Welcome back to Top8. The world is on fire. So, does anyone else love curry? This is the recipe I am using these days for a chickpea curry.

Channa Masala (Emily's 2025 Version)

Ingredients

Spices

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced (or basically however much you want; I'm not your mom)
• 1 inch minced ginger (around 2 tbsp)
• 2-4 green cardamom pods
• 2-4 whole cloves 
• 1-2 bay leaf
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground cayenne or hot chili powder (or go crazy with this if you want.)
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Hot peppers (use whatever sort you have or like, but prefer bird's eye & combinations of various peppers; also, again, go crazy with this if you want – who wants to live forever?) 
• 1 tsp of tamarind paste or 2 tsp amchoor powder or 1-3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp garam masala (optional, omit if you can't get this)
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• minced cilantro, for garnish

Main Dish

• 3 cups (28oz can) cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed. (I use 1-2 cups of dried chickpeas, canned will be good enough though.)
• 26oz can strained, crushed, or puréed tomatoes (or crush fresh tomatoes if they are good and in season) 
• 1- 2 red onions chopped
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or olive oil or whatever)
• Feel free to add whatever else you want – kale, spinach, potatoes, cauliflower, etc.

Instructions

1. Heat a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-low heat and add the oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes until translucent and softened.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, and the whole spices: any dried red chiles or cayanne/indian chili powder, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and tamarind (if using). Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring constantly so the garlic doesn't burn.
3. Add the ground spices: amchoor (if using), ground coriander, garam masala, turmeric, black pepper, and 1 tsp of salt. Stir in and let cook for 30 seconds.
4. If you're crushing your own tomatoes, add those now and get them to whatever consistency you want.
5. Add the chickpeas and canned tomatoes (if using). Partially cover, bring to a simmer, and let simmer for 25-30 minutes stirring occasionally.
6. Turn off the heat, sprinkle in the lemon juice (if using). Taste and adjust the salt and pepper or whatever. Remove the whole cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and cardamom pods & cloves if you can see them.
7. Typically served with basmati, but use whatever rice or rice-adjacent thing you like. Or bread. Or just a fork if you want.

Notes

*Amchoor and methi are usually used in "authentic" chana masala but if you can't find them, substitute 1-3 tsp of tamarind paste (add at the same time as the ground spices) or freshly squeezed lemon juice, and just kinda hope for the best.

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Let's listen to some music.

Nourished by Time - Baby Baby

I probably don't pay enough attention, but for a long time I kinda thought alt-modern R&Bish music was dead after Frank Ocean kinda disappeared. Eventually I got into some stuff like serpentwithfeet, and Moses Sumney. And then Nourished by Time got on my radar. This kind of music is doing just fine.

Nourished by Time is the music project of a guy named Marcus Elliot Brown out of Baltimore. 2023's "Erotic Probiotic" was probably the best album I missed that year. Brown is back this year with "The Passionate Ones". And it lives up to its name. The vocals here bounce between gushing passion and humorously laconic. "Baby Baby" is a good example. Typical of his work, Brown has very little time for posturing or weird ostentation here. This is somehow both low key and ebullent at the same time. The production is perfect and feels organic and catchy without becoming pandering or overly poppy. "The Passionate Ones" is one of the albums of the year just like "Erotic Probiotic" should have been.

Blood Orange - The Field (ft. The Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek & Daniel Caesar)

I will be honest, I am usually kinda put off by tracks with more than one collab credited. I just think art sometimes gets diluted and weak when it's divided up too many ways. I should have known better with Blood Orange. Dev Hynes hasn't let me down yet. I really should categorize him alongside the progressive or modern R&B artists mentioned above, but I just never have. Somehow to me, Blood Orange has always been it's own thing. Hynes is a musical polymath  and brings influences from contemporary classical to IDM to indie and new wave. Hynes' new one is called "Essex Honey" and it's as good as expected. I picked "The Field" because it is the one that jumped out at me the most. Blood Orange spins this really kind of wild combination of cello and trappy highhats. There's lots of gorgeous vocals from Polachek (don't ever sleep on her excellent, synthy solo stuff). The result, like the rest of "Essex Honey" is moody and mysterious at times but also close and intimate. To be honest, this is another strong contender for album of the year.

TTSFU - Forever

I have been listening to TTSFU for a minute now and I still have no idea how to pronounce their name. I guess it doesn't matter if I am just writing about them. Anyway, this is an indie dreampop outfit with a new EP out. The single off the EP is "Forever", although "Call U Back" probably popped off a little more. Regardless, this is a dreampop which leans more post-punk than jangle. And that's cool. "Forever" feels somewhere between The Beths and Alvvays to me. It's a sweet plea for a friend or lover to be there "forever". I'm not crying, you're crying.

The Beths - No Joy

Speaking of The Beths… They have a whole new album out called "Straight Line Was a Lie" and it's NOT a disappointment compared to their iconic 2022 album "Expert in a Dying Field". Tracks like "No Joy" are slightly less bright and punky than the last album, but no less danceably melancholic.

Honeyglaze - Turn Out Right

Whew, this one is a hard left turn. I featured Honeyglaze last year with "Don't". That one is a raging, angular, pipebomb thrown at shitty self-centered people. "Turn Out Right" is a lofi solo acoustic effort, and a gorgeously sweet, sad, and hopeful one at that. So, you know I am here for it. Anouska Sokolow sings "maybe things will turn out right". I mean, things never do. But still, it's a beautiful song.

Jesse Welles - The Great Caucasian God

Some people are calling Jesse Welles the new Bob Dylan. And sure, maybe. Get back to me in 50 years and we'll see. Regardless, people are saying that because of his proclivity for sharply political folk dripping with irony and anger. "The Great Caucasian God" is an able skewering of the hollow, hateful white Christian nationalist movement. Fuck these people. Listen to this song.

ScroungeHound - Yggdrasil

I loved Scroungehound. When I first saw them, this was a band like nothing else I'd ever heard. Out of the Huntington scene, they were a massive, overwhelmingly loud hammer of psych stoner doom combined with synth and brass elements. Big long songs and headbanging for everyone. They were an ear-smashing joy. All that came to an end with the tragic loss of the band's frontman Gabe Smith. Well, we get one last blast of the band's signature and unmistakable sound with the new track "Yggdrasil". The band says this is the last track that Gabe worked on. It's gloriously loud and infinitely listenable. All of the classic elements that I loved about this band are there. And it makes me miss them even more.

Dick Move - Nurses

Dick Move fucking rules. Driven at breakneck speed by concussive drums and stabby guitars, "Nurses" is a solid chunk of modern punk rock with crystal clear politics – landlords are shit and nurses are great. Kinda hard to argue with that. This is a moshpit ready to happen. Go on, shoulder check your friend. Right now.

And this week's extra innings. This week, I am going with three of my favorite Phoebe Bridgers tracks. I have been listening to a ton of Phoebe this week, and now so are you.

Phoebe Bridgers - Demi Moore

Phoebe Bridgers - Moon Song

Boygenius - Emily, I'm Sorry

And a playlist with everything.

Thank you all for reading and listening.

-emily