Jan 31 - Phantastic Ferniture

So we've been around the world already this year, musically. We started in the US (and UK), moved to South America, then Africa, then Asia. So now we're going to go to Australia. And next time I'll have to share European music. And then I'll try to find something from Antarctica....

But for now, we're keeping it simple with Australia. And I've got a good Australian band to share with you. Phantastic Ferniture. This is a side project from singer Julia Jacklin (whose name I have seen a million times and think I've heard, but the more I see her name, the less I think I've actually heard her. Anyway now I'll have to because I really like Phantastic Ferniture. And while writing this I already did, and totally recognize her voice. So I've definitely heard her. Mystery solved.), which she started with a couple of her friends as a joke. But then they actually made an album which they released last year, also called Phantastic Ferniture, and it's pretty great.

Their first song was Fuckin 'n' Rollin, which they actually wrote way back in 2015. But yeah, no album until 2018. Anyway it is a great song. When I try to picture what this song sounds like, it sounds like an 80s glamour shot to me. Kind of fuzzy and dreamy, but also really sparkly. But it's not 80s glam rock. Not at all. It's just really good. No idea what you'd label it. But it's a good one.





I actually mentioned this band to an Australian over the weekend, and she thought she knew it. But she thought I was talking about the store Fantastic Furniture. Which is a real store here in Australia that sells discount furniture. Considering this band started as a joke, I kind of think they may have chosen the name for that exact reason. I don't know. But they formed at a dive bar near my apartment which I've been told to go to, so maybe I'll go and meet them and ask them.

Anyway, more music. Not 80s glamour shot rock, but just rock on the second one. The second one being Take It Off. Which has a pretty sick guitar riff running throughout.

Jan 23 - Kikagaku Moyo / ACIDMAN

Today is my (belated) ode to Tokyo. I flew back through Tokyo last week and I had a 7 hour layover. Originally, I thought I'd be laying over at Narita, so I had actually looked up some stuff to do near Narita since it's too far to get into Tokyo and spend any good amount of time and make it back in time for the flight. But then it turned out I was actually laying over at Haneda, which means I was like 40 minutes from the city on a $6 subway ride. Which was perfect! So I went into the city.

I messaged a couple of friends, but didn't get to see anyone, so I basically spent the afternoon just wandering myself. With a couple of goals in mind. First goal - find ceramic coffee cups. I've been wanting some rough, unglazed ceramic coffee cups for a long time now, but have not found anything I liked. But I was sure I could get them in Tokyo. But sadly, I no longer live somewhere close enough to Tokyo to go regularly. I used to go like once or twice a year. But no longer. So this was perfect. So I had done my research and knew that I should go to kitchen street, which, as the name implies, is a street where you can buy anything for a kitchen. And I ended up buying 4 mugs and a bunch of chopsticks (cause I actually didn't have any chopsticks either, after leaving my old ones in China). So that was a complete success. Not to mention I started out with a fantastic coffee at one of Tokyo's best coffee shops. I know this because I have a wonderful website that ranks Japanese coffee shops (abccoffee.co) based on aggregated ratings and reviews online, and which has not let me down. And #1 ever since I found this website is a shop called Fuglen. Although, to be honest, the #1 shop is their Shibuya location, and I went to their Asakusa location. But still. So there was delicious coffee, followed by successful shopping for pretty things, and then off to Shibuya on the other side of town to have sushi at a little standing sushi restaurant a friend recommended. Again, it's exactly like it sounds. It's a sushi bar with no seats. You come in, stand at the bar, eat quickly, and go. I ate a ton of delicious sushi, and it was only like $30. You cannot get that anywhere else. Not that delicious. Delicious sushi is never cheap outside of Japan. But that's another wonderful thing about Japan. Even cheap things are super delicious. You don't have to spend a ton of money to do things, despite the fact that everyone thinks you do. Not true. Excellent, affordable times are also easily found in Japan.

So as I was wandering around, I was just grinning like a fool. I was so happy. I was looking at the buildings and they made me smile. I would see tourists and they made me smile. I would see tchotchkes in shops and they'd make me smile (and make me want to buy them all). I would talk to people and smile. I just absolutely love Japan and was so happy to be back there. It has been my favorite city since I first went there over a decade ago, and out of all the cities in the world I've been to since, nothing beats it. Now, I may not feel that way if I lived there, but as a visitor nothing can beat it. It's such a unique city, so full of modernity and tradition, all mixed up in a perfectly balanced little bundle. And anything you want you can find there. Not to mention that it's broken up into tiny neighborhoods, and all of them are unique and have their own flavor, so you could spend decades exploring that city and always find something new. I've always said I want to actually live in Tokyo (not just Japan), and I still feel that way. At some point, I need to.

Also, fun fact, I'm going to Japanese club tomorrow night! Wish me luck. I hope it's better than the Shanghai one.

Ok, but moving on. To music. The reason we're all (or at least I am) here. And, fittingly, today we have Japanese music. I found a list recently of "10 great albums you may have missed in 2018," and on that list was a Japanese band called Kikagaku Moyo. I didn't listen to everything on that list, but out of the ones I did listen to, this was one of the best. Actually, I think this is the list where I found out about Rubio from my recent post, and then in trying to find out more info about her I stumbled on that other list with the other 2 Latin American bands. Anyway, they make Japanese psychedelic art rock. Good stuff. Super wonderful. I've only listened to their 2018 album, Masana Temples, but I'm definitely going back to listen to the rest. And on that album, my favorite track is Nana. So that's what you'll listen to first today.





So then I basically spent the entire afternoon in Japan listening to my old Japanese music that I haven't listened to in years. I really don't know why I stopped listening to Japanese music. Somewhere along the line I just lost interest. But there's obviously still great stuff out there. And some of the old stuff I used to listen to I still find to be fantastic. Not all of it, of course. But some of it is still just as strong as it used to be. Case in point: ACIDMAN. These guys make rock. I'd say pretty standard, nothing fusiony or different. Just really good rock. Which is not at all a bad thing. And my old favorite song by them is still maybe the best Japanese song I listened to while I was in Japan. It's called 廻る、巡る、その核へ (Mawaru, Meguru, Sono Kaku he), which translates to Revolving, Revolving, Into the Nucleus. Those first two characters have the same meaning in English, but the first one is more like rotation, and the second one is more like things repeating in order, like the seasons. Fun languages, those character-based Asian ones! Anyway, this song is from like 2004. But still fantastic. Also it's like 10 minutes long. And you never get bored.

Jan 20 - Nonku Phiri

So I was planning to write a blog this afternoon, but then I didn't. I ended up skyping my parents and napping and watching TV. Whoops. But then I went out to the theater to see In The Heights, and I was listening to a playlist that featured this song called Sîfó came on, and holy shit is it good. Just listen.




Right? And the worst part is for some reason, on Spotify, it cuts off at a minute and a half! Can you believe it!? It's unheard of. But this made me go to check out the artist, one Nonku Phiri. And then I saw that yes, the song really was only one and a half minutes on Spotify (I only later learned that is an error and there is a full song). But then I listened to her second most recent song, which is called Regrettables. And also holy shit is it good.






So that was two great songs in a row, so of course I had to go and look her up. It turns out she's from South Africa, and the son of a famous South African musician named Ray Phiri. Who I've never heard of. But my guess, from what I read, is that he was famous for more traditional music. And then here comes his daughter, making her own African dancehall tracks, that are fucking amazing. And what a voice. She makes me want to be back in South Africa so I can see her live. So I then of course did what any sane person would do, and just listened to everything on Spotify. Which, sadly, is only 4 songs. Plus one by some guy named Branko featuring her, called Let Me Go. And that happens to be the most listened to song by her. And it's also damn good. The way she rolls those Rs. So sexy.






But then there is one more song, and you are going to get all her songs today, because she is the best thing I have found in a long time. And that one other song may be her best. It's called Things We Do On The Weekend. And there you have it. Nonku Phiri in all her glory. Which is not enough glory. She needs so much more. This is like a song a year. I need so many more songs by this woman. And I hope I get them soon.

Jan 13 - Rubio / Niños del Cerro / LOUTA

So I mentioned that I'm going to a bunch of concerts this summer. I actually kind of feel like I shouldn't talk about it yet, because it's too early. But I'll just give a quick summary, I guess. Technically I guess the concerts started with Wondergarden, the New Year's Eve festival that Mike and I went to in Auckland. I thought it was mostly New Zealand bands, but actually I have no idea. There were some Aussies and others there as well. But the two bands I was really looking forward to were Icarus6 and Kllo. Icarus6 has not done anything for years, but I did really like a couple of songs way back in the day. And turns out that she was the best performer of the night. Kind of Little Dragon-y. Which is never a bad thing. And much better live than recorded. Which is a great thing. Plus she had some awesome back-up dancers. But yeah, that was the first concert of the summer, but when I refer to my summer of music, I'm really thinking about 2019 in Australia. Which started out on January 7 which CHVRCHES at the Sydney Opera House. Haven't seen those guys in years, and I think they've just gotten better. Even if it was weird to be sitting down in a theater to watch them instead of up and dancing. But it was a great show. And then was Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, who is incredible live, and Nai Palm, the singer from Hiatus Kaiyote opened up for him. Talk about a damn good lineup. Although I would have much preferred it be Hiatus Kiayote and not just Nai Palm. But still. Good stuff. And up next will be Leon Bridges when I'm back. Plus I've got Florence + The Machine, Hozier, and Lauryn Hill coming. Those are probably the ones I'm most excited for. But also there's like 10 more shows. What a good summer. I'll keep you updated as I go.

But let's move into music from none of the artists I am seeing. We're moving south to Latin America. Actually all the way to South America. And I've got 3 bands for you today, the first of which is Rubio. I actually can't remember how I found out about her, but she makes weird music. I guess think something like Grimes? Sort of dirty art-pop (I've added art in front of the music made by a few bands recently in conversations, which really is just a bullshit word that tells you nothing, but when I say it, I mean it's weird. But like good weird. And we all know I like good weird. And also just weird). So yeah, dirty art pop. Why the hell not? Just listen.





So that was Las Plantas. Weird stuff, right? But very compelling and very good. So Rubio is the solo project of Chilean singer Fran Straub, who used to have (or maybe still does have) a band called Miss Garrison. And now she makes music by herself. And it's music I like very much. She put out her first solo album called Pez back in October, and she gets two songs from that album today, because she's the one who got me to actually write this blog about Spanish music. So I'm also going to play you Mátame. Which is actually one of the least weird tracks on the album, but just a fantastic song. But if you want other weird stuff, I had a hard time choosing, and you can go and listen to Hacia el Fondo, Árboles, or pretty much the rest of the album. Great album.




Up next is Niños del Cerro from Chile as well. This is the first of two bands on here who came off of an article I found when trying to find out more information about Rubio. I found a Spanish list of the top Spanish albums of 2018, and it put Pez into the Top 10 (and Rosalía #1 and Kali Uchis at #2, the first of which I'm totally on board with, the second of which I can respect even if I don't agree). With those albums in the Top 10, I figured I better listen to the rest of the Top 10. And Niños del Cerro was definitely the stand-out find. They just put out their second album, Lance, in 2018. Now, if I'm being honest, it was kind of hard to pick a song to play you because a lot of the songs sound the same. But damn is it a good sound. Fun and uplifting and rocky and shiny and just wonderful. I love it. But I think I'm gonna go with El Sueño Pesa.





The other one that caught my attention is LOUTA. This is the stage name of Argentinian Jaime James, whose dad was the creator of the performance group Fuerza Bruta. He's also put out his second album this year, called ENCHASTRE. And it is interesting. Very interesting, and very eclectic. There's everything from dance to pop to white-boy hip-hop to grungy-rock stuff. Who knows what it is. But it's interesting, for sure. And good. And everything I've read about this guy pretty much just talks about how crazy his live show is. This one is also hard to pick a song off of, because it's hard to pick a song that exemplifies LOUTA's sound, and which I also really like. I like all of it. But nothing really gives you an idea of what he does. So anyway, I'm picking CUENTITOS. Although I was close to picking PUEDE SER or SOMOS TAN INTENSOS, both of which I think I like more than CUENTITOS, but I think CUENTITOS does a better job of showing what LOUTA does. At least when it comes to the more poppy/dancy stuff. Not the other stuff. But to me, when I think of LOUTA, I think of fun and dancy and poppy stuff. But also a bit dirty. And that's what this song is. Anyway, whatever you do, just make sure you go listen to the whole album.

Jan 10 - D'Angelo / Arlo Parks

First blog of the year! That's exciting. I actually wanted to write sooner, but things were crazy. As usual. Things always seem to be crazy for me. So I was home last time I wrote. Went for the nieces bat mitzvah. Did I tell you about that? In a nutshell, my nieces now live permanently in California and decided to have a bat mitzvah, even if it is a few years late. And before the bat mitzvah, they both underwent a formal conversion. I am, of course, super proud of them. It makes me kind of really emotional to think about how much better their life has become, and how a Jewish life and our family is what they've chosen. Kind of amazing. I'm a pretty proud uncle. So of course I had to be at the bat mitzvah. And spent a couple weeks home at the same time.

Then I flew back to Australia with my friend Mike. Mike has been promising to come visit me every year for the last 10 years. No exaggeration. And now he finally has! So that was exciting. We actually both took off late on Dec 24 and landed early on Dec 26, completely losing out on Christmas. Which, as Jews, neither of us care about, but I find it pretty funny. We spent the first few days of his trip in Sydney doing some touristy things. Although I did also work while he did touristy things. And he helped me buy lamps and hang a bunch of stuff around my apartment so that it finally feels like home. With his help, I actually finally feel like I have a home. There was one evening we were sitting at my place, and I looked around, and it was the first time I really felt like I like where I live. Which was a fantastic feeling. Some of the highlights of his stay were finding a new favorite restaurant (Bodega. It's 2 min from my apartment. I'll take you.), taking photos with koalas and kangaroos and wallabies and other animals, and finding a new favorite walk in Sydney (Hermitage Foreshore Walk. If you come and want to go to Bondi, I will take you here instead). So it was a great chance for me to start exploring Sydney, especially now that I feel like I don't have to spend all of my time just rushing to get settled.

Then on New Year's we went to New Zealand. Mike decided that if he was coming all the way to Australia, he also wanted to go to New Zealand. Which does not bother me at all because I love New Zealand. A lot. Like probably "Top 5" a lot. Although I have to say: Auckland - not so impressive. If you go to New Zealand, go to Wellington. But we spent a great New Year's eve, first with my friend Beth and her friends/friends' family eating a feast, and then outdoors on the waterfront at a music festival. Great way to ring in the new year! And on January 1st, we watched tennis. First time for me to actually watch tennis, and it was pretty fun. I always find that as much as I don't like sports, going to live sports is totally different, and actually enjoyable (or at least bearable). But yeah, this was great, and we got to see Venus Williams play. That was a treat. We also took a day trip over to Waiheke island for some wineries (go to Mudbrick. It is my new favorite place. I want to live there. And they make great wine). Then we went down to Rotorua to see some Redwoods and hot springs. Honestly that part was pretty disappointing, because I had it in my head to see amazing landscapes based on photos I'd seen online. But what I had in mind were the lava fields, I think, and that is not where we went. So it just didn't match my expectations, unfortunately. But still very nice, and I finally go to see the New Zealand Redwoods, which I've wanted to do for a long time.

Once the New Zealand trip ended, I came back to Sydney and got sick. So I spent a couple days just sitting at home watching TV and taking medicine. And then I went back to work. But also in there, my friend Jason and his wife Heather were passing through Sydney, so we go to hang out, which was fantastic. He's one of these old friends I see every 3 years or so and don't really talk to in between, but can just pick up where we left off. They're the best. And his wife is great. We did a bit of exploring (by water this time, on a harbour cruise) and then way out to the western suburbs of Sydney where a lot of foreigners will end up settling to try some Bangladeshi food. They were told by their driver that it's like Indian food but with more flavor. I don't know if that's true, but it is definitely like Indian food but also not. And it is also great. And I love food and new things and exploring. So that was great. And I also went to my first two concerts of the year (more on that later). And I had my first date since I got to Sydney. With a nice, Jewish girl who is also a doctor. Pretty good, right? Hopefully there will be another.

So 2019 is off to a strong start! So let's give you some strong music to start you off.

Well, to be honest, the first song is not super strong, but the artist is. The artist being D'Angelo. Who is one of the best artists. Period. He's amazing. And he's put out a track called Unshaken for the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack. It is kind of country, which is kind of weird. At first, I didn't actually think it was him. He sings extremely low. Plus the whole country thing. But the video game is an old western. So it makes sense for that. And I guess he's emulating an old timey country singer, maybe? I'm not sure. It's kind of a weird song that does not sound like D'Angelo at all. But the fact that it exists is very exciting. And hopefully means more music will exist soon. Plus towards the end he goes into a bit of his crazy falsetto stuff. Anyway, worth noting.





The other song of note today is Cola, the debut single by 18 year-old Londoner Arlo Parks. She is impressive. There's a lot of these impressive London youth's lately (i.e. Nilufer Yanya, Georgia, I don't know who else right now but lots more). I read a really great one-liner about Arlo in an article, actually, which sums her up quite nicely.

By the time she reached 17, she shaved her head, figured out she was bisexual and produced/wrote an album’s worth of material.

Impressive, right? Also, she says she wants to write songs the way Haruki Murakami writes novels. What's not to love about that? So she is definitely one to watch, for many reasons. Far from least of which is Cola.