Meanwhile, the single’s b-side is a new version of the track “Your Wild Heart” which originally appeared on Thousand’s now out-of-print and hard to find album The Flying Pyramid. This cut of the track was specifically re-recorded for our Pairings Box. It is a desperate love song featuring crisp mostly-acoustic instrumentation that builds to frantic crescendo as he sings: “I wish there was a place for me in your heart, where we could kiss once again and be in love for ever and ever. And we’d be trapped in the wild, wild jungle of your wild heart.” The melody is underlined by blinking tones that gradually increase in tension and prominence as the track plows forward towards it’s swirling and abrupt conclusion. Take a listen!

Like each of the four singles before it (we’re now five for five), this sold out before it was officially released. The only way to guarantee a copy of future releases is to subscribe to the Pairings Box here. March is already going quick.

At this point, their back story is almost ancient history. After all, The Walkmen have been performing together for approximately twelve years and have released six full length records together (including one track by track cover album of Harry Nilsson’s Pussy Cats). Their debut record, Everyone Who Pretended To Be Like Me Is Gone celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary with a limited edition (and now sold out) repress just last month. In fact, today’s Musical Pairing, their 2008 released LP You & Me, is their fourth album of original material (5th LP if you count the Nilsson cover album). At this point they sound like pros. And that’s a good thing. You & Me is a thoughtful album that bares witness to a band that is comfortable in their own skins and have learned the value of subtlety. Track after track it’s clear they know exactly when to hold a little back to build tension, and when to blast forth for dramatic effect. Thankfully, it also demonstrates a band hasn’t lost the fire in their belly. This passion for what may have even become routine is summed up with the album’s opening lyrics, as Leithauser sings; “Well, it’s back to the battle today / But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

That opener, “Dónde está la Playa,” is moody and barely constrained with a rumbling intensity created by burying Barrick’s drumming in the mix. It also quickly reveals the common motif played out through the course of the album of the lovelorn and road-weary traveler, “There is still sand in my suitcase / There is still salt in my teeth,” Leithauser sings. “On The Water” is filled with the tense melancholy of a lost love with a melody that builds slowly, holding back until the very last moments before reaching a full boil. The following track, “In The New Year,” takes a different tack rolling through pounding, almost (but not quite) triumphant rhythms that rise and rise and then cycle down.

It’s a strong album from start to finish, but I’ve always really enjoyed the album’s seven, eight and nine spots as a exceptionally strong trio of consecutive cuts. The trio begins with the shuffling, brass-toned, and melodic “Red Moon,” before launching into the twinkling, horn swell-infused and swaying “Canadian Girl.” Meanwhile, “Four Provinces” may be one of the strongest tracks on the entire album with periodic tempo shifts, clattering percussion and a meandering melody that rumbles like a barely contained fire before being splashed out at the very end.

In Kasey’s post today for her Frozen Banana-Chocolate and Peanut Butter Loaf she mentions how I didn’t really believe in the concept of a soul mate – I’m skeptical of anything that can’t be proven – whereas she believed. That said, I do believe in intuition. I believe you can get a gut sense that things just belong together. Although I’d normally list out the reasons I think our Pairings go together, for this one I’d rather just say that it feels like an intuitive pairing to me. What do you think?

The Walkmen – Dónde está la Playa

Head to the Kitchen to read the recipe for Kasey’s Frozen Banana-Chocolate and Peanut Butter Loaf. Then head to Insound to buy You & Me on vinyl before it, like most of their other albums, is sold out.

There is a neatly arranged time and place for everything in life, including peanut butter. I used to tell Matt, even before we were married, that I believed in the concept of soul mates. Something about our meeting and the way that we clicked made me feel confident that there was a reason that I had never been in love before. Not like that. Matt was not so sure. He thought it wasn’t so much that we were ‘meant’ to be together, but rather, that the timing of our meeting happened at the best possible point in time. Nowadays, I think we both believe in a combination of the two. That some things are meant to be, and timing is inevitably a game changer.

The way that we feel about people, places, smells, tastes, sights and sounds, hangs in the delicate balance of so many other factors. Take place, for example. Our childhood home evokes a certain memory for us when we are 8, 18, and 28. Our tastes in colors can change. One day, the world is black, and the next, tangerine. Others, still, it’s stark and white. One day, a stranger might walk into our lives and remain a stranger. Another, that stranger might become a trusted friend. A comforting soul. What makes the pendulum swing this way or that? Well, I cannot speculate. But, in my life, a number of occasions have caused me to sway one way or another.

My relationship with chocolate has been a steady love. We have not wavered. Peanut butter is another story. I first met peanut butter as a child of eight. At the time, I was still eating black bread sandwiches lovingly packed by my mom in a Little Mermaid plastic lunchbox. The other kids, they ate jam slathered between two slices of white bread that looked positively plastic. The untextured jelly was layered with a thick spread of tan cream. For years, I never developed a taste for it. I would occasionally eat it mixed into savory Thai sauces when I had already transitioned into adulthood. And I enjoyed the simple, salty taste of peanuts. But in creamed form? Especially in sweets, especially mixed with chocolate, my favorite. That I never learned to love. And then, then something clicked.

I ate a bar of chocolate from Poco Dolce. A peanut butter-bittersweet chocolate bar that I bought for Matt, but decided to take a small nibble of myself. And it was magic. This misunderstanding. This miscommunication we’ve had for years. It dissipated. And I ate the whole bar. I dreamed of the perfect combination of peanut butter and dark chocolate, but I knew we’d have to start slow.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a new loaf pan, I grabbed a few bananas, a bar of my favorite baking chocolate (Valrhona) and some freshly-made peanut butter. And off we went, mashing, chopping, mixing, blending, pouring. Until a loaf so lovely, nearly frozen, and sprinkled with crunchy peanuts, settled on our table. The richness of the chocolate was softened by the banana and if you concentrated hard, you could taste that unmistakable, but barely detectable, taste of peanut butter. It happened, and we devoured it in two sittings. I’m still thinking about it. And the possibilities of changing your mind. On everything from peanut butter to people.

Frozen Banana-Chocolate and Peanut Butter Loaf
adapted from Martha Stewart

12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
3/4 cup of fresh peanut butter (preferably creamy, though some chunks are ok)
2 ripe bananas
1 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped until stiff peaks hold
1/3 cup of roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
nonstick cooking spray or canola oil (for coating the loaf pan)

1. Generously grease a loaf pan with cooking spray or canola oil. Line the pan with parchment or waxed paper, letting the paper hang over both sides.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring until it’s completely smooth. Allow it to cool to room temperature.
3. Place the bananas in a food processor and puree them until they are completely smooth.
4. Stir the peanut butter into the melted chocolate until combined, then stir in the banana puree. Slowly fold in the whipped cream until combined. Stir until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with the chopped peanuts.
6. Fold the edges of the parchment paper over the top of the loaf and tightly wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap. Freeze for approximately 3 hours (until firm).
7. To serve, slice the loaf into 1 inch thick slices.

Musical Pairings: The Walkmen – You & Me + Frozen Banana-Chocolate and Peanut Butter Loaf

As usual, find the Pairing on the Turntable.

Radiohead – On The Beach (Neil Young Cover)
Golden Smog – On The Beach (Neil Young Cover)
Emily Reo – On The Beach (Neil Young Cover)

So what do you like about these covers?  What don’t you like about ‘em?

Indeed, although the recordings at times sound chilly, it is not for want of heart, but instead because that chilliness reflects the sparse, openness of Bachelorette’s production. It creates a sense of vastness and isolation. For example, opening track “Grow Old With Me” gradually blows open with little more than Alper’s affectless vocals and quiet, ambiant synths. Waves of cool textures build upon ringing tones to flesh out the sonic landscape of the melody. It’s followed with a swaying, lullaby-esque groove combined with a pensive, pulsating rhythm on the crisply spacious “The Light Seekers.” The aptly named “Blanket” is one of the album’s warmest rhythms, but it reminds me of the warmth of a tightly-wrapped wool blanket while sitting alone at a cold campsite in an open, isolated landscape. Which is to say that the track (and indeed the album) is filled with a comforting internal warmth, but is cool on the outside.

This is Alpers’ third album under the Bachelorette moniker and (sadly) likely her last. In fact, the album’s closing track “Not Entertainment” spells out exactly how Alpers feels about continuing to record as a solo artist under the Bachelorette moniker: “I’d rather watch the others enjoy themselves / And just be happy that I’m not a part of it. / Thank you for listening. / I hope you got enough from this project / to make it worth your while and mine.” Indeed, in an interview last year with the site Professional Losers she explained: “I feel like I’ve explored as much as I want to and lots of different ways of recording and making songs, and I want to stretch myself in other areas, with other musicians and not just fall into patterns of working the same way. It just felt like it was time to move on from the Bachelorette project.” Although the Bachelorette recording project has come to an end, you can still catch her on tour with The Magnetic Fields this spring.

It’s easy to see why the externally cold, but internally warming Bachelorette is a beautiful pairing for Kasey’s Cognac Ice Cream recipe. I don’t need to explain that ice cream is cold and Cognac (and liquor in general) are warming. But the album and recipe are also both rich and lovingly textured.

Bachelorette – Blanket

Head to the Kitchen to read the recipe for Kasey’s Cognac Ice Cream. Then visit Insound to buy Bachelorette’s self-titled album on vinyl.

When I lived in Italy, I learned three very important things. Don’t talk about God. Don’t talk about politics. And eat pasta as a first course. I’ve managed to be pretty good at sticking to the first two rules, but it’s on the third that I waiver. It’s an internal struggle that I have; in America, we are taught to eat pasta out of a giant, never-ending bowl, with a side of cheesy bread whereas in Italy, every meal starts with a small bowl of light pasta. There is one food group, however, that the Italians don’t treat with such self-control and that category is gelato.

Gelato is, in fact, simply the Italian word for ice cream. Italian gelato has a higher concentration of flavorings other than milk and cream, so its consistency ends up being much richer than the typical creamery treats we’re weaned on as American children. Chocolate gelato doesn’t taste like chocolate mixed with cream and milk. It tastes like whipped, melted chocolate, much in the same way as Italian cioccolata (or hot chocolate) is also largely a cupful of thick, melted chocolate, not a milky, leaky thing. For years, after I returned home to California, I tried to find the gelato that I fell in love with on the streets of Siena, Florence, Rome, and Venice, but no luck. Served in a tiny pastel-colored plastic cup with a spoon that looks like a miniature paddle made for a creature no bigger than a mouse, the gelato that I found was not at all what I craved. At some point, I rediscovered my love of good old fashioned American ice cream, specifically, artisinal ice cream, which has become so popular in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and other cities across the country. And then I finally tried Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio.

I had heard about Jeni’s for a while, from friends in Columbus, but when you’re visiting in the dead of winter and it’s 30 degrees out, ice cream is the last thing you want. This year, however, our trip to Ohio was unseasonably warm and I was set on sampling Jeni’s creations. I made her sweet corn ice cream last summer and been dreaming of sampling her other flavors. And boy did we sample. A total of 10? 15? I don’t remember. What I do remember is the flavors that hit my mouth: blackberry crisp, spicy peanut, cardamom (yes, cardamom!) and cream, cognac-soaked prunes, pistachio, ginger, and riesling-poached pear. Jeni is the Wizard of Oz of ice creams in my mind and her cookbook, named after her storefront and internet business (the woman ships ice cream packed in dry ice all around the country!), is a gem to own.

The secret to Jeni’s ice cream is her base, which incorporates cream cheese — an ingredient the Italians would never use. Funny enough, though, her technique lends itself to a very gelato-like ice cream consistency. The flavors of her ice cream are more pronounced, the texture is creamier and tastes richer, somehow.

Jeni describes her cognac ice cream as ‘the vanilla ice cream of the holiday season.’ I describe it as sexy beyond words. If you’re unfamiliar with Cognac, it’s a warming liquor that is actually a type of brandy. Its fans include my mom and American hip hop artists. Naturally, my mom is a hip lady. In this ice cream, the Cognac mixes with milk, cream, sugar, and cream cheese to create a flavor that you won’t immediately be able to pinpoint but that will make you think of: cabins in the woods, wool blankets, musk, almonds, wind, and heat. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I dare you to make this for your evening date and knock his or her socks off. Because it will. You’re welcome.

Cognac Ice Cream
adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
3 heaping tablespoons of cream cheese (softened)
pinch of kosher or sea salt
1 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of light corn syrup
1/4 cup of Cognac

1. Make a slurry by mixing two tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch until it forms a paste. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese until it’s smooth. Prep your ice water bath by filling a large bowl with water and ice cubes (this will cool your base quickly).
3. Combine the rest of the milk, sugar, whipping cream, and corn syrup in a medium pot. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat and boil for four minutes before removing from the heat.
4. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry, then bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring the mixture, until it begins to thicken (this should take about one minute).
5. Whisk the cream mixture into the bowl with the cream cheese until it’s smooth. Stir in the Cognac.
6. Transfer the ice cream base into 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag and seal tightly. Place the bag in the ice bath and let sit until completely cooled (about 30 minutes).
7. Process the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s instructions and then transfer to the freezer for at least four hours (though, given the addition of the alcohol, I’d recommend freezing for 6).

Musical Pairings: Bachelorette – Bachelorette + Cognac Ice Cream

Get more on the Turntable.

We mentioned in our January newsletter that the February Pairings Box will include some special treats, including a heart-shaped utensil from our friends at iHeart-This. The ‘Heart Parts’ are an awesome way to share a meal with a group of friends or a special someone. Each Heart Part can be used as a knife, fork, salad toss, scoop and pick…all in one! Each heart-shaped utensil breaks in half and they come in a rainbow of cool colors.

Can you imagine pulling these out at your next picnic or party? So fun! Today, we’re hosting a lil’ giveaway to give you a chance to win 5 boxes of different colored Heart Parts (each box contains 10 utensils in one color).

To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post, telling us who or what you heart.
2. Like iHeart-This’s Facebook page. While you’re at it, Like Turntable Kitchen, too!
3. Bonus ways to win: Tweet @ttablekitchen and @iheart_this, telling us why you’d like to win.

The giveaway is open until 12:00 pm PST on Friday, 2/10. One winner will be randomly selected and announced on Monday (so check back on the site to see if you’ve won!)

Check out the video of Heart Parts in action!

Happy weekend, lovelies!

There are few things more important in a singer-songwriters development than learning to write for ones voice. Elliot Smith accounted for the limitations of his voice by pairing it with strong melodic arrangements and virtuoso guitar playing. Bossa-nova godfather João Gilberto helped launch an entire genre by combining Latin music and jazz in such a manner that favored vocal restraint and the natural beauty of a hushed voice. Can you imagine how the song “London Calling” would have sounded had Joe Strummer possessed something other than his piercing bark? King Krule captures Archy Marshall at a stage where he’s becoming better acquainted with his vocal sweet-spot. Building on the sturdy foundation of his raw baritone, Marshall is crafting sophisticated songs that tease the imagination and heighten expectations.

“The Noose Of  Jah City,” the most fully realized track on the King Krule EP, best showcases Marshall’s burgeoning artistic clarity on terms of reconciling his voice with his sonic curiosities. The song is built on a foundation of dub atmospherics and what sounds like a jazzy lounge act playing somewhere beneath the sea. Marshall enters the mix with the chorus delivered with a hip-hop flow that soon gives way to something akin to a teary eyed barfly slumped over an old jukebox as he croons along with the saddest song ever written. Perhaps his ability to pull this off can be partly attributed to his parents exposing him to experimental jazz, dub, hip-hop, and poetry at an early age. Maybe he’s found a muse in the form of the general anger and pessimism that most British youth feel about their country right now. All I know for sure is that the end product leaves a pretty damn strong impression. I told you he’s only 17, right?

King Krule recently performed the track “Portrait In Black and Blue” for  Yours Truly. He’s joined by a trio of young musicians manning the bass, jazz heavy drum-work, and the third serving as the groups Johnny Greenwood with guitar and electronic gadget tinkering. When he opens the song with the words “Spastic gyrations, and abbreviated bathe’n suits; see? I suit you, cuz I could be you…” it sets off a synaptic firestorm as your brain tries to decipher its cryptic cheekiness. When the full band kicks in with its gangly, but convincing, take on hard-bop by way of Radiohead, the whole package begins to take on a real punk vibe. In the most youthful and audacious sense of the word, it’s completely punk. The performance is so good that I’ve watched it almost every day since it first became available.

On the surface Archy Marshall appears to be a prodigy. Who knows? Maybe he is. The term “outlier” as used by author Malcolm Gladwell might be a more apt descriptor. The unique confluence of the individually unremarkable details behind his music seems to suggest a potential once-in-a-generation talent. Honestly, it’s far too early to tell. In the meantime there are few artists of any age that I’m more excited about.

You can snag the King Krule EP here. You can check out Zoo Kid singles there.

King Krule – The Noose Of Jah City(Video)

Although, Vile’s status as a member of the band became far less straightforward following the success of his solo career, last year’s Slave Ambient was the second full-length record to have been born from Granduciel and Vile’s collaboration. Last year, when The War On Drugs announced the release of their follow up, rumors had spread that Vile had left the band. Granduciel has subsequently explained in interviews that Vile was never actually a full time member of the band, but that Vile does, in fact, perform on Slave Ambient and their collaboration together remained an important element of the band’s creative energy. Regardless of the extent of Vile’s involvement in Slave Ambient, it is clear that he helped Granduciel unlock his full creative potential which has resulted in some damn fine rock ‘n roll.

The album unfolds with opener “Best Night” like a cinematic scene slowly coming into focus on a convertible, top down, quietly barreling down a long desert road kicking up dust clouds. It’s a slow cruising melody that quietly rolls forward into the jangling and shimmery psychedelic glaze of “Brothers.”  The following cut, “I Was There,” is a straight-forward piano-spined melody complimented beautifully with Granduciel’s reedy vocals.

“Come To The City” was one of the album’s singles, and an easy choice for one of the album’s top highlights.  It’s founded upon a steadily chugging rhythm that feels like it could build forever without the necessity of reaching a climax as Granduciel carefully intones: “I’ve been rollin’ down on the good stuff / Past the roads I can see, oh babe / Lead me back to the one I love / All roads lead to me.” It’s beautifully restrained in it’s own triumph. Having never blown the moment, they revisit the vibe again only a few tracks down the road on “City Reprise,” but this time with sparkling ambiance and sonic density obscuring the melody before launching into the album’s other single “Baby Missiles.”  The track reveals the band at it’s most lively and energetic with a breezy riff propelling it across the interstate.

Much like Slave Ambient, Kasey’s Eggplant and Meyer Lemon Risotto offers a unique and contemporary take on an old classic. Like a traditional risotto, this recipe is creamy, decadent and flavorful, but featuring intentionally-burnt eggplant and Meyer Lemon (it taste’s much better than it might sound) it also is unusually complex and undeniably distinctive.

The War On Drugs – Come to the City

Head back to the Kitchen to read Kasey’s recipe for Eggplant and Meyer Lemon Risotto.  Then head to Insound to buy Slave Ambient.

All of the walls in my house are white. I hadn’t intended for it to be that way, but for the past seven years, I have lived in a rented apartment where painting the walls is off-limits. I never thought it would get to me so much. You see, my bedroom in my parents’ home was white. My college apartment walls were white. I once lived in a house where my bedroom walls were a baby blue, but that is beside the point. White is as inoffensive as colors get and yet, I yearn for yellow. Or green. Or a dusty rose. Sometimes I wonder if, when I move, I will paint every room a different color, to make up for these years of white.

In the meantime, I have found a way to combat the whiteness of my walls with color:

Our home is filled with blown up photographs of our travels and colorful artwork.
Most of my kitchen gadgets and accessories feature a pop of color (our Kitchenaid stand mixer is yellow, my tea kettle is red, I have a rainbow of spatulas, and bright orange latte bowls for morning yogurt and granola)
My collection of flowered Anthropologie aprons is growing
I have a giant bowl of fruit that is always overflowing with the bounty of the season (right now, it’s pears, blood & Cara Cara oranges, and apples)
I try to pick up fresh flowers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Hydrangeas are some of my favorites.
I cook with lots of color.

Cooking with color is something I’ve noticed myself doing ever since I started cooking seasonally. I can never get past a plate filled with a lot of brown (unless it’s my mom’s barley and mushroom soup!). Even if what you’re cooking is on the darker color spectrum, you can often brighten it up with things like:

Fresh, green herbs
Lemon, lime, and orange zest
A drizzle of olive oil
A poached egg (hey, put an egg on it!)
A sprinkling of pistachios
Fresh berries (for something sweet, like tapioca pudding)

My love for Italy, and risotto, knows no bounds. Yet, somehow, I’ve managed to go a long time without sharing a recipe with you. So here it is — an adaptation from one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks, Plenty. This risotto isn’t your typical one: its stock base is vegetarian, and its nutritional element comes from eggplant prepared in two different ways (burnt — more on that later! — and sauteed). At this time of year, fragrant Meyer lemons are plenty (no pun intended!) around these parts, so I used some to add a bright citrus flavor to the dish. Making your own vegetable stock is surprisingly easy, and this recipe makes enough for you to bring some to lunch a few days in a row!

What role does color play in your life?

Eggplant and Meyer Lemon Risotto
adapted from Plenty
*serves four

2 medium-sized eggplants
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
7 ounces of arborio rice
1/2 cup of dry white wine
3 1/4 cups of hot vegetable stock (preferably homemade*)
zest of 1 Meyer lemon + 2 tablespoons of freshly-squeezed juice
1 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
diced basil or flat-leaf parsley, to serve

1. Weird as it may sound, the first step of this recipe is to literally burn one of your eggplants. To do this, preheat your broiler and then use a sharp knife to make 4-5 cuts in the eggplant. Place the eggplant on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil it for about an hour.
2. Once the eggplant is cool enough to handle, slice it in half, longways, and scoop out the flesh. Toss the skin. Roughly chop the eggplant flesh and set it aside.
3. Dice the second eggplant into 1/2 inch pieces. Heat about 1/3 cup of olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the eggplant, in 2-3 batches, until golden. Toss it frequently as it cooks so as to not burn it.
4. Place the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle it with kosher salt.
5. Add the onion and the rest of the oil to the same pan and cook until soft. Add the garlic, cooking for a couple of minutes. Next, add the rice and stir to coat the grains. Pour in the wine and let it cook off for 2-3 minutes (turn up the heat if it is not hissing). Once the wine is nearly cooked off, dial down the heat to medium.
6. Pour in a ladle-ful of hot stock and stir. Keep adding the stock, approximately 1/2 a cupful at a time, and stir the rice continuously as it cooks. Once you have used up all of the stock, remove your pan from the heat and add about half of the lemon zest, the lemon juice, butter, Parmesan, most of the pan-fried eggplant (set some aside for topping), eggplant flesh and season with salt. Stir and season with more salt and pepper, as needed.
7. To serve, scoop risotto into bowls, top with some of the remaining pan-fried eggplant and lemon zest. Have plenty of extra Parmesan cheese on hand.

*Homemade vegetable stock is super easy to make. In a large soup pot, combine: 2 carrots, quartered, 2 stalks of celery, quartered, 1 onion, halved, bay leaf, few sprigs of parsley, 2 sprigs of thyme, and some salt.  Cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for half an hour before straining it and pouring it back in the pot. Season with salt, to taste.

Musical Pairings: The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient + Eggplant and Meyer Lemon Risotto

More on the Turntable.