Grindcore House
1515 S 4th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
website | facebook | google plus | twitter
Grindcore House is a coffee shop that is off the beaten path in Philadelphia. It is located in South Philadelphia and take about 30 to 60 minutes to walk from Center City to the coffee shop. So why the long trek? Well, Grindcore House is Philadelphia’s only all vegan coffee shop. They are known for serving coffee, vegan food that’s savory and sweet, and playing grindcore music.
The atmosphere is pretty laid back, and made me feel like I was getting coffee with all the visual arts major from my school (I went to the Philadelphia’s University of the Arts). There is a small area where you can order, and a small hallway leads you to a sitting area. In the sitting area features plenty of seats and couch to sit on. There is also a big bookshelf filled with various reading materials, including fiction, non-fiction, and even Marvel comic books. Despite the name, they don’t just play grindcore music, there is a wide range of metal and indie music.
I came to Grindcore for two reasons, coffee and donuts. You can find your average selection of coffee at the shop, drip or espresso. But unlike most coffee shops you have more milk choices. You can pick between soy, almond, or coconut milk. I tried a coconut milk latte, and it was alright. I think it was mostly based on my choice of coconut milk over soy. But the actual coffee was pretty good, I would recommend sticking with soy when having a hot latte.
The donuts on the other hand are amazing. I can safely say that no one would be able to tell the difference between a regular and these vegan donuts. They are yeasty and fluffy, and covered in a yummy glaze. Who makes these donuts? Dottie’s Donuts.
The company was started by two guys who worked at Blackbird Pizzeria, another all vegan eatery in Philadelphia. The two started to make donuts and ship them to other coffee shops, Grindcore House being one of them. They are thinking about opening a storefront in West Philly, making a second all vegan coffee shop in Philly. I picked the elderflower and matcha donuts (the elderflower donut is pictured) Both were amazing, and will make vegans and omnivores salvate.
Dottie’s Donuts: I think the trip to Grindcore House is worth it just for the donuts. There are donuts available in other locations closer to center city. But Grindcore House is one of the original locations to get these goodies.
The Coffee’s Pretty Good: Despite my very “meh” description of the coffee, it is still pretty good. I would rank it higher than the local coffee shops I go to, which I have four to choose from in less than a mile radius. As mentioned I would stick to soy milk for hot drinks. There is something about steamed coconut and almond milk that never seems to work.
Environment is Nice: If hardcore music isn’t your thing, you’ll be surprised how much you will still like this place. The music is never too loud. The store is on a corner so there is lots of natural light in the store. There was always a certain amount of traffic flow, so it isn’t awkwardly quiet.
Unlimited Selection: Okay they only have SO much food, but it was the first time walking into a coffee shop and not thinking what I can’t eat. There is plenty to choose from including sandwiches, pastries, and chocolates from other vegan companies. This is the reason why I plan on coming back over and over again.
It’s Off the Beaten Path: No, this store isn’t in the middle of nowhere, but if you aren’t from the area, you have to go out of YOUR way to get there. If your visiting in Philadelphia, you’ll have walk at least 10 minutes past South Street, the closest tourist site I can think of. Most of the people in the shop looked like they probably lived near the area.
Wobbly Tables: This seems silly, but I didn’t feel too great sitting at some of the tables. They swayed a little more than I liked. And probably need to be replaced. Anytime I shifted I could feel the chair joints move.
Grindcore Music: I like some heavy and intricate music, but sometimes this music tested me. It was less distracting in the sense I could of wrote, researched, studies, talked, or searched the internet all perfectly fine. But read? No way. I can’t really pinpoint why it was so distracting to read a book, but it was.
Remember how I said Grindcore House is off the beaten path? Well, it is neighborhood that is more residential, and google maps can take you down some not so hot neighborhoods. So here is my recommendation to walk or bike all the way down 4th Street, until you hit the coffee shop. By going down 4th Street you will go down Fabric Row, pass some newly built housing, a church, and an abandoned hospital. Plus it is very easy to cross Washington, a major street in Philadelphia, from 4th Street. If you choose to drive, there should be fairly easy parking to be found.
I’ve probably passed by hundreds of bibimbap recipes on blogs. And can you blame people? Bibimbap is super easy to make. It is also the father of the “vegan bowl.” Think about it- the grain (rice), the veggies, greens (spinach, kimchi), protein (traditionally egg or meat), and a sauce (gochujang). An authentic bibimbap uses up various “namul,” or veggie side dishes. Plop on some rice, dress with side dishes, give a protein, and plop on some gochujang. Your dinner is done.
But if you actually go to a Korean restaurant and order a bowl, you might not have the beautiful bowls you can find on google. You might get a bowl where all the veggies and protein are all sautéed together. This is an easier method when making the dish at home. Though the traditional style is a great way to use up leftovers from a big Korean style dinner.
But one of the secrets I will teach you is how to make bibimbap in a dolsot. Dolsot is the Korean word for a stone pot, and many styles are available online. I personally use my nabe, a Japanese styled hot pot, which is sized for one serving. The biggest difference between the two styles is that a dolsots come with a tray to carry it with so you don’t burn yourself. If you use a stone pot, you will get a yummy crispiness to bottom of the rice. It is easy to burn and takes practice, so be patient.
The beauty of bibimbap is that is simply translates into mixed rice. So it is flexible with ingredients. Don’t want seitan? No problem, use tofu or beans. Don’t like carrots? Just skip them. Don’t want gochujang? You can use miso or doenjang. The key is to use fresh and cheap ingredients.
Hey everyone! This week has been weird. My work is moving locations so we are having a huge blowout sale. So my “job” has shifted from framing in the back with helping customers in the front. There is so much anticipation and excitement I am ready to explode! I am a little relieved that we FINALLY OFFICIALLY start to move today, even with the below zero windchill. But I’m getting a paid workout with all that heavy lifting right?
One thing that happened this week is that I discovered Lincoln had really sexy hair. I betcha he was the type of guy would spend hours in front of the mirror and then just play it off like he “woke up” that way. I also can’t help but think that if Lincoln lived today he would of been a male fashion model. I mean the hair, the cheek bones, the vacant stare- all model qualities.
Other cool things I did this week? I finished up reading Norwegian Wood, which was amazing! I went into Philadelphia twice, once for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and another time to get some coffee at an all vegan cafe. The coffee was good, but it was so nice to just go in a place and order ANYTHING off the menu. Oh and we FINALLY got some lovely snow yesterday. Not a lot but the flakes were big and pretty.
What’s in Those Supplements?
I think some people are surprised that I don’t take many supplements as a vegan. But the answer is easy for me, I have little trust in the industry. This article only came as half of a surprise. There was a Consumer Reports article awhile ago about vitamins and said that many brands didn’t have the advertised amount of supplementation. But this article blew me out of the water, major branding having zero of the advertised herbs? Crazy.
Super Food Lattes
I have a few latte recipes on the site, but since this winter hasn’t been so chilly I kind-of stopped making them. This post from The First Mess is giving me a little inspiration again to make some flavored hot drinks.
Coconut Oil Sugar Cookies
Everyone is flooding the blogosphere with chocolates and sugar cookies. I am not a huge sugar cookie fan, but Oh Lady Cakes seems to have a recipe that looks pretty solid. She also has the prettiest natural dyed icing I’ve seen yet. I am kind-of regretting making peanut butter blondies instead of these cookies right now.
Here (1989)
This awesome comic made my day. It has recently been revamped and published into a full length book, expanding on the idea. But you can read the original online, which I really dig the style more in the original than the new published book.
Super Expensive Korean Fruit
In the west we have fruit baskets, and we know they can be pretty expensive. But I always wondered if it was worth the price. Well, apparently Korea has even more expensive fruit, racking up at $13 per pear! Of coarse these are super pears and super apples, grown to be pretty, huge, and really sweet.
Day 38: The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a really cool are exhibit of experimental high-end furniture. This is actually a close up of a chair.
Day 39: My komucha has a spooky glow.
Day 40: Made a trip out to Grindcore House for a latte with coconut milk.
Day 41: One of the last few days I’ll be able to walk to work.
Day 42: Completely forgot to take a photo. Oops!
Day 43: Working on kombucha cocktails from Kombucha Revolution. This one has ginger flavored kombucha and apple brandy.
Day 44: My amaryllis is starting to grow again, maybe I will see it bloom soon.
Alexa is working toward a vegetarian diet, and is loaded with questions. Jennifer’s got answers. We talk about anything as long as it is vegan. Are tattoos vegan? How do I politely not eat Thanksgiving dinner? How do I order without pissing off the waitress? We know you are dying to ask!
I was recommended to eat Greek Yogurt to help with some harsh side effects of my medication, but dairy makes my tummy hurt. What are vegan options with probiotics?
Well, a fast an easy answer would be to eat vegan yogurts, but I think you deserve more options. I will go and breakdown all your options, but most might involve some personal kitchen time. You see, all those yummy probiotics in yogurt are just are a bi-product from fermentation. So I will list a few types of vegan ferments that are fairly easy to do at home.
Quick notes- if this little post really interests you I would recommend picking up The Art of Fermentation. The book is pretty much a dictionary of fermentation styles, and will go into details about practices in certain regions. For example the chapter on pickles goes into details of different type of pickling in India, Japan, mushrooms, fish, etc. The book lacks lots of specific recipes, but gives you guides, giving you lots of wiggle room with the dishes.
There is also some basics with all type of home-ferments. Some guides seem scary and long, but most just reiterate some basics. Wash hands during preparations, wash and clean everything thoroughly, make sure all soap and sanitizers are rinsed off, and all cultures are living things. Think of them like plants, you need to take care of them, and you oddly start to like them, at take photos of them when they do cool stuff.
There are also more vegan ferments, but I didn’t list them because you need to apply heat to eat them. Some example would be sour dough, tempeh, fermented grains, etc. By adding heat, the probiotics really won’t do much for you.
Vegan Yogurts
The quickest response to a vegan yogurt option is a soy yogurt. These are now pretty widely available at supermarkets, though the price tags are still pretty high. They usually have live active cultures, but tend to have lots of added sugars. You can make your own homemade vegan yogurts, but it can be tricky. You need to keep a consistent 110 temperature, which is why some people buy yogurt machines. You will also need to buy a yogurt culture, which I am never thrilled about. Modern yogurts have mediocre yogurt cultures, and will only live so many generations before having to buy more cultures. Belle+Bella have a non-dairy yogurt starter, if anyone is interested in making yogurt at home.
Don’t want to make your own yogurt? Most stores have big containers of yogurt in plain or vanilla. I recommend grabbing one of those and mixing in granola and fruit for flavor. Want greek yogurt? Take regular store bought or homemade yogurt and strain through a cheese cloth to separate more of the water from the yogurt. Voila! Your done!
Step-by-step Instructions: Waking Up Vegan
Vegan Kefir
You might of heard about this yogurt alternative- kefir. I haven’t seen any dairy-free kefirs in stores, though there are some commercial coconut milk kefirs. So you will have to make some for yourself at home. The plus is that vegan yogurts have a hard time thickening due to low protein levels (and homemade yogurts are thinner than what we are use to, thickeners added to both vegan and dairy commercial yogurt). So consistency will be more similar to the original product.
Unlike yogurt kefir is a lot less fussy. You don’t need to monitor the temperature, and naturally has a thinner disposition. The downside is that kefir grains (the culture) really enjoy cows milk, not vegan milks, so they need to replaced after awhile.
Step-by-step Instructions: Chickpeas and Change
Note: She includes how to make nut milk, you can skip these steps if you use store bought milk.
Water Kefir
Unlike making vegan kefir, water kefir is a lot more stable. Get kefir grains once and they can last a lifetime if taken care of properly. Water kefir is made from sugar, dried and fresh fruits. Most people describe it as a probiotic soda, and there lots of wiggle room for flavor since you can switch the fresh fruit around.
This seems like a pretty low maintenance sort of culture, and would recommend to anyone who wants fresh probiotics with little work. There are two steps to the brewing process, and with some planning you can get two brews rotating (as shown in the tutorial below)
Step-by-step Instructions: Bonzai Aphrodite
To Buy Cultures: Amazon
Shop on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
I received this book as a Christmas gift. It seemed like a well thought out gift since I love Asian cuisine and I am a vegan. I was pretty excited about the book since it featured recipes outside of popular regions. Hema Parekh reaches out further than India, Japan, and China and puts recipes from Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, and South Korea. Parekh writes about how she got married and moved out of India to Japan, where she learned to cook. The book is a mixed bag of emotions for me, as I feel like there could of been so much potential for it.
Photos
All the photos are clustered in the middle of the book. I hate this sort of set up, especially since the book is divided by country instead of food “types.” The style of photography is very outdated, all the dishes have clay-red hue. I don’t think there was a photo that I saw and thought- that’s what I want to try and make.
I wish there were more photos as most cookbooks featuring specific regions of cooking have recipes for dishes I’ve never heard of. So having a photo would help me visualize what the end result should look like. This particularly important for dishes where presentation is very important like dumplings and Japanese cuisine.
Set-up
I can’t help but compare this book to Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero. Terry features cuisine from a larger range of countries, and organizes all the recipes by styles, soups, salads, curries/stews, etc, etc. Parekh on the other hand groups all the recipes by nations, then divides them up by style. So there would be a chapter from India, then listed in that chapter would be soups, desserts, curries, rice, etc. In some ways it is an easier for planning dinners, in other ways it is hard to search around. Especially since many dishes overlap each other. Dumplings are eaten outside of China, so if I was planning a meal I could include them as a side for most dinners.
The book has an introduction but only as a way for the author to say hello. She jumps into the recipes, which would be find if the purpose of the book was not to teach a new cuisine. It would of been nice to have an overview of the ingredients, subtle differences between noodles, and rice types over the countries. There is an ingredients reference at the end of the book, but I didn’t find it till I got towards the end. If anything she could of put page numbers next to ingredients to help guide readers.
The visual representations of the recipes is okay. Since the photos aren’t set up next to the recipes it can be a little frustrating and demanding of the imagination of the reader. The text for the ingredients are small, making it harder to try and piece together the end result.
Writing
There is a lot of confusion in the book, much of it is cultural. Parekh is writing as an Indian living in Japan, which makes the translated names of the dishes confusing. She lists the dish as an English translation, then puts the original name in small text next to it. For example samosas are listed as Crispy Pumpkin Turnovers (the recipe mentions how they normally made with potatoes, not pumpkin) This translation problem continues with ingredients and dishes as she mentions the japanese translation over the English. The most obvious example is that she gives a recipe for Chinese dumplings, but lists them as “gyoza.” This isn’t a problem if you know some Japanese cuisine, but most American’s would recognize dumpling over gyoza.
Aside from the cultural issues, I’ve spotted several spelling/typing errors. There are even issues with recipes, as she leaves out when to add ingredients to recipes. These are not issues that only happened once, but several times. Clearly this was a rushed publication.
Overview
Parekh’s life story seems to shape the outcome of the book. There is a large bias for Indian and Japanese food. Those two chapters make up at least half of the recipes, pushing the other nations into weak collections. This bias extends to the ingredients, listing them under their Japanese names. For example many of the noodle listed for China are of Japanese styled noodles. Yes, there is style overlapping, and some differences. But the point is that if you are making a Chinese sesame noodle, it probably doesn’t call for udon noodles.
This naturally creates confusion for the book. This is a book written by a woman in Japan, for people who probably don’t live in Asia. Some ingredients are going to be easy to find, some will not be. Because of this reason it would be extremely helpful to have a very detailed ingredients guide. Going into detail about common ingredients, and what would be good replacements. Some recipes already do this, some don’t. It also worth mentioning that I live in a culturally diverse area, I live near a Korean, South East Asian, and Indian market. I am sure there are more ethnic markets, I just never found them yet. Some ingredients are hard to find, or are very seasonal.
My other problem with the book is that is wavers back and forth from super authentic to completely not. I have no problem from straying away from tradition and giving a fun twist to a recipe. But in some ways it seems that Parekh doesn’t change things in ways that could honestly make them better. There isn’t ANY innovations to try and add more flavors. Many of us know that Asian cooking use fish and meat by products (think oyster sauce). Parekh seems to take a recipe, remove the offending ingredients, like maybe fish sauce, and calls it quits. This leaves many bland recipes. Nor does Parekh seem fully educated about vegan products, listing one recipes with worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies. Yes there are vegan versions, but they aren’t common.
I have to say I am sorely disappointed with this cookbook. It was rushed, and I am unsure of who the audience is. Is it for people who live in Asia with easy access to the ingredients? Or is it for anyone, anywhere in the world? I can say there I found some inspiration in the recipes, but mostly because I wanted to make them taste better. All dishes seemed pretty bland and relied heavily on fats, which I am not particularly fond of.
Recipes
This cookbook I tried my best to pick at least on recipe from each country spotlighted in the book. Since there were a lot of recipes featured from Japan and India, there is naturally more recipes tested from those countries.
This is a quick little post. See I made these seitan sausages to be used in another recipe. But I thought these guys were pretty versatile and could be used in many other recipes. The end result are 5-6 individual seitan sausages, and freeze really well. So you can make a batch, and shove in the freezer when you are ready to use it. I think I am starting to get addicted to adzuki beans. They add an interesting sweetness to a protein source.
Side note- does anyone know how to make seitan look great in photographs? I swear it is the most un-photogenic food. It is like your friend who is pretty but get them in front of a camera and a mysterious double chin appears. You’ve seen your friend a million times and they don’t have a double chin, and you think how does this happen? Not just once, but every time. That is seitan, you think dang this looks so yummy, and then you take a snap and you think why does this look like a turd?
Well, this is one of the yummiest seitan loafs I’ve ever made. I am super excited to cook it up tonight. Either Tuesday or Thursday I’ll post a second recipe using this seitan. You can use OTHER seitan, but I would recommend this one. Continue reading
Hey everyone, I’m having a pretty laid back Sunday. I hope you are too. I’ve been using it to catch up on my backed up blog reading, making 2 gallons of kombucha, and making a new recipe to post for tomorrow. Pretty exciting stuff right? I might even get enough time to squeeze in finishing up Norwegian Wood.
Yesterday I was able to make a trip to into the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I took some great photos that I might post later this week. The coolest exhibit was the collection of German Kraktur folk art from Pennsylvania. It was pretty cool since it is a little piece of my history as my Mother grew up in rural Pennsylvania. The drawings were really interesting, they seemed like an odd mix of American history, patterns, text, and drawings that look like they are from a 8 year old. You can see more information at the PMA website.
Oh I also watched Frances Ha last night and I. LOVE. IT! I remember watching Tiny Furniture and I wanted so much to like it. It was about a girl just out of college, trying to find her place, struggling with family, etc. But it sucked. Sorry. It really made me not want to watch Girls, though I’ve heard Girls is much better than Tiny Furniture. Frances Ha on the other hand is great, I loved the characters, the dialogue, the visuals, the message, every freakin thing. I would totally recommend this movie to any 20-30 something and all film lovers. Watch it via Netflix.
Radical Farmers Use Fresh Food to Fight Racial Injustice and the New Jim Crow
This article made me pretty happy. Reading articles about social injustices can crush your soul, making you believe that humanity is spiraling downwards. But reading about initiatives to help people instead of just blaming them can really lift the spirits.
Why U.S. maternity leave policies still fail women and children
Anyone who plans of having a kid or knows a friend who plans on having a child in the United States should read this article. It is an awesome breakdown on why there is a paygap with women, and how a lot of it has to do with children. We all know that most American parents both work, but the way the government works hasn’t caught up.
When did letting your kids walk home alone become a crime?
I grew up in a small town that was little over 2 square miles. I walked to school, and for one year I had to bike to my new school across town. I could of technically walked there, but that probably would of taken 2o minutes every morning. So reading this article was interesting, and scary.
Coconut Milk Available in U.S. Starbucks Stores Beginning February
Starbucks is now adding another non-dairy option- coconut milk. I hope this trend continues since many smaller coffee shops follow Starbucks lead. Why am I so excited? I really usually hate almond milk in a latte. Yes, it can taste awesome, but it is easier to mess up. By the way, if you get a dark mocha with almond milk at Whole Foods- bliss! But I am marking my calendar on the 17th a picking up a “sample” latte of the coconut milk.
Beyoncé Launches Vegan Meal Delivery Service With Her Trainer
Does Beyonce deliver the meals? Because if not, I’m not using it.
Day 31: Had Jon model my Mother’s knitting.
Day 32: Made some pizza dip, with a super yummy onion and pepper layer
Day 33: Made cornbread topped baked beans from But I Could Never Go Vegan.
Day 34: Something was really cool about mushrooms and snow…
Day 35: Gum Tree Balls litter my sidewalks
Day 36: I noticed two blocks of wood in electrical wires. I guess a tree grew around the wires and had to be chopped down.
Day 37: Took more photos of my cameras.
Well, now that it is officially February, this seems like as good a time as any to sum up what new and exciting things I took from 2014…right? I listened to so much good music in 2014. Some of the albums I came across I am still playing on repeat for hours. Unfortunately not all of it is from 2014, as I am currently finding out. So I guess this will just be a mixed list of my favorite artists that I’ve discovered in the past year and favorite albums that have come out as well. They aren’t in any particular order and I am sure there are some I’m forgetting as I write this, but I’m sure they’ll pop up at some point throughout the year in another blog post.
Charli XCX
I found Charli XCX through Spotify. I think I had been listening to “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea (which she sings the chorus for) and her profile popped up on the side as recommended. Her album “True Romance” is from 2013 but it was also the only full-length piece that was available at the time. It has some very strong songs on it that have a great sound, particularly “Nuclear Seasons”, “You- Ha Ha Ha” and “Black Roses”. She has since come out with another album which is pretty good (which includes her single “Boom Clap” that was featured in all of the “Fault in Our Stars” movie trailers). I think I like the intense mixture of beats from her first album better but I am still introducing myself to “Sucker”. The video for “Breaking Up” is fantastic, it mixes some retro video styles as well as keeping everything relevant to today’s world. All I know is, I want to be part of Charli’s mean girl gang.
From Indian Lakes
This is almost cheating, since I found out about this band in late December. I have been listening 
to “Absent Sounds” for weeks without hesitation. My friend Erik introduced this band to our friend group and for lack of a better term, it hit me in the feels. It’s the kind of music that immediately made my body think “Draw. Draw things right now.” which doesn’t happen very often. It’s not a very good description for the sound of the band or even what type of music it is but everyone who I have introduced to them after has kind of said the same thing (minus the drawing part, but that’s what happens to me when something is inspiring). “Absent Sounds” is from 2014 and their previous album “Able Bodies” is from back in 2012. I highly recommend them.
Kimbra
I first heard of Kimbra back in 2011 when Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know” hit the radio, and while I liked the song very much all I could think was “Who is that lady that’s singing?”. I had originally thought it to be a very mature sounding Katy Perry which I find hilarious, because as far as I’ve heard Kimbra doesn’t really sound like this in any of her own work. Needless to say she is great. Her first full-length album “Vows” came out in 2011 and was very jazz and R&B influenced and “The Golden Echo” seems to have more of a mix of genres sprinkled throughout it. It’s a really strong and fun album and I thoroughly enjoy it. I feel as though I can get a sense for how much she loves making and playing with music when I listen to it. (Bonus: it’s a very work-friendly album!)
Orange Caramel
Orange Caramel may be one of my favorite KPop groups based on their videos alone. That’s a lie, the songs are great too. I feel as though everything that comes out from them sounds cohesive and
fun, they definitely know what their sound is. But really, their music videos are SO GOOD. I had been watching Eat Your Kimchi and Simon brought up a great point – the sets for these videos are not a stereotypical “group dances in big white box” that has been happening in KPop a lot lately, and Orange Caramel is still a group of attractive girls without having to focus so much on the idea of “being sexy”. I could go on on that tangent forever so I’ll end it there. Catallena was the newest single and video release from 2014 and I am pretty sure I have shown it to everyone I know. The costumes are adorable, the setting is fun, and the song is super catchy!
CHVRCHES
CHVRCHES may be my favorite ‘new’ band from 2014, and all I have to say is – Thank you Jen!! Jenny told me about how much she was digging this group and that she was going to go see them in Philly. She burned me a copy of the CD (*DISCLAIMER: I now own not one, but TWO physical copies of the full album and stream it on Spotify almost constantly) and Mr. Ian and I couldn’t stop listening to it for almost two weeks straight. We saw they were playing in New York and went on a whim and it was one of the best “random” trips we’ve taken thus far. The performance was great and I’m really happy we got to see them when we did – because now it’s almost impossible to get concert tickets! Their sound is a perfect mix between modern techno sound with an 80’s feel to some of the tracks, and Lauren Mayberry’s voice is heavenly (even when I think about just how high pitched it is. She’s like a bad ass fairy queen). I am so excited to see that the group is currently working on starting their second album now!
The Hunger Games Soundtracks
I have only recently gotten into this series. I saw the first movie about a year or so after it came out, and the second one I waited to see until it came out on DVD. I discovered that the soundtracks are really well put together with a lot of different and oddly appropriate talent spread throughout them (The Decemberists, Charli XCX, Lorde, CHVRCHES and Santigold to name a few…). I find that most of the music is just good on it’s own while also fitting the tone of the films which can be hard to do sometimes. The lyrics aren’t hitting you over the head with a theme, but if one were to place any of the songs into the movies themselves they wouldn’t seem out of place. I also already appreciate pop/electronic-type songs (which not all of them are) with lyrics that are more chaotic or even tragic. It’s an interesting twist on a normally upbeat genre of music.
*BONUS: While playing the playlist at work I even had a customer mention how she really liked what we were listening to, yay validation!
2NE1
I love 2NE1. They are (my personal) KPop Queens. I had been so excited for their latest album to drop for months since it had been teased – and to my surprise I didn’t like it much on a first listen. I felt as if nothing could really ever top “I Am the Best” from 2012, and I do still think that to a point. This album has much more of a “tropical” or “reggae” feel to it on a bunch of the songs, and while they are really fun it also shows that the group is moving forward and evolving. Once I listened to the album again a few weeks later I appreciated everything on it much more.
NOTE You can check out Jen’s picks for her favorite music from 2014. She also loved 2NE1’s, Kimbra’s, and Orange Caramel’s releases as well.
Wanna listen? Videos are listed below
