June 15 - The War on Drugs / Arcade Fire / Poliça

I'm back in Southeast Asia for the week. Both Singapore and Malaysia this time. And again just for work, nothing too exciting. I have eaten pretty well in Malaysia, though. They have these Ramadan markets during Ramadan (surprise!) where people basically cook at home in the day, set up tents, and then you can come in the afternoon and buy all your halal foods to take home and eat at sunset. I was told to go and get the Ramadan special foods, which maybe I did? I don't know, but I got a ton of good food. And then last night I finally had Nyonya food, which is the Malay-Chinese mixed food and it's fantastic. I've been told about it many times, I had it once in Singapore (and was told it's better in Malaysia) and finally had it in Malaysia. Although I've gotta say, it was better in Singapore.... Maybe just the place I went, not in general. But doesn't matter, it's delicious.

You know what else is delicious? This new song from The War On Drugs. This is the 2nd single from their new album, A Deeper Understanding, which comes out in August. The first single, Thinking of a Place, is like 12 minutes long and it's good stuff. But it's this new single, Holding On, which I love. This is the sound from War On Drugs that gets me tapping my feet. It's not as good as Red Eyes (what is?), but it's in the same vein. I think my favorite part comes around 3 minutes, where the singing stops and the guitar just does this little loopy rift which I love. But the whole thing is great. Great great great.

So in case you haven't figured it out, today is going to be the new music from old artists that I alluded to the other day. So the next old artist is Arcade Fire, with a new song, Everything Now. They've also got a new album coming out (although in July, not August), also titled Everything Now. And this is also the second single from that album. Again, the first one was good, but it's the 2nd one that I really ended up liking. This one is more upbeat and dancy than what I'd expect from Arcade Fire, but still solidly in their wheel house, I think. Anyway, it's fun stuff.

And finally, it's Poliça. This is a band whose first album I loved, and then I think went downhill from there. Still good, but nothing lived up to the debut. They put out a double single for Record Store Day back in April, but I've just come across it, and both tracks are great. The first one, Still Counts, features Spank Rock, and the second one, Lipstick Stains, features Boyz Noize. And they couldn't be any more different. Lipstick Stains is super chilled out and pretty and haunting. Still Counts is dirty and loud and a bit spastic. I like them both a lot. It is hard to choose which to play. Maybe I won't choose. But Malaysia doesn't like Soundcloud so I'll have to add in the second song later. But anyway, you will find it on Spotify.