New Music.. Monday?: Lisa Hannigan's Parachutes

So it seems that after a week away, I have missed some pretty big news. I found out about the death of Steve Jobs a few days later than everyone else. But also, this was a pretty big week for Irish music. Lisa Hannigan, who made her name collaborating with fellow countryman Damien Rice, released her second album since the musicians drifted apart in the UK (interestingly it was released three weeks earlier in the US). The album isn't available until November 4 in Australia, however you can listen to excerpts from it on her website.

BUT

Lisa is coming to our fine country very soon (although not playing her own material) for "Way to Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake" in Sydney and Melbourne. So get your skates on, it's gonna be epic.

Well, it's bye for now. I've left you with quite a long video on the making of Parachutes, because frankly I really.. really like Lisa, so I enjoy watching/listening to her. If you don't have a spare seven minutes however, go here for a short taste of what Ms Hannigan is all about.

Enjoy.

New Music Thursday: Kate Martin's Apples

Do you like apples? Well how do you like them apples? (I apologise for the swearing at the start of the clip.. but it's a great scene from a great movie)

Good Will Hunting references aside, Kate Martin's song 'Apples' is oh so sweet. Her Unearthed profile calls it "experimental pop". I don't really agree, in my opinion it's hardly experimental, but it's definitely solid, well-made indie pop. It's the first single from Kate's second album, but that's not due to be released until February 2012, so watch this space.

Anyways enough of me talking, let's all watch a video!

Enjoy.

Kate Martin 'Apples' from Timothy Melville on Vimeo.

New Music Thursday: New videos for Big Scary and Youth Lagoon

Hey guys, just a quick one tonight. It seems that in the last few days two songs that I have previously blogged about have had videos made for them. And get ready for variety because they're entirely different at odds with each other.

First up we have the dorky, fun video for Big Scary's 'Gladiator'. Their album is out October 7.

And next, just in case that video made you feel too happy, we have the moody, brooding video for Youth Lagoon's 'Montana'. His debut album 'The Year of Hibernation' comes out in Australia tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. But if you're cheap (yet can somehow afford fast internet), you can stream a few tracks from it on Spin.

Enjoy.

Youth Lagoon - 'Montana' from Spunk Records on Vimeo.

New Music Thursday: Youth Lagoon's 'Montana'

Last night I stumbled upon this track, and I immediately knew it was worth sharing. Trevor Powers, known by the pseudonym Youth Lagoon, is a 22-year-old from Idaho, USA. During uni holidays he locked himself in a room for some time, and a collection of dreamy, ambient, melancholy, beautiful songs resulted.

'The Year of Hibernation' is a pretty powerful debut album, especially since Trevor self-produced it. It will be released in Australia on 23th September, and I'm pretty pumped to get my hands on it.

Luckily for us, Mr Powers has given a peek into what we can expect. Two tracks from the album, 'Canons' and 'July', can be downloaded for free or streamed on Soundcloud (along with 'Montana').

After being signed by Fat Possum, Youth Lagoon's ditched uni and hit the road with a band, promoting his upcoming album. Hopefully he comes to Australia soon!

Enjoy.


Montana by Youth Lagoon

Bon Iver's Holocene

Just saw this for the first time, and I need to share it. Beautiful song, beautiful landscape, beautiful concept, beautiful video! It's set in Iceland.. (wow, I need to go there sometime) and directed by Nabil Elderkin, an Aussie who's also done stuff for some other pretty big names (check out his site for music videos he's directed for Kanye West, Seal, Bruno Mars and many others).

I hope you enjoy it!

New Music Thursday: Vows

Well, have I been waiting for this one. Ever since seeing her last year I've been following Kimbra's progress. It seems she's getting pretty big now. You know you've made it when Katy Perry misspells your name in a tweet.

And (finally), her debut arrived last Friday. If I wasn't already convinced of her amazing musical talent and versatility, the album put forth a pretty convincing argument.

It begins on familiar ground, opening with her first single Settle Down, followed by Cameo Lover. Then we're introduced to the new stuff. Highlights for me include the smoky, cabaret-infused "Good Intent" (the video of which I'm sharing with you tonight), the very funky "Call Me", and the relaxed groove of "Wandering Limbs" (a duet with Melbournian Sam Lawrence that reminds me a little of Zero 7).

I have to say that as good as the music on the album is, her live show is something else entirely. There's just something about her on-stage energy and super-talented, super-tight band that is impossible to capture in the studio. And I think that's something you could be pretty proud of.

I hope you guys enjoy the video for "Good Intent". I've gotta say that I dig it a lot. If I could ever dance in anything actually resembling a "style", then this would be it. The guys in this clip definitely know how to move.

Enjoy.

P.S. If you want to listen to Kimbra's album right now, you can stream it online.

New Music Thursday: Big Scary's Gladiator

I really enjoyed watching Melbourne duo Big Scary tonight in their support slot for Liam Finn (son of Kiwi music royalty Neil Finn. His backing band also includes two other members who are children of ANZAC music royalty: his brother Elroy on drums, and playing various percussion instruments and providing backing vocals is Eliza-Jane Barnes, daughter of none other than Jimmy Barnes. But I digress...)

At the start of Big Scary's set I was reminded of another man-woman duo from California named Mates of State, however these guys quickly proved me wrong by stamping their on unique style on the evening. While Mates of State make fairly bright pop music, Big Scary seek every opportunity to rock out, despite having only two on stage. A lot of their songs contained enough dynamic and tempo changes to give you a blood nose, however they also played some that were more beautifully brooding, such as the one I'm sharing with you today.

'Gladiator' has just been released as a single for their upcoming album 'Vacation', which is due to be released early October.

Enjoy.

Gladiator by bigscary

Late night blogging

Well this week has been a week of inspirations. At the beginning of the week I began reading "It's Not About the Bike", the book Lance Armstrong wrote on his battle with cancer. Knowing people who have had or still have cancer, it cut straight to my heart. And on Tuesday I went for a run for the first time in almost a month. And then again on Wednesday. And Thursday. And Saturday.

Here's a map of Saturday's run, my first run over 10km in probably over four months. It also marks the beginning of my training for the Canberra Fun Run, a 10km deal which is in a few weeks.

It probably would have been a slightly more impressive time had I remembered to hit "pause" when I bumped into some friends and chatted to them for about 10 mins around the 6km stage. Oh well. That particular run was more about making the 10km mark, rather than the time it took.

On Saturday's run, for some reason I had a pretty interesting thought. This is unusual for me - usually when I'm running I'm like Dory from Finding Nemo: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." My mental energy is most often just focussing on not stopping. But not this time.

The thought that popped into my head was this: that some things that cause us pain or discomfort can end up being good for us down the track, while other things that are pleasurable or comfortable will have a negative effect. For example, running (or really any intense exercise) can hurt while you're doing it, but actually makes you healthier. On the flip side, eating lots of cookies and lounging on the couch can cause you to be unhealthy if you do it too much.

Obviously this isn't a very concrete rule. A solid session of head-butting the wall probably won't benefit you later in life. But I thought it was pretty cool anyways.

Well. It's getting late. Good night guys.

P.S. The fact that I wrote this blog in the midnight hour is testament to another thing that's inspired me this week. But I'm not going to talk about it because I've already professed my love for it in a previous post, and I don't want to seem obsessive (even though I am).

New Music Thursday: Gotye's Making Mirrors

Ever since I saw Gotye live at Groovin' the Moo earlier this year, I have been pretty excited about the release of his third album. And this week particularly so, because tomorrow is when it is released. I honestly can't remember being this excited about an album release, ever. So to share my excitement (and give myself another chance to be self-indulgent in listening to his music), Gotye once again is the feature of New Music Thursday.

The video I'm sharing with you today is a preview of the album that Gotye released a few months ago. It gives you snippets of the songs (and hints about some potentially cool upcoming music videos) from the album. My favourite so far is a song called "State of the Art" which I had a pretty fun boogie to when he played it at Groovin' the Moo (it's the song in which he refers to the "Genie Bass" and "Diapason").

If you wanted to listen to the album now, or if you're just too cheap to buy the album, Triple J are streaming the album in full at the moment here.

Rest assured that tomorrow I'm gonna be heading to my local music store as soon as my lunch break starts.

Enjoy.

Making Mirrors - album preview from Gotye on Vimeo.

New Music Thursday: Grouplove's Tongue-Tied

OK, I'm back! I'm sorry to anyone who actually follows my blog enough to know I'm supposed to write a new post every Thursday. Alas, the last two weeks I haven't. The first week I was up in Queensland for Splendour in the Grass, and then last week I was battling an illness I probably picked up at Splendour. In fact I'm still not quite over it. Nasty stuff.

But sickness aside, Splendour in the Grass was incredible. I saw over 30 bands in three days, so I might share a song with y'all from one of those bands. Grouplove are a group of Americans who actually met in Crete of all places. Geography aside, they make some pretty cool music together.

The video I'm sharing with you is from their upcoming debut album "Never Trust a Happy Song" which is due to come out next month.

This video reminded me of the video for Coldplay's The Scientist, but with more men wearing suits and wrestling masks.

Enjoy!

New music Thursday: What is Biophilia?

Ok guys, I've got some big news for you. And you know it's gonna be big when Sir David Attenborough is involved.

But Brendan, how in what possible way could Sir Attenborough be involved in new music?

Excellent question Brendan. Let me explain. See there's this wonderfully quirky Icelandic musician named Björk. And even though she's been making music for over twenty years, she continues to innovate. Her new "album" is like nothing I've ever seen before. In fact it's not just an album. It's also an iPhone app.

What!?

Hang on. An iPhone app?

That's right. And the app ain't just the songs. It's a universe you can explore. And on this exploratory adventure you take, you are apparently going to learn a little bit about how music interacts with nature. And who better to talk about nature than Dave?

Enjoy.

björk biophilia app intro narrated by david attenborough from Björk on Vimeo.

Oh, and also, the app's free!

The full album is rumoured to come out sometime in September, with two singles already released: Crystalline last month, and Cosmogony two days ago. Check them out! The video for Crystalline will premiere on July 26. Get excited!

Le Tour de.. Brendan?

Yesterday marked the beginning of the next chapter in my pursuit of what seems to be eluding me this winter - reasonable fitness. Or rather, the motivation to do what takes to attain this.

This week sees me house-sitting for my parents, which means I'm no longer within walking-distance from work (unless I leave before 6am to get to work at 9am). As a result of watching Le Tour de France for the first time this year, a combination of inspiration and ambition (and probably naivety) led me to set the goal of riding my bike to and from work this week.

To ensure I didn't bail out at the last minute, I left my car at my apartment and rode to my folks' place yesterday. Short of chucking a sickie, I had to ride this morning.

Canberra winters can be pretty brutal, and this year it has been especially cold. So I made sure I had plenty of layers: this morning I was wearing two pairs of leggings, a thermal undershirt, shorts, thick woollen socks, a woollen ski jumper, a wind-jacket, two pairs of gloves and a ski balaclava (with a sweet visor). I was well and truly ready to do battle with sub-zero temperatures.

So naturally it had been raining, was overcast, and it never got even close to sub-zero last night. In fact it was quite muggy. Plus a lot of the route to work is uphill. As a result I was way too hot. Good times.

Over-dressing aside, even though the ride this morning was pretty tough while I was doing it, my legs actually feel pretty fresh. I'm ready for the rest of the week! Although I reckon my legs may start to feel the burn towards the end of the week.

I guess the irony is that in order to ride to work and back, I'm going already in bed before Le Tour starts each night. And it's watching Le Tour that inspired me in the first place.

New Music Thursday: Simple ain't always stupid

I came across this video from Kiwi Indie-rockers The Naked and Famous courtesy of rage, and was pretty impressed. Anyone who's ever used a beat-maker on their computer or iPhone will know where I'm coming from.

Anyways I thought I'd share the video with you. It's a pretty basic concept, but they've done a great job with it!

The Naked and Famous are currently touring in the USA and Europe, but will be in Australia in September for the Parklife Music Festivals that are happening around the country.

Enjoy!

The Naked And Famous - Girls Like You from The Naked And Famous on Vimeo.

New Music Thursday!

Hrmm it's been a long time since my last post, and I really don't have any excuse. I'm just lazy.

In a bid to make my blog somewhat regular, I'm gonna endeavour to at the very least post a music video every Thursday (but hopefully I'll have other posts too).

So the first post is of Gotye's new single "Somebody That I Used To Know", which is very cool. The album is set to be released August 19, and I can't wait. This guy is a genius, something that was proven to me when I was lucky enough to see him at Groovin' the Moo Canberra, and I should be seeing him again pretty soon at Splendour in the Grass.

Another awesome thing about the song is it's featuring Kimbra, who's also playing at Splendour.

Oh and Gotye's album "Like Drawing Blood" only just missed out on a top 10 placing in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time. I was rockin' out to it this morning as the Js played the album in full. Awkward seated dancing ensued.

Anyways enough rambling from me. Enjoy your video, you crazy kids.

Gotye- Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)- official film clip from Gotye on Vimeo.

Sister Act

Hey guys, you should check out my mate's blog on new Australian music. There's some very cool stuff on it, including my first ever post on it! It's a review of Seeker Lover Keeper's album.

via Dingo Stole My Lady.

Seeker Lover Keeper’s self-titled album may not be as adventurous as any one of these three ladies going it alone, but this doesn’t make it any less powerful. It sounds as if Holly, Sarah and Sally have found a really comfortable dynamic together, creating a sisterly feel.

This sister-like relationship is demonstrated throughout the album by the sense of sharing and equality. Of the 12 tracks, Sarah, Sally and Holly have written four each, often with the one who penned the song singing backing vocals while one of the other girls taking the lead. The girls sing about love and relationships, with songs such as “Even Though I’m A Woman” and “Bring Me Back” standing out. Sarah Blasko emerges as the natural leader of the group, as she seems to sing the most often.

This is extremely good quality music and song-writing. I think Sally, Holly and Sarah have found a good place, where they compliment, inspire and push each other. This album deserves it’s place in the ARIA’s top three, and the only Australian Album currently in the top 10.

“This is my song
This is my home
This is where I belong.”
Sally Seltmann – If The Night Is Dark

This is where it must start

I woke up at 6am this morning to find that it was a tad windy. After trying to "sleep" until my alarm went off at 6.30, I got up, got dressed and started my stretching. I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant outside, but I've been putting off training for too long, I sensed it was pretty important that I run today. I needed to set a precedent, to stop making excuses and start being disciplined again. And running on a morning where a blizzard warning had been issued by the Bureau of Meteorology was a pretty awesome way to start. And very boast-worthy.

I realised a few things as a result of today's run (beware, list ahead):

• Running in wild weather is not so bad, in fact I kinda enjoyed it. It took my mind off the shock my body was in at running for the first time in nearly three weeks.
• I tense up when walking in the wind. I don't when I'm running.
• My hippie-headband thing rocks at keeping my ears warm, and doesn't make my head explode from heat like a beanie does. And it's actually colour-fast, something I wasn't expecting from a piece of fabric I bought in a coastal town for a coupla bucks. In fact I was half-expecting a blue streak across my forehead, but when I checked in the mirror afterwards - no streak!
• I really need to stretch and run more. My legs were so tight in my pre-run stretch, and the run itself. Yoga sessions are needed.
• My hands took around 3.5 to 4ks to warm up. I don't expect that they'll warm up at all on tomorrow morning's bike. Ouchies.

So the good news is that it has (finally) begun! I've also started planking (the core workout one, not the bogan one) and doing push-ups everyday - laying the foundation to hit the weights at the gym next week. I'm finally psyched!

Nearby Natural Wonders

A few months ago my mum showed me an article in the local paper about a place called London Bridge Arch. It's less than 30 minutes' drive from my house, yet I'd never heard of it.

Last weekend I finally got the chance to check it out, and by gosh it's impressive. Over (a lot of) time water leached this ol' hunk of limestone enough for the Burra Creek to find a way through, and what's left is an amazing natural bridge.

It was humbling to discover something so amazing that I'd never seen or even heard of before so nearby to where I live. It makes me think what other naturally-occurring spectacles I'm missing out on that may also be just over the hill or in the next valley over. I guess I have some more exploring to do.

Training Update

A week after writing my timetable, I've managed to run on the Thursday morning and do the yoga/pilates class on Friday. No pre-class gym session, no bike-ride on Sunday, no climbing on Monday (although that's because the climbing gym is closed at the moment), no Tuesday run (instead I was sick, off work for the day, and confined to either my bed or the couch. Except for a bathroom cleaning and mopping spree mid-afternoon). And it looks like I'll probably miss tomorrow morning's run too (I'm still sick, although slightly less so thanks to some pharmaceuticals).

So health and discipline are needed, but they are hard to come by when Canberra is in a prime location for an early-winter blizzard, apparently.

A Thought

This is going to be short. Because it doesn't need to be long.

Islam is the second largest religion on Earth, with Christianity the largest. We all know the vast differences in practice and doctrine that can be found in differing denominations of Christianity. There are over one and a half billion Muslims in the world, so obviously there will be just as much variety of doctrine and interpretation of their holy text.

Therefore, the same "logic" that assumes that all Muslims are extremist, hate anyone outside their belief system, or are terrorists, would also assume that all Christians behave like members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Nearly every large group of people, especially religious groups, will have extremists. And for the most part the acts of these individuals don't reflect the ideals of the group as a whole. I need to remember this.

Like Communism, this program is good in theory

So today at lunch time I came up with a "timetable" for my fitness. This is the first time I've had a timetable since finishing uni, but I'm pretty excited. If I'm disciplined and follow it, it'll see the creation of Fit Brendan 2.0, hopefully seeing my fitness become more comprehensive, rather than simply cardiovascular/legs of steel fitness.

In fact, before I started running I was actually pretty involved with rock-climbing. It was an injured wrist (from skating - my injury demonstrates my skating ability) that got me into running in the first place. But now that I'm wrist-injury free, I'm pretty pumped to get climbing and gym-ing again.

According to my timetable, my weeks will look like this:

Monday - Indoor climbing

Tuesday - Morning run, yoga/pilates class at lunch

Wednesday - afternoon gym session

Thursday - Morning run

Friday - afternoon gym session and yoga/pilates class

Saturday - rest day

Sunday - Bike ride to and from church

Boom.

If I'm disciplined, I'm pretty sure I can handle it.

The only thing I'm worried about is the morning runs during winter. I'm not so concerned about running in the cold (I kinda like it) as I am about actually getting out of bed. I've been pretty much hibernating lately, sleeping more than 8 hours a night. Which means some pretty early nights if I want to be getting up early in the morning. Or I could just man up.

Envious

When I saw this post on a blog I follow, I turned slightly green. It's written by Scottish rock-climber Dave MacLeod.

If I lived in a place like this I don't think I'd ever run on roads or paths again.

Beautiful Ladies

Quite possibly the best three lady singer-songwriters in Australia have joined forces, and with their powers combined, it's Captain Planet! Well, no Captain, but it's a band called Seeker Lover Keeper,and consists of Holly Throsby, Sally Seltman and Sarah Blasko. Now I may be a little biased, as people close to me are well aware of my unconditional love for Ms Throsby, but there is no denying the beauty of the music that results when these girls write music together.

If you'd like a taste, go here to check out the videos for three of the tracks from their self-titled album, which comes out on the 3rd of June. The videos feature some familiar Aussie actors mouthing the words. Very interesting seeing the voice of a young lady emerging from the mouth of a middle-aged man, heh heh.

If you want more than a taste, you can grab the whole pie at triple j. They're featuring the album this week on the wireless, and streaming the album in full on the web.

Holly, Sarah and Sally begin touring nationally soon, including an appearance in July at Splendour in the Grass. They will be joined on tour with Jim White of the Dirty Three on drums, and David Symes on bass. Try not to miss them.

And so it begins

So after getting excited yesterday about training for a purpose again, I decided to run after work tonight. The loop I did I estimated to be around 7.5, but thanks to the satellites in the sky and the smartphone in my hand, I was able to track it accurately:

Hurray! I underestimated a distance for once!

At least I know where I'm at now, fitness-wise. I ran 5:15min kilometres, which ok, but the route I took has a lot of downhills. For my half-marathon training I was running the other way, uphill. And that's what I'm going to do from now on, so obviously the pace will be a bit slower to start with. Today was just my way of easing into the training.

I'm really looking forward to the point where my foundation fitness is cranking again, and the only way to do that is by running three times a week. And hopefully by doing this I can get that time down. Running the current pace for 10km would see me running a time of between 52-53 minutes, but I doubt I have the stamina to do that yet. And training is the only way to fix it!

Future goals

So I was gonna post a like to this site, and you'd click on it and be directed to an awesome site for the next running event I'm planning on entering. But instead "canberratimesfunrun.com" is code for the "Canberra Times Outdoor Art Show that we're gonna tell you about four times in a row."

Anyways, hopefully when I rock up to the start line in September I am greeted by water stations and a starting gun, not running through a group of disgruntled artists and their paintings I've just knocked over.

The Canberra Fun Run is 10km, which is a darn sight shorter than a half-marathon. I know I am capable of running the distance, so this time around it's all about the time. I have two benchmarks with which to measure myself by, and my aim is to hit somewhere in the middle.

First of all is my dad, who wasn't much of a runner, but I can still learn a bit from his determination/stubbornness. When he was a young lad, he had a goal to finish the Canberra Fun Run within an hour. I don't know much about how he trained for the run, but on his first two attempts at the (annual) Fun Run, his time was outside the hour. In his third year, he managed to run a 59:58, and promptly vowed to never run in the event again. I hope that I have the same strength of will to set my mind on a target, and to persist until I achieve it.

The second benchmark is a guy from my church. He's the dad of one of my best friends, and has been running for a solid chunk of his life. I talked to him a few days ago about running 10k, and he told me the last time he ran the Canberra Fun Run was 20 years ago, and he posted a PB for 10k in that race. His time was 36 minutes. THIRTY-SIX MINUTES. Apparently he was tired after running 17 minutes for his first 5k, that he only managed to run the final half of the race in 19 minutes. What a freak. But I'm going to try and let that inspire me, rather than scaring me off.

So my aim is to run a time somewhere in between my dad's "I'm never running again" time and Lloyd's "I was tired so I only ran the final 5k at a SEMI-elite pace" time. I think 45 minutes is a nice figure.

I feel that my fitness is on a slow decline after completing the half-marathon, so hopefully having something to aim towards again will remedy this. Lately I've only been managing about one run a week. It's a lot easier to just stay in bed when you don't have a program to follow, or a goal to achieve. And armed with some training advice from Lloyd, I think I'm ready to write up a program that will get me out of bed and into the blizzard that is the winter morning in Canberra.

The awesome thing is that the start line for the Canberra Fun Run is practically across the road from where I live, so I just need to make sure I bring enough change with me on the run to catch the bus back homw.

Lego Brendan is just not suited to Full-Time Work

Lego Brendan was born last year in Europe. He entered Australia illegally, without a passport, by stowing away in my friends' luggage. Shortly after, he came to live with me, and it wasn't long before he began working at my office.

However lately I have noticed that

Lego Brendan doesn't seem to be handling full-time work very well. In fact, I've come to suspect that he may be bipolar.

Above is Lego Brendan's reaction to some work that he and I had been given. It was a drastic overreaction on his part, as this work only too

k half a day to complete (or less if he had helped out instead of cowering in the corner).

And more recently, I came in one morning to discover that he had misplaced the hat that he insists on wearing even though he never goes outside.

Granted, his rise in blood pressure might have other contributors, and his mental state isn't helped by the company he keeps, however once again I believe he is overreacting. I mean the soldier who has tried to shoot him a few times hasn't hit him yet, on account of lacking a fully-functioning head. But even more disturbing than his overreaction to losing his hat was what he did next.

Lego Brendan's taste in fashion has always been somewhat eclectic. I think it's because he's European. But this latest addition to his wardrobe in a bid to replace his totally unnecessary old hat scared me. I feared that his manic depression was becoming increasingly apparent. He seems more than ever to display only two emotions; either very distressed or very ecstatic, with no in-betweens, and he can change from one emotion to the other quite rapidly.

I am considering suggesting he take a break and spend a few weeks at home, however I am apprehensive about how he will take it. And I doubt he will survive a Canberra winter if he continues to dress the way he does.

Look out

I saw Kimbra last year when she was supporting Little Red and Sparkadia in Canberra. She is one of the classier support acts I've had the pleasure of seeing, in fact along with her very talented band, this little lady blew me away. I am super-stoked that I'm seeing her again at Splendour in the Grass.

Here's a little taste of what she's capable of, covering a Nina Simone classic.

Kimbra - "Plain Gold Ring" (Live at Sing Sing Studios) from Forum5 Recordings on Vimeo.

A Recent Turning Point

Strap yourself in, this is gonna be a long one.

At the start of this year I was feeling pretty good about myself. Mid-November of last year I injured my wrist, so the only thing I could really do to keep fit was run. So I set myself a goal to run 10km non-stop by the end of the year, as it was something I had never done. I managed to reach that goal around the 20th December, and was pretty stoked.

And then in mid-January I travelled to Hawaii for my brother's wedding. It was such a beautiful time, in a beautiful place.

So as I've already mentioned, I was feeling pretty darn good when I got back to Australia.

Shortly after returning, I got a phone call from a friend. in short, he wanted to know if I'd be interested in running a HALF-MARATHON. Without too much thought I said yes. That call and my impulsive decision marked the beginning of a stage in my life that has left a pretty big impact. And I'm so glad it did.

After a week or so of stuffing around I got into contact with a friend who had run a marathon a year earlier, and asked her for advice in training. At this point I had about 6 weeks left before the race. I was freaking out a bit as this did NOT seem like enough time, considering it was more than double the longest distance I had run before.

With some encouragement and great advice from my friend, I was able to set up a program that would hopefully see me crossing the finish line. And this meant discipline.

So for the weeks leading up to the race, I was getting up very early in the mornings in order to run long distances and still make it to work on time. This was a challenge for me, firstly because I don't do mornings (in fact I'd rather days were made up entirely of afternoons), and secondly this was the most I'd trained in such a short period of time.

The training was hard, especially the weekends, where instead of running alone I'd run with the friend who initially asked me to run the half-marathon. He is much, much fitter than me, and as a result I had to work to keep up with him. Also about halfway through the program I caught a cold, which stopped me from training for about 10 days, which is a big deal when my program was such a short one.

However I turned a corner in my training on my first run back after recovering from the cold. I realised that I had just over two weeks left, so it was make or break time. It was at this point that I began to really understand the importance of the mind in exercise. I found that I could push myself faster and further than the point I thought was fast enough and far enough.

In the end I managed to complete the half-marathon in just under two hours, when initially my aim was to complete it in two and a half. But the end result wasn't everything.

There were a number of benefits I got from the training. First of all it taught me how to get out of bed early. However, this is a lesson I forgot pretty soon. The rest of the benefits have lasted. As a result my friendship with Tim (the guy who asked me to run the half-marathon with him) grew a lot, and we were able to feed off each others' enthusiasm. I love that guy, he's the most positive guy I know. I also learnt about the power of the mind to control the body. I realised that running a marathon (something I want to do at least once) is very achievable. I learnt that you can achieve great things as long as you are organised and disciplined.

And one final thing I realised this afternoon as I was walking home: that you don't receive benefits when you take the easy option. Real progress, real growth only comes when you leave your comfort zone. I think that's why brussel sprouts taste so bad.

One of the highlights from rural Australian music festival Groovin' the Moo. It got the whole joint dancing.

That Beep from Architecture in Helsinki on Vimeo.

Turning points

Today marks a day of beginning something new, a likely turning point.

So I thought why not celebrate this potential turning point by telling you about a few things, events, situations, experiences that have changed me.

Let's begin with the name of this blog. "Louder than before" is a lyric from the Damien Rice song "Older Chests". This is possibly my favourite song from the album O, an album that changed my life. I'll try to explain how but it's always hard using words to describe what music does to you. When I bought it in 2006, I guess Damien's music opened my eyes to the potential that songwriting holds. He doesn't need to hide behind virtuosic, busy music with complex and diverse instrumentation. The music is simple, using an acoustic guitar, 'cello and drums for almost the entire album. This serves to place the emphasis on Damien's words. This guy is a poet, and the album has themes weaved throughout, with songs making references to phrases in other songs. The album is a work that can be listened to in single songs, but is even more powerful when viewed as a whole, complete work. And more than appealing to my appreciation for skilful use of the English language, it connected with me deeply on an emotional level. I think this may have had a lot to do with experiences I was going through at that point in time, meaning I could relate to a lot of what Damien was on about in this album.

Wow. I rambled about that one a lot. Welcome to the product of being given unlimited space to write, thanks to the humble internet. One last point then I'll finish. The name of this blog takes on a new meaning when independent of the song it is from. I think the verse goes something like:

"Older gents sit on the fence

With their cap in hand, lookin' grand,

They watch their city change.

Children scream, or so it seems,

Louder than before."

So I guess I must be a screaming child.

More turning points to come. I feel I might be onto something here.