Abraço

86 E 7th St
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

Review originally published on Yelp

One of best coffee shops in the lower east side. Hands down, this place is a gem, a diamond in the rough. Anyone looking for unique espresso and coffee offerings would do well to visit this place.

Their drips are quality. They take the time to make it good. Their edibles are rich with flavor. The olive oil cake is awesome! Try the lemon rose cake as well.

The experience is unique because its literally as big as a closet, just enough room to order and warm up before enjoying yourself outside. They have a spot outside to hang out during warmer weather, but the honest situation is a brief, in-and-out, no frills and no bull coffee stop. The best places are hard to find.

This one is worth searching out.

ATLAS SOUND – BEDROOM DATABANK: VOLUME TWO

I’m listening to Atlas Sound’s album “Bedroom Databank: Volume 2” and leaning recumbent in an office chair. My head falls back as acoustic sounds progress,  (opportunistically) like a snow flurry (on a day filled with love) turning into a beautiful blizzard for hours and hours. It turns electronic.

The energy keeps me happy, seeing stars and moonshine, feeling warm, under a jacket and earmuffs, gloves, hat and scarf. I dust my mind and recognize the blatant indie-rock “-ness” of my situation, and begin to focus like a good Grizzly Bear song on the meaning of it all.

Being inebriated (and alone) is an unusually Zen experience while listening to some of this music; I think freely and do what I want.

On beaches at night, the plaid-wearing hipsters could lay around bonfires enjoying a good conversation, and/or resting before sleep, looking up at the stars, wondering how this music’s still on with only one man  (Bradford Cox) playing all the instruments. I often thought of MGMT, Washed Out, and Panda Bear.

The vocals stood out among all of his instruments, along with the bass guitar; I really liked the sound and style of both. I also really liked “Here Come the Trains” at the end, a great example of what his project is all about. It’s enough to get me looking into his other work. Overall I enjoyed the album very much, and await another production.

I found this song shortly after discovering Atlas Sound, and thought you’d like it. Enjoy!

BROOKLYN SOUND

22^nd Street, between 4^th and 5^th
Brooklyn, NY
10/23/2010
Anchor Steam

The last time I visited Brooklyn was in April, my brother lived on Classon Avenue, and we got together with the folks for a nice weekend, but that’s a different story. A shady trend was growing in his area (sky-boxes and stained brownstone buildings), and he took the move as a blessing.

Now, on the corner of 22^nd street, between 4^th and 5^th, my brother adjusts to a life with his girlfriend. She’s a great girl, and they go well together. They love all the same things, and they even apply to the same jobs. There was nothing out-of-place in this scene, nothing except for maybe the scene itself.

“The house used to be all red, like these stairs,” my brother pointed out as we walked towards it. I was surprised not to walk up the stairs, but instead beside them to the garden-level entrance left of the house. A cozy barbecue patio looked at us as we stepped down into the apartment. It was a unique world underneath a gay couple’s paradise. The bathroom looked to be carved out of a cave, and the radiator (after an interesting story of breaking down and leaking) had a burly towel covering it.

There should be no expectations of greatness, I thought, other than the greatness you make for yourself.

My bed was the floor where the coffee table rests. There was no rug, but they prepared for me a sleeping bag and several warm blankets. I slept like a baby that first night, but not before checking out an art gallery (Under Minerva) we passed by earlier on a walk around the block. There was a painting in the front of a DJ in layers of orange and blue, playing records and mixing it up at a club of diverse colors in the background. The basic colors of the DJ washed over the pretty lights, and it truly stood out from afar.

Over ATM slips and Grizzly Bear, I was enjoying the taste of sugar on my tongue, making a list of songs I had recommended to my brother. It was appreciated over drinks and jazz in south Brooklyn on Saturday, with him and his girlfriend and two of her friends from Pratt. For moments during the show, I saw a notebook passed between the two of them, collaborating in silence while the rest of us watched and listened.

I sat behind the piano player, and on occasion he would look back at me with an odd smile. I didn’t know what to think, and continued drinking my double of Scotch, next to the Cosmopolitan and Brooklyn Lager, Mai Tai and Gin & Tonic.

The show was good. The quartet of drums, piano, bass and trumpet were like four young wolves on the street. For an amateur show, the buzz of the evening revolved around the trumpet player, an awkward sixteen year old with short black curls and bifocals.

There was a saxophonist; his instrument rested casually to my right for a long time. His wine glass was on the table we took when we first arrived, before he came over and took it away himself. He did not play with the group until much later in the set, and his cameo appearance upped the quality dramatically. The trumpet and saxophone ran together, picking up on each other’s vibe as if they knew what the score was.

And then there was that pianist. I don’t know what I did to provoke him, but he was enthusiastic, keeping the melody and giving it his all. There were times when he stood up to bang down on the piano, as if he really needed to let it out that way. Perhaps he just didn’t give a damn.

When the show was over we walked up 5th Avenue and landed at a bar called Commonwealth. It had a nice outdoor patio, with bench-tables and umbrellas. I remember red tables; a tall boy of Anchor Steam beer; the bottle so cold it had icy condensation on it. We were talking about the music and the people at the show. Art-speak and journeys and briefs on photography and music and television were shared over nightcaps, and quip upon quip upon quip… I told them about Boston, and they told me about New York.

My brother mentioned taking shots in the subway tunnels. The empty tunnels of Brooklyn are vast and incredibly dangerous to explore on your own. There is something alluring about the darkness within, and it has my brother’s lens fixed. He tried to explain it to me, but I was too concerned about his safety to go on with it.

It’s just like a butterfly and its fleeting moment in the sky.

We walked up 5th Avenue, passing the famous pizza shop Adam Sandler ate at in “Big Daddy”. I stopped at the all-night bakery ran by some lovely Hispanic ladies who enjoyed my company at 3am, in such a state, ordering cannolis and donuts and cookies and such. We laughed and smiled together for those five minutes before taking it all back home.

I slept on the floor that night, on top of a sleeping bag underneath four warm blankets.

Sunday felt like waking up without a care in the world. In a good way, I felt free to do anything. I had but the clothes on my back. One of them was my Plaid Weekender jacket, and it kept me warm during the walk down to Bagel World, a bagel shop my brother swears by. I went by myself this time to enjoy south Brooklyn’s sights and smells. I bought one of my all-famous egg and pastrami bagel sandwiches in addition to garlic bagels and cream cheese. There was a produce stand across the street, so I waited in line to buy two Macoun apples and a pint of fresh apple cider.

We spoke about music when I got back. The third roommate, PK, was making egg-shaped plaster molds on the kitchen table that looked surprisingly like mini-cities. “Don’t burn me out of your picture,” he said as I got ready for my train home. I think he made his point.

Ahmad Jamal @ Regattabar
Cambridge, MA
11/20/2010
Sam Adams Lager

His entrance was noble; the last one to show up, sitting down while everyone was clapping, and jumping right into something groovy. The band was on queue and picked up right when he did. The tempo was fast at times, and made me think of the fast city streets.

There were moments of release that charged the audience and got us moving in our seats. At other times, things were slower, orchestrated to perfection. There were great solos from all the players, full of improvisation and personality. Manolo Badrena was a creative delight on the percussions. Idris Muhammad was sharp and strong on drums, and James Cammack kept the rhythm and foundation on standing bass.

Ahmad Jamal took the melody and harmony to incredible levels. It was my first impression of him as a musician, and I had no idea he was a major influence on jazz in the 1950s and 1960s. Elements of swing swept the beat from song to song, not wasting a second too long for applause and cheer. My leg kept tapping to the beat underneath the cocktail table, almost spilling my Sam Adams Lager.

I bought his most recent album after the show, and I noticed he was signing autographs after the show. I was the last in line to see him. I told him it was the first time I ever heard his music, and this show made me a fan. He was pleased to hear it, signed the album cover I handed to him, and wished me well as I left. I left him there, knowing he would sit there silently before returning to the stage for a second show. He’s still got it.

Artifact Loves Viva Radio
WWW.VIVA-RADIO.COM

Despite sailing through a legal storm of issues right now, LA-Boutique clothing company American Apparel proudly supports a radio station online, and it’s just great. VIVA-RADIO.COM, go check it out. It was well-received by employees and customers of American Apparel when it first went live, but in time it grew thanks to word of mouth and the way of the web. Now, anybody can listen to it. I’ve been listening for a few months, and it has effectively replaced the other radio stations I frequent.

It is no surprise that a station like VIVA RADIO would sprout from chic retail like this, but it is surprising that so few competitors market their stations the same way. Plenty of retail stores (like Hollister, Gap, Guess, etc) have a dynamic theme to their fashion, be it sexy, business, casual, or more. Their standpoints on fashion provide an opportunity to better retain customers; using music as a mode of media marketing, retail companies have the power to influence consumer interest and demand.

VIVA RADIO is brought to you by a group of freelance music producers, each with a sound that agrees with the style: chic, artsy, trendy, hipster, basic, yet original. That means pop, disco, funk, hip hop, and a mishmash of electronic genres that I am unable to categorize. Some of it comes from far reaching places around the world. The producers who submit work to Viva Radio do so for a generation of young, savvy, and capable listeners who live for the moment. Such is the mission… Viva!

For enthusiasts, there is a blog you can follow from their site. Check out interviews, upcoming shows, emerging artists and music trends. It’s a great resource for people looking for new music, as each DJ brings something new to the front. With that in mind, I want to give a special shout out to POSSO, The DJ duo Vanessa Giovacchini and Marylouise Pels. After listening to their show, I fell in love with the station. Thank you girls, and thank you VIVA RADIO for keeping the music loud and proud.

WWW.VIVA-RADIO.COM

HOORAY FOR EARTH – August 17^th, 2010
T.T. The Bear’s Place, Cambridge, Massachusetts
9:45pm, Pabst Blue Ribbon

Lights passed above as I entered the dimly lit spot in my friend’s hand; welcoming the others and grabbing a beer at the slightly vacant bar. Not too many people were around yet. People were loitering around the more popular scene next door. The joke was on them – the real show was back here.

I get there late but the show hadn’t started yet. My friend was entertaining a seedy group of enthusiasts inside before he came out to welcome me. He gave me my ticket; I was upset to see a different band headlining – ADMIRAL RADLEY – but I didn’t care. They were not what I came to see. I came to see HOORAY FOR EARTH, and they were on shortly.

At a place like T.T. THE BEAR’S, bands can embrace the small performance arena, throw everything they got at the audience at volume ten, break the knobs, and still sound great. That doesn’t work for all bands out there; unfortunately… you have to have talent. The ground shook when HOORAY FOR EARTH came on stage. Almost out of competition, THE MIDDLE EAST – DOWNSTAIRS had a show on too, and their fire down below was completely smothered by the footfalls of rockers young and old. It was the best live act I’d seen in a long time.

HOORAY FOR EARTH is Noel Heroux, Chris Principe, Gary Benacquista, and Joseph Ciampini, formed in 2005. They’re mostly based out of New York, but they have roots in Boston that keep them coming back to destroy local venues. Joe on the drum keeps the energy going while Noel and Chris tear up the guitar and bass. Gary’s on the other side, playing synthesizers with the occasional guitar act. Noel, the man behind stories of sleep-deprived inspiration, broke off on occasion in frantic mini-fits of thrash and metal. It was awesome. Chris and his bass kept the melody in motion with on-point precision, and my head began to rock uncontrollably with the beat.

These guys know each other, like good friends, and it’s helping them control and mold the musical fury they create. Their sound is clean and their energy is hot. I bought their MOMO EP a few weeks back on my friend’s recommendation (including the vinyl, a very cool press). Fortunately for me, they played that album live at T.T. THE BEAR’S, so it was all my familiar favorites, and if anything they bettered their studio work. Young, indie, club rockers across the world would eat this stuff up.

Hands rise in the air when “SO HAPPY” begins with its anthem guitar distortion, and people dance when they bring on “SURROUNDED BY YOUR FRIENDS,” a personal hit laced with uplifting undertones of life and death. Their lyrics seep into the teenage wasteland within, and they stand behind a thrash-electro-pop sound that makes contemporary rock wonder where its mojo went. Just try “HOW ARE YOU HERE” and you’ll hear what I’m talking about. As for a top track suggestion, I would go with “VIDEOSTORE” for its climactic finale, a total blowout of melody and percussion that hits an apex unachieved by other pieces. The audience rocked around me, bobbing like waves of skin and sweat, praising ecstatic when they finished their last song. I was hitting my apex too… and then the lights came on for the next act and final act.

I would check them out whenever you get the chance. They are definitely worth a listen. Try the three sites below for songs and more information on upcoming shows.

http://www.myspace.com/hooray4earth
http://hoorayforearth.net/shows/
http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Hooray_For_Earth/track/Video_Store

It’s a good feeling when bands gain international fame. It’s an odd feeling, I bet.

Everything Everything. In little time, they have come out of the woodwork of the UK with a music video for their new single, “MY KZ, UR BF” and I have to tell you, it’s a really great song. Give it a listen, give it a look, I embedded a music video below for you to watch. The song tells the story of a guy who’s been found out by this girl’s boyfriend. Enjoy :-)

This track should be highly rated on big billboards, and have a great “one-hit” feel to it for a while. The lyrical quality is strong and plays a big part in the band, acting as an instrument of its own. Rekindling this energy felt in the minor chord, they took pop and guitar rock to a nice, mellow level. While their other music is varied in vibration, they have a clean sound that is not often heard. Their studio work is mint. I hope to hear more just like it.

Metaform, the LA-raised hip hop producer, made famous for his acclaimed album, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,” has taken the fruits of his labors and given them a neon-electro supplement. The end-result is a new album, “The Electric Mist,” a broad collection of electro pop that stands apart from the sound he was famous for. Metaform has changed ways with this album. There was no explosion at curtain’s open this time, no overabundance of soul and funk samples, but rather a winding up of progressive music interlaced with synthetic urban culture. The opening track, “Electric Eyes,” started me down a path of club-set electro and down tempo r&b. I caught onto the auto-tune, and immediately began to worry. I was worried that Metaform had lost his roots with the west coast music scene in which he so successfully found himself.

My worries were not realized, fortunately. Metaform is a talented musical producer, and this time around, he’s offering a new mix to bounce to. Tracks like “It’s Gotta Be” and “Introversion” reminded me that he’s still got the skills he came in with, and new stuff like “Secretly Alone” and “Strange Girl” demonstrated the unique transition he made into electro. And, as if foretelling a greater story in the making, “I Dreamt of the Machine” and “The Machine Approaches” offered ambient piano interludes that quieted the madness of the mist he stirred up. Amidst all the sampling, natural instrument recordings made his work stand out just as they did back in 2007.

“The Electric Mist” is a second induction, and not a follow-up album. Metaform is branching out into the eclectic waters of digital music for a new and ever-changing audience. He’s got more sounds at his disposal now, in addition to a new feature – his own words. This lyrical element puts his new album in a genre of its own, and fans of the electronic type will eat it up. Fans of the old school Metaform may not see things the same way, but through the mist I can clearly see an evolution has occurred. It’s a strong attempt to transition into electronic music, and I am confident he will continue down this new path with the same level of clarity he had years earlier.

“The Electric Mist” is set to release on June 15^th, 2010. Learn more at www.metaformonline.com.

I should thank the woman who lived in the apartment before me, because she left behind a quarterly subscription to edible Boston, a seasonal dive into local gastronomy for food lovers all around. If you’ve recognize the word “gastronomy,” its your kind of magazine.

I didn’t realize how involved people were; choosing peppers for certain dishes, stories from starting your own bee farm, making a signature root beer, finding the best cheese farms, apple farms, meat farms and wine. Every flavor for every pallet is covered in this magazine.

After stories and articles they usually include several tasty recipes that incorporate the local, home grown products they wrote about. It’s an enriching connection for the reader and foodie within.

Starting off their fifth year in production this Summer, edible Boston is pulling up their sleeves and getting more involved with the edible end-product. “This year,” writes Publisher and Editor Ilene Bezahler, “we decided to focus our attention not just on the farmers in our area but also on the chefs who are connected and working closely with them.”

This is an exciting opportunity; an endless source of culinary talent is available here in Greater Boston (a city that loves its food fresh and its dining fine), and edible Boston has a big chance to get closer to our city’s source of quality in the local food businesses sector.

Learn more about edible Boston at www.edibleboston.com

I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, but if I was, I’d expect to see a band like this play on tour. When I first heard Tame Impala, I thought they were a time-bronzed act from that golden era of classic rock. In actuality, the band is the product of a dedicated trio of Western Australians who took their interest in classic rock to the next level.

They love the sixties too, and emulated the fundamental ingredients of authentic 60’s jazz, blues, and progressive rock into something pure. There was a healthy blend of psychedelic acid in their guitars and bass, comparable to… well to be honest, I can’t compare it to anything. That’s a really good thing.

This video encapsulates the spirit of their music, a moment young and bold, when they as a band were defining everything.

The Antigua roast is a very consistent and drinkable offering at Boston Common Coffee.  The palate of this roast is spicy then smooth with toasty notes and a calming aroma with hints of honey and almond.  The finish is reminiscent of raspberries and cherries and lingers gently.  This coffee would pair well with milk chocolate or a fruit tart; its intricacies are too subtle to truly appreciate if drank daily, I would save this for an occasional treat given its latent sweet taste and mildness.

I Found the Wrong Album!

A Man Called Adam – Duende

So earlier I was online looking for “Café” lounge music to listen to while I was working. I usually try Grooveshark.com. Of the several hundred results that came up, I randomly chose “Easter Song” by A Man Called Adam. I like choosing music at random; it’s a luxury I take for granted. The song I chose was very relaxing, as if I was in a spa or meditation center. “Bringing me back to life” was the vocal instrument that brought my spirits up throughout the piece. It reminded me of something out of a Paul Simon song. I decided to listen to more of the album it came from, Duende, anticipating more of the same.

The rest of the album was not as down to earth. Things began to sound more like house music, well-meshed with modified drums and bass, electric keyboard, stunning female vocals and an array of acoustic jazz instruments. Jazz is a major influence with this group, and I noticed a lot of electronic improvisation throughout the album.

A Man Called Adam is the brainchild of electronic music artists Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones, a talented duo from Great Britain that made a name for themselves in the late ’80s/early ’90s by uniting Latin Jazz and House music into a groove like no other. A lot of their music samples were original, exotic, and inspired. They released three albums to date (The Apple in 1991, Duende in 1998, and All My Favourite in 2004). Check them out on their website (http://www.amancalledadam.com/) to learn more about their current and upcoming work.

Overall, this album was a well-made tribute to Latin house music; a sangria of house music made with basic groove and acid jazz. While each song had a positive, upbeat flow to it, the first track I heard, “Easter Song,” still set itself apart as the most relaxing track on the album. Ibiza music lovers would enjoy this album a lot, and anyone who needs a reprieve from the modern electronic scene would do well to check these guys out.

This last bit here is an encore track from their latest album, All My Favourite, and it’s called “Yachts.” Enjoy!

Routine.

We all have one, and every once and a while it is good to change it up.  Well about a month ago I got all crazy and decided to try a new type of coffee in my French Press.  Today brought with it yet another change to my coffee line up.  The two new coffee are reviewed below, I highly encourage you to try both and leave you impressions here on Artifact.

Rao’s Sicilian roast coffee: Smooth and even at first taste with a consistent strength throughout the tasting. The roast does not overpower the taste buds with flavor, giving the nose subtle sweet aromas reminiscent of dark chocolate. This is a perfect coffee for mornings and should be sipped without anything but the blandest food as it would not stand up to significant flavors.

Boston Common Coffee French roast coffee:  A milder blend of the French roast with a clearer taste on the front end of the palate, lending to a surprisingly strong finish.  Sweet and rich aroma are less present here but do not make this coffee fall flat by any means, its aromas do overcompensate for a less bold taste however.  This coffee is best enjoyed with spicy food as it can stand up to and enhance the more complex spices found in Indian and Mexican cooking.

Cafe Paragon in Providence, RI has been a favorite of me and my closest friends for almost a decade. We always had gone there to celebrate birthdays, get together for the holidays and sometimes just to have a really good meal. The food is excellent, and it has compensated for the horrible and rude service for all these years.

Last night was no different. One of my friends was up from North Carolina where he is going to graduate school, he was in the area for some job interviews. The other friend took a break from training for a race he has in Vegas next week and came to join. Comparatively, I am the least obligated of the three of us. The point is that we were getting together, which is rare, and we figured Paragon would be the ideal place.

Now you have made it to the third paragraph, you are probably wondering when I am going to talk about the wine I had mentioned in the title. Well, soon, don’t you worry. See, talking about a wine just for its own sake would kind of be like talking to you about Michael Jordan without mentioning the Chicago Bulls of the 1990′s. What is that supposed to mean? A good wine is nothing without a proper context, and the context for this great wine I had last night is clearly important enough for me to spend two hundred words setting up that context for you. So now to the wine.

I had picked the Ste. Chapelle mostly for its price. At $18 for the bottle it was a bargain considering most of the wines ranged from the upper $20′s to lower $40′s. Once the waitress brought the bottle to our table she offered me a taste before I committed (although I wonder if I didn’t like it would she have taken it back) to consuming it. After taking a generous nose I detected the bright, nuanced fragrances of fresh citrus fruit almost immediately, something I had come to expect from a Riesling, but was pleasantly surprised when the mild consistency of the wine took over as I tasted. The Riesling did bring some sweet notes to the back of my palate, but they were actually welcome since it gave the wine great versatility throughout my whole meal, which consisted of grilled chicken glazed with a honey Dijon sauce, squash and zucchini in a light, tangy red sauce, mashed potatoes with a liberal usage of butter and a pretty good crème brûlée for dessert. Ste. Chapelle, being the first wine I had from Idaho left me with a pretty good impression. I found it to be comparable to Rieslings from New England in all the important areas such as how it complements a dish of lighter fare but does not back down when paired with a dessert as let’s say a Pinot Grigio would have, therefore the flavors linger long after the meal is through, making this wine a great value.

I am going to end by saying you should try this wine with chicken or pork. It would overpower a pasta dish unless a lot of garlic were used, and it is too sweet for fish but would work well with scallops or shrimp and even lobster, although I prefer the later with a Chardonnay, this isn’t to say the Ste. Chapelle wouldn’t compliment a baked stuffed lobster well however. As said earlier, it goes well with a dessert like a crème brûlée or anything else custard based, and would probably hold its own with an apple pie or a coconut cake. I ended up enjoying the whole bottle on my own, and since it was 12% ABV it provided me with a pleasant disposition after glass number four. I would like to see what else the state of Idaho can produce in the wine arena, so I will stay on the lookout for more from that region.

Cheers!