Category Archives: Musik

Dagens helt självklara app: Figure från Propellerhead

iphone, Musik

Figure By Propellerhead Software AB

FigureGot three minutes and want to make some music?
Figure is the fun music-making app for instant inspiration.
Create an addictive beat before the next bus stop or lay down a beefy bass line while waiting in line at the bank. Figure will have you making music within seconds yet is deep enough for endless play on a transatlantic flight.

Figure highlights
• Make songs with Drums, Bass and Lead Synth
• Play by sliding your finger across the play pad
• Always stay in key and on the beat
• No previous playing skills required
• Tweak and twist your track on the fly
• Sounding amazing has never been this easy
• The sound of Reason on your phone!

Dagens stockholmare: Ann-Mari Fröier – ”Jag spelar bättre när jag är deppad”

Musik

”Jag spelar bättre när jag är deppad”: ”Ann-Mari Fröier är 87 år och arrangerar pianokonserter i Konserthuset med sig själv som huvudakt. Hon har genom livet brottats med mani och djupa depressions­dalar. Men hon slutar aldrig att se framåt.
– Man har ingenting annat att välja på faktiskt. Bakåt går ju inte att välja, säger hon.
”

(Via Dagens Nyheter.)

I morgon Skärtorsdag kl 20 sänder SVT2 dokumentären ”Mozart och mums-mums” om Ann-Mari Fröier.

Drummond: ”You could be having No 1s in 18 countries but still be unloading vans of records”

Musik

The KLF operated without an office, manager or lawyer. Nevertheless, by loading and unloading pallets of CDs and vinyl and coordinating deliveries with their distributors, the duo sold almost 2m records. ”There was never a point where I wasn’t unloading vans,” Drummond says. ”You could be having No 1s in 18 countries but still be unloading vans of records.”

Via The Guardian

En resa från 1989 bland kassettbandssamlare och popstjärnedrömmar – eller hur det var i soffan hemma hos Samedi

Featured, Musik,

kassettband1989 satte jag mig på tåget från Borås för att åka upp till Stockholm. Målet med resan var att träffa en kassettsamlare jag hade bytt lite band med, det var sånt man höll på med pre mp3. Via annonser i tidningen Hifi & Musik, som man lånade på skolbiblioteket, kunde man hitta folk som hade exklusiva livekonserter inspelade med t ex Adolphson och Falk och som gärna bytte det mot en skiva av Scapa Flow. Utöver kassett-snack så skulle vi också träffa några killar som hade startat ett eget skivbolag och nu skulle ge ut sin första LP. Continue reading →

Dagens boktips: Sometimes – A Life of Love, Loss & Erasure

Böcker, Musik

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Sometimes – A Life of Love, Loss & Erasure

As partner and manager of Erasure front man, Andy Bell, Paul Hickey was living life too fast and in the wrong lane when he was struck down in a luxurious LA hotel suite by a crippling series of strokes that left him irreparably brain damaged. It was the start of a long, painful and exciting personal journal.

Awakening from a coma to discover he was unable to move, swallow or communicate, he was suddenly forced to take stock of his life of sex, drugs and rock and roll and to rebuild it from scratch. The only way he could communicate in the early stages of his recovery was by writing, and this is his story.

In this life-affirming true story, with echoes of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby and The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp, Paul gives a heartrending account of how it feels to be struck down in the prime of life. From the prison of his hospital bed he looks back on how it felt to grow up poor in California, coming to terms with being gay, becoming a heavy drug user, arriving in London and falling in love with Andy. As he looks back he realises his life has been blessed and that he has been recklessly gambling with it. He also realises he has been given a final chance to put things right.

The book gives powerful insights into how his and Andy’s lives together changed with the phenomenal success of Erasure in the late eighties and early nineties, with all the money, drugs and fast living that followed. In telling how their love story survived the pressures of fame, he realises just how powerful the bond between them is. As he struggles to return to a normal life, Paul is able to appreciate the extraordinary depth of Andy’s love and support.

He paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to suffer a stroke and to suddenly find that everything in your life has changed forever; that even the simplest tasks like swallowing and speaking are suddenly beyond your control. In the telling of the story he provides hope and inspiration for anyone who has ever suffered such a problem, or knows someone who has. He shows how, with tenacity, courage and love, you can overcome almost any adversity and end up a better and stronger person for the experience.

In the end it is a love story, and an uplifting and inspiring lesson in how seemingly impossible obstacles can still be overcome if you have enough determination – it is a gay Sid & Nancy, but with a happy ending.