Hot summer, indeed, Reader. Hot summer indeed. As raven + crow gear up to fly the coop and we all prepare for some warm-weather time off, we leave you with our current top ten summer songs, to help ‘get the party started,’ as they say.

We’ve got a little something for everyone—the RAC remix of Katy Perry (yes, Katy Perry) song that Katie and I have been putting on repeat of late as we host two-person dance parties at home (sorry, neighbors); a new, slightly crazed and catchy as hell track from Passion Pit‘s forth-coming sophomore album; a summer jam from Major Lazer (AKA, Diplo, that guy from all the TV commercials); another hard rocking party number from Canadian rock duo, Japandroids; some nice light summer pop from Jersey’s Real Estate; impassioned, melody-driven hip-hop from another Canadian (happy belated Canada Day guys), Cadence Weapon; another appearance from Diplo as he remixes Sleigh Bell‘s “Demons”; a re-post (because we love it so much and it’s oh so summery) from South Brooklyn neighbor, Sean Bones; a remix of RAC‘s (AKA, Andre Allen Anjos) first ever original track; and an island-infused song from Tanlines‘ superb debut full-length, Mixed Emotions.

Enjoy these fine tunes with fine friends, a fine drink in-hand, and hopefully far, far, far from a computer screen or any un-summery concerns, worries, or obligations.

Expand the player to the bottom left if you are in-front of a computer to listen to the whole list or click/right-click individual tracks to listen to them one at a time.

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!

This just in, Reader…er…kinda just in. More accurately—this just being written about because we have day jobs, Reader, and have to pay the bills, Reader, we can’t all be trust-fund-Readers, Reader, implied passive aggression intended, Reader. …yeah. We’ll stick with ‘this just in.’

This just in, Reader: Maimonide of Brooklyn—the bizarre-yet-awesome new(ish) South Brooklyn vegetarian joint we wrote up back in January—after expanding their menu to include dinner entrées (vegan pumpkin seed pesto pasta, veggie burgers, and nightly specials) now serves an ultra-cute little slider version of their burgers for lunch (pictured above).

Like its big papa, the ‘lil guy is made of a surprisingly meaty crimini mushroom base and comes on a house-baked sweet potato roll with secret sauce (like a vegan thousand island, for reals), Brooklyn Brine’s locally made pickles, charred onions, and a ‘lil tomato.

Pair all that with their delectable house yuca fries, a nice IPA, and a seat in Maimonide’s tranquil backyard, and you get a lovely, raven + crow approved lunch. Get yo eat on, Brooklyn!

Holograms • Chasing My MindFirst off, no—this is not Jem’s backing band. Sorry, Reader. I was a bit bummed too.

In the real-life, non-80s-Japanimated world, Holograms is a band of four twenty-something Swedes who work in a Stockholm factory together and—when not hammering metal ores into giant cogs, let’s say (who knows, it might be a kitten factory)—churn out highly energized, new-wave-inspired, melodic punk.

Their songs are reminiscent of Wire and the Clash; the stuff of adolescent dreams, likely to inspire such frowned-upon choices as skateboarding, asymmetrical haircuts, ill-advised piercings, graffiti, and starting your own band with your not-so-talented but totally excited friends and playing tiny clubs to tiny crowds. Or, if you’re in your mid-thirties and a little old for any of that this far on, it just reminds you of a simpler, younger, more rambunctious time, while still giving you something new and modern to remind you that this stuff’s not coming from a band that broke up years ago; it’s coming from kids who are just starting out and who—with any luck—have a long road of creative productivity and awesome music ahead of them.

Listen to the band’s single, “Chasing My Mind,” and be on the lookout for their debut self-titled album next month via Brooklyn’s own Captured Tracks and some stateside shows in September at Mercury Lounge + 285 Kent. You can also order a limited edition clear vinyl 7″ from the label that features the track “ABC City.” Video forthat one below.

Photo by Julia Persson.

Note: Songs posted to this site 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 music!

Okay, we’ve said this before and we’ll say it again—we love it when non-vegan restaurants throw the vegans a bone. Well…not literally throw the vegans a bone. That would totally make no sense. We would hate that. But you know what we mean, Reader.

Places like Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint that have a clearly labeled vegan menu with house-made nut cheeses and Daiya dairy-free cheese for their wood-fire-oven pizzas; places like Family Recipe in the lower east side that serve modern Japanese cuisine and feature multiple vegan options; those kinda places make us wanna shake our groove thang…give them a virtual and/or literal high-five…even record yet another version of “Call Me Maybe” and cleverly insert their establishment name and our favored menu items (why is that a thing, by the way?—we don’t quite get it).

Don’t worry—we have created no such version of “Call Me Maybe.” We do, however, have yet another NYC restaurant for you that’s very much vegan-friendly. AND it just happens to be one that’s been much-hyped in the press of late—it’s Pok Pok NY, the brand new eastern outpost of the loved Portland Thai street food eatery.

We heard Pok Pok was had eastward-looking eyes last fall and—when we learned that their original location was pretty vegan-friendly AND that they planned on opening up the New York hub blocks away from our home—contacted them to urge them bring the vegan-friendliness to their Brooklyn home. Their cordial response assured us they would. So what kinda food do they serve? AWESOME kinda food.

According to Pok Pok NY’s Web site:

“We serve food found at pubs, restaurants, homes and the streets of Southeast Asia with the majority of the food coming from Thailand, and specifically from the North and Northeast of Thailand. We do not make “fusion” food here; everything has been researched, eaten, and/or prepared in the country of it’s origin prior to being put on the Pok Pok menu (exception: the Pok Pok Affogato which is an unabashed riff on the Vietnamese breakfast of coffee and fried donuts). If you’d like to see some of the dishes in their native land, please check us out on Facebook; there are a lot of photos there. Our menu changes seasonally, monthly or at whim. We do not serve staples like Phat Thai or Penang Curry, but the food we do serve is very accessible to most people. We use local product when possible and practical. We do not use MSG. While we are not specifically vegetarian friendly, all our vegetarian dishes are either vegan or can be made vegan, and there are usually about a half dozen of those on the menu.”

See that last bit? It’s right on their site. THAT’S the kinda thing we love—not having to worry about explaining to a server what is or isn’t considered vegan and having them work vegan options right into their menu rather than potentially taking out of a dish the very things the chef planned his or her tastes around.

We’ve talked about this before, but we love it when restauranteurs who have a passion for food and serving their customers creatively have the open-mindness to include vegans among their potential patrons. Yes, in our ideal world, every restaurant would serve only vegan food and every person would happily eat animal-friendly fare and the creatures of this planet would throw a big parade for us all because we finally ‘got it.’ We’re working on that. And in the meantime, the more mainstream, non-vegan joints that work plant-based foods into their menu, the better, in our humble opinions. Especially when it’s this good.

You can take a look at the full menu yourself, but our favorite offerings are the vegan Khao Soi (pictured above)—a Northern Thai mild curry noodle soup made with a secret curry paste recipe, house-pressed fresh coconut milk, tofu, meaty lotus root chunks (I think), and served with house-pickled mustard greens, fresh shallots, crispy noodles, and an awesome roasted chili paste—and Phat Khanaeng—insanely tasty stir-fried brussels sprouts with thai chilies, garlic, and a sweet soy sauce that induces insatiable cravings for days on end after. Be sure you get some sticky rice to sop up the sauce on the sprouts—best. We also recently tried their spicy forest mushroom salad, with rings of fresh lemongrass, cilantro, toasted rice powder, and chili-lime dressing (pictured below). It too was superb, with its surprising meaty, woodsy mushrooms and exciting combination of fresh citrus and peppery spice. Be warned though, it’s not for the light of heart—when they say spicy, they mean spicy. Add to all that an admirable, fish-sauce-free (when ordered vegan) green papaya salad and an enticing-sounding (haven’t tried it yet) herbal root vegetable salad, and you’ve got quite a few options. Additionally, though they have no immediate plans, Pok Pok NY reps have mentioned that they do plan to switch them menu up a bit over time, so stay tuned!

And this needs its own paragraph, Reader—their kaffir lime leaf infused gin + tonic is mind-blowing. Katie doesn’t even like gin and, not only is it her favorite drink so far on their extensive menu of creative libations, but we made our version of it our signature cocktail (pictured to the right) at her recent birthday shebang, and it went over like gangbusters. And yes, I have now started writing like I’m in a Dick Tracy comic for some reason.

Pok Pok NY is located along the Columbia Street Waterfront—despite what is being written, that is not Red Hook, my friends; if it is, then Green Wood Cemetery’s well within Park Slope—features indoor, outdoor, and kinda in-between seating, and does not take reservations, which is cool, but requires a little planning. Our advice—plan on a wait of an hour or two, depending on the night and time. It’s worth the wait, and they make it easy on you with a bizarre text-paging system so you can wander the waterfront or head over to nearby bar, B61. Better yet, if it’s not too packed, you can wait in a dedicated seating area in the back of the restaurant where you can order drinks and snacks and have them billed to your table. One last top-secret tip—get there a little before they open to stand in line for a table right away, though plan on people queueing up pretty early. Again, totally worth it.

Pok Pok NY is located at 127 Columbia Street, near-ish to the Bergen Street F/G. 

Reader, we’ve learned over the past ten or so years that there are many, many perks that come along with living in New York City. Obviously there are detrimental or not-so-lovely things about this bustling city as well—for instance, grocery store aisles are not only bizarrely narrow but are also being stocked day and night, making it impossible to actually purchase foodstuffs; in high summer the city smells of putrid trash and dying dreams and radiates an impossible amount of heat and humidity; and, finally, it’s not exactly easy on the emotional psyche to be surrounded by concrete, speeding cars, and a great lack of nature constantly (I think the most we’ve seen of wildlife in recent times was when a pigeon carrying a rat landed on our studio windowsill…it was terrifying).

So another thing we’ve learned is that, to live healthily in this city, you need to leave it on a fairly regular basis. Step out of the non-stop flow that, while it fuels the very energy that makes this city what it is, proves exhausting at times.

But it’s not always easy to get out of the city, which is one of many reasons that we like the debut album from Trummors, Over and Around the Clove. It provides a kind of aural day trip off the cracked asphalt sidewalks of the city that plops you down in the middle of the upstate woods, walking stick in hand. Simple, seemingly familiar guitar lines, politely quiet rhythms, and voices that sound older than they should guide you through a virtual folksy spa, gently massaging away your emotional urban baggage. Ahhhhhhhhh. Or, as Alternative Press’ recent review puts it, “(a)n album made for listening while you stare from your back porch (or apartment window) as the sun sets, Over and Around the Clove is the latest proof that the well of traditional American music is truly bottomless.”

Kindness • House

Reader, I may be gradually coming down off of a social high brought about by a weekend full of Indian stick dancing, power-karaoke, and time well-spent with good friends, old and new, but I seriously love the creator of this week’s Song, Kindness.

Not only does London’s Kindness—AKA, Adam Bainbridge—create some of the most smoothed out, catchy electronic tunes you’ll have a chance to hear these days, but he also seems like a genuinely cool—I’ll say it—kind guy.

Wonder what he thinks about ravens…

Give his track, “House,” with it’s simple, endearing message a listen and see what you think. I’m warning you now, though—it’s one of those songs that creeps into your psyche and settles in there, keeping you coming back again and again. You can pre-order Kindness’ debut LP, World, You Need a Change of Mind, and listen to another great track from it, “Cyan,” over at Terrible Records, Chris Tayor of Grizzly Bear‘s label. You can also download the e-version now over on the iTunes.

Still not convinced? Take a look at the kind of adorable video below, where Bainbridge briefly discusses his take on house music and then explains to a cute ‘lil chap how to use a drum machine before they embark on a musical adventure and awesome little dance number. As both Passion Pit and tUnE-yArDs have shown us in the past, kids + indie = gold. Especially, it turns out, little kids with British accents.

Note: Songs posted to this site 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 music!

The National • The Rains of Castamere
Reader, you may or may not be aware that one half of raven + crow studio—and thus this blog—is pretty damn nerdy. And not in a tongue-in-cheek, ironic trucker’s hat kinda way. I’m talkin’ full-on, computer-game-loving, fantasy-book-reading, Star-Trek-adoring (Next Generation, obvs),  went-to-a-gaming-conference-in-Jersey-just-last-year nerdy. For the sake of argument, let’s say it’s me, Reader.

So, after reading all five books of the series so far, needless to say, I was pretty stoked to learn that HBO had bought the rights to produce a TV adaptation of A Song of Fire and Ice, now better known as Game of Thrones. Even more exciting—writers, David Benioff + D. B. Weiss consulted super-nerd author, George RR Martin, in the show’s creation and worked hand-in-nerdy-hand with Martin to ensure the series was true to the much-loved books. Even MORE exciting—Katie, it turns out, totally loves the show. High-five, nerd self.

But even with Katie’s hard-to-win approval, the show still reeks of un-cool, with nerd-mainstays like dragons, monstrous wolves, giants, and unfathomably deep, hard-to-track lore rooted in the original books. So picture my shock this past weekend when the second-to-last episode of the season ended with a slow fade and the deep, growling voice of National frontman, Matt Berninger, creeping up over the end titles as a slow, brooding song begins to swell beneath his words.

Those guys aren’t nerds! It’s like that time Daniel played D+D with all the geeks of Freaks and Geeks and saved the day as Carlos the Dwarf! Huzzah—COOL KID LEGITIMACY! And, to top it all off, said song isn’t just some deep album track or a random b-side—it’s a straight up SONG FROM THE BOOKS, “The Rains of Castamere,” written to commemorate Tywin Lannister total effing up House Reyne, who rose up against House Lannister (told you—total nerd). Welcome to the dark side, Berninger. Next thing you know, you’ll be sporting a cloak and holding up a Staff of Crooning +4 at your live shows.

To commemorate this monumental cool-meets-nerd moment, we’re not only bringing you the National’s version of “The Rains of Castamere,” we’re also bringing fans of the show our rendition of “Before They Were on Game of Thrones”—a brief series of videos showing surprising and oft-embarrassing clips of the GoT crowd before they were fantasy toughs. Sure, most of us know that Peter Dinklage was an indie film star and had his moment in Elf before the show, and most Wire fans probably realize by now that Irish actor Aidan Gillen (Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish on GoT) played Baltimore Mayor Tommy Carcetti on that gritty crime drama and contender for Best Show ever. But did you know that Joffrey was in a Batman movie? Or that Khal Drogo was on Baywatch? Or that the hound was in a commercial for…I don’t know. Kilts? I’m not quite sure. Check it out—

“Joffrey Baratheon”—Jack Gleeson

Yes, the process of finding humorous or enlightening material on an actor or actress is somewhat hampered by a short career when dealing with child actors, which makes it all that much more awesome that, in the clip we found for the much-hated King Joffrey (played by Jack Gleeson), the already famed victim of vindictive slapping gets a straight-up palm to the face from this not-so-nice security dude in Batman Begins. If you’re not up on the face-slapping reference, you should also be sure to check this out. Oh, Tyrion.

“Cersei Lannister”—Lena Headey

Moving on to Joffrey’s conniving mother, Cersei, it turns out that, in addition to being featured alongside the original Office‘s Tim in an arty short by the Guard Brothers, Headey also starred as Sarah Connor in The Terminator TV series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which anyone who saw that show would likely know. …so I’m guessing it’s news to everyone. Truth be told, ever since I listened to a commentary Headey did for Game of Thrones, I’ve had a bit of a celebrity crush on her. Turns out she’s hilarious AND she curses like a super-charming British sailor—both pluses in my book.

“Khal Drogo”—Jason Momoa

Another shocker—Jason Momoa, Conan star and the actor who portrayed the barbaric horse lord, Khal Drogo, doesn’t ONLY play sword-wielding, muscle-bound, bloodthirsty warriors. Just mostly. Before both those roles, he ALSO played a muscle-bound…um…lifeguard on Baywatch Hawaii. Yes, that was evidently a show.

“Robert Baratheon”—Mark Addy

And how about Ned Stark’s old chum from the days of the Usurper’s Rebellion, jolly old King Robert? How about starring alongside Mr. Stephen Baldwin as…well, see for yourself. CERSEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

“Sandor Clegane, AKA The Hound”—Rory McCann

I almost don’t know what to say about this one—the fearsome, emotionally and physically scarred Sandor Clegane…strutting down a snowy lane in a plaid skirt and making googly eyes at women in this Scott’s Porage Oats commercial. Wow. Just wow.

“Bronn”—Jerome Flynn

Now we enter the musical portion of our piece. Know the nimble, sword-slinging tough who serves as protector of Tyrion Lannister after a vicious dual at the Eyrie? Turns out the actor who plays said swordsman—Jerome Flynn—was one-half of the Simon-Cowell-created brit-pop duo, Robson + Jerome, who had three no. 1 singles in the 90’s.

“Osha”—Natalia Tena

Flynn isn’t the only musician among the cast though. You may know actress Natalia Tena—who plays Osha, the captured wildling and Stark companion—from her work in About a Boy and various Harry Potter movies, but did you know she fronts a pretty good UK ‘gypsy-step’ band, Molotov Jukebox, and has some mean chops on the accordion. Who knew‽ Other musical Throners of note—Roger Allam, who played wealthy merchant and matchmaker Illyrio Mopatis in season 1 played Inspector Javert in the original London production of Les Misérables and executioner Ilyn Payne, played by Wilko Johnson played guitar and sang for the British pub rock band, Dr. Feelgood.

“Theon Greyjoy”—Alfie Allen

And what greater flattery is there than having a song written about you? Oh. Unless you’re Alfie Allen and your sister is Lily Allen and she just wrote a song about how all you do is smoke weed and watch TV all day. No joke.
Oh little brother please refrain from doing that
I’m trying to help you out so can you stop being a twat?
It’s time that you and I sat down and had a little chat
And look me in the eyes take off that stupid fitted cap 

“Tyrion Lannister”—Peter Dinklage

Like many, we’ve been Dinklage fans for a while (have you seen The Station Agent? You should). And yes, yes, he was awesome in Elf, both Death at a Funerals, and a million other roles, seemingly. But did you also know that, way before all that, back in 1995, he played the voice of the Wake-Up Guy on Seinfeld? No, I think you did not.

“Eddard Stark”—Sean Bean

Finally, not only can you see actor Sean Bean—noble patriarch Eddard “Ned” Stark Game of Thrones—(cue Katie’s wistful “Ned Stark”) die 21 one times in this popular YouTube clip that covers everything from The Lord of the Rings to Patriot Games, you can also see him at what looks to be age 12 in a 1987 episode of Jim Henson’s Storyteller, one of my all-time favorites shows as a kid.

Man. I could do this all day. Still need more? Then check out Daenerys Targaryen playing a teen being stalked by her dad (gross), the Kingslayer pushing vegetables to Danes, and young Arya Stark dancing the waterdance for real. In, like, middle school. And if you do want to see what Matt Berninger would look like in Game of Thrones…pretty much just check out any scene with Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen). Hand him an open bottle of wine and he’s pretty much good to go on acting as a stand-in for the National frontman.

Note: Songs posted to this site 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 music!