Goodbye 2k9, Hello 20-dime!

Cool-as-shit things I did in 2k9:

• Re-launched Mushpot and monthly DJ Nights with my homegurls Marmor and Liz.
• Went abroad for the first time and cooked a whole hell of a lot in Barcelona with my mom.
• Started the internet series Facts N' Cheese with Vance, Ryan, Lisa and Jeff.
• Joined a crazy tour down the West coast with br0s4lyfe Capybara and Range Life Entertainment.
• Discovered what it was like to be a professional cook and wedding caterer.
  
• Started playing live shows as The Shortsleeves.
• Competed in the Chili Takedowns!
  
• Stopped buying so many metrocards and bought a bike!
• Spent another year with the Blip Festival and The Pool Parties.
• Finally got bltidm.com ?

Top albums of bands that I didn't technically work with:
J Arthur Keenes Band – Pamplemousse
Starscream – Future and It Doesn’t Work
La Roux – S/T
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
railcars – Cathedral with No Eyes
sylcmyk – Heartbroken.
Little Boots – Hands
starPause – AKID EP
Ganglians – S/T
The Lovely Eggs – If You Were Fruit

Top tracks:

Internet Forever - "Break Bones"
Phantoms - "Shrimp and White Wine"
Lykke Li - "Breakin' it Up" (Pocketknife's Loosefoot Remix Extended Version)
Garthania - "Blame it On You" (Sidechains Remix)
Gregor Salto – “Mystery Baila”
Sister Waize - "I Hide" (Diversity is Forbidden Comp)
You Love Her Coz She's Dead - "Zombies"
Blank - "I'm Going For Your Brother" (Waa!Fi! Remix)
Solo- "Afreaka"
Roy Davis Jr. - "I Have a Vision" (Fred Falke Remix)
The Do - "On my Shoulders" (Wilflife! Remix)

I listened to these fools a lot: Surfer Blood, The Twelves, Lykke Li, Trash 80, Bit Shifter, failotron, The Depreciation Guild, Chairlift, Heartsrevolution, Why?, Memory Tapes, Memory Cassette, i, cactus; Stu, Phoenix, The White Rabbits, Louis La Roche

Show highlights:

• La Roux at Studio B
• Tyvjk at Death By Audio
• Surfer Blood at Bruar Falls
• The Antlers (release show) at Union Hall
• Fuck Buttons and Growing at Market Hotel
• Beach House at the Williamsburg Waterfront
  
• The Antlers and The White Rabbits at Bowery Ballroom
• railcars and Surf City at Market Hotel - We ate PIG EARS afterwards.
• Jukebox the Ghost at the Bell House - The one where Harvey Danger played for 2.5 hours.

Cooking: Truffle Tremor Macaroni with Spicy Sausage

Here is the last of my fancy Truffle Tremor cheese that I bought myself for Christmas. Made a quick bechamel with onion, garlic, heavy cream, flour, butter and cheese.

Facts N' Cheese Episode 12: Tomme Delay

Facts N' Cheese Episode 12: Tomme Delay from BLT / IDM on Vimeo.

Welcome to Facts n' Cheese! It's like Mac n' Cheese, but not! Join me on my awkward trek through cheeses of the world. In each episode, I'm joined by a friend and I make them eat cheese while I spout out all I know about a particular curd conglomeration. Special thanks to Jeff Stockton for designing our logo as well as Ryan Darrenkamp, Lisa Uhlman and Vance Spicer for their beer, house, camera equipment and editing!

Episode 12 features Tomme Delay from Lazy Lady Farm, my new foodie friend Matthias Sundberg and the song "Robot Luv" by Facundo. We wax about Republican politics and Dancing with the Stars between bites of cheese and sopressata.

More facts about Tomme Delay:

• Tomme is a style of natural rind cheese that is made from skim milk, so it is generally lower in fat (than a triple creme). Shape-wise, they can be medium sized drums or flat discs the size of your head.
  
• Tommes are usually identified by their place of origin, like Tomme de Savoie is from the Savoie region of France. The Tomme Delay, however, is from Vermont--not Texas, where Tom Delay originates. Lazy Lady is just being funny!
• Tomme Delay is a semi-firm, raw (unpasteurized) goat's milk cheese.
• Pair this cheese (and other traditional Tommes) with light beers or fruity wine.
  
• Since Lazy Lady Farm uses solar power to produce their cheese, it means that wheels are limited in number during these Winter months. Pick it up if you see it at the shop!

Get your facts on!
Facts N' Cheese Episode 1
Facts N' Cheese Episode 2
Facts N' Cheese Episode 3
Facts N' Cheese Episode 4
Facts N' Cheese Episode 5
Facts N' Cheese Episode 6
Facts N' Cheese Episode 7
Facts N' Cheese Episode 8
Facts N' Cheese Episode 9
Facts N' Cheese Episode 10
Facts N' Cheese Episode 11

Cooking: Miso Soup with Fennel and Caperberries

Before you close this window, hear me out. I was laying in bed thinking of all the ingredients in my fridge and I remembered that you can saute fennel. Their caramelization is akin to onions. Toss in some capers and whammo, yummy side dish!
But wait, it's cold and I want soup. I have miso. I can also have some miso soup...WHAT IF I PUT THEM TOGETHER?

I was a little afraid of my maniacal idea, but it actually hit the spot! After I sauteed the fennel with some olive oil, salt, dill, caperberries, garlic and tiny bit of onion, I added about 2 cups of miso soup (1 tbl/cup of water). Finished each bowl with some cut up seaweed, fresh dill and a slice of toast.

Soup's On!
Tomato Florentine with Cream //Split Pea with Carrot //Tomato Cheddar

Capybara Tour: Oakland, CA

It was a short drive from Davis to Oakland, CA. The Capybara crew split up into groups. One went to sell off equipment at a music shop and I stayed at Mama Buzz Cafe with the "work crew." I put up some posters and enjoyed a nice cup of tea. A handful of college friends came out to the show to see my ex-roommate Joe Finkel. Please Quiet Ourselves (or some members of...) played a really short set with some new material.

I didn't get any photos of the Capybara performance, but it was really interesting with their tons of equipment interspersed with the circus-like art installation that surrounded them. Afterwards, my friend Nate met up with us and we wandered about looking for food. We found The Lanesplitter and ordered a whole hell of a lot of pizza!
My favorite slice was called the "Heartstopper" with bacon, gorgonzola, roasted garlic and spinach!
We stuffed our faces and piled into the van. It only took ten minutes, but we were already across the bay bridge and driving around San Francisco!

Catch up with Capybara!
Capybara in Portland // Capybara in Eugene (Day 1) // Capybara in Eugene (Day 2) // Capybara in Davis // Capybara Inspired Banh Mi // Bands We Met on Tour

Music Muster: cheese'N'beer January shows, Starscream Release Party

Where she shops, there she glows?

• 12/31/09 -Watch the New Year's Eve episode of The Price is Right for a possible sighting of me with Capybara in the audience!
• 1/2/2010 - cheese'N'beer presents: Burnkit 2600 w/Seed AI, Chromix (release party), Natty, DaPantz & Kris Keyser + Paris & Outpt viz @ Matchless // $5 // 21+ //Doors 8pm
  
• 1/3/2010 - cheese'N'beer & BOSTON8BIT present: Oxygenstar, NOM STAR, br1ght pr1mate & Active Knowledge @ Glasslands Gallery // $5 // 18+ // Doors 8pm
• 1/5/2010 - Mushpot DJ Night #10 w/ Prom Night, Sheila the Great & ctor @ Sputnik // Free // 21+ // Starts 9pm
• 1/7/2010 - Rage Against The Dying of the Light: A Shoegaze & Dreampop DJ Night w/ Ben Breier, Trix, Prom Night, Dana Trombley & performance by Dead Leaf Echo // Free // 6pm-10pm
  
• 1/8/2010 - Starscream The Space Years EP release party with Anamanaguchi, The Crayons & Radiates @ Knitting Factory // $10 // All Ages // Doors 7pm
• 1/9/2010 - 8 Static presents: Baron Knoxburry, Cheap Dinosaurs, SKGB + NO CARRIER viz @ Studio 34 (PHILLY) // All Ages // 7pm
  
• 1/11/2010 - cheese'N'beer presents: Luke (from Anamanaguchi), Zen Albatross, AdamGetsAwesome & Tony Ness @ Niagara // Free // 21+ // Doors at 7pm
  

Tweets This Week

• Got myself some Frantoia olive oil for X-mas.
• Holluh. One of many domains that I bought today: http://theshortsleeves.info/
• I spent Christmas eve with fucking TUGBOAT, wtf!! #blip09
• Drinkin a butterball! Peach vodka shaken with soy, butterscotch and cinnamon
• http://twitpic.com/v2dk8 - holiday burger #everydayslumberparty
• Got into the holiday spirit by replacing all the words in X-mas carols w/ "Fat" & sang them to my brother. I was on speakerphone #jokesonme
• I sound crazy in this interview with The Brooklyn Ink, I blame it on the flu. Thanks @DaPantzBX for setting it up! http://ow.ly/PkRU

Capybara Tour: Davis, Ca

Maybe it's a nervous thing, but we snacked the hell out of our supplies on the 7 hour stretch from Eugene, OR to Davis, CA. We made it just in time for Capybara's in-studio performance at KDVS, the UC Davis radio station. I got caught up in the nostalgia of my old radio station and was delighted to find traces of my reign... er tenure at KDVS. The stacks looked the same and the same characters were still looming around the basement, namely Gary Saylin, DJ Rob Dog, The Pirate & our host for the show, Erik. Capybara played a really wonderful set and our engineer Fenris Wulf was kind enough to give us a recorded copy. We went on this strange adventure attempting to play an outside show at the Co-ops; but the sprinklers declared otherwise.
We crashed a Target (yes, the store) themed party on Anderson road and had an impromptu show in the backyard with Rob Roy and A Good Pillow. It was freezing, but we were lucky to hear Capybara play a pretty acoustic version of "San Francisco 1906." There was dancing and shivering and familiar friends! We drove to Sacramento to pass our at my friend Genna's. In the morning, we had breakfast at Cafe Bernardo and jetted back to Davis to do some work. We parked our bums at my favorite brunch place, The Delta of Venus.
It was probably the worst day of Dave's life (end result: Dave murdered a fly in cold blood), but I got some work done. We drove over to Neil Ruud's house later that afternoon to load in the equipment. While we waited for Neil to come home, the guys played a game of XXXTREME GRAPE TOSSING.
When the party got started, we experienced an amazing set from local lady Poppet. House shows tend to me the best shows, in my opinion. Over the course of the night, I tossed a bottle of bourbon across the room a couple times, bit into unripe lemons, pomegranates an pomelos; attempted to sleep in the grass, laid in sprinklers for a good 5 minutes before panicking and running inside; made grilled cheese sammiches and high fived new friends. After we packed up and said goodbye to our hosts, we had lunch at Davis Noodle City.
Service was slow as usual and a couple people got served before us, but we endured and filled up our bellies. Off to the Bay Area !

Catch up with Capybara!
Capybara in Portland // Capybara in Eugene (Day 1) // Capybara in Eugene (Day 2) // Capybara Inspired Banh Mi // Bands We Met on Tour

Bars: Making my Marks at Mars Bar

After a rousing night of chip music at Niagara, a bunch of us got ridiculous at the divey Mars Bar on Second avenue and First Street. Between whiskey drinks, I spent a good amount of time drawing in the bar's art book. The bartender encouraged DIY wall art and contributions to the book. Here are a few of mine:

Bands: Dead Peasant Insurance at Goodbye Blue Monday

A long time ago, a music director friend from WCSB in Cleveland called me to ask if he could crash at my house with his band. Dead Peasant Insurance had a show at Goodbye Blue Monday in Bushwick. Boy, I didn't know what I was getting into.
Ryan Kuehn wore some kind of radio receiver that created crazy amounts of feedback while J. Guy pounded the drums. Everyone else involved contributed to the cacophony somehow. I never really knew the glory of improv electronics until much later.

Restaurants: West Indian Lunch from Stir It Up

A while ago, I was on a frantic search for the missing pieces to my Halloween costume. With no luck, I wandered away from the Atlantic terminal in Brooklyn to find a quaint, brightly colored spot called Stir It Up. A nice woman took my order and I glanced around at the newspaper clippings. All accolades. It wasn't until she handed me my bag of delicious chicken that I realized that the owner herself was still slaving in the kitchen and taking orders.
I walked back to the busy Atlantic center and perched myself amongst the school kids. Passerbys kept staring at my lunch with good reason, it was a hefty serving of jerk chicken, rice and cabbage!

Mmm Chicken...GOOD!
Fried Crispy Skins // Broiled Chicken // Palace Fried Chicken // Stir Fried Chicken

Tweets This Week

And we're back! Sorta. I've got a raging case of #blipflu, so I'll be home catching up on food posting! My fav tweets, Blip '09 edition!

• Oh yeah, if you didn't catch our post - #blip09 Shortsleeves performance http://vimeo.com/8356624 (Thanks @adamgetsawesome)
• "can i get on the sake train?" -trashcanman
• While i hate drinking in Mahattan, The Archive on 36th has Tunisian mixed olives as bar snax.
• http://twitpic.com/uh0zw - Strawberry Salad w/basil
• http://twitpic.com/uh0kz - Trout N' Bacon at Rabbithole
• RT @4mat_scenemusic: With all the blip09 photos today we really need a tumblr called "Look at this f**king chipster" :) #chipmusic
• Highlight of my life RT @ZenAlbatross: Covox. Random. When their powers combine, they are.. CONDOM -- http://twitpic.com/u5b71 #blip09
• I love this twee m'effer, albino ghost monkey #blip09
• Failotron saved my life #blip09
• @WFMU I love you. Bringin da chip to the masses ! #blip09
• http://twitpic.com/tmib7 - spicy ramen at Kambi Ramen House
• @tront is awesome for having the guys mess around with his radio show... #blip09

Cooking: Fried Wontons with Mushroom and Bacon

I'm horrible. I put bacon where it doesn't belong. I sauteed a can of drained "fancy mushrooms"in minced garlic, chives, olive oil, salt and pepper. Deglazed it with some flat beer and chopped it up with cooked bacon.
Stuffed the cooled mixture into dumpling wrappers and froze them overnight before I fried them in canola oil. Finished them with chopped scallions and thin shards of Grana Padano (that stuff lasts FOREVER).

I miss you Bacon!
Truffled Brie Eggs and Bacon// Caprese with Bacon // Smoked Salmon with Bacon // Catalonian BLT

Tweets This Week

• RT @slyseekr: Tried Gonzalez y Gonzalez and was asked to pay $20 to get in without dress shoes. NO THANKS #ELITIST #MANHATTAN
• Dad ran the Dallas half marathon this morning, promptly drank a beer at the finish line. DLVs ftw.
• http://twitpic.com/t8bvp - baked potato chips!
• http://twitpic.com/t8bih - scalloped potatoess n' gravy
• Made "holiday hummus" with Beau Monde, garlic, onion and olive oil. Very odd, but good.
• Cooking up a batch of HATER TOTS.
• I've been Boozecatted! http://www.boozecats.com/?p=131
• Trash80's 8-bit name generator: http://trash80.net/junkfood/8bitnamegenerator
• http://twitpic.com/sg6yt - Beer and Sandwich Club

Interview: Tom Phonic can't stand goat cheese but will get some Thai food with you!

I took some time to talk to Brooklyn based electronic musician/blogger Tom Phonic after listening to one of his 20 minute long gifts to the internet.

[blt/idm] Where in NY do you live? Is there a place to picnic nearby?
I've been living in Park Slope since March, but I've been a transient between the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn for last few years. I guess I just need to move to Manhattan to have NYC covered. There is a great place to picnic a few avenues up. There's a BBQ area right on 9th street by the band shell in Prospect Park that I enjoyed during the summer concerts.

[blt/idm] If we were to picnic, what would you make or bring?
I have an obsession with sausage and cheese on crackers or baguette slices. I haven't found any sausage I don't enjoy, but I can't stand goat cheese. Its the name and the taste that turns me off. I'd put that in my back pack and if I was feeling fancy, I'd bring some red wine along too for us to indulge.

[blt/idm] Do you have any food allergies or voluntary dietary restrictions?

I don't think I do, although I recently tried fried whole soft shell crabs and it didn't sit too well. Thankfully there wasn't a hospital visit though I'll definitely pass on it next time. Also, please don't offer me anything with wrapped in seaweed.

[blt/idm] Do you cook at home or do you like to eat out?
I can only claim to cook at home. I ruined a fried egg the other day, so that doesn't say much for my skills. However, I did grab a recipe with my friend for Korean beef, and it turned out great. We accidentally ate up our planned left overs. Oh and there was this one after party home cooking incident that involved eggs, biscuits, hotdogs and mozzarella cheese. I can't go into anymore detail, it'll make me sick. When I eat out, I usually go for what will rid me of hunger the quickest. On occasions I'll have a pleasant sit down meal, and my favorites are usually good Mexican or Thai food.

[blt/idm] Are you DJing regularly? Or where's the best spot you've played?

I was playing shows regularly for the last two years, but I'm taking a much needed break to finish some compositions, do some collaborations with other artists, and hopefully craft an album before I get the live itch again. Last year I played the Burning Man Decomposition party in the Warper tent. That was an awesome carnival of a party. The fire show and the flower petal pool where the best!

[blt/idm] Talk about your blog In My Opinion Low Frequency Oscillation (IMOLFO) a little bit ! How did it come about?

I like to describe my blog as my personal online play list, but eventually I'd like to find someone to work with me and introduce their friends and influences on it too. I designed a few blogs before this one but was unhappy with the look and main idea of them. When I found out about Squarespace I was really excited to check it out. I just planned on posting my own content and keeping it personal, but I quickly realized that I wasn't happy enough with the majority of my older tracks to keep up the content and that I know a ton of great musicians and producers that I'd be much happier to share their work. I love listening to new music and encourage anyone to upload a track to my dropbox.

[blt/idm] I'm a fan of the ...juice. What is your drink of choice?

There is a three way tie on this one. Coffee with half and half is my get technical things done drink. Beer is my jam and rock out drink. And last but not least, a big gulp cold skim milk consoles me and makes me feel loved. I do like juice, but it mostly reminds me of being sick.

[blt/idm] What's that best song you've heard so far in 2009?
I don't think I can answer this with one track. Is a list alright? My favorite songs of 2009, not in any particular oder:

To Scale (Landau Orchestra Remix) - Praveen & Benoît
Handcuff Killa - Royal Bangs
Sea Flowers Blossom (Made of Oak Remix) - Sleeps in Oysters
I wanna be your Boyfriend - Discovery
Glad - Glasser

Download: Tom Phonic - Dont Be a Delimiter

More interviews and snacks!
a faulty chromosome // Lymbyc Systym // 65daysofstatic // Daniel Klag // Dream Bitches // DIE! DIE! DIE! // Decomposure // Doseone // Project Jenny Project Jan // Mixel Pixel

Random Things I Ate Last Month

Pork soup dumplings at Dumpling Man
Truffled Beef Carpaccio

Sauteed Shanghai Bok Choy

What did you eat last month?

Tweets This Week

*New thing that I stole from True Chip Till Death's Peter Swimm. Tweeter round-ups! While you're at it, nominate your favorite chip stars for the TCTD Awards. Nominations close January 3rd.

• New Facts N' Cheese ! Featuring music from Kris Keyser! http://ow.ly/J1Ns
• RT @MushpotRecords: @capybaramusic sings to A CAPYBARA! http://ow.ly/IUGp
• SHAREBROZ! French magazine reportedly confirms MJ's involvement with Sonic 3 soundtrack http://ow.ly/166W6s
• RT @MushpotRecords: Consequence of Sound reviews the @SeaofBees Bee Eee Pee! http://ow.ly/JgoT

Cooking: Sweet Pulled Turkey Paksiw

I always grew up with the notion that my Filipino family didn't waste anything when it came to food. I didn't realize what that truly meant until I looked up the recipe for paksiw. Paksiw is sort of thick stew comprised of leftover roast pig, it came to be sort of a brunch tradition after major parties when I was a kid. I thought it'd be interesting to try this with my leftover turkey from Thanksgiving (since there were only like, 4 of us that ate meat this year!). I started by making my own mang tomas or liver sauce. Yes, I ground up the turkey liver to make a sauce. Who knew I'd like offal style cooking?
If your bird or animal didn't come with liver, you can use roasted chicken livers or even canned liver pate. I blended it with cider vinegar, garlic, onion, bread crumbs and brown sugar.
The actual paksiw recipe called for:
Leftover pork or turkey or chicken, pulled apart into chunks
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of mang tomas (liver sauce) or 1 can of ground liver mixed with 1/4 cup of water
1/2 head of crushed garlic
1/2 cup of brown sugar
5 or 6 cracked peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Whisk everything except the meat in a pan over high heat. Once it boils, lower it to a simmer and put in the meat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. The sauce should reduce and thicken.
I ate my paksiw with pita and roasted beets. You can eat it over rice or in a sandwich!

In the Philippines, people eat practically every part of the pig, including snout, intestines, ears, and innards. Dinuguan is a particular type of blood-stew (depending on region) made using pig intestines, pork meat and sometimes ears and cheeks usually with a vinegar base, and green chili peppers. Bopis (bópiz in Spanish) is a spicy Filipino dish made out of pork lungs and heart sautéed in tomatoes, chilies and onions. Isaw is another treat enjoyed mostly in the Philippines which is a kebab made with pig's large intestine pieces barbecued and dipped in vinegar before eating. (via Wikipedia)

More Filipino food!
Filipino Food Chart // Sans Rival Cake // Pancit Palabok