Nov 9 - Banks & Santigold

The internet, and in particular my VPN, were not very agreeable this weekend. Also I was super busy so would have written shitty blogs anyway, but in the end I wasn't even able to get on a write a blog yesterday. Which is actually ok, because aside from being sure that it would be shitty, I was also unsure about what song to share. Writing today has given me a solution to that problem.

When I wrote on Saturday it was short and shitty because I was exhausted and had no time. After about 3 nights in a row of sleeping for about 4 hours, I woke up on Saturday morning at 6:30 to go and work all day with my friend Julia. She took part in a chili cook-off as a way to promote her company, the Zotter Chocolate Theater. I was promised coffee for being up so early, but there was no coffee. Then I was on my feet, literally did not sit down once, from about 8 until 5:30, slinging chocolate samples. I was dreading having to make chit chat with a bunch of strangers all day on 4 hours sleep, but actually it turned out to be really fun, sore legs and all. I would absolutely help her out again at an event in the future, just hopefully not one that required waking up at 6:30 in the morning.

So I actually got to leave early from the cook-off because my friend Lie, who was in town from Singapore, was going to be staying at my place that night and I needed to meet him and his wife at 6 to give him keys before he took his wife to the airport for her flight. I then spent about 2 hours doing nothing. I just sat on my couch with the TV on paying no attention to anything. And wrote a shitty blog and showered and took a power nap, but anyway nothing that required even minimal effort. Ideally I would have just stayed home and gone to bed at like 9pm, but instead I got out of the house, went to a great improv show, then went to bars, and then kept going to bars until 3 in the morning. I have no idea how I managed it. It was crazy. And all on no coffee that day! Luckily I did get to sleep a full night on Saturday night and had a very chill Sunday.

I had other friends in town from Singapore as well, so I went to brunch with them Sunday, followed by a long day just chilling over at my friend Cy and Veronika's place. Veronika's birthday was on Friday, so they invited some friends over Sunday to just spend the day and eat dinner the cooked. So I was there for about 8 hours. Great way to spend a cold and rainy Sunday, especially after such a crazy week. But yeah, no VPN when I got home, so no blog.

Not writing a blog yesterday allows me to share two songs today though, which is great because I didn't know which of two songs to share yesterday. So don't let the title of this blog fool you, there is not a collaboration between Banks and Santigold. Rather, both of them have released singles this week.

I don't think I need to say too much about either artist, cause I've written about both of them already this year. Santigold back in March when I was in South Africa. She put out her new single, Can't Get Enough of Myself, on Thursday, and has announced a new album, 99¢, coming out next February. The single is a bit weird at first, and sounds like quite a departure from her earlier sound towards a more throwback/pop sound, but the further into the song I get the more I like it.




And then there's Banks, who also put out a new single on Friday, Better. It's typical dark, brooding, sexy Banks music, and it's great. Hers did not come with the announcement of a new album, although she has said in interviews that her sophomore effort will be out early next year. I also learned, while trying to find out about a new album, that she is apparently from Orange County. I thought she was from Tarzana or something, but Wikipedia says otherwise. Maybe she was born in OC? But I'm pretty sure she was living in The Valley when she started releasing music. She must have, cause she shared her phone number on social media back then, and it was an 818 number, which is The Valley. Anyway, nobody but me cares. So yeah, new single, no official new album, no Soundcloud, but very sexy YouTube video.

Nov 7 - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to go and work for my friend at a chili cook-off. I spent literally the last ten hours on my feet, and I am exhausted. My brain isn't working properly. But we were the Red Hot Chili Zotters, and so today's song comes from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tell Me Baby.

Nov 6 - St. Germain

Oh man, it's been a busy week. Except today, today wasn't busy, so that was great. I didn't go to the office cause of training, which I realized actually did not happen today, but I'd already got approval not to come in, so I didn't. Instead I had a great call with my financial advisor, exchanged money, and napped. And watched at on of TV. The nap was really important, because I was up at like 530 today, despite not having to be. First, it was a mosquito. The bane of my existence. I fucking hate those things. Then it was construction that began in my backyard at like 6:30. Awesome. So yeah, I was up very early, after getting home at 12. As I think I mentioned yesterday, I also only got like 3 hours of sleep the night before, so I was exhausted, but I have friends in town from Singapore so I was out with them last night, which went later than expected. It was great to see them, though, and I should be seeing them again tonight and maybe tomorrow (along with other Singapore friends who are in town this weekend. This is on top of Dave who I saw earlier this week, and another friend who I didn't get to see. Plus there's 3 birthdays this week. It's been a busy week! Ok, that turned into a long aside. Whoops). I've lost my train of thought. But that's ok, cause I'm just gonna give you some music then go to a birthday party.

That music is coming from St. Germain. As we all know, I like a bit of African music. I've shared some on the blog over the years, and wish I had  more to share. Well, St. Germain is not African music. He's a French DJ, whose real name is Ludovic Navarre. But he just put out a new album about a month ago, titled St. Germain, even though it's like his 5th or something, I think, in his 20 year career. It's the first time I'm hearing about him, anyway. For this album he's worked with a lot of African musicians to create a great blend of African sounds with electronic elements at times. It's a really unique and interesting album. How Dare You is the song that really caught my attention, and it's the perfect blend of the African music which seamlessly leads into his DJ roots at about the 4 minute mark, then just keeps building. Great track.

Nov 5 - Fat Freddy's Drop

There was some super shitty weather yesterday. Which meant that I was late getting home and very rushed to make my dinner plans. Normally I would have just written something after dinner, but I had people over after dinner last night. So I had to just be quick about it yesterday.

My friend Lizzy's girlfriend Zoe has been in town, and just left today, so last night was her last dinner. Well, when I say she was in town, I mean she came to Shanghai for a night, then they went to Japan for 5 days, then came back for like 2 nights. So I actually saw Zoe twice, and have met her plenty of times before, but on her first night in town we were all out to dinner for hot pot (Zoe's favorite, which is why we had it last night, too) and discussed a Japanese whiskey night for when they were back. Which is why we all came to my place after hotpot last night, since I've got all the Japanese whiskey from my last trip, and then Zoe and Lizzy also brought an extra bottle. It was a pretty great way to spend a Wednesday night, but then I got like no sleep and had to be in training all day today. Training was very good, but I'm exhausted now and my brain isn't working properly. Maybe you can tell by reading this, I feel like I'm just making words up that don't make sense together. Sorry about that.

So tonight's music will be an easy one. It's Fat Freddy's Drop, which should need no introduction cause they've been around forever (not that I actually know anything about them other than that they're British). They have a new album out, BAYS, and the opening track, Wairunga Blues, is great. And just like yesterday, it's also not anywhere streaming on the internet, except Spotify, so I'm using the rare Spotify embed, which I actually hate doing. I don't know why.

Nov 4 - Dungen

I'm in a bit of a hurry, so today we just get music. But it's ok, cause my day wasn't all that exciting. I'd just be bitching about traffic and rain. But it's about to become more fun, which is why I gotta go.

I just heard this band Dungen yesterday, but apparently they've been around like 15 years. They're from Sweden (hence the crazy song and album names, like today's) and have already put out 8 albums, of which I just listened to their newest, Allas Sak. Honestly, it's just ok. Pretty straightforward progressive rock, nothing too noticeable. But they came onto a playlist in the background, and as background music it sounded pretty good. As foreground music, it's pretty standard and somewhat boring. Except for this one song, En Gång Om Året, sandwiched right in the middle of the album. This one's a tune.

Nov 3 - Royal Canoe

I missed yesterday. Which you already know. It was not expected. Originally I planned to go and buy ceramics at Spin, the place I mentioned last week, have dinner and come home, all in the company of my friend Julia. Which is exactly what happened. But then we walked past a friend's restaurant (Dahliah's. I've talked about it at length cause of the falafel) we decided to stop in and say hi. There were closed yesterday, but Dahliah and her boyfriend Daniel were there. So a quick hello turned into beers until midnight. Which was great, but definitely not in the plan. Julia and I even talked at dinner about how much we liked going out for a bit to dinner then getting home with a little alone time before going to bed, and that was exactly what was supposed to have happened, then it didn't. But then I got home and set up my new ceramics, and today I bought some bamboo to put in them. I'll post a picture once I'm here when there's sunlight and I get a good one. Sadly it's now dark by the time I get home, but I should be able to get a good one on Thursday or Friday, cause I won't be at the office.

Today's song is brought to you by Royal Canoe. This is a band that I just heard, but they put out their only album back in 2013. It's not a great album, just ok, but there's on awesome song on it, Exodus of the Year. Sounds a lot like Stars. Which I love, obviously. In fact I even looked them up to see if maybe they were somehow related to that whole Broken Social Scene family that Stars is a part of. They're not, but they are also Canadian. And they've toured with Alt-J and Bombay Bicycle Club, so I had high hopes, but wasn't too impressed overall.

Nov 1 - Atlas Bound

Today was a pretty lazy day. As you'd expect after Halloween. I made a Lego costume yesterday, which I was pretty excited to wear out. But I don't think people really got it. Sad Face. After making dinner at my friend Zabrina's place, we ended up doing a quick walk through Yongkang Lu, which is a kind of shitty but also kind of cool bar street, and definitely the place to be last night. It was just a huge street party. It was awesome, despite the broken glasses and drunken assholes and puking. But it was great to see everyone celebrate. Then it was on to Le Baron, the "it" club in Shanghai, which I've heard much about and had never been to. It lived up to my expectations, which were that it would be pretty shitty and there would be no discernible reason why everyone would want to be there, specifically. So that lasted until about 1:30. Then today was movie day. Followed by dinner with my pseudo-mentor, Dave, that used to work at Shantui with me. He's in town for a few days, so we had dinner tonight. Hopefully there will be some more interesting news to share about Dave in the coming days. We'll see.

I had a hard time picking music today, just wasn't sure what to share. Actually I do have a band I want to share, but I don't know which song yet, so that'll have to wait until later in the week. So instead, you get Atlas Bound, a new band that I don't know much about. They've only got a few singles out, and this song, Landed on Mars, was the first I heard. I really like it. Hopefully they keep up with making stuff like this.