Anatolian Rock: The Most Important Meal of the Day

Suggested listening: On - Altin Gün

Our neighbors invited us to see a show with them last week, you guys! Truth be told, I have not made that many friends since I moved to LA. I think not having a regular job, going to school or having kids makes that a little more difficult, especially in a city where everyone seems ultrahip and important. 💅🏻 But our new neighborhood seems a little warmer and some of the people in our building have been really friendly already.

Our next-door neighbors seem to be around our age. One of them is a dance teacher and her boyfriend is an animator who makes music on his synthesizer. They invited us to go see an Iranian artist named Shāheri at one of our favorite venues in Highland Park. We hadn’t heard of the artist, but when we checked him out, it was right up our alley.

It turned out to be a little early in my recovery to be standing for that long, so as embarrassed as I was, I needed to leave not long into the main act’s set. I get a lot of pain around my incision, and even though every time I check it looks fine, not even inflamed, it still feels like my lower belly is going to just pop open and my guts are going to spill all over the ground, which would be even more embarrassing than just leaving the show early.

(I’m going to skip over the part of the day where I was weeping in a thrift store dressing room trying pants on. I know leaping from hospital trauma to Turkish psych rock might seem like an unnatural flow, but I’m trying to remind myself that my whole identity isn’t just being a “patient” right now. I’m still fun and cool even if I cry all the time and can’t really wear anything but sack dresses or pants with elastic waistbands.)

But anyway, we saw the opener’s set, an LA-based Turkish psych rock band called ÖLÜM, and they were so good! They looked straight out of the 70s. If you told me Derek Smalls, the bass player from Spinal Tap, was their keys player, I would’ve believed you in a second. I mean, he was distractingly identical.

While they were on stage they asked the crowd if anyone was a fan of Barış Manço. There were a few lonely “woos” from the nearly packed room, including myself, before they went on to play a cover of one of his songs. I gotta say, I felt very cool and extremely surprised that I knew this reference.

I’ve got a few rules for when I go to the record store. For one, I often don’t buy, like, new pop records. Not because I don’t like pop music, but because for me, a lot of that is "phone music". I can listen to it on Spotify whenever I want. It’s fast food. Convenient, gets the job done, and it’s always an option. Sometimes exactly what you want! But you can’t eat it all the time.

Records feel more like sitting down for a whole meal. There’s some ritual involved, it’s a whole little process. You pick what you’re in the mood for, put it on, and then you’re kind of strapped in for whatever the artist decided to serve you. You hear the songs you would’ve skipped on Spotify. You flip the record over. It changes the whole atmosphere of the room. It’s like having a pantry full of different flavors to choose from depending on what kind of night you want to have.

And like food, I think your musical diet gets pretty boring if you keep ordering the same few things you already know you like. So another rule is that I have to stretch myself past my comfort zone. That usually means wandering into the world, jazz or experimental section and picking something that sounds weird or just has a cover that looks cool. Don’t underestimate the staff picks bin either. They act better than you because they often know better than you.

Last rule: you can’t pull out your phone and listen to the record on Spotify before you buy it. When you walk into a record store, you’re agreeing to go back in time a little. You have to roll the dice. In a world where we can research almost everything before we experience it, I think it’s nice to occasionally be surprised. I’ve definitely been burned by this method a few times, but you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. (I'm sorry for all these food references guys, I cannot stop.)

Following these rules is precisely how I came across Barış Manço’s 2023. The cover was just very cool. I liked the font. I liked his get-up. You already know I’m a sucker for a long-haired brunette. His mustache was impressive. I had to bring him home with me.

I got it home and discovered that Manço was one of the defining figures of Anatolian rock, basically Turkish folk music made with all the fuzzed-out guitars, synthesizers, and psychedelic weirdness of the late 60s and 70s. The record came out in 1975 and was called 2023 because that was the year the Republic of Turkey would celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Come to think of it, ok, I bought this record as a reissue in 2023, so they re-pressed it for the namesake year…

Ok. Sorry. Just putting that together.

Gee whiz.

Anyway, this is exactly why I like rolling the dice at the record store. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about Turkish music, bought a record because a long-haired man with an impressive mustache looked cool on the cover, and now a few years later I’m standing in a masonic lodge turned music venue in Highland Park hearing a song I would otherwise be unfamiliar with if I had never bought this record.

If you want to continue down this rabbit hole with me, next up would be Altın Gün’s On. Tony had this record in his collection before I moved in with him and has gotten to see them live. They’re an Amsterdam-based band making modern Anatolian rock and Turkish psych, and it is just clear as day that Barış Manço is one of the big inspirations in what they do. This record is a little more accessible than 2023, I think in part just because the mix is more modern.

One of our favorite artists and producers, Leon Michels, who records as El Michels Affair, also went down a similar rabbit hole on his record Yeti Season, mixing his usual cinematic soul sound with a bunch of Turkish psych and Indian influence. He’s an American dude hearing all these different musical flavors and pulling them into this weird little world of his that I love so much.

I guess this is what I mean about keeping a varied musical diet. You hear one flavor you like, follow it somewhere else, and suddenly you’ve got a whole new section of the pantry.

Speaking of which, I have somehow made it this far into a post about Turkey without talking about food.

If you are looking to bring a bit of Turkish joy into your own life, may I share with you one of my favorite breakfast recipes: çılbır, or Turkish eggs.

Tony and I make this all the time. It’s high in protein, it’s super delicious, and it doesn’t mess my stomach up, which is rare.

(I am not a food photographer, cut me some slack.)

Turkish Eggs, as told by a white girl from Florida

Serves 1

Plain Greek yogurt
Fresh garlic
2 eggs
1–2 tablespoons butter
Aleppo pepper (red pepper flakes work fine here too)
Paprika
Cumin, optional
Salt
Black pepper
Dill
Parsley, optional
Sourdough toast, ideally

1. Know ahead of time that you want to make this. The eggs are going to sit on top of a bed of yogurt, so portion out how much you’ll be using. I eyeball it, but maybe ½ cup per serving. Let it come up to room temp as much as possible out on the counter while you have your coffee, walk your dog, call your mom.

2. Grate anywhere from ¼ to a full clove of garlic into the yogurt. Choose your own adventure here, but just remember you’re not cooking this garlic, so you might be knocking people out with your breath if you go too hard. Mincing the garlic is fine too if you don’t have a fine grater or Microplane. You really should get a Microplane, though. Perhaps my favorite kitchen tool.

3. Grind fresh black pepper into the yogurt. Give it a good stir and set aside.

4. Poach your eggs. I’m going to do my best to explain this, but you might want to watch a video or something also in case you’re new to this. After a few tries, you’ll be nailing it.
   Bring a pot of water to a boil. Use something big enough to make pasta in. Doesn’t need to be a full stockpot, but it should be deep. Add a splash of white vinegar if you want. It helps keep the whites together.
   Crack an egg into a fine sieve. We’re letting that extra liquidy part of the white drain off here so it doesn’t muddy the water. Set the egg aside and repeat with the second egg.
   Once your water is boiling, give it a good stir. You want a little vortex going in the center.
   Set a timer for around 3 minutes and then gently drop the egg into the center of that vortex. The current should sort of swirl the egg toward itself so it stays together.
   Repeat with the second egg.
   While the eggs are cooking, make your butter.

5. Melt a good hunk of butter in a little skillet and add a few good pinches of Aleppo pepper, paprika, and cumin if you’re using it. You want the spices to almost toast in the butter. Don’t burn the butter or the spices. This should only take like, 1–2 minutes, and then you can shut the burner off.

6. Start checking your eggs around 3 minutes. I like the whites set and the yolks very runny. Pull them out with a slotted spoon and set them on a paper towel for a second to dry a touch.

7. To plate, create a little bed of the Greek yogurt, which is hopefully not super cold anymore. I like to use the back of a spoon to swoop little valleys into it for the butter to collect in.

8. Set the eggs on top of the yogurt and then drizzle your reddish-gold-looking butter over the top of the eggs and yogurt. Top with so much dill and parsley, if you have it. Herbs make this dish, like, restaurant quality, and you really can’t go too heavy. Also, they just make it look beautiful. It’s like adding plants to a room, they just bring the whole thing to life.

9. I like to eat it with a big piece of semi-soft sourdough toast. Half loaves of rosemary sourdough are $2.99 at Whole Foods, just saying. And they keep forever if you throw them in the freezer and just toast as needed.

Is this a lot of pans to use for breakfast? Kind of. Is poaching eggs sort of a bitch the first handful of times you try it? Yeah, alright, that’s why I make that Tony’s job.

But eating is something you have to do for survival, so I think it’s nice to make it fancy when you can. It’s like a little signal to your body that you deserve something nice. Also maybe I have too much time on my hands when I’m home from tour.

If you make this, please let me know. Seriously, DM me a pic of how it turned out, I would really love to see it!

K cool! Love you guys! 💓