The Turbulence

May one day my whimsical mind be mitigated,
When my anxious weakened thoughts are obliterated
Then giving way to the magic wonders of every day,
When with the life of others I shall never play

But then again, what is the mouth to say?

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Here’s Lykke Li‘s final version of her fabulous new song, Get Some:

Day after blues.

Enjoy

A weekend of intense, focused work awaits me.

The good thing about doing what you like is that that doesn’t feel as bad as it sounds. It takes just a bit of drive to get through these two days into another busy week.

Since I am human, I know for sure my breaks will be filled with music, so I thought I could share my latest discovery with you – a tip by a friend:

Sweden’s Familjen

Along with fellow Nordic acts Sigur Rós and Casiokids, these guys sing in their native language.

I love the idea that music is somehow above and beyond nations and tongues, so that there would be no need to make it necessarily understandable via English.

Ha en trevlig helg!

Motion in culture

Today is Brazil’s National Day.

For most of us though, September 07 is just a day to enjoy our friends’ and families’ companies or basically do nothing – by a pool, preferably.

So here I was, just surfing the internet after lovely breakfast with dear guests when I found Karin Dreijer Andersson‘s mixtape on DazedDigital.

Listen to her delightful music list here

It is so remarkable how my tastes sometimes go around in circles. If you read this blog, you probably know I’m mildly obsessed with both Africa and Scandinavia.

Fever Ray's new tour costumes

These places are universes apart, but then I come across one of my favorite artist’s playlist and find lots of African music in it.

I should have known by now that Fever Ray is always surprising. It seems that what I wrote about the end of the project might have been a bit hasty. Since then it seems Karin changed her mind. The new tour is a witness to that change.

How extraordinary it is to see all these tastes and references come together. Unlike what most xenophobes might believe, culture is not stagnant.

You do the math.

Musik för måndag

Maybe it is no wonder I’m so into mind-distracting music these days – I’m truly pressed for time. Since I am gracefully trying not to lose it worrying about deadlines, I choose electronica instead.

The combination of Swedish music grandeur with easy listening, vacation-reminiscent tunes is what the boys in Air France do best:

These two guys from Gothenburg are incredibly good remixers, recreating tunes by giving them that lovely twist of freshness and creativity only insightful artists can do.

Perfect for Monday.

Reincarnating

In a previous incarnation I must have surely been either an Eskimo or a Viking. Seriously, the attraction I feel for Nordic artists is inexplicable.

I was just listening to the radio a little while ago when this strikingly beautiful tune started and I thought: this music is fantastic! When I searched for the name of the band I found out they are Swedish. How impressive.

This is Dag för Dag:

A quick anecdote. A have a friend who once went to Sweden for the sole purpose of finding inspiration for his designs. When we asked him, why Sweden?, he just said: “look at all these great acts we got from there, The Knife and the likes. There has got to be something in their water that makes them so creative.”

That’s a good question.

Day by day in Sweden

The end of Fever Ray

The multitalented Swedish artist Karin Dreijer Anderson has recently announced the end of her solo project, the wonderfully surprising Fever Ray, after just one record.

In an interview to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, she claimed that she’s accomplished what she wanted with this album, so it’s time to move on.

Fever Ray live

It saddens me but also it makes me admire her even more. Despite all the positive criticism, she chose the hardest path, the one of creativity. I can’t help but admire independent-minded artists and especially musicians who never cease to amaze.  She is aware of the fact that what she does isn’t mainstream and bases the explanation to her choices on her own pursuit of artistic expression, a thought I cherish deeply.

When asked about the difficult reception her music sometimes gets, she replied:

“I think listeners are often underestimated if one thinks that they only want to get fast-food songs, easily accessible tunes which everyone can understand the first time they hear them. I think people appreciate songs that take a little time to be taken it.”

A Fever Ray concert is conceived to be an exhibition, uniting sounds, music and visual elements to give access to Karin’s conceptions of a true and thorough artistic experience. In a fruitful partnership with Swedish artist Andreas Nilsson (who also directed the videos), the singer developed the concept of a five-sense approach to a music concert.

“I think it’s exciting to work with music that tries to express things in different ways, which can be accessed through many different entrances. One can listen to it for many reasons and purposes.”

In a world so full of idols and disposable artists, her words are an indescribable relief to one’s ears.

Dreamy job offer

I was recently offered a managerial position within my company. The proposed salary was quite interesting and the amount of power I would have was tempting. And besides, the promotion would look very good on my CV. I turned it down.

Although interesting, this kind of work so closely tied to office obligations, time constraints and to being “the boss” is just not for me.

I told my boss that if I accepted it, I would probably just slowly die due to monthly-report-writing complications. It would – and I’m positive about this, bore me to death.

I’d much rather work with something that would bring about creativity and inspiration; something that can motivate me to contribute with something truly valuable to the world (according to my views, of course).

This is the sort of work imagery that fills my dreams about my dream work:

Lovely pop music (this Swedish duo is so sweetly pretentious), headpieces by Keko Hainswheeler, gold clothes by Les Hommes, designer boots, flowers and a piano.

If only she had offered me that.

One or the other

If I had to choose between work and procrastination, I am afraid I would have to say the latter.

This is not due to lack of enjoyment in what I do, but I guess the day would have to be much bigger to fit the time I need to feel inspired together with the rest of the working day. At the risk of underperformance and unfinishing business, I prefer to have my mind creativity recharged by not doing anything of work-related consequence. Without it, I would just slowly die of mental and intellectual boredom.

This illustration by my all-time favorite alive artist and illustrator, the poetically talented Camilla Engman from Sweden is a perfect representation of what I mean by inspiration.

On work and leisure

Choose.

Sad and poor in Brazil

Who would have known that I would commit the same silly mistakes concerning money again?

Overspending on trendy fashion items and luxurious São Paulo lifestyle can have but expensive consequences. Will I learn? Let us wait and see.

Meanwhile, to help me cheer up a bit, here’s my new favorite Swedish act, the lovely Little Dragon:

Although I quite like the song above, I’ve been listening a lot to one called Looking Glass.

To be enjoyed with a nice drink in the hand (if you have the money to afford it).

Sweden, Talent, Fever, Ray

The future looks quite bright at the moment. Let the crises pass, let the semester be over, let a wonderful trip to Buenos Aires come closer!

Meanwhile, there is another endless source of inspiration that has been present in my life for the past few weeks: the ethereal Fever Ray, which is the new musical project by the ever so talented Karin Dreijer Andersson, the one half of the multiple-talented Swedish duo The Knife.

Here’s one of my favorite songs on the album, the enchanting When I Grow Up, in a video by Martin de Thurrah:

Although I couldn’t bear to live in Sweden for much longer than one year (sorry my svenska vänner, but the cold and darkness in every sense really get to me), I still consider it to be one of the most incredible creative cradles of the world today. I love everything Swedish (hej Olof Dreijer!) but especially its music.

Swedes in music have always done what I love the most about artists: they go through a lot of work and add numerous elements, beautifully coordinated, to everything they do. If only this were a cliché.

As Karin shrewdly says in the lyrics: they put their soul in what they do.