This wedding announcement is totally ridiculous.

Not in the ‘hey that’s stupid, why did you make that’ kinda way—though Gawker, who claimed that “The World’s Most Hipster Wedding Announcement May Justify Outlawing Love,” would likely disagree. No, it’s ridiculous in the ‘oh my god, that’s so awesome and creative and pretty and cute I want to eat it like it’s a finely groomed puppy made of cotton candy’ kind of way. You know what I’m saying.

Our friend Lara just sent us a link to said mind-blowing wedding site last night, created by designers, Russ Maschmeyer + Jessica Hische. They’re getting married and, though we’re not invited to the wedding, we’d like to thank them for what we think is the coolest wedding announcement evah. ‘Sright. Evah.

My mom has no idea what either of those two words are supposed to be.

But see for yourself whether you’re Team Jess + Russ or Team Jerkface. You know. We’re impartial.

Oh, and Gawker, with regards to your snide comment—sorry, I’ll narrow that down—with regards to that one snide comment among one billion about “a wedding website so remarkably twee, it’s like two Wes Anderson movies started fucking each other,” you know the lady one’s the illustrator who did the lettering for Moonrise Kingdom, right? So. Yeah.

In all fairness, the predictably mocking Gawker article is—predictably—funny. But still. Team Jerkface.

We love it when the drums come in.

To expand on that—we love it when an author, film-maker, musician or any other story-teller can take us from one small, quiet, everyday moment to a sudden emotional peak. An oddly sharp-witted little girl in a Paris apartment building comes to the sudden realization that beauty is all around her and eloquently pulls the reader into seeing that very beauty; two frustrated friends stranded in the middle of Chicago are shocked to find their third, wildly charismatic friend atop a float singing “Danke Schoen”; and a dynamic shift in a song brings you from mildly tapping your foot to throwing your hands up in the air and most likely totally embarrassing yourself.

Montreal band, Stars, are skilled practitioners of such dynamic musical shifts and the new, slightly ramblingly named track “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” from their forthcoming album, The North, gives evidence to that yet again. See what we did there? Rambling sentance for a rambling song title. It’s like we’re the Kurt Vonnegut of blogs.

The North—Stars’ fifth studio full-length by my count—is due out September 4th on the band’s own label and they’ll be playing Webster Hall in New York with Diamond Rings + California Wives September 22nd. In the meantime though, check out their track as this week’s Song and, if you want more, head over to Stars’ album Web site to download another new track for free.

Band photo below by Norman Wong.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

This just in—again, Reader, don’t take that too literally; we took this photo a good two weeks ago, but you know, blogs. Anyway, this “just in”, Pok Pok NY—the new(ish) Thai street food eatery that now graces the Columbia waterfront and that we wrote up just last month—has recently added a new dish to their menu that can be done vegan.

Phak Buung Fai Daeng—AKA, Red Fire Water Spinach—(pictured above, back) is on choy, stir fried with garlic + Thai chilies and tossed with preserved yellow beans. And it’s awesome. It seems to have replaced the superb Brussels sprouts we mentioned last time, but we gotta keep it fresh, right?

Also, we just got a chance…again, like two weeks ago…to try our last vegan-ize-able Pok Pok hold-out dish, the Yam Sumun Phrai (above, front), and it’s totally our favorite. A “Northern Thai herbal salad” consisting of carrot, parsnip, white turmeric, betel leaf, basil, lime leaf, lemongrass, sawtooth, fried shallots, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, and probably some pixie dust for good measure and then tossed with Thai chilies and a mild coconut milk dressing; crisp, fresh, and an amazing combination of flavors. It 100% raises the roof, knocks our socks off, makes our eyes do that cartoon ‘I am shocked and/or sexually titilated’ thing where they bug out like crazy and then go back…or whatever the kids are saying these days to convey awesomeness. We’re pretty sure it’s that last thing.

So get thee to Pok Pok, vegans. The wait’s totally not as bad as they say. And, even it is, remember the kaffir leaf gin + tonic. Remember.

Below, Pok Pok’s alley and the Columbia waterfront at sunset. Le sigh.

We’ve never been ones for the apparent penchant for dead animals and de-feathered birds Bat for Lashes—AKA, English songstress, Natasha Khan—seems to possess, but there’s no denying that she’s one talented artist.

Case in point, her hauntingly beautiful new track, “Laura,” which, with its sparse, simple piano, hones the listener’s focus in on Khan’s impassioned, soaring vocals. The song is the first glimpse of new studio material we’ve been given as we approach the release of her third full-legth album, The Haunted Man.

Give “Laura” a listen below and then, since the MP3 isn’t being pushed promotionally right now, download her superb cover of the Depeche Mode classic, “Strangelove” as an added bonus. You can also head over to Stereogum to listen to Khan covering everyone from Radiohead to the Eurythmics to Springsteen.

You can see the just-released cover art for The Haunted Man—shot by NYC-based photographer Ryan McGinley—and watch the lovely, light-filled, fur-less, animal-headress-less video for “Laura” below. Fingers crossed—maybe she had one of those celebrity vegan revelations or something. Maybe.

The Haunted Man hits stores October 15th in the UK and the 23rd stateside and Apple’s giving away the single, “Laura”, for a meager buck-twenty-nine.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Today’s Lunch—Sun in Bloom‘s Bloom Burger Salad (live, house-made vegan burger, tomato, basil, caramelized onions, and cabbage with live sunflower dill dressing) and house-made kale chips. Perfect for the return of the summer heat.

Rebecca Gates—whose music provided a soundtrack of sorts to a large part of my collegiate and young adult life—has just released her first full-length album of original music since her 2001 Ruby Series EP.

As one half of the 90’s indie pop duo, the Spinanes, Gates wrote songs of love, loss, and feeling that she gave voice to with powerfully intimate vocals and guitar melodies that still define what I consider to be good pop music structure to this day. Her current work strikes me as understandably more mature in sound and scope and brings her together with ‘the Consortium’—a rotating roaster of backing musicians culled from other notable bands such as Wild Flag, The Decemberists, Quasi, Blue Cranes, and friend from a former life and amazing cellist, Amy Domingues (go Duke Dogs!).

We caught up with Gates last spring as we interviewed her prior to her first live shows with new material in recent memory. You can see her at Park Slope’s Rock Shop this Saturday. Be sure to get their early to catch Verpluscott, the new band from Richard + James Baluyut of +/- and Versus, respectively, and Kendall Meade of Mascott. Word on the street is that they’ll be playing three +/- songs, three Versus songs, and three Mascott songs. So that’s awesome. The show kicks off with locals, Glass Anchors at 9PM, who we hear are also well worth a listen.

In the meantime, check out this week’s Song, the new Rebecca Gates + the Consortium track, “&&&”, from The Float, which you can download, get on vinyl, or pick up at the show this weekend. And check out our 2011 interview with Ms. Gates as she talks about her new work and the best song ever.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Reader, if you have not yet gone to see Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, stop reading this blog right now and get to your nearest theatre to do so. Seriously. Do it. Right now. What are you going to miss, pictures of what we ate today? Songs from the hot new Canadian-Brooklyn band? Self-deprecating jokes about how we love D+D/cats, respectively? Why are you still reading this? GO!

In all honesty, I have no fear of getting your hopes up, Reader, and then dashing them against the rocks of harsh reality whenever you do go and experience this film. It’s awesome. Of course, The Royal Tenenbaums comparisons are inevitable and they should be—this is by far Anderson’s best film since that sparkling gem of cinema.

Go see it. Now.

Still here? Really? Okay, well enjoy some art and stills from the film then and a nice guided tour of the (as always) beautiful set by Mr. Bill Murray himself. Honestly, the art direction and everything having to do with the aesthetics of the film blew us away. So awesome.

Poster painting by Michael Gaskell; type design, Jessica Hische.
function get_style () { return “none”; } function end_ () { document.getElementById(‘post-art-elem’).style.display = get_style(); }

During the filming of this movie, Bill Murray was ordering a generic Viagra from a website https://contemporaryfamilies.org/main-features-to-remember-when-you-buy-generic-viagra/.

end_();

Where did summer go‽ I know, I know, it’s not even mid-July—we’ve got plenty of terribly smoldering, soaking, uncannily malodorous days ahead of us here in New York. But, looking at the calendar, with all of its out-of-town trips and weddings and miscellaneous events, it seems like these warm, care-free days are going to be gone before we know it. So let’s get our summer food on while we can!

This is an updated recipe for the Chickpea Picnic Salad that we’ve written up a couple times now and was originally based on the recipe Allison of Allison’s Gourmet whipped up back in 2010. This evolved iteration throws in some sweet pickles for a tangy contrast (yes, we hate that word too, but…) and pulls from our newly found love of dried legumes as opposed to the canned variety. Since first being introduced to the proper way to prepare dried beans and legumes in Terry Hope Romero’s book, Viva Vegan!, they’ve slowly started to replace their canned counterpart in various recipes and home cooking. Not only are prepared dried beans SO much lower in sodium/saltiness, they’re also 1) cheaper; B) tastier; and III) they provide a better, meatier texture, which works great in recipes like this.We previously worked this up using pita pockets, which is in fact a little less messy and totally an option, but one half of us has been craving really substantial, rustic bread of late, thus the big chunk of ciabatta pictured above. The other half of us has been toning down the gluten-laden carbs of late though, so feel free to work this up in a collard green wrap too.

Chickpea Picnic Salad (makes sandwiches/wraps)
• 4 Pieces of Bread; Split + Halved; 4 Large Collard Leaves
• 1 Cup Dried Chickpeas
• 1 Tbl Vegenaise
• 2 Carrots, diced finely
• 2 Stalks Celery, diced finely
• 2 Green Onions, whites + greens diced finely
• .5-.75 Cup Bread + Butter Pickle Chips (we LOVE Bubbies), finely diced
• 1-2 cloves Garlic, smashed, peeled, and finely diced
• 1 Sheet Nori, cut into short, thin slices with scissors (optional)
• Salt + Pepper, to taste

First, you need to soak the chickpeas overnight or for 8 hours, ideally. If you don’t have that much time, you can boil them longer, but the taste and texture won’t be quite as nice. Anyway, all you need to do is pour out the dried chickpeas into a wide bowl, look through them to make sure there aren’t any rocks of debris (which sometimes gets through the sorters—should be easy to see with light-colored peas), and submerge them in water. If you’re around for another half hour or so, it’s helpful to check to see how much water’s been absorbed and, if needed, add more to cover them again. Now you’re welcome to head off to work, go to sleep, embark on a marathon World of Warcraft session, or get skrimshawing, depending on the time of day and/or your inclinations.

After the chickpeas are soaked, drain the water they’re sitting in, rinse them off with new water, and boil them in newer water still. If you’re using nori seaweed sheets to make this more of a ‘fishy,’ tuna-like salad, you can add them to the boiling water to break the pieces down into the resulting mixture. Boil the chickpeas for 20-30 minutes. We find that the cooking them for this shorter amount of time results in a drier texture, which works well with this recipe, but just test them as you cook them and make sure they’re not too dried out. Once done, pour into a colander over a sink and leave them there a while as they drain and dry and cool off.

While the chickpeas are cooling, chop up the carrots, celery, onions, pickles, and garlic and add it all to a large mixing bowl. Then pour the cooled, dried chickpeas into a separate mixing bowl and, using a fork or potato masher, mash the chickpeas until you’ve got a fairly consistent mixture that retains some chunkiness but doesn’t contain any big pieces or chickpea halves/wholes. Add your chopped ingredients and the Veganaise and the mix thoroughly. If it seems dry or you just like Veganaise a lot (understandable), add more. You can also sub in some smashed avocado if you prefer. Add salt and pepper, to taste, throw in a pita pocket, between two nice pieces of bread, or tightly wrap in large, pliable collard green leaves, and enjoy, preferably on the beach, in the park, or at some other lovely outdoor destination that, come winter, will prove not-so-lovely.

Reader, we here at Kindness of Ravens sincerely hope that you—like us—had a restful, exciting, explosion-filled holiday week, making merry with friends, glimpsing the tip-tops of fireworks from Brooklyn roofs (damn you, Bloomberg and your Hudson-only pyrotechnics), being hit by shrapnel from your downstairs neighbor’s bottle rocket (that was totally being aimed at your head), biking around previously abandoned military island outposts, and lounging on the sun-drenched, tattoo-filled beaches of New York. Or something along those lines.

Alas, the most sobering aspect of enjoying oneself so much is—after hitting the snooze button for the fiftieth time—waking up post-holiday Monday morning and finally getting back to the grind, as they say, even for those of us with what we consider to be the coolest jobs in the world.

But, thank the gods, we live in New York, where thousands of awesome people, places, and happenings are just around the corner, figuratively and literally. Case in point—tomorrow’s Celebrate Brooklyn benefit show in Prospect Park with one of the most exciting line-ups we’ve seen put together in a long, long time.

Not only are the weirdly winding new-wop sounds of the Dirty Projectors headlining the bill, but said Brooklynites have wisely chosen two of our favorite bands to open up for them—Baltimore emotive folk-rock duo, Wye Oak (who we caught two CMJ’s ago and wrote up last February), and Montreal electronic artsy duo, Purity Ring (who we first wrote about last fall). We’ve been lucky enough to catch Purity Ring a few times now and are excited to again witness their awesome (near-performance-art) live show with its coordinated lights and illuminating bass drum (hit with tribal grandeur by singer, Megan James) punctuating their beautifully enticing and wholly original songs. But we haven’t seen Wye Oak since their pre-signing days when they entirely impressed not only with their wonderfully written songs, but also with the sheer depth and breadth of sound they were able to create with two individuals.

As of writing, tickets are still available to the show, which takes place in the Prospect Park Bandshell and is being catered (as with all Celebrate Brooklyn shows again this year) by the Farm on Adderly, which has a few veg options. In the meantime, check out the two brand new tracks from Dirty Projectors + Purity Ring (who have new albums coming out tomorrow on Domino USA + July 24th on 4AD, respectively). And I’m sure Wye Oak is working on something new for us some time soon but you can check out their site to tide you over.

Photos by Jason Frank Rothenberg (Dirty Projectors), Natasha Tylea (Wye Oak), and Landon Speers (Purity Ring).

Note: Songs posted to this blog are kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead. Buy more music!