so this week is the fyf fest fka the fuck yea! fest. i believe i attended the inaugural fuck yea! fest, back when it was held at the echo / echoplex. i have to say that i really can’t remember who played other than this one band which in a crazy dmbq move tore apart the drum set and carried the drummer around. monotronix? something like that.
anyway i’m really looking forward to it this year, as the fest features the reunion of the death from above 1979, descendents, guided by voices, as well as many other bands i have not yet seen like olivia tremor control, the strange boys, girls, and avi buffalo. not to mention the incomparable and fucking awsum ty segall.
this is also labor day weekend and so i thought what better than to do a menu in tune with the fyf fest. oh yes.
avi buffalo
i have not yet seen avi buffalo and sadly they’re playing at the same time as the tijuana panthers who i really like. but i figure i’ll stop by to check out avi and then maybe run over to see the panthers if possible. thus far my favorite song by avi is “what’s in it for” which is seriously ungrammatical and should not be so good. in that sense avi buffalo is much like my current addiction, smoked gouda. why is smoked gouda so fucking good? what is it that makes it taste like cheesy crack cocaine? regular gouda is really pretty lame. but much like crack cocaine (or so i hear) when you smoke it, it’s fucking amazing. now, on it’s own i would just eat it with some salted almonds, but….
ty segall
just takes it to another level. i swear to god this kid is a genius. he’s the king bob pollard of the california beach distortion lo-fi set. i loved him in the epsilons (when he must have been in high school) and it’s even better now. he probably had parents who raised him on phil spector and punk rock. i have to give him super props for incorporating coupe de ville in the lyrics of a song. it almost makes me want one.
so here’s the thing. i remember when i first heard snap crackle pop from the epsilons. i thought it was awsum. but now i just can’t get enough of you make the sun fry and girlfriend and the drag. i mean, really everything. but especially this last album. it’s just so good! i literally put it away so that i don’t get burnt out on it. it’s like smoked gouda dip in that regard. if you get that shit within ten feet of me, i swear i will eat the entire container and suck on my fingers until they taste like saliva. smoked gouda dip is a whole foods creation (where they really do put crack in the food) but i cracked the recipe. basically you take some mayo (about a 1/2 c) and a bit of cream cheese (tablespoon) and mix that up – it needs to be more mayo than cream cheese unless you want to make it a cheese ball which is also fine. add in about a 1/3rd of a fresh jalapeno, cropped super small. remember not to touch your eyes or your [or someone else's] genitals or other sensitive parts after touching a jalapeno. no i have never done that but i just imagine it would smart. anyway add in one or two chopped green peppers. grate a slab of smoked gouda and mix it into the preceding. this is so yummilicious i have literally taken it to my car and unable to contain myself made sweet beautiful love i mean i ate it with a fork right then and there. i would suspect that it would be ahmaaazzing on pita chips but honestly i’ve never had the patience to do that.
pink mountaintops
i am seriously a big fan of both the pink mountaintops and black mountain and maybe this weekend i’ll learn why they have two bands. anyway i saw pink mountaintops a couple times and enjoyed them and really like the droll stoned way that guy sings can you do that dance. and holiday [not the madonna song]. to me, pink mountaintops are a great standby band, like hummus or bean dip. just really easy, everyone likes it, goes with a lot of different things. how hard it is to take a can of white beans, throw in a chopped garlic clove, and blend with a little lemon juice and olive oil? season to taste and you’re done. voila, 5 minutes.
olivia tremor control
has been on The List for years. i have as yet never actually seen an olivia tremor control record or cd. i don’t even remember how i stumbled upon them. but i’m grateful that i did, those indescribable little whacky psychedelic nuts. who are they, what do they look like? i don’t know. and they aren’t really songs are they they’re sort of pink floyd snippets of things that sound like tapes which accidentally sat on the dashboard for too long in the sun and warped ever so slightly. you kids don’t know what i’m talking about because you’ve never even seen a cassette [unless you're one of those crazy retro hipsters who are into that shit and taking polaroids. you little steampunk freaks.] but it’s that whole warped sound. and songs that don’t start at the beginning and don’t really end at the end. i’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that they’re actually playing because that means they really are a band.
you know. to try to peg olivia tremor control into a food niche is super hard but i’m going to go with deviled eggs. the kind where the yolk is super creamy and has that mustardy curry cayenne heat to it. i personally don’t put any relish in my deviled eggs and i vacillate between green madras curry and cole’s mustard but either way always add cayenne.
the strange boys
i wish i lived in austin texas again. so many good bands! and good restaurants! and a scene where people are actually walking around somewhere at midnight laughing and having a good time. why is it that in la where we have seriously the best weather in the world that no one walks around anywhere after 10. maybe a little stretch of venice or godawful hollywood, stuffed with gawkers from whittier. whatever. anyway i think the strange boys are dolls and they should tour with starfucker and maybe the subsonics and the oh johnny! girls. that would be fantastic. and they should serve spicy garlicky grilled shrimp unless they’re vegans in which case they should do the bean dip and avi buffalo can have spicy grilled shrimp. which is nothing more than shrimp with some lime juice and oil and garlic and red pepper flakes.
no age
hey what happened? i thought no age’s record a couple years ago was going to herald some super huge post post post really post punk boom which was going to all be centered out of the smell? did that come and go? shelf life of a vegan brownie?
listen. i really like the smell. i do. and i like it even though that neighborhood has gotten all whatever with edison opening down the alley and a bunch of art galleries. i would rather go to the smell than to some place that actually has a guy at the door judging me. the drunk guy at the door of the smell does not judge although he may ask you for a buck. usually i’m the oldest person there. in that case, i pretend i’m someone’s mom but i’m trying to be cool and not ruin their night by hovering. sadly the only way to get drunk at the smell* is to run around the corner to one of the bars and get a drink and then go back. (*i would never, ever, suggest sneaking in booze.) anyway so what happened? did i miss no age’s moment of glory? and the smell’s moment? can i say i’m glad? yes. i like both and i fear they would be ruined – no, contaminated – by exposure to the outside lame world of frat boys from USC and their boring girlfriends thinking themselves incredibly brave to walk down an alley. lions and tigers and bears oh my!
so thank you, no age. i hope you’re doing ok and i hope you enjoy this mac and cheese i made for you. what i like to do is use a few different kinds of cheeses, definitely at least one that’s sharp, and add garlic salt, cayenne, and – here’s the secret – a dollop of mustard to the beurre blanc. i like bread crumb topping mixed in with my shredded cheese.
girls
something of an ironic name and hard to google. and like the strange boys if they weren’t so warbely. the strange boys, that is. it looks like i’ll catch just a bit of the girls before heading to GBV. i probably will only have a taste of potato salad, too, as that really fills one up. the secret, i think, is to COOK THE POTATOES THE NIGHT BEFORE. yes. waxy skinned potatoes. that way, when you cut them up, they retain their shape. i like a nice sweet-sour mix with some good pickle juice and maybe even relish in there. i never measure so i can’t give any advice on that. little mustard. celery, onions, and a chopped egg. and obviously real mayo.
GBV! GBV! GBV!!
you make me feel stupid for buying your last show video. oh bob… bob. i’ll forgive you if you play over the neptune / mesh gear fox.
And oh, mesh gear fox
Pull out another bag of tricks from scientific box
Time’s wasting and you’re not gonna live forever
the thing about gbv and i think (hope) will not be true at this particular show is that they’re such a geek rock band. they really are. they are the band of it guys and librarians everywhere. i remember when i saw them about 10 years ago, i thought to myself, whoa. these people shop at rei for regular clothes. maybe it’s an attraction to the cerebral and intoxicated genius bob pollard. whatever. yes bob, i’m back for more. can you play my valuable hunting knife, watch me jumpstart, i am a tree, the winter cows, as we go up we go down? how’s my drinking, bob?
gbv is such a standby for me. a stalwart. i listen to them far more than the beatles. they’re like smoked brisket. you could really eat a good beef brisket every day i mean if you weren’t vegetarian. ok maybe not every day but i don’t want to hear mag! earwig every day either.
i’ve already blogged about making a brisket but all i’m going to say is – 9 hours of indirect heat. that is all.
the descendents
hey guess what. i only remember two descendents songs and one of them is “weinerschnitzel” which is about 34 seconds long. the other is silly girl which i could listen to endlessly over and over and i really wish someone would combine that with cynical girl for the ultimate song [i could fantasize as being] about me. despite the fact that they once sang out an order for the weinerschnitzel i’m pretty sure milo (who is now a microbiologist, if i’m not mistaken — stay tuned for your microbiology tip of the day) would appreciate grilled chicken with alabama white sauce. what’s alabama white sauce? it’s basically mayo with vinegar and cayenne / black pepper in it. trust me, it’s good.
and finally, the ultimate…
death from above, 1979
it’s two guys! from canada! how can they make so much noise? how can they rock so hard? what’s up with that, lumberjack?
i always figured i would see DFA1979 when i felt like it, and then they broke up. that hurt. it was a blow. then they reunited but i missed the show. oh oh double ouch. but now they’re back.
and they’re hot. fuck! are they hot. sexy results – hot. little girl – hot. you’re a woman i’m a machine – hot. black history month – hot.
this peach cobbler with ice cream melting on it is for you, DFA1979.
microbiology tip of the day
so you probably think that the disgusting smell of spoiled meat means it’s full of salmonella and e coli. NOT TRUE. as i learned from my mom today, the smell of spoilage in meat is typically due to the presence of pseudomonas, which actually rarely make you sick (unless you have some kind of sensitivity to gram negative bacteria). not that you should eat it. you’ll probably hurl.
