Jose Gonzalez arrived Stateside a few years back with a beautiful acoustic rendition of the Knife’s “Heartbeats,” which soundtracked a Sony Bravia commercial following bouncy balls as they loped down the streets of San Francisco. In that same city the other day, the Swedish singer/songwriter made a stop on his “Green” spring tour, during which he discussed eating green.

“You don’t hear too much about the impact of eating on the environment,” Gonzalez said, emoting with a bedroom-style whisper not all that unlike how he sounds when performing. “I’ve been a vegetarian for 14 years, and I have to think that cuts down on the carbon footprint left by people who eat factory-farmed meat.”

Gonzalez just wrapped up his tour behind latest album In Our Nature, during which organic and local food was featured backstage along the way. His tour rider also included biodegradable catering products and re-usable water bottles.

Jose Gonzalez – “Heartbeats”

After Tapes ‘n Tapes amassed a bunch of blog buzz back with their last album, they signed to XL and toured all over the place. Now the tunefully gritty Minneapolis quartet is readying Walk It Off for an April 8th release, and frontman and sushi aficionado Josh Grier took a break from that to discuss eating his way through Japan on tour.

“We were all really excited when we found out that we were going to Japan because we had heard stories about how much crazier Japanese food is there than in the U.S.,” Grier says. “There were a few things that looked and tasted familiar, but there were more that didn’t.”

Grier is no stranger to bizarre bites (he ate kangaroo in Australia), but even he needed a few drinks to handle some of the cuisine. “The craziest thing I ate was Natto (ed note: check the less-than-appetizing image), which is fermented soybeans (and super healthy),” he recalls. “It has a very intense smell and taste and sticky texture, and I think I was the only one in the band who tried it—after a lot of beer and sake.”

Luckily, some of the cuisine didn’t require Grier’s inebriation, like the raw beef dish shabu shabu. “There was a pot of boiling water or broth in the middle of the table and we took razor thin slices of raw beef and dipped in the pot for a few seconds,” he explains. “After a seemingly endless supply of beef, noodles and vegetables were added to the broth, we ate it as soup.” The singer compared the experience to the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray’s character eats the beef dish with Scarlett Johansson, and after Grier’s assessment of the meal, perhaps Murray would have had more success hawking shabu shabu than Suntory.

More Tapes ‘n Tapes can be heard on their MySpace page.

Crunk-juice enthusiast-turned-oenophile Lil John is launching a wine label, the Associated Press has announced. Little Jonathan Winery is set to offer chardonnay and merlot selections, but should we expect much in the way of legs and noses on his vintages? "I'm not like an expert, so don't ask me no questions...I just like the taste," he told the AP. Still, the Atlanta-based rapper added, "this is not no ghetto Boone's Farm; this is some real wine." We're sold!

Colour Revolt just dropped Plunder, Beg, and Curse, which teems with Southern-‘round-the-edges indie rock gems, and they’ve launched a tour behind it alongside the Breeders. That trek kicked-off in their hometown of Oxford, MS last week, where guitarist Jimmy Cajoleas revealed “the real Holy Grail of dining experiences”: the local Chevron near the town square. The place is affectionately and commonly referred to as “Chicken on a Stick,” but it doesn’t actually serve skewered meat. It does, however, dish out pizza sticks, egg rolls and something called crispitos, and it’s the spot where Oxford life convenes after hours. To see anyone from “the forty-something townies to the drunken frat boys to the indie rockers to the honors students breaking from their all-night study sessions,” Cajoles suggests heading there--it's a “true (and delicious!) cultural experience,” after all! Plus, the spot serves as a safety-checkpoint according to Wikitravel.org, which writes, “If you are too drunk to drive and have no other way home, you can almost always find a ride [there] just after the bars close.”

More Colour Revolt can be heard on their MySpace page.

When the three female emcees in Northern State embarked upon a European tour to support Can I Keep This Pen? alongside Tegan & Sara, they brought with them a video camera and an appetite for waffles and crepes. What message can be gleaned from these New Yorkers' homemade on-the-road video? If the waffle comes from your pocket, then it probably doesn’t taste tres bon. And which wins out in the storied battle of the Belgian waffle versus the French crepe? Tune in to find out, but with either delicacy, these ladies will likely lick their plates clean.

Passover may have just, well, passed, but that doesn’t mean Brooklyn’s A BIG YES and a small no--who are readying Jesus That Looks Terrible On You for release next month--don’t have a use for that leftover matzoh. They swear by their hometown’s tap water for making Powder-Keg Matzoh Ball Soup, which goes down with a bit of a kick.

Powder-Keg Matzoh Ball Soup

Make a broth with a pot of water, rough cracked black pepper (a lot of it), salt (about 1/2 teaspoon), a few dashes of celery salt, chopped celery leaves, sliced carrots and one or two diced onions. Add about a teaspoon of dill and one or two teaspoons of bullion. Simmer gently but don't let it boil.

For the matzoh balls, beat 4 eggs, or use equivalent amount of egg replacer. Combine with 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil and a little salt and pepper. Using a big fork, mix in 1/2 cup matzoh meal. Put the soon-to-be matzoh balls in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes

Add a little oil to a 2-quart pot of water and set to boil. Remove the Matzoh mix from the fridge and get your hands wet with cool water. Take small amounts (no more than a tablespoon at a time) and roll them into balls between your hands. Put the matzoh balls in a glass bowl or on a plate while you’re rolling the rest. You may have to re-roll the ones on the bottom right before you boil them. When your hands start to get sticky, just get them wet again.

Now, here's the volatile part!

Right before you drop the matzoh balls into the boiling water add a ton of chili powder. When the matzoh balls are dropped through the layer of chili powder, they take on its kicking flavor. Place them in quickly, and as soon as they’re all in, cover and turn down the heat a little. You will know they’re done when they all float, which should take about 20-25 minutes.

Lift the matzoh balls out of the water, put them in the broth and rinse out that chili powder-coated pot before it gets gross. Serve the matzoh ball soup with Challah and rice pudding. Even the goyishe will love it!