Nov 29 - Flock of Dimes

Thanksgiving went fantastically this year! We had so much food. It was at my house again, this year with 13 people, and we had a turkey and a ham and a duck and all the fixins. In fact, we had too many fixins. People made all kinds of things, including gravy and Austrian bread dumplings, so we kept some of the fixins that came with the turkey (we got it pre-cooked... but it was delicious!) in the fridge since we just had no room at the table. And we managed to cram all the food and all the people together around the table, which was really amazing. Last year we didn't try. We did the usual food on the running board and serve yourself thing, then sit wherever you like. But this year it was all just crammed in and so homey and wonderful. It definitely helped that it was fantastic people, but I really do think there's something about sitting around the table together and eating a big meal.

It was also very, very international. When I first moved here, for some reason most of my friends were American and Canadian. Now, many of my friends have begun to leave, and I'm moving into my own Shanghai 2.0 with a new round of friends. And these ones are much more international, which I'm used to and prefer. We had Americans, of course, and Canadians and Germans and Austrians and Chinese and French and Korean and Kenyan and Spanish all together at the table. It was the best. I like my life this way. Sadly our Brit was out of town, but I know she regrets it. How could she not?

And then on Sunday I saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! It came out at the same time here as it did in the US, which is already uncommon. And movies here don't usually stay in cinemas that long. Well, that's not totally true. They can, but not in Imax or on the big screen. And I wanted to see it in Imax, not just a regular movie screen. With the trade show and Thanksgiving and this conference I have coming up next week, I wasn't sure I'd be able to see it like I wanted, but luckily I did. And I really enjoyed it. Very much looking forward to the next 4!

All in all a good week. And now time for good music. Today it's Flock of Dimes, the solo project from Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak. She just put out her debut album, If You See Me Say Yes, and it was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea it was coming, and then all of a sudden I heard Everything Is Happening Today and thought it was great and somehow familiar, and I looked it up only to confirm my suspicion that it was Jenn Wasner.




Everything Is Happening Today is actually still one of my favorite tracks on the album. She's made a great album. In fact, it's in consideration for my Top 10, which I'm already working on. And it came as a very pleasant surprise following Wye Oak's release of Tween earlier this year. More wonderful Wye Oaky goodness! My favorite track is probably Semaphore, the lead single.

Nov 26 - The Japanese House

I had a super crazy week with as I as planning a trade show. Luckily this only happens once every two years, but it's probably the worst part of my job. It's been like 16-18 hour days for the last week. I am so happy to be home right now. I wasn't supposed to be home until later today, but actually got to come home last night, which was amazing. Then I slept for 10 hours.

Then I woke up to make coffee, put on some music, and The Japanese House came on. And what a perfect way to start the day, especially on a day like this where it's gross and rainy outside and I just want to chill out and do nothing. Because that is totally the feel of The Japanese House, and it was a perfect way to start the day. This day in particular Good side in, the first single off her newest EP Swim Against the Tide, was the first thing to come on, and it's totally made my day already.





Great music always makes my day great, but to make today even better, I'll be having a big Thanksgiving dinner with like a dozen friends. It's gonna be a good day. So until then, you can find me here listening to all 3 of The Japanese House EPs. And before I go start preparing, here's another song. Sugar Pill, off her last EP, Clean. Kind of reminds me of Totemo, probably because of the Asiany instrumentation




And since she only has 3 EPs, I might as well just do one song from each. What the hell. So from her first EP, Pools To Bathe In, here's Sister.

Nov 15 - Angel Olsen

I'm just going to share a bit more music with you today, this time in the form of Angel Olsen. No stories.

This woman's been around for quite a few years, making quite a lot of music. I've never been so into her, but her new album, WOMAN, caught my attention much more than I expected. I can't think of any songs off of her last album (which I think is the only on I heard), but there's a few good ones on the new one. Starting with the very fun Shut Up Kiss Me.





And then there's Sister, the longest track on the album (although just barely). But we all know how I love a long song. This one is great all the way through, but it's really from about 4:30 that I love it.

Nov 13 - Solange

My friends Josh and Kiera just came through town for 24 hours. Josh and I have known each other since 9th grade, and then he went and  married this lovely lady Kiera. They planned themselves an anniversary trip to Japan, and since I used to live there and have been a few times they asked me what my suggestions were. My first suggestion was to come to Shanghai since it's so close, so they did! They flew from the US to Shanghai, spent about 27 hours, and now they're off to Hiroshima to start their Japan trip.

With only 24 hours in town, we did not have a moment to spare. And luckily they did not want to spare a moment. So we packed a ton of things into just a short visit. Obviously, the main attraction was food, starting with snack #1 (xiaolongbao. Duh.) as soon as we dropped their bags off at my house. But we also needed some scenery, so this was followed by a visit to the Bund (and drinks and snack #2: salmon explosion. Double duh.). And then on to more food and beer. Because that's what Shanghai life is all about.

This morning was a bit more chilled. Sort of. Not really. Not at all, actually. It seems more chilled because we just went for a walk in the French Concession. Except we walked from 9am until about 3pm, eating various snacks and lunch, drinking various coffees, and sighting various sights. Including the Propaganda Poster Art Museum, a first for me, and a fantastic one. But I am now exhausted, so I'm gonna sit here and do nothing for the rest of the day.

It was great to share my life here with old friends, which I sadly don't get to do much. They are probably the first friends that have come from America to visit me in China. And that's including all the years I've lived here. I've had friends come from various other places, and friends pass through town who I got to spend time with, but this is the first time a pre-college friend has come to China specifically to visit me. So that was really nice. And they've moved from California to Minnesota, so I don't get to see them when I'm home anymore. So this was great. You should come visit too. I promise you'll have as much fun (and delicious food) as they did.

For today's music, it's a bit of a surprising one: Solange. She recently put out her new album, A Seat At The Table, and it's wonderful. I was quite skeptical, because being Beyonce's little sister (and having heard her previous singles) I was expecting pop music. But that is not what I got at all. I got really great R&B. Case in point, Cranes In The Sky.




This song is not pop, this is like Meshell Ndegeocello. Which is always a good thing. Those strings and the beat are just beautiful. I also just watched this video for the first time, and there are some great visuals in there. And some great color. I'm a very big fan of this song. And it doesn't end there, there's plenty of fantastic tracks. So I'll share one more with you, Don't Wish Me Well.

Nov 9 - Shana Falana

I am shocked and angry and ashamed and depressed and all kinds of emotions all rolled up into one right now. I don't think I've felt this way since high school when I would have a crush on someone and would find out they didn't like me back. That's the closest comparison I can make. It's like you care so much about something and it just slaps you in the face.

I'm having a really hard time coming up with the words to express how I feel.

What it comes down to is that the majority of people in my country, and country that I used to be proud of but am unsure how I feel about now, have just voted to move in a direction which creates a society of isolationism, racism, hatred and bullying. This is nothing more than a backlash of fear by a white, uneducated, closed-minded majority that does not know how to deal with a changing world, and rather than talk and learn and adjust to create a society where everyone can prosper, has chosen to exclude the others for their own selfish, narrow-minded worldview.

I understand that a lot of this came from a backlash against the system, that people are desperate for change in our government. And that's not a bad thing. I'd like to see that, too. But they've taken this desire for change and rather than channeling it in a direction which would allow us, as a country, to actually change and move forward in a global society, have chosen to use this energy to try and turn the clock back to how they think things used to be in the "good old days," and push against the rest of the world. They have chosen to follow a man who lies with every other word that comes out of his mouth, that has no idea how to rake responsibility for anything (or share it when credit is due), and who will be the worst role model for our society and our youth that we could find. This cannot go well.

On the positive side, Trump and his rubber-stamping congress may now actually spend more time focusing on issues at home, something which is important. Unfortunately the policies they're going to enact (and they can easily do so now that they've got Congress and will soon have the Supreme Court as well) are policies and laws which will create a society I do not want to be a part of. Luckily I don't have to be at the moment. The only thing I can hope is that the Republic Party is in enough shambles that they will still be unable to agree amongst themselves. But the fact that they somehow pulled themselves together, and to the landslide degree that they did,

It is very scary to think about what kind of society we may be moving towards. I hope I am wrong about all of this. I hope I am overreacting and that Trump does focus back on America, but focuses on all Americans, and not just those like him. I hope that in 4 years, or even 1 year, I can look at the news and think "that's reasonable," rather than being disgusted, as I am now. I hope to be proven wrong.

So for now, here's a hopeful song. Let's all just be normal, good people, and we can all be cool kids.

Nov 7 - Bonobo / Nick Murphy

I know I just posted, but then I found new Bonobo! Kerala! With a new album coming out in January! Migration! And it will feature Nick Murphy (aka Chet Faker) Hooray!

And I guess since we're talking about him, Nick Murphy is now releasing music under his own name, instead of his Chet Faker moniker. He has two singles and an album in the works, so here's his second single, Stop Me (Stop You).

Nov 7 - Jay Som

I need to play you new music, but I'm too tired to write anything. I had a great weekend, but maybe I'll tell you about it later. For now I'll just tell you about Jay Som.

Jay Som is actually Melina Duterte from San Francisco. She's working on her first real album, which is supposed to come out next year. But she already has an album called Turn Into, which is a collection of "unfinished songs," although most of them sound pretty complete to me. She actually has a single called I Think You're Alright, which is the first one from the next album, but it was actually Drown, off of Turn Into, which first caught my attention.




There are quite a few great songs on this album, but my favorite has to be Unlimited Touch. I just love the chorus. I actually had a fantastic moment with this song, where I was taking the bus home and it was kind of gloomy and overcast, but then there were fireworks going off right in front of us. That's kind of what this song feels like. A bit overcast, but also somewhat bright and hopeful. And all in slow motion.

Nov 3 - TALA / Banks

I think I still owe you the end of my Sri Lanka trip. Man, that was like a month ago. I'm so bad at this. I think I left off in the tea highlands? Maybe? Well, I went to them. Everyone said to go, and I totally wanted to, cause they're supposed to be beautiful. And they are indeed beautiful. And everyone also said to take the train, but I was like whatever we can just drive through. But it's super cheap so I decided to do it. And I'm so glad I did, cause it was maybe the best part of the trip. Yes, we could just drive through the highlands. And we did. And they were very nice. But the train goes where the cars don't, through tiny villages and along cliffs, with absolutely incredible views. Also, it's big and blue and really cool. And it makes for great pictures. It was awesome.

From there, it was down to the beaches for a few days. We stayed in a town called Mirissa along the south coast. It was supposed to be a pretty chilled out couple days with time on the beach and a visit to Galle, the old colonial town in the area. It was mostly that, but then we also went whale watching. We saw blue whales and I almost got really sick. I never get seasick but this was really bad. I had to take pills. Which the guys who run the trips know everyone needs, because they just have them for you free, included in the tour. So it was great to see the whales, but I did not feel very good most of the time.

After the beach, it was just back to Colombo to eat McDonald's (literally that is what we did. Rei loves to try it in every country to see what's different, so we went to check it out. She had curry and rice. I had a chicken big mac). Then I had dinner with my friends in Colombo while Rei went to the airport, before it was my turn to go to the airport.

During that trip, Banks released her new album, The Altar. I actually have yet to buy it. I've listened a bunch of times, an there are some great tracks on it. Like Lovesick, for example.




Really great track. I totally want this album. It's not as good as Goddess, her first one, but it is a solid album. But I haven't bought it because I'm sure she's going to put out a deluxe version. She did with Goddess, and it included like all the songs from the EPs that came out before. So I'm waiting for the deluxe version of The Altar, which will hopefully also come with Better, the single she put out between albums for no reason I'm aware of, but which is wonderful. But in the meantime, I'll just keep streaming the album, and listening to all the great tracks, like Haunt.




And then the other day I was at my friends restaurant and a song came on, and I thought it was Banks. I mean, it sounded like Banks, but it was not a song I'd ever heard (and I'm very confident I've heard all of her songs). So I asked the guy DJing and he sadly told me he didn't have the name there but he was pretty sure that it was someone featuring Banks on vocals. So I went on Spotify and managed to find the song Wolfpack, which is produced by TALA, with Banks on vocals. I'm not sure this is the song I heard, but it is a fantastic song. So here it is.