Vegan Treats: Petunia's Has Punch Cards!

Smart move! I think, as you might be able to tell from my various posts on the subject, we were pretty likely to keep eating vegan treats from Petunia's Pies & Pastries every weekend without the punch card. Her stuff is all over, and it's always reliably yummy. Since the Farmer's Market started she has had something exciting and new every week. And I follow her on facebook, so last week I had my order figured out mid-week. All that was left was the matter of making it there early, before she sold out! Mmmm...Chocolate Hazelnut Carmel Cream Filled Cupcake, Just look:

 

And Chuck always loves a good doughnut, his was apple cinnamon. Anyway...so she has punch cards now and we've already got 4 out of 12 checked off. At the rate we're going we will get our free treat by June 25th!

Thank you Crafty Wonderland!

Yeah, it's been over a week since Crafty Wonderland and I haven't blogged about it yet....gave myself a little break from blogging for the week after.  We had fun, sold some things, & made many people smile at the triangle cats. Even sold a few, the large white kitty and a little kitty went home as a mother's day gift, very cute. It a was pretty fun day. Oh, and I got rid of something like 3/4 of the box of business cards I just bought & that's pretty cool.

We sat next to cool people too: Rachel Blumberg, Hoot Hoot PDX!, and olbapi! And across Gadget Cozies, of which I had some of my own to sell. But that's okay, Gadget Cozies was friendly and leaned more toward the larger scale devices: laptops, etc., whereas my knit cozies focus on the little (easier to knit) e-readers. We used the square device to take credit cards on my phone. It was my first time with it and it was pretty cool, and kind of fun to use too! We also managed to get ourselves to the show and back by lugging all our stuff via public transit. Here's a funny picture of me right before the show, looking slightly frazzled:

And here are some more pics of my displays:

  

We managed to find time to make pom-poms for the banner too (see the first pic above)...well actually Chuck should get credit for almost all of them after getting some minimal instruction from me. He was helpful with so many things during and in the weeks before the show! I think he even had fun too. Yay! After a short, week long break from knitting too, I just started a pair of hand-knit socks for him as a thank you. It only seems fair.

Crafty Wonderland is Next Weekend!

One week from today! I'm really excited, but I have so much left to do! I haven't put my Etsy Shop on vacation mode yet, but that will probably happen later this week! I've been knitting up a bunch of e-reader, I-pad and cell phone cozies, I've got a big pile of triangle cats in the apartment, and we will be working on some new card designs this weekend. If you're in Portland, come to the convention center next weekend to check it all out in person. And get there very early for the free goodie bags, which I'm sure will be packed with awesome but will be gone very quickly!

What I listened to in 2010, Part Two: Old

  

Lhasa (also known as Lhasa de Sela) - The Living Road (from 2003) Website
I started out last year re-listening album because of the unfortunate news that Lhasa died of breast cancer on New Years day last year. It's a fantastic album, one my Aunt initially loaned me a copy of, and I never get tired of it. I wish I had managed to see her sold out show at the Triple Door when we lived in Seattle, but I didn't manage to get tickets. It was really sad to hear of her passing.

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music (from 2007) Website*
*be warned their website does start to play music without prompting.
I also wanted to mention this album because I was asked to pick out music for the wedding in SC this fall. So for some time, I was happily listening to any and everything in our collection with any hint of being appropriate. I mentioned that the first track from this album, "The Lucky One" would be cute processional song, but not really knowing if Matt & Janie had a plan for something else; I wasn't expecting them to agree to it. They really loved it, and it worked out perfectly for the big day. Now that I'm posting this I'm noticing that the cover even looks like the setting from the lake, even more reason this album is probably going to me get a little teary-eyed from here on out!

The rest of this post focuses on "old" artists that released new albums this year. I suspect that this means that I won't be able to find as many links to streaming audio for this post, since these artists are already established, but I'll try.

 

Belle and Sebastian - Write about Love Website Stream Album
Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights Website Appearance on WNYC's Soundcheck
These both came out fairly recently, in the fall, so I'm still getting into them, but on the whole I think I'm enjoying these both more than I thought I would. Belle & Sebastian have consistent sound that I like, so I was expecting it to be pretty good, but I think I'm into this album a little more than I am usually into their music. I am Antony and the Johnsons fan of our household, it's not really Chuck's type of thing. He does have an unusual voice and it's probably not for everyone. This album features a duet with Bjork, perhaps returning the favor for Antony's appearance on her 2007 album, Volta. It's the 8th release from Belle & Sebastian, the 4th for Antony and the Johnsons.

 

The Gossip - Music for Men (rel. 2009) Stream
Thank goodness for Beth Ditto of the Gossip. She's so awesome. This release is from 2009, but I was still listening to it all year this year. Heck I'm still listening to all their other albums too. Just thinking of the video for Long Distance Love makes me want to be at a roller rink right now.

Stereo Total - Baby Ouh! Website
The cover might give you some idea of the feel of this album. 2007's Paris-Berlin remains my favorite album from them, but the fact there is a song about Andy Warhol fits so well with their overall aesthetic, and as usual it features many blips and beeps that get stuck in my head well after listening.

 

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening Website

M.I.A. - /\/\/\Y/\ Website*

*yes, this one autoplays too. You also get to watch a video of the track "born free"

This is the third release from both of these artists, and I'm noticing they've been releasing their albums on the same schedule, 2005, 2007 and 2010. That might make some sense, we saw them together at the Showbox in Seattle in 2005. If you've been a fan of MIA on twitter of facebook, it's been an interesting year.

 

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way Website*
*auto-plays music. Their christmas track "ain't no chimneys in the projects" actually
I first heard Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings from Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW, and this is their 4th release. Sharon Jones once worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island, but now she's making great Funk/Soul music with the fabulous Dap Kings (who were featured on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black.) Their music is consistently great.

She & Him - Volume Two Website (player in upper left)
Zooey is pretty cute. We got to see these two live together at the Pritzker Pavillion this year and they had a great chemistry on stage. Sure M. Ward wore his sunglasses the whole time, but he looked very cool doing it. For some reason I still feel partial to Volume One (maybe it was the cover of "You've Really Got a Hold On Me") but Volume Two is growing on me, and I usually get more excited about songs after seeing them performed live.

What I listened to in 2010, Part One: New

I usually spend the first few weeks of the new year every year toying with the idea of doing a post about the music of the last year. And I usually end up giving it up because I start to realize some of my favorite albums that I listened to over the year were actually, technically, from the year before and that all these end of the year lists (on sites like emusic and Pitchfork) have a bunch of stuff on them that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet. But this year I'm thinking Why not? I'll just post about some of my favorites from my listening this year regardless of their actual release dates. Part One focuses on artists that were pretty much new to me this year, in no particular order. I tried to find links to online streams of the full album where I could, though I don't know how long those will be available, so listen soon! If I couldn't find that I have a link to the band's site instead where you should at least be able to find some samples of their music.

 

Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central  Stream Here

Last time I saw my aunt she was talking about enjoying Breathe Owl Breathe live, and mentioned their campaign over on kickstarter. We have their EP Ghost Glacier, so I wasn't entirely unfamiliar with them, but I really got into them with this album. It appeals to me for the same reasons I am a big fan of Bill Callahan/Smog.

Karaocake - Rows & Stitches Stream Here

I was convinced by an interview on e-music, the cover art and the title, seemingly very crafty-ish.  Also helpful was the suggestion that they were similar to Au Revoir Simone and the fact that they are from Paris, France.

  

Blue Giant - Blue Giant Stream Here
When I heard Portland locals Kevin Robinson and Anita Robinson of Viva Voce had a new project, right around the time we moved here, I looked into to it as soon as I could! We saw those two live at least twice when we lived in Seattle and just like their music, they are a lot of fun.

Lykke Li - Youth Novels Website (there is a pop out audio player on the upper right)
I take it this actually came out all the way back in 2008, but I only got around to listening to it last year. Well...I don't have all that long to wait then for the next album from her, which should be coming out this March.

 

The xx - xx Website (a player at the bottom of the page)
I'm actually not sure there was anything in particular that prompted me to make this one of my emusic downloads other than the fact that it was showing up high in their charts and I liked the previews. It's one of my favorites now though, though technically released in 2009. I guess they won the Mercury prize this year, which as I recall Antony & the Johnsons won right around when I was first hearing their music.

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here Stream Here
The title comes from a cover of on of Bill Callahan/Smog's songs...and even though the original is also very close to spoken word, something about Heron's presentation makes me think about the meaning differently. But even excluding that track, this album from the Chicago poet/musician is definitely worth several listens.

 

The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood 

Website (the music section has a few tracks & videos)

Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks Stream Here

These two albums are a little similar in my mind, perhaps a slight vintage feel. On Karen Elson's Album you get the distinct Jack White sound since she's his wife. She does draw in some cabaret influences (she had a cabaret group in NYC) and was much better than I expected. 

 

Veviter - Tight Knit Stream Here
This is from 2009, but we listened to it a lot early this year. We saw Devandra Banhart for my birthday in 2009 and a few of the songs from this album were performed at that show. And again with the crafty title. I think it got a few extra listens just for that. No, it's a good album, and I like it more because that show was a particularly good one.

Jenny and Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now Website (see LISTEN in the upper left)
I was looking forward to this because I really like Jenny Lewis, but I'm not quite as crazy about it as I hoped I would be. It's alright, but can't help but wishing for more Jenny and less Johnny every time we listen to it.

 

Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid Stream Here
I've read about some shows she did in Chicago this year, and I heard she's great live, I would like to see here. As I recall there was a comparison of her performance to Grace Jones, David Bowie and a few other really great people. Every photo I see of Janeele Monáe, her style clothing, hair, etc. is just so cool. I'm still enamoured of everything about the video for Tightrope, love the dance moves. But I also really love the fact that her tuxedo pants and black and white shoes remind me of some clothing I had as a kid.

The Living Sisters - Love to Live Website on facebook (a few tracks, scroll down, see left)
3 musicians I already liked: Inara George of The Bird & The Bee, Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and singer Eleni Mandell sing harmony on this album. I have to admit I haven't actually given the album itself a listen yet, but I was quite charmed by their performance on Morning Becomes Eclectic (a program from L.A.'s KCRW which I've been listening to online while I work since 2002.) and I've given it a few listens.

Tomorrow I was planning on posting about some the albums that came out in 2010 from artists I already knew and like quite a bit, but I don't think it will be quite as extensive as this post was! Whew!