In the last week or so I've had quite a few people asking me for music recommendations, which got me thinking that it would be much easier to just give them a link to my blog than try to think of music to tell them about. Because obviously I go braindead anytime I have to actually share any information that's lodged somewhere in my brain. That got me thinking that if I wanted to do that, I would actually have to write in my blog. So here I am.
In fact, I'm going to try something new this time and actually talk about myself before the music. Weird... I realized recently that nobody seems to know what I do or even what country I live in. To be honest, it's kind of fun. In fact some friends and I recently decided that if anyone asks me, I should brush off the question with answers which are as vague as possible. This would lead to the logical conclusion that I'm either smuggling drugs or weapons. I prefer the weapons (and I think it makes more sense given all that time in Africa), but feel free to tell people whatever you like. Or make up something new, that's even more fun.
But, for those few of you who are actually reading, I will now reveal the truth (It's not very exciting, so feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you like and leave the actual details of my life up to your imagination. I'd recommend it.). I'm writing this from my new company's headquarters in Germany, where I spend about half of my time. While I'm technically based in Singapore, I probably spend less time there than away from there, something I'm quite used to, visiting our other offices around Asia. While in Germany, I have the pleasure of staying in Schrobenhausen, a small Bavarian town with a population of 16,000, which is famous for it's annual asparagus production. It is supremely boring, and so every weekend I leave, which has led to some great travel opportunities in Europe. Also it's amazing how many places you can drive to in just a few hours from here. Which leads into my next topic...
I spent last weekend in Switzerland. Holy shitballs that place is beautiful. If you haven't been, go. It's probably become one of my favorite European countries (I'd just like to point out that my fingers got confused typing "favorite"/"favourite". I'm not sure who I am anymore...). Friday was a holiday so I drove down to Liechtenstein for lunch. I had a couple hours to burn, so I pretty much saw the entire country. It's really tiny and there's not much to see, but it sure is pretty. Then I drove up to Zurich. This is where the fun really began. Because - and I may be repeating myself here, but - holy shitballs Switzerland is beautiful. On Saturday I drove down to Lucerne then into the Alps and made a circuit around Lake Brienz, and pretty much spent the entire time again thinking to myself, holy shitballs Switzerland is beautiful. It's one of these places that probably shouldn't exist. I kind of felt like it couldn't be real. All these cute little European farmhouses spread across green fields with the Alps towering over them, some of them already topped with snow. Actually the only problem with Switzerland is that there are too many tunnels which interrupt the view while you drive. And it's stupidly expensive, but such is life. I need to go back, this time to Geneva to look at all the pretty watches (did I mention that there are watch shops literally everywhere? I kind of love it.)
Ok, enough talk of me. Music. In the spirit of the Alps, I'll share Alpine with you. I basically spent the weekend driving and listening to 3 albums on repeat, one of which is Alpine's debut, A is for Alpine. Actually, it wasn't my favourite of the 3 albums, but it felt fitting given this blog post (Alpine/Alps/Switzerland, get it?). And it's a great album. Also, it was much better suited to driving in the Alps than I would have expected from an Australian band. After all, Australia is quite far from Switzerland.
I actually heard them a few months ago, but their album was $11.99 on iTunes and I was being a cheap bastard and waiting for it to drop to $9.99, which it finally did. Also when I first listened on Spotify there was only one real stand out track to me, which was Gasoline.
Now, though, I feel like I should have bought it earlier. In terms of who they remind me of, closest would probably be School of Seven Bells, not only because they actually sound similar to me, but the 2 female vocalists helps (although SoSB is down to just one now). Having said that, Lucius also has 2 female vocalists and they do not remind me of Alpine at all (That was a completely uneccesary name drop, and a hint as to what an upcoming post will be. I already wrote about Lucius here, but now they released an awesome album and I will be writing about them again. Go listen to them now though, don't wait for me).
Back on track: one more song for you. Another gem I came to love upon closer listening, Hands.
I still haven't decided if this whole "write about me" thing will be regular, but I thought I'd try it for now. But the goal is to start blogging regularly again. And now I'm accountable to all 3 of you.
In fact, I'm going to try something new this time and actually talk about myself before the music. Weird... I realized recently that nobody seems to know what I do or even what country I live in. To be honest, it's kind of fun. In fact some friends and I recently decided that if anyone asks me, I should brush off the question with answers which are as vague as possible. This would lead to the logical conclusion that I'm either smuggling drugs or weapons. I prefer the weapons (and I think it makes more sense given all that time in Africa), but feel free to tell people whatever you like. Or make up something new, that's even more fun.
But, for those few of you who are actually reading, I will now reveal the truth (It's not very exciting, so feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you like and leave the actual details of my life up to your imagination. I'd recommend it.). I'm writing this from my new company's headquarters in Germany, where I spend about half of my time. While I'm technically based in Singapore, I probably spend less time there than away from there, something I'm quite used to, visiting our other offices around Asia. While in Germany, I have the pleasure of staying in Schrobenhausen, a small Bavarian town with a population of 16,000, which is famous for it's annual asparagus production. It is supremely boring, and so every weekend I leave, which has led to some great travel opportunities in Europe. Also it's amazing how many places you can drive to in just a few hours from here. Which leads into my next topic...
I spent last weekend in Switzerland. Holy shitballs that place is beautiful. If you haven't been, go. It's probably become one of my favorite European countries (I'd just like to point out that my fingers got confused typing "favorite"/"favourite". I'm not sure who I am anymore...). Friday was a holiday so I drove down to Liechtenstein for lunch. I had a couple hours to burn, so I pretty much saw the entire country. It's really tiny and there's not much to see, but it sure is pretty. Then I drove up to Zurich. This is where the fun really began. Because - and I may be repeating myself here, but - holy shitballs Switzerland is beautiful. On Saturday I drove down to Lucerne then into the Alps and made a circuit around Lake Brienz, and pretty much spent the entire time again thinking to myself, holy shitballs Switzerland is beautiful. It's one of these places that probably shouldn't exist. I kind of felt like it couldn't be real. All these cute little European farmhouses spread across green fields with the Alps towering over them, some of them already topped with snow. Actually the only problem with Switzerland is that there are too many tunnels which interrupt the view while you drive. And it's stupidly expensive, but such is life. I need to go back, this time to Geneva to look at all the pretty watches (did I mention that there are watch shops literally everywhere? I kind of love it.)
Ok, enough talk of me. Music. In the spirit of the Alps, I'll share Alpine with you. I basically spent the weekend driving and listening to 3 albums on repeat, one of which is Alpine's debut, A is for Alpine. Actually, it wasn't my favourite of the 3 albums, but it felt fitting given this blog post (Alpine/Alps/Switzerland, get it?). And it's a great album. Also, it was much better suited to driving in the Alps than I would have expected from an Australian band. After all, Australia is quite far from Switzerland.
I actually heard them a few months ago, but their album was $11.99 on iTunes and I was being a cheap bastard and waiting for it to drop to $9.99, which it finally did. Also when I first listened on Spotify there was only one real stand out track to me, which was Gasoline.
Now, though, I feel like I should have bought it earlier. In terms of who they remind me of, closest would probably be School of Seven Bells, not only because they actually sound similar to me, but the 2 female vocalists helps (although SoSB is down to just one now). Having said that, Lucius also has 2 female vocalists and they do not remind me of Alpine at all (That was a completely uneccesary name drop, and a hint as to what an upcoming post will be. I already wrote about Lucius here, but now they released an awesome album and I will be writing about them again. Go listen to them now though, don't wait for me).
Back on track: one more song for you. Another gem I came to love upon closer listening, Hands.
I still haven't decided if this whole "write about me" thing will be regular, but I thought I'd try it for now. But the goal is to start blogging regularly again. And now I'm accountable to all 3 of you.
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