Sujud

Sujud by Senyawa. Bandcamp Link: Sujud

Number 7 in the wire magazine Top 50 releases of 2018.

Senyawa are an Indonesian duo.

I would classify what they do as a sort of ritualistic performance art.

The vocalist has a very low voice and groans more than sings. They accompany themselves on handmade electrified and acoustic instruments and percussion. Most recently they have discovered a small handbag of digital EFX boxes.

Due to the external similarity of their music to a couple Western genres, mostly drone metal and maybe prog, they have been adopted a bit by fans of those musics, and the associated publications and scenes.

Well, to be honest, if you heard a Senyawa song between a SUNNO))) song and a magma song, it wouldn’t sound terribly out of place.

I like them a lot and have been kicking myself that I missed their performance at the lab, here in San Francisco, last year.

Regrets, I’ve got a few…

Don’t make the same mistake I did! If you get a chance, go see them!

#Senyawa #Sujud #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #WireMagazineTop50 #WireMagazine

Cui Ming Premium

Cui Ming Premium.

Cui Ming Premium Yunnan Green Tea * Spring 2018 from the Yunnan sourcing Yunnan “First Flush” Spring 2018 Green Tea Sampler.

This is an unusual green tea.

First it’s a bit odd that it isn’t formed. Second, it is ridiculously light, almost a White Tea, or the ghost of a green tea.

Oh, but we haven’t talked about that yet.

White tea production is the simplest, the tea is picked, withered slightly, and dried. That’s pretty much it.

Green tea is slightly more complicated.

First, in general, white tea contains a slightly larger leaf to bud ratio than most White teas.

Second, after withering, the green tea undergoes something which is usually called “Kill Green”.

“Kill Green” refers to quickly heating the tea to stop the enzymatic action from changing the green color. Usually this is done, at a more rustic level, in something that looks a bit like a large wok, or at a more industrial level, in something that looks like a cross between a clothes dryer and a cement mixer. Alternatively, sometimes the tea is steamed, though this is more common in Japan.

After the “Kill Green” step, green tea is usually, (and I say usually, because obviously this tea has not,) formed into a some sort of shape that will prevent it from breaking in transport. A spear shape, or a roll, or a pearl shape, etc. There are different styles in different regions.

The tea is then dried at a low temperature.

This tea looks basically like White Peony (Bai Mudan) which has undergone a kill green step.

According to the Yunnan Sourcing this tea is grown from a specific varietal and picked very early in the spring.

It is super light in flavor, in almost every way the complete opposite of the robust late harvest Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai I drank yesterday. There is an earthy vegetal nutty character and a lingering sweetness. A bit of astringency in the middle steeps reminds you it is green tea, and not a white tea. But it has quite a nice, and subtle aftertaste.

#YunnanSourcing #GreenTea #CuiMingPremium #Cha #Tea #DrinkTea

Let Night Come On Bells End The Day

Let Night Come On Bells End The Day by Sarah Davachi. Bandcamp Link: Let Night Come On Bells End The Day

Number 6 in the wire magazine Top 50 releases of 2018.

Another release that surprised me.

I was expecting this to be some sort of folk album, for really no reason at all.

However, it is more lo-fi drone, keyboards and the occasional guitar. No vocals.

Once I got over my initial surprise, I found myself enjoying it.

If it reminds me of anything, it is probably a bit like a less quirky version of the German group Cluster or some of Brian Eno’s semi-ambient instrumental pieces circa “Before and After Science”.

Static grooves and drones which fade in and out, under and over, one another.

Definitely late night music.

#SarahDavachi #LetNightComeOnBellsEndTheDay #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai Yunnan Green tea

Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai

Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai Yunnan Green tea * Spring 2018 from the
Yunnan Sourcing “First Flush” Spring 2018 Green Tea Sampler.

I’m starting a new project in the new year. After spending the last few months drinking White Tea, I’m going to immerse myself in Green Tea for the next bit of time.

I started by ordering a Green Tea sampler from Yunnan Sourcing which includes Five 50g portions of various teas from Yunnan.

If you aren’t familiar with metric portioning, ordering teas in metric amounts can be a bit daunting, (but, frankly, ounces are way worse).

To make things easier, think about it like this. A typical teaspoon of tea is about 2g, which is a single British/American portion of single steep, broken tea.

But, you say, “Erik, you just ordered 250g of green tea, that’s 125 servings of tea. How on earth are you going to drink that?”

Well, let’s just say, I use more than 2g of tea per serving.

A typical amount used for a single serving of multi-steeped, whole leaf, Chinese tea is more like 5g (or 7g, if you’re really working it), which is really just 50 servings. A month and a half, if you only drink one batch of tea a day.

Anyway, this is a very nice tea, though not a green tea for wall flowers.

It has a nice early vegetal aroma, chewy but not overwhelming bitterness, and a very long lasting sweet aftertaste. Appetite building! A bit like a slightly less assertive Raw (Sheng) Pu-Erh. Oh, and a pretty zippy caffeine content! Scott from Yunnan Sourcing says it is a good morning tea, and I agree.

Veteran

Veteran.

Veteran by JPEGMAFIA. Bandcamp Link: Veteran

Number 5 in the wire magazine Top 50 releases of 2018.

There were many American rap releases in 2018. There are a few elsewhere on this list.

Yet, the British underground music magazine chose to rank JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran highest.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t particularly listen to a lot of music in the popular vein, so I’m probably as outside on this as the high falutin’ critics of the wire magazine.

So, what, for wire magazine, about Veteran makes it the most interesting Rap release of 2018?

On this release, JPEGMAFIA follows his muse, wherever his instinct takes him, his poetry, and samples, move through allusions to a wide spectrum of modern media culture, weaving together a picture of modern life in America. On the other hand, the music is about as close as you can get to abstract electronic music and still make something that sounds like a rap album.

Still, this is a rap album, and all the bragging, swearing, n-word this, b-word that, f-word this, bang-that, does put this middle aged white man off to a certain extent. Which, I guess, is the intention. This ain’t easy listening.

#thewiremagazine #JPEGMAFIA #veteran #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack

Aged Fuding Shou Mei White Tea Dragon Ball

When posting the previous Yunnan White Teas, online tea acquaintances @unytea.store suggested that I would be remiss to skip trying some White Tea from Fuding, Fujian, the home of white tea.
Fortunately, @yunnan_sourcing sells a few types of Fujianese white tea.
This is a fun “Aged Fuding Shou Mei White Tea Dragon Ball”. Dragon Balls are 7g single serving compressed tea balls.
In this particular case, these are handmade by the Yunnan Sourcing’s proprietor’s In-Laws. He even saves a portion of the money he makes on them and gives it to his in-laws every year in their Red Envelopes! Nice!
Anyway, Shou Mei White tea contains more leaf than the pure bud white teas, and this particular white tea is aged for several years before being formed into Dragon Balls.
Aged white tea is prized for it’s mellow, sweet character and easiness on the stomach. This tea is particularly sweetly floral and reminds me a bit of the of the honeyed flavor of chamomile tea. That is, until the buzz kicks in.
I also got a pair of slightly nicer tea cups, of a more traditional size and shape. You should stop by my desk around 10am, and I’ll share.
#Fuding #WhiteTea #Dragonball #YunnanSourcing #tasseography #Cha #Tea #TeaFriends

Ai Lao Mountain Jade Needle (Slight Return)

Ai Lao Mountain Jade Needle (Slight Return)

Sometimes I look at other #teafriends’ gaiwan photos and think, “Erik, you’re underdosing.” Then I up the leaves a bit, and whoops, buzzing away.

This is a return to the @yunnan_sourcing Ai Lao Mountain Jade Needle. I’ve finally got the water temp where it should be for this fairly delicate tea, and am finding it pleasantly complex. If you like Chinese green teas, this is a good gateway White Tea. Less subtle than most white teas, but more delicate than some greens. Incredible length of flavor and a surprising capacity for multiple steeps.

#cha #tea #whitetea #jadeneedle #YunnanSourcing #YunnanTea #tasseography

Water Thermometer

Tea Thermometer

Fine, I needed a more reliable culinary thermometer, anyway. Just in time for Thanksgiving. Better tasting green and white teas are just a bonus.

“But, Erik, I can’t afford an expensive digital thermometer to prevent me from giving my family salmonella poisoning on Thanksgiving and improve my tea game. Can you give me some other hints, at least about tea?” First, don’t pre-stuff your turkey, the interior cavity doesn’t get hot enough to kill bacteria. (Actually, my best advice is to not stuff the turkey at all, but to cook the stuffing separately.) Second, OK, at about 50 feet above sea level, in a 71 degree office, it took 5 minutes and 30 seconds for the 3 1/2 cups of water in my boiler to drop from rolling boil to 185F, an appropriate temperature for white or green tea. Also, at sea level, 195 is the water temperature which is considered a “simmer”. That is, steaming with few small bubbles. So, if you can judge a simmer, a little bit lower than that is the water temp you want for green/white tea. Your mileage may vary.

#Cha #Tea #tasseography

My Mother the Vent

My Mother the Vent by Guttersnipe; Bandcamp Link: My Mother the Vent

Ranked Number 4 in wire magazine’s “Releases of the Year”.

Raucus, raw, bracing, and unforgiving, obviously, I loved, “My Mother the Vent”.

It comes roaring out of the gate from the start and doesn’t lose a step until the end.

I have no idea how these kids, (and I can only assume they are kids with this energy level,) can possibly sustain this energy level for the duration of a concert. I felt a little tired just after listening to the pummeling beats, screaming yelps, and guitar abuse.

Remind me a bit of something that might have been on SkinGraft Records back in the 1990s, say a lost record from U.S. Maple or Lake of Dracula.

Anyway, it certainly got my blood pumping.

#Guttersnipe #MyMotherTheVent #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #WireMagazine #ReleasesOfTheYear

My Mother the Vent

Terminal

Terminal by Zuli; Bandcamp Link: Terminal

Ranked Number 2 in wire magazine’s “Releases of the Year”.

This album is pretty far outside of the type of music I usually listen to.

In fact, so far outside, that I’m not exactly even sure how to classify it.

Chopped and Processed Raps and other samples played over eclectic soundscapes?

Zuli is a Cairo, Egypt, based DJ and Producer. There are a host of guest vocalists on this album performing rhythmic poetry, most of it in Arabic.

The soundscapes often include the sounds of, I assume, Cairo. Car noises, construction, radio, etc. The sounds of a city. Some songs include legitimate music as backing, influenced or cut from eclectic sources.

The “beats”, such that there are beats, are usually digitally mangled through a chorus or flanger type thing.

Too strange to be pop music, but too accessible to be legitimately strange.

It exists in an odd place for me.

Interesting enough to listen to, but not something I am likely to go back to.

#Zuli #Terminal #TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #WireMagazine #ReleasesOfTheYear

Terminal