Jul 17 - Oh Wonder

I am dying today. This is not a fun Monday. I've totally hit a wall and can't function. Only one more hour to go, though.... Maybe I'll go study some German or something. But I'm really having trouble focusing. I just want a nap.

So I'll kill a bit of time by posting a song from Oh Wonder, who released their second album, Ultralife, last Friday. Their first album was ok, nice sound, but a bit repetitive and boring. I only listened to the new one once so far, but it sounded better. And the title track and first single, Ultralife, is really great. So I'm just gonna put it here.

Jul 13 - Bernice / RHAIN

I totally should have written a blog this week. I just spent the week in Malaysia, which means Monday and Tuesday after work I just sat at the apartment doing nothing. Well, not entirely nothing. I watched the entire first season of GLOW. That was fun. And I ate delicious food, because it was Malaysia and obviously that's what you do there. Everything is just so damn good. In fact, I'm taking my family for Malaysian food when I'm home. Which is one week from today. Exciting times!

In not so nice news, Spotify seems to have been blocked by our firewall. It's super annoying. I can still use the web app, which is ok. But it doesn't show you as much info about tracks and playlists and stuff. So I can't actually tell when playlists I follow have new songs on them. For a while I was actually listening to a lot of KCRW, and then I remembered the web app, which was good. Despite this, I still managed to find two new artists to share today, both of whom have new and what could probably be considered debut EPs.

Up first is Bernice. It seems like she had an album way back in 2011, but now she's signed to Arts & Crafts (same as Broken Social Scene and Stars, woohoo!) and recently put out her debut EP, Puff. She reminds me a bit of Tune-Yards actually. Especially on the track Talking About Her, which is what I'm sharing today. The rest of the EP is ok, the other good track being the opener St. Lucia. But doesn't even come close to Talking About Her.





And then we have RHAIN. This girl is kind of a weirdo, which you know I love. She's a Brit. And she sounds a lot like Joanna Newsom. Who I also love for her weirdness. RHAIN put out her debut EP, Oscar November Echo, and I love the first single and opening track, Humdrum Drivel.





But this wasn't even the first thing I heard from her. She actually came to my attention because of the Henry Green Remix of the song Tall Ships. I love the little clicky-clacky bits in the background right up front. And then the mellow bassline comes in. And there's some like echoey vocals or something in the back. Plus her weird voice. It's all very nice. I like it very much.

July 4 - Park Hotel

Am I supposed to say something about the 4th of July today? Hooray? I'm at work, so I guess not much to say. And after work I'm going to a yoga class and Japanese class. How very un-American of me. Maybe I'll eat a hamburger in between. Or something like that. I'd actually love to celebrate, but it's a Tuesday and I have to work.

Oh, but here's a fun fact I can share! Apparently "American Independence Day" and "4th of July" parties were banned in China this year. A friend of mine does a bunch of events around town and has a restaurant, and I ran into her this Saturday at a weekend market. We got to talking about this big 4th of July party that was happening on Sunday, which she had a food stall at, and she said they can't call it a 4th of July party. The Chinese government told them so. She wasn't sure the reason, but then my friend Julia mentioned that apparently the US just put a bunch of sanctions on some Chinese bank for dealings with North Korea. So maybe this is in retaliation? Who knows. Weird China. But at least US beef can now be imported to China after not being allowed for 10 years. So I can make that burger 100% Grade-A USDA! If I knew where to get it, that is...

In music news, I just hear this band called Park Hotel. They are not American either. I guess I should introduce American music today? Oh well. Too bad. You're getting some Brits. 2 of them, to be exact, who got together to form this group Park Hotel. They have two songs out, both of which are great and will be played for you today. We'll go in chronological order, starting with their debut single, Gone As A Friend.




Fun, right? They call themselves post-electronic dance music, and lots of people also say disco. I get that, although I'm not sure I'd make disco one of the main modifiers of this sound. but post-electronic dance music, that works. Anyway, it's fun and funky and groovy and sounds like LCD Soundsystem, so what's not to like? They only have two songs at the moment and no clue what's going to happen next, but I'm looking forward to it. And before leaving, here's the 2nd single, Going West.