Teddywombat's obsession with bushwalks

Living in Sydney has been such a merit that without going far from home, you can enjoy the beauty of the wilderness. There are no less than 600 walking tracks (according to wildwalks.com) meandering across pristine national parks, reserves and bushlands around Sydney. After a week of busy work, you can easily clear your mind and lungs by diving into a walking track or two during the weekends - keeping away from the crowds, leaving your cares at home and getting closer with Mother Nature.

In Australia, we don't normally call it "hiking" mostly due to the fact that we don't have many high mountains to climb. Plus, Australian native plants have a rather "bushy" feeling, though we do have big trees. With this in mind, hikers tend to call their hobby "bushwalking" rather than "hiking".

I've been addicted to bushwalking since 2006. My initiation was Bill Bryson's best seller "Walk into the Woods." Hence, after completing the book, every weekend the beautiful sunshine would tempt my wild heart to take a walk into the Aussie bushland.

At the beginning, I was studying the street directories to search for the closest tracks. It was exciting to find those green tentacles of Mother Nature stretching among building blocks, roads and railways. Following the traces of dotted brown lines (indicate walking lines) to see where they were heading was just as much fun.

After accumulating more experiences, I started exploring tracks with mid- to high-level difficulties. Finishing all the tracks around my area, I searched for those within moderate driving distances. But the first thing to consider was if the track could be finished within a day. Here is a short list of what I've prepared for a day hike, just for your reference.

• Bring a map with the track you are going to walk through (or a hand-held GPS). Do a bit of research before you set off--otherwise you'll waste some time in doing so along the way.
  
• Wear sturdy hiking shoes - remember, don't wear sneakers on rugged tracks, or your feet will complain!
  
• Drink plenty of water in any weather condition, no joking.
  
• Use sunscreen and sunglasses if you walk under the blazing Aussie sunshine.
  
• Bring a torch in case you miss your turn and schedule - blundering in the dark night forest is one of the most miserable experiences (it hasn't happened to me yet, but you can imagine how it would be).
  
• Other beneficial add-ons include a cap, camera, walking stick, a bag and some snacks. If you feel bored, an iPod may help you kill the silence.
  
• Wear fast-dry hiking pants rather than jeans. This is what I learned from Bill Bryson's experience--it's a very practical suggestion.
  

To list a few of my most favorite walking areas which I've been waded through:

1. Garigal National Park and Middle Harbor area: Located in the Lower North Shore area of Sydney Metro, Middle Harbor area provides probably the most delicate views, with lush native plants and expansive harbor inlets. Most tracks are well maintained in this area. One of my favorite is Two Creek Track. There are swift drops, leafy glade territories, wooden bridges hanging over babbling brooks, small waterfalls bumbling over black rocks and marshy mangrove banks--and the views across upper reaches of Middle Harbor are just sensational. Located right between residential blocks, Garigal National Park has no shortage of wild animals. There are flocks of cockatoo and rainbow parrots; mysterious water dragons (a kind of lizard) taking sun baths on boulders along the bank; wild cockerels wandering across the bushes. I once saw a mother fox playing with cubs along a secluded creek.

2. Berowra Valley and Hornsby area: There are plenty of picturesque tracks here, and they are far more difficult and wilder. A long section of the Great North Walk (Sydney to New Castle) runs through the whole region along the deep valley and Berawra Waters. But I rather prefer another thread of tracks from Gibbergong, passing Bobbin Head to Berowra Track before reaching Brooklyn Station. The view is just spectacular - very dynamic terrain alongside the tracks and very expansive valley water view. It's said that once a humpback whale entered the Mooney Mookey Valley in 1950s. It's a pity I missed the whale, but I did bump into a huge goanna of 1.5 meter long. Without any preparation, I was scared out of my wits at the first sight--but he was rather calm in seeing me.

3. Central Coast: This is a bit far from the Sydney Metro area, probably a 2-hour drive to the north, so I could go all day and hardly meet a soul. One highlight is the Bouddi Coast Walk stretching along the coast line of Bouddi National Park. Any angle of the ocean view on the track is just immense. Besides the cliff top walk, the track also strings up a couple of small beaches. Just imagine that a full kilometer-long, sandy beach is totally yours. Every time while passing an empty beach, I would be totally immersed in the beauty and calmness of Mother Nature. Not long ago, I met a big snake along the Bouddi Coastal Walk. That was another calm animal of decent size that I met alone in the wild. He even posed for me to take a couple of photos, and his cool, brown gaze was quite unforgettable.

Beyond Sydney bushwalks, I would target New Zealand for world-famous tracks such as Milford and Routeburn Track. I once hiked Kepler Track alone last September when I traveled to New Zealand South Island. With the enormous alpine view, none of the Aussie tracks could compare. The best thing about walking New Zealand tracks is that every different piece of scenery is vividly spread in front of your eyes - cold, white alpine mountains; far and expansive pastures dotted with pearl-like sheep; the huge mirror of a glacial lake; colorful layers of mountain vegetation ... Without the thrusting mountains, the meandering green land would be too sweet; however, without the prosperous colors of vegetation, the mountain themselves would feel too cold. Does Mother Nature teach us a vivid lesson on how to treat our own life?

Walking the Wentworth Tracks

I have been to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains for no less than 5 times. However each time was a short lingering without hitting the bottom of the Fall.
Last weekend I finally made up my time to walk a full circle from so called “Valley of Waters” to Wentworth Falls.

The planning was a bit painful because there are so many side paths on map. To decide which track to take needed a bit study. A website called “Wild Walks” became a great help. It maps out some most popular tracks as well as very specific track notes.

So my trail was something like this: started from the end of Fletcher Street, followed the track along the side of Conservation Hut descent all the way to the Valley of Waters, then trudging through the long Wentworth Pass to hit the bottom of magnificent Wentworth Falls. Then climbing up the Slack Stairs to the top of the Fall (rising up around 900m), then follow the Undercliff Walk and Overcliff Walk until hitting back to Conservation Path.

I drove off from home at 6am when stars were blinking. Though the traffic was dead thin, it still took me around 1.5 hours to reach Wentworth Falls. The sun rose from the back while I was about to arrive, tinted everything with a golden fringe, looked like a promising day.

The track starts off with no drama at all – well paved and maintained. However covered by foliage there were no much breath-taking scenes until Queen Victoria Lookout and Empress Lookout. Sounds Aussies are quite reminiscent about their Anglo-Saxon roots. Though the scene is nothing like England.

A few more minutes later I arrived at Valley Of Waters. It was a series of small waterfalls, nothing gigantic but very delicate. Since it’s hiding deep in the valley, I could even feel the waves upon waves of moisture rushing through the atmosphere. And of course no short of vegetations, no naked rocks can be seen – they are all covered by thick moss.

Passing the Valley of Waters was the joint of National Pass and Wentworth Pass. National Pass is said to be a “easier” walk. Of course I would choose the more difficult one, which is marked as for “experienced walkers only”.

Since the sun was blocked by the cliff, it was rather chill and gloomy along the whole track. Though I didn’t find it’s very difficult comparing with tracks I walked before. I didn’t make any mistake at all in finding the track. A couple of spots need a bit climbing but nothing major. Oh well, I think I must be in the “experienced walkers” group now. I was longing to meet a wild animal along the way – a stout wombat would be ideal, but to my disappointment no ground animals appear at this season except ants. The relief was that there were never short of birds chirping, all song birds, no coarse songs of cockatoos or magpies.

Soon I hit the bottom of Wentworth Falls, and it’s for sure much more majestic than those in the Valley of Waters. It is said the water to be falling from 800 meters above the top of the cliff. Standing at the bottom, I was not able to see the top, the fall has been segmented into 3 steps. Every time I came to see the Wentworth Fall, there were plenty of people up on the top, where you could drive to arrive. But now sitting on a big boulder at the bottom of the fall, I didn’t see a single soul for half hour. There are sure some steep climbing on the cliff.
And that was true, the beginning of the Slack Stairs was quite steep, 4-5 sections were almost vertical. At one spot there were no stairs, just a thick rope dangling from above. This part is definitely not for faint heart.

However after elevating from the Slack Stairs, there was no drama at all. When I was about to reach the top, a lady talked to me considerably “You still got long way to go, young man!” “Oh really? I think I’ll be fine” I said. And I was sure to be fine.

The Undercliff and Overcliff walks loop back to Conservation Hut were no challenge at all and I got back to top within half hour.

Looked at my watch, 3.5 hours I spent, including all the stops. Though no much excitement, I finally conquered one of the most famous Blue Mountains tracks. Now I miss New Zealand, the alpine view was just sensational.

An interesting debate between an environmentalist and a humanist

This is an interesting debate happened today. While a friend was raising fund to support patients with Multiple Sclerosis, I replied that I actually donate to Wombat Awareness Organisation. Next is the logged message, A is that friend, while B is myself.

A: I walked 9 kms on Sunday 14 Jun to help raise fund to support patients with Multiple Sclerosis.
If you like to sponsor this effort with some spare coins, please let me know. I will go to your desk.

B: Ah I donate to a wombat protection organisation. I seem more interested in protecting nature and wild animals than help human beings, haha

A: Faint ... No comment on your comparison.

B: Human being is so self-centric, this is where all the problem starts, being the supreme intelligent on earth, we should not only care ourselves, but the whole well being. While we are caring about the nature, we are caring ourselves.
You should understand it well from Buddhism philosophy.

I believe in what original Taoism (Lao Tsu and Chuang Tsu) noted, the most crucial relationship people need to deal with is the human relationship with mother nature, not the nasty relationship between human beings. The whole history went through a wrong way.

A: Animals are also self-centric. Wombat never care about human being.
The difference is they still don't have the power to make too much damage.
In a broader sense, saving nature is saving Man.
But it's long term effect; and it can't replace the immediate relief for people who are suffering from any kind of decease.
When you feel sick, you go to see doctor, not Wombat.

B: I would say all living creatures are selfish, they only take care of themselves - that's designed by nature, and it's running well in natural process to keep the balance.

However, there have been no such being as human, who put so many species into extinction - purely for their own well being or benefits. If we don't plan the long term solution, short term relief is meaningless - people soon put themselves into extinction, have you heard some NASA wants to bomb the moon to find water? - a bunch of lunatics.

Womat is sure no much help to human beings, but it's one tiny reflection of the natural protection efforts, we cannot save whales because Japanese keep on hunting no matter what, but we can help wombats if we can raise enough awareness and stop the government from legal mass slaughter - at least things need to done little by little.

Famine, wars, disease are means to balance the world population, and they are inevitable, the small adjustment efforts from within won't help much on the big picture, human world is always changed by lunatics, like Mao Ze Dong.

Optimising web page download time - tips and tools

Fast loading pages improve user experiences, it is widely accepted. But along with the proliferation of faster internet connections, web designers/developers put less attention on page file sizes. It presents a serious threat to user experiences and customer satisfaction. Fast page loading time is not only a crucial factor to keep users happy, but also a key factor to elevate your search engine rankings.

Here are a few tips to make your web sites/pages running quickly and smoothly.

1. Ensure there are no broken path and images on page - they would dramatically increase loading time.
2. Host files locally.
3. For images, always specify image dimensions - height and width, most browsers would recognise an image's dimension, leave it to be loaded last if it's heavy, and load the rest of page first.
4. Make Javascript and CSS external, because they are cached by the browser, but inline JS and CSS get downloaded every time the HTML page is requested.
5. Combine Javascript files - as a general rule, downloading a batch of JS files is slower than download one big JS file even though the combined file size of the batch equals to the big one or even smaller.
6. In the same principle, combine multiple images into a single one, the overall size is about the same but reduce the number of HTTP requests.
7. When designing Flash, rather than designing one big Flash (swf) file, make each flash scene as a separate swf file, and call respective file from the frame swf, depending on user action. In this way, those user uninterested content would not be loaded.
8. Try use vector graphic as much as possible, and reduce the usage of imported jpg, wmv and other raster graphics. Vector shapes are extremely light weight while raster graphics tend to cluster Flash movies in size.
9. Preload components. You can take advantage when browser is idle, a simple example, preload an image for a mouse over state. A more advanced usage could be, before you launch a new redesign, users browsers are stuck with caches from your old design. So before the redesign has been launched, some code can be written in your old page, when the browser is idle, the code can request images/scripts which will be used for new page. Otherwise when the new site is launched, all components would be loaded afresh.
10. Optimise images - use suitable image formats (jpg, png, gif) for different design elements, designers should be crystal clear on this.

There are some really useful tools in optimising page download time. To list a few:

• Use a page analyser, for example http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
• Using Firebug as FireFox plugin, it will analyse all aspects of a given web page. http://getfirebug.com/releases/index.html
• Pingdom - Cool little tool to check loading time of all page components.
• CSS and Javascript file size shrinker - http://www.cleancss.com/ and http://dean.edwards.name/packer/, used to clean up CSS and JS.

Millimetrik, Cities EP & August Stars, Music For Twilight EP

Both Cities EP from Millimetrik and Music for Twilight EP from August Stars are very limited edition CDR of Make Mine Music release. “Cities” released 120 copies while “Music for Twilight” was only 100 copies, while no re-issues have ever been published or even considered from MMM. Hence to say, I’m a lucky dog to become 1/100 in the world.

Music wise, “Music for Twilight” is a sombre, dark type of meandering conscious flow. 8 pieces of unsettling drone are pretty consistent in terms of pace and mood. Boomkat called August Stars’ music as “dark ambient”, and compared the album with the mighty Deathprod and Lustmord’s music. I do agree August Stars lacks a bit airiness details of those artists. It doesn’t shine in terms of complicated arrangements, and the imaginary sound scape it creates, however the album is not short of sparkling moments. And it gives you an uncertain boundary of terrain you could feel – though it’s limited. The feeling is rather like walking on a large patch of pasture while the fog confines your vision. Although this is not my most favourite ambient release, I would definitely rank it higher than most Infraction releases I possess. This is a dark music scape that wouldn’t make you feel bored, and to my surprise it is a Make Mine Music release, which normally doesn’t touch this type of dense music range.

“Cities” from Millimetrik still sounds a bit glitchy and darker than typical MMM sound. There are pleasant drum beats mingled with thawed melody and random sampling of glitches. While the structure and melody leading a well planned direction, the music doesn’t give you a cheap dance beat feeling at all. Each piece is programmed with enough airiness and random glistering lo-fi bleeps. This is superb electronic beats comparable to Seefeel and Boards Of Canada – more listenable than Murcof. I wouldn’t surprise at all if this is a Merck release. Well done, Millimetrik!

Different stages of user testing

Being a UE specialist, usability testing is as common as lunch. The ultimate goal of usability testing is to improve the design of products (electronic appliance, software, website, etc).

Any products has their own producing life cycle. The testing can be conducted at any stage of the product development.

1. Planning stage - at the sketching phase, there are lots of uncertainty regarding the design of the product. Nothing can be utilised for a profound user test. Paper prototyping, mockup and wireframe are often used as low-fidelity prototype in testing. The blueprint is normally based on the result.
2. During the production - whenever designers come up with high-fidelity mockups, at least when interactive functions have been implemented, a more well-rounded user testing can be set up. At this stage the products being tested should already be able to mimic the finished products.
3. On staging - at this stage we can do so called alpha beta test. The product should be stable enough with fully equipped functions, which is ready to be accessed by participants of usability tests.
4. On production - after release, malfunctions may happen. User testing plays a key role in improving the product. Actually, the majority of usability testings only happen at this stage, due to resource or budget concerns. If you have done testing at previous stages, you'll have an easy job here.
   

Eye candy in corporate design environment

Recently read a quite inspiring article by Stephen Anderson “In Defence of Eye Candy”. The concept are nothing new, Stephen presented it in a quite refreshing way. He talked about the concept of aesthetics and how aesthetics affects cognition and emotions.

Back in 10 years time or so, there was quite a web design mania purely for sake of eye candy. Rising from the primeval stage of web content presentation, designers demonstrated their talent and aesthetic opinion by exploring the potential of newly formulated mark-up language and Flash as emerging multimedia platform.

Along with the advance of internet technology, web has been increasingly became a very important business and social media platform. Aesthetics was still important but it was all giving way to pragmatism. No matter how visually unappealing was your site, as long as it made money as an e-business site, as long as it reached its targeted hit number as an information providing site, it was considered as a good site. The same logic has been lasting until these days. Have a look at useit.com website and think of how many usability trainings the Nielson Norman Group conducts each year around the globe, you know what I’m saying.

In most corporate environment, the real dollar return becomes the only ruler of judging whether the company’s website is good or not. Bosses are focusing only on selling figures, while the pressure is taken by solution builders, information architects, developers as well as designers. In some situations there are even no dedicated visual designers – their position is replaced by lower cost web editors, whose work is no much more complicated than data entry. The visual design skill has almost become a luxury in the web team of most e-business companies. The actual visual design work is pretty much outsourced to creative agencies. However the concern is, do those design agencies really understand your business? Can their design integrate well into your web solution and you be benefited in long term?

I’ve been in such environment for quite a few years and I’ve seen it happen again and again. Some really talented visual designers can never stay in the web team of a large corporation for long. Their creativities have been limited by rigid corporate design guidelines and critical quality assurance people. Meanwhile, the outsourced design is mainly focus on short-term return, or a reflection of the requestors’ personal preferences.

It’s very common that the term eye-candy has been always associated with negative connotation. Mentioning eye-candy, to most people it almost becomes the synonym of standard violation and bad user experiences.

Are there any people defending eye candy in large e-business environment? There are! (Web) marketing people are usually die-hard fans of eye candy designs. However they are judging a design with their untrained eyes. Quite often marketing people’s design preference is contradicting with UE principles. So problems happen when they raise design requests to external design agencies.

Same as lacking design skills, profound usability skill is also a luxury in most web teams. In most situations it relies on web developer, editor and QAs’ awareness of UE knowledge. If a company has corporate design guideline, it pretty much rules both design and UE.

There has always been a debate on design and UE which one should be ruling. Now look at the reality, lacking both design and UE power makes the debate virtually meaningless. If you don’t have sound design skill in your web team and you rely on your developers build up everything, without any study or user testing, you should already know what your site will end up with.

So between Design and UE, who rules? This shouldn’t be a question at all. Usability should never become the enemy of good design, and a good design should always keep user experiences in consideration in business environment. The organic integration of the two makes your website shines.

My wife's baking obsession

Since late last year, Sandy has been devoting enormous energy and efforts into baking and dessert making. Now she's equipped with a full cabinet of baking utensils, a couple of professional baking books and a captious tongue. My mouth is getting happier and happier, however my tummy is getting clumsier.

Now let me ceremoniously introduce some exotic desserts out of wife's magic.



Celebrity Ginger Men



Donkey Roll - a traditional Old Beijing dessert



Wife pie - yeah, this dessert is named "wife pie", specialty of Canton Province. This is what makes Sandy most proud of.


Pebbles black and white


Raspberry-topped cheese cake


Dates cake - made out of big red Chinese dates stuffed with glutinous rice flour

A dangerous hike

The sky is like baby face these days, shinning around 10 min ago and shower could come in every minute. Now I draw the lesson - never do bush walking in such weather. And of course, I did it.

Yesterday I started off late at around 10am. The sun was smiling and it looked like a promising day. I set off to take a train to Berowra station where Berowra track starts. To my surprise the gate was still shut. The track has been out of maintenance for more than 2 years then. My last hike here was about 4 months ago. Though lacking of trim the track was still not too wild because many people are attracted by its sheer beauty.



It was all good at the beginning - birds were chirpping, creeks were laughing... Swiftly taking a big dip all the way down to the water level at Waratah Bay, a gust of rain suddenly came from no where, I didn't even notice the cloud. I immediately became wet all over, fortunately it was not chill at all, and I took even bigger stide.

The rain soon died off but the condition was getting worse. At many segments the plants were so exuberant that the track had been mostly covered, I need to fumble carefully at each step. Even worse some areas became quite muddy and slippery. The track is meandering along Cowan Creek and falling into the water was quite a possibility. There were wide-leaf plants all along the track, which gathered a whole lot of water from the rain. When I walked through them, all the surface liquid running down along my shirt and pants relentlessly like mini waterfall. Each step I marched ahead, the shoe in front gushing water happily like a blocked drainage.

As an experienced bush walker (if I may say), I kept on marching ahead without much drama until I reached an open area. I felt something in my left shoe like a twig. Took off my left shoe and sock. Geez I found something stuck inside my sock happily dancing - a leech! Noticing a big drop of blood was effusing out of my instep - without any pain. My god this was an interesting experience. I haven't been bitten by a leech for more than 20 years! I didn't know how this little fella ended up into my sock but since it created no pain on me, well, gotta treat him well, maybe put him back into a small pond. He seemed quite reluctant to leave my sock. I pulled it with a big force and in afraid of sticking onto my fingers I thrust it off as if my fingers touched a piece of burnt steel.

Wrung the water out of my socks, pants and shook off water from shoes I set out again. Sunbeam cast on my body, feeling quite warm and cozy.

About to turn to Winson Bay, another gush of rain came along without any warning. I saw some boats in the bay started their engines and rushing away. Though calm enough, I tumbled myself into the ooze twice. Luckily no further drama.

In the end I decided to cut short running up the Mt. Kuring-Gai trail to catch a train rather than hike further to the Giberragong Track. And surprisingly enough, I didn't feel out of breath at all after a 2.5KM steep rise from the bottom of the valley to the Mt. Kuring-Gai Station.

Reaching home, the clock pointed at 2PM - only 4 hours after I set off.

Reviews on a few albums I got recently

Won a few CD racks from eBay last weekend, so finally I can put up all my CD collections together and clear the wide-spread CD maze at home. So regretted to throw away hundreds of jewel cases when I moved, now still got more than a hundred albums sleeping in CD wallets.

Have been keeping on throwing money to record shops in the past 15 something years, and tastes are getting more and more extreme and diverse. Digital music online are rampaging like uncontrollable flood. No matter whatever good quality digital music I could get, even WAV, as long as I like the music, I'm still going to find the physical compact disc. It's like stamp collection, have you ever heard of collecting digital stamps?

Selling part of my collections on eBay, I do find fewer and fewer people are willing to buy a copy of music they like. Even they do, they are generally expecting a very low price from you, the seller. Take some rare releases of Coil and Muslimgauze as example, 6 years ago I usually saw them to be sold as high as around a hundred bucks, these days forty, fifty bucks could be maximum, unless the buyer is a die-hard collector.

Sorry it's a bit far away from the title. To review a few albums I've got recently. They are not necessarily new releases.

Qua "Silver Red" - Interestingly enough, it's a release from Room40's sister label Someone Good - it gives me an impression that the label only associates with "small melody" Japanese musicians, like Lullatone and Akira Kosemura. I can hardly imagine Qua releases their album here. Anyway, it's a beautify little album with only four tracks. Cornel Wilzcek never lacks of imagination, however the first 3 long tracks of the album sounds a bit dull to my ears. The overall soundscape is a bit too fragmented, though very rich in subtle transforms. The last piece is short, bouncing and lively - my favorite. However when comparing with other 3 tracks, you would find it's a bit too different from the rest, distinctively less "left-field".


Phelan Sheppard "Harps Old Master" - How lucky I picked up this album blindly purely for its cover art. And this becomes my mostly played CD now. It's warm, smooth in textures, soothing, but never failed in flow of changes. There is rich instrument arrangement, however the core is something orchestral. It's not purely neo-classical - doesn't sound like Sylvain Chauveau, not as boring as Max Richter. It weaves accoustic and electronic so well, as well as female voice. This is expansive music.


Glamorous Pharmacy (美好药店) "Rumbling Footsteps (脚步声阵阵)" - This is an interesting Chinese alternative folk band. They do improvisation jazz, alternative folk and performance art. This is their 2nd album. I must say that I'm dissapointed. The concept is good, the artwork is more attractive, and the price is doubling that of their first release, however it lacks power, lacks the elastic spirit penetrate through the plots. It's an album which gives me a bit "Joy Division" feeling. Although Xiao He is trying to tell the grow up stories of his own generation, he sounds like an onlooker, although not as cold as Ian Curtis.


Otomo Yoshihide & Sachiko M "Filament 1" - Well, I must admit that it is too much for me. It's more explosively glitchy than Alva Noto releases. Though being defined as a "genre-defying" and "earth-shaking" work, unless you are a die-hard experimental fan, stay away from this album. Although many said this is one of Otomo's most listenable album, I'd rather prefer his later Tzadik and Erstwhile releases.


- to be continued

Reciting Roger Richards' interview

Extreme is one of my most favorite labels, as its boss Roger Richards once said, his aim is to make the label "Innovation, Experimentation, Challenge, Diversity, Unfolding, Perpetual, Soundscape, Production, Beauty and Surprise".

Next is an article constructed 13 years ago. Although cited many times on various platforms, I still feel it's one of the most valuable and powerful statement for the music industry - how to remain individuality? how to maintain the originality of the music? you may find answers in Roger's words below:

In 1994 I asked Roger Richards, chief of Extreme Records, a few questions. In 1996, he finally responded. I had hoped to work his comments into an article, but I never had time to do it and this interview fell by the wayside. -- Mike Brown

(From Roger Richards):
Dear Mike,
In answer to your questions.

0. What is your title?
I never think of myself with a title but officially I am the Director. Words like "President" or "CEO" remind me of corporate monoliths that EXTREME certainly isn't.

1. Tell me about Extreme's beginnings. Who started the label and what is its mission?
The label was started by a person called Ulex Xane to release his own music and power electronic music from around the world on tape. I became involved in 1987, highlighted by the tour of Club Moral (from Belgium), and then took over the reigns after that. It was a very amicable arrangement and Ulex and I are still friends. We don’t release much power electronics now, although MERZBOW is certainly a contender on occasions, and the label has diversified since then.
The mission of the label is to release innovative and experimental music from artists with a unique voice. The style of music is not a constraint although we seem to have drawn the line as far as releasing rock music. An important part of the label’s philosophy is reach a larger audience, outside of the usual experimental niche.

2. Which artists comprise your current roster, or is each release contracted individually?
The current roster of musicians is SOMA, PABLO’S EYE, FETISCH PARK, SOCIAL INTERIORS, KATO HIDEKI and MO BOMA. Other projects are contracted individually but it is hoped that this will lead to working with the musicians again on another project. We are more and more reluctant to do one-off projects as this does not give the label much scope to develop the artist.

3. How did these artists get signed? Did they send demo tapes, are they friends of the owner, or what? Who decides what gets released?
Over the years it has become a balance of artists Extreme searches for and artists who search for Extreme, with demo tapes. We listen to every demo we receive (which does delay the response process) and respond to every artist (unless they did not include a replying address!). We do have friends who refer groups to us, such as when Jon Hassell recommended we listen to MO BOMA’s “Jijimuge”, and many of the artists also become friends over time. We find it important to have some level of relationship to enable communication beyond saying if it is selling or not selling. I decide what gets released. I would have to say that is my most important role.

4. Which Extreme artists have been the most successful?
MUSLIMGAUZE has been the most successful artist, along with LIGHTS IN A FAT CITY and SOMA, in terms of sales. PAUL SCHÜTZE and SHINJUKU THIEF have also been successful in terms of the identity and presence created by their releases on EXTREME having helped launch them on their musical careers.

5. Which artists on the label are your favorites, and why?
It is very hard to count favourites. Running a label you are in a situation where favouritism doesn't work as you need to maintain a relationship with each artist. To provide a generic answer; favourites are those artists who are also doing something for their own release rather than sitting back and expecting the label to do everything. Most artists do, so it is good.

6. How many copies of each release have you sold, on average?
Have distribution problems hurt sales? Sales on each release vary and we don't like to talk about "units". It is in the thousands, rather than tens of thousands. Distribution problems definitely hurt sales as critical praise often does not translate into commercial success. Obviously distribution is something that has improved and needs to improve with each year.

7. What kinds of reactions do you get when you post press releases to the net? Are they definitely helping?
The net has served as an interesting forum for people who are eager to know. That is, they want to know ahead of others what is happening. If the release is not actually in the shops at that time then we get some feedback about people wanting to get the release. It has been a good thing that FIFTH WORLD MEDIA was established so that people can purchase on-line and obtain the release ahead of the time it takes to have the releases in store. Now, this on-line service is offered by many companies such as BACKROADS and PLAYING BY EAR.

8. Why does the compilation "Assemblage volume one" contain mostly older releases? I thought that since some of those were already covered by the _X-X Section_ compilation, you would want to provide a sampling of the more recent albums, like those by Mo Boma, Robert Rich, Soma, and Vidna Obmana. Who should buy "Assemblage vol.1" ?
Assemblage volume One is a sampler to represent past releases on Extreme, between XCD-011 and XCD-024. Unfortunately one CD can’t capture all of the various musical styles. X-X Section was released to highlight musicians currently on or soon to be on Extreme, along with other musicians in Australia performing music suited to the label. What is important to note is that each piece of music on X-X Section has not been released elsewhere. To cover artists on more recent, and as yet unreleased, albums there is Assemblage volume two. In response to feedback about ASSEMBLAGE volume one, there are unreleased tracks on this album.

9. Some of Extreme's releases have found favor with chill out dj's and fans of techno and industrial dance music. Are these markets being specifically targeted? Why or why not?
These markets were not being specifically targeted with album releases as the good DJs have been discovering Extreme releases and they like to keep things to themselves. Additionally, this market has a sense of passing in and out of fashion and it is hoped that the music on Extreme can last longer than a particular fad, as all good music, in any genre, should. However, we have been doing 12" vinyl and CD singles/Eps in Europe, with releases from SOMA, MUSLIMGAUZE, PABLO'S EYE and soon from FETISCH PARK. It has been causing quite a lot of interest in Germany and UK. There are now CD Ep releases of MUSLIMGAUZE, PABLO'S EYE and FETISCH PARK in North America and other parts of the globe.

10. What would you like to see Extreme do differently?
I would like to see Extreme continue as it does, placing the music first, but greater commercial success would be appreciated. So, we need to continue to further our promotional and distribution efforts, rather than doing the same thing for only the existing audience.

11. What's coming in the future?
We have new releases from KATO HIDEKI, FETISCH PARK, SOMA and MERZBOW this fall. Additionally, the final part of the MO BOMA trilogy, “Myths of the Near Future” part 3, will soon be released. 1997 already has some new releases scheduled from SKULI SVERRISSON (bass player with MO BOMA), OTOMO YOSHIHIDE (double CD with one ambient album and one noise album), SOCIAL INTERIORS. We are listening to some new artists all of the time and discussing projects with SOMA, FETISCH PARK and PABLO’S EYE.

12. Are you getting paid enough?
Monetarily, definitely not, but that’s my principal reason for running Extreme. Yes, it has to run as a business and make money and pay musicians and finance projects and keep the wheels turning but it is not something that gives me financial security. The music business is a volatile world, more akin to the fashion industry in that flavours or styles of music, eg ambient, go in and out at the whims of the commercially driven media.

13. Does Extreme want to be "big"?
Extreme wants to continue doing what it does. If that means we get ‘big’ then that’s OK with me. I don’t see myself in a stretch limo attending opening nights for the new Extreme release if that’s what you mean. I would like to see each artist on Extreme living a rewarding life creating the music they love.

14. If I blast Soma's album in my next batch of reviews, would you hold it against me?
No problem with me if you ‘blast’ it, provided you have listened to it and have your own opinion about it, that’s fine. I would say that if you consider it is deserving of ‘blasting’ because it does not fit your picture of what Extreme should release then I would have reservations. Either way, it is important to me that you take the time to listen to the next artist released on Extreme and the next release from SOMA too.

15. What are the Top Ten Reasons to Check Out Extreme?
Innovation, Experimentation, Challenge, Diversity, Unfolding, Perpetual, Soundscape, Production, Beauty and Surprise.

16. Why "Extreme"? Is there a correlation between the label's philosophy and the signing of radically political artists like Muslimgauze and Stefan Tischler?
In some people’s eyes, artists like MUSLIMGAUZE and STEFAN TISCHLER are incredibly extreme, literally. To others they are easy listening. If someone has a fixation that extreme can only equal noise music then they will be disappointed and will also be missing out on some great music. We are continually evolving Extreme to represent a label with unique identities and experimental diversity and don’t look for a literal translation or a house sound. Our signature, for want of a definition, is an experimental and innovative diversity. Extreme is a word that speaks of something different, often unique and on the edge. I like music that confronts and I like music that seduces. All are admirable qualities of the word and the label Extreme.

17. (This question is tongue-in-cheek, from a friend) If you're so good at promotional stuff, how come I've never heard of your label?
I’m sure there are a lot of people who have never heard of Extreme. Releasing experimental music does provide real barriers to greater media exposure. I hope your friend takes the time to listen to an Extreme album now that you have told him. I would encourage him to listen many times as the music may not provide a sense of instant gratification, more often rewarding the listener upon repeated playing.

18. A lot of people reading this still aren't going to get a feel for how the music sounds, especially since there are so many different styles from release to release. What would you suggest people start with? Which albums would fans of ambient music probably like the best?
I would always suggest people start with the samplers, ASSEMBLAGE Vol 1 and Vol 2. These will give people a taste of the different styles, although I would add the provision that, from my perspective, the music of an album from a single artist is a better experience than a single track on a compilation. I would suggest ambient music fans try MO BOMA, JORGE REYES, VIDNA OBMANA, LIGHTS IN A FAT CITY, SOMA, PABLO’S EYE and SOCIAL INTERIORS. There is a diversity of styles in this from worldly tribal ambience to electronic and music concrete. (I have listed the artists in this progression).

19. What kind of mindset does it take to enjoy Extreme's music? Who is listening to your music now? Yuppies in Birkenstocks? Rednecks in pickup trucks?
I would suggest the former more so than the latter. I believe the mindset needs to be one open to new possibilities, irrespective of one’s social status and cultural grouping.

20. Have you thought about making some kind of special offers to people through the Internet? Like a contest or a budget-priced CD or something?
No, although we had a giveaway Extreme badge when FIFTH WORLD MEDIA went on-line.

21. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?
I am thankful that there are many people throughout the world who appreciate what we do.

22. What labels do you like?
I like ECM, Made to Measure, Ocora, Spoon, Celsius Blanco and many jazz labels. Not surprisingly I listen to Extreme the most. That’s why I kickstarted things in 1987, to release the music I wanted to hear.

23. Do you have a mailing list that people can get on?
We have a newsletter that is published by e-mail, historically on an irregular basis, depending on upcoming events and releases. It is now becoming a more regular event and people can expect to receive the newsletter six times a year in future. Just e-mail us, extreme@well.com, or visit our web site, http://www.xtr.com/extreme/

24. What was Extreme's biggest mistake? Its greatest triumph?
Biggest mistake was not getting hooked up to the internet sooner and not being a millionaire to finance all of the great music we hear in our work and travels. Our greatest triumph is often being ahead of what music fashion dictates is right for the times. Many artists and releases have done this, such as PAUL SCHUTZE, MUSLIMGAUZE, PABLO’S EYE and THE FIRE THIS TIME.

25. What is the one question you were hoping I would ask but didn't?
I would have liked to have you ask how is it that Extreme does timeless music, meaning classic music that exists in today’s context as much as it did five or ten years ago or in five or ten years to come. That would have been a great compliment and a question to reflect my vision for Extreme.

** this article is cited from url: http://music.hyperreal.org/library/publicity/extreme/roger_richards_interview

Walking the Gibberagong

- An old post from 2007



Due to move and renovation for the past several months, I stopped bush walking for a while. Last weekend I couldn’t hold my itchy heart as well as wandering feet, stepped back to the bush again.

This time I selected Gibberagong track. Meandering from the end of Grosvenor Street, North Wahroonga all the way to Bobbin Head, Gibberagong track stretches 8 kilometres (some say 6), and it’s marked as “medium difficult”.

I started from Wahroonga side. The beginning of the track was quite boring – short bush wings with a wide, straight 4WD track. Gee that’s easy. However my sweat hasn’t come out yet, the terrain changes abruptly. At the end of 4WD track, a narrow path plunges into the steep valley. The trees are so dense that make the visibility quite low (also because it was early morning).

The track is obvious far too wild comparing with the ones I walked before. I almost lost track for a couple of times. Morning fog was still not dispersed and the track seemed to be dark and fearful sometimes. I hurried up to cheer up myself. Fortunately with iPod ear buds in my ears, I was not able to hear the morning songs of forest ghosts.

After a long parachute, I was able to hear the trickling songs of creeks. Hence after, the track was all along water. Sometimes quite wide, sometimes narrow, sometimes quite and sometimes noisy, it is so called Gibberagong Waterholes.

The path is quite rocky and bumpy. I need to pay much attention on my footpath, so I might miss some gorgeous scenes or interesting plants and animals. Even though, I was occasionally stunned by sandstone caves, lush native plants and sudden rise of flocks of birds.

I thought the creek was fresh water, however gradually, there were saltmarshes and mangroves started to appear. The water became broader and broader, and the banks turned from rocky to muddy. Eventually, it joined the Bobbin Head Mangrove Broadwalk.



The Broadwalk is a wooden board paved path, hanging above mangrove saltmarshes. Thousands of baby crabs dig holes in the mud. They come out searching for food on the surface and hide themselves in the holes whenever there are interruptions. I sat aside quietly looking them coming out and in, using their front claws pick up foods from the mud and put into mouths. That’s so cute.

All the highlights came on my way back at the same track. First, I saw axe grinding grooves left over from early aboriginals. There are around 23 grooves. They are varied of depth, width, and length. Those grooves are made from shaping stone implements such as axes or hatches.

Approaching midday, native bush animals were all coming out for food or sunshine. Colourful lorikeets stood at the edge of branches greedily licking nectar from tree flowers. They were so abundant in terms of amount. So were cockatoos. Those big naughty fella made noises so unpleasant to ears. Cannot imagine such elegant looking birds sing so ugly songs, haha.

Turning to a quite broad water pond, I suddenly found a couple ugly looking lizards lining up at the edge of a huge boulder, enjoying sun bath. Noticed human approaching, they nimbly jumped into the pond as fast as lightings. Ahh, they are so called water dragons. I patiently waited on the bank for them to float to the surface, but strangely enough, they were just disappeared. So disappointed I couldn’t take a photo for them, I can only grab one online.

Dragging my sluggish legs back to the top of slop, I were dog-tired, thirsty and sweating all over. That’s why experienced bush walkers advise don’t do hiking during summer in Australia – it’s just so hot, and you can quickly run out of water and energy. Fortunately this is only a short track. I realised till now, I hadn’t met any other hikers yet.



Passed through a thick tree trunk, I suddenly heard an abrupt noise obviously made by some big animals. So frightened, I didn’t look back and dashed myself out to 10 meters. Turning back, I saw a gigantic lizard crawling at the tree trunk, looking at me with funny facial expression. Stalemate for a while, I realised I need to take a photo for this guy, then I gradually approached him, stopped about 5 meters away, and took this photo.

Being awaken by such shock and surprise, I was re-vitalised and back to my car in a short time.

A lesson draw from the bushwalking of this time – carefully study your track before you start, and estimate whether you can finish with your supply (I was almost run out of water). Also, don’t do long tracks in hot summer. In summer, only short tracks in the early morning.

Walk into the woods

- My bushwalking adventures in Sydney
(an old post of mine from 2007)

People live in Sydney are just so lucky. There are so many magnificent walking tracks weaving in well preserved national parks and bushlands. After a whole week of busy work, you can easily clear your mind and your lung with an enjoyable walk into the bush during the weekends – keeping away from people, leaving your cares at home, without actually leaving the city – that’s the beauty of living in Sydney.

I’ve been addicted to bushwalking half year ago. Almost every beautiful Sunday morning I study the Sydney street directories to search for the target tracks I would be walking on. It’s so exciting to see the green tentacles of mother nature threading their way among building blocks, roads and railways. And looking for those dotted lines (walking tracks) to see where are they stretching to is just so fun as well.

To save time and petrol, I haven’t tried those tracks so far away from home yet, though I’m planning to. I probably can say I walked through most of the tracks in Lower North Shore area, and my most favourable tracks are all around Middle Harbour. Here are some wonderful tracks I’d love to recommend. Follow a few of them, I’m sure you’ll be bushed up too!

1 North Willoughby to Castle Cove (Harold Reid Foreshore Track --> North Arm Track --> HC Press Park)
It’s about 3 to 4 hours return depends on your speed, easy to medium going. This is the track I walked most, probably 4 to 5 times, the reason – it’s simply beautiful and close to my home. Starts from Sugarloaf Creek, the whole track is built along water – Crag Cove, Castle Cove and Sugarloaf Bay. Even though, from time to time, the scenery changes a lot, from shadowy forest to rocky seashores to marshy swamps. The birdlife is plenty, most of them I couldn’t recognise. Personally I believe two of the most exciting highlights are bird’s view the mangrove swamps and tranquil Castle Cove from Harold Reid Reserve, and some gigantic palm trees at a patch of flat grassland.

2 Two Creeks Track (Lindfield Oval --> Garigal National Park --> Roseville Bridge & Echo Point Park)
It’s about 4 to 5 hours in return, and medium going. This is possibly the most picturesque of all tracks I’ve ever been – the views across upper reaches of Middle Harbour are just spectacular. The Two Creeks Track drops swiftly away from the quaintly named Seven Little Australians Park and quickly descends into what can only be described as your cliched leafy glade territory. There are wooden bridges over babbling brooks, small waterfalls tumbling over black rocks worn smooth with age, a spooky but excitingly modern tunnel under the Eastern Arterial Road and a worthwhile climb up and into the Garigal National Park. The track follows the line of Gordon Creek until it joins Middle Harbour and then follows the main river around to Roseville Bridge and the Roseville Marina at Echo Point Park.

The Two Creeks Track passes by sandstone outcrops, magnificent wildflower displays, scenic water views and tidal wetlands. Each of these environments supports a different plant community. Within these communities there are a rich variety of textures, colours and shapes.

3 Forestville to St Ives (Carrol Creek Track --> Governor Philip Walk --> Middle Harbour Track --> The Cascades Track)
This is probably the most tranquil track I’ve ever walked. 6 hours along the way back and forth, I totally met 2 people. The first three sections of the track are all meandering along creeks. The highlight is birdlife along Carrol Creek. Not mentioning birds we can meet everyday, like cockatoos and magpies, there are various birds whose names are unknown to me. I saw a duck-like wading bird, with hooked beak tip and fan-like tail feather, standing on a boulder in the stream, seeing me passing by without moving a bit.

Water in the creek is so lively after some rain. It bounces and rushes all the way from valleys of Garigal National Park to join calm Middle Harbour.

4 Hunters Hill to Macquarie Park via Lane Cove National Park
This is a highlighted section of so called Great North Walk. The Great North Walk was a bicentennial project which opened in 1988 and runs 250km from Sydney Cove to Newcastle. From Boronia Park in Hunters Hill the well-marked trail skirts the edge of the Lane Cove River and emerges from comfortable undergrowth at the Buffalo Creek Reserve and the Magdala Park soccer fields in East Ryde before plunging under Epping Road into the southern reaches of the Lane Cove National Park. There's quite a climb over the rocky hills behind the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens Crematorium. From there the trail heads up into the trees and traffic suddenly drops away. Sometimes you are high above the river but at other sections the path drops down to the waterside, bringing with it a sudden musty but comforting coolness.

Diving into one of the above tracks, I’m sure you’ll be addicted too. But before departure, you’d rather tell your family and friends where you’re going, wear a pair of good hiking boots, prepare plenty water and food (if the track is long), and study your map well.

Last week in Beijing

Coming to the last week staying in Beijing, I'm becoming more homesick. Probably I'm living in a remote district far from the city center, there has been no much to do. Travel to central business area will take at least an hour.

People are still driving like crazy dogs. The air seems to be cleaner, but in my area people still spitting and tossing garbage without any hesitation. Probably a SARS eruption every year may help eliminate their habit.

Passing a high school today and saw some students trimly lining up along the pathway of the gate, wearing some red silk ribbon across their chests. Obviously they are ordered to do so to welcome some sort of "Leaders" or "Inspection delegation" sort of shit. When I return half hour later, they are still standing there, obviously the "leader" was late. It reminds a picture posted on a forum - a pig-faced communist official speeching on a platform open air. A little girl standing behind the pig-face with tiptoe, fully stretched to raise the umbrella above the pig's head. It was drizzling, the girl was totally wet, but the pig was neat and tidy.

How sad is this? It's not accidental. The whole education system is deformed. It's quite common to use students as labor or servants in China. That umbrella girl should be told by her teacher that it was really an honorable thing to hold umbrella for leaders, other students didn't even have the chance.

Well, I'm ready to depart.

Ordered a few albums from Smallfish

Just placed another order on http://www.smallfish.co.uk. There are always great items for sale on this online music shop, and the price is really stealing. To list a few which I've been drooling for a while.
Kath Bloom - Come Here (Power Shovel Audio)
VA - Add to Friends (Someone Good - Room40's sub label)
QUA - Silver Red (Someone Good)
Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Jinx (Staubgold)
Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko - 28 (Fatcat)
Genetic Selection - World of Tomorrow (Ant-Zen)
RF & Lili De La Mora - Eleven Continents (Rowing At Sea)
Espers - Weed Tree (Locust)
Keef Baker - Redeye (Hymen)
Szam Findlay - Die Hautfabrik (Resonant)
Otomo Yoshihide - Sachiko M (Extreme)
Pretty Boy Crossover + Julio Soto - We Are All Drifting (Cocosolidciti)
Radu Malfatti + Ilya Monosov - Indescrete Silences / Music for Listening (Limited 250 copies, Bremsstrahlung)