This recipe is really easy and obscenely tasty. It is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s An Invitation to Indian Cooking. The original recipe specifies very fresh whole pea pods, to be eaten like artichoke leaves (pull between your teeth, so that you eat not just the peas but the fleshy part of the pod as well). I found that it worked very well with green beans (to be eaten whole, as normally), which I happened to have on hand.
3/4 pound green beans
1 tbs ghee
1/8 tsp ground asafoetida (hing powder)
1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp garam masala (plus addition 1/2 tsp garam masala at end) (see note*)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbs warm water
Clean and snap off the ends of the green beans.
Heat the ghee over moderately high heat in a 10″ skillet. When hot, add the asafoetida and cumin seeds and stir once. When the cumin seeds change color (10-20 seconds), add the green beans and stir for 1 minute. Add lemon juice, the first 1/2 tsp garam masala, salt and pepper. Stir, add the warm water, bring to a boil, turn heat to very low, cover, and cook gently for about 20 minutes, until tender (Jaffrey specifies 20-30 minutes for the pea pods, but I found the beans were done in just under 20). Stir once or twice during cooking.
Serve in a warm dish, sprinkled with the addiitonal garam masala.
* Note: there are many different varieties of garam masala. For this recipe, I used one from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Cooking:
3 tbs black cardamom pods
3 cinnamon sticks, about 2-3 inches long
1 tbs whole black cloves
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/2 cup cumin seeds
1/2 cup coriander seeds
Break open cardamom pods, remove seeds and reserve; discard skin. Crush the cinnamon with a kitchen mallet to break it into small pieces. Combine all the spices including the cardamom seeds and roast them in a thick-bottomed pan, stirring frequently, until they darken slightly and become richly aromatic. Allow to cool, grind in a spice grinder, and then store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Recipe may be cut in half.
Loopy rave dudes get down to “Endless Sunset” by Delorean.
By the way, they’ll be back in the US starting next week:
Friday 06.04 New York, NY – Pianos
Saturday 06.05 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands Gallery
Sunday 06.06 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey
Monday 06.07 Vancouver, British Columbia – Biltmore Cabaret
Tuesday 06.08 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Thursday 06.10 San Francisco, CA – Popscene
Friday 06.11 Los Angeles, CA – Echo
Saturday 07.10 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
Monday 07.12 Allston, MA – Great Scott
Tuesday 07.13 Montreal, Quebec – Le Belmont
Wednesday 07.14 Toronto, Ontario – Wrongbar
Thursday 07.15 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
Saturday 07.17 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Not wanting to feel left out of the summer fun, Shearwater will be heading over for a visit to Europe in July and August with visits to some rather intimate UK venues and to play as part of a special show at London’s (amazing) Barbican Theatre featuring 13 of Andy Warhol’s screen shots being accompanied by live music.
They’ll also be spreading some peace and love/playing songs from their most recent and most excellent album The Golden Archipelago at a bunch of festivals around mainland Europe.
To be even more helpful, here’s a full list of all the shows that I’ve just been hinting at…
WFMU returns to Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival, which starts tonight and features a lineup that is pretty damned impressive. Just like last year, WFMU will be broadcasting Primavera sets from various artists, including the following Matador bands at the following times (all EDT):
FRIDAY, MAY 28
12:10pm Mission of Burma
5:40pm The New Pornographers
8:45pm Pavement
SATURDAY, MAY 29
1:10pm Condo Fucks
2:20pm Cold Cave
The full WFMU Primavera broadcast schedule, which includes sets by The Fall, Wire, Liquid Liquid, and other luminaries, can be found at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. All times are subject to change, so pay attention to WFMU’s Twitter and Facebook for updates. Tune in to WFMU at 91.1FM in NY/NJ, 90.1FM in the Hudson Valley, and wfmu.org for everyone else.
Even though we’d been convinced that all that slaving away at the myriad marketing gimmicks, “promo opportunities” and general suffering we put bands through would leave us with some very exhausted talent, it turns out that these guys just can’t stop doing thangs… read on to see what some of our beloved have been up to.
Though she’s on tour with the New Pornographers, as we speak, Kathryn Calder just put the finishing touches on her new solo record. On August 11 the world’ll be treated to ‘Are You My Mother?’ which features an all-star band featuring Neko, Kurt and Todd from The New Pornographers and a handful of other Canadian musical luminaries. Check File Under: Music for more info.
Mogwaiwill be releasing the pretty stunning looking live LP entitled, ‘Special Moves’to coincide with the release of their first live film ‘Burning’, which was filmed in Brooklyn during the band’s tour in support of ‘The Hawk Is Howling’ in April of 2009. Check Mogwai’s site for info on ordering the record and where you can catch screenings of ‘Burning’.
Following the release of their live-film, Dead Meadow released their second live album ‘Three Kings’ and soundtrack to aforementioned film, on the Xemu label in April.
Matmos‘ Drew Daniel and Martin Schmitt have teamed up with So Percussion on a collaboration entitled ‘Treasure State‘ — expect to have your mind twisted on July 8. Cantaloupe Records sez: “The record had a complex gestation period: at the invitation of Brett Allen, the members of Matmos and So Percussion went to the SnowGhost Studios in Whitefish, Montana– the Treasure State which gives the album its title– and collaboratively generated the bulk of the songs. San Francisco plunderphonicist Wobbly then chopped and edited the results on several tracks, and finally, with frequent interventions from Matmos’ M. C. Schmidt, “fifth” So Percussion member and producer Lawson White overdubbed extra elements, processed, and mixed the results.” There’s a handful of live dates, to boot!
Thursday June 17 Ted Leo will be stopping by hometown haunt Generation Records for a free, all ages acoustic instore featuring a very special guest (Hint: It’s not Oderus Urungus).
In free schwag news, if you stop by Generation between now and the 17th, you can get an autographed poster with purchase of The Brutalist Bricks CD/LP.
And let us not forget Ted is playing Siren Festival shortly thereafter. Bam!
Around 2008/2009 Kurt Vile was releasing so many amazing recordings (not excluding the Matador-released barnburner, ‘Childish Prodigy’) it at times could get pretty difficult to keep up. It’s been a little quiet on the recorded music front lately; Kurt’s been touring pretty much non-stop only taking time of to put the finishing touches on his third longplayer, which we’ll be telling you about very soon.
But, today we’re excited to release the newest recorded missive from KV, his ‘Square Shells’ EP — in fact, we’re so excited for you to hear this, thatwe’re giving away a free download of the EP right now and for the next 24 hours, or so.
UPDATE: Thanks for checking in, the free download is now closed but the EP is available to purchase over at our webstore, in record shops around the world and through your favorite online retailers.
You’ve probably already heard the the track we leaked a few weeks ago, “Invisibility: Non-Existent”, but you’re gonna want to dig into this EP to hear all of it’s perfect summery strummers and psyched-out soundscapes.
By entering your email address below, you’ll get an instant download (and be on a very special Kurt Vile mailing list — we promise we won’t share, sell, or make fun of your email address)
It seems everyone is after some sort of Euro trip this summer, with Fucked Up joining (what feels like) the rest of the Matador roster in having a jolly overseas, playing a load of festival dates and a some headline shows in between. Presumably just to break up the travelling and to hopefully stop the arguing in the back of the van, fights over the stereo and never ending “Are we there yet?!” pestering.
They’ll be tearing up stages on the following dates
15th July – The Barfly, Cardiff, UK
16th July – Guilfest (Rocksound Stage), Guildford, UK
17th July – Dour Festival, Belgium
18th July – Melt Festival, Gräfenhainichen, Germany
19th July – MTC, Cologne, Germany
20th July – De Affaire Festival, Nijmegen, Netherlands
21st July – Hana Bi Beach, Marina Di Ravenna, Italy
The Buffalo News reported nearly $100K worth of fire damage to North Buffalo’s beloved Spiral Scratch Records this past Thursday morning. There’s a benefit taking place at this lovely establishment tomorrow night, and if you’re an out-of-towner sitting on doubles you’d otherwise ignore or eBay (HINT, HINT, don’t be a jerk.
Spiral Scratch c/o Dave Palumbo
72 Nassau Ave
Kenmore, Ny 14217
The track, which is not on the album nor part of the GHTG subscription package, was recorded in Glasgow last year with Linnea Jönsson, the lead singer of Swedish band, Those Dancing Days on vocals.
The download also features a new version of “A Down and Dusky Blonde” with lead vocals by Dina Bankole.
Both tracks will also be available to buy digitally via www.godhelpthegirl.com, and will be bundled with the artwork and video for “Baby You’re Blind,” which was filmed in Stockholm in January of this year.
Dead Meadow shot by 
