Thanks to Owen, R&C now stands for ‘regal and classy’.

Clearly.

The sixth annual Vegan Beer Fest hit Los Angeles this past weekend and it did not disappoint.

Presented by Tony Yanow (Golden Road Brewing, Mohawk Bend, Tony’s Darts Away); vegan blogger, quarrygirl; and event-planning expert, Nic Adler (The Roxy, Goldenvoice), the festival made an ambitious move from a parking lot in West Hollywood—where it was held last year—to Pasadena’s famous Rose Bowl Stadium and it was a perfect fit for this celebration of all things vegan.

For anyone who does’t already know, most beer is vegan. Some, like Guiness + Red Stripe, use something in the filtering process called isinglass—a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish—and others, like milk stouts or the like, include animal-derived ingredients, but most other beers are in the clear. Vegan Beer Fest brings many area and far-off, vegan-friednly craft beer producers together along with vegan and non-vegan restaurants and food vendors alike, encouraging them to show off specialty vegan menus for the day.

The result is a day full of beer samples and extravagant, increasingly impressively complex food offerings, from blowtorched vegan sushi to vegan fried chicken and bacon sandwiched between two donuts.

Really.

Below, some of what we captured/ate/drank, starting with a Neapolitan-style Lasagna Pizza from 800º Pizza + Crossroads Kitchen/Kite Hill; the Chicken + Waffle Melt from The Grilled Cheese Truck; their vegan menu for the day; our favorite food of the day, the Walnut Chorizo Tostada from Mud Hen Tavern; cuties, Chef Kajsa + Stacy Michelson from Mud Hen; the Mac + Cheese Waffle (featuring Follow Your Heart cheese) from Clara’s Cakes; Katie with said waffle; Clara + her mom showing off their MooShoes; the Ghostface Killah, an amazing ghost pepper-infused IPA from Boulder’s Twisted Pine Brewery; a Wolf Among Weeds IPA-infused cashew cheese from LA’s Nary Dairy; our friend Nic’s final slider from Native Foods; our very cute pals from Kombucha Dog; Brian L Patton, vegan chef and author of The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, showing off his bizarrely awesome shirt from Puppies Make Me Happy; the S’morrissey + Strawberry Lab donuts from Donut Friend; and musical headliners, Jamestown Revival.

You can see a ton more shots from the day of festivities via Vegan Beer Fest’s Instagram account—a great appetite stimulant and proof positive that you should mark your calendars for next year’s fest now.

We’ve written…literally, for years in these pages on the topic of vegan cheese. From Kite Hill’s brie-like, aged nut-based cheese, to the more recent, exciting development of Miyoko’s Creamery up the coast, and way back to a 2009 side-by-side comparison of Teese + Daiya, the two big vegan cheese contenders in that day.

To outsider non-vegans, it might appear as slightly obsessive, but, for those of us who are vegan but weren’t raised eschewing dairy products, a viable, dairy-free cheese alternative has long been a vegan holy grail. The taste of certain vegan cheeses can get close to comparable to their dairy equivalents, but, it turns out, the chemistry of dairy is pretty unique in its ability to create that texture and stretchiness some cheeses have when melted and, for the most part, until recently, replication’s fallen pretty short. In the past few years though, we vegan consumers have enjoyed a sort of vegan cheese revolution. Of late, it seems like you can’t throw a rock without hitting some aged nut-based cheese start-up. Los Angeles even has its own vegan cheese shop now.

Last year, Katie + kept hearing from our east coast friends how great these new vegan cheese slices were from Field Roast, a Seattle-based company that usually specializes in grain-based vegan meat alternatives (they make great vegan sausages). We kept checking area Whole Foods for the cheese to no avail.

Then, a few months back, we stumbled across a similar product from Follow Your Heart, a company just north of Los Angeles created in 1970 and known largely for their delectable mayonnaise alternative, Vegenaise. Similar to the praise given by our east coast friends of Chao, the Field Roast cheese, these FYH slices tasted wonderful and melted superbly, making for great grilled cheese sandwiches reminiscent of our pre-vegan days.

Eventually, we did happen across Chao in our local Gelson’s, of all places, and it too held up remarkably well to our remembered reverence for dairy sliced cheese.

Remarkably similarly well, actually. Side-by-side comparisons of the cheeses left us wanting for favorites—though Chao claims to incorporate a Thai-based fermented soy product in the cheese and the two companies have slightly different variation on the slices, they’re nearly indistinguishable from one another. To be clear—that’s not at all a criticism. Both brands of cheeses are excellent. We just thought it slightly odd that two vegan companies not really known for cheese products would suddenly both debut such similar products at similar times. Like when Hollywood puts out two really similar disaster movies at almost the same time.

Another similarity we noticed—both cheeses, produced by a Seattle company and an LA-area one, were produced in Greece. Which seemed like an odd coincidence. Turns out, as you may have guessed, it’s not a coincidence at all.

I reached out to Follow Your Heart, asking if there was any significance to the fact that both cheeses were produced in Greece, “wondering if they’re produced in the same factory or if vegan cheese is now a big thing in Greece or what the reason is.” Their very prompt and kind response, via Director of Sales, Adrienne duBois:

“Glad to hear you love the new cheese, we love it too, which is why it’s the first product we have ever sold which isn’t manufactured here, by us, in Los Angeles. You are absolutely correct about the Greek connection—it isn’t a coincidence. Field Roast’s Chao Slices and our new slices, blocks, and snack cheeses are all produced by the same Greek company. I don’t think its accurate to say that vegan cheese is now a big thing in Greece, as they sell very little of their products there. However, they do sell to the rest of Europe—and now the U.S. as well!”

Evidently, a company called Viotros are the Greek vegan cheese masterminds. They even have a page on private label vegan cheese development.

Cool! Mystery, solved. Now we can go about enjoying all of our vegan cheese slices in every form and format.

Los Angeles—look for Follow Your Heart at tomorrow’s Vegan Beer Fest, where I’m guessing they’ll be doing something awesome with their cheese. We’ve at least heard that LA cupcake maven, Clara Cakes, is making (get ready for it) mac + cheese waffles using FYH cheeses. FYH also owns and operates a café + market that’s open to the public, which is how they first got their start so many years back.

Viva la revolución de queso vegano!

Last fall, shortly after Katie + I helped to open MooShoes Los Angeles—the first non-New York outpost of venerable vegan footwear store and longtime clients of our design studio—a very amicable, lovely couple came into the store and introduced themselves. Having recently moved to LA from the relatively small town of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they shared how excited they were at Los Angeles’ wealth of vegan and animal-friendly options and how excited they were that we opened up.

In passing, just before they left, the two mentioned that they were in a band together. Later, Amanda from MooShoes and I tried desperately to piece together context clues to figure the band out to no avail (we like to play detective during slower hours at the store).

Then, just before SXSW, NPR released their Austin 100—a mix of 100 songs from 100 artists playing the famous music festival (totally worth a listen and recommended, by the way). About halfway through, I nearly fell of my seat at the studio to see none other than our mystery duo—Andrew Martin + Jessica Ramsey of the Los Angeles-based band, Moon Honey.

I followed up with the two asking if they’d be down with an interview for this journal and they happily obliged, because, again, they’re amicable and lovely.

You can listen to their debut album—Hand-Painted Dream Photographs—in full below and read as Jessica tells us about the scene in the south, where the band gets its inspiration, and drug commentary as a compliment.

And if you don’t make it all the way to the bottom, Los Angeles, be sure you check the band out live at Non Plus Ultra (4310 Burns Ave) tomorrow night.

raven + crow: Alright, first things first—where does the name come from? Sorry, we have to ask. We’re in branding + marketing, so it’s always an obsession for us.

Of course! Andrew and I came upon it while at the Stax Museum in Memphis (highly recommended). The name was mentioned on a plaque as the nickname of a soul singer. Our band was named Twin Killers at that point, but we were in the midst of revamping and rebranding. The soul, talent, and determination featured in the museum had me feeling sensitive and open, and the name just resonated. I remember holding a band meeting and being overly persistent in changing the name, and I’m so glad we did. Moon Honey is much more in-line with the mystical, ethereal, intimate aura we want our music to convey.

No, I think it totally fits—well-chosen. I saw that NPR described your sound by calling you “cotton candy dipped in peyote”. Would you say that’s pretty accurate?

I haven’t tried the dish yet but am honored by the description. We take drug commentary like “What were you on when you wrote this?” as a compliment, because it usually means that the sound is alien and challenging to them. To have a psychedelic experience is to transcend reality and form new perspectives—something powerful music is also capable of. Cotton candy is so light, sticky and sweet, and I approve of the words juxtaposing something as heavy and mystical as peyote.

How did your sound develop, exactly, if that’s at all something you can track? I feel like your voice is so distinct and the music itself just serves to highlight that fact with it’s far-from-ordinary structure and shifts in form. Is that deliberate or more something that developed organically over time?

Organically, for sure. Our first EP together as Twin Killers, Lemon Heart Opera, was balls to the wall—I had never sung in my life (outside of the shower) and, when I met Andrew, he already had the whole thing written and recorded instrumentally. I wrote and recorded on top of the insane, super-progressive rock sounding project, and considered it my singing boot camp. After that experiment, Andrew began to open up his guitar writing style for my vocals, and we wrote back and forth together. We started visiting the orchestra and we began to form more fluid movements in the songs as opposed to abstract, chopped up pieces.

I can totally hear operatic or orchestral influences in your songs, especially in the singing. I saw that Greg Saunier of Deerhoof mixed your full-length. I can  see a similarity in how you all and that band approach music, but how did you all initially hook up with him?

It was a cold call! We truly adore Deerhoof, and I sent Greg an email asking him if he would be interested in mixing our record. Can’t believe he said yes. I don’t know if he quite expected the layered, ridiculous monstrosity that was sent to him on a hard drive to New York, but the way he handled it changed the music in a beautiful way. 

Yeah, clearly I don’t know what it sounded like un-mixed, but I can only imagine he amplified and complemented what was already there. How long have you all been playing together as Moon Honey then? I know you only recently moved to Los Angeles from Baton Rouge.

We changed the name right before releasing Hand-Painted in December of 2013, so almost a year and a half! We have been a new band since moving to LA and just got off our first tour together in March.

Exciting times, then! What’s Baton Rouge like though? The closest I’ve ever been was New Orleans.

You are lucky—New Orleans is wonderful! Baton Rouge is a big small town. The culture is similar to New Orleans, though the architecture is more suburbs with very little haunted southern antebellum charm. Going back to visit, I realize how slow and relaxing Louisiana is. LA can be frantic, as if everyone is jogging up an escalator at the same time, too crowded to pay attention to subtleties. I love all the ambition and drive, but it’s easy to fall prey to the panic attacks. It must be the humidity, heat, mud, and fried food in the south that keeps everyone moving at such a fun, slow pace.

Hah. No, totally know what you mean. Do you two constantly get people commenting on your lack of accent? Katie + I are originally from Virginia and we always get that.

Virginia is so lovely, and yes! I really wish I had a crazy Creole or southern belle accent and could feel less bland. I love when we tell someone where we’re from and they immediately start talking about the show Swamp People. Oh good, yes, you’ve really nailed the entirety of Louisiana.

Oh, yeah, you two totally look very Swamp People. Especially with that gator you tote around town.What’s the music scene like in Baton Rouge?

Small but loving. There is strong and thriving art community that pushes its way through the shadows of a college football Mecca. The scene is supportive, diverse, and rarely competitive.

Did you live there when Katrina came through?

Yes, and I remember how frightening the storm was and the realization of nearly an entire city underwater. We weren’t destroyed like New Orleans, but were highly impacted from the thousands of evacuees who moved in, most of them homeless and traumatized.

I can only imagine. I know you all played SXSW earlier in the year—how’d that go?

It was really fun this year! A smoke alarm interrupted an hour of our official showcase, but SXSW is so expectedly crazy that it didn’t phase us or the crowd. My favorite party we played was a pool party. We were in the hot tub 10 minutes after performing.

You should add that to your rider. Was it nice being back in that relative area of the country?

It was an almost free vacation. Our friends and family are all scattered through Texas and Louisiana, so everywhere we go in the south we are treated to the warmest hospitality and good times.

Southern royalty! I know you just played your first show in southern California at Brokechella too. Did our city welcome you well?

We couldn’t have prayed for a better debut! We went in not knowing what to expect, wondering if everyone would be drunk eating funnel cakes, dancing in loincloths, or conducting seances and stone meditations. Welcome is the perfect word—countless people came up and talked to me after our show about every subject under the sun, and I’m so glad they felt that open to us and our music. Even the people running the festival were extraordinarily friendly. It’s not so often that a promoter of a show or club manager has listened to your album or tells you they’re excited to watch it.

Aw, that’s awesome. Glad to hear it. And you’re playing LA tomorrow and again soon, yeah?

We are playing tomorrow night—Friday—at Non Plus Ultra (4310 Burns Ave) with Angel Deradoorian (of the Dirty Projectors and Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks). Also on June 5th at HM157 w/ Kera and The Lesbians.

Awesome—we’ll try to come by tomorrow night! So, quick aside—we first came to know you two through the vegan shoe store we run, MooShoes. No judgement, but are ya’ll vegan or just in the neighborhood?

Andrew and I are vegan and loveeeee MooShoes! I have a coin jar by the door that everyone knows is savings for my next pair of shoes. We went from living in a city with zero (I MEAN ZERO) vegetarian restaurants or stores, so our quality of life has expanded incredibly. We were rebel freaks in Louisiana, but here we really have to fight for that title. A goal of ours is to be more involved in animal rights and spread awareness as we continue to move forward in our careers, and it is so exciting to see more people hip to the cruelty free fashion movement.

Ah, man, that is really, really awesome to hear, Jessica. And—back to the band—you all released Hand-Painted Dream Photographs in 2013, right? Are you working on new material at this point?

We have lots of new music and just released a new single “Boy Magic” on Noisey! We’re can’t wait to share more.

Well, thanks a ton for talking with us—see you both soon!

Thank you and vive la MooShoes!

You can listen to Moon Honey’s album in full above, catch them at Non Plus Ultra right on the border between Hollywood + Silver Lake tomorrow night, and stay up-to-date on other happenings via the band’s Facebook page.

Feature photo by Jessi Arnold; live photos, Tyler Little.

A mural we pass relatively constantly on Fountain by Panhandle Slim.

As Wikipedia puts it, on their entry for the 2005 album by UK band, The Wedding Present, named Take Fountain:

“In Los Angeles, Fountain Avenue is a minor east-west street, between and parallel to Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, two very congested arteries. Therefore, when Johnny Carson asked Bette Davis for advice on ‘the best way an aspiring starlet could get into Hollywood,’ Ms. Davis replied without hesitation, ‘Take Fountain!'”

This ain’t that clip—it’s one from 1988, the year before Ms. Davis died—but it’s a classic nonetheless, especially all the shade-throwing at Faye Dunaway.

A few weeks back, we headed out to the legendary Troubadour in West Hollywood to catch the Matt Pond on his ten year anniversary tour for the excellent album Several Arrows Later. Opening up for Pond + co. was a band we were only marginally familiar with beforehand, Oxford, Mississippi’s Young Buffalo. As it happened, for me, it one of those instances where the band before the band you came to see stole the spotlight a bit in the greatest of ways. I’d heard one or two songs of theirs before, but, witnessing their full catalog of beautifully varied, complex pop songs and experiencing first-hand their surprising mature stage presence, I became an immediate fan.

I recently got a chance to find out more about the band in talking with one of Young Buffalo’s two singer/song-writer/guitarists, Jim Barrett. He was kind enough to expand on the band’s origins, talk about their song-writing, and tell me what it’s like to grow up in a real-life Friday Night Lights.

raven + crow: Alright, forgive us—this is almost always our first question—but where’s the name come from?

Jim Barrett: The name comes from when I texted Ben about hanging out or something in high school. Really came from nowhere. I started using it as the title for some solo stuff that would ultimately become the first Young Buffalo songs. Sorry, not that interesting!

Yeah, those questions usually result in foggy memories at best, but we still feel the need to ask. We caught you all at the Troubadour when you opened for Matt Pond, who we’re longtime fans of. But this was one of those great instances of coming to see a particular band and—no disrespect to Mr. Pond—being really shocked at how much like they’re opener. How has it been touring with those guys?

Yeah, hard to believe the 6-week run is almost over! It’s been great! The crowds have been super receptive and hanging with the MPPA guys and girl has been a blast.

Yeah, we love em. Now, you all have this really weirdly, uniquely awesome mix of southern-inspired rock and kinda glitchy, nuanced, note-filled melodies and packed rhythms, especially with your guitar lines and drums. I think some of the best examples are on “No Idea” + “Old Soul”. Any idea how that sound developed or did it just…happen?

We love writing and playing pop music that is a little off-kilter. That’s just what interests us for some reason. It was definitely something that developed over time, writing and recording for years with Ben. But, it also just kind of happened. We didn’t really go looking for a specific style.

Always the best approach. Some of the guitar work especially reminds of the British band Jonquil—what are some bands that inspire you all, either individually or as a band?

Ben’s biggest influence is probably Johnny Marr of the Smiths. The Talking Heads, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones are all big influences. I’m a big fan of Brian Eno, and some of the old kooks but i’m also a fan of folks doing some really cool stuff right now: Twin Peaks, UMO, etc.

Nice. Is it true you + Ben have been writing songs together since high school?

We actually started in middle school, so like 2004 is right around when we started.

Man. I assume you develop a sort of second language when you’ve been working together for so long. Do you guys always write as a team or do you have certain songs that are Ben songs or Jim songs?

It kind of depends on the song. On House, the majority of the songs were a group effort; either Ben or myself would bring in the main idea and the other one would finish it out with either guitar or drums/bass. There are some outliers where the song was just there and it’s kind of hard to be like “Dude, i’m pretty sure the song’s good as is!” But we’ve both gotten better about communicating when we’re collaborating or when someone needs to be hands off. Getting older has helped that aspect of our band tremendously….

Oh, I’m sure. I asked you about the band name, but how about the album title, House? I assume it ties into the album cover somehow?

It actually ties into a song more, and we just went with it for the album cover. “My Place” is kind of the centerpiece to the whole record and it was originally titled “House”. For, like, 4 years that song went through a ton of musical changes, but it was always “House Song” or “House”. We loved that song being the focal point of the album, so we changed the name to “My Place” and there you have it—album title!

Well-done! I’m sure you guys get this a lot, but what’s Oxford, Mississippi like? I’m kinda picturing the town from Friday Night Lights.

I can totally see that comparison because everyone loves their football. Oxford’s got way more too than that, though. Most of our friends are artists, writers, or musicians and so there’s been a big community for us creatives in that town for quite some time. Everyone is kind of leaving to go and get their art out there, and for us, there’s tour. It’s a cheap place to live, and we all have jobs that are cool with us leaving for months on end to play shows.

So are ya’ll Ole Miss fans or is this more one of those ‘raised in it, so I rebel against it’ kind of things?

Ole Miss, all the way.

Nice. And how was SXSW? Had ya’ll been before?

SXSW was great. Hectic, tiring, pointless maybe, money-draining, but great? Yes, this was our 4th time doing with YB.

Any plans for after you finish up your tour in May?

Yes! We’re going back on tour in June and then Europe/UK in the summer. Hopefully more stateside touring this fall and then recording LP2 after it’s all said and done!

All sounds awesome. Well, thanks a ton for taking the time to talk. Really loved your set and the album—can’t wait to see ya’ll again and hear more.

Thanks guys! Thanks for Listening!

New York friends—you can catch Young Buffalo as they open up for the also excellent Mat Pond at Bowery Ballroom this Friday, and we’d highly recommend you catch them both. All else, check YB’s Facebook page for additional live dates and download their debut full-length, House, via iTunes.

A few weeks back, while researching songs to include in our monthly mixtape series, we stumbled across Philadelphia’s Hop Along, a band writers with a tendency for the hyperbolic might call America’s next best rock band.

I’d like to think I veer away from such excitedly over-simplistic sentiment, but I can say this with certainty—Hop Along is really fucking good.

According to the local indie music experts at The Key/WXPN, Hop Along has been “putting out exceptional music for the better part of a decade”. But for most of us—myself included—the band’s sophomore full-length, Painted Shut, is acting as a debut for all intents and purposes, providing a first impression the national audience as a whole.

For my money, it’s a beautifully done faux-debut from start-to-finish.

The songs are excellently crafted, bringing in shared influences ranging from the post-hardcore to second wave emo to the unashamedly Springsteen-esque traditional American rock, but the band keeps things interesting with clever song structure, insightful narrative lyrics, and intricate, layered rhythmic choices.

But—and I realize this is the part of the review that inevitably wanders into the exact pitfalls of every other person writing about Hop Along—the real star, despite the excellent instrumentation and song-writing, is frontwoman Frances Quinlan’s voice. I literally think it’s impossible to write about or even consider this band without stopping to admire that voice. It’s like a most powerful rock whisper, full of raspy emotion, and it’s beautiful.

The only valid criticism I could think someone might have for Painted Shut is that it’s songs sound very similar in style. But, on repeated listen, each track starts to stand out more and more, as do the lyrics and the stories behind the songs, to the point that I start to admire the consistency in style.

And, to be fair, Quinlan could have chosen to pair her voice with any number of other, less interesting or musically pleasing (for me) genres or musicians. Here though, as a whole, with the excellent songs, uniquely powerful voice, and clear desire as song-writers to tell us something, the band makes its mark with Painted Shut as a game-changer in its genre.

Eh. I’m trending toward hyperbole, aren’t I. Point being, again, they’re fucking good. You should give them a listen if you haven’t already.

You can check out three tracks from the new album below; listen to segments and download via iTunes.

Photo by Shervin Lainez.

We hereby present you with this month’s collection of new sounds from largely new artists—the May 2015 raven + crow mixtape, an accumulation of songs that get us going in the studio.

This one features some superb new tracks from Scotland’s Mercury Prize-winning Young Fathers (whose highly anticipated sophomore full-length White Men Are Black Men Too came out last month), NYC’s French glitch-punk Annabelle Cazes (AKA Glockabelle),  and a new collaboration between Emily Green + longtime favorite Madi Diaz, who first told us about her new band, Riothorse Royale, in an interview we did with the talented singer-songwriter last spring.

Give it all a listen below or over at our SoundCloud page. And be sure to scroll through and float over the tracks—a few, like the two from those latter artists mentioned above, offer free downloads of their MP3s currently.

Happy May!

Yesterday was our annual field trip with the sixth grade class from the school at the bottom of our canyon, Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School.

The organization we’re part of (and on which Katie’s now a board member), the Hollywood Orchard, has hosted the soon-to-graduate classes for a fruit- and nature-centric tour up Beachwood Avenue—their backyard—for the past four years now.

We wrote a bit about it last year when we participated for the first time, but, in short, it’s a wonderful, exhausting experience entertaining and interacting with these kids for an entire day. We love it and, with any luck, they did too.

You can learn more about the Hollywood Orchard on the Orchard Web site and see a ton of photos from the trip on the Facebook page we have for the group.

Above, the craziness that is a passion fruit flower, just up from Franklin on Beachwood growing on an unassuming fence in front of someone’s house; below, a shot of Katie + me by Bridie Macdonald.

We came across this on our trip to Ojai last week at the excellent mostly outdoor bookstore Bart’s Books—Drawings by Sylvia Plath, a collection of pen-and-ink illustrations created during her transformative Cambridge University period, when Plath met and secretly married poet Ted Hughes.

The book jacket alone is inspiring.