El Perro del Mar's Sarah Assbring looking Vintage Here

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Breaking the Band with El Perro del Mar + Lykke Li + Anna Ternheim
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Chickie Pig’s
Drink: Mason Dixon
Miscellaneous: 151

This triple threat of Swedish artists include headliner El Perro del Mar, AKA Sarah Assbring, who’s take on 60s torch singing is as sweet as honey, especially on her new album, From the Valley to the Stars. Joining her are Lykke Li and Anna Ternheim, both offering equally quirky and beautiful songs. What sounds like a vegetarian’s nightmare is actually a gourmet pizza restaurant. Chickie Pig’s offers some interesting brick oven thin-crust pies like The Pig’s Fig Pie with fig jam reduction, Gorgonzola, proscuitto, and chives ($15). If you have the desire to ride a bull when you order a pint, then you’re in luck! Mason Dixon offers both. Seriously, you can drink and ride a friggin’ mechanical bull here! For a good time or if your goal is to get trashed, hit up 151. There’s no sign outside, but inside, happy hour is 2 for 1 everyday from 6-10pm.

The Gutter Twins
Saturnalia
Sub Pop




The combination of Greg Dulli's fallen angel croon and Mark Lanegan's raspy voice of the damned raise The Gutter Twins' first album Saturnalia beyond a collaboration project between two of the 90's best-voiced frontmen.

Dulli, known for his work first with The Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers, and Lanegan, the former voice of The Screaming Trees and checkered solo career, tread familiar ground, with songs of devotion and despair.

However, instead of simply revisiting the sonic soundscapes that made them semi-famous, the collaboration brings out the best in both artists. It's an expanded palette that puts samples in the tense "Each to Each." It also allows Lanegan to try a little Dulli croon on the winning "Seven Stories Underground."

Still, the album's biggest appeal should be for fans of the cigarette-and-whiskey-voiced crooners. The dark lyrical obsessions and grunge tones are unmistakable and perhaps too-dated for post-millennia tastes.

--Jonathan Shieber

Olafur Eliasson, 360° room for all colours, 2002
Private collection; Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson
Show time: Sun to Sat 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Venue: Museum of Modern Art
Food GoGo Curry
Drink Stitch
Miscellaneous Leisure Time Bowl

Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson takes rooms and creates immersive environments out of them featuring sculptures and light projections in an attempt to show the viewer what it means to see, from a cognitive standpoint. The owner of Go!Go! Curry is obsessed with the Yankees Hideki Matsui and his Jersey (55). The menu’s theme is baseball and katsu, a fried meat, chicken, or shrimp cutlet served in a curry sauce is the specialty here. Portion sizes are Walk (small), Single (Med.), Double (L), and Triple (XL) and are inexpensive. The mascot, a gorilla for some reason, is plastered everywhere, making this place even quirkier. In the heart of the garment district, Stitch, a cozy after-work bar/lounge, stocks a cocktail menu with a design theme. If you still have energy and are in the mood to bowl, check out Leisure Time Bowl. Located in the Port Authority, this place is stylish and fun.

Sarah Assbring Talks about El Perro Del Mar's New Album. Photo Credit: Johanna Hedborg





Recording under the moniker El Perro del Mar, Sweden's Sarah Assbring won the music community over with her 2006 self-titled debut. She's gracing our shores again in support of her pop-perfect sophomore effort From The Valley To The Stars (Control Group/Tcg).

We caught up with the busy singer/songwriter to get the scoop on the album, her tour, and who she would love to collaborate with (hint - If you're name is Devendra Banhart or Bjorn Yttling, you might want to scroll down!).

You toured really hard behind your last record. Did you take a break at all between supporting that album and recording your new one From The Valley To The Stars?

I was able to take a real break last summer when I just spent every minute in the studio writing and recording. It was about time.

On your last album you arranged and produced everything very much on your own. Did you take the same approach this time around?

Yes and even more so on this album. I was very much into keeping it all true and organic and to not use any digital or midi devices whatsoever. It made the process even more tricky, since I’m working on my own, but it was worth it. I was after that specific jangly feeling anyways.

Did you have a specific blueprint when you went into make your new album or did you just follow your own muse?

I had worked on a theme for the album for a long time, long before I even started writing the actual music. It revolved around my idea of heaven – symbolically as well as literally and harmonically. I wanted to write something about the feelings you go through when losing someone close to you; both the sorrow and the feelings of gratitude for being alive - those kinds of highs and lows and the preciousness of life.

What would you say is the biggest difference between your first album and this one?

Well, this album is definitely different in the way that I wanted to make an album and a conceptual one at that. I really wanted to make something that felt like a classic album made to be listened to from beginning to end.

You're playing two dates in New York City May 7th at Joe's Pub and May 8th at Bowery Ballroom. Do you like the larger venues like Bowery or do you like the places that are smaller and more intimate?

I guess it depends on how the set is or how big the band is. On this tour, playing the songs from this album, I definitely prefer playing bigger venues. The songs need a certain kind of airy atmosphere I think.

You're taking Lykke Li out on the road with you. Is it good to have a fellow Swede around?

Oh yes! It’s so great! We’re gonna be like a big funky family moving around in our tour bus.

Your tour is taking you from Stockholm to Paris, across the U.S. and back to Stockholm again. Is there a city that you would like to play that you haven't yet?

I would love to go to places in Australia and New Zealand and well, I guess there’s millions of other places I would love to go to too. I’ve never played in Italy for example, I would love to.

Some artists say they can't sit back and listen to their own music casually. Do you ever put your music on when you're just sitting around the house relaxing?

No, that’s more or less an impossibility. You’ve kind of dissected the music so deeply and so many times during the process of making it. It’s a shame. But at the same time I think it’s that very feeling that makes you want to continue making new things…because maybe there will come a day when you’ve done something you actually can enjoy listening to without feeling awkward or uneasy. That’s what I’m striving for.

If you could record with any other artist, who would you pick and why?

I would love to work with Devandra Banhart. He’s got such magnitude and power in this very natural way that I admire. I’m also dreaming of working with Björn Yttling of Peter Björn and John some day.

When it comes to your music, what is the best advice you've ever been given and who gave it to you?

I think I gave it to myself when starting El Perro del Mar: Keep it simple and sincere.

Amy Wagner

Ash Wednesday by Anthony Goicolea (b. 1971). Photo courtesy Postmasters Gallery, New York

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger
Show time: Sun thru Sat 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Venue: American Folk Art Museum
Food: Zip Burger
Drink: Subway Inn
Miscellaneous: Kinokuniya Bookstore

Self-taught artist Henry Darger (1892-1973), created nearly 300 watercolor and collage paintings to illustrate his epic masterpiece, The Story of the Vivian Girls. This show features 11 artists’ works, including Darger’s, which were inspired by his art, and the idiosyncrasies of this self-taught master. At Zip Burger they offer farm-raised, organic, and grass-fed meat and poultry, letting you build your own burger with plenty of gourmet toppings. The first time I went to Subway Inn I thought it was completely strange that there was a dive bar off Lexington Avenue, especially in this neck of the woods, but somehow it works. Born in the 30s, this bar has somehow remained, and thank god, as it’s easily the cheapest place in the area for a drink. For fans of Japanese pop-culture, Kinokuniya Bookstore has a large selection of Japanese themed books, videos, CDs, magazines, comics, and stationary.

Revitalize Your Skin with Sensatia Botanicals Skincare Products


Every woman loves to receive a bouquet of flowers, so when Michael Lorenti, CEO of Sensatia Botanicals, decided to use the oil of 90 red roses in his Blossom Facial Dream Cream, he knew he had a winner!

Based in beautiful Bali, and using only pure wholesome ingredients you can pronounce, Sensatia's naturally aromatic skincare line is designed to nourish, hydrate, and revitalize your skin.

Scrub off city grime with a bar of Shea Butter and Red Roses soap. This buttery soap is most suited to dry, sensitive, and mature skin.

Next, apply the Sandalwood Facial Masque: French white clay, ground rice, and East Indian Sandalwood combine to slough off dead skin cells, leaving a glowing and nourished complexion. Then, mist with the Neroli Facial Toner - a refreshing facial mist that aids the skin's Ph in returning to normal. Finally, treat your skin to the luxuriously soft Blossom Facial Dream Cream. Thicker than you would normally expect, this nourishing moisturizer contains the essential oils of 200 tiny Neroli Blossoms, rose oil and pure aloe vera juice.

Sensatia Botanicals plan to launch in the States in the near future. Right now you can purchase from their website Sensatia Botanicals. Use coupon code: GIFT15 to get 15% off.

--Michelle McDermott

Michelle, a former makeup artist for Christian Dior, writes about luxe resorts, spas and hotels for print and web publications. Check out her website at OhSoBoutique

Sachio Ito & Company

Location: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Event: Sakura Matsuri
Venue: Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Food: Tom’s Restaurant
Drink: Soda Bar
Miscellaneous: Old Brooklyn Parlor

With the Botanical Garden’s Japanese cherry trees in full bloom, they begin Sakura Matsuri (“rite of spring”), celebrating Japanese culture and the cherry trees with J-pop concerts, traditional music and dance, manga art, workshops, taiko drumming, and martial arts. It’s the place where Susanne Vega wrote “Tom’s Restaurant,” but Tom’s restaurant is just as famous for its food. With a near insane breakfast menu, expect items like pancakes with apples and pecans to be brought to you by the sweetest waitresses in Brooklyn. Soda Bar is a great place for drinks. The alcohol is cheap, there’s surprisingly excellent food, and there’s even another room where DJs spin. If it’s too much, you can hang outside in the backyard patio under the stars. The Old Brooklyn Parlor specializes in old school drinks like the Brooklyn Egg Cream and the Lime Cherry Rickey, making it an excellent anchor to this neighborhood.