Seasonal Tunes Mix Series Vol. 8 "2010" (a year in music)

DOWNLOAD HERE...(right click, save as)

tracklist:

Pantha Du Prince - Lay In A Shimmer

NDF - Since We Last Met

Four Tet - Sing (Extended Mix)

LCD Soundsystem - Home

Holy Fuck - Red Lights

Caribou - Odessa (David Wrench's Drumapella)

Caribou - Odessa

Gold Panda - Same Dream China

Gorillaz - Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach

Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Lovesick

Toro Y Moi - You Hid

Onra - To the Beat

Big Boi - Turns Me On

Mount Kimbie - Before I Move Off

Oriol - Coconut Coast

Matthew Dear - Little People (Black City)

Archie Bronson Outfit - Hoola (M.C.D.E. Remix)

Tanlines - Z

Health - Before Tigers (Cfcf Remix)

Deerhunter - Helicopter (Diplo & Lunice mix)

Flying Lotus - MmmHmm

James Blake - Limit To Your Love

cheers y'all

matty | ish!

http://www.racecarproductions.com/aero/

Seasonal Tunes Mix Series Vol. 7 "crush"

This is most likely my favorite podcast to date.  Things came together so naturally, I had a lot of fun mixing this.  What an exciting time of year:  GRAPES! HARVEST! CRUSH!  I was in Austria last year at this time touring the Wachau and Kamptal/Kremstal and the smell of must and fermentation was EVERYWHERE.  I'll never forget those smells biking from one sleepy wine town to the next.  I think the key, for me at least, to remembering this trip so well was that all of my senses were constantly stimulated.  I'll never forget riding into Krems with all my shit packed on my bike and back, stomach full of beer & wurst, the smell of fresh grapes being pressed all around me, fireworks display in the distance, and my trusty headphones sealing the deal... making it one of the better moments in my life.

So I wasn't shooting for a particular theme with this mix but it came together in a similar organic way making it fit right into the harvest season.  There are lots of peaceful, ethereal moments on the mix that stand out, "Children Of The Times" by Irish Band & Planet Mu recent signing Solar Bears followed by "Waterparker" by Botany.  James Blake is killing it right now with some of the most original music I've ever heard.  "Don't You Think I Do" off the Klavierwerke EP is punchy yet extremely quiet.  The light knocks beside these wishy washy splashes shuffle me into a weird and happy mental space.  The only place I can think to travel after that is the Spanish islands where Young Turk's El Guincho  makes insanely cool modern tropicália.  "Bombay" totally snuck up on me a few months ago and I've been playing the hell out of it since.  The video...  well, I'm just gonna post it and let you decide for yourself (it's fucking great).  Gonjasufi's "A Sufi & a Killer," also a favorite album for the year, sees a remix album release that includes Bibio's take on "Candyland".  Debut album "Forget" from Twin Shadow is AMAZING.  Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys released "Shark Ridden Waters" as a promo for his 3rd solo album coming out soon (you can d/l the song on his site here).  and FlyLo kills his coworkers with this video.  Shouts to MWNL & Pitchfork.

 DOWNLOAD HERE... (right click, save as)

tracklist:

Darkstar - Gold

Deerhunter - Helicopter (Star Slinger Remix)

1000 Names - Pocket Calculators

Gonjasufi - Candyland (Bibio Remix)

Stereolab - Aelita

Diamond Rings - All Yr Songs

Twin Shadow - At My Heels

Siriusmo - The Plasterer of Love

Pariah - The Slump

Commix - How You Gonna Feel (Pedestrian Remix)

James Blake - Don't You Think I Do

El Guincho - Bombay

James Pants - 1988

Cassius - Brotherhood

Balam Acab - See Birds (Sun)

Solar Bears - Children Of The Times

Botany - Waterparker

Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters

Bjørn Torske - Versjon Wolfenstein

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers

cheers, y'all

matty | ish!

http://pickledtomato.blogspot.com/

EL GUINCHO | Bombay from MGdM | Marc Gómez del Moral on Vimeo.

Seasonal Tunes Mix Series Vol. 6 "sing me a song"

Summer is ending... the tomatoes have been juicy and delicious (especially the fuzzy peach ones!), and I feel fall in the early evening breeze.  I have to say that I'm probably a better dj than a writer so hopefully the music will evoke the perfect soundtrack for your fall.  While fall does make me think of things like romance, undoubtedly a theme here, it still always has a somber beauty to me which you'll find in such songs as Jono McCleery's "Tomorrow", an amazing instrumental from LA's beatmaker TAKE and the wildly different-than-original Mount Kimbie rmx of Andreaya Triana's single off her new album Lost Where I Belong, one of many GREAT new releases currently out on Ninja Tune.  I couldn't help but feature both the original and the remix.  Speaking of Ninja tune... the last song: MASSIVE, cinematic beauty from Eskmo is completely engrossing.  "Don't Let it Pass from José Gonzales project JUNIP sees it's full release that is easily a favorite for the whole year, PLEASE get it.  Sing Me A Song was my desire to feature some great vocal stuff out right now.  Janelle Monáe, like miss Triana, is a complete diva yet a completely new voice in popular music.  Continuing with the fun/dancy vibe I can't get enough of that Lindstrøm/Prins Thomas rmx of "Swoon."  I love how it mixes into the following leafy/breezy tunes from Axel Boman & Oriol.  Stones Throw comes correct (as always) with two new releases from incredible male vocalists Aloe Blacc & Mayer Hawthorne.  More doubled up releases from  Tru Thoughts... Maddslinky, aka Zed Bias, has always been one of my favorite 2-step garage producers.  "Special" is true to name w/Omar on vocals... HEAT!  followed by label mates Belleruche & Hint on the remix.  Throw this mix in your phones and go on a walk, tis the season!

DOWNLOAD HERE... (right click, save as)

tracklist:

Jono McCleery - Tomorrow (Radio Edit)

Andreya Triana - A Town Called Obsolete

Janelle Monae - Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (Siriusmo Remix)

The Chemical Brothers - Swoon (Lindstrøm/Prins Thomas Remix)

Axel Boman - Not So Much

Oriol - Spiral

Grasscut - Old Machines

Aloe Blacc - Femme Fatale

Rubies - Signs of Love (Acoustic Version by Mocky)

Take - Conversations with Yesterday

Gonzales - Never Stop

Maddslinky - Special (feat. Omar)

Belleruche - Anything You Want (not that) (Hint Remix)

L-vis 1990 - Forever You

Andreya Triana - A Town Called Obsolete (Mount Kimbie Remix)

Dj Shadow - I've Been Trying

Mayer Hawthorne - I Need You

Junip - Don't Let It Pass

Eskmo - Cloudlight

cheers, y'all

matty | ish!

Mas Amor

1½ oz Partida Reposado Tequila

¾ oz Yellow Chartreuse

1½ oz watermelon puree

½ oz lime juice

½ oz simple syrup

For the puree, add seedless watermelon, some mint leaves, and simple syrup (to taste) into a blender.  Bruise 2 leafy sprigs of cilantro into a cocktail shaker, just enough to release aroma.  Add all ingredients and a quarter turn of cracked black pepper.  Shake with ice and strain over fresh ice into a double old fashioned glass.  Garnish with cilantro sprig, another turn of cracked black pepper and, of course, a nice piece of watermelon.

Another original by yours truly.  This was featured on Partida's website 2 years ago.  This SCREAMS summertime... go get you some watermelon!  Or get ahold of me and we'll make a batch of these.  :)

Seasonal Tunes Mix Series Vol. 5 "mattyPAN"

Summer rolls on...  I started this mix with 45 songs in mind.  If that says anything about how much good stuff is coming out right now, then I don't know what does. I'm sad I couldn't squash in the new Matthew Dear - Little People (Black City), or that great new stuff from Lower Dens but I managed to whittle it down.  Loving the new EP from Ninja Tune's Jaga Jazzist, especially the Prins Thomas mix of Bananfluer Overalt, but I just couldn't resist that insane bassline on 220V/Spektral (FINAL Mix).  Mixed into upcoming house superstars Azari, III from Toronto... keep yer eye out for their album on TURBO early in 2011.  I know "I Can Change" has been out for a sec but as far as I'm concerned it's one of the most essential tunes of the summer and it makes me smile REAL big.  The new Arcade Fire album... I shouldn't even have to tell you how freaking amazing it is, so I'm not.  "Rattling Cage" from Forest Swords is maddening with it's dubby twang, I almost can't handle how good it is.  He's "interested in music that kind of echoes the environment it was created in...” if that's the case I want to go there for a week without my cell phone and come back with +10 skill points.  Something about the heat and the sun setting makes balearic grooves like the CFCF and the Todd Terje tunes seep under my skin and right back out into my sweaty t-shirt.  I wanna hear that stuff LOUD... on the beach (Seb, you know what I'm talkin' about).  The last part of the mix includes some mind-altering beauty off the new Mount Kimbie album "Crooks & Lovers", title track off the new Oriol "Night & Day" (!!!!!!!), and one from my fav producer of the year SBTRKT.  enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE  (right click.. save as)

Tracklist:

Four Tet - Angel Echoes (Jon Hopkins Remix)

Air Conditioning School - Up On

Deerhunter - Revival

Pantha Du Prince feat Panda Bear - Stick To My Side (Four Tet Version)

Holy Ghost! - Static On The Wire

Jaga Jazzist - 220 V/Spektral (FINAL Mix)

Azari, III - Reckless (With Your Love)

LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change

White Ring - Suffocation (Los Campesinos! Remix)

Arcade Fire - Rococo

Enlou - Ghost of Peace

Forest Swords - Rattling Cage

CFCF - Snake Charmer (Young Galaxy Remix)

Antena - Camino Del Sol (Todd Terje Remix)

The Sun Paulo - Little Human (Jimmy Edgar Remix)

Nite Jewel - Falling Far

SBTRKT/Sampha - Evening Glow

Oriol - Night And Day

Mount Kimbie - Carbonated

DâM-FunK - A(nother) Day at the Carnival (Sahy Uhns' Cosmic Songbird Remix)

cheers, y'all

matty | ish!

Seasonal Tunes Mix Series Vol. 4 "enVERANO"

I hope everybody got their hands on some sour cherry pie this year!!  Summer mixes are ALSO in season and pair nicely with beach trips and the sweltering heat.  Continuing in true free-form I mixed together some of my favorite tunes hitting the stores this summer.  Make sure you get your hands on some of the full albums, they're really great!  This new !!! song is making me CRAZY!  Black Dice killed it with the video too.

DOWNLOAD HERE (right click... save as)

tracklist:

Viernes - Entire Empire

!!! - AM/FM

The Chemical Brothers - Another World

Teebs & Jackhigh - Comes to Mind (Josip Klobučar Remix)

Aeroplane - We Can't Fly

Baths - Aminals

School of Seven Bells - Windstorm

Blonde Redhead - Here Sometimes

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Garden

RJD2 - The First Signs of Land

Africa Hitech - Too Late

Emeralds - Now You See Me

The Books - All You Need Is A Wall

Julian Lynch - Ears

Autolux  - Transit Transit

Sepalcure - Every Day Of My Life

Tortoise - Ruba'iyat

The Roots - How I Got Over

Big Boi - The Train Pt. 2

enjoy!

matty | ish!

Great things come from Indiana...

So, I spent my holiday weekend with one of my best friends & her family in Logansport, IN.  Good ol' American pride, fireworks, freshly caught fried perch & blue-gill, diamond stylus classic rock-outs, lakefloats,  and FRESH INDIANA SWEETCORN!  I roasted the corn and made a dressing with charred tomatillos & garlic.  After letting everything cool down I tossed the corn with the dressing, pickled breakfast radish, raw jalapeño, grape tomatoes, parsley, & scallion.  Tossed fresh market greens with Austrian pumpkin seed oil & lime juice then topped with the corn salad.  Finished w/spicy roasted pepitas on top (not in picture), and paired with the Sammy Smith organic dry cider.  Yes, that is a 2 Live Crew record in the background, they are not from Indiana.

last night... SUMMER started (officially)

 a savage thirst, gone unquenched since last september... the new vintage of isastegi is IN!!!!! get some.

Domaine Weinbach

Fresh off a day of rest, post-Paris adventure, and an evening of settling into our gîte in Ammerschwir we arrive to Domaine Weinbach with keen palettes and stomachs lined with tart flambée... READY.  Funny we should start a week of tasting hundreds of wines with one of our favorite wines of the entire trip.  2009 Muscat, Clos des Capucins.  Heavy spicy & floral aromatics led to a full, dry, pallete of ginger & celery.  "Great w/Asperges," Catherine tells us.  I smile to myself realizing that she's probably right.  Considering that many bodly testify that pairing wines with asparagus is nearly impossible, I can now say after being in Alsace during asparagus season and surrounded by muscat I have seen the golden-hued light.  Muscat quickly became the one wine we were most eager to try at every estate (sylvaner, for me too).  Pure Elegance.  Everything at Domaine Weinbach was so pure and finessed, hard to not consider a result of the feminine touch.  100% estate grown fruit and soon to be Demeter certified bio-d, Colette, Catherine, and Laurence continue the unrelenting commitment to excellence established by late husband/father Théo.  The expressive terroir of their grand crus is what gives these wines their power.

Schlossberg, the first classified grand cru in Alsace, is where riesling shines fully (southern) exposed on the steep slopes of granite/shale soil.  08 Riesling has great initial impact.  Crystal clear purity & drive into salty/savory acidity.

It's youthful sweetness is in total harmony with the acidity, I'm looking forward to tasting this again in a few years.  The Cuvée St. Catherine comes from 40-60 year old vines and is located on the middle of the slope.  Lots more herbal/minty notes here.  Gewürtztraminer.  Grand Cru Furstentum is composed of limestone, clay, & sandstone.  The Altembourg is mostly limestone with some clay.  I love the acidity that these limestone soils create, perfect for gewürtz.  In particular, Furstentum, creates a much spicier gerwürtz because of the sandstone.  2008 Altembourg Gewürtz is "spacious" yet precise.  It creates space for itself, and then fills it.  Huge minerality and fresh acidity.  Pinot gris also does well here, less aromatics, but the weight is cut with that limestone acidity.  Botrytis develops beautifully at gc Mambourg and is where the vt's and sgn's are born.  07 Gewürtz sgn has yellow pear all over the place with silky minerality and a hint of musk.  "I'm ready for foie now..." my notes read.

Check out the pictures and you'll get the overal gist of this elegance I'm referring to, like i said... everything here is pretty.  I even made one of my notorious 'wine model' poses.

PARIS. FOOD.

It's amazing how you can go from waking up on a hot Sunday morning in Chicago with vitamin gut and projectile carrot juice to eating snails and drinking rosé at a tiny French Bistro in Paris. Handfuls of valerian root, melatonin, and a magical little blue pill can do wonders for blurring the clutches of time zones and jetlag.  Besides, where's the fun in being tired for a full 24 hours of eating and drinking in Paris with good friends ahead of you? Before I get into my Paris eating adventures I'll brief you on what brings me to Paris in the first place.  I work at Webster's Wine Bar in Chicago, IL... the greatest winebar in the world (yeah i said it). Every year we take a trip to a specific viticultural region in search of knowledge, inspiration, understanding, and mostly great times with great friends.  We think it's essential to truly understanding wines of a region by immersing ourselves in the culture and the people.  After an epic winetrip to Austria (Kamptal, Wachau) visiting some 13 estates last fall, I learned how things are done on Websters trips which the following posts and pictures of this trip will illustrate.  They may manifest feelings of envy & wonder yet, keep in mind, these trips are WORK!  Tasting 100+ wines a day takes STAMINA.  Eating foie gras more than twice a day takes FOCUS!  Ping pong, eau de vie, riesling, killer ducks, cremant, hill climbs, asperges, 1976 pinot gris, more eau de vie, charcoutre, riesling, storks (!), tart flambée, riesling, VT... SGN... MUNSTER... this is no WALK IN THE PARK people! That being said, I hope you enjoy the next few posts about our trip to Alsace!  I'll be talking about terroir, wine laws, lots about biodynamics, ha grown vs production, foudres, acidity, and more.  I thought I'd start things off with 2 (3) places I fell in love with in Paris.

GLOU!

Jeremy, our wine director and trip planner extraordinaire was raving about this place all afternoon. Last time he was in Paris he wandered into the tiny storefront and found an amazing meal with simple delicious organic (and bio-d) food, some serious stuff by the glass, and a super friendly staff.  Despite some reluctance amongst our group of 11 (groups 1 & 2) we called ahead, fingers crossed, to reserve a table.  There is something to be said about how everything just seems to work out in our favor on these trips because Glou agreed they could accommodate!  It took me about 5 seconds to fall completely in love with this place. Two quaint tables sit outside on the sidewalk in front of tall skinny windows and a chalkboard featuring the days glass pours. 

We're greeted by a Berkel hand crank meat slicer consorting amongst a few small 2 & 4 top tables.  The long narrow room leads us to our tall curved communal table beside a wall of a hi-tech tap system keeping the esteemed wines fresh.  Three candy red drum lamps above us add a splash of color to the exposed brick wall with a black chalkboard showing more of today's features. 

We settle in and jump right into a bottle of Serge Batard Muscadet... is there a better way to start a meal? Fino, maybe.  A few bottles of 2009 Domaine de Fondreche Rosé get poured out as the food starts arriving. I purposely didn't document every morsel on the table because I was almost overwhelmed with how happy I was. 

The pictures should give you the idea. '07 Vincent Gaudry Sancerre (pn) tastes AMAZING with the orecchiette & morels, oh... and w/the lamb leg & tomatoes, dorade w/veg.. mmmhmmm. 

After the meal we had them put together a quick tasting of some of the wines in the case.  Sancerre, Meursault, Huet Vouvray, Ostertag Riesling, Condrieu (!)... Côte de Nuits, Côte du Beaune, St. Joseph, Côte Rôtie, St. Estèphe. What an experience!  I was totally blown away, not to mention lost complete track of when I had slept last. This shit is Matty fuel.  I could eat and drink like this forever (and we kinda did! for another 10 days).

and oh yes... they had this ridiculous olive oil that I wrote down so I could hunt it down when I got home.  HERE.

So after Glou we went out and blazed the town.  Found a local hip bar and chugged blanche bière then, I think... I don't even remember which one came first (ha), wandered into a charming winebar slash bookstore.  We found our sanctuary in the small back room where we drank Sancerre like it was Bud Light and raised ruckus like a bunch of loud Americans.  At one point a [tipsy] local came back with a huge smile on his face only to sit next to Dylan and just act like he was one of us.  Quite humorous to say the least.  After everything closed down we headed back to the hotel to tug off of some Mettè wild plum eau de vie and play in the street.  The night kept getting longer and the antics ensued... yes, even some Tai Chi.

"I still haven't slept yet," I say to myself, snapping photos of the Colonne de Juillet. "Saturday?.. Friday?.. Chicago..?  Didn't I close at the winebar? Is it Tuesday?... ah jeez."   The sun coming up in the Bastille still didn't phase my "pumped-up" meter still pinned to "F."  After some very much needed croque madames we finally kick back (haha, Dylan) to the hotel.  I managed to grab a few zzz's and wake up to the beginning of our Alsace trip!

fast forward 10 days...

back in Paris.

falafel.

Really, you have no idea.  My friend Katherine (yay, monkey!), and her fiance David assured me it was a good bet.  The kind gentleman who took my money assured me it was a good bet.  "Best falafel on EARTH" were his words actually.  Not only was it the best falafel on earth but quite possibly one of my single favorite things I've ever eaten.  I tend to get in trouble with my friends rattling off that kinda stuff... "favorite this, best ever that."  I mean it this time guys, I do!  Thank you Monkey.  Thank you David.  Even my guy Jared in Cincinnati knows what's up.  If you are in Paris, go.

Despite the slightly rainy afternoon, it doesn't stop us from running around town staring at the endless supermodels.  Absinthe shop here, cider bar there.  More supermodels.  I'm not sure if I could handle living in Paris.  Maybe there are Parisian women who dig Americans, you know, kinda like the way we dig accents here?  Maybe just a fantasy.  I resist a few impulse buys for the sake of my pocketbook but enjoy the afternoon boppin' around town with Spencer.

Cul de Poule

We jump over to the 9th for our next, and one of our last, meals of the trip.  The name literally translates to "hen's ass" (chicken butt, haha lowen!) although I just recently came across another meaning that it is basically slang for "mixing bowl."  Pretty clever.  The food?  Clever indeed.  I'll get to that in a second, but first, check out this room.  When we walked in they asked us if we wanted to sit upstairs.  Not having any idea we walk up a super narrow set of stairs along a wildly hilarious, and sometimes phallic, mural along the wall.  The whole room was a freaking bed!  That's right, tv trays as tables, pillows, small lamps along the back wall with a word search wallpaper that most have turned into playful graffiti.

Not to be outdone by Glou, we dove straight into the also humble, yet playful winelist. Cheverny Blanc, TROUSSEAU (JURA!), a life-altering low alcohol bio-d sparkling cab franc, and more delight from Corsica!  I'm fucking spoiled.

The food here was SO simple, most of the time each dish having only 3 elements to it. People always say that the simplest food is always the hardest to execute well.  Nothing here seemed hard, complicated, or overthought.  Smoked chicken with a paprika mousse and greens.  Cauliflower soup. Bayonne ham, melt in your mouth chorizo.  Smoked haddock, purée of yam, dill.  There was a huge pork shank on the table too that had some sort of orange zest glaze & polenta, that was out of control good.  At first I thought things were under-seasoned being the salt monster that I am, but after rethinking the flavors and tasting everything I realized that it was intended that way and ended up making the flavors a little more delicate.  Comfort food in a comfortable room made this extremely memorable for me.  There was a "tapiocaaaaaaaaaa" dessert w/whisky & caramel that was just  ______.  I'm just going to leave that blank for now.  A most satisfying calvados, paired with a smoke while peering out our own personal window on to the cool rainy streets of Paris allowed me to reflect on everything.  I'm truly grateful for this trip, these friends, and the ability to appreciate the most important things in life: food, wine, and people! When all of these things are good, it sure is a powerful thing.  à santé!