Fiveng: Tearin' up the internets

My beloved brother from another mother, Nicholas Ng (a.k.a Fiveng) is getting some nods from local San Francisco music internet publications. His music is really wonderful. Quirky, thoughtful, often danceable, and always a rewarding, rich listen.

Here's the link to the most recent shout out today.

I mentioned his music in a previous post, but this stuff is so great, just had to re-present it.

Go to the MySpace pagina, right here.

And for you crate diggers, his side project collaboration with Vensla still has a couple of tracks for your aural pleasure on the internets.

Way to go Nicky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next stop, SXSW?

San Francisco, je t'aime

Thanks to Kelly for sharing this.

You say pannekoeken, I say okonomiyaki

One of the most delicioso thangs here in the Netherlands has to be pannekoeken. Bigger than your face. Decadent as sin. Brimming with any amount of almonds, apples, raisins, cinnamon, ginger, or any other array of toppings/fillings. You can get savory ones too. But its the sweet ones, dusted generously with powdered sugar, I tell ya. The sweet ones FTW. Oh yeah. Zoet pannekoeken FTMFW.

There's also the petite version of the Dutch pancake, these little pillows of wonder, aptly named poffetjes.

Although if you want to get serious about savory pancakes, then there's okonomiyaki.



If you've never had this before you need to try it! A pancake stuffed with meat, cabbage, seafood, noodles, and potentially other goodies, it often comes with bonito flakes undulating on top, and a healthy slathering of bulldog sauce (think a much sweeter and tastier version of A1) and a good dollop of mayo.

Here I was, thinking I might be in a hinterland sorely lacking in some of the delights that I have so missed from my beloved city by the bay, okonomiyaki eateries being one of them. And yet...there's one in Amsterdam! It looks very promising indeed. Japanese Pancake World. What? A whole world, you say? Bring it!

Who wants to go? Give me a shout out. I've been dying for some good Japanese food. And this just might be the ticket...

And finally, it made me remember reading this great story, The Big Pancake, as a kid. It's like The Gingerbread Man: the remix.

There wasn't a good portmanteau for Cookie and Shaft.

Chaft just didn't seem right. Nor did Sookie monster.

Ooooh yeah. Prob one of my favorites, though far too many to mention.




Me know, me eat microphone!

Happy 40th Sesame Street.

Hurts so bad: it feels good

This is totally my jam right now:



Did you know that Little Anthony and the Imperials were just inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame just this year?

This song packs so much into just over two minutes. It reminds me of the fabulous economy of pop songs in those days. Amazing how it builds up into the crescendo towards the chorus and really soars. These guys were (and still are) great performers. Can you believe they're still going? And they look like they barely aged!

Of course, their music is permeates later generations. It's been covered countless times. Teedra Moses (who I will perhaps post further on) is one of the unsung R & B singer/songwriters out there, and her homage to Little Anthony and co. is damn crunk:



People, I command you to ride the Moses soul train!

Here's the original flavor for reference:



Can't get L.A. & the I's outta my head! Day and night. Wrong or right.

Update: Please check out a fab cover(kinda eerie-feelin') version of Going Out of My Head that was just posted on Soul Sides, a great music blog I like to follow. It's the second track, and the preceding one is worth a listen anyway.

MIA in the MIDDLE

Apologies for the longer than normal absence from the bloggosphere. After a trip to Stockholm and playing catchup on schoolwork thereafter it is now time to resuscitate this baby.

With that, I offer you a little chain of musical connections for which MIA is the connective tissue. Say what you will about her, the neon eyesore clothing, the hipster fandom fawning, the lazy appropriation of revolutionary tropes, there is still something substantive to her music in the beat, the feeling, and the occasional flash of melodic brilliance.

I'd like to demostrate that by starting with a pretty little song I've been grooving to lately:



Sound familiar? Well, more recently this came out:



Speaking of another track by MIA, check this one:



And if you thought that was even remotely cool, Vijay Iyer's latest release Historicity riffs off that in a ridiculously staggering way. He takes the song where you never thought it would go. Like, WHOA:



See man, it's all connected.

Anyone care to see Mr. Iyer with me? He's playing in Holland in late December.