I just got back from Xinjiang. I was in Urumqi, the capital, for an event, which means I pretty much stayed in my hotel. Which is too bad, because Xinjiang is pretty interesting. It's the far western province in China, which is heavily populated by Turkic and Central Asian ethnic minorities, most notably the Uyghurs, many of whom have been trying to get independence for years. This has, at times, turned violent, and so security is nuts over there. In fact, my boss was telling me that ISIS has even started recruiting in the region (most of the minorities out west, not just in Xinjiang but the neighboring provinces as well, are Muslim). The ISIS recruits don't stay in China, they move over to Iraq or Syria to fight, but they're being recruited anyway. So yeah, it's crazy and super interesting and different and you should read a bit about it and visit because I'm definitely not doing a good job of telling you about it.
I was there like 12 years ago to travel, this time just for work so didn't get to see much. But I would have loved to see a bit more. But, since I am me, I did get to eat. As you might think, considering the people, the food is also very different from typical Chinese. More like Middle Eastern, heavy on the lamb and roast meats, but with some Chinese flair, like lots of noodles. Sadly no hummus. But delicious, delicious food, which I did not have enough of. And tons of security. They scan you at every hotel and mall and supermarket and restaurant, just like you're going to the airport. And the airport is much more strict than any other airport I've been to in China. It's a crazy place. Also the people don't look so Chinese, they look more Central Asian, so I even got asked if I was an ethnic minority when I started speaking Chinese. Good times!
What with all the strictness, the internet is also very blocked. Data barely works, but wifi is ok. But no VPN, pretty much. Although for some reason Instagram was totally unblocked there. Or 90% unblocked. It's been like 50% unblocked in Shanghai lately, but even more so in Xinjiang. No clue why. But I didn't check gmail or facebook for like 2 days. Woe is me. What really brought me woe, though, is that I could barely even use Spotify! And when I say barely, I mean I got through half a song and then was frustrated so stopped trying. And I also couldn't blog. Which means I'm sharing two bands with you today because I feel like one song isn't enough.
So up first is Equal Powers, one of the 3 singles from Violents and Monica Martin. Violents seems to be an indie collective, or so I've heard it described, led by this producer guy. And Monica Martin you might recognize, because she's the lead singer of PHOX. They have 3 songs out together, and I think Violents have a few more without her. 2 of their 3 joint singles are great, but Equal Powers is definitely my favorite.
I was there like 12 years ago to travel, this time just for work so didn't get to see much. But I would have loved to see a bit more. But, since I am me, I did get to eat. As you might think, considering the people, the food is also very different from typical Chinese. More like Middle Eastern, heavy on the lamb and roast meats, but with some Chinese flair, like lots of noodles. Sadly no hummus. But delicious, delicious food, which I did not have enough of. And tons of security. They scan you at every hotel and mall and supermarket and restaurant, just like you're going to the airport. And the airport is much more strict than any other airport I've been to in China. It's a crazy place. Also the people don't look so Chinese, they look more Central Asian, so I even got asked if I was an ethnic minority when I started speaking Chinese. Good times!
What with all the strictness, the internet is also very blocked. Data barely works, but wifi is ok. But no VPN, pretty much. Although for some reason Instagram was totally unblocked there. Or 90% unblocked. It's been like 50% unblocked in Shanghai lately, but even more so in Xinjiang. No clue why. But I didn't check gmail or facebook for like 2 days. Woe is me. What really brought me woe, though, is that I could barely even use Spotify! And when I say barely, I mean I got through half a song and then was frustrated so stopped trying. And I also couldn't blog. Which means I'm sharing two bands with you today because I feel like one song isn't enough.
So up first is Equal Powers, one of the 3 singles from Violents and Monica Martin. Violents seems to be an indie collective, or so I've heard it described, led by this producer guy. And Monica Martin you might recognize, because she's the lead singer of PHOX. They have 3 songs out together, and I think Violents have a few more without her. 2 of their 3 joint singles are great, but Equal Powers is definitely my favorite.
Now since I feel like 1 band was not enough since it's been a few days, I'm going to give you another. That other is Rubblebucket. I've been meaning to write about them for a couple months and it just kept getting postponed. Their song Carousel Ride was pretty popular a couple years ago, but I couldn't get into it. But then I heard If U C My Enemies, and I loved it. Just listen, and get ready to dance.
Good, right? Super fun! So fun that the use of U and C instead of You and See doesn't even bother me! And that's saying something. So yeah, I fell for this song, and the whole EP they released around it, so I went and listened to Survival Sounds, their 2014 album. That's the one with Carousel Ride on it. I'm still not a huge fan of Carousel Ride (I bet you're gonna listen to it now, though, since I've mentioned it like 3 times), but I did like this album. So here's another song from the album which I do like a lot, called My Life. And as it turns out, they've been around for like 10 years, so I should probably go listen to some of their even older stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment