CALEB BURHANS, SUPERHERO OF SOUND

with the amount of street cred that caleb has acquired in playing with people like paul mccartney and on things like saturday night live, you'd think he'd be one of those cocky buttface turds that lesser musicians too often find themselves at bars trying (and failing) to schmooze with. but he's not, he's totally the opposite. and i knew it immediately a bazillion years ago when we did music for 18 musicians ​and i was being a fan girl over the fact that i was playing right next to him and caroline and martha and mellissa and before i could muster up the gumption to just go and express my admiration for them, it was caleb that came up to me ​and said something to the effect of we have interacted on twitter before. and then he emailed me some pdfs of pretty marimba songs. 

over the years, it has been so lovely to catch his concerts and hear his music and run into him around the city. he is one of the nicest human beans i know, he always has that wonderful midwestern friendly vibe, and eggboy has a big man crush on him. ​

and, and he has an album and a baby coming out on the same day!​

it's a big deal. the album is called evensong and it's his first album of just his stuff. and it's beautiful, with unexpected turns, and rad instrumentation. and cool percussion bloopity bloops by our favorite chris. 

so i had him over for coffee and interviewed him about it. look, here it is!​

is this album more like an omelet or a taco? ​

definitely like an omelet. an omelet with avocado, mushrooms, onions, goat cheese, and maybe a little bacon. 

using only onomatopoeia, can you please tell us about your process for writing the pieces on this album?

buzzing, murmur, flutter, gush.  

how come you decided to wait this long to release an album of just your works?​

the world wasn't ready for my music until now. that's totally a joke. it wasn't so much a matter of deciding but rather a need to wait for everything to fall into the right place at the right time.

​your daughter is due the same day as your album! did you plan it this way? ​

hell to the no. ​

are you going to let your daughter dye her hair blue just like you?

if she's feeling it, it'll probably happen.

what’s your most personal track on the album?​

The Things Left Unsaid.  i've been in love with the cello octet as an ensemble since i was a kid. that, and the piece itself is about personal relationships and how they can either benefit or be hindered from a lack of dialogue between two humans.

​it appears that chris thompson is playing percussions on some of the tracks. are you aware that he makes a mean hot cross bun?

i'm aware of his love for spicy food and airport chili's but i didn't know about chris' mean hot cross buns. the more you know... ​

​thanks, caleb!

preview caleb's track, ​oh ye of little faith... (do you know where your children are?), below. evensong will be out july 30th on cantaloupe music. catch caleb performing with fifth house ensemble in chicago on june 2nd and with alarm will sound in new york on june 15.

MY NAME IS _____

last summer my dad and i went to la jolla and during that time i saw gabriel kahane perform and it was the first time i had heard his music and i love love lurvvvedd it. and then later by the pool he and i discussed dumplings over steak and though i really can't support his vanessa's habit, i still think he is mondo cool and his music is sooo pretty. i listened to his album where are the arms all throughout last year's sweater weather and it became this sort of grown-up sufjan situation because every autumn during high school i listened to sufjan's illinois ​on repeat as a rite of something, a rite of fall? anyway, even though i really hate comparing people's music to other people's music for fear that people will disagree or kvetch or get offended or whatever, i am going to go ahead and say that if you don't know gabe's music and you like sufjan (or, heck, if you simply are into beautiful tunes and poetic lyrics that burst with nostalgia), you will like gabe and you should check him out. 

here are his things to see, hear, eat, and not do:​

see: ​ everyone should go hear american soundscapes on thursday at zankel where they are doing andrew norman's try which is just the best thing, and then come back on saturday to carnegie to hear my piece gabriel's guide to the 48 states with genius orpheus chamber orchestra and witness all the things i stole from andrew. 

hear:​ i am so late to this party, but everyone should really listen to j dilla's DONUTS.

eat​: okay i made up this very straightforward pasta water/emulsion situation: guanciale, brussels sprout leaves, shallot, chilies, pecorino. you know the drill!

don't: ​don't accidentally wear the t-shirt for your own musical to someone else's theater opening.

-yeh!​

​photos:

gabriel: josh goleman

map

donuts​

guanciale

MY NAME IS _____

today i am featuring siobhan wallace, one half of the blondie brownie team, because i have been a fan of that blog for years now and also because their book just came out! i met blondie and brownie in person at the vendys a few years ago... i served them schnitzel and when i saw their name tags i jumped up and down and professed my love. their book is super great and informative and it makes me imagine that some time in the future there will be a college class on new york food and this will be the textbook. 

here are siobhan's things to hear, see, eat, and not do:

hear // ​i recently re-fell in love with the dø's album, both ways open jaws, and desperately want them to come back to new york for some concerts.

see // everybody should come to our book events: dumbo's powerhouse arena tomorrow (tuesday, april 16) and at bookcourt on saturday the 27! delicious food at both!!

​eat // i am still waiting to get to nomad to have that beautiful thing known as the foie gras-stuffed roast chicken! 

don't // do not rub your eyes after eating old bay fries. 

-yeh!​

​photos:

siobhan: donny tsang

nomad

both ways open jaws

fries

I WAS HOME

ok hi, hi!!! i'm back from a stupendous long weekend home of little lunches around my favorite suburban restaurants, george gershwin being camera shy, finally finding a dress for stoop's wedding, and stoop obviously getting drunk at brunch.

oh and then johnswik, my future brother-in-law, rolled in to sing: when i say afi, you say komen. it only took (formerly little, now really tall) jake about two hours to find it. i think he won a high five?

being home was just so much awesome stillness, like sitting on the couch and watching girls and spending five hours in the spice shop with mum smelling every single spice thrice and painting my nails purple and watching melissa down a robicelli's cupcake on the television with katie and jaclyn while we drank cider. nothing i'd ever be able to do in new york without feeling guilty for not being at this album release show or that new opera or catching up on my new yorker. 

and so now i'm back and pondering my existence as a half-way to new yorker brooklynite and mostly i just want to be eating kale in the kitchen with mum as she brushes gracie's teeth. oy vay. 

-yeh!