May 30 - Maggie Rogers / Flying Lotus

Today's blog post is going to be quick. I've done a lot of writing for work today, so I'm just doing some writing for music. Not stories.

I went to my first show of Vivid Sydney last night, which was Maggie Rogers. She had a sold out show at the Opera House, so had actually added another show at a different venue. But I already had my Opera House ticket, which turned out to be great cause it was a fantastic show. I mean, I'm sure the other show was also great. She was much better than I expected her to be, and probably would have also been at a normal venue. But there's something about the Opera House that really moves artists. It is an iconic, world-famous space, so for artists to play there it's often a very emotional experience. Especially new ones like Maggie. And she talked about that a lot last night, actually. So I'm glad I was able to see her at that venue. And while it is a fantastic venue, which feels very intimate even for big concerts, the thing I really don't like about it is that everyone just sits quietly through the concerts. You're not up and dancing. Which is hard for me at a concert. But as soon as she came out on stage, she made everyone get up and dance. And then, about 5 songs later, she stopped mid-song to make everyone who had sat down get back up. Well played Maggie. Honestly, it was probably one of the best shows I've seen at the Opera House, which is surprising. I did not expect her to be that good. But I think it was in large part influenced by the fact that I wasn't just sitting around, like I usually am and usually hate at shows there. So anyway, here's Burning, my favorite song off of her album Heard It In A Past Life, which came out earlier this year, and which is wonderful. But Burning is definitely a top track for the year. I've listened to it so many times.

Then, since we're talking about artists who are not necessarily new, I'm going to thrown Flying Lotus in here. He just put out a new album also, called Flamagra, and there is one track in particular on it which is amazing. Black Balloons Reprise has Denzel Curry rapping on it, someone who I am not that familiar with or interested in, but he is fantastic on this. And the beats and strings and everything are so good. Overall, the album is fine. I like Flying Lotus, not crazy about him. He's not someone I would regularly sit down and listen to. But I enjoy him when I do listen. So anyway, I'm throwing Black Balloons Reprise in here. It is, by the way, the 3rd track in a trilogy by Denzel Curry, which started with Black Balloons and then The Blackest Balloon. But this Flying Lotus track is by far the best in the trilogy.

May 28 - Omar Apollo

So I left you right before my parents and I went off on our big train journey. Which I'll tell you about in my next post, but today I'll do some catch-up on the time in Sydney.

I had my parents on a bunch of tours during the week (Opera House, Great Synagogue, Harbour Cruise, Historical Walk, Blue Mountains...) but on the weekend we spent it exploring together. My parents aren't big hikers, but I wanted to take them out to one of the national parks near Sydney. There are so many beautiful, natural places within an hour of Sydney to explore, and the nature is one of Australia's most striking features, so they had to see it.

So we drove up to Ku-ring-gai National Park, in the north of Sydney, with a few friends of mine and did a little hike to an ocean lookout. It happened to be election day, though, so on the way we stopped off at a polling place for a sausage sizzle. Now, you may have heard of a sausage sizzle before. I only learned about it when I moved here, but it seems like it's gaining some international attention. It's a typical Australia barbecue, basically just sausages served on a piece of white bread, with optional grilled onions, and optional ketchup. That's it. Super simple. Super Australian. Not great food, but so good in that terrible food sort of way. And it happens all the time, but it has become closely associated with elections because most polling stations have sausage sizzles on. Apparently it's a way to bribe the kids to come with you, while also fundraising since many polling places are at schools and public libraries. And there was a big, in-depth report on the sausage sizzle on CNN this year, which shocked me. But anyway, we got that typical Australian experience, which my parents loved, then went and hiked. Then went back to the city and did another urban walk to watch sunset, which my parents also loved. And then they were exhausted so we went home and ordered dinner in.

But after dinner, I went back out to meet my friend Nina and her sister. Nina works in government down in Canberra, but was up in Sydney to meet her sister who had just flown in from the US. And they spent their evening at the post-election party for this guy Anthony Albanese, aka Albo, who is one of the Labour party senators (if that's the name...) for the Sydney area. Now I was told many things about Australian elections on this day, but the only thing I really took away is that the voting system is really weird and involves either voting above or below the line, and raking parties by priority, not just voting for the one you like. And also that the conservative party are called Liberals and their color is blue, while the liberal party are called Labour and their color is red. Very strange.

The party itself was also quite strange. It took place at an RSL, which is like a club for army veterans. But also kind of like a community center, and most neighborhoods in Australia have one. So this was held at the bar in the RSL, with no security whatsoever. I walked in and said I was there for the politica party thing, and the guy was like "yeah ok, just sign in over there" and then I walked into the open bar party. For a Senator. Who will likely be the next leader of the opposition party, since Labour lost (which was a big surprise and everyone at the party was very sad and crying and comparing it to Trump winning). I was shocked at the low level of security. I could never just walk into a senator's post-election party back home. But yeah, it was interesting.

And then on Sunday, we went to a reptile park up north of Sydney and played with kangaroos and wallabies and koalas and alligators and snakes. And we also saw a bunch of other animals, but those are the ones we got to pet. So that was fun. And that was the weekend. And then back to the tours before we left for my birthday trip, which I'll talk about next time.

Musically, we've got something very chill today: Omar Apollo. He's just put out his second release, although I'm not sure if they are EPs or LPs. They're both like 8 tracks, which is either a long EP or a short LP. But anyway, the new one, Friends, is pretty great. The music is very nostalgic of all the best of 90s R&B. The first track I'm sharing, Trouble, is a much more relaxed one, but it's in that heartbroken, melancholy vein of Frank Ocean or James Blake. So you know I love it.





But we'll pick it up for the next track, Kickback. This is real 90s R&B style. I'm talking Blackstreet, Boyz II Men, Soul 4 Real type of R&B. So I love it. Before I go, a bit about the man himself. Much like myself, he's a 1st generation American. And his parents are from Guadalajara, much like my mother. So he gets extra points for that.

May 21 - Joesef

I said I was going to try to write today about the weekend with my parents, but now I don't have time. I thought I'd not be too busy today, but then I was kind of busy. Not stressful busy, but busy enough to mean I didn't have time to write a blog. And now I'm about to leave the office to go home, finish packing and run to the airport, because tonight we fly to Darwin and tomorrow we start our journey on The Ghan train, which takes us straight through the middle of the country to Adelaide over 4 days.

But before I go, I'll share 2 songs from a new artist called Joesef. This guy is a singer-songwriter from Glasgow who has only put out two singles, both of which are pretty awesome. The first of which was Limbo. Super smooth.





I was pretty excited to find Joesef and to share him with you, because lately I feel like I've been sharing new music from old bands I love, or maybe new music from old bands I'm just learning about, but much less discovery of really new artists. And Joesef is really new. Apparently he just records everything in his bedroom and had put out a few clips online, not even full songs, and managed to sell out his first ever gig in Glasgow without ever releasing a full song. Pretty impressive. That was all earlier this year. And now he has a second single called Loverboy, that is also super smooth. Definitely one to watch right here.

May 20 - Penny and Sparrow

Last week was kind of the week from hell. Mostly because of work. As I expected. And as I said it would be. It was super stressful. Work was also super stressful outside of the visit from my big boss that I mentioned. But seriously as soon as they left I felt the pressure melt away, and from Friday evening things were great again and I could enjoy the time with my parents. Now there's only one really stressful thing going on at work, but otherwise it's all good.

The time with my parents so far has also been excellent. When I wasn't tired and cranky and stressed, anyway. And especially once the weekend started it was much nicer. They were mostly on tours last week, except for the day they arrived, when they just slept all day. Highlight for me was probably the ballet on Thursday night. We went to the Opera House to see Giselle, which they picked. They wanted to go see a show, not just see the Opera House, and that's the one they chose out of what was on. It was my first time at an actual ballet, I realized, and I liked it much more than I thought I would. I've seen a bunch of dance shows over the years, mostly due to my sister being in them. And it's not really my thing. It looks nice, but I don't really get it. So I was pretty unsure about sitting and watching a ballet for 2 full hours. But it's actually pretty theatrical, so you can follow the story without too much effort, and without actually having to know anything about dance. I'd totally go again! I mean, I wouldn't recommend to friends that we go, but if someone wanted to go, I'd definitely join in.

We did some stuff together on the weekend, but I'll try to write about that tomorrow at work before we go away on our big trip.

So I had Penny and Sparrow on my drafts for a long time to share with you after I heard their album Wendigo back a couple of years ago. But then a lot of time passed and I hadn't listened to it in a long time and didn't share it and so just removed it from my drafts. But now they've released a new single called Eloise, the first off of their upcoming album The Finch, and it's a fantastic song. So now they're back on the blog, and this time actually getting published. Starting with Eloise.





Beautiful, isn't it? Now let's work back to where I intended to start last year or whenever it was, which is with the song Wendigo, the opening track on their 2017 album Wendigo. Wendigo was actually like their 5th album, but it was the first (and still only) one I've heard. Super Bon Iver-y, so you should be able to understand pretty easily why I like it.





Normally I'd only put 2 songs on here when introducing a band, but I had planned to put 2 songs on back in the last blog, so now I'm putting 3. Which means you also get to hear another Bon Iver-y song, Salome & Saint Procula, which is also much more upbeat.

May 13 - Bruce Hornsby / Son Lux

I am not looking forward to this week. But also, I'm very excited about this week. Cause my parents are coming. They get here on Wednesday. And that will be great. What I'm not looking forward to is that this week my big boss is also coming with another senior manager from Germany. So it's just going to be an extremely busy week. And last week was a pretty bad week at work, just very stressful and lots of relatively big issues came up, so I was kind of dreading coming back this week. But all those problems are dealt with for now. It's more that I know that I will have pretty much no time for myself this week. Every minute is either going to be with work people or my parents. I'd be happy if it was just my parents, but it's not. Despite that, I'm very happy they are coming. It's their first time coming down here, and it'll be their first time in the southern hemisphere as well. And we've got plenty of fun stuff planned for them. So once my boss leaves, it will be great.

In the meantime, I have some relaxing music to play. But also kind of super sad music. That's just a coincidence, though. Starting out with Bruce Hornsby. Apparently this guy has been around forever, and he's just put out a new album, which is a bit boring, but there's one beautiful song called Cast-Off, which features Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver). Which is always a wonderful thing. So that's up first.

And up next is a very old song. Kind of. Son Lux just put out an album called Remnants, which is a collection of b-sides and rarities recorded over the last 10 years he's been making music. And the last few tracks are outtake tracks from their first album, At War With Walls and Mirrors. The last track in particular, Do, is wonderful. So that's the next one for today.

May 10 - Tamino

This has been a stressful week. Very, very stressful. Not the most stressful week, but probably number 2 since I moved to Australia. It was just one piece of bad news after another. But luckily it's Friday night and I'm just sharing a quick bit of music before going home and going to a concert. Tonight I'm going to Hiatus Kaiyote. one of my favorite bands. I bought the ticket a long time ago, knowing that Vivid Sydney happens in May (more on that in the future) where they have lots of concerts and that buying this one may mean missing out on something else. But then I thought about it and the only band I could think that I would rather see than Hiatus Kaiyote is probably Radiohead. So all good.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Hiatus Kaiyote or Radiohead today. I'm here to talk about Tamino. Tamino is a Belgian singer of Egyptian descent, whose grandfather was a famous Egyptian musician, and who's just released his first album, Amir. There's a lot of comparisons to Jeff Buckley, which I kind of get, but don't necessarily agree with. But the man has a gorgeous voice. And the Egyptian background definitely comes through in some of the music, which has heavy Middle Eastern influences. Case in point, w.o.t.h.





So a lot of his songs are quite upbeat with roots in rock (and Egyptian folk). Lots of Middle Eastern instrumentation and strings, and even choir. And, fun fact: the strings and choir are all done by Middle Eastern refugees. Pretty cool. But my favorite song is probably Verses. It is just gorgeous. Very simple, but so beautiful.

May 8 - Lizzo

Since last year I've been trying to spend more weekends away from Sydney. Not that I particularly need to. I spend plenty of time away already with work. But there's so much to explore here and I want to go see it all. So when I went to Canberra last year and met up with a friend, we talked about meeting up like once a month in random towns and beaches between Sydney and Canberra. But then that never happened, unfortunately. Things just came up, and the one weekend we actually tried to do it, nobody else could join us and so we cancelled. Which was no fun.

But this last weekend I finally managed to get out and start exploring New South Wales! I went with my friend Simone and two of her friends to Kangaroo Valley, about 2 hours south of Sydney. We just took a quick overnight trip, but it was wonderful. We rented a house on a mountain, and just hung out in town. There isn't much to do there, but we managed to keep ourselves busy anyway. There's a couple of cute little antique shops in Kangaroo Valley's very small town center. It's a one-street, no traffic light type of place. So you can imagine. But they do have a few wineries nearby, so Saturday afternoon we went to the winery and hung out, then went to the pub, and finally had dinner before just going back to the house and hanging out. And there was a chess set, so I played chess for the first time in like 20 years (no exaggeration), which was really, really enjoyable. Plus I won, so that helps.

Then we were supposed to go kayaking on Sunday, but the weather was not on our side. So instead we went to the neighboring town of Berry and went to another antique shop and their monthly market. I bought some plants. And this awesome Buddhist carved stone thing that's fairly large and was only $10. Great deal. It's in my kitchen now, but I'm not sure it'll keep living there. Then it was back to Kangaroo Valley to eat the Best Pies in the World. That's the shop name, and it really did not disappoint. It lives up to the hype. My 3 friends all agreed they were the best pies they'd ever had. And they were probably the best I've ever had also. I bought 4 to bring home for dinners this week. 2 of which I will be enjoying tonight.

So yeah, great weekend away exploring! Not the most exciting place, but really good to get out of Sydney and see a bit of the Australian countryside, and also make a few new friends. Next month we plan to do it again, this time to a town called Bowral.

Now in honor of these people, I will share some pop music. We were all doing the music sharing thing, and they all like their pop music. Which I generally hate. But then Lizzo showed up, and she makes great pop music. I mean, it's 100% pop, but this woman is wonderful. Just give a listen to Juice, one of her earlier singles.





She's basically a sex- and body-positive black woman who is completely unapologetic about her body or what she wants. And it comes through. She's blowing up. And I would be remiss if I did not tell you about her. So now you're told. Go listen to her album. It's still pop, so I'm not in love with it or anything, but it's a good time. Especially Like A Girl. That's my favorite one.