Today's Track: Perfect Skies

Union Diner Basel: I ate a burger and wrote about it

This is my experience of eating in Basel’s self-proclaimed best burger while I was in Switzerland. Union Diner is a newish restaurant belonging to the Union Restaurant family.

I have to say my initial thought was don’t try it, it will surely end up in disappointment. My experience with burgers from the continent is not currently on a winning streak. Dry bread. Too much bread. Too little bread. Poor meat/bread ratio. Dry patties. Not enough meat. Overall Sadness. 

Example of a Sad Burger

A few things I noted before going:

• Website design was sleek and minimalist. Plus points in my mind, but i’ve been fooled before.
• Photos of the interior: Very upscale and looks like the bar of a modern hotel. Not quite ‘diner’ as the name suggests but I can live with that.
• I saw some posters in town designed by Ludovic Balland, a local graphic design agency. Very contemporary and buying-into the whole still-life photo mixed with traditional Swiss graphic design. Cool I guess, and it got my attention.

Interior and Poster Design

Overall thought was these guys care enough about their look and feel, but can they lay down a good burger?

I finally summoned the courage to go. The place also sells hot dogs and something that they call ‘vegan burgers’? Let’s not even go there. The burgers themselves are stereotypically named after the influence behind it: Karate Kid, being the Japanese influenced burger apparently, The Godfather is Italian style while the Manhattan is your regular cheese. These guys fall short in this department by applying your standard burger name cliches. Unimaginative and not enough puns.

I just stick to the OG burger. The way it was and is meant to be. Regular cheese or a bacon cheese. It's the one true way to judge a burger place. There’s no hiding behind your kimchi slaw, balsamic reduction sauce or your melted brie.

So that meant that I ordered the Big Lebowski. A double beef burger with your salad toppings, ketchup, mustard and mayo. There was no double bacon cheese version so I had to ask for extra bacon. In the end I wasn’t charged for the bacon. Win.

Also ordered the fries which came with some home-made ketchup. Standard.

Beer Pairings are very important to a good burger. They only have two beers on draught: Calanda and Ittinger. I went for the Ittinger which pours dark-golden and goes down well enough, but not amazing by any stretch.

This is outrageously expensive for a non-Swiss person. That's twenty €1 Jagermeister shots.

The burger finally came and that I was going to have a little cry. I just paid CHF 25 which is EUR 20 or GBP 16.50 (CRAZY EXPENSIVE) for the burger alone and it came in what looked like the saddest bun in the world. It was pale and looked like a flat-bread with a huge hunk of meat in it. Not good. Luckily enough, this was my mental prejudice of seeing a nice fluffy Brioche bun as the gold standard. To my surprise it was amazing. Key stats and figures:

• Bread looked disappointing: unleavened, pale and looked crusty and dry. Additionally the juices from the meat soaked the entire bottom of the bun inciting my greatest fear that it would fall apart immediately upon first lift.
• Bread after taste: Looks can be deceiving! Sigh of relief. The bread was so surprisingly soft and maintained its structural integrity despite the juiciness of the meat! This proves two things: Bread is and always will be better in the continent and you don’t have to follow every hip burger joint and do a brioche bun. To all aspiring Burger joints out there. Don’t overlook the bread. IT IS A KEY INGREDIENT.
• Patty: They ask you how you want your meat which is great! I went for a medium rare and was not disappointed. Cooked perfectly juicy and the double patties did not overpower the bread. Surprisingly good meat/bread ratio despite the bread looking flat. The meat is swiss organic. No beef with the beef. Looking good so far.
• Bacon: You could taste the saltiness but it does not elevate the burger. I usually expect the bacon to be the cherry on top. It should be crunchy enough to make you know that you are biting through the bacon and not just disappear in the texture of the meat. 
• Salad: Fresh. It’s salad. Move on.
• Fries: Very nicely spiced. It’s got some spices on it similar to the Five Guys Cajun Spice but with a more subtle taste (better).
• Ketchup: Home-made. Good.

Overall: 3.8/5 - Would Return

The sad-looking and deceivingly tasty bun. Still looks crap. But really good.

To the Union Diner people, if you ever read this. Here is my feedback to you. Get rid of the fucking knife and fork. It’s a burger dammit and you are making your customers look awkward by suggesting they have to cut up their burger and taking away half of the burger eating experience. It’s so /r/cringe when you see people using a knife and fork. It sort of reminds me of the video below. If they ask for one, I guess, go ahead and give it to them (you are still in Switzerland) but just don’t make it part of the package.

How I see you when you use a knife and fork with your burger.

TYBG.

KIDS N CATS - Vanilla

If you remember our post about their crazy debut, Tip Tip, you’ll be excited to know that KIDS N CATS are back with a brand new single and a fresh video to go along with it. The track is a light-hearted french-pop choon that was definitely worth the wait. The photo above was all we had to look at (btw cheers Paul) before the edit was done... until now.

Here it is, in all its splendeur: Vanilla.




Cop "Tip Tip" and "Vanilla" here now. Do it.

Make sure to follow KIDS N CATS on FB/SC/YT as their journey has just begun.

EMBRYO - LUV GROOVES

Our boy Embryo, who has previously made us a mix, has finally released his debut album. Nine thumping classic house cuts that will keep you grooving into the early hours. Embryo is a champion of that old-school house vibe that transports you back in to the early days of house similar to the likes of Bicep. A very solid debut album that will be released later on this year on his WEAREUNITY label. Stay tuned.

Schwarzbrot x afromullets with BRANKO

Good news! We've teamed-up with Schwarzbrot and will be spinning some bangin' tunes this Friday in Pratersauna to celebrate the weekend in an appropriate fashion.

We've brought over Branko of Buraka Som Sistema fame who will be heating things up on the mainfloor. Some of you may know him by his previous name of J-Wow which did not go down too well with a fist-bumping italian-american from the Jersey Shore resulting in the emergence of his current moniker.



As one of the key producers on the Buraka Som Sistema project hailing out of Portugal, you may already be familiar with their unique sound of Kuduro influenced electronic beats. Parallels can be drawn to their contemporaries such as M.I.A. and Diplo who have also taken on influences from various afro/carribean music genres.



Branko's personal output still has some hints of the Buraka sound but goes on further to explore a wider range of sounds and influences. A few samples to listen to including "Drums, Slums and Hums", a mixtape album available for free download.





The afromullets family will be represented by Eric Kin, Stewiwonda and fshstk who will be spinning all night long. Schwarzbrot DJ's will be in-house and in full effect as well.

See the facebook event for more details.

tl;dr:
Branko from Buraka Som Sistema is playing Pratersauna on 26/09/2014. Afromullets is playing too. It's going to be good.

Today's Track: Often

The Weeknd is back with his usual formula of sex and sleaze. And it's good.

The World Cup Hairdo Hall of Fame

"In his travels throughout Brazil in anticipation of the World Cup, Christoph Niemann, the magazine’s contributing illustrator, found soccer fever so intense that he couldn’t help seeing famous footballers — and their hair — wherever he looked."
via.

Daily Dope: Chill Pill

It's always nice to see a fresh new concept when it comes to music videos. Hawk House has produced a simple yet quite intriguing and srtylish video for their Chill Pill track. Make sure to check it out, the track itself is also pretty dope.

Today's Track: Money

Street Knowledge: Ruff Ryders' Anthem

Today's Track: Drop That Bitch

An absoulte banger by SALVA with Kurupt,Schoolboy Q, Problem and Bad Lucc supplying a verse each.

KIDS N CATS - Tip Tip

We are always excited to come across talented people. But we're even more excited when they are up-and-coming artists based in Vienna. The band KIDS N CATS just released “Tip Tip” a promising debut single that’s set in a catchy pop landscape. It comes along with a real treat of a music video, together they set the tone and aesthetic of what KIDS N CATS stand for. They scream for attention, whilst their music circulates around Pop and its boundaries. Press play and welcome KIDS N CATS into your hearts: down down dig dig diggi digi down down down, down down dig dig diggi down down digigigigii , ALL. DAY. LONG.
Make sure to follow KIDS N CATS on FB & YouTube

Street Knowledge 56: How to Fight

Afromullets Presents: The 4/20 Mix

With 4/20 falling on Easter Sunday this year, there's plenty of opportunity for some herbal celebration. As has become custom here at Afromullets, we give you our yearly 4/20 mix, curated by the talented Jvst Kin.
It's time for a lazy Sunday. So sit back, roll one up and hit that play button, ya dig?

Today's Track: The Desert

Jonwayne released his newest track since his great debut album ,"Rap Album One", as a MC. Featuring a verse from Oliver the 2nd this track got us excited about future releases from both artist. We are also super excited, and you should be too, to get to see Jonwayne performing at sound:frame festival this Friday at Brut.

On the Streets of Vienna: Penfold & Numskull

One of my two favorite artists were in Vienna the past few days and painted a few spots around the city. Penfold left but Numskull stayed and is having a exhibition with Perfekt World. More info on the event here.

Today's Track: So Sick Stories

So Sick Stories from RATKING and King Krule which will be featured on RATKING's debut album So It Goes.

Daily Dope: Superman with a GoPro

The title pretty much says it. The footage was shot around Los Angeles using a GoPro camera attached to a gimbal on a Phantom 2 quadcopter; you can learn more about the making-of in the video below:

Daily Dope: Gentleman of Letters

A bit late on this but I had to share. A great short film about the art of sign painting in Dublin.

Today's Track: Sum 1 Like U

Ticklish's back with another big track. It seems he's taken some inspiration from Machinedrum's Vapor City release last year. I'm coining Liquid Footwork as a genre. There, I said it.