SZA

May is shaping up to be a good month, both for life and for music. All the fun stuff actually started this week I guess, but will all become official in May. So I'm counting it for May.

I'm headed home for a couple of weeks which I'm really looking forward to. I'll actually only be home in California for a week, from May 21 - 28. Before that I'm spending a week in Montana for my sister's graduation, which should be great. It's supposed to be beautiful up there. I've had a quick look at what there is to do, and so far I've got a ghost town and a Lord of the Rings themed hotel. I hear there's also good pizza and a lot of meth labs in Missoula.

The schedule for my week home is pretty packed already, but then it usually is. When I only get a week or two home a year, I try not to spend too much time just sitting around. The graduation timing worked out perfectly because it's right before my 30th birthday, so I'm working on planning something that involves way too much champagne. I think that's pretty much the theme of the night, in fact. And I share my birthday with a couple of my very close friends from high school, so it'll be great to all celebrate together. The planning is going pretty slow, but something will be happening on May 24, even if it's just going to a bar somewhere. So if you're reading this and will be (or want to be) in LA that weekend, come play! The party is taking up pretty much the whole weekend that I'm home, since I also have a couple of friends who are flying in for the weekend, so I'll be spending time with them in OC and LA. My sister and I are also seeing SOHN my last night in town, which should be a great show. And then there are plays, family time, Mexican food and so much more to fit in. But I do like company (hint hint).

Then there's the big news of this raise/promotion this week. It's not exactly a promotion, actually. It's more that I'm finally going to start a permanent job with the company, the job that they've wanted me to do since I started with them almost a year ago, instead of just focusing on this project I've been working on. But it did come with negotiation of a new package, which is exciting. It should all be finalized in the next couple of weeks, which means I can finally move back to China in August and maybe start a slightly less nomadic life, something I'm very much looking forward to. I'm getting that itch to settle down, and while I don't really want China to be my long term home, Shanghai is a great city and has the highest concentration of attractive Jewish women I've seen in Asia. And it will make starting a business in China, something that a friend and I have taken concrete steps towards recently, much easier.

As usual, there's also the random travels and whatnot planned, which will be great, but that's the big news for May. Good month. And great month for music. In fact, 2014 is shaping up to be a great year for music. I just found out that Fink is also releasing a new album in July, and the first single, Hard Believer, is quite good. More bluesy than some of his older stuff, but definitely a single to get me excited for the new album. Although, if I'm being honest, I'd be excited anyway. I pre-ordered the album before hearing the single because Fink. I don't need to know anything else.





This release is in addition to the new Tune-Yards, Little Dragon, Ray LaMontagne, Wye Oak, Sylvan Esso and Lykke Li albums that are coming out in (and around) May. Not to mention exciting releases for the rest of the year. We've already had new music from Warpaint, James Vincent McMorrow, Wild Beasts, Tycho, St. Vincent, SOHN and Fanfarlo, and are still waiting on Banks, First Aid Kit and (maybe the most exciting) Meshell Ndegeocello. Meshell is one of my favorite artists, and she randomly put out a new single a few weeks ago called Conviction. While not her best song, it's a perfect extension of the sound she's cultivated in her last couple of albums, a sound I love, so I can't wait for her to release Comet Come to Me in June.





Luckily I found SZA a few weeks ago when she released her debut album, Z. Her sound reminds me of Meshell on Comfort Woman, which is one of my favorite albums by her. SZA has that same kind of spacey sound, and she has a really interesting voice. Actually at one point I thought she might be Szjerdene, one of the featured vocalists on Bonobo's last album, since their voices are quite similar and the whole name thing. But she's not. Anyway, there's also a lot of this dark, electronic R&B sound, similar to Drake or The Weeknd. The album starts out a bit slow, but it's intriguing, and really caught my attention once I got to Julia, where the retro 80s sound really kicks in.





The track changes up at around 3:30, which is actually where the album track ends, but this Soundcloud version also lets you hear a bit of what some of her slower tracks sound like. I found myself listening to her album like 4 times trying to decide if I liked it, before realizing I'd listened to it like 4 times so I obviously liked it. Same thing happened at the same time with Saintseneca, and I've now gone on to buy the new albums from both of them, and Saintseneca's first album as well.

Another favorite track is Green Mile, which is not as upbeat as Julia, but more reflective of the overall album sound. But overall, it's a really good album, though it does take some time to realize it.




So in summary, good month and good year. May might actually be the best month this year, what with all the celebrations and concentration of great new music. But in general, 2014 is shaping up to be a year for the books.

Morning Theft

For some reason I always find myself writing my blogs on Thursdays. Maybe it just takes me a few days after the weekend to formulate my thoughts. Which hasn't really worked this week, because I have come up with nothing to write about and no new music to share.

Instead you get the following facts:

• I had a lovely 4-day weekend in Copenhagen with good people and lots of good conversation
• Passover is over! Hooray!
• The weather in Germany is not as bipolar as it has been recently. It is nice and warm now. But maybe not tomorrow.

And you also get one of my favorite songs of all time, which is not very new.

 

SOHN

We're right in the middle of Passover, which I both love and hate. I always like these holidays that involve lots of food and a big, family meal. Pesach is that type of Holiday. It's like Jewish Thanksgiving, and I guess in a sense we're also supposed to be thankful we're not slaves anymore. Just like the big family meal at Thanksgiving, we have a couple of Seders during Passover. These are huge family meals, where you use a book called a Haggadah to follow a whole procession of prayers and traditions for the holiday. The main difference with Thanksgiving is that for like 8 days I can't eat anything. That's the part I hate. Not "can't eat anything" as in Ramdan-style-literally-can't-eat, there's just a lot of restrictions. And since I actually keep the rules when it comes to what you can and can't eat on Passover, I figure that during Passover I should also keep the rules about what I can and can't eat normally.

I'm pretty limited this week, and Germany is not a good place for Passover. German food isn't very inspiring to begin with. You generally have some sort of meat (typically pork) cooked and topped with a sauce, then either spätzle or some sort of potato on the side. Which means I've been eating a lot of potatoes this week. And I have to avoid all the bread that Germans love so much. I'm also avoiding pork for the week, which cuts out about 2/3 of the dishes in any restaurant, leaving me with very limited options. Asia was actually always easier. People always assume because of all the rice that it would be impossible. But really the rice is just a side, and it's much easier to find dishes that are not made from non-kosher animals. Korea was probably the best. Lots of Korean BBQ, which is really just beef and vegetables wrapped in lettuce, and soju, which is made from sweet potato, not grain. It was perfect. I should spend every Passover in Korea.

Now before you say it, I know I could be cooking. Generally speaking, I don't do that. I'm not a big fan of cooking. But Passover is really the one week out of the year that I will normally cook. Just not this year because I actually only have two nights of Passover at home, then I'm heading out of town for the long Easter weekend. So cooking isn't really a great option this year. And I'm in such a small place that I can't even get matzah to make matzah pizza! What's passover without a matzah pizza!?

Luckily I did get matzah balls this year. Until this week I knew zero Jews in Germany. There's not so many, but bigger cities do have populations. Berlin's got about 12,000 and even has kosher restaurants. I know Munich has a Jewish shop where you can get Jewy things, but I'm not sure how many Jews live there. But my friend Yasmin introduced me to an Israeli friend of hers who's married to a German and living in Munich. They invited me over for their Seder on the first night, and it was really nice. And, of equal importance, included matzah ball soup.

Going into it I actually didn't really know what to expect. I had been messaging back and forth with my host, and she was telling me that her husband isn't Jewish and that they've never had a seder in Germany before. All this got me thinking that it might just be a little dinner party with them, not a proper Seder. My family isn't all that traditional when it comes to Seders, but we do go through the motions and read through the main parts of the Haggadah, so I was hoping to at least do that bit. In the end, that's exactly what it was like. Lemor's Seder was really similar to what we would have done in my own house, and her husband and kids were great, so I really enjoyed myself. Obviously I wish I could have been at home for my parents' Seder, but this was a great alternative. And her older son, who's 5, goes to a Jewish school and knows all the songs for Passover. He probably sang with more gusto than anyone at my family Seders does, with the exception of my grandpa who always loved Dayenu and made us all sing the entire thing every year.

Luckily for me there have been a lot of good music releases in the last couple of weeks, which help distract from my constant hunger and desire to gorge myself on pizza. SOHN finally put out his debut album, Tremors, last week. I wrote about him last December in my blog about things I was looking forward to this year. Back then, he and Banks were my most anticipated artists of the year, so I was pretty excited about this release, and it did not let me down. From the first note it's a great album. I love the way he opens up with Tempest. Sadly Germany is crazy about distribution rights and sometimes it's very difficult/impossible for me to find songs on SoundCloud or YouTube to share. Luckily I really like this album and a lot of the tracks on it, so I have a lot of options. Another one of which, Fool, I could find.




Even songs I'd heard as singles before just sounded better in the context of the album. My favorite song, Bloodlines, is still just as awesome. I would share it here, but I shared it in the earlier blog about him, so just click that link above and you can go listen to it. But it's not the only one. In fact, even more worth mentioning in this context is The Wheel since I liked it before, but like it even more now.




SOHN is actually based in Vienna, so hopefully I'll get to see him here in Europe at some point. He actually played in Berlin last Sunday night, and I was in Berlin last Sunday, but it would have been miserable for me to stay up there for the show then have to drive the 4 hours back afterwards, only to arrive at like 3am and be at work at 8. Luckily I have tickets to see him in LA in May with my sister (May 27, to be exact, if anyone wants to join us. My last night in town, and Ethiopian food will be consumed beforehand!). But considering how close he is, hopefully I'll get to see him again soon.

In the meantime, I am still very much anticipating Banks's debut album. And I have now replaced my anticipation for SOHN with anticipation for Sylvan Esso. At least they have a release date for their album. Banks is still keeping us all in the dark. She really needs to work on that. And in the meantime, SOHN has a ton of really great remixes and other production work he's doing, so there's always that, too. Go to SoundCloud for lots more.

Milagres

I spent last week in the UK. What started out as a weekend trip to London to celebrate a friend's birthday was extended to include the week spent in the North for work. Our office there is near Sheffield, in a little town called Wath-upon-Dearne. Ridiculous name. I love the UK, but they really need to work on some of their town names. Anyway, I'd been told that the area is basically one big shithole, but I was looking forward to seeing a proper British shithole and going further north than I thought I'd ever been. But then I looked at a map and realized I'd already been further north than the Sheffield area, so really all I had to look forward to was a shithole.

As it turns out, it's not a complete shithole. It's not an exciting place by any means, but at least there's a cute little town center with really old buildings. So that was nice. And I have to say, I was pretty disappointed by the lack of Chavs. I was specifically told it's full of Chavs, and I wanted to see one outside of my television set.

The whole week was really spent looking forward to the weekend, though. I can't say London is one of my favorite cities, but I do love it. It's a great city, but there's nothing about the city itself that's makes me fall in love with it, not like Tokyo (best city in the world) or Paris (I fall in love every time I go) or Cape Town (most beautiful city in the world) or LA (home). For me, London is about the people I see when I'm there, and it's always amazing. And every time I'm there I leave with a stronger desire to live there. I guess the same thing happens with New York or Tokyo, cities I'd also love to live in where I have a lot of friends, but I guess I just go to London more often than the other two. There's plenty of places I'd love to live, but London is probably the only place outside of the US that I could see myself settling down.

But as wonderful as my time in London always is, it always sucks when I leave. Especially when I'm headed back to a tiny little village in Germany where there's nothing to do and I have no friends. It gets pretty boring and lonely out here. Which is why I put so much effort into traveling and leaving every weekend, and trying to see people whenever possible. Even just getting out and doing something on my own is better than staying here. And I've been very good about it, this month in particular. There's a couple long weekends coming up, which will make for great travel opportunities and get me two new countries, but it's also a good month for music for me. This week in particular.

I went down to Munich last night to see Wild Beasts. Generally I go to these concerts on my own, which I'm pretty used to now, but the period when I'm waiting for the show to start and just playing on my phone is always pretty shitty. It's times like that when I just want to quit my job and leave the village and move to London or Beijing or wherever and just be with my friends. But once the show actually begins, I am genuinely happy again. Especially when it's a band as amazing as Wild Beasts. And it definitely helped that it was a tiny venue (which was quite surprising to me, I expected them to be in a much larger venue), I was right in front of the stage, and they played a lot of my favorites. Including Devil's Crayon, which may be one of their oldest songs, but it's my new obsession. I only got into them with their second album, Two Dancers, so it took me a while to go back and listen to Limbo, Panto, the first album. But I'm glad I did, mostly because of Devil's Crayon.





I've got two Lucius shows to go to tonight and tomorrow night, which will also be fantastic. They're a great live band. And it's like the perfect combination for me, since I get to see an old friend at the same time. And even if I didn't like the music so much, Lucius concerts would make me happier than normal because it's great to see a friend being successful while doing what they love. If I'm lucky and there are some tickets available at the door, I'll even get to see Band of Skulls on Sunday, which would be 4 shows in 5 days. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

As much as I loved the Wild Beasts show, I was very happy that they played a lot of older songs. They just released their fourth album, Present Tense, and I like it a lot and listen to it a lot, but it doesn't grab me like the previous two albums did. The last two were obvious entries into my top ten for the year - this one is not. It could make it, we'll see in 8 months, but it's not an obvious entry.

Luckily I also found Milagres this year. They put out their third album, Violent Light, earlier this year, but it's the first I've heard of them. I have already gone back and listened to their first two albums as well, and really liked the first, not so much the second, which kind of follows the trend for a lot of bands.

I would say the closest thing I can think of when I listen to them is Wild Beasts. But there's a lot more as well. Especially on the first half of the album, there are songs where I hear influences of bands like The Killers, Muse or Broken Bells. But Wild Beasts is still the strongest influence. As is evident on Column of Streetlight, one of my favorite tracks.





My favorite track on the album is Sunburn, though. It wasn't at first. IDNYL was my favorite at first. When I first heard Sunburn I liked it, but it sounded like there was something missing. But then I listened to it at much louder volumes while driving, and I realized nothing was missing. The song is amazing. The only problem is it's too short. And I feel like everything I love about Wild Beasts that I didn't get in the new Wild Beasts album is in this album, and in this song in particular. I would love to hear Wild Beasts cover this song.




So there you have it. I finally wrote about Milagres. I actually considered not writing about Milagres at all since I've mentioned them in my past 3 blogs without actually writing about them. I was worried once I actually did write about it, it would be a let down. But they're great, and deserve to be written about, and if you find them to be a let down, then you are wrong.

A confession of sorts

I had it in mind to talk about my wonderful friend Beth in this blog post because I got to see her last weekend. But in conversation over (more than) a few drinks, Beth brought up a very good point, which I will get to shortly.

BETH BRASH!!

First, a few words on Beth: She's from New Zealand, she's hilarious, she's amazing, she's the reason this blog exists, and it's her birthday tomorrow. She's also currently traveling in Europe, which is how I got to see her last weekend and this weekend. And I got to meet her fiance, who may not be so funny in real life, but he makes up for it by being hilarious online and having a formidable beard.

Beth is a food blogger of some repute in New Zealand, and we were having a chat about how everybody expects her to be a food snob. Which led us to discussing music snobbery. Now, I will be the first to admit that I'm a music snob. It's one of the first things I tell people the first time I have a discussion with them about music. I will absolutely judge you based on your musical taste. That's not to say I won't like you if I think you have horrible taste in music (That sentence should have ended with me saying something like "but I will like you less," but when I thought about it, that's not actually true. Some of my closest friends have horrible taste in music, and I like them despite that. So I guess I should say that I will judge you based on your musical taste, but in reality it will have no bearing on how I feel about you. But it will make me like you more sooner if we've just met.).

Generally speaking, snobbery would involve turning your nose up at anything you deem below you. So you would think that I hate pop music. And it's true, I do. But (and here comes the confession...) I recognize that there is a time and a place where pop music is enjoyable, and there are even a few pop songs that I really, really like. See, it's only a confession of sorts, because I didn't even confess to liking pop music. Only to tolerating it and being ok with it in certain situations.

?uestlove sipping tea while DJing

This conversation with Beth was in part spurred on by me talking about seeing ?uestlove do a DJ set at a club in Shanghai a few months ago. I went with a friend, and when we first got there ?uestlove was playing old school hip-hop and soul music, which is what you would expect of him. But as the night progressed, he transitioned into pop music. To me, it was weird to see such an influential figure in hip-hop playing anything but what he's famous for. However this is an illustration of the first scenario in which I find pop music acceptable: clubs. And so does ?uestlove, which made me feel much better about feeling that way. Also worth mentioning is that ?uestlove was enjoying tea during his set, which he would very daintily pour from a teapot in between mixing songs. See photographic evidence herein.

The song during his set that really drove this home is We Found Love by Rihanna. I don't dislike Rihanna, I think that as far as pop music goes, she's actually not bad. And I do like this song, though I think it was ?uestlove playing it that made me finally ready to admit it.





And actually, that song Stay with Mikky Ekko is great. That song I like a lot and have even sought out on Spotify.

Another situation when pop music is acceptable is karaoke. Pop music is always great for karaoke. Pop music and classic rock anthems. And the more you drink, the better karaoke gets, and the more fun pop music becomes. At the moment, this is my favorite karaoke song:





God I hate Ke$ha, but that song is fun. Very, very fun. Generally you'll find me on top of chairs or tables or anything available jumping around and stomping my feet during this song. I even find myself lingering in stores if this song is playing so that I can enjoy it without anybody knowing, because if it ever came on while I was in public, I would probably change the station. And I don't think I would ever voluntarily seek it out and listen to it.

If I had to choose, though, I'd say my favorite pop singer is Katy Perry. I've got a soft spot for Katy Perry. I don't think she makes good music, but I like her music. You would never find me listening to it of my own accord, but if it came on, maybe I wouldn't change the channel, even if other people were around. And if I was drunk at karaoke, I would most definitely be singing along at the top of my lungs.





Despite it's horrible, horrible lyrics, Firework is probably my favorite song by her. Or maybe even more so because of it's horrible lyrics. Hard to say.

And one last confession, which is that there is one Taylor Swift song I like. I hate Taylor Swift, she may be one of my least favorite artists out there. But I really like this song.




That was very difficult for me to admit. I hope you all appreciate that. And I hope you appreciate the Portuguese subtitles, because for some reason I couldn't find a normal version of this video.

It looks like once again I've written a blog without talking about Milagres. So again I will say, go listen to them. And don't expect any of the songs on today's blog to end up on my Spotify 2014 Blog playlist. They won't.