists of 47 tracks of new songs and spoken word interludes (extremely British spoken word interludes—recitations of surreally comic short stories, poems, and japes). When you look at their touring schedule, playing multiple shows every week all over Great Britain and Europe, I truly don’t know how they have time to write and record something like this. No, it’s not necessarily as good as their best material, but even the lowest bar for Bug Club tunes is a solid B.

I’m actually starting to worry about this band. They literally must only ever play and record music. What are their other hobbies? What time do they possibly have to do anything else?

Can’t wait for the next one.

October 20, 2023

Opeth

My Arms, Your Hearse

I’m amidst my once-a-year-and-a-half Opeth binge right now, and just needed to mention something: shit man, Opeth is so good.

October 13, 2023

This Is The Kit

Careful Of Your Keepers

I don’t know if this This Is The Kit album is better than the last one—I don’t even know if I really liked the last one that much. But right now this is the most perfect music I’ve ever heard and it’s the only music I need. Sometimes things just hit, yknow?

October 3, 2023

Corey Hanson

Western Cum

Serious (I am not going to mention that this album is called Western Cum) guitar (I am not going to mention that this album is called Western Cum) hero (I am not going to mention that this album is called Western Cum) shit. Wait til you hear what this fucking album is called.

September 30, 2023

Wilco

Cousin

I don’t know. I think I should maybe stop reviewing new Wilco albums. We’re on 10 years n0w—12, really—of “there’s a couple good songs on it but it’s not up to their standard”. Their previous two, Ode to Joy and Cruel Country I thought were both “hey this is actually great, maybe Wilco is back”, but over time they faded just like the others.

Cousin, like, I don’t even know. It seems good! They all seem good! There’s nothing bad about any of these albums! And it’s not even like they’re just rehashing old ideas or trying to find their former glory days or whatever. They’re always evolving and experimenting, great good okay! They’re just missing that thing. And this one is missing that thing just as much as the other ones.

And it’s produced by Cate le Bon, who is great, but also maybe shouldn’t be producing Wilco albums? What I need is for the next Wilco album to be produced by the biggest, fattest, richest studio veteran, in the most expensive studio they can afford. Who produces Adele? They’ve been doing these itchy nervy art experiments long enough. I don’t need any more lo-fi Wilco. I want the biggest, smoothest Wilco possible.

Or just get Jim O’Rourke again.

September 27, 2023

Tomb Mold

The Enduring Spirit

Can everybody just stop doing the Cookie Monster vocal please?

Except for Mikael Åkerfeldt; he actually needs to start doing it again. But only him. Everybody else, just, I don’t know, sing for normal or something. I can’t take it anymore.

September 24, 2023

Will Johnson

No Ordinary Crown

Way back, deep in the dustiest, cobwebbiest, just-barely-navigable guts of my memory, exist the names of some bands. Not the music, not the images, just the names. Like I saw them pop up once as an opener for another band’s poster, or maybe they were Pitchfork’s #3 review on a random Wednesday in 2006. My memories of these bands exist not even in “oh I’ve heard of them,” but closer to, “oh, um, I think they might’ve been a band unless I’m just imagining that.” I wish I could think of some examples, but the whole point is that I don’t remember. 

Will Johnson was the singer and songwriter of Centro-matic. Remember Centro-matic? Think real hard. Harder. When I read this fact for myself, my brain groaned and creaked, and sent me a little paper ticker readout that said “Centro-matic was a band. You heard that name once.” They existed. They’ve released about a dozen albums in the years since 1995. They’ve opened for every other indie rock band since 2000. I don’t think I’d heard even a second of their music.

But this Will Johnson album, it’s good. It’s so good that I dug into the archives (i.e. went to YouTube) and listened to some Centro-matic stuff. And it’s good too! In fact it sounds so similar to what 2023 Will Johnson is doing, it’s pretty remarkable. Gutsy, dusty, lo-fi Americana-ish distorted-guitar troubador stuff. Sun Volt, Grant Lee Buffalo, Songs Ohia, you get it. Even the old Centro-matic stuff has a hard-lived world-weariness to it, even though he was probably like 25 years old at the time. But now that he’s actually hard-lived and world-weary, the stuff really hits. Like one of those character actors who had to age into their own face.

(Okay here’s some more bands: American Analog Set. Earlimart. Bishop Allen. Great Lakes Swimmers.)

September 24, 2023

Pink Floyd

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd invented slowcore.

September 21, 2023

Sprain

The Lamb as Effigy

I think this is a good album, I think Sprain is a good music group. I think. But also I can barely make it through the whole thing. It’s just so intense and heavy and aggressive and also slow. Like Chat Pile meets Godspeed meets Unwound meets, like, all of those mid-album Olivia Tremor Control tracks that go on for like 20 minutes and make you forget that you’re listening to music. And it’s double-album length!

Honestly I don’t think I’ll ever actually make it all the way through this thing. Have I even heard the last two tracks yet? I don’t think I have.

September 18, 2023

Night Verses

Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night

I desperately wish this band had a singer.

There are a hundred of these instrumental metal bands out there, who have chops for days, but seem content on just twiddling around and trying to out-complicate their friends in all the other instrumental metal bands. They sound robotic. They do nothing for me.

Night Verses is almost one of these bands. But I get something else from their music. They’re onto something. They’re creating sounds that are fresh and new and exciting, in metal. This is something! Finally!

But then nobody ever sings. I want so badly for these tracks to turn into songs. With the right vocalist, Night Verses could be my favorite metal band since Moon Tooth (which, really, is maybe the best comparison I can make to their sound). But no. Just guitars.

November 11, 2023

Bunna Cafe

Brooklyn

Ethiopian food

Brooklyn

It’s amazing how few Ethiopian restaurants New York City has. All told in the five boroughs, there’s about a dozen total. I bet St. Paul itself has a dozen Ethiopian restaurants. Or not, I don’t know I don’t feel like doing the research.

The one you always hear about, however, is Bunna Cafe. Why this one over others? Probably, I assumed, because it was in Williamsburg and was fully vegetarian (vegan?), so it’s going to turn a few more heads than some random place in the Upper West Side.

I finally made it to Bunna, a few days before my big Italy trip (I’ll get to that, I promise), and I gotta say: I get why everyone always talks about Bunna Cafe. It was great. We did a big 9-item group platter, so heck if I’m going to try and break down every individual scoop of stuff. But of the 9, I’d say at least 7 were top notch. Better than a lot of other Ethiopian I’ve had. And while it was a bummer not to have any spicy stewed beef tibs (I mean, what is Ethiopian cuisine if there’s no spicy stewed beef involved?), the vegan-ness of it all was a non-issue.

Bunna Cafe! I’ll be damned, it’s worth the hype.

September 30, 2023

Imani Grill

Brooklyn

Jerk chicken wings

Brooklyn

These might be the best wings I’ve eaten in New York. Which is wild because they were half cold! Imagine if they would’ve actually been cooked!

September 18, 2023

Henry Public

Brooklyn

Breakfast stuff

Brooklyn

One of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a while.

September 18, 2023

Plow

San Francisco, CA

Breakfast stuff

San Francisco, CA

One of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a while.

September 18, 2023

In-N-Out Burger

Monterey, CA

Cheeseburger

Monterey, CA

This is my third time eating at In-N-Out, and I’m more convinced than ever: this place is eminently overrated.

I read people rave about it so often. It’s downright mythic (on this side of the country at least). My first two trips there left me feeling like I was missing something. And as the years pass, I think surely I must be missing something. Surely In-N-Out is as good as everybody says it is, and I must’ve just misremembered.

No. It’s not great. In fact, here’s some shit I’ll stand by: it’s barely better than McDonalds. It’s certainly better than Burger King. But it’s miles behind Five Guys and Culvers and Shake Shack. I think Wendy’s even makes a better burger. (White Castle, meanwhile, occupies a non-quantifiable tier of its own).

I’ll give In-N-Out this though: It’s cheap. Which is maybe part of the appeal I guess? But man.

And yes I got it Animal Style.

September 18, 2023

The Pocket

Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA

Jamaican pork chop

Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA

I don’t have much interesting to say about The Pocket, because not only will you probably never go to The Pocket, but you’ll probably never even go to Carmel-By-The-Sea (can’t we just call it “Carmel”?). But I’m leaving this here because this Jamaican style pork chop was actually damn good. If you served up on a sidewalk on Flatbush, would a passerby think that it was Jamaican? Probably not. But it was pineapple-y and habanero-y, so close enough.

But more importantly, the chop itself was perfectly cooked. Succulent. Tender. Flavorful on its own. I wanted to post about it here because, if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see my disappointment with a Gage & Tollner pork chop. But, if you were to combine this pork chop with G&T’s fermented ramp relish? Oof. Let me dream.

September 18, 2023

Salt & Straw

San Francisco, CA

Chocolate potato salad ice cream

San Francisco, CA

I’m not usually one to order “wacky” ice cream flavors like chocolate potato salad ice cream. But something about this one spoke to me: spiced mustard ice cream, perfectly summer-seasoned with paprika, celery seed, dill, and the sweet crunch of potato chip cookies. 

It mostly tasted like vanilla ice cream with fudge and some stale potato chips.

September 18, 2023

Beep's

San Francisco, CA

Cheeseburger

San Francisco, CA

The less that’s said about my trip to San Francisco, the better.

But here’s something to say: Beep’s!

I was looking into who had the best burgers in San Francisco, and couldn’t find much unanimity. A whole bunch of places show up on any given list, no clear favorites, no particular shape to discern. But one Reddit thread did has a whole lot of people replying to a mention of Beep’s, all super favorably.

And rightfully so! Beep’s delivered! It’s a classic old little order-at-the-window stand, just a row of outdoor stool seating and a couple picnic tables. And most importantly, a fantastic old neon sign.

Well, no, most importantly is the burger. I wonder if Beep’s has always made their burgers this way, or if they’ve changed their recipe in recent years, because this is basically your classic smash-burger. Midwest style, dare I say Milwaukee style (gross). It’s smashed flat, kinda crispy on the edges, you get it. Excellent burger! Beep’s!

September 18, 2023

Gage & Tollner

Brooklyn

Pork chop with fermented scapes

Brooklyn

Gage & Tollner is a very old and very fancy and very beautiful restaurant. It has this whole back story that I actually thought was different than it is; that being, it was one of the oldest restaurants in Brooklyn, this stunning gilded steakhouse downtown, which closed something like 70 years ago and stat boarded up, miraculously untouched, until it was uncovered and reopened just a couple years ago. Turns out this is only half true. It was indeed one of the oldest restaurants in Brooklyn, a gilded stunning steakhouse, that was closed and reopened. However, it was open up until like 2009 or something, so it’s not quite as miraculous of a story. (If you really want to experience that near exact miracle, do go check out King’s Theater on Flatbush. That place is truly a sight to behold, and it did sit boarded up and untouched for decades).

Anyway! Was Gage & Tollner good? Um. Yes. But. You are paying for it. Paying so much for it that I really shouldn’t have had to type that “um”.

My pork chop, for instance. When I lifted the first bite of that chop to my maw, I caught a sniff of the aromatics, and was nearly floored. I was prepared for it to be maybe the best thing I’d ever eaten. Ever. It smelled spectacular. But then—um—it was just good. The pork was a bit overcooked. A little dry. But those aromatics. The chop was served with a little garnish of fermented scapes, with some mustard seeds and who knows what else. This garnish was incredible. I do my lil Best Of The Year list at the end of every year, and I’m pretty sure the garnish alone is going to chart pretty high.

Everything else? Like, yeah, it was all good. But not secret-gilded-steakhouse good.

September 10, 2023

Superiority Burger

Manhattan

Superiority burger

Manhattan

I’m sorry to report that Superiority Burger is not worth the hype. But also it’s cool and good?