Sept 30 - Daughter

I think today has been my favorite day of the trip so far. We started out in Batumi with an attempt at McDonald's breakfast, which does not exist in Georgia. Rei loves to see what different types of things various McDonald's around the world have, plus their breakfast is a bit of a guilty pleasure, so we walked over and were sorely disappointed to find out that they neither have breakfast nor do they have anything specifically Georgian. Lame. But then we had a nice walk on the beach and a coffee at a beachfront casino, so it was a lovely morning. This was followed by a trip back to Old Town to see it during daylight. It really is pretty adorable, we rather enjoyed it. And we had a pretty tasty lunch of local specialties that looked super disgusting but were not.

Then we began our long drive for the day, up north into the Svaneti region. This region is up in the Caucus mountains, in the area called the Great Caucasus cause they're one of the tallest regions. We're in a small town called Mestia tonight and tomorrow, which is the jumping off point for a bunch of hikes and stuff. The day was mostly just driving to get here and the hiking (or a little bit of it, thanks to the forecasted rain) will only begin tomorrow. But today we just drove for like 5 hours, 2 of which just kept going up and up and up into the mountains. It was pretty spectacular. And then we got here and were greeted by this guy Georgi who runs tours out of Tbilisi and happens to be staying in hour guesthouse. He's super nice and friendly and we liked him very much. He also gave us a wonderful dinner recommendation, which turned out to be one of the best meals we've had so far. Georgians have been wonderfully friendly and hospitable, and Georgi was no exception.

Another exciting event today was the release of a new single by Daughter, called Doing The Right Thing. It came along with the announcement of the release of their sophomore album next January. Super exciting times. You can never have enough Daughter. So obviously that will be the song for today. If you're reading this when I actually write it (Wendy, I'm talking to you...), then you probably can't hear the song or see any pictures, because the internet here in Mestia is not great. So check back in on like Friday or Saturday and I'll update.

Sept 29 - Dave Matthews Band

I can't believe it's only Tuesday. I think about 3 times today I made the mistake of calling it Wednesday and Rei had to correct me. It's crazy how much we've done and how far we've come in just 2 days.

Akhaltskike's Rhabati Quarter

 We started out the day back in the Rabati in Akhalstike. We went last night and it was totally awesome, so we wanted to see it during the day, but also we wanted to see the entire thing because only part of it was open last night. They refurbished the Rabati area of old town back in 2012, so it's really well maintained and looks super awesome. It is a maybe a bit overly touristy and overly produced, but it's super cool. It's basically an old fortification with a mosque and stuff inside, and you're able to climb all over the old walls and get great views of the city. Really beautiful place. So we spent a few hours climbing around there before heading to Sapara Monastery.

Sapara and the fortress are hidden somewhere in the mountains there

Sapara Monastery is about 10km away, down a dirt road, all the way up in the mountains. It's a monastery, which is still functioning, and the ruins of a fortress slightly above it, completely hidden away from the world. Again, we got to climb around all over everything, which is a pretty great theme in this country. And inside the actual church portion they have these really old, really cool frescoes on the walls, including a hidden Jesus all the way up at the top of the steeple peeking down at you. This is the second one I've found, and I don't think I've found hidden Jesuses like that anywhere else in the world, but they're my new favorite. I think all churches should have them, then maybe I'd like churches more.

Sapara's hidden Jesus

After that we went back into town for lunch and ended up stopping at our hotel from last night for a quick bathroom break, which turned into a tea break because the owner and his family are the nicest people ever. If you ever find yourself in Akhaltsike, stay at Hotel Almi. It's wonderful, and the family that runs it is the best. Then we hit the road for Batumi on the Black Sea coast.

We made it here in time for sunset and just spent the evening walking around town. There really isn't to much to do here, but we wanted to see the Black Sea. Little did I know the beach was all rocky, which I hate (but Rei loves), so we just spent a few minutes down there to see the sunset before heading into old town for a walk and dinner. Again, super cute old town. Very different from Akhaltsike's, though. I didn't take many pics cause it was already dark, but we'll walk around some more in the morning so you can expect some tomorrow. We also had probably the best Georgian food to date. We've been eating a lot of Georgian food, and so far it isn't great. It's not bad food, there just isn't anything special or too varied about it. But that could also have to do with the fact that we know no Georgian and only know the names of like 2 dishes. But today we tried a bunch of new things, all of which were delicious, including the local type of khatchapuri. This one is the standard bread baked with cheese, but then they throw in a ton of melted butter, a raw egg, and a bit more cheese for good measure. Mix it up and use the bread as a dip, and you have a delicious heart attack. That wasn't even my favorite dish, actually. And to make the delicious Georgian food better, we ate it in an Italian-style plaza, with a random dude playing Kenny G style sax to cheesy backing tracks. It was glorious and exactly what you'd expect a Black Sea resort that caters to mostly Russians to be like.

Sunset on Batumi beach

During our long drives Rei has been DJing. She does not have the best taste in music, in my opinion (and I think she'd agree). She mostly likes Kpop. So yeah. So she's been playing music on my iPod and has a way of finding all the old stuff on there that I haven't listened to in years. I've got a new iPod set up though and I knew she'd be doing this, so I limited what I put on there and left the worst of my music collection off. She's been going through a lot of the classics, which got me thinking I should put some classics on here (also because, as I've said many times before, traveling severely inhibits my intake of new music). She has not yet made it to Dave Matthews Band, and I don't know if she will, but I'll share them because I used to love them (still think they're great, but don't listen as much as I used to) and I don't feel a year in music would be complete without them. So here's #41, my favorite track by them, off of Crash.

Sept 28 - Glen Hansard

I've got a lot of writing to do today. I was exhausted yesterday after our first day in Georgia and skipped my blog, so now I have to write two days worth of adventures. So here goes.

After my second crappy China Southern flight, I made it to Tbilisi and was immediately put in a better mood by the nonexistent lines at immigration, the signs everywhere which say "Tbilisi Loves You" or "Tbilisi, the city that loves you", and of course getting to see my friends. I'm here with my friend Rei to visit our friends Marc and Veronica, all of whom are friends from Beijing days. Marc and Veronica live here with there two kids because Veronica works for USAID and this is her current placement. And Rei and I have made it a habit (which will continue) of visiting them wherever in the world they find themselves. Maybe even twice in some places, since they are now on to the 4 year placements. So yeah, they're living in Tbilisi for 4 years, of which 1 is already finished.

It was pretty chill when we got in, because it was quite late, the kids were already asleep, and they are parents to a 1 and 3 year old, so they keep early hours. Having said that, they stayed up and entertained Rei and I until like 11, so good on them. The next morning, our first real day in Georgia, we were supposed to start with brunch and a nice walk through old town. All was going well with brunch, and we had started our walk through old town by heading towards the old sulfur baths. I was carrying Julian, the 1 year old, which was nice since it was the first time he let me near him, while Milo, the 3 year old, was off climbing around on the baths with Rei (they're easy to climb on. Please see exhibit A below).

Exhibit A: climbing around on the sulfur baths

So Milo was climbing around, Rei was climbing around, I was carrying Milo, we were all chatting - really it was lovely. Then we moved away from the baths and down the road a bit, heading towards a small waterfall. Since there were no baths to climb on, Milo decided to climb on and jump off of rocks. At which point he landed in dog poop. And what better to do with do poop then rub it on Michael Minsky? Which is exactly what he did. Lots of it. All over my jeans and shirt. Honestly, I could not stop laughing. I found it hilarious. Here I was carrying a 1 year old, covered in poop from a 3 year old, with his parents rushing over and using baby wipes to try and clean me off. I felt a bit bad because Marc and Veronica were scolding Milo and teaching him it was wrong, and I could not stop laughing. It was obviously gross, but also the funniest thing ever. I couldn't help myself. So pretty quickly we went home, I got changed, then Rei and I came back into town with just Marc, while Veronica stayed home with the kids.

Once back in town, we took a great walking tour through old town, hitting up some of the famous sites like Freedom Square and the statue of Mother Georgia, giving us great panoramic views of the city. As I have a lot to write today, I won't write too much about Tbilisi itself, cause I'll be back next weekend and can elaborate on it then. But it was very nice. That took us a few hours, then it was home to finish up the sukkah Marc had started building, and then have dinner in the sukkah to celebrate Sukkot. It was a really lovely evening, and a really lovely day (even the poop part, didn't ruin it at all).

Tbilisi

And since it's now Monday and our friends have to work, Rei and I rented a car and got out of town. We're working our way west to the Black Sea, and then we'll head up north into the mountains. Today we drove to Vardzia, a 12th century holy city built into caves carved in the mountainside. There seem to be caves carved into mountainsides all over this country (or at least this part of the country) but Vardzia is the largest and most famous. Apparently they have like 191 dwellings and 30-some churches and 20-some wine cellars just in this one complex, all carved into the mountains, and covering a height of 13 storeys. It's pretty nuts. So after a beautiful drive through this river valley, we got to Vardzia and spent about an hour climbing around in the caves. It was pretty sweet. That was our main stop for the day, really. We did make a couple photo stops on the way to Vardzia, plus a lunch break with these lovely old Georgian women who we could not communicate with but who fed us wonderful food in a shack on the riverside, but really Vardzia was the only actual activity of the day.

And now we're in Akhaltsike, a city near Vardzia where we're spending the night. It's not a very exciting place, but it's got this gorgeous old town up on a hill (which we have a view of from our hotel. Our hotel which is super cute. It's a family run place called Hotel Almi, which is named after the owners two sons, Alexander and Michael. They're all super sweet and friendly). We walked over to the old town to see it at night and it did not disappoint. We'll probably go back in the morning cause there's more to see, and we also want to see it during the day. It's pretty close to our hotel, only about a 10 min walk, the return part of which we picked up a stray dog who was really cute and really friendly and decided to follow us practically all the way home. We named him kikhali (it's a local dumpling which we have yet to eat, but are very excited about) and decided that if he made it back all the way we'd feed him and kidnap him. But he didn't. He did make us happy for the walk, though. So those are days 1 and 2 in a little bit more than a nutshell. Now for music.

Climbing around in Vardzia

I already wrote at on so I'll make this short. Today is Glen Hansard. I really hope you know him already. He was the guy in Once, which if you haven't seen, you really should. Great film, and great music in the film. Also great study in how to make a musical that isn't completely over-the-top and unbelievable in its musical numbers. He is a real musician as well, not just in films. In fact, he's actually a musician who just happened to be in a film, not an acDidn't He Ramble, and today is probably my favorite song off that album, Just to be the One. Very chilled out song, actually quite different in the instrumentation from a lot of his songs which are more straightforward singer-songwriter type songs. But that instrumentation and those horns are what I love about this song.

tor who happens to make music. And he makes very good must. He just put out his new album,

Sept 26 - Georgia

I think I already mentioned yesterday that I was spending my last Friday in Shanghai at happy hour and Shabbos dinner, both of which were great. After dinner, though, I found myself back at JZ Club. It's a jazz club, not a club club, and it turns out it's right around the corner from my new apartment. I used to love this place when I was studying in Shanghai and I haven't been back since 10 years ago. In fact, I had my birthday there 10 years ago, which ended with me being carried out, having cake thrown in my face, then being lain on the street by my friends as they stood over me and took pictures of me passed out and covered in cake in a Chinese gutter. Good memories (well, very few actual memories. Thank God for the pictures). And I think I haven't been back there since, believe it or not. But it was awesome last night, and it's so close to my house which makes it even better, so I think that for my next birthday, the 10 year anniversary of the last JZ Club birthday, I will head back there again. Although hopefully in the last 10 years I've managed to grow up enough to not have to be carried out, but to walk myself out. I do have my doubts about that, though.

So suffice it to say, it was a late night. And now I'm on my way to Georgia, currently killing 4 hours in the airport in Urumqi on my layover. It's been a long travel day, starting at 6am, and made longer by the fact that I'm not flying Star Alliance so I don't get any priority or anything. I had to wait in line a long time at the airport this morning, which was not fun. And now a long wait in Urumqi with no lounge. Which actually is ok cause the lounge doesn't look great, and by not going to the lounge I got to watch Russian men drink baijiu while enjoying their KFC lunch (sadly I also had KFC lunch. Rather disappointing that there's no Xinjiang food to be had at the airport in Xinjiang) and I'm pretty sure I got to see 2 Chinese men finish having some sort of gay sex in a bathroom. I didn't see the sex, I'm just pretty sure I saw these two men come out of a tiny stall together. And no, they didn't wash their hands. So while this may not be the most exciting airport ever, there's plenty of fun stuff going on.

I already shared Georgia a couple weeks ago, but I did say that I'd be doing it again on the way to Georgia. Seems fitting. And as I'm no my way to Georgia, I am keeping my word and sharing Nothing Solutions with you today. It's my other favorite on the album, along with Move Systems which I shared last time.

Sept 25 - Roger Sellers

I cant believe it's already like 3pm. I didn't go to the office today cause I was supposed to go to Toastmsters, which got cancelled, so I actually just stayed home. The idea was to finish setting up my new iPod (which I did) and pack (which I barely did and still need to fnish), but instead I got caught up working all day. Lame. I thought it would be an easy non-work day. But I'm about done with work, will be done with packing soon, and then on to happy hour, followed by Shabbos dinner at my friend Isaac's house. So should be a wonderfully relaxing afternoon/evening.

One positive result of the work is that I listened to a lot of music. And I have a (not so) new artist that I'm pretty excited about, Roger Sellers. He apparently has 4 albums (3 on bandcamp and 1 on a label), the newest one being called Primitives. It's wonderful, such a great album. I listened to it this morning and I want to own it. But then things got really weird. It's no longer on Spotify, I can't find it on iTunes, I can barely find any tracks on Soundcloud or Youtube - I don't know what happened in the last 8 hours to this album. But I'm determined to find it. I'm hoping that when I leave China my VPN will work a bit better and I can somehow find a place to download it when I'm "in" the UK or Australia or US or who knows where. I really wanted to share Spectrolite with you. That was the first song I heard and I immediately loved it. But I can't find it anywhere. Then I thought I might share Waves, because apparently it's the first single and I found a Soundcloud stream of it on an article, but the song doesn't actually exist on Soundcloud so I can't embed it. But on Soundcloud the one track I can find is Lates. It's one of the more chilled out songs on the album, a really beautiful one, but sadly doesn't have the sound of Spectrolite that I fell in love with. Still, it's a great introduction to this great artist.

Sept 24 - Hundred Waters

Today was my only day in the office this week, and the last one before vacation. Because I get to go on vacation on Saturday! And tomorrow I'm back at Toastmasters, so I'm not going into the office, which means I can pack and have a relaxing last day. Today's highlight, though, was having dinner with Zabrina. She's one of my two favorite people in this city and she's been gone for like 2 months, so it was fantastic to see her and have like a 3 hour dinner to catch up. There was a lot of catching up to be done. Nothing too exciting has happened with me, but she's had some pretty big things going on over the last couple months (and actually even longer than that).  Plus we went to this fantastic Turkish restaurant that's right down the street from me that I haven't been to in months and should definitely be taking more advantage of living next to.

I actually shared a song from Hundred Waters two days ago. But I also talked a lot about how I wanted to share another song but didn't. Well, I still feel that way. And so today I am. Because their album really is wonderful. There's not much more to say about them as I said it all the other day. But I did go and listen to their first album between now and then, and it's not as good as The Moon Rang Like A Bell, but the second half in particularly had some great songs. So today will still be a song off of The Moon Rang Like A Bell, but one of the more chilled out, ethereal songs that I talked about, Down From The Rafters. Though this one does sort of pick up a bit at the end. If you can count it as really "picking up." I guess it's all relative.

Sept 23 - Petite Noir

And now the fast is officially over. Luckily it's only one day, and this year actually wasn't so hard. Last night was obviously easy cause I just stayed in my hotel all day, and today I just stayed in my hotel before going to shul, after which I went to the airport, came home, and went to dinner. So pretty easy. I got to sleep for like 9 hours, I got to take a nap on the plane, I didn't have to interact too much with work and get all stressed out - it was pretty alright. The hardest part was when I got back to Shanghai and saw all these convenience stores and restaurants and stuff and was like "Oh I should get a water to take on the subway" and then realized I couldn't. But it was all good, and I ate lots of tacos to finish it off. In fact I'm like way too full right now, uncomfortably so. But oh so happy about it.

Today's song comes to you from Petite Noir, the stage name of Cape Town artist Yannick Ilunga. I think he was born in Belgium and spent time in London or something before moving to Cape Town, but spent a lot of his life in Africa. So he's making this awesome hybrid of modern African rock. His voice is a bit weird at first, and I wasn't actually sold on him when I first heard him earlier this year, but he just put out his debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful, and it definitely got me. In fact, my favorite song on it may just be Chess, one of the first songs I heard by him, one of the least African-influenced and probably most 80s-pop-influenced, and the closing track. I love the playfulness between what I imagine to be the two characters he's performing as and I love the way the song builds. But I actually already shared that song at the beginning of the year. Luckily you should listen to the full album and you will find that there are other stand-out tracks, like Freedom, Seventeen (Stay), MDR and Down, of which you get to hear Down. I think this is definitely a very interesting and unique album that deserves more than one listen.

Sept 22 - Hundred Waters

The fast has officially begun. It is Yom Kippur and I should be at synagogue, but instead I'm sitting in my hotel. Unfortunately I was unable to find information about service times and locations here in Beijing until it was too late. But no I know and I'll be going in the morning at least, but the plan was to go tonight. I feel kind of bad about not being at services, especially since I'm just sitting in my hotel. But I chose to not tell friends I wasn't going and make alternative plans, because that would feel wrong to me. So here I am in the hotel. But I guess I could use the relaxation. Today was a long and tiring day.

Today I went to the BICES, a trade show here in Beijing for my industry that happens every other year. We don't actually attend, but we have a dealer with a small booth, and it's good to see what's going on in the industry. Oddly everyone seemed to be showing off remote controlled construction machinery, which to me just seems like a completely useless technological innovation. I can't imagine what sort of problem it would solve to have a machine remotely controlled instead of controlled from within the cab, but that's what multiple companies decided to go with. Maybe they just want to show off some fancy technology and make everyone think they're all hi-tech, but really it's pointless. But anyway, I spent the day on my feet walking around the show, sweating my ass off because the pollution was terrible, which made it super muggy. Although it did rain for about 10 minutes this evening, at which point the weather became totally clear and beautiful for sunset. It was actually pretty nutty how big of a difference it was. So I was very tired today and will probably go to bed early. Or end up watching TV and going to bed late. Who knows.

The highlight of the day was that I got to see my old boss and colleagues from my last company. I haven't been in touch with any Chinese colleagues since I left Shantui, mostly because I had no way to be in touch. I tried to find them at Bauma Shanghai last year, another big trade show here in China that we actually do participate in, but they weren't there. Luckily they were here today and I got to see a few of them, which was really nice. So hopefully I'll continue to be in touch.

Today's song is a not so new band that's new to me as of a couple of weeks ago, Hundred Waters. I just got their second album, The Moon Rung Like A Bell, which they released last year. Last year while touring with Alt-J. I really don't know how I missed these guys. They have a really unique sound. What's weird about it is it reminds me of like a million different things, but I can't figure out what they actually remind me of. I just keep getting flashes of other bands (oddly most of them are Japanese bands I used to listen to), but then think to myself "no, but not quite." Which is great. They are unique and wonderful. So today's song is Xtalk, my favorite off of the album. I actually had a bit of a hard time picking a song. This one is definitely my favorite, but they have such an ethereal quality to them that I thought I should choose one of their slower tracks. And there's this trio of songs right in the middle of the album (Broken Blue, Chambers (Passing Train), and Down From The Rafters) that I couldn't choose between. So I just went with my Xtalk. But listen to the whole album.

Sept 21 - Doe Paoro

I'm back in Beijing today. There's a trade show this week, which I'm going to attend tomorrow, so I took the train up this morning. Very uneventful. I did watch a film on the train, A Deadly Adoption, that Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig move that they made for Lifetime. I thought it would be funny. It wasn't. It was just a stereotypical Lifetime film, so boring, overly dramatic, poorly written, and extremely exaggerated. The only funny part was how ridiculous the story was. It was pretty disappointing, I thought it would be better with those two in it. I fell asleep like 3 times during the film. Actually I fell asleep a lot on the train. I didn't get any long naps, but I did get a lot of short ones.

The highlight of my day was supposed to happen when I got to Beijing, which was to have dinner with all my friends. Tonight is my only night to see them, and only 2 could come for dinner and a few more were going to be joining a bit later on for a drink. Sadly that "bit later on" got cancelled because I had to have a meeting at 9pm. Which I just finished at 10:30. I'm not very pleased about it. Now I won't get to see them until my next trip up, which I'm not sure when it is, but probably November or something. I come often enough, so it's ok, but I would have much rather enjoyed my friends than not enjoyed a meeting.

Today's song is The Wind, by Doe Paoro feat. Adam Rhodes. And now you know as much about them and this song as I do. I like the song a lot, listened to a few other Doe Paoro singles which I wasn't overly impressed by, and so I didn't bother finding anything else out about him/her/it/them. But at least this song will be here and on my Spotify so I'll remember it.

Sept 20 - The Arcs

Well yesterday was pretty wonderful. I mean, like I said in my post yesterday, I actually just spent the day at home organizing music, so that was whatever. Kind of wonderful, cause I'm kind of anal like that and have kind of been meaning to do this for kind of a long time. But after that, I went to Supper Club for dinner. There's only one Supper Club in Shanghai and I've been wanting to go for a while, but the dates have always been when I'm out of town, so I haven't even been able to apply. Because to get in, you have to apply. Well, you have to email back when they announce dates and answer the one question they ask and hope that you're clever and/or witty enough for them to like your answer and select you to be one of the 10 people invited. Then each of those 10 people gets to bring a guest. So once you're selected they email you and tell you where and when to meet, and that's it! They have a signature cocktail for the night, lots of wine, and a chef from a local restaurant who comes and does the cooking. I was finally chosen, and so I went last night with my friend Natalie, and had an awesome time.

The food was good, nothing amazing, but I think that probably had to do more with the venue set-up and the fact that it wasn't really great for cooking. In fact, I don't know where they did the cooking. The venue was this sort of disco-themed club, covered in aluminum foil (seriously, the walls were all covered in aluminum foil...) with mannequins all over the place. Our table was towards one end of the room, and the rest of the space was mostly open (with disco balls, obvs), then they had a weird seating area at the end by the DJ with sofas and park benches. It was definitely interesting, which is what they go for, and which was very appreciated. Half the fun is having dinner in a location where you normally wouldn't, and which you probably wouldn't even find if you weren't taken there, so they did well with the venue. Unfortunately I don't think it lent itself to the cooking, like I said. The chef was behind the bar, and I guess he was somehow doing everything back there, but unfortunately a lot of the dishes came out cold, probably just due to the fact that it wasn't a proper restaurant set-up. But anyway the flavors were nice, there was one pasta dish that was excellent (it's like a 5 course meal), and it was good conversation and  a great vibe. I'd definitely love to go again if I'm selected again. And if I'm here for one again. And then to make the night even better, I did not go home alone. But that's all I'll say about that for the moment.

Changing topics, I think I've found one of the best albums of the year. Well, I didn't find it. I guess I should say selected. That album is Yours, Dreamily, the debut album from The Arcs. The Arcs is a side project by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. And damn are they good. Honestly, I thought the two singles I heard before the album came out were good, nothing amazing, but then the album just kills. It's like a return to the dirty, blues-rock sound of The Black Keys. In fact it makes me wonder if Dan Auerbach didn't make this new project just to get away from the recent mainstream fame The Black Keys have garnered, in order to go back to the music he loves making rather than continuing to make somewhat watered down versions of the music they used to make. I'm not saying I don't like the new Black Keys stuff, some of it is great, but I definitely prefer their older stuff, and this is definitely a return to the older stuff. So go buy this album, it is wonderful. If you don't believe me, listen to Outta My Mind, and then go purchase it.

Sept 19 - Yasmine Hamdan

I missed a post yesterday. I intended to write it, but I had a busy day at the office then went straight to my train back to Shanghai. I arrived at like 10:30 last night, and thought I'd be home around 11:00, but the taxi lines were ridiculous. I didn't even make it home until 11:55, so I was tired a bit cranky and decided to just not write a blog. Instead I watched Inside Amy Schumer and various comedy clips on youtube until about 2am drinking wine. Good times. Now I'm sleepy. But luckily I have no plans for the day today. I had thought of going to Japanese language exchange, but yesterday was my mom's birthday (still today in America) so instead I Skyped my parents. And I'm busy getting my new iPod set up, which is necessary before my trip to Georgia next week. And I'll probably nap. But I have fun things planned this evening! You'll hear about those tomorrow.

On the train yesterday I watched Only Lovers Left Alive. It was pretty good. Very slow and kind of boring, but also very interesting and melancholy and beautiful, and great cinematography and musical direction. Part of it takes place in Tangiers (I think fake Tangiers, not actually Tangiers, but supposed to be Tangiers, anyway) and one of the main characters is a musician who makes post-rock. So his post-rock stuff is quite good, but the best song in the movie took place in "Tangiers" when he found this woman performing at a bar. I looked her up and it turns out she was Yasmine Hamdan. She's apparently (maybe...) a super famous Lebanese singer. I don't actually know if she's famous, but from the way she's written about she was very influential on underground Lebanese and electro-influenced Lebanese music. I was mesmerized by the song in the film, Hal, and I now need to listen to more music by her (and more North African or Middle Eastern music in general), and am now even more excited for the release of the SEXWITCH EP soon. It turns out Hal is not only in the film (the music video below is actually the scene from the film), but also off of her 2013 album Ya Nass, which is pretty damn good. She released it under her own name, but she's also got plenty of other groups she's involved with, so I'll be looking into this. But for now, I'm a bit obsessed with this song, Hal.

Sept 17 - Kacy Hill

Today was rather uneventful, I guess. Just went to the office, and now back at the hotel. And not doing much else from here onwards. I'll skype my sister later tonight, but other than that I guess I'm just gonna watch some TV and order room service. Sounds like a good night!

One year after releasing Experience, her amazing debut single which I was obsessed with last year, Kacy Hill has finally put out another single, Foreign Fields. Apparently the delay came because right after putting out Experience, she got signed by Kanye to his GOOD Music label, and has been exploring and working on a debut album. So I guess this is the first song off of that upcoming debut album, although that hasn't been confirmed so it's just my assumption. But whether it is or not, it's a fantastic song (though I do still prefer Experience) and I'm excited to hear there's an album in the works. I did read an interview with her where she was talking about the direction she's going on the album, and what she said about it didn't exactly excite me, sadly. Her description made it sound like a departure from the sounds of Experience and Foreign Fields, and coming closer to something like pop music. Which would be a terrible decision not only because she makes such fantastic music, but also because this sound is why Kanye signed her in the first place. In articles I read, they were all making the connection between Kacy Hill and James Blake, who Kanye apparently says is his favorite artist, with good reason, and the connection is definitely there when you listen. So I assume Kanye would be quite disappointed as well, not just me. She has been working with one of the guys from Kate Boy, who I'm not crazy about but who I'm intrigued by, so I'm just going to keep believing that her music will be just as fantastic as her two singles make me believe it will be, and not misinterpret what she says. But for now I'm very happy to know that there's another great single out there from Kacy Hill, and I can't wait for more.

Sept 16 - Thundercat

I'm up in Tianjin today. Left Shanghai early this morning. I thought I'd sleep on the train, but sadly that only happened for a short while. And I haven't slept very well the last two nights for some reason, so I'm pretty exhausted but have to go out to dinner with colleagues. Hopefully it will be an early dinner, since I didn't eat lunch, and so that it will end early. While I wasn't sleeping on the train, though, I did manage to watch Donnie Darko. I was hoping to come out of it loving it and joining the cult, but I didn't. I did like it, I think it was really interesting, and I can understand the cult status, but I won't be joining that cult any time soon.

Today's song is one that I've thought about posting on many occasions, and I'm finally doing it. The song is Them Changes, by Thundercat with help from Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington. I don't know much about Thundercat, but Wikipedia tells me he's a bass-player and producer, and as you can hear from today's song, there's a lot of R&B/Soul in his style. I actually have no idea who's singing or doing what on this album, because after reading his Wikipedia it seems to me like Thundercat is a producer, I know that Flying Lotus is a producer, and Kamasi Washington is a saxophonist and jazz composer. But maybe Thundercat sings too? I don't know. But I do like this song a lot. Every time it comes on it catches my attention. But then I've never gone and listened to The Beyond / Where Giants Roam, Thundercat's album that this is off of. Maybe I should. In fact, as it turns out, there's only 6 songs, so it's really an EP. So I will go listen to it. But for now, enjoy the song.

Sept 15 - Georgia

Today was my only day in the office this week. I love it when I have one-day-in-the-office weeks. Last week was one, this week is one, next week is one. It's great. The downside is that when I'm not in the office, I'm usually out of town traveling. It would be nice if I wasn't in the office but also was in Shanghai instead. But anyway, it was my one day in the office, so I was quite busy. It did not, however, stop me from spending my last hour or so of the day researching what to do in my upcoming vacation to Georgia, which starts in 11 days. Then I went and ate grilled cheese (also I tried a Bloody Ceaser for the first time and as much as I hate to admit it, it was fantastic) which was way overdue cause I used to go once a week and it's been like a month since I was there. Then I came home and skyped and packed (about my upcoming trip and because I'm leaving in the morning on a work trip to Tianjin) and now here we are. So nice good busy day.

And before I move on to watching TV and doing nothing, here's a song for you. I really should wait 11 days to share it, but I've already waited like 30 days to share it and don't want to anymore. Today's song is from Georgia, an amazing new British artist. She's like 20 and makes ridiculously awesome music, like dirty-electro-industrial pop, and she does it all herself. She says she's influenced by Missy Elliot. I guess at times I hear it. The M.I.A. comparisons are also obvious. But whatever, she's great. I've been waiting to share her for a day when I post to Facebook, since I want everyone to know about her, but I don't do that much anymore so I don't want to keep waiting. But then I was like, well I should wait until I go to Georgia to post about Georgia. But not to worry, posting about her now does not mean I won't post about her again in 11 days. So anyway, today's song is Move Systems, the first track I heard off of her eponymous debut album, and still one of the best. She's fucking awesome.

Sept 14 - Natalie Prass

I managed to not go to the office today and go to shul instead. And without taking vacation. I did this by staying at a hotel last night for a site visit, since we're considering it for our trade show next year. It's kind of way out east, super far, so I just said I'd work from home rather than leave at 5am to go catch the shuttle. Which my boss was totally cool with. So I came home early and went to shul, then came home and worked. Then I got to play with a puppy! My friend Natalie is fostering one until tomorrow, and I've been trying to go meet him, and I finally did, and now I adore him and want him to be mine forever but I can't cause that would be irresponsible. It would also be ok if he was hers forever, then I'd go visit all the time, but her roommate doesn't seem to be ok it, sadly. But at least I got to play with Dizzy (also read: fall in love with Dizzy) today. And then it was a sushi dinner with a friend who dances and a long chat about how her life could be used as a case study for my sister. So now I need to talk to my sister.

And in between all this, there was some music. One of these musical selections was Natalie Prass's eponymous debut album, which came out back in January, I think. She's a bit of a quirky singer-songwriter, but I don't think the album is for me. It's a decent album, but to me there's something a bit boring about it as an overall piece. But I can definitely see the appeal of it. And there are a couple of very good songs on there, the best of which is today's song, Bird of Prey. If you like, maybe you'll like the album, I hope you will, but for me, this song is enough.

Sept 13 - Night Beds

I sure did drink a lot last night. It was a pretty good houseparty, but actually left me feeling kind of shitty in the end (and not just because of the booze). It's been a rough week, most of which I spent in a bad mood and it all kind of came to a breaking point on Friday when work also got really stressful and a couple things got fucked up. But I was happy to be back in Shanghai on Saturday and having my houseparty, and then like half of the people who were going to come flaked. So I had like 8 people at my housewarming. As fun as it was, it was still kind of shitty that I could only get 8 people to show up. A few friends are out of town, otherwise it would have been slightly bigger, but still not much. It kind of drove home the fact that I've been in Shanghai for over a year and am still not really settled here. I still haven't met many people, and unfortunately a good amount of the people that I have met are pretty flaky (which is kind of a standard trait found in many expats, unfortunately). All this work travel has really been taking its toll, and has really made it hard for me to build any sort of life. And I've known that for years now, but I think I'm starting to feel it even more now, especially as I get older and start to feel like I should be settling down, both with someone and in some place. I've thought about it before, but last night really drove it home for me. And the fact that it's now Rosh Hashana has also made me a bit reflective. I was at shul tonight and during services I thought back on the year and realized that it's actually been a pretty tough year for me. So here's to hoping that next year gets better.

But enough with the reflection. I listened to even more new music yesterday, and ended up buying more today. There were two standout artists, one whose album I bought (Beat Tape 2 by Tom Misch. I've had my eye on him since finding him back in January, and he's finally put out an album. You'll learn more in the coming days once I've listened more and identified which track I want to share) and one of which I need to listen to again to decide if I want to buy, that being Night Beds. Night Beds just put out his second album, Ivywild, which from what I read is a big departure from his first, which was pretty straightforward singer/songwriter type stuff. I haven't listened to it, but after having heard Ivywild and read about the first album, I don't think I want to listen to it. Ivywild was a good album, though, and the standout track to me was Sway(ve), which is today's song. There are other great tracks on there, but it's also kind of a weird album, so I need to give it another listen before I decide if I purchase it or not. But I definitely want to share him with you.

Sept 12 - Vök

I'm feeling much better today. I got home late and pissed off, had a whiskey, watched some Broad City, and passed out. And today's been pretty relaxed. Aside from waking up and being pissed with one of my employees, an extension of last night, but that's all over now. Otherwise, it's mostly just been cleaning up around the house and getting ready for my housewarming tonight, and a quick trip out to run a few errands. It's nothing exciting, but all little things I've been meaning to do for a while that I haven't gotten around to, like getting my coffee beans ground and replacing a watch bracelet. Plus I had tacos, which is always good. So I'm feeling pretty chilled out and pretty ok at the moment.

I also bought a lot of music. Well, I downloaded some music which I had pre-ordered and which was finally released yesterday. 3 exciting albums, in fact. The debut from Empress Of, which is great and you can listen to on my blog (well, one single at least, but go listen to the entire album cause it's great), and then the new albums from Beirut and Gary Clark Jr. All very strong albums. And then I went and bought the debut album from The Arcs, which you can expect some music from on here in the near future. And lastly, today's band, Vök. They're an Icelandic duo (well, started out as a duo, then they added one more guy, and a fourth who performs live with them). They've been around for a couple years and won Iceland's national battle of the bands (which apparently is a big deal. Maybe I should try to make any future trip to Iceland coincide with this amazing event). They've got two EPs out, both released this year (in the US anyway), and both great. I first heard Before, off of their older EP Tension. Great song, it's on a bit of repeat right now. This whole EP is actually.





They refer to themselves as dreamy electronic or something like that, which is quite fitting. Very reminiscent of The Knife, but with less... quirky... vocals. I was trying to figure out how to describe them versus The Knife, because The Knife definitely has some quirk (I guess you could say) and takes some getting used to. This is much easier to take in, I'd say. But still great. And what I also love is that they don't just sing in English, like so many Icelandic (and non-Icelandic but non-native English speaking) bands, but they also sing in Icelandic! So today you get two songs, the other being Við Vökum, the opening track off of Tension, which is super sexy.

Their other EP, Circles, is also very good. But I guess I just like Tension more, so I put two songs from Tension. But go listen to Circles too, it's great. This band is great.

Sept 11 - The Preatures

Today was not a great day. It started out fine, I guess, but it turned stressful very quickly and didn't stop. Now it's 8pm and I'm at the airport, still stressed, unable to have even a beer because the shitty lounge doesn't have any. In fact, they don't even have food after 7:30, because who would possibly want to have dinner at such a late hour?? Oy. Whatever. Here's something I prepped yesterday.

Today's song comes from The Preatures. I heard this Australian band last year when they put out their first album, Blue Planet Eyes, but I guess I didn't find them good enough to get really into. But they came across my radar again recently, and while I'm still not sure their album is worth buying, they sure are fun, and worth sharing here. In fact, I recognize most of the songs on their album even now, which means I must have listened to it quite a few times trying to figure out how much I actually liked it. I think the reason that I'm not more into them is that half the songs on the album are just ok, and half are really good, but all the really good ones sound kind of like the same song. It's a good song, but I guess I need a bit more to really hook me in. But anyway, here's one of their fun songs off of that album, probably the best song off of that album, and a song that will show you exactly what I do like about them: Is This How You Feel?

Sept 10 - ODESZA

After all the worry last night, I did not get drunk. I was thinking that being in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, which is like the birthplace of baijiu, I would have to drink lots of it. But I didn't, actually. It was a pretty easy night. And I got like 8.5 hours of sleep last night and 9 the night before. This trip has been pretty good for me. And then this morning I basically sat in bed watching Conan clips until going to the airport, napping on my plane, and now I'm relaxing in my Guangzhou hotel waiting to have dinner. Not too bad!

Back in April I posted a song by Odessa, and in that blog I mentioned the only reason I found it was because I was looking for music by ODESZA. Today I found a new song by ODESZA, this one featuring Little Dragon, and it's wonderful. But really, anytime Little Dragon is involved, how could it be anything but wonderful? Light seems to be ODESZA's newest single that came out last month, and it seems to be the newest single in a long history of making music all of which is available on Spotify. So now I'm confused as to why I seemingly had trouble finding ODESZA and stumbled upon Odessa instead. Or maybe I heard Odessa and thought "this song is good, and I like that band ODESZA so let's go listen to more" only to find out they were not one and the same and give up on listening to more? I don't know, but anyway I should have posted something by ODESZA soon after Odessa just for continuity's sake, but now I'm glad I didn't because instead you get to listen to Light.

Sept 9 - Nao

I've decided that instead of waiting until I'm drunk after tonight's event and then writing a drunk blog or forgetting to write a blog, I'll just write one now. I'm in the middle of my event, and luckily while speakers are giving speeches I don't have to pay too much attention. That's always how these things are. So it's a bit stressful, usually, especially during the lead-up, but once the event starts it's quite easy. Today's is at the Renaissance Hotel, and it's our first time doing an event with them. I'm particularly impressed by their coffee break set-up. We've done events at international 5-star hotels all over the country, and this is the only one that really incorporates the local style and culture into their tea break. They decorated the table with pieces of local costumes, put a couple little dolls on with people in local costume, had a bunch of local food (in addition to the regular cookies/cakes/fruit), and even had a woman in local costume going around handing out fresh juice. It's great. Makes me want to work with Renaissance more. And the service is pretty good, although not particularly better than all the other 5 star places. So, the event is going pretty well, and I've only gotta keep myself busy for 2 more hours then it's dinner and drinking and passing out. Hopefully less drinking and more passing out.

One problem with all this traveling is that I get behind on music. I'm a bit behind now, but I've been slowly making my way through all this new stuff from the last few weeks. I've also got a few sources for new music, and have heard some good new stuff in the last few days. So today we're going with one of those new artists, who seems to have some good stuff but I have not yet had time to look further into and find out more about and decide if I actually like and want to purchase music from or just stream. Normally in this situation I'd just pick something really old to play you, but I feel like I've been doing that a lot. So today it's going to be Nao. She's got two EPs out, this year's February 15 (which actually came out in May) and last year's So Good. I actually can't remember which song I heard that first caught my attention, but I do remember which song is my favorite. The best comparison I can think of is FKA Twigs, which is actually totally inaccurate for this song, but sometimes I think it's true. Maybe also a bit of Santogold in this song. She definitely has more energy than FKA Twigs, though. So here's my favorite track by her, Take Control Of You off of So Good.

Sept 8 - Ryan Hemsworth

After my one day back in Shanghai, I'm now in Guiyang. It's my first time here in Guizhou (the province, Guiyang being the capital city), which would be exciting if not for the fact that I'm here for less than 48 hours and will only be working with nothing fun to do. And to make it even harder, I just got back from Tokyo and would much rather be there, or at least Shanghai. But at least I get to eat, and I like Guizhou food, so that's exciting. Plus there isn't much Guizhou food out in the big cities, so it's really great. I've got my employees trained to let me know what to eat when I arrive somewhere new, so I got here and called one of my girls to ask some stuff about the event, after which she proceeded to tell me what I should eat for dinner. And I did. For those of you who are wondering, it was suanla yutang, or basically a hot and sour fish hot pot. The broth was fantastic, although because it was just me I had to get this specific type of fish that was small and had a lot of small bones, but unlike most fish the bones actually stuck together, so it wasn't too difficult. Anyway, I'm looking forward to eating more tomorrow.

Today's song comes from Ryan Hemsworth. I'm pretty sure he's a producer, and I'm not even sure he's the one singing on his work. But I listened to last years album (or is it an EP? Hard to tell, it's one of those in-between length ones) Alone for the First Time, and it definitely piqued my interest. I'm gonna give it another listen, and probably listen to more of his older stuff too, cause I'm still not 100% convinced on this guy. But, I am 100% convinced on this song, Snow in Newark, off of Alone for the First Time.

Sept 7 - Sexwitch

I'm gonna go ahead and blog while I'm not exhausted and/or in a rush. Which is perfect, cause now I can tell you about my last day in Tokyo. Which was, ironically (but expectedly) rushed.

We got out of the hotel and headed up to Asakusa to check out Senso-ji, one of Japan's most important (and Tokyo's most visited temples). It's a really pretty temple, but I think we spent more time wandering the shops nearby than at the actual temple. I've been like half a dozen times though, so I didn't mind. The best part of it was going to bid farewell to my friend Adam. Not the farewell part, but he was staying in a hotel with an awesome view of the temple, so we got to see it from way up high. The goodbye was no fun, though. And actually, it wasn't all that high, only 14 floors. But for the area, it was like the tallest building, and there was no obstruction. And actually, that's always been my impression of Japan, that as big of a city as it is and as tall as the buildings are and as crowded as every corner is, it feels small. We were only 14 floors up, and we had amazing, unobstructed views. And even a 14 storey building doesn't feel like 14 storeys in Tokyo. It's weird. I've said this to many people and they all think I'm crazy. But I feel like Tokyo is a huge city in just a little bit of miniature.

After that, it was off to Harajuku. We took the subway across town to Omote Sando and walked up through Omote Sando to Harajuku. It's a great walk because it's an excellent example of one of my favorite things about Tokyo, which is the uniqueness of each and every neighbourhood. As you pass from Omote Sando into Harajuku, it's an immediate switch from super fancy brands and people, to very edgy (and pretty weird) brands and people. And it's not a gradual switch, it's pretty immediate. I love it. The only problem was that I thought Sunday was the day everyone gets all dressed up in cosplay at Harajuku, but apparently I was wrong. Or maybe it doesn't happen anymore. There was still a bit of cosplay and a lot of interesting fashion choices, but not what I remember or expected. To make the walk even better, we went from bustling Harajuku right into Yoyogi to see the Meiji Shrine, which is gorgeous. It's where the Meiji Emperor's soul is preserved, and there's also royal gardens from the Meiji era there (which we didn't see), and it's just beautiful and peaceful and serene and beautiful. I love it. So did Lizzy. So it was a good last stop for her. Then it was time to get her to the airport, eat a last meal with Rei (omurice), and then get to the airport myself. My flight was delayed a bit, like an hour, which sucked cause I got home late and was tired, but I got a crazy cab driver who made the best time I've ever seen from Pudong. We did it in 30 minutes, when it usually takes 45 - 50. It was a bit scary.

And then it was back to work today, which wasn't as boring as last week, but wasn't super busy either. Luckily it's my only day in the office, and I'm out for the rest of the week. But that means today was my big music listening day. And I got to hear Helelyos today, the first single from Sexwitch. This is something I've been pretty excited about since it came to my attention about two weeks ago. Sexwitch is a side project of Bat For Lashes, featuring another band called Toy. They have an EP coming out in like 2 weeks which is translated covers of 70s psychedelic singles from Iran, Morocco and Thailand. That description in and of itself is enough to interest me, but I've also heard clips of a few songs that Bat For Lashes released via her Instagram, and they sound awesome. And Helelyos, the first single, is pretty bad ass. So I'm excited. Also exciting is a new Bat For Lashes album, which should be out next year. So yay!

Sept 6 - Warpaint

My flight was an hour delayed but we spent that hour on the runway, so I couldn't write in the lounge like I wanted to. And now I have to go to bed. So you just get a song. That song is Undertow by Warpaint. This is probably my favorite song by them, and the song that really made me love them. Off of their first LP, The Fool.

Sept 5 - Oasis

Once again I'm gonna be quick cause I'm super tired. It's been a very, very long day, after a very, very long night (a very, very fun night, but very, very long, and very, very many drinks were had). Also no coffee was had today (surprisingly). So again, here's the rundown:

• Delicious dinner at an izakaya
• Tranny bar
• Sleep
• Go to Tokyo Dome, eat katsu, find baseball memorabilia
• Take a 1.5 hour train out to the countryside (Sakai station, for future reference) to go to a sake brewery. We didn't make it before it closed (at 4pm), but we did get to sit in the gardens by the river in gorgeous surroundings and drink sake and eat yummy miso-covered treats.
• Take a little hike
• Take a 1.5 hour train back to Tokyo
• Wander Shimo-kitazawa, eat some ramen, drink some beers
• Go to Shibuya, see people cross the street, eat okonomiyaki (!!!!), drink some beers, see Takashi
• Now, sleep

So yeah, long day. So before I'm off, a bit of music. Today's song is Wonderwall by Oasis. The reason is that it is a fantastic karaoke song, and we sang karaoke at the bar last night, and we stared with this song. To the best of my memory anyway, it's all a bit blurry.

Sept 4 - Half Moon Run

I'm back at the hotel for a quick stop on the way to dinner (which will be an ambling walk through Akihabara if all goes well), so in the interest of saving time, here's the rundown from today.

• 3:30 - wake up, go to Tsukiji, find out we're too late to get into the tuna auction (even though we were there around 4am and it doesn't even start until 5:30), go back to the hotel and go to bed.
• 8:30 - wake up and go back to Tsukiji for breakfast. Eat a big uni. Wait in line for an hour and eat delicious sushi.

Time starts getting hazy here because alarms were no longer involved, so we'll just do the bullets without the times.

• Walk through Ginza, stop at 12 storey Uniqlo. Lizzy bought things, I somehow didn't.
• Eat zarusoba at Tokyo station. This is my favorite thing.
• Buy lots of Japanese whiskey at Tokyo station at a shop we were recommended to go to by the bar owner last night. I got 3 bottles and 3 mini bottles. Lizzy got 3 bottles. We have to figure out how to get it back into China now...
• Take a walk through Yanaka, this old timey part of north Tokyo. Lots of temples there. Like, lots and lots. So many. It's nuts. But I love it. I can't get enough of temples. We also had a coffee in a Brazilian cafe, then we had a beer at an awesome local beerhall, which was in an old timey building, and which served local craft brews. Fantastic.

Now we're back at the hotel. Next up is the walk to dinner then a fun night of Izakaya drinking and eating times with my Japanese friends (and the like 5 other friends who just so happen to be here in Tokyo at the moment). I have high hopes for the evening.

And now music. It's Call Me In The Afternoon, by Half Moon Run. Great song. I listened to this album this week after not listening for a long time. It's not as good as I remember, actually just mediocre, but their good songs are really fucking good. But Call Me In The Afternoon is the best.

Sept 3 - Gina T

Made it to Tokyo! I'm exhausted, but I'll give you a quick rundown. We got in, checked in, then went to Shinjuku where we hunted for this izakaya we wanted to go to. It was a Kyoto-themed izakaya, and it was actually really great. We ate delicious food and had beer and sake. Then we went to a bar that Lizzy found (by the way, I'm here with Lizzy, one of my favorite two people in Shanghai, it's her first time, she loves it, I do too) called Zoetrope (also fun cause Lizzy's girlfriend's name is Zoe) which is said to have the largest whiskey collection in Japan and one of the largest Japanese whiskey collections in the world in a single bar. Or something along those lines. Anyway, we tried a lot of Japanese whiskey and it was great. Our favorite was probably the Akashi, I want to buy it all and take it back to Shanghai. I also really liked Yoichi. Lizzy liked a bunch of them whose names I have written down but don't remember now. We're hoping to go back, cause it was great. And if you come to Tokyo, you should go too.

Ok, now quick music. Today's song is terrible. It's the worst. It's an early 90s Filipino pop ballad. But also, it's amazing. And very appropriate. When you hear it, you'll understand why it's today's song. Actually the name will give it away. Here's Tokyo By Night, by the lovely Gina T.

Sept 2 - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

Today was a very slow day at the office. Very, very slow. I did next to nothing. And unfortunately one of my employees came crying to me (literally) when she got yelled at by the GM. He yelled at her about nothing, really, but she's been having a tough time lately anyway and it really affected her (and was completely unnecessary). I felt bad, but the guy is my boss so there isn't much I can say about it I guess. I basically just listened, which I think was the best course of action.

But enough about work. I'm home, and it's time to pack because it's a 4 day weekend and I'm going to Tokyo! So that should be good. Obviously. I did some planning at the office today while I wasn't working and now I'm super excited because there's lots of fun things to do in Tokyo. I already knew this, but after looking at them I really know it. So, I'm gonna order some xiaolongbao, and start packing. Then I'll go to a house party, but first packing.

And before packing, music. I got a lot of good music last week. One of those good items I got I already shared. That was Vicktor Taiwò, whose debut EP JUNO has been on repeat a lot since I bought it. Then there was the new Foals album, What Went Down, which I've talked about a lot leading up to it, and which gets better every time I listen to it. It doesn't live up to Holy Fire, their last album, but that is a tough task. Then there's another artist who I'm waiting until I have something good to write about in order to share on Facebook to get her more attention, so I won't mention her here. And then there's today's artist, Nathaniel Rateliff. He now has a band, The Night Sweats, and they just put out an eponymous album which is great. It's pretty straightforward folk-rock, a la Ray Lamontagne, and it sounds great. I've talked about Nathaniel Rateliff on the blog before, but I think this group effort is far better than any of his solo stuff, which I also liked very much. I absolutely love the guy's voice, and I think it really lends itself to this style as well. Today's song is I've Been Failing, one of the mellower tracks off the album, and maybe my favorite.

Sept 1 - Savages

Today turned out to be pretty great. Work was, once again, not boring. Not super busy, but a good balance of things to do and no things to do. Perfect. And I managed to stay awake/wake up 30 minutes later on day 2 back in the country, so that was also good. Right now I'm on track to possibly make it to my normal schedule, which is like 11-6:15 for sleeping and it's now 10:45. I actually did consider not posting a blog, cause I just got home and am tired and want to sleep, but I should talk about the Rain Room.

The Rain Room opened in Shanghai today, and my friend is the one who sold it here, so she's here for the opening. So she took me along with her. I managed to get in with only like a 3 minute wait, unlike the 5 hour waits back when it was in New York, so that was awesome. And the room itself was also pretty cool. It sounds kind of dumb, honestly. I mean, it's just a room with motion sensors where it constantly rains but then the motion sensors detect you and stop the rain before you get wet. So you're basically walking through a rainstorm and staying dry. You can get wet if you want, you just have to run through it instead of walking slowly, but that kind of defeats the purpose. It's fun to be there and not get wet. And it's cool cause there's this super bright light at the back of the room, which sort of distorts your vision and depth perception as you walk towards it, so you actually can't really tell where you are and where the rain is at first. You walk towards the rain expecting to run into it, and you just keep going without ever touching it. Even when you stretch out to touch it you can't. And later, once I was used to it, I was paying attention to the sensors on the roof while trying to reach out to touch the rain, and it's amazing how sensitive they are because as soon as my fingers would get close to the rain it would stop. Actually being in it is definitely much cooler than I expected it to be. And I'm glad I got to go and try it out without waiting forever, because if I had to wait for hours, I probably wouldn't even go. It's here for the rest of the year, so maybe I'll go again at some point. We'll see.

And now a quick song. Today is Savages, a band of women who rock. The singer is French, but the band is American, and they released their debut album, Silence Yourself, back in 2013. It's a solid album, but what really impressed me about them was their live show when I saw them at Laneway last year. They're getting their new album ready for release next year, and I just learned about it today, so in honor of that here is No Face, off of Silence Yourself.