Tag: 210429

Album Reviews 21/04/29

Subterranean Masquerade, Mountain Fever (Sensory Records)

As you’d guess by a band name like Subterranean Masquerade, we have an oddball foreign act on tap here. It’s the fourth full-length from an Israel-based seven-piece billed as a progressive metal band with world overtones, all of which is true, a straightforward power-metal thingamajig with Middle Eastern plug-ins. The Spinal Tap-ish shtick I expected didn’t run too late, but that’s not necessarily to infer that your average metal-head wouldn’t be into this, particularly anyone who thinks of bands like Bury Your Dead as high art, or digs, on the swirling sandstorm front, Dracovallis. It’s not opera-metal for sure, either, although I can tell these guys would love it to be; no, it’s more po-faced, think ’80s Michael Schenker Group with (take a wild guess) Serj Tankian as its sensei. Like any metal album, I’m sure that if you cranked this to physically dangerous levels, it, you know, probably cranks, and I didn’t detect anything stolen from Scorpions or any of those other old bands, so who knows, you might like it. B

Poppy, “Eat” (as yet unreleased)

Doing something different here, adding a little hype to a pile that’s fast building around this Boston-based singer, whose performance of this up-till-now-unreleased single was about the only thing indicative of a pulse at the last Grammys. The 24-year-old YouTuber is further (unnecessary) proof that we’ve entered a new, post-Gaga era of rock stardom, one that revolves around not just making cool songs and videos but also engaging directly with audiences on a daily basis by being, well, absolutely demented. Fans at home can play too, because as you know, nowadays, the concept of DIY isn’t just for bands with a few dollars with which to rent a studio but for basically anybody to become whatever they want. This song isn’t as remarkable as a few of her earlier tunes (go watch the video for “I Disagree” if you want to hear a cross between older Nine Inch Nails, Meshuggah and riot-grrrl-on-crazy-juice), but it does stick with her genre-squishing mission statement. It’s an undeniably accessible but hellaciously heavy noise-whirlwind, like KMFDM jamming with (spoiler) Meshuggah (she obviously looooves those guys). The only thing surprising is that it took so long for something like this to bust out of the gate. A+

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Well would you look at that, guys, the new-release list for April 30 actually has interesting stuff on it, not just a bunch of refried hacky nonsense that makes me want to become a hardened day-drinker. I know that very few people reading this know a lot about indie bands, but Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra is one you might want to look into, unless you are a typical hipster who only indulges in really bad, smelly junk like Pavement or Versus or whatever. The caveat, though, is that I haven’t listened to a new Manchester Orchestra song in something like five years, so for all I know The Million Masks Of God is going to be one of the worst listening experiences a human could have, and so we’ll get this out of the way first, so that if it makes me barf I’ll have time to recover. So I’m checking out “Bedhead,” the new single, and nope, thou shalt not barf, because it is like what you’d hear if Trent Reznor teamed up with someone like Front Line Assembly to do a soundtrack piece for Stranger Things. It has a buzzy noise-rock side but also a veneer of classic ’80s-technopop, with goofy synths that sound kind of neat. The singer still has that Conor Oberst throat-lozenge sound, which has always been cool. I don’t know if they meant to go goth-pop, but that’s what this is really. It’s OK!

• Oh, no, it’s Guided by Voices again, with another freakin’ album, just because it’s a month that doesn’t end with a “J” or whatever rule bandleader Robert Pollard goes by. I mean, we’ve talked about him before, how he puts out albums all the time, and here I am again, getting suckered into giving him some press love only because I forgot that he doesn’t deserve any. But it’s those things you forget, you know? Like, every time I swipe through the Netflix releases I actually stop to read the description for I Am Not Okay With This and then quickly remember it’s stupid and I’ll never watch it (Netflix really needs to add an option to remove stupid movies from lists to save people some time) (OK, if they’ve already done that and I just don’t know it yet, I applaud your genius-level technical acumen and urge you to apply to NASA to help them build better space shuttles). Oh, where were we. Yes, Earth Man Blues, album number eleventy trillion from this stupid band. One of Pollard’s million new songs is “Trust Them Now.” Spoiler, it’s boring, like Ramones but with a singer who was in some ’60s psychedelic band, and (double spoiler) it doesn’t have a hook. Would y’all groovy trippy cats like to shag now, or shag later, my God I hate this band.

• Yow, my little Zippys, looky there, it’s Boston-sports-affiliated Irish-oi band Dropkick Murphys, with their new “slab,” called Turn Up That Dial! You bet your shamrocks there’s a new single, to lure you in, and it’s called… wait, I can’t repeat the title in a family newspaper, so how about the other song, “Middle Finger!” Will there be penny-whistles and Titanic-lower-deck accordions and mentions of Bobby Orr? Yup, same old thing, sea-shanty kazoo or whatever at the beginning, then some thrash-punk. At least they’re consistent (burp).

• OK, let’s end this miserable exercise with Scottish sludge-emo band Teenage Fanclub, whose new album Endless Arcade will have “Used — Like New” prices on Amazon in like a week. The single, “Home,” is wimpy strummy twee-pop, not grunge-indie or whatever. My faith is deeply shaken, folks.

Retro Playlist

It was 10 years ago this week in this very space when I felt it necessary to explain why I wasn’t going to write a proper review of the then-new Gorillaz album, The Fall. I forget what my problem was, but either way, that virtual band has never done it for me, nor have any of their skinny-jeans cohorts, you know, MGMT, Modest Mouse and whatever. For some idiotic reason, most of the guys in The Clash guested on that record, but nevertheless, a lot of critics didn’t like it. I saved us all some time: “I’ve heard the samples, and my instincts tell me that downloading the other 45 minutes of it ‘to get the full effect’ will yield disappointment.” Disclaimer that I don’t — and you should be well aware of this by now — hate everything that came out in the Aught-10s, but oddly enough, that was when I became an adamant, immovable 1930s/1940s big-band fan. Yes, rock ’n’ roll had become that messed up and worthless. For the most part.

But there was some joy in Mudville that so-long-ago week. Undeveloped, a darkwave/techno-goth album from Skinny Puppy frontman Ohgr, was on the docket, so I ranted spastically about how awesome it was (“’Nitwitz is my favoritest song ever, for today”), not that that meant it was perfect. Even with longtime Skinny Puppy engineer Mark Walk helping out, there was some weirdness that was too much, specifically in “Crash,” a denouncement of U.S. health care (the actual 911 call that came in when Michael Jackson died).

Magnetic Man, the dubstep all-star team of Benga, Skream and Artwork, were also in the process of releasing their self-titled debut that week. It was way cool and deserved better than the C+ grade I slapped on it, but as a techno work, yeah, there were some bothersome things. Overall, it came across as “a term paper for Ableton Hipness 101,” boasting only one legitimate club-slammer (“I Need Air”). Consisting of “Salem-style haunted house, drum-n-bass, Justice hard-glitch and euro-club orchestrations in a manner less consistent with melodic appropriateness than with decorum,” it apparently bothered me then a lot more than it does now. Oopsy daisy.

Bottle of red, bottle of white

Other wines to try at that Italian restaurant

“A bottle of red, a bottle of white; It all depends on your appetite; I’ll meet you anytime you want; In our Italian restaurant.” — Billy Joel, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

Beginning as a melancholy tune, this song quickly accelerates into an exchange between friends or classmates on the short relationship of Brenda and Eddie. It then decelerates to a quiet end, with one of the two remarking, “I’ll meet you anytime you want / In our Italian restaurant.” It is a long song reflecting a comfortable conversation between those friends.

Italian culture is not only rich in history, food and wine; it is a culture of familiarity. We all look fondly back to our individual introductions to Italian culture with robust, red-sauced pasta. Italian food has become an American comfort food, enjoyed with friends and families over long conversations, perhaps about Brenda and Eddie. Therefore, isn’t it odd that when we think of Italian cuisine, only a few wines immediately come to mind: Chianti, pinot grigio, prosecco? There is a lot more to savor! In this column we will explore wines of two regions: Abruzzo and Molise. Lying east of Rome, beyond the Apennines, and along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, these two regions offer up wines of a special nature.

Our first wine, Umani Ronchi Vellodoro Terre di Chieti Pecorino IGT (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $11.99), is a white wine from Abruzzo. This wine is made from 100 percent pecorino grapes, also known as “grape of the sheep,” deriving from its strong connection to sheep farming of the area. In the past, because of its high aroma concentration, good alcoholic content and acidic quality, it was used in blending to improve the quality of wines made from other varieties. This wine is a product of a project originating in 2005 and represents the winery’s work to discover and exploit Adriatic native varieties. The grapes are hand-picked and, after a light pressing, cooled in stainless steel tanks for two weeks. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation but rests in the stainless steel tanks for about four months in contact with its own yeasts before bottling.

The wine has a bright straw color with a floral nose of fresh lime blossoms, along with a bit of minerality. The nose persists to the tongue with an intense and pleasant freshness. This is a wine to be enjoyed with fish dishes, fresh cheeses, pasta, and legume soups of lentils, peas, bacon and onion. Served chilled it is a great counterpoint to the broad spectrum of these dishes, both delicate and robust.

Our second wine, Di Majo Norante Sangiovese San Giorgio (originally pricedat $14.99, reduced to $12.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets), is, as its name implies, a 100 percent sangiovese from Molise. Until 1963 this region was joined to Abruzzo under the name of Abruzzi e Molise. Like Abruzzo, most of the country is mountainous, with its province of Campobasso running along its southern tier traversing from mountains to hills and on to the Adriatic Sea. The winery, Di Majo Norante, located in the coastal commune of Campomarino, has been making wine from grapes since 1800. The vineyard, of over 200 acres, produces wine from several varietals, including aglianico montepulciano, sangiovese, tintilia, falanghina, greco and moscato.

This sangiovese is harvested in October, aged in stainless steel and large oak barrels for six months, then spends three months in bottles to achieve a smoothness and softness while preserving the fruit-forward characteristic of sangiovese. The wine has a bright red color and a nose of cherry, Mediterranean herbs and leather. To the palate it is dry and mellow with smooth tannins. This is a wine to pair with antipasti, Bolognese sauces, game and ripe cheeses.

These wines are to be enjoyed with family and friends, over long conversations of reminiscences of shared experiences.

Mother’s Day Cocktails

In my experience, it is unwise to make broad generalizations about any group of women, but that said, it’s probably a good bet that this year, perhaps more than any other year, the moms of America could use a drink.

Let’s look at two hypothetical mothers, Jasmine and Kimberly:

Jasmine is a divorced mom of two young children, ages 5 and 3. She works full-time but has been “lucky” enough to be able to work from home for the past year or so. She gets up at 5 each morning to try to get some work done before Bruno, the 5-year-old, wakes up and wants breakfast prepared to very exact specifications. Failure to meet these specifications will result in angry denunciations, which will wake Pearl, the 3-year-old.

Jasmine needs a drink.

She needs something refreshing that will give her a brief moment of calm and grace.

A brief moment of calm

Ingredients:

1½ ounces very cold vodka

1 ounce rhubarb syrup (see below)

1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice

5 drops rose water

4 ounces aggressively bubbly seltzer, like Topo Chico Mineral Water

Shake all ingredients except the seltzer over ice until very cold.

Strain into a delicate 8-ounce glass.

Top with seltzer.

Admire, maybe take a picture, stir, then drink.

This is a light, not-too-boozy cocktail that tastes pretty much how it looks — pink. The rhubarb syrup gives the drink a decisively pink color that blends with the seltzer to give it an ombre coloring. The rhubarb is delicately sour. The lime juice is citrusy but not too sweet. The rose water remains in the background, hinting at exotic secrets.

Rhubarb syrup

Ingredients:

Equal amounts (by weight) of frozen, chopped rhubarb and sugar

Pinch of salt

(Note on the rhubarb: When you make syrup from any fruit — or rhubarb, in this case — frozen fruit works better than fresh. The freezing process creates ice crystals, which pierce the cell walls, making the fruit more apt to weep. That would be a drawback in an application where you wanted pristine, lovely fruit, but it is an asset in situations like this one.)

Combine rhubarb, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, until the rhubarb starts to give up its juice.

Mash the mixture with a potato masher.

Bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil for 10 to 15 seconds, to ensure that the sugar has dissolved completely.

Remove from heat, cool, strain, bottle and label. Store in your refrigerator indefinitely.

Now, let’s consider Kimberly:

Kimberly is married and the mother of a sulky teenager. All things considered, she and her husband Albert get along pretty well, but after a year of being locked in a house with him seven days a week, she is getting ready to smother him in his sleep. Elizabeth, 14, insists on being called Wynter Storm. She has recently graduated from telling Kimberly how stupid she is in general to making very specific observations of her shortcomings. She is also, apparently, a recent convert to veganism, although she still eats bacon and ice cream.

Kimberly needs a drink.

A classic boilermaker

Ingredients:

1 bottle of beer

1½ to 2 ounces bourbon

Fill a glass — pretty much any glass — 3/4 of the way with beer. You might want to tilt the glass to minimize the head of foam on top, but maybe making a long, sudsy pour will feel a little like poking your finger in the eye of — well, somebody. You do you.

Fill a shot glass with bourbon.

Give the two glasses a steely-eyed stare.

Drop the shot glass full of bourbon into the beer

At this point I’d normally describe the subtle flavor notes of this cocktail to you, but if you’re drinking a boilermaker you probably know what you’re letting yourself in for. If you don’t, consider this a well-deserved adventure.

Featured photo: A brief moment of calm. Photo by John Fladd.

Jamie Mandra

Jamie Mandra and her husband Randy are the owners of JRM Catering (509-9080, jrmcateringllc.com, and on Facebook @jrmcateringllc), also known as The Traveling Foodie, a mobile food cart based in Nashua. Their menu changes all the time but will often include comfort or Southern-inspired options — the Love in a Cup, for instance, is a layered barbecue meal featuring pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, collard greens and cornbread all in one cup. Other featured items have been gourmet hot dogs and burgers, pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese and miniature doughnuts. The Traveling Foodie has several local public events booked for the month of May, including at the Hampstead Eats food truck festival on Saturday, May 1, from noon to 5 p.m., as well as Springlook Farm (112 Island Pond Road, Derry) on Saturday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cart is also available to hire for private functions.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A really good quality chef’s knife. I could go without a lot of other things, but I have to have a good chef’s knife.

What would you have for your last meal?

A spicy tuna roll from Fuji Asian Bistro in Naples, Florida. We used to live down there. The sushi is so fresh and authentic. It’s out of this world!

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Bistro 603 [in Nashua]. The duck hash Benny with truffle fries is the way to go.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering something that you’ve made?

Julia Child. She is by far my biggest influence in the kitchen. I remember sitting in front of the TV as a child and it was like she was talking to me.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The Love in a Cup. It’s by far the most popular … [and] it’s definitely a topic of conversation with people.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

It’s hard with Covid, but I think people are looking for fun, over-the-top, picture-worthy food. People look for that experience of being wowed when they’re going out.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Any type of soup. I love creating new flavors [and] using fresh local ingredients.

Tomato bisque with cheese tortellini
From the kitchen of Jamie Mandra

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onions
Pinch of salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 32-ounce container chicken broth
1 28-ounce can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
½ teaspoon paprika
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste|
Pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
Cheese tortellini
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves, divided
2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir onion with a pinch of salt until translucent (about 5 to 8 minutes). Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). Pour chicken broth and tomatoes into onion mixture. Bring to a simmer and season with paprika, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Blend soup with an immersion blender in the pot until smooth. Whisk ½ cup of cream into soup and adjust levels of salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper and sugar. If the soup is too thick, add more broth; if it’s too thin, cook, stirring often, until reduced and slightly thickened (about 10 minutes). Add pre-cooked cheese tortellini. Ladle into warmed bowls, garnishing each bowl with a drizzle of cream and topping with about 1 teaspoon of chopped basil.

Featured photo: Jamie Mandra

Brews and beyond

New craft beer shop opens in Hudson

Cousins Jay Parajuli and Bik Basnet love trying new kinds of craft beers and had often talked about how to turn that hobby into a business. Then one weekend last fall, Parajuli said, he was en route to another cousin’s home in Hudson when he noticed construction of the town’s new Flagstone Crossing retail plaza.

“We saw the ‘for lease’ sign … and literally jumped into it right there,” he said. “I was working at a family business, a convenience store down in Massachusetts, and with Covid and everything it was tough to stay afloat. The overheads were high to maintain employees. … So we got out of that business and just kind of said this was the right time to get into something we like doing.”

Hudson Brews, which opened on April 16, is New Hampshire’s newest spot to get local and regional craft beers, ciders and hard seltzers, with a constantly rotating selection, Parajuli said, based on both seasonal supply and customer demand.

The shop’s interior is custom-built, featuring two sets of coolers near the front that are dedicated just to single-serve cans and bottles. Beer lovers who want to try single selections of more than one type of craft brew can also create their own custom four-pack carrier at a discount.

“I’m a buyer myself, and I will go to a store and try a four-pack if they don’t have singles … [but] I don’t want to end up spending $20 on something that I didn’t like,” Parajuli said. “So that was the concept. We put out singles of every possible thing that we have … so that people can try it, and if they like it, then they’ll go for the four-pack.”

Past the single selections are dozens of additional offerings in an aisle running near the back of the shop. Most of the coolers are labeled by their state of origin — beers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts make up several of them, including ones from popular local breweries like Concord Craft Brewing, Henniker Brewing Co. and 603 Brewery in Londonderry, as well as harder-to-find selections like from Coos Brewing Co. in Colebrook. Beers from other New England states are available, and there are coolers designated for regional and international options, and craft ciders and seltzers. In addition to its many beers, Hudson Brews sells a limited selection of glassware, canned cocktails and energy drinks, as well as cigars and CBD products.

Parajuli said he’s already had conversations with customers about what types of beers they want to see at the shop.

“We want to talk to people, [and] we want to get involved in the community,” he said. “It’s fantastic when you see people are happy that you have a product they are looking for.”

Hudson Brews
Where: 6 Flagstone Drive, Unit C, Hudson
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook and Instagram @hudsonbrews, or call 417-5528

Featured photo: Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Tastes of the trucks

Food truck festival to roll into Hampstead

After a lost festival year for local food truckers in 2020, a new event will bring more than half a dozen of them to Hampstead this weekend. The inaugural “Hampstead Eats” food truck festival will be held outside Hampstead Congregational Church on Main Street on Saturday, May 1, also featuring a full afternoon schedule of live music and a food drive to support the New Hampshire Food Bank.

Event coordinator Roxanne McGaffigan said attendees ages 5 and up pay an admission fee to gain entry to the event, with food selections then priced per item. The festival is being held in part as a fundraiser for the renovation and upkeep of the town’s Congregational Church.

“People can bring their own blanket or bring a chair … and hang out and listen to music, or go back to their car,” McGaffigan said. “We are following all of the CDC’s guidelines, so we are asking people to wear a mask or a face-covering when they’re not eating … [and] we’ll also have hand sanitizer stations.”

The trucks, McGaffigan said, will be diverse in their menu offerings. Each will be parked on the driveway just to the left of the church, with lots of open grass nearby for blankets and chairs.

For Christy and Nick Ortins of The Hungry Caterpillar, this will be their first food truck festival since launching their plant-based comfort concept last June. The couple’s original plan had been to secure bookings at festivals, but the pandemic caused them to pivot to contacting nearby business owners about potential parking spots. Their most prevalent location happens to be just a few miles away from the church, in the parking lot of Hampstead Health & Fitness.

Menu items from The Hungry Caterpillar, Christy Ortins said, will likely include Buffalo cauliflower bites, hand-cut french fries, and a sandwich known as the “Patty Mayonnaise,” which features homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and a plant-based mayo.

“This is very new for us and very exciting,” she said of the festival. “We’ve done a few busy events, but we haven’t had a chance to do a festival yet where we’re with other food trucks.”

Another local vendor that will appear at the festival, Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen, offers scratch-made Cajun, Creole and Caribbean-inspired items. Owner and longtime chef Chris “Koz” Kozlowski, who will likely serve options like fish tacos and chicken jambalaya, only just pulled the 22-foot mobile trailer out of its winter hibernation last week.

“I took my first summer off in 31 years of cooking last year,” Kozlowski said. “Then we got a call for an event on Labor Day weekend, and so we decided we can’t be bogged down forever.”

Kozlowski would go on to generate more sales in three months from September to November than almost two-thirds of the year in 2019. With the help of his wife, he also ran Koz’s Haute Box, a second smaller food trailer serving New England regional comfort foods, in the winter.

This season, he said, he expects the food truck to continue to be mostly a family affair.

“It’s going to be a different structure,” he said. “Most of the gigs we have booked right now are days my wife has off, and I’ve got two kids that help out too.”

Kona Ice, which offers multiple flavors of tropical-themed shaved ice, will be providing free cup upgrades for festival-goers who bring an item to donate to the New Hampshire Food Bank. McGaffigan said the Food Bank will be accepting donations of nonperishable items.

Featured live performances throughout the afternoon will include Let’s Play Music from noon to 2 p.m., followed by The Sons of the Solstice from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., and Michael Wingate and Chris Cyrus of the band Slack Tide from 3:30 to 5 p.m. McGaffigan said church members and volunteers will also be selling flowers ahead of Mother’s Day.

“Hampstead Eats” food truck festival
When: Saturday, May 1, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Hampstead Congregational Church, 61 Main St., Hampstead
Hours: $5 admission fee for ages 5 and up (cash or check only); foods are priced per item
More info: Search “Hampstead Eats” on Facebook, or call the church office at 329-6985
Event is rain or shine. CDC social distancing guidelines will be observed.

Participating vendors
Boogalows Island BBQ (boogalowsbbq.com)
Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen (find them on Facebook @crescentcitykitchennh)
Chubb’s Fries & Dough (find them on Facebook @eddiemencis)
The Hungry Caterpillar (find them on Facebook @thehungrycaterpillarnh)
Kona Ice (kona-ice.com)
The Traveling Foodie Cart (jrmcateringllc.com)
The Whoo(pie) Wagon (thewhoopiewagon.com)

Feautred photo: The “Patty Mayonnaise” sandwich, featuring homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and plant-based mayo, from The Hungry Caterpillar plant-based food truck. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

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