Everybody knows I like discovering things. Especially music. I spend al lot of time seeking out little gems that really need to be shared with the world. Even if it is only one person (Hi mom!) reading this blog, it’s worth the hassle. Because I get to find creators of magic. And I get to still my undying hunger for chills down my spine. I’m a chills-junkie like that. And I need my regular fix. It also gives me the opportunity to record my journey through music. And looking back, what a journey it has been. It’s been a crazy ride, from starting out as a fresh marketing based music listener to a somewhat more critical and inquisitive music experiencer. Even though this journey sometimes has been overwhelming, I have never seized to be extremely grateful that I had the chance to travel on this path. Not to mention the beautiful people I’ve met during this journey. Because of music I have had so many inspiring talks with such beautiful and inspiring people. I have made close friends and far friends. Complete strangers telling me they are inspired and working that positive energy stream back and forth. Close friends getting touched, one way or the other. Creating something nice. Thank you. That energy has been such a nice, fuzzy landing for me in lesser times.
I have learned so much about myself as a person. I’ve learned to be grateful, appreciative, humble, understand, deal, be openminded, patient, giving and proud. I’ve cried, laughed, sobbed, frowned, criticized, remembered but most of all, I have shared. Sharing is caring. And I do care. I care because it sometimes feels like such a waste that a lot of people won’t have the chance to discover and travel on this journey that has brought me all kinds of wonderful. Every human being deserves a fair chance at wonderful. Not just content. No, wonderful..For me this journey will probably never end. I can’t wait to see what places this will bring me more.. Please join me. Or have a journey of your own. And while doing all that traveling, you might as well fill you Ipod with a badass music list. Starting with The Cinematic Orchestra.
So, these guys are formed by Jason Swinscoe in 1999. Jason obviously has a nose for talent and with his own bass – and guitar skills and a background of DJ-ing he found himself some playmates (not talking about the bodacious, feminine ones) to create awesomeness. In no time he recorded their debut album named ‘Motion’ which had a strong emphasis on the cinematic atmosphere. This innovative sound and ambiance was welcomed with open arms by listeners of Gilles Peterson’s Radio One show. Their second album proved their versatility through the more orchestra side they now displayed. They got the legendary Fontella Bass (of ‘Rescue Me’ and Art Ensemble of Chicago fame) recorded on heavenly tracks ‘All That You Give’ and ‘Evolution’. This resulted into an intruiging mixture of orchestra, jazz and poetry kinda sound. These two tracks have a certain built up in tension that is almost exciting. No, it IS exciting. Tracks like ‘All things to men’ show their ability to combine hiphop and fuse it into the orchestra and jazz feel, as smooth has a banana in a strawberry and pineapple smoothie..
Loving these guys with a passion. Check out ‘All That You Give’ with Fontella Bass. They are tearing it up.
Girls and their bags are like heroin to a junkie. It really doesn’t matter where we are, what we do, whom we are with, there is always a bag in the equation. We carry our whole life’s in our bags. If one day I end up on a deserted Blue Lagoonish kinda island I would survive in style. I probably would live comfortably for weeks with the content of my bag. By the time the rescuers come I have built myself a resort, have electricity and my own shoe storage, while eating a five course meal. And have flawless make up while doing all that. All thanks to the content of my bag. We carry that thing around, even if it means we will have to permanently damage our backs for life. So, if you gotta be inseparable with the bag, why not make sure it’s a nifty one?
Baggu bags define themself by high quality, bright simplicity. Vivid colors and sturdy materials make this the bag i wanna carry around while waiting to be saved on some deserted tropical island. Especially eyeballing the soft leather models..Besides the fact the Baggu is some serious arm candy they are also eco-friendly. Do your groceries, carry them while travelling around Asia of provide your laptop with the nicest coat. Durable materials, designed to last. And we like lastings. Recently Baggu did a collabo with Threadless and designed some limited editions with contributions of several artists/designers like Ross Zietz and Andy Gonsalves. Awesomeness.
I got inspired to write this post by randomly talking to someone (thanks A!) on Facebook. Got me thinking about the power people have to influence one and another. Negatively, but most important positively. I don’t know about you but I make a habit out of looking and finding inspiration and positive energy in just about anything. Why, you ask? Because life and society can blunt your senses, personality, individuality, creativity and mental progression. And because I happen to like my life with some magic sprinkled on top of it. Or maybe do a little bit of sprinkling myself. It doesn’t need to be grand, as long as you make the small things matter. And maybe one day, that small thing is something big for someone else. You never know.
Speeches. Good speeches are like little seeds. Seeds planted in the soil called the minds of the listeners. Those seeds continue to grow into ideas and one day become a tree of human progress. Rooted and solid. I looked for my personal top three greatest speeches of all times.
Let’s kick off with a pretty simple one. To me a good speech is more then some marketing story some famous icon reads to his public. Sometimes it’s just a dude, who just misses his mom. No one knows who he is or what he has achieved. But he got me wanting to Skype my mom and tell her how much I appreciate her. No fancy words. No ingenious plot. Just sincerity.
Number two on my list is Steve Jobs. Now, I know he was hardly the underdog. But at one point he actually was. And even though he was the embodiment of great marketing at work, i believed him. Because he did what he loved. And it all begins with doing what you love. Staying hungry. Staying foolish.
The all time, best speech I’ve ever heard is Charlie Chaplin’s Speech from the movie “The Great dictator”. Amazing how this actor known and famous for his silent movies, silenced me for over 4 minutes. I actually felt chills running up and down my spine for at least 2 minutes after the video stopped.
Of course there are many more insanely good speeches. Think of Martin Luther King’s, Muhammad Ali’s, Barack Obama’s. Speeches who changed the world and history. But i wanted to show you the less known ones. Because anyone can be an inspiration. Even if you are just a guy who misses his mom, a silent movie actor or a computer geek.
I hope I just sprinkled you.
I wrote about an artist and goldfishes before, but this takes the goldfish to another level. Somehow the goldfishes are busy saving uninspired artist as did they with Riusuke Fukahori. This brilliant Japanese artist clearly has a fascinating obsession with goldfishes. Apparently his pet goldfish saved him from a dark and lonely path of non-inspiration and since then Riusuke decided to honor his little gold friend in his amazing artwork.
His most remarkable pieces are the 3d artworks which he creates with some kind of resin, creating a realistic image of goldfishes captured in stillness. To think i use resin to wax my legs..What a waste. He creates his pieces layer by layer. I always found the Japanese culture really disciplined, patient, subtle an accurate. These traits express themselves in Japanese food, music and working culture. I guess these traits come in handy doing this work too. Men, this guy must be the Z in Zen.
Check out this off the hook process accompanied by some lovely music:
“Goldfish Salvation” Riusuke Fukahori from ICN gallery on Vimeo.
Music by Jemapur (ICN gallery artist) “Panter Time” and videoproduction by Hexaproject London Limited.
My shoe obsession has gone transgender. I suddenly mirage myself in some kind of delusional ’Scarface’ scene stuffing my face in men shoes. Sniffing up the fine quality leather like a maniac on a powertrip. Even the main character’s names are like they just walked of the set of some Sicilian Mafia drama. Ylati’s (Italy spelled backwards) founders are Luciano and Luca. I have no idea, but i think, maybe, they are Italian. These gents are packed with an elegant taste in fine quality leather men shoes with an emphasis on the sneaker. Fine, sophisticated and buttery leather with the comfortable designs of a modern day sneaker. The designs of their 2012 collection is just plain sleek, nifty and scrumptious all rolled up in a layer of subtle sexiness. Forget the obvious slutty tramp on the bar with her boobs all hanging out, trying real hard.. Check out the subtle brunette with the glasses, sharp humor, cute smile and a brain capacity to die for!
The Ylati 2012 collection will consist of 4/5 models with an variety of colours and a mixture of quality traditional leather recognizable of the Italian shoecraftmanship <—-is this even a word? I just totally made that shit up just now. Every season Ylati will offer the 4/5 limited editions on their website. I’m seriously considering a sekse change just so i can wear these shoes. I might decrease in brightness a bit, but who cares? I’ll be simple, drink beer and do burping contests with my even more simple man-friends. All that with the prettiest shoes on my feet..
If you have any clue who i am, then you must know i get aroused by cheese. Something about the salty, creamy and sultry taste and texture gets my heartbeat racing. With a glass of wine and some fresh figs, i’m a wealthy, overweight woman in times of economic crisis.
The thing with cheese is that even though the taste to me is like heaven, the packaging of these little treasures are mostly pure designed for practical use. Solid plastics to keep the cheese fresh and tasty. Though very practical, it’s not the most sexy packaging to look at. For me cheese is like a little present. A treat for my hard, hard work. Something to make this grim existence worthy. Since my life is so damn hard and it’s a struggle to survive on a daily base (the little babyfat on my tighs are proof of my bare and raw hardships), cheese is a real treat for me. I treat myself several times a week. So, why not package it as a little gift?
Some clever marketing person at Imokilly probably had the same thought. This Irish cheesebrand worked together with designer Fatti Burke to create one of the most innovative cheese packaging i’ve ever seen. The result made this fatty go *Burp* (Sorry, had to make a stupid fat-joke..Can you blame me?!). Not only are my eyes pleased with it, it is practical too. A perfect example of combining functionality with esthetics. The packaging includes a recipe (you can tear that off the packaging and keep it) and a wine suggestion. Not to mention the sexy, rustling tissue paper to keep it all neat and fresh..
Check it out for yourself.
Next to Japanese folks i have a special weak spot for Scandanavians too. Not only a love for Scandanavian furniture but Scandanavian design in general gets my blood pumping. The Danish also have good music to enlighten us with. Quadron consists of Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj and musician/producer Robin Hannibal. Coco’s voice (the rest is unpronouncable, sorry..) fascinates me. It sometimes is even angelic, but with some down to earth sturdy funk feelings mixed through it. They are also both members of an electronica collective called Boom Clap Bachelors and they both have a lot of other side cooperations with other musicians. One of the nicest Quadron sounds is ‘Average Fruit’. This relaxed elecronica jazzy tune is just bananas ya’ll..Check it out!
Vindahl, a Copenhagen based artist, cofounder of the soul collective Boom Clap Bachelors released his debut album ‘Serendipity’ earlier this year and i just love it. This indie electronic album has some easy on the ears tunes. Perfect for a warm-summer-night-skinny-dipping, with the love of your life.This makes me believe in forever after again. Lovely yearnin’, penetrating the eardrums.
One of my favourite penetrations is ‘Head over Heals feat. Coco’. Happy lovemakin’ ya’ll..
I usually don’t dig German things. Weird German sausages, weird German names, weird German accents, weird German people. No. No, German diggin’ on my turf. But for Dirg Gerner i’m happy to make an exception. This Dirg-dude is kinda fascinating. Who is this mysterious cat, that just released his debut EP at Alexander Nut‘s Ho Tep Records?
Since i have a bit of a stalkers-streak i did some online diggin’ about my future baby daddy. I found out that the suspicion has arisen that Mister Gerner is in fact fLako himself..Very interesting. I have been posting outside his house and did an extensive research on his garbage but haven’t found watertight proof it’s fLako yet. But if we listen to his music it has some very distinctive fLako influences..
The “Preface” EP consists of a perfectly balanced combination of several musical influences such as jazz, soul, hip hop and latin. Kinda like the perfect amount of peanutbutter and jelly on a sandwich. With a little ‘Fatima‘ sprinkled on top..Grab a bite.
