The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #39 – 23rd May 2020

Music from Pregnant Neck, The Fugs, 35mm Dreams, Tsushimamire, Skurge, Mudhoney, George Duke, Electric Light Orchestra, Lightning Bolt, Unknown, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Dennis Brown, Wild Youth, Vibrato Fetish, Spanish Dogs, beNt, Cockney Rejects and The Temptations.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my shower in the morning, to cool and refresh, and prepare for the day.

To-do list

  • Continue video editing ✅
  • Enjoy Baew’s birthday party ✅
  • Record TCRAH if time
  • Find warm up video and then exercise
  • Read some more – I want to finish this book! ✅

I enjoyed learning the video editing software today. Amy was obviously in her monthly bad mood so it was good to be out of the way. She was baking cakes too. I find it hard to deal with her when she’s in these moods and even she knows that she is not herself.

She was happy when we got to Baew’s though and we started eating and drinking. I had to stop after a little bit though because I was tired and I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours!

Tomorrow – get up and go again.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #32 and #33 – 4th April 2020

Music from Girolamo Ugolini, Dragibus, Giant Sand, The Majic Ship, Bellini, Psychedelic Furs, The Sugar Shoppe, Sax Ruins, Beefeater, The Show Business Giants, The Hoax, Lindsay Cooper, The Afterglow, Amaxonas, Delroy Wilson, Dag Nasty, David Bowie, Christian Fitness, Beekeeper, Jackie Wilson and Negazione.

Music from Here and Now, Bob Drake, Orthrelm, Per Purpose, 20 Minute Loop, Shinki Chen, Tuxedomoon, Smog, POX, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, The Move, The Who, Unsane, Samla Mammas Manna, Unwound, Bob Dylan and Retox.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for these cushions where I rest my head on these lazy days.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #29 – 14th March 2020

Music from The Radwan Satellite, The Spielbergs, The Ex, Teenage Depression, The Dickies, Prince Francis, Nihilistics, The Ladies, Third Thumb, Mothboxer, Bare Grillz, Sakarin Boonpit, Blondie, Naked Raygun, The Satellites, Ambient Noise and the Sex Pistols.


Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for these masks that can help me breathe. Coronavirus and high AQI.

14th Mar 2023 – That looks like a pretty fine podcast. Sometimes I go and listen to them myself. I think they’re pretty good. The mix of music represents my madness.
After having Covid last year I decided to stop wearing masks but with the summer burning season here again I’m wearing them intermittently when I’m outside.

To-do list

  • Record and upload TCRAH ✅
  • Install Powerpoint on laptop ½
  • Sort more CDs ½
  • Try to move more

Started off the day well then fell back into reading and watching TV. I do, however, feel much better today and much happier too. With holidays coming up, ie. not really having to work, I feel like I have lots of free time at the moment so I’m enjoying watching TV, though I do notice that time goes too fast.

Same with reading. I’m reading a lot more these days and before I know it, a couple of hours have gone.

Tomorrow is the end of quarantine and I’ll go buy coffee in the morning and we’ll stock up on supplies again.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #27 – 1st March 2020

Music from The Cavedwellers, Circus Brekovic, Deerhoof, Descendents, Gregory Isaacs, The Milkshakes, Queen, Didjits, Octafish, Elvis Costello, Emporer Yes, Althea and Donna, The Soul Owners, White Blacula and This Heat.

Weight: 79.0kg
Resting heart rate: 48

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for being able to sit on this plane. To be able to afford to visit my friends. And for having a home to return to.

To-do list

  • Meditate on the plane – reflect on these days ✅
  • Please try to stay calm when back ✅
  • Wear mask all day ✅
  • Finish reading book ✅
  • Take some photos

It’s Tuesday as I write. Getting back was equally emotional and equally flat. I felt numb. Amy is angry at the inconvenience that my trip has now caused us. She’s not so much upset with me as upset with the situation.

I drank a couple of whiskies and fell into a deep 12-hour-long sleep. I got up for lunch and fell back asleep again for the afternoon, got up for dinner and then went back to sleep around 9 pm.

Now it’s Tuesday morning and everything still feels flat. The situation with the virus is looking increasingly likely to postpone the WDS tour which meaning losing all the money on our flights in South East Asia. That’s the situation now and what we have to deal with.

Amy and I are stuck at home for another 12 days. I don’t anticipate any illness from the virus so we just have to wait and carry on as best we can.

No Mandate – No Mandate/Scheme of Things – 1st December 2018

Cat #: 196TZM

Mellow dub grooves, heavy desert riffs, and short bursts of angular punk. This is the sound of new Sydney trio No Mandate. Their debut double EP, “No Mandate / Scheme of Things”, will be released as summer breaks – December 1st, 2018, via Tenzenmen Records.

Moving freely across genres and boundaries comes naturally to the three musicians, thanks to their experience in forward-thinking bands such as Hinterlandt, SEIMS, Meniscus, and many more.

The eponymous No Mandate EP constitutes the band’s foundation: instrumental, reggae-tinged rhythms circle themselves and merge with psychedelic fuzz, ultimately culminating in brief explosions of irregular math-rock.

Scheme of Things takes the dub-punk formula a step further. Understated vocals lead the way into increasingly progressive song structures, ending with Manifesto, a 45-second slap in the face of mediocrity that wouldn’t be out of place on an early hardcore seven-inch.

Creating the two EPs was a practice of grassroots egalitarianism: Jochen wrote the music; Alex recorded it in Jochen’s living room; Simeon created the artwork, and recorded additional overdubs at his home under the supervision of Harry the cat.


Weight: 84.5kg
Resting heart rate: 58