Stupid gimmicks are not a purely American invention. As evidence, take the Ice Bar. It took me a while to figure it out, even after an attendant explained it to me.
In celebration of Qingdao’s MixC Mall grand opening, this big box was set up in one of the mall lobbies. Any customer who met the minimum spend – I think it was something like $100 – could gain entry into the exclusive “Ice Bar.”
The Ice Bar did not actually serve drinks inside. It was just a refrigerated room, kept below freezing. Once you proved you had spent enough money in the mall, they gave you a big blue coat. Then they let you go stand in the freezer for something like ten minutes.
I know air conditioning is not as common in other countries as the U.S., and in late May it was already hot in Qingdao. So I could see the cold room as a refreshing break from excessive heat. But the Ice Bar was inside the mall, which was air conditioned to a lovely, comfortable temperature.
Since I wasn’t working as much over the holidays, I was able to listen to more rap. Besides Doppelgangaz and the duo Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, I also liked the metal band Zeal and Ardor, local Seattle artists Kinski, and Icelandic composer Thrainn Hjalmarsson. What this eclectic list has in common is that every entry has a unique voice.
Zeal and Ardor
The holiday season is glutted with year-end best-of lists. They are a great way to find music you missed, but this year I skipped most of them. One I did read was Bandcamp’s list of best metal, where I rediscovered Zeal and Ardor‘s Stranger Fruit. I liked it when I first heard it in June, and I liked it again in December.
Kinski
I’ve already forgotten how I came to listen to Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle by Seattle band Kinski. It ranges from catchy indie riffage to a weird, sometimes abrasive take on post-rock. But even as a fan, I acknowledge that most post-rock sounds the same. This music doesn’t sound like anything else. Despite being light on the vocals, it’s not an album for the background while working on something else. The Warm Turtle demands attentive listening.
Doppelgangaz
Here’s something I don’t think I’ve heard before – an instrumental album produced by rappers. Beats for Brothels Vol. 4 by New York’s Doppelgangaz immediately grabbed my attention and held on through an entire album of eccentric, engaging beats. No wonder it was Bandcamp’s Album of the Day.
Jean Grae and Quelle Chris
Another Bandcamp find, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris are apparently independent producers who decided in 2018 to get married and put out an album together. I haven’t heard their solo stuff. But the quirky album they made together, Everything’s Fine, is just oddball enough to raise an eyebrow without sliding into kitsch. It’s full of pop culture and auditory references but it’s a little too surreal to be derivative. Everything’s Fine is evidence to support the truism that genius and madness are closely related.
Thrainn Hjalmarsson
Okay, if I’m being totally honest, I didn’t love Thrainn Hjalmarsson‘s album Influence of buildings on musical tone. Like a lot of contemporary classical music, its sounds are abrasive enough to be off-putting (this from a metal fan). But I try to keep tabs on contemporary classical Icelandic artists (now I really sound like a metal nerd). I love the album’s high concept interpretation of a 1927 essay about – you guessed it – architecture. From the Bandcamp article:
The sounds found here approximate the sonic properties of a traditional Iceland turf house, with harmonic-laced arco lines, some bristling with dissonance, others snaking in the upper registers, engaged in an exploration of a confined space.
Bandcamp, The Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2018
Add to that a who’s who of classical Icelandic musicians performing on the album, and you’ve got me hooked.
I have a really hard time booking hotels because I’ve spent so much of my life traveling solo and sleeping in dorms. But I totally scored when I took my daughter to China. We booked a room in the Castle Hotel in Qingdao. Formerly guest housing in the German governor’s estate, the European-inspired Castle Hotel was our home base and refuge. I used my Chase travel card and points to pay for the room, so our week and a half stay there ended up costing about $100.
I’ve mentioned the over-the-top MixC mall in Qingdao before. We ate lunch inside that mall one day, and let’s just say it was no Orange Julius. This trendy little restaurant whose name I couldn’t read had a 45-minute wait for seating. Inside, the menu consisted of elevated izakaya-style small plates. I wasn’t in China long enough to bother setting up a Weibo account. But I’m willing to bet there’s a lot of IG-worthy food photos on it.
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