I’ve used this journal before to sing the praises of the band Braids—once last March, featuring them on our monthly mixtape, then again last summer, after seeing the trio play a show at the Lyric Theatre here in Los Angeles and then again at year’s end when we named their most recent full-length, Deep in the Iris, 2015’s best album. So it likely goes without saying that I was excited at the opportunity to interview frontwoman Raphaelle Sandell-Preston recently.

The band’s just released a companion EP to Deep in the Iris—named Companion, as it happens—and, with it, Raphaelle recently penned an essay via Pitchfork—”Reclamation Through a Microphone: Braids’ Raphaelle Standell-Preston on How Songwriting Helped Her Process Sexual Abuse.” In the essay, Raphaelle talks through the inspiration for the EP’s title track and, more broadly, how her band’s music and talking about it has helped her work through personal tragedies, explaining, in part:

“The last few years I’ve found myself turning to my art to help regain a calmer and more understanding self amongst this mess. It’s been an attempt to regain control and agency over something that left me feeling powerless and confused for years. I found myself reaching to the microphone to scream, to bawl out those hidden moments in my life. In the midst of artistic exertion, I felt cleansed.”

We strongly encourage everyone to read the essay in its entirety.

Below, you can listen to the new EP in full and read on as we talked with Raphaelle about the songs, their attraction to our fair city of Los Angeles, and the reaction she’s gotten to her essay.

raven + crow: Alright, first off, thank you for taking the time to talk. Honestly, I’ve been a fan of Braids from early on, when you all were still a four-piece, but last year’s Deep in the Iris and your supporting live shows really just blew me away, honestly. Absolutely no question there, I just wanted to thank you for creating music that I very much cherish.

Raphaelle Sandell-Preston: Thank you for caring!

With that out of the way, you’ve got a new EP—what prompted that release? Was it material you’d recorded in the Iris sessions or something separate?

Three of the songs from Companion were written while writing Deep In The Iris. We couldn’t finish them for one reason or another, so we put them aside and promised to finish them when we had time. When we opened them up again in August of 2015, they just sounded like they belonged together, hence the name Companion. We then wrote the song “Companion” which became the thread that tied them all together.

I just read Carrie Brownstein’s memoir Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl and much of what she wrote about how Sleater-Kinney was treated and approached so differently than male-centric bands really made me examine how I approach interviews with people I don’t personally know. I consider myself pretty conscious of others’ points of view and don’t think I’ve ever been overly or overtly obtuse, but its also really hard for many of us to truly step out of our own existence when interacting with others. All that to say, feel free to completely disregard this request (in which case I’ll simply point to your recent essay), but can you speak to what compelled you to write “Companion” and the meaning behind it?

I would prefer that you refer to the essay as it’s all in there and is put much more thoughtfully than I can do while on little sleep in the middle of tour. Thanks!

That essay really is very moving—I know it hasn’t been out there in the public eye for long, but has most of the feedback from it been positive?

It’s been extremely positive. I was expecting there to be the unfortunate shitty internet troller, but it hasn’t happened!

That’s awesome all around. Back to the music, one thing I’ve always wondered with you all is what precipitated such a shift in the sound of the band. Sounds evolve, I know, but I feel like what Braids sounds like really changed very drastically, in a way I very, very much like. But was it attached to Katie’s departure at all or more of a deliberate move?

Depends on what record you’re talking about. I guess with every record it has been a pretty big shift sonically, but it somehow always sounds like Braids. I think with Deep In The Iris we really found our grounding as a band. Flourish Perish was a huge time of exploration and we were pretty emotionally confused, it was a hard record to write. We’ve never decided to be different with each record, it has just come with the territory of going through a lot of changes as people.

How do you describe your music to people totally unfamiliar with it or anything else close to it—say well-meaning relative that’s far-removed from current pop culture?

I often say to border guards that it’s a more feminine version of Pink Floyd.

Excellent.I know you recorded Deep In The Iris in the Arizona desert and remarker thereafter how much you liked it there. What draws you to the desert, in general and specific?

We just liked how expansive and open it was and it felt like the exact opposite from anywhere else we had recorded.

So, in press releases and the like, you all are still described as a Montreal band. But last time we saw you play, at the Lyric, you mentioned something about how you all were moving to Los Angeles. Did that come to fruition?

We did the typical snow birding this winter, where we spent a couple months there. I don’t think we will make a permanent move there as we have so many ties to Montreal, but I think we will definitely be spending a lot more time in LA. It’s my favourite city in the world, which perplexes me… but it just is. We love the weather in LA, and also the majority of our friends now live there. I had a BBQ in LA and could invite 25 people who I deeply cared for, whereas in Montreal I could probably do a BBQ with like 5 people, 2 of whom are in the band. Big exodus. Sometimes cities go through waves of being really creatively exciting and stimulated. I think LA is currently that city.

Well we were beyond thrilled to see you all play again at the Echo. Again, thanks for taking the time to talk and have a wonderful tour this summer.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

Braids is finishing up a tour of the States now, playing shows in Philly, DC, and Brooklyn in the next few days before heading overseas. Please, do everything you can to see them live—they play one of the best shows I’ve experienced, honestly. Complete tour dates on their site.

Above, video still from Braids’ “Companion” video; band photo below by Karoline Lebrun.

Another old slide of Niagara Falls at night, American side, clearly.

Friday, we were on our way out the door when we caught the tale end of a short story on NPR, part of The New Yorker Radio Hour. As is often the case when you come into stories in progress, it was somewhat confusing, but there was also something oddly familiar about the tone and words, both wandering and sad.

At the end of the piece, we learned the story was “Memorial Day” by Peter Cameron, a very well-accomplished New York City author who escaped the insular writing world habitually by taking on a day job in the early aughts at the front desk of a non-profit conservation group I worked at in my early New York days.

Though Peter + I weren’t close, he was always quietly kind and I admired the humility with which he placed himself in what could easily be considered a modest professional position, especially in light of his many novels, his frequent writing for The New Yorker, and the many books of his that were made into films. And, though Katie’s read more of his work than I have, from the excerpts I’ve read and the one reading we attended while still in New York, his voice has always struck me as introspectively emotional and deeply reflective.

His story “Memorial Day” is no exception.

If you have a subscription to The New Yorker, you can read the archive of the 1983 printing of the story there; if not, you can hear it over at NPR.

Fireworks for Friday.

Though this holiday weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, and though we hear tell that our beloved Brooklyn is currently experiencing quite the unexpected heat wave, here in southern California, summer still feels a little far off, with cool nights and the remnants of May Gray melting into June Gloom.

Which speaks to the surprise we felt this past weekend when one of our usual farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market was featuring not only fresh watermelon, but also a small stack of fresh corn.

I’m personally pretty particular about my corn and have been ever since a friend told me in high school that the deep yellow corn is what she and her family always called ‘pig corn’ in farm country, reserving the less sweet stuff for our snouted friends. Be that a fair characterization of that particular kind of corn or not, I’ve always love the paler, sweeter white corn and love to make an easy-but-delicious corn bisque when the season does get into full swing.

This isn’t a very specific recipe and involves a lot of optionals, but your base it, obviously, fresh corn. For a soup that generously served two, we used three ears, husked with silks removed. I usually then snap the ears in half by hand and then use a sharp knife, placing the ear half perpendicular to a cutting board with the flat, snapped end down and carefully cut kernels off the ear, getting as close to the husk as I can.

After that, it’s a simple matter of roasting a sliced white onion, sweet onion (the Texas Sweets are great in Cali right now), or shallots with a little salt until caramelized and semi-transparent and then adding the corn, roasting of medium heat until tender and browning slightly at the edges.

In it’s simplest form, you can then let the mixture cool and blend until puréed, adding water and/or vegetable broth until you get it to your desired consistency. You can add any spices you like, but we find that as long as you’re using good, fresh, sweet corn, letting those flavors shine through is best.

For this one, we then topped with a little mustard oil, cilantro, and some popcorn we popped and then shook with some salt + paprika in a small topped container.

Summer in a bowl.

As we’d written last month, we’ve embarked on a collaboration with Chef Minh Phan of porridge + puffs to create a line of vegan savory jams and condiments—PINCH by porridge + puffs. We’re still very much in the development phase, but Minh was asked by the Hollywood Farmers Market (best farmers market in the world, in our humble opinion) to be a part of their 25th anniversary celebration, which has been going on all month and has featured cookbook author signings, live music, and celebrity chef cooking demos. Minh did a demo a couple weekends back and we used the event as a bit of a soft launch for the jams, selling samples sporting the labels we made. We’re hoping to refine the process and packaging soon, but you’ll also be able to find the jams at Brooklyn’s western expansion of Smorgasburg to LA.

Minh’s kindly shared the recipe she featured at her cooking demo for mochi dough, or glutinous rice dough, which can be used for sweet or savory rice cakes or dumplings—a perfect topper along with some pickles to a rice porridge and something to liven up any vegetable-based or grain bowl. Pictured above, Robin from Koda Farms modeling the porridges Minh made using her rice and mochi dumplings made with her sweet rice flour.

This weekend is the last of the month, thus marking the last celebration for the farmers market and it’s a big one, featuring Neal Fraser of Red Bird (who we hear does a mean tofu dish) + Curtis Stone of Maude Los Angeles, who’s also signing his book, Good Food, Good Life. Elina Fuhrman will also be signing copies of her book on soup cleanses. Details on HFM’s site.

Minh’s recipe:

MOCHI DOUGH (Glutinous Rice Dough)

• 1lb Box of Koda Farms’ Blue Star Mochiko (organic version is wonderful), divided
• 1.5 Cups Hot Water (Hot but not boiling) for Dough
• 1 Tsp Salt
• Optional: 2 Tbsp oil or other Mix-ins (See below for ideas)

For Cooking: 3 quarts water + one tsp salt (can also use stock or simple syrup)

General ratio for mochiko:liquid is 2:1

If adding oil or mix-ins with liquid, use less water. If your dough is only slightly dry, run hands under water before kneading dough. On the other end of the spectrum, if dough feels wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, until you get a workable consistency. Adding oil to the dough makes it smooth and unctuous.

Base dough can be to used for savory or sweet rice cakes or gnocchis. Savory add-ins can be as simple as scallion oil (1/4 warm oil + 1 bunch chopped scallions), pureed or chopped herbs, citrus zest, aromatics, etc.

For sweet mochis, add in 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, honey, or fruit purees.

Directions:
Measure out 2.5 cups mochiko. Whisk with fork or sift so flour is loose. Make a well and add about ¾ cups of water. Keep mixing until dough forms. Add a tablespoon more of water at a time until a ball comes together.

Add oil or other mix-ins. Knead until dough is smooth and shiny. Form into balls for gnocchis or discs of ricecake. Use extra flour for dusting work surface and mochis so they don’t stick together. Can also dust with cornstarch.

For stuffed mochis, form into golfballs then roll or press into flat round sheets. Stuff with desired stuffing (i.e., PINCH savory jams) and pinch seal, roll to smooth. Bring cooking water to a boil with salt. Cook until mochis float. Take out, drain, don’t let mochis stick to each other. If making soup, can just drop mochas into soup right before eating and cook until they float.

Mochis can be cooked in stock, broth or simple syrups or juices for additional flavors.

© minh phan // porridge + puffs // hollywood farmers market 25th anniversary 2016

Robert Allen Zimmerman—AKA Elston Gunn; AKA Blind Boy Grunt; AKA Bob Landy; AKA Robert Milkweed Thomas; AKA Dedham Porterhouse; AKA Lucky Wilbury; AKA Boo Wilbury; AKA Jack Frost; AKA Sergei Petrov; AKA Bob Dylan—is seventy-fucking-five years old today. Which is clearly crazy.

Also, I guess if you live in the public spotlight for 50+ years, you’re granted the option of taking on 10 nicknames. I got Chicken Legs in middle school + Trot Farter post-college, so I guess I’m doing alright, all things considered.

KCRW‘s celebrating Dylan’s dodranscentennial on their 24-hour music station Eclectic 24 noon through midnight today, with originals, rarities, covers, interviews, and music that’s inspired Dylan over the years.

Above, Dylan + Joan Baez performing “When the Ship Comes In” at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (AKA, the “I Have a Dream” march) back when we had all those race + class issues in America and there was all that civil unrest. Not like these days.

Footage of the performance below. Happy birthday, Boo.

Photo: Rowland Scherman – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

60s (or so) era slide of Niagara Falls at night, found by us on a trip to upstate New York + Canada in the early nineties.

Heads-up, Los Angeles—Echo Park staple Mohawk Bend has seriously upgraded their vegan pizza menu, eschewing their admittedly excellent housemade cashew cheese but/and bringing in products from local vegan cheese experts Follow Your Heart + Kite Hill.

They’ve also added some totally craveable new vegan pizzas, such as the Ricotta Kale that employs Kite Hill’s nut-based ricotta and the Angry Vegan (my favorite, pictured)—”house tomato sauce, fresh serrano chilies, Calabrian chilies, Kite Hill vegan ricotta cheese, Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella, house-made vegan parmesan, chili oil, oregano.”

From MB’s site:
“Our artisan pizza dough is made from a blend of organic and conventional flours crafted by master California millers at Giusto’s Specialty Foods. Our house tomato sauce is made from crushed California tomatoes, locally grown garlic, California olive oil and sea salt.”

Pizza and a beer, anyone?

We just created this poster for a friend’s screening of the film Nineteen Eighty-Four, based on George Orwell’s seminal dystopian novel.

The event—which happens this Friday night at Echo Park’s Sweat Spot—is a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders with $27 donations going directly to Sanders’ campaign and featuring vegan street tacos by Let’s Taco ‘Bout It, a photo booth by Nicholas Iverson, and voter registration for those not yet registered.

It’s also, as one may have guessed, a bit of a comment on the world in which we may live if the wrong person wins this election in November.

Details + RSVP via Facebook and hope to see you there—feel the Bern!