A brand new cooking show on the world wide web has me reconsidering my haste to liken all things dark and unrefined with blood and guts.

In the Vegan Black Metal Chef’s video guide to making pad Thai, the teacher manages to not only make peanut butter, rice noodles and cilantro sound downright louche, the rakish cook grunts, screams, and demands your rapt attention at all times. Just like ma!

The VBMC is basically an awesome version of Guy Fieri–dude wears a ton of makeup, has scary hair and seems like he’d be a pain in the ass to have at a dinner party–except this time, you will definitely want to try the recipes.

It’s worth checking out for the awesome knives alone.

Army Navy are set to to release their sophomore album, The Last Place, on July 12 via the band’s own label, Fever Zone. The Los Angeles band hired producer and engineer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo, Juliana Hatfield) for the record, whom they previously worked with on their 2008 self-titled debut.

For a sneak peek of the album, check out “The Long Goodbye,” also featured in the film “Beastly.” Living so close to Hollywood has proven useful for the band.

Not only did The Beastie Boys name their latest offbeat, quasi-conceptual album after one of the great mother sauces of classic New York cuisine–Hot Sauce Committee Part Two–there’s no band that obsesses more about the highs and lows of edible options in the five boroughs and beyond:

“I chill at White Castle ‘cause it’s the best/But I’m fly at Fat Burger when I’m way out west.”
“The New Style,” Licensed to Ill

“Sweet and sour like a tangerine/fresh like a box of Krispy Kremes.”
“Three MC’s and One DJ,” Hello Nasty

“Sometimes I like to brag/Sometimes I’m soft spoken/When I’m in Holland I eat the pannenkoeken.”
“Super Disco Breakin,’” Hello Nasty

“Well, if it’s gonna be that kind of party, I’m gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.”
“B-Boys Makin’ with the Freak-Freak,” Check Your Head (sampled from comedian Mantan Moreland)

For further proof food is dear to their Beastie hearts, Mike D got lucky when he married filmmaker Tamra Davis, who now hosts her own cooking show.

David Lynch plans to release a full electronic music album, and he’ll tell the world about it at the International Music Summit keynote speech in Ibiza on May 26 (via Skype from his studio in Los Angeles). Lynch and longtime engineer “Big” Dean Hurley will discuss how the album came about.

The filmmaker previously released “Good Day Today” and “I Know” via Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank’s label, Sunday Best. He’s influenced innumerable musicians as well, many of whom told us about their favorite Lynch moments.

Join our friends WITNESS next Monday May 16 at the Empire Hotel for drinks, jazz and Project: FOCUS. A twenty dollar donation gets you unlimited drinks for an hour, plus a raffle ticket. All donations will be matched until June 3.

Co-founded by Peter Gabriel, WITNESS is an international human rights organization that trains human rights groups to use video in their advocacy campaigns.

The organization also empowers individuals to use video to expose human rights abuses, effectively creating change. Recent videos show contemporary slavery in Brazil, forced evictions in Cambodia and elder abuse in the U.S.

Check out these videos and find information on how to act at the new Project: FOCUS website.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Alinea must be the most exalted restaurant in history. Currently wielding three Michelin stars, chef Grant Achatz’s labor of love is the Lady Gaga of the restaurant world; admired by critics, insiders and the hoi polloi.

Unfortunately, most of the flattery has fallen flat. After all, who besides Grant would be talented and insane enough to crank out creations that are whimsical and perilously close to pedantic? (Think whiffs and essences in place of bites; lemongrass water proffered in test tubes; bills totaling $1,000.00 for dinner for two).

For a few loaded Chicago residents, though, there’s a new imitation in town. Next is executed by the master himself, and the staff there reveal what it’s like behind the scenes at both restaurants.

“What does it mean to work at Alinea? It means you’re crazy. It trumps everything anyone else is attempting. They are in the business of blowing minds, every day.”

One can’t help but suspect that the kind of blind enthusiasm exhibited by the cooks and staff at Next for a mere video must translate into a truly awe-inspiring culinary theatrical event (if one happened upon an odd handful of Benjamins, and decided to spend it on dinner).

CSS, Lindstrøm, Liam Finn, Isobel Campbell, Buck 65, Rainbow Arabia, Young Liars and more are set to perform at Filter magazine’s second annual Culture Collide Festival October 6-9 in Los Angeles.

The international fest will host bands and musicians from the likes of Iran to Switzerland. The Yellow Dogs, Snowblink, Indigo Tree, BrainStorm, Please the Trees, Disco Doom and more will also take the stage.

Check out Planet Notion’s Rainbow Arabia interview on the international music scene, and why “world music” actually rules.