Modular obsession with Rex The Dog

My recent musical obsession is the British DJ and musician Jake Williams, a.k.a Rex The Dog. I actually thought it was a Swedish DJ at first because of the remixes of The Knife's Heartbeats and The Sounds's Tony The Beat. Also, the Swedish DJ and musician Familjen (Johan Karlsson) has made a remix of Rex The Dog's Bubblicious. I guess Rex just loves Swedish electronic music. But enough of that. Let's talk about modular synths.

For the last decade or so, my interest in electronic music has gone from occasional listener to some kind of wannabe-DJ. And when I recently saw the documentary I Dream of Wires, my love has really grown for modular synthersizer. I mean the old modular synths from the 70's are of course fascinating instruments and inventions, but the modern ones are even cooler I think. The modern ones have all these sounds that can be created in a way that resembles the analouge sound, but has all the benefits and stability of the digital age. I'm not pretending to be an expert on this subject, because I'm really not, but I'd love to learn more about it. At least I would like to get the chance to play around with a modular synth some day.

So. Rex The Dog. He is of course using modular synths and that's why his music has this great retro vibe to it. It's incredibly energetic and upbeat, without being too slick or predictable. Nothing more to say really. My favourite tracks are: Bubblicious, I Can See You, Can You See Me?, Sequencer, Shortwave, and finally Teufelsberg that you can enjoy here below.

New music and where to find it

I have come to understand that everyone is not like me. I am a huge music nerd and I never seem to get tired of the search for new and interesting music. It is my curiosity and restlessness that drives me. But how do you find the good stuff when there is infinite amounts to listen to? I would say that it is easier than ever! You just need to know where to look for it. Here I will give some of my best tips.

Spotify

I am Swedish, so it's only natural that Spotify is the most common way for me to consume music. Spotify has become a great music streaming service with a lot of helpful tools to discover more music. My top three tips are:

1. Discover Weekly. This is a sophisticated tool that lets you discover songs that are similar to what you already are listening to. This playlist gets updated weekly. 
2. Public playlists. There are plenty of these playlists with different themes and genres. Just browse through the categories, there is always something interesting to listen to, and many of the playlists are updated regularly.
3. Follow other music nerds. Simple as that. Find people who has great taste and see what they are listening to right now or just browse through their public playlists. For example I follow local music journalists and A&Rs. 

SoundCloud 

SoundCloud is fun and totally different from Spotify. Here I usually follow record labels, both big and small, to see what they are promoting right now. Also, it is a great way of finding unusual recordings or remixes, things you will never find on Spotify, or just up-and-coming-artists without record deals.

SoundCloud isn't for everybody. It's not as user friendly as Spotify, and I would say it is mostly for people in the music industry, but still I recommend you to check it out!

Vimeo 

The music video is definetly not dead! On Vimeo you can find a lot of great music by watching music videos. They have several great channels featuring new music videos, and also the Vimeo Staff Picks-channel usually highlights alot of music videos as well.

Music festivals 

Yes, that is right. Music festivals. You don't even have to go them, if you don't want to (but I recommend that you do, at least once). For example, the Roskilde Music Festival is one of the best when it comes to booking up-and-coming-artists. Forget about the headliners, just go through the schedule for the smaller stages and I asure you, you will find something to your liking.


Now. I hope this was helpful. Otherwise, you can always just follow me and my blog. *nudge nudge wink wink*

Death and Heartbeats

I had a magical night under the stars last evening. Me and a friend of mine went to see this Iranian, film noir vampire movie, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, at an outdoor cinema. This movie was absolutely fantastic! Apart from being eye-candy, thrilling, romantic, bloody and funny, it also had an amasing soundtrack. The soundtrack made the movie feel like a mix of a modern neo western and some kind of independent movie like Lost in Translation.

Some noteble tracks were Gelaye by Iranian, alternative rock band Radio Tehran, Dancing Girls by Farah, and the neo western song Black Sunday by Federale. But of course I'm saving the best for last. There was this highly romtantic scene between the main characters where the girl puts on a vinyl record on the record player, and the song playing is Death by White Lies. This scene is totally mesmerising. I couldn't imagine a better band than the Joy Divisionesque band White Lies to portrait the electrical and unnerving feel of this scene. Seeing the scene out of context will probably never be as good as seeing it in the movie, but here it is anyway.

Would you like to listen to some music? From A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) from Cinematic Poetry on Vimeo.

A toast: to new beginnings

I am a woman of many interests in her life. It's hard trying to balance it all. But there is something that I just cannot seem not to do, and that is writing about music. And why not? I've already had tinnitus for years since I listen to music all the time. And yes, maybe my tinnitus is caused by the fact that I didn't use any earplugs until I was 25 or something. Anyway. Here I am again, starting a new blog (this is my forth, not counting musicstage.se that I used to work for), but this time it's personal! What I mean is that there is not going to be any theme for this blog. I'll write about anything that comes to mind. This blog will be my musical confession, and English shall be my language of choice! Now, let's begin.

Have you heard Young Galaxy? Or maybe more importantly, have you seen their music videos? This one, Sleepwalk with me, is one of their most finest. It is as beautifully animated as it is poeticly portrayed. The story in the video is inspired by a story about the relationship between two soldiers during the Second World War, called "Letter to a G.I.", published in 1953. Brazilian director Fabricio Lima, the man behind this video, has really managed to capture a heartwarming, dreamy atmosphere that goes perfectly with the song. I keep watching this video over and over and over...



Young Galaxy - Sleepwalk With Me from Fabricio Lima on Vimeo.