Year: 2024

Album Reviews 24/02/15

Becky Hill, Believe Me Now? (Astralwerks Records)

As you know, I complain about a lot of things, but to be honest, Astralwerks Records has never sent me something I didn’t like. This zillion-seller British dance-pop queen isn’t a household name here in the States, although chances are good that you’ve heard her 2019 Meduza and Goodboys-guested single “Lose Control” someplace. Like a souped-up Kylie Minogue, she’s all about the sexytime stuff, tinkering with drum ‘n’ bass, anthemic house, techno and atmospheric trance. Liftoff single “Side Effects” features Lewis Thompson, not that there’s much he does to improve on the bouncy club-kitten beat purring underneath. I really like “Disconnect,” with its buzzy, woofer-zapping rinseout noodlings holding Hill’s early-Katy Perry-style voice aloft, and p.s., the absolutely stunning hook should come with a Surgeon General’s warning. “Never Be Alone” is the ballad, spotlighting the Lorde/Adele sort of timbre that puts her voice at the top of her class. If anything, this stuff is too perfect. A+

The Philosophers, Vartamana (self-released)

Here we have a France-based sextet whose deeply mellow style more or less evokes a Weather Report-informed Miami Sound Machine, in other words the ’70s jazz-pop vibe is strong in this one. Replace Chuck Mangione’s trumpet with a sax and you’d be in the ballpark, but it leans more toward Sade in its level of chillness. It’s the latest project from guitarist Mark Bullock, a British transplant who simply wanted to put together a group in which each musician’s abilities were at least mildly tested. The project is ambitious enough, the standout piece being Alain Szpiro’s sax, which tables some fine runs that sound as though they cost a lot more to record than they likely actually did. Bullock’s guitar keeps the tunes centered and balanced when he’s not noodling away with some lead passages; singer Emeline Gouban strives for a mixture of bedroom/lounge ambiance, which she accomplishes sublimely, fitting in well enough with the rest of it. A

Playlist

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Friday, Feb. 16, is on the way, and new albums are coming with it, so let’s slog forward and get winter over with, shall we, folks? Actually, let’s slog back to the Aughts era, when indie rock was so awful that many albums came stamped with a Surgeon General’s warning that listening to their music would turn you into a toad, remember those days, fam, when college-rock taste was dictated by white Brooklyn scenesters, and it was all a big plot to legitimize Captain Beefheart or whatever the idea was? Ha ha, it was so awful, except for a brief part of the nu-rave scene, but other than that it was artists like El Perro del Mar, which is the stage name of Swedish singer Sarah Assbring, whose new album, Big Anonymous, is out this week! I literally hadn’t heard any of this person’s annoying music since around 2005, when I reviewed her self-titled debut LP in these very pages, so I’ve got quite a bit of catching up to do. Right, the last thing I heard from her was that album’s minor hit, “Here Comes That Feeling,” a mixture of French ’60s girl-group unlistenability and Assbring’s Betty Boop vocals. Listening to it now, I hope I trashed that stupid album from stem to stern most righteously, but chances are that I didn’t, given that back then I was a relatively new player in the whole “making fun of bad bands in city newspapers” game, so I probably praised it just so that people would like me. Given that I no longer care about people liking me (there will always be haters no matter what, so what’s the point), I shall now head over to the YouTube to see if Assbring still sucks as badly as she did 19 years ago. Oh come on, I’m listening to the new single, “Kiss of Death,” and it’s just a Sigur Ros-ified Lana Del Rey bringdown, slow and mildly shoegazey. The only good thing about it is that it’s musical in its way, I wish she’d just give up. The video is gross and disturbing too, something about someone committing a moidah, and there’s fake blood on the actress. This is what it’s all come down to, folks, mediocrity and fake blood, let me try to forget I paid any attention to this nonsense.

• Lolol, it’s Jennifer Lopez, with a new album, can you believe it, folks? Last I knew she was trying to lead a progressive house resurgence, or was that Britney, or was it all of them? Ha ha, who’s she re-married to now, Ben Affleck or that rotten egomaniacal baseball man, A-Rod? You know she’s just going to get re-divorced to whichever of those cheating alien clowns she’s with, like, there’ll be a spicy story in National Enquirer any minute now, even it’s just completely misconstrued nonsense, a few pix of Affleck paying some Domino’s driver for a pizza so he can “bulk up” in order to play the movie version of Broderick Crawford, get where I’m going with this? No? Well it doesn’t matter, the point is that I have to go listen to something off J-Lo’s new album, This Is Me … Now. Yup, the title track is trance-infused Ke$ha. Whatever.

• Uh-oh, it’s California-based indie-rock band Grandaddy. I never liked anything I heard from them nor understood why they had so many fans. This should be a load of fun, because I forget what they sound like. Their new album, Blu Wav, is on YouTube, yes, the whole thing, so that’s nice of them. I’m listening to the single, “Cabin In My Mind,” and, ah, there we go, nowww I remember, their trip is sort of like a Guster-tinged Spacemen 3. Yesss, that’s why hipsters liked them, because they’re tedious.

• We’ll wrap it up with Adult Contemporary, the new LP from Chromeo, an electro-funk duo from Montreal, Canada; I never liked these guys either. This’ll probably be ’90s garage-house, their new single, “Personal Effects.” Nope, it’s their same old milquetoast trash, Weeknd meets Kool and the Gang. Spoiler alert: I totally hate it.

The Brain Cell

About a week ago I found a truly excellent photo online of Walter the Muppet and the Great Gonzo posing for a selfie at Epcot Center. If you are unsure who Walter and Gonzo are, just know that they are extremely cool to nerdy Muppet enthusiasts.

I saved the picture to a file on my computer, not entirely sure what I would do with it. I have a habit of doing this; I have a collection of hundreds of funny, strange or just interesting pictures to attach to emails or use in presentations. I never know when one of them might come in handy, so I keep them around, just in case. Yes, I suppose this is hoarding, but it’s digital hoarding, so at least I can still navigate my living room.

After an hour or so, I thought, “You know who would love this picture? The Artist.” Our only child is a freshman at art school in Chicago, and this might make a nice surprise.

So I uploaded the photo to a drug store to be printed. Later that afternoon I picked up my prints, then went to an art supply store and bought a frame. I had to juggle a couple of cards and my cellphone at the register while I tried to find a coupon for the frame, and ended up throwing everything into my bag as I left the store, because I didn’t want to hold up the line behind me.

When I mailed the framed Muppet photo to The Artist, I used the art supply store bag as cushioning, to protect the glass in the frame, and long story short, I’m pretty sure I mailed my debit card to Chicago.

I’ve dedicated this week’s cocktail to my lone remaining brain cell.

The Brain Cell

  • 1 ounce Ol’ Major Bacon Bourbon
  • 1 ounce Howler Head Banana Bourbon
  • 1 ounce Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
  • 1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 1 ounce ginger beer – not ginger ale; this drink needs the extra bit of ginger
  • 4 drops Tabasco sauce

Combine all three whiskeys, the lime juice, and the Tabasco over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake to chill.

Add the ginger beer and stir gently.

Strain over fresh ice in a rocks or coupé glass.

Sip, while listening to “Yalili Ya Aini,” by Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart. It’s a strange and beautiful song that will match your — OK, my — mental state.

This can be a slightly befuddling cocktail, even before you make it. The list of its ingredients are surprising, perhaps even intimidating. Bourbon, bacon, banana and peanut butter don’t seem to make a lot of sense together. And yet the combination works.

Many people are familiar with an “Elvis Sandwich” — peanut butter and banana. It seems pleasantly wacky, but the sweetness of the banana complements the proteiny solidity of the peanut butter. What most people don’t know is that the sandwich Elvis Presley actually loved was a grilled peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich. There’s a common thread there of saltiness, sweetness and umami. (Clearly, my own exhausted brain cells have a strange priority in what they are dedicated to.)

So there’s our drink’s whiskey taken care of. We know that bourbon pairs well with sweet tastes, and certainly with other whiskeys. But won’t that leave this drink too sweet? It would, if not for the lime juice, which brings everything back in line. Its acidity and fruitiness pair well with the peanut butter and banana flavors.

The ginger beer and the Tabasco give a little bit of a bite to the operation, and the ginger beer also adds a slight tingle of effervescence.

This is one of those cocktails that comes at you in waves. The bacon and peanut butter hit you first, followed by fruity, tingly aftertaste. You’ll know that you like it, as soon as you taste it, but you will probably drink at least two of these, trying to wrap your head around it.

Without having to go to Chicago.

Featured photo: The Brain Cell. Photo by John Fladd.

Get a taste of Africa

Learn from Mola Foods founder at Nashua North this spring

By Eleanor Quarles
[email protected]

LaFortune Djabea, founder of local African food company Mola Foods, is bringing African cooking to New Hampshire. This spring Djabea will be hosting an African cooking course as one of Nashua Adult Education’s enrichment programs. The class will run on Thursday evenings from March 28 to June 6 at Nashua High School North.

The goal of the course is to introduce people to African foods and dive into the history and culture of the cuisine.

“Those who want to learn are welcome to join and learn how to cook authentic African food the simplest way possible,” Djabea said. The class is not only about introducing new dishes, but also about adapting them to be made easily at home.

If you’re still a beginner chef, don’t feel intimidated. When Djabea started learning to cook at 10 years old, she “didn’t have any knife skills or anything like that … you just jump in and start!” she said. The class is open to all abilities. The only thing you need is a willingness to learn, she said.

Growing up in Cameroon, Djabea learned how to cook dishes from all over Africa. She credits this experience to Cameroon’s unique diversity among African countries.

“Cameroonians call themselves ‘the continent,’ as in the African continent, because we have all the other African countries [represented] in Cameroon,” she said. That environment gave her versatility, and she has a passion for sharing that with the community through her business, Mola Foods.

While the specific dishes taught in the class are still to be decided, Djabea shared two of her personal go-tos when introducing people to African cuisine. She likes to make thieboudienne, a Senegalese rice dish with fish and vegetables, of which Cameroon has its own Jollof version.

Another one of her favorites is ndolé, a classic Cameroonian dish made with ndolé (also known as bitter leaf) and meat or shrimp in a peanut sauce, eaten with boiled plantains or fermented cassava. When washed well, the ndolé leaves have a distinct bittersweet taste to them. To easily make the dish in New Hampshire, she often replaces ndolé with spinach, as it’s much easier to get, and peanuts with cashews, to accommodate peanut allergies.

African cuisine tends to be flexible that way. You can make a lot of dishes to be vegetarian, vegan, pescetarian, etc. Most diets can be accommodated, Djabea said.

In the class, students will get the chance to practice with everything: meat, poultry, fish and vegetables. They’ll use Mola Food’s spice blends to season dishes authentically without having to hunt down specific spices and ingredients that could be hard to find in stores here.

Mola Foods also hosts Taste of Africa dinners, where diners get a chance to try cuisine that is usually completely new to them. And these are not just food events; they’re cultural experiences with music, dancing and conversation. Djabea finds that some people come into the dinners not understanding African cuisine or having preconceived notions about it, but when they try the food, they love it.

There are 54 countries in Africa, she pointed out, so it’s impossible to get a taste of every country or even every region in one dinner, and every dinner is unique. There are not currently any upcoming Taste of Africa events scheduled, but they will be returning in the future.

It’s Djabea’s first time formally instructing a cooking course, but it’s not her “first rodeo” as an instructor, she said. She taught her kids and her best friend how to cook African cuisine, and before Mola Foods, she was a medical coding instructor for several years.

“It’s heartwarming to be able to go back and be an instructor again, this time just doing something that I love to do. I am excited to share the gift of cooking that my grandmother taught me when I was younger with the rest of the community that wants to join me,” she said.

African Cooking class
When: Thursdays, March 28 through June 6, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Nashua High School North, 8 Titan Way, Nashua
Cost: $105 for Nashua residents, $130 for non-residents, plus $100 fee for lab/food
Register: www.nashua.edu/domain/213

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 24/02/15

News from the local food scene

• Unwined open: The wine bar Unwined (1 Nashua St. in Milford; unwinednh.com) was slated to hold its grand opening on Tuesday, Feb. 13, and will be opening for reservations only through February, according to a post on its Facebook page, where you can also get a look at its menu. Offerings include bar snacks (such as curry toasted chickpeas and hand-cut fries with feta cheese, lemon zest and garlic oil served with a house aioli), salads, tapas (such as cheesy arancini, creamy bacon Brussels sprouts and fried calamari, as well as a mezze platter and cheese board), entrees and desserts.

• Goings on at WineNot: On Thursday, Feb. 22, from 4 to 7 p.m., WineNot Boutique (25 Main St. in Nashua; winenotboutique.com) will hold a “Tasting of Big and Bold Winter Wines.” Admission costs $25. The evening will feature 15 wines paired with cheeses and a light appetizer, according to the event website.

• Tasty vacation camp: The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St. in Derry; culinary-playground.com, 339-1664) has some vacation week classes for kids. On Tuesday, Feb. 27, there’s an adult and child (age 5+) “Homemade pizza and cupcake decorating” class at 3 p.m. ($45 for an adult/child team). On Wednesday, Feb. 28, there’s a “Sushi for T(w)eens” class at 3 p.m.; an adult/child team will make veggie and California rolls for $55. On Thursday, Feb. 29, from 3 to 5 p.m. there’s a “Make-A-Meal” class (featuring baked chicken chimichanga, Mexican rice and Tres Leches Cake) for $58 for an adult/kid pair (8+).

On The Job – LeeAnn Fay-Ellis

Owner of Smittens

LeeAnn Fay-Ellis is the owner of Smittens, a family-run business in Gilford that specializes in crafting mittens from upcycled and repurposed sweaters.

Explain your job and what it entails.

As a small business, so much of the job is staying organized. Scheduling events, accounting, ordering enough fleece for the liners, inventorying the stores we sell in and being sure we have enough product for each event. … Searching and thrifting for good sweaters can be fun, especially when I get to shop with my daughter. My husband does all of the cutting and matching of patterns and colors before sending them to me to be sewn. This starts our assembly line process.

How long have you had this job?

Smittens was started in 2011.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

In 2011 I saw a vendor selling sweater mittens at a craft fair that our 10-year-old daughter was selling at. She did a trade with her for a pair of sweater mittens for me. When we got home and I tried them on again I realized they didn’t fit well. I commented to my husband, David, that they felt more like an oven mitt and not very comfortable. He replied, ‘Why don’t you make your own?’ So we did. We went to our local thrift store to stock up on sweaters, found a pattern online, which I modified to tailor our mittens to fit better.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I have been a crafter for as long as I can remember. Both my mother and grandmother sewed and taught me the basics. I also took quilting classes. But as far as the modification of the sweater mittens, it was trial and error to get them to fit properly.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

The majority of our work is done at home … so I am fortunate to wear sweatpants or yoga pants and be as comfortable as possible. [For] during the selling season … we had fleece vests made with our names by another local artisan (Forever Memories in the Mall of New Hampshire.)

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

Finding good wool sweaters. … Another challenge is making enough to supply for the multiple stores we are in and events we do.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

When we first started, we would only make two or three pairs at a time. We now focus on making 50 at a time and have more of an assembly line process.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

We, like many artisans, create year-round and have a very limited selling time, especially with mittens. The unknown expenses can be great and what we sell each pair for is not what we actually make.

Five favorites
Favorite book: No More Excuses by Sam Silverstein and Don’t Bullsh*t Yourself! – Crush the Excuses by Jon Taffer of Bar Rescue
Favorite movie: August Rush
Favorite music: My daughter’s Spotify account! Music from the ’70s to today.
Favorite food: Blackened Mahi Mahi
Favorite thing about NH: I love the beauty of the seasons. I was fortunate to grow up in the Lakes Region with the lakes and mountains as our backyard.

Featured photo: LeeAnn Fay-Ellis. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 24/02/15

Dear Donna,

No time better than now to ask about these. They are paper heart boxes marked ‘Japan’ on the bottom. I have had them for years now and always wondered their age and what was the purpose.

Can you give me any information?

Thanks, Donna.

Lee

Dear Lee,

Belated happy Valentine’s Day!

The purposes for your sweet paper heart boxes could be many. They are novelty boxes and could be for candy, jewelry, trinkets etc., for the holiday or for other love-related events.

The mark ‘Japan’ on the back bottom shows they are from between the late 1920s to 1940s. This is when that mark was used.

Lee, they are very sweet and made me smile. I would think the value on them would be in the $15 range in good condition. Thanks for sharing your tiny treasures with us.

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