Sights> Enslaved download a sheep

I love these guys. As a response to Norwegian Venstre-party leader Lars Sponheim's suggestion that all music downloading should be made legal, the two founding members of the progressive black metal band Enslaved "downloaded" a sheep from Sponheim's ranch. There's a video (scroll down for it) in this article (in Norwegian) that features footage of the cunning fjord-commandoes in action and the sheep shopping for legal music in Central Oslo. The wooly quadruped was later returned to its owner at the Parliament. That should drive the message home.


 

Sounds> Ziltoid and other things I'm hearing

Goodness, how much fun metal music can be! I just bought Devin Townsend's latest disc from an unassuming Sydney record shop and have now listened the concept album through three times. On the disc named after the galactic coffee-connoisseur, Ziltoid the Omniscient lands on Earth in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Allegedly, the record evolved from... a puppet show project. Alright. The story features the omniversal guitar hero Ziltoid, jumps in hyperspace, planet smashing, Captain Spectacular ("who sets out to expose Ziltoid for what he really is: a nerd"), and blisteringly fast guitar solos and double-kick drums grooves (courtesy of Toontrack's Drumkit from Hell). And along all the funny stuff, the compositions are ingenious. This is an album that makes me want to get rest of Devin's productions. The 2001 release Terria almost had that effect already.

In addition to Ziltoid, really good stuff I've recently ran into (linking to pages that provide samples) are:

Om: Pilgrimage (third album from zoner-rock heroes and my daily addiction)

Boris: Pink (track: Farewell) (a punky release from Japan's drone/sludge/experimental royalty)

SunnO))) & Boris: Altar (track: Etna) (drone rock with just enough variety to keep things interesting)

Giant Squid: Metridium field (progressive metal/punk. myspace page, since they seem to have missed a hosting payment in the last 5 days)

Wooden Shjips: Wooden Shjips (prog / stoner rock)

Alamaailman Vasarat: Maahan (progressive fictional world music)




 

Log> Sydney Versus Melbourne? Anybody?

My local friends haven't been too helpful with my dilemma of whether to stay in Sydney or in Melbourne the few months I've planned to spend here. Everybody, quite naturally, seems to prefer home turf.

Riding around this beautiful country I've also run into the most charming little mountain towns and rural villages, and during my frequent lapses have even planned to rent out a cabin somewhere in the bush. But that's escapism, which usually follows a bad day here or there, and is not a solution. It's better to just sit down for a while and count breaths.

Sydney and Melbourne have a good, healthy rivalry between them. Sydney is a lifestyle-city; Melbourne is a people-city. Fringe arts and experimental culture abound in the latter, the former enchanting me with its beaches and modern edge. I love both.

There's plenty of comparisons between the two, too. Having lived in California, I immediately thought of Sydney as L.A. and Melbourne as San Francisco (handy comparison, since you could feasibly compare Brisbane to San Diego in the same run). Or Sydney is like Helsinki and Melbourne is like Tampere. There, that's a definition to end all comparisons.

I still need to figure this out. In the meanwhile, I've been staying in both (appropriately, in a bohemian garden shed in Melbourne, and in a beautiful cutting-edge flat right on a marina in Sydney, courtesy on my friends) and mostly just living: working a bit, writing a bit and enjoying both the waves and the roads - the mountain passes are pure motorcycling bliss. I was actually heading to Sydney before the weekend of the Moto GP held in Melbourne, and I must have had over a 1,000 bikes come the other way on my way up. I almost turned around to go down there, but after Mika Kallio came off in the early part of the 250 cc race, I was happy I didn't go. I would've been fairly disappointed at that point. I'm not a big motorsports person anyway. I just love being on a bike. Here's some shots from the way - the best ones are never taken because that's when riding is too sublime to stop.

The Trip: Around Oz on Bike

 

Go> Some theatre for you, if you're in Helsinki

I'm not in Helsinki, but if I would be, I'd go and see Ahmija (The Glutton) in Teatteri Jurkka. It sounds to be a great experience, but unfortunately undiscovered by the larger audiences. Check out this thoughtful review if you need more on it.


 

Log> Quickly from Sydney, and Melbourne next

I didn't mention I got down here safely, so maybe that's in order quickly - completing this leg without an accident greatly increases my touring trip safety ratio. I've stayed with friends in Manly, a yell north from Sydney, which certainly is one of the top cities in the world. But I'm still hesitant to make any judgement before I can put it in context - by checking out Melbourne. Taking off tomorrow, I'll head down there for about a week, and then back up here again. I'll post the route soon. And photos. Yes.

And no, my shit bank still didn't get my card to me... In fact, they lost it, had to cancel the new one they sent me too, and send a new one. From the UK. Again.