Today is both National Grilled Cheese Day (I guess I capitalize that?) and Equal Pay Day.

One side of the day—safe to call it the party side—recognizes all that is holy in the culinary meetings of crispy, seared bread and creamy, plant-based cheese (obviously, we only consider vegan cheeses to be consumable by us humans; the rest if a cruel, commercialized by-prodcut of milk literally only produced for the babies of cows, goats, et cetera). Our contribution to that side of the day and our tastebuds—a Caprese-style grilled cheese using grilled Kenter Canyon red fife bread, farmers market tomato + basil, and vegan coconut-cashew mozzarella from Miyoko’s Creamery, up the coast.

The other side of the day—the serious documentary side, let’s say—is meant to recognize the massive, pervasive, longstanding gap in wages for men and women. As is pretty common knowledge at this point, un the US, women typically earn $0.79 for every dollar men earn. Still. To this day. See the image below, created by the White House.

The reason Equal Pay Day is today is because April 12 marks the day that said typical woman catches up to the earnings said typical man earned in all of last year. That’s straight-up depressing. More depressing? That gap’s even larger when said woman is not white. Again, graphic courtesy of the White House (click if it’s too tiny for you).

What are we doing about it? Well, for one, there are a ton of acts and laws, like the Lilly Ledbetter Act—the first piece of legislation signed into law as president in 2009—which essentially makes it easier for women to bring legal challenges to unequal pay. But that’s been law for over 7 years, and we’re still at roughly the same place. We can sign acts and pass laws and we should continue to do that, but almost as important is the act of keeping the lines of dialogue open on this; reminding all of this that this problem continues to exist and has broader implications and causes than those missing $0.21 can really speak to.

Thus the importance of having a day like National Grilled Cheese Day. Sorry. Equally Pay Day. So very similar, it’s hard to keep track.

Soaking in the bizarreness of the Salton Sea today, an accidental, below sea level, receding saline rift lake full of dead fish and saturated with a pretty awful smell. It’s a truly strange place, but kind of beautiful too if you look at it the right way

Last night, we got the opportunity to attend a really wonderful panel discussion at UCLA titled Compassionate Connections: The Intersections of Feminism and Animal Rights. As the name suggests, the speakers addressed issues of feminism and animal rights and how they’re related. The concept of intersectionality, for anyone who doesn’t already know, is the basic belief that all forms of oppression—sexism, racism, ableism, speciesism…all of the isms—are related, so one such ism can’t effectively be addressed without taking into account the rest. We did an interview last year with the grassroots animal liberation organization Resistance Ecology where we go into more detail on this idea if you’re interested in reading it.

In short, the panel was deep and wildly inspiring, with each of the three panelists bringing their individual work, theory, and wealth of knowledge to the fore to the benefit of us all. The panelists were Jacqueline Adamescu of Project Intersect (who did the art on the program, above), Aph Ko of Black Vegans Rock + Aphro-ism, and lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project, who we’ve actually been working with since 2007 or and our days in Brooklyn, but had never before met in person (we did their logo and site and do a lot of their print work). The whole thing was organized by a group a friend of ours recently started up, Intersectional Feminists for Animals, a group that “works to create and foster a safer, inclusive space for all who are women-identified and non-binary folks in animal rights.”

There was a taping that was done of the talk, which we’ll share as soon as it’s public, but we wanted to nonetheless shout out to all the people who made last night happen as it was truly magical. In the meantime, you can (and should) check out lauren’s TedX talk on the power of our food choices below.

Back in 2012, when we were still based out of our Boerum Hill, Brooklyn design studio, we were commission by an acquaintance—Kristin Lajeunesse—to do some custom illustration work. The work involved a rebranding of her then company, Rose Pedals Vegan Weddings, which was an online resource for anyone wanting to plan a vegan wedding. The idea was that we’d create these personified animal brides, grooms, and fancied-up wedding attendees and then use those throughout the site and in its marketing; key amongst it—tees we were going to have made (see badass mouse bride shirt illustration, to the right).

As you’ve likely guessed from the past tense structure of this introduction, none of that ever came to fruition—we completed a total of five unique illustrations and, a little while later, Kristin stepped away from the business to pursue other work—she’s now a lifestyle coach and author and the company’s since passed hands and been rebranded Vegan Weddings HQ.

Though we’ve got no hard feelings about how things turned out, we were always a little sad the project was never fully realized, only because we were really proud of the work itself.

The illustrations were based on photo composites we created so as to establish a realistic foundation that we could then stylize and embellish from as we liked. We then hand-sketched over the composites, scanned these sketches, and brought them into Adobe Illustrator, where we re-sketched the hand-done lines using a pen + tablet so we ended up with crisp, resizable vector lines. For the shirts, we then used a similar technique to color in forms in layers behind the sketch layer, again, to end up with bold, solid forms; ones that could be resized without degradation and would translate to print well.

In the end though, we’re personally even more fond of the pieces that grew from this original work, which we made by taking the illustrations I (Troy) created, printing them on archival stock, and having Katie tone and bring them to life with hand-watercoloring. There’s something about the pairing of clean, sharp lines and corners of the computer-rendered work that plays so nicely off the organic, natural flow of watercolor in all its nuances.

These three pieces hang in our Los Angeles home now and make me happy every time I look at them. So all’s well that ends well, I’d say.

A little over a week ago, one of our favorite bands, The National, and their label, 4AD, finally announced details of a project they’ve all been talking about for a while now—Day of the Dead, a massive tribute to the Grateful Dead that marks the 20th album of original music the organization Red Hot has produced over the past 25 years to help raise awareness and money to fight HIV/AIDS and related health issues. The collection was curated by curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National and singer Matt Berninger has been talking about the project since his press tour for the documentary his brother did, Mistaken for Strangers, in 2014. So it’s been on people’s radar for a while now, but we don’t think we’re alone in not until now understanding the scope of the project—the 5 CD, soon-to-be-announced LP box set, nearly 6 hour long collection features 60 bands doing their renditions of 59 Dead tracks. That’s nearly a workday’s worth of Ahoni, Wilco, Angel Olsen, Jim James, The Tallest Man on Earth, Local Natives, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and, of course, The National, playing some of the most beloved songs of American country-folk-pop-Americana…to name a fraction of those involved.

We can’t imagine what it took to put this whole thing together, but we like what we’ve heard so far. Day of the Dead won’t hit store shelves/your download folder until May 20, but, you can pre-order it via 4AD now—t’s a mere $29.99 for all of that music and remember, it benefits the good work of Red Hot (the last collection the Dessners did for the organization, Dark Was The Night, has raised over $1.5 million for the organizations fighting AIDS to date). 

One of our favorite tributes so far is The War on Drugs‘ version of “Touch of Grey”; you can listen to that below along with four other tracks that have been released to promote the collection by The National (they actually get four tracks across the collection), Phosphorescent + Jenny Lewis,  Bruce Hornsby + DeYarmond Edison, and Melbourne’s darling of indie rock, Courtney Barnett. Full track list of Day of the Dead below the video streams. Find out more and pre-order the album in its various forms via the Day of the Dead web site.

Bonus related post over at our sister web journal, Forgotten Favorite—our write up on the Dead, Freaks and Geeks, and “Box of Rain”.

“Thunder” (Vol.1)
01. Touch of Grey – The War on Drugs
02. Sugaree – Phosphorescent, Jenny Lewis & Friends
03. Candyman – Jim James & Friends
04. Cassidy – Moses Sumney, Jenny Lewis & Friends
05. Black Muddy River – Bruce Hornsby and DeYarmond Edison
06. Loser – Ed Droste, Binki Shapiro & Friends
07. Peggy-O – The National
08. Box of Rain – Kurt Vile and the Violators (featuring J Mascis)
09. Rubin and Cherise – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Friends
10. To Lay Me Down – Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten & Friends
11. New Speedway Boogie – Courtney Barnett
12. Friend of the Devil – Mumford & Sons
13. Uncle John’s Band – Lucius
14. Me and My Uncle – The Lone Bellow & Friends
15. Mountains of the Moon – Lee Ranaldo, Lisa Hannigan & Friends
16. Black Peter – Anohni and yMusic
17. Garcia Counterpoint – Bryce Dessner
18. Terrapin Station (Suite) – Daniel Rossen, Christopher Bear and The National (featuring Josh Kaufman, Conrad Doucette, So Percussion and Brooklyn Youth Chorus)
19. Attics of My Life – Angel Olsen
20. St. Stephen (live) – Wilco with Bob Weir

“Lightning” (Vol. 2)
01. If I Had the World to Give – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
02. Standing on the Moon – Phosphorescent & Friends
03. Cumberland Blues – Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band
04. Ship of Fools – Tallest Man on Earth & Friends
05. Bird Song – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Friends
06. Morning Dew – The National
07. Truckin’ – Marijuana Deathsquads
08. Dark Star – Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends
09. Nightfall of Diamonds – Nightfall of Diamonds
10. Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald – Tim Hecker
11. Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad – Lucinda Williams & Friends
12. Playing in the Band – Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends
13. Stella Blue – Local Natives
14. Eyes of the World – Tal National
15. Help on the Way – Bela Fleck
16. Franklin’s Tower – Orchestra Baobab
17. Till the Morning Comes – Luluc with Xylouris White
18. Ripple – The Walkmen
19. Brokedown Palace – Richard Reed Parry with Caroline Shaw and Little Scream (featuring Garth Hudson)

“Sunshine” (Vol. 3)
01. Here Comes Sunshine – Real Estate
02. Shakedown Street – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
03. Brown-Eyed Women – Hiss Golden Messenger
04. Jack-A-Roe – This Is the Kit
05. High Time – Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear
06. Dire Wolf – The Lone Bellow & Friends
07. Althea – Winston Marshall, Kodiak Blue and Shura
08. Clementine Jam – Orchestra Baobab
09. China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
10. Easy Wind – Bill Callahan
11. Wharf Rat – Ira Kaplan & Friends
12. Estimated Prophet – The Rileys
13. Drums -> Space – Man Forever, So Percussion and Oneida
14. Cream Puff War – Fucked Up
15. Dark Star – The Flaming Lips
16. What’s Become of the Baby – s t a r g a z e
17. King Solomon’s Marbles – Vijay Iyer
18. Rosemary – Mina Tindle & Friends
19. And We Bid You Goodnight – Sam Amidon
20. I Know You Rider (live) – The National with Bob Weir

What we’re reading in the studio currently—a dystopian west coast future think-piece adventure + a favorite riot grill turned actress-comedian memoir. And two good examples of excellent book cover design.

After our recent trip to Las Vegas with friends, we have only two pieces of advice for you:

1. Learn to play Craps (you’ll thank us later), and

2. Call and make an appointment to see artist James Turrell‘s Akoob in the top floor of—oddly enough—Louis Vuitton‘s Vegas store.

We can’t show you pictures of our visit—no, not because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but because they don’t allow photos. But we can show you the card they gave us on exit and the lovely follow-up note they mailed us the following week. If you’d like to know more about the piece, you can read the LA Times article on it from a few years back, but we’d advise knowing as little as possible going in, as our friend Adam did.

Just know that any art you have to sign a legal waiver to experience must be worth it.

We came across this vintage print ad for the Peace Corps yesterday at the Long Beach Antique Market. It was in a 1968 issue of Life magazine—seven years after the creation of the program—and I found it impressive and intriguing, both from the perspective of someone in the advertising business and as an returning Peace Corps Volunteer myself.

From a marketing perspective, it’s got the simple, elegant visual hook of the text and glass, playing with the magnified perspective the rounded glass provides and its tone compels the audience with an emotional hook. It says “Hey, this isn’t for everyone, but if this positive messaging appeals to you, maybe it is for you,” without quite stepping over the line of condescension.

And coming at it as a former volunteer, it’s just nice—in an admittedly romanticized way—to see the positivity that I honestly do feel remains at the root of the program to this day worn on the agency’s sleeve and touted so loudly early on.

Plus how awesome that the call to action was to write a letter…to street address-free government agency.

You have to love old school social media.

Paired TV spot below. The campaign was done in partnership with the Ad Council. If anyone knows anything else about it, please do contact us; we’d love to know more.

It’s that time of year again, when almost literally ever band ever makes their annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest. What started as a tiny local music festival in 1987 has ballooned to massive proportions, as we all know—I mean, the President just spoke at South by and I hear the First Lady just did a keynote with Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah, both awesome things, but not exactly…indie?

Lament as you might about the days when the festival wasn’t full of douchey brahs, selfie-takers, and worldwide-recognized bands, the music festival is still a tastemaker and, if you can cut through the massive noise of a festival that features this many bands, it can do a lot for your music.

We won’t be in attendance this year, but, were we, these are the 25 bands we would make extreme efforts to catch live, some of whom we even saw just last week—they’re that fucking good. List presented in alphabetical order for maximum fairness along with pithy snippets that fall vastly shortly of fully describing each band and images that click through to the bands’ SXSW page with showtimes or the bands’ site/Facebook page. Check bands’ site or FB pages for additional showcases in Austin though—most will play many sets in the next week or so, not all official South by showcases that’ll be listed on those pages.

Bavarian weird-pop band that you should really check out—they barely ever make it stateside. We also did a 2014 interview with the band—seem like nice guys.

Beautifully crafted pop; solo project of Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio, featured on last month’s mixtape.

Los Angeles’ own king of catchy, lush pop; we hear he puts on a greta show too.

Chad Valley, AKA Hugo Manuel, AKA the main dude from Oxford’s Jonquil, a great, guitar-melody-driven indie band; this is his electronic solo persona, equally awesome.

I’ll be the one person ever to not mention how young this guy is and just say he writes jangly indie-pop and sounds kinda like a 12-year-old British James Mercer.

Go see her. Saw her again last week and she only gets better; simple, driven pop music built smartly around Sumner’s husky distinct voice; some validity in comparing her music to early stuff from her dad’s band, The Police…that’s a good thing.

Rightly much-buzzed about, vocally driven electronic music; featured on last September’s mixtape.

Frank, folk-infused indie pop some might call cute…for which I hope they’d get kicked; featured on this month’s mixtape.

Straight up catchy indie pop out of the Bay Area. We did an interview with primary Geographer, Mike Deni, last year.

Fun, crazy noise. Live shows said to also be fun, crazy.

Jack Garratt this month’s mixtape; slightly glitchy, R+B-y, smooth-vocal-forward electronic out of England.

Ex-xx (maybe current?); not exactly indie or small any more, but worth catching.

Solo bedroom pop project from Little Big League front woman Michelle Zauner outta Philly/Brooklyn; featured on this month’s mixtape.

We’ve used these pages to proclaim our general love of space and science, as well as our general appreciation for NASA’s Image of the Day series. Well, here’s another pretty impressive shot of nature in action courtesy of NASA.

As they explain:

“During the afternoon of March 9, 2016, a total solar eclipse was visible in parts of southeast Asia. An eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun. The MODIS instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the total solar eclipse moving across the south Pacific Ocean at 03:05 UTC on March 9, 2016.”

Beautiful.

Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team.