#the vibes of this EP are so good and the album art is so mismatched it's jarring to MEEEEEE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

i--antimony · 2 months

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BIG tuesday

i skipped last tuesday because i was working on a take-home exam and simply did not have the time nor the inclination, so: beefy tuesdaypost today!

listening: my brother recommended 'dead magic' by anna von hausswolff and boy what an album. gothic, punchy, very vibey. the kind of album you let wash over you like an ocean wave.

pulled 'mostly kosher' from my to-listen list. fun, funky, very jewish, good vibes. ikh hob dikh tsufil lib

i've continued to mainline borodin symphonies 1 & 2. idk they're just hitting right.

and the new pieces for the orchestra i'm in - very french this time round: debussy's fêtes: kinda spooky and ominous and also fluid in a fun way! lots of buildup that seems to resolve into nothingness. horn parts for this are pretty good, not too difficult but are definitely Heard. chabrier's españa: really bumpin horn parts. fun bouncy motifs. what's not to like.

pocasting-wise, i'm up to partizan 38. 10 episodes left!!! the home stretch!!!!! it's so good but things are definitely amping up in the end-of-fatt-season way.

i've also listened to my friend b's gotham tv show podcast 'jim gordon must die'. very good and funny. i laughed out loud at some of the episode 3 descriptions.

reading: i was stuck in Bad Airport Times this past saturday (flight delayed 3 hours, then sat for an hour on the tarmac, arrived at 10pm when i was originally supposed to arrive at like 630) so i blasted through all ~150k words of 'freefall' by Kunoichi21 and xoTsundoku. bog-standard mafia au, but with a fun little circus arts twist; fun background fengqing; i do not like that they made beefleaf wholesome. give me my toxic beefleaf god damn it. but otherwise it was a fun read, sappy romcom-style. the fic itself isn't quite done but it's in endgame. the author notes have peak fanfic culture energy of "hey guys! sorry i didn't update, i started nursing school and my dad died" bro .... ;___; goddamn. please take care of urselves

watching: we are almost done with kill la kill! last two eps!!! so tonight we're doing that and also watching last week's dunmeshi together.

friend and i finished comrade detective. incredible. no notes. so funny. we started 'endeavour' which is a detective morse prequel thing and goddd the british-isms, and also started serial experiments lain. i don't know what i was expecting but god it was not this. i literally thought this was a cute fun hacker mystery show in the energy of cowboy bebop. it is Not That. not even close. it's good though i'm enjoying it. currently staggering through life going uhhhhh like lain does in the first few eps.

playing: fallow. i am re-installing disco elysium on my computer though. ive been wondering if i should try to keep going on the save file from last year or if i should just start over because i barely got in there at all.

making: many things. pottery!! some good some not as good.

so this design came out SO nice but the underglaze is so gd streaky! i hate it !!! i don't think it's really fixable either, i tried the hairspray trick to put new solid glaze over top the inside so at least that would look less like shit but i could not get it to work. maybe sanding it down? idk. it's ugly. it was supposed to be a bright teal but the woman who runs the studio mixed the batch up wrong so it's like. a really drab gray and not in a fun or intentional way. idk.

some new bisque:

teacups came out! still mismatched but cute nonetheless! gonna do them in a sort of celadon-type color with white flowers to match the teapot that my SO has :)

i don't feel like adding more photos for these lol they're very boring. the pot for my mom came out fine i think. gonna go in with normal white glaze over top to paint in some trees or other botanical designs. i sponged the underglaze on so hopefully the final result won't be streaky. sponged red on my seder plate to hopefully accomplish the same thing. mugs came through the bisque with no issues but i didn't do anything fun with underglaze on one of them so no new pics of that, but the other i did this tree thing again:

i KNOW it'll be streaky as hell. i just know. so i'm considering how i want to do it. perhaps putting some slightly transparent green over the top of it all to meld it together? unsure.

some new stuff: made a citrus juicer, this was attempt number 2 and just barely got it to work, attempt 1 was a total disaster. also made another mug type object, hopefully it'll still be wet enough this weekend to slap a handle on.

two mugs with red clay, i really loved the lascaux mugs that jessica bartram put up for sale last year but i didnt snag one in time so i was like. fuck it. i will make my own. gonna let them dry to leather hard before going in with black underglaze.

i've been trying to draw again but. idk. i just feel very uninspired. i start drawing and it's like :| :| :|

eating: i was on my own food-wise for much of the last week because my roommate was babysitting for the rabbi, so i did not eat nearly as extravagantly as i normally do, LOL. i made a lo mein recipe that was kinda just a stir fry. this could have been my fault because i added a bunch of extra shit like bok choy and mushrooms. i also didn't use the correct type of noodle, and i didnt have oyster sauce so i used worcestershire, etc. many substitutions so it's probably not fair for me to say it was Just Fine. will have to try again at some later date actually following the recipe. herb and radish salad with feta and walnuts: delicious. 10/10. i tossed in some extra arugula and that was also good. and i made the tofu brussel sprouts tahini/hoisin sauce thing again because it's easy and tasty.

misc: visiting my grandma right now ...... entrenched in the ennui .............. spring break ........................

#tuesdayposting #Spotify

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theseventhhex · 6 years

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Das Body Interview

Das Body

Photo by Hsiang Hsiang Wang

Out of the greyer climes of Oslo - particularly East Oslo with its drizzly expanse of apartment blocks and gas stations stocked with Kent cigs and smut mags - has suddenly come a burst of colour by the name of Das Body. Das Body has emerged with plenty of buzz from local fests and press and a debut EP release is finally here. Their synths and rhythms enter with a rather classic 80s familiarity but quickly take a turn for a sort of new-new-wave. Elsewhere, the melodies melt at places and wrinkle at the edges. The vocals warble and waver, and occasionally reach into higher, alien pitches. Das Body is writing pop music without the sentimentality that oversweetens so much currently on radio rotation. Instead, to their vulnerability, they mix in a little vulgarity, or a little light-heartedness. Now, with their hat in the ring, Das Body brings a uniquely Nordic odd-pop that is, nonetheless, destined for charts the world over… We talk to Ellie Linden about songwriting styles, cooking and YouTube binges…

TSH: When you guys formed Das Body, what sort of ideas and ambitions did you initially have in mind for the band’s vision?

Ellie: Das Body started with me and Kim years ago, and at that point we didn’t really have a set vision. I just knew I wanted to make music, and Kim did too. We obviously wanted it to get somewhere, but we weren’t really thinking about that during those early stages. I just thought it was fun and I wanted to learn more. It was creative in a very intense way, and I started looking at music differently. For me the beginning was a growth period where I had to learn more about my voice and find my character, once I did that the music started flowing. Things started falling into place. I guess Das Body the band didn’t really form in full until we got all members of the band in, which was barely a year ago now.

TSH: How would you assess and summarise the band dynamic when new music is coming together?

Ellie: When it comes to songwriting it has mostly been Kim and I. It’s been like that for years, but once Patrik and Didrik came into the picture we of course wanted them to become a part of the writing. The EP consists of older songs, but for the next album I’m really looking to switching it up and having it sound more like the other boys as well. It’s important to have the music you’re playing feeling like it’s your own, I certainly believe that anyways. We could choose to be a band that just hands out sheet music to musicians for concerts, but I absolutely prefer having a band. One where everybody gets to play something that feels a bit like them. I mean, the band already feels like a family, but I’m always up for getting even tighter.

TSH: What sort of motivations do you primarily draw upon when you’re writing lyrics?

Ellie: You know how it is when you start learning a lot about something, and you start to dissect and analyse everything related to it? That happened to me when I started writing lyrics. I realised I was bored of lyrics always having to mean so much, and being packed with metaphors and declarations of love or hate. And I thought about how all my favourite lyrics weren’t lines that were incredibly poetic or had some deeper meaning. They were lines that made a vibe that added something to the song as an element with all the other components. I don’t want to add a poem on top of my song, I want something that’s very much part of the song, just like a guitar or synth riff. Another thing is the musicality of the words. If I’ve made a killer vocal line, I’m not gonna ruin that just because I want to have a certain lyric there. The sound of it is way more important to me, so if I record a really great line with improvised lyrics, there’s a chance I’m going to keep the amount of syllables and possibly even the vowels. Which vowels and consonants you use can be very defining for the character of the vocals, and certain vowels are easier to sing when you’re singing really high notes, and different ones for lower notes. Sometimes I even keep the entire improvised line because I fall in love with exactly how it sounds, and it won’t matter if it makes sense or not. They often fit the song well though, as I get inspired by the song and its vibe when I record, and I blend it with my current state of mind or what I’ve been thinking of that day. But I’ve been told people can’t make out what I’m singing anyway so maybe none of this matters, haha!

TSH: When you overlook your self-titled EP, what does it convey to you overall?

Ellie: To me, it really conveys the journey through the past few years, though that sounds cheesy and loads of artists say it. But it’s true though, isn’t it? Any piece of art will always sum up the time it took to make it in one way or another. We’ve had all of the EP tunes for a long time, pretty much since the beginning. Back then they sounded quite different though. I pretty much used these four songs to experiment, try and fail, and eventually they were the ones I found my answers through. These are also the only four songs we kept from those early days before we started Das Body.

TSH: With the track ‘Graceland’, were you looking to evoke a certain mood?

Ellie: The very first idea for ‘Graceland’ evoked a certain mood in us and it felt right to keep going with that feeling. So right in fact, that even after years of working on it, it ended up giving off the same vibe as that very first idea. With the balance between the hard, repetitive drum beat, the comforting synths and the slightly alien, daydreamy vocals, it strikes us the same way today as it did when we started. I’d say the mood of the song is dark and cold, but not uninviting. It’s driving at full speed at night with a backdrop of neon lights. I love the sense of urgency and panic created by holding back, before releasing it all in the outro.

TSH: Also, what sort of memories come to mind when you think about the song ‘Know My Name’?

Ellie: In ‘Know My Name’ there are a lot of different experiences described in the lyrics. When I think of ‘Know My Name’, there’s immediately a montage playing in my head of all these memories. It’s me as a kid in the summer breeze sitting on the grass behind the gas station while my dad was getting the car washed, because I was too afraid to go through the wash tunnel. It’s me falling in love with a person I just met. It’s me as a teen at a concert with my favourite band crying my heart out, as happy and as sad as I’ve ever been at the same time, so much that it felt like my insides hurt. That ache is what ‘Know My Name’ makes me feel each time I hear it. But in a good way. Mostly!

TSH: When it comes to the band’s synth influences – do you look to incorporate certain styles of instrumentation?

Ellie: I think at this point we all have enough musical experience to have developed our own styles. We have different instruments we prefer and different ways of making those instruments sound like we prefer. So we try to just do what the four of us want, and whatever feels right. I think artists have to be careful with being too much in their head about their music and inspirations. We create in the way that we consume. Considering we today have basically got all the music in the world at our fingertips, we’re able to consume very different types of music and lots of it. So it makes sense that we’re all going to absorb the different things we like and learn from them.

TSH: In what ways do your Oslo surroundings impact your music?

Ellie: Thinking about it, ‘Graceland’ is probably the song that is the most “Oslo” to me, like sitting in that car driving at night speeding through the streets, those are the streets of Oslo for me. In fact, the general vibe in ‘Graceland’ is very much like Oslo at night. It feels almost desolate at times; around any corner you can suddenly be faced with complete darkness, no street lights, no window lights and no people. It’s that hint of fear and loneliness, but you still feel at home. That’s very much ‘Graceland’ to me. I’m sure the culture and the scenery has made our music sound reminiscent of Oslo in some way, but it’s difficult for me to hear how. This is just base camp for me, this is what’s normal. It’s fun to imagine though, how our EP would’ve sounded had we all been born in Portugal or Arizona instead.

TSH: Which factors do you bear in mind most when you perform live?

Ellie: My performance onstage is very much a natural thing that just happens. I listen to our music as we play, and if it makes me feel like shaking from head to toe I’ll shake, and if it makes me want to stare ominously into the crowd then I’ll do that. I want to convey the music as well as I can, to be an extension of the songs. If I were to sit on a bar stool through the whole set or have Britney Spears-style choreographed dancing, that would be a complete mismatch and take people out of the experience (though I would be down for the latter example and some backup dancers!). Instead I decided to just not give a shit and do whatever I wanted to onstage, and that is what works for our live show.

TSH: What are you mostly passionate about outside of music?

Ellie: I dabble in a lot of different hobbies, but what I love to do the most is cooking. I don’t have a lot of time for most of my hobbies as I want to spend my creative energy on the music, but I still have to eat, right? So when I get a free evening I love to make unnecessarily complicated dishes in my tiny, one meter long kitchen with two cooktop burners and no oven.

TSH: Also, what gets viewed most on your Netflix and YouTube binges?

Ellie: I’m not on Netflix that much anymore; I’ve gone back to how it was before Netflix, the good old downloading days (legally ofc!). I do love to watch the same shows several times though, and recently I’ve been rewatching This Is England, which is one of my favourite shows. I also recently noticed that people online everywhere were talking about binge watching Chopped like their life depended on it, so I downloaded it and before I knew it I had watched 4 seasons. Now I finally get the memes. I’m not on YouTube anymore either, but when I do I always fall down the rabbit hole. I’ll start with a simple let’s play and suddenly I’ve learned how to make a bento box and then I’ll end up at this vocal coach reviewing the best and worst performances of famous singers. The last one taught me a few tips and tricks actually, so sometimes you get something out of a night of YouTube and then sometimes you get a depraved craving to watch Vine compilations for three hours. You know how that goes. Honestly, Vine shutting down would’ve been some Library of Alexandria business if it hadn’t been for people saving every single Vine and posting them back online.

TSH: Tell us more about members of the band going for an H&M catalogue look on your Instagram?

Ellie: Haha! One day I noticed that Patrik and I were dressed very alike, and we looked very phresh so we posed and took a picture. Immediately upon seeing that top notch commercial modelling, I had to slap a mild sepia filter on there and I wrote the caption “hit us up, H&M catalogue, we ready”. Still waiting to hear from them though...

TSH: You’ve stated previously that this choice of career ‘is all for fun’, with this in mind, what makes you feel most content about taking this journey?

Ellie: Well, when you phrase it like that, what I’m most happy with is that is has really been a lot of fun! It’s a lot of work, way more than you think as a kid when you glamorise the life of a pop star. I’ve been saying lately that it feels like I have two full-time jobs, one by day and one by night. They are very different though, as the music is super rewarding and worth every minute spent working. Can’t really complain when I’m doing what I want to do! Seriously though, I love my boys, I’m really proud of how far we’ve gotten and I can’t wait to keep doing this for years and years to come.

Das Body - EP

#Interview #Das Body #Ellie Linden

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