Audio = Ground Zero

Bose QuietComfort 

In 2012 I started traveling internationally every month for work and given the amount of time I was spending on the road, I started to consider making some investments regarding gear that would not only make the journey more pleasant but also aid in terms of comfort and saving time, with one concern pertaining to the fact that due to tight deadlines, more often than not, it was essential to get some shuteye while in transit.

Apart from the acquisition of a sturdy yet light suitcase and carry-on luggage to accommodate essentials, one of the more worthwhile acquisitions was a set of noise cancelling headphones.

After conducting quite a bit of research, I weighed up my options and eventually settled for a pair that I was first exposed to when I was upgraded to a business class seat on a long-haul flight with American Airlines: Bose’s battery powered QuietComfort 15 over-ear headphones were not exactly on the cheaper end of the spectrum, yet they seemed  to tick all the boxes in terms of sound quality, noise cancelling abilities and overall comfort.

As it turns out nine years later, it proved to be a great choice as I still have them and while the road took its toll on their exterior in terms of wear and tear, they continue to work like a charm. 

Given my previous experience with Bose, I was intrigued when I learned about the release of the QuietComfort Earbuds, especially since I have used and discarded other underwhelming earbud brands over the years. which severely lacked in both the sound and noise cancelling departments.

With a minimalist, subtly curvy design and a size a tad bulkier than the competition, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds come in an LEDs lined charging case, which on the exterior indicates its remaining battery levels and on the inside houses each bud separated by a button which enables pairing mode. 

Once paired with the custom made Bose Music app, you are in charge of switching between devices, an EQ actively balancing high and lows of what you are listening to and determining your favourite set-ups to calibrate the levels of their active noise cancelling capabilities.     

Supporting both SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, the QuietComfort Earbuds let you easily connect to your mobile device, no matter if you are an Apple aficionado or an Android user and the fact that they are compatible with Bluetooth 5.1, your phone can easily and readily detect them within a nine metre radius.

The fact that you can tap and swipe the earbuds themselves to control volume, summon virtual assistance and finetune other settings, makes it seamless, highly tactile and intuitive experience.

Needless to say, with earbuds a good fit is essential, especially when it comes to noise cancelling ones, which is an area where most one-size-fit-most models fail for me as I like wearing them while running. 

Bose tackles the problem by providing a wide range of ear tips in a variety of sizes along with a flexible silicone wing for added “slide in and twist”-style stability, which aids in finding your perfect snug fit. The fact that they are water and thus sweat resistant adds to the appeal as they can be worn for strenuous exercising as well.

Now, how well does the noise cancelling work with the QuietComfort earbuds?
The answer is: Extremely well.

A sliding scale allows for meticulous adjustments in the cancelling of predictable noise versus ambient sounds. What I like about the QuietComfort is that at all levels of noise cancelling, they facilitate anorganic and transparent sound when shutting out the humdrum of your surroundings.

Another area where I found most earbuds to underperform is the microphone and speech intelligibility / recognition, which is not an issue in the slightest with the QuietComfort model as even hushed whispers are picked up clearly.

Summa summarum:

After nine ears of using the battery powered QuietComfort 15 I feel confident about having invested in a quality upgrade, i.e. a pair of terrific sounding, versatile earbuds, which tick all boxes in terms of comfort, near flawless connection stability and performance (up to six hours of excellent listening time once fully charged), no matter if I am exercising, conducting Zoom meeting or travel and trying to get some shuteye on noisy flights.

Sure, Bose QuietComfort is certainly not the cheapest option out there, but the durability and longevity of their products make it worth the investment for audiophiles looking for a set of earbuds that will not run danger of needing an upgrade for the next decade. 

---

image from company website

The Formative Years

The Exploited 

The Exploited is one of the bands that had an immense influence on me transitioning from metal into punk as a prepubescent. I vividly remember seeing their Pushead designed skull with mohawk logo patch on an older punk’s battle vest and thought it to be one of the coolest, most radical and quintessential punk designs I had ever seen, so I made a concerted effort to find an independent record store to spend my allowance on the compilation album Totally Exploited, which must have not left my CD player for the following month.

I loved their no-frills approach to playing speedy and aggressive punk, which paired with Wattie’s wild eyed demeanour and snotty vocal delivery lyrically attacking the system from all angles in the most blunt manner possible was what I was missing from the metal and other bands I was listening to at the time. 

It encapsulated the DNA of a style that with the input of bands like GBH and Discharge formed what became known and loved as the “UK 82” movement. The fact that the band seemed to be getting into all kinds of trouble with their anti-social antics, fighting with other bands like Conflict only added to their allure.

Following The Exploited’s evolution and a deliberate change of their sound, I also moved into faster, more metallic crossover territory. Their Death Before Dishonour LP from 1987 remains a favourite with its onslaught of blazingly searing riffs serving as the foundation for Wattie serenading us with his trademark barks. 

It heralded on new era of underground music that merged hardcore punk with thrash metal, creating a lane that later on helped to give birth to metalcore.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer – New England Brewing, Akasha’s Eagle and Kaiju’s IPA

“I don't want to change the world, I am not looking for a new England…”

Ah, good ole Billy Bragg is suitable enough as a relevant reference to kick off this instalment of our beer-centric series with a focus on a brewery located in a region on terra australis that was not exactly brimming with an overload of breweries and known for craft beer until New England Brewing established its operations and put the area firmly on the radar of beer aficionados.

Inspired by Teutonic Brauereikunst and a trip to the old world shortly after the dawn of the new millennium, the seed was planted to replicate a brewery with its focus firmly set on provenance and a sense of pride for its locale, which eventually came to fruition more than a decade later.

With a line-up ranging from traditional lagers via hop bombs to experimental brews, New England Brewing has made itself known for its dedication to the craft and creating complex beers based on the use of open top fermenters and a secondary fermentation in the keg / can, which adds what has become the brewery’s idiosyncratic twist and is particularly conducive to creating Belgian style beers

My first exposure to New England Brewing Co. was via their core IPA, which is an example par excellence for the accomplishment of the West Coast style of IPA, i.e. unleashing avalanches of tropical fruit flavours combined with citrussy, zesty highlights that dance in front of a backdrop of delicate piney and resinous notes. The foundation is comprised of a hoppy quartet, i.e. Palisade, Bitter Gold, Amarilla and Centennial, which are calibrated in a manner so the characteristics of the individual hops complement each other.

Taking things to the next level is the New England’s Minutemen NEIPA – and yes, I am aware that once the acronym is spelled out, the former sentence is quite tautological in nature. 

With an orangey hue and hazy in appearance, what materializes on the top of the mouth is informed by what the colour promises, backed by a zesty kick. The mouth-watering fruitiness informed by pineapples is counterpointed by a dense malty bitterness. 

Delicious.

While I find stouts to be a bit of a hit or miss, you got to give it to New England Brewing Co for coming up with interesting variants: Based on a collaboration with their neighbours Artisti Coffee Roasters, the Coconut Milk Coffee Stout’s name says it all as it is all about the malty backbone, which – as the name would suggest – is infused with dark chocolatey, nutty coffee notes and rounded out with milky coconut aromas. A borderline ideal treat in liquid form for the colder months of the year.

If I had to define a hybrid between a Saison and an IPA, New England’s Single Hop India Saison expression would be an ideal candidate. 

Clocking in at an ABV of punchy 7.2% and a bitterness of 70 IBU, this hazy little number reigns supreme on the dry end of the spectrum where it excites the palate not only with a melange resulting from Citra hop derived juiciness dancing with the yeast, but a crescendo culminating in a black peppery spicy kick.

The limited release known as the Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Stout is exactly the oaky, dark fruity, sweet heavy hitter one would expect from having been aged for half a year in Beenleigh Rum barrels, which results in roasted malty flavours being interweaved with a dark syrupy sweetness that is oh so dangerously moreish.

Given the quality of what I have taste from New England Brewing so far, I can only hope that they will channel their alchemy in the creation of a Double IPA soon.

As weed-loving Ricky Fitts put it ever so eloquently in the plastic bag scene of American Beauty: “Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.” 

Now with Akasha projects having released their quadruple IPA hop monster The Eagle, the aforementioned quote can be applied to flavour and my palate.

It is not exactly the best kept secret that I am quite a fan of Akasha Brewing’s emissions, with their Wooden Leg IIIPA having so far been my favourite. However, this with Akasha’s The Eagle gripping me with its powerful talons with an ABV of 12%, sinking its large hooked beak into my palate with what can only be described as an cataclysmic explosion of hop resin, delicate malty sweetness and citrussy mango flavours, sets new standards in terms of how far the envelope can be pushed with an IPA without ever running danger of becoming a novelty release.

What on paper should not work as everything is seemingly turned to a Spinal Tap-esque 11 without regard to nuances and appears to be painted with a broad brush, Akasha Brewing has done it again and accomplished to brew a bold and rich juggernaut of an IPA on steroids with an enormously powerful and complex flavour profile that proves to be dangerously sessionable.
 
If you like your West Coast-style IPAs big, you will have not lived until you have tried Akasha’s The Eagle – a beer for special occasions and once that will make others pale in comparison.

Yum.

If you are following this series it should not come as a surprise that when it comes to hops, it cannot be dank and resinous enough for me and while I appreciate experimentations with hops and the creations of the Australian craft beer landscape, there are few breweries that seem to just effortlessly hit the spot with their creations.

Kaiju Brewery is one of the aforementioned and every time I see one of their emissions on tap, I make a beeline for it as in terms of hoppiness, they hardly ever leave anything left to be desired. 

Combine this core strength with a thinly veiled love for playful, eye-catching yet subtly nuanced artworks (with quite a few easter eggs to be found embedded in them for those willing to dig deeper), Japanese culture at large, Kabuki and the good old hero vs monster dynamic and you got the winning whole that constitutes Kaiju Brewery, which is so much more than the mere sum of the individual ingredients.

Needless to say, their hop bombs are accolade decorated and their special releases sell out quickly on a regular basis, which is why I am glad that two of my favourite Kaiju expressions have become integral to their core line-up.

Kaiju’s Metamorphosis IPA is, well how can I put…if you look up “IPA” in the dictionary, you would probably find a photo of a can of it. Based on a foundation of all-American hops, waves of deliciously piney highlights tickle the top of the mouth, rounded out by a delicate bitterness. Despite clocking in at a respectable 6.7% ABV, it dangerously more-ish and session-able.

So far, so good.

However, when it comes to special occasions, like e.g. the recent launch of the Octomore 12 line-up, a special beer is called for, i.e. a brew not unlike Kaiju’s Double IPA Aftermath.

As the punchy ABV of 9.1% suggests, we got a hoppy powerhouse in our hands – one that paints with a broader strokes in terms of booziness, a dominant malty backbone and wonderful citrussy highlights, which shine against a backdrop burnt toffee notes.

Given the quality and excellence of Kaiju’s brews, one cannot help but look forward to their future special releases, which will hopefully not stray from Kaiju’s deliberately over-the-top hoppy path.

---

images from company websites

The Formative Years

X-Mist Records

X-Mist Records has been around ever since Germany saw its own hardcore scene evolve in the mid-80es. What started as a cassette label, eventually grew to a veritable record label that was significantly involved in creating the foundation for bands like Spermbirds to blossom and bloom and thereby shaping the beginnings of the German and European hardcore scene.

Over the years, X-Mist has not merely remained relevant as a label by pushing the boundaries via releasing the emissions of new bands and genres off the beaten track  paired with an unrivalled instinct for detecting bands whose ethics were imbued with the DNA of DIY punk rock spirit, independently from stylistic confines or classifications.

There was a time in the early nineties when I spent a significant amount of my earnings on a monthly basis on ordering records from X-Mist and more often than not, Ute and Armin included additional items they thought I would like without me ever feeling the need to return them.  

X-Mist Records was a reliable authority and an arbiter of good taste when underground music started to gain traction in mainstream media in the mid-90es as they kept focusing on innovative subgenres with the respective bands carving out their own niche to express themselves without falling prey to the tropes that had become commercialized.

Few entities have coined me in the nineties like X-Mist Records’ approach to music and art at large, with the notion of the only constant thing being change having always been at the very core of their operations along with an actively cultivated disdain for repetition.

Having been inspired via an influx of Italian migrants after 1945 who evolved the traditions of their home country, Australia has become known and revered for its coffee culture and for the most part, it proves to be hard to not appreciate the obsession with quality product and presentation, which seems essentially to be the melange of the better bits of what coffee bean related culture of this earthround has to offer.

Given the smorgasbord of quality café offerings, chain stores like Starbucks never stood a chance in Australia and the scene is quite competitive. Ever since I moved down under, a day has to go by where I do not kickstart my day with a triple espresso shots skim Flat White made with skill and precision.

Needless to say, I am passionate about places that have established themselves to become outlets for great coffee, especially when those place are dedicated to transparency at the origin and farm level.

Established sixteen years ago, Mecca Coffee is an entity that made the effort to not merely look at how factors like altitude and oil have a tangible impact on flavour nuances, but dug deeper to inform a holistic approach to sourcing their beans in a bid to honour the whole community of contributors whose endeavours result in the black gold we enjoy.

Mecca Coffee’s House blend is a combination of Estrella del Norte, Huila, Colombia and Mountain Capixaba, Espirito Santo, Brazil and what tickles the receptors on the top of the mouth is a well-calibrated melange of honeycomby, milk chocolatey nuances, which are  interweaved by refreshing orangey highlights.

Mecca Coffee’s Moonwalker Blend is a suitable go-to for milk based coffee with its classic blend profile comprised of Mountain Capixaba, Espirito Santo, Brazil and  Mamut, Huila, Colombia beans, which results in a richer, dark chocolatey flavour profile with a crescendo of layered dark berry highlights and nutty pecan pie, rounded out by a reverberating  orange zesty finish.

Nuddy Coffee

Quentin Tarantino is fabled to be a coffee aficionado, which would explain why coffee references are omnipresent throughout his oeuvre, specifically in Pulp Fiction, where in one of the more prominent coffee related scenes Jules quips:
“Mmm! God damn, Jimmie! This is some serious gourmet shit! Usually, me and Vince would be happy with some freeze-dried Taster's Choice, but he springs this serious gourmet shit on us! What flavour is this?” 

How this is relevant to Nuddy Coffee you ask?

Well, because I felt the same way about when I first got a taste of their flavourful and fresh expressions, which are more often than not a carefully calibrated melange of different expressions, culminating in their very own DNA with a crema that is their special twist.

Take for example Nuddy’s Kings Canyon variant, an ode to the majestic sandstone massive that graces the red centre in Australia’s Watarrka National Park, which serves as an impressive canvas on which the sun transforms the scenery as daylight wanes. 

Nuddy captures the phenomenon via combining the attributes of complex coffees from Papua New Guinea and Guatemala, resulting in a medium dark roast with subtle nuances of  dark chocolate, burnt toffee and juicy berry highlights, which make the experience of having a cuppa a flavourful journey that invites to daydream.

I like my coffee strong and hence love Nuddy’s Broken Hill expression, which not unlike the “Silver City” and unofficial capital of the Australian Outback it is named after, carries rugged, rustic and robust characteristics.

The Broken Hill variant has a kick to it, which is derived from the combination of two intense, high-quality Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties. 

By roasting the aforementioned source coffees dark, not only the landscape of Broken Hill is matched but a foundation is created on which delicate nuances of peanut butter, cocoa and caramel dance individually only to be ultimately married to a whole that is much more than the mere sum of its components.

If you appreciate your coffee giving you a jolt, you would find yourself hard pressed not being impressed by how this full bodied powerhouse with its deep nutty and slightly bitter flavours not only satisfies in the flavour department but puts a spring in your step with the strong finish it culminates in.

Equally as impressive in its own way is Nuddy’s Nullarbor roast: A blend of carefully curated source coffees from Guatemala and Brazil informs the coffee equivalent of Nullarbor’s earthy colour palate via flavours that traverse deep chocolate territory via a well-calibrated bitterness to hazelnutty nuances. The medium dark roast works well as the core of a Flat White or, the way I like it best, a formidable double espresso.

Nuddy’s sophisticated approach to channelling their alchemy in the creation of specific and unique flavour profiles also extends to the coffee related accessory they design themselves.

Case in point: Their Fellow Joey cup, which is a thing of beauty that will add an aesthetic edge to the bland, branded mug collection of any coffee aficionado: Double walled in a bid to retain heat and avoid exterior condensation, white ceramic majestically rests on a foundation that is a polished, gleaming copper base.

If your love for coffee is profound and you appreciate a sustainable, sophisticated and artisanal effort that goes beyond of what other roasters proffer, you would regret not checking out Nuddy Coffee’s offerings whenever the chance presents itself.

---

images from company websites