Rainy Day from 2005 and Freestyle Beat from 2006 to close out the year. Thanks for all the support, and Happy New Year to all of the LIFESTYLE fam!! See yall in 2012!
Rainy Day
Freestyle Beat 01
Reflection and Response.
the LIFESTYLE
Reflection and Response
Author Archives: the LIFESTYLE
Throwback December: Friday & The Game
Two more Throwback classics from the P. Muller & Sneaky V. chronicles, circa mid-00’s..
Friday
The Game
Reflection and Response.
Throwback December: Brunch
Whatup LIFESTYLEfam!! We hope everybody’s enjoying the holiday season with family & friends!! Throwback December continues with these two tracks that formed from some of our early improv sessions … the Brunch series!!
Paris to Cairo.
Breakfast in Paris
Lunch in Cairo
Reflection and Response.
Throwback December: Kickin’ It
Once again, BIG shoutout to all the LIFESTYLE fam for the love since Day 1 back in August. This month, we’re pushin through the end of 2011 with Throwback December: A Retrospective — we’re takin it back to the good ol days, the foundation of the LIFESTYLE. For the next few weeks, we’ll be rediscovering a number of tracks from the P. Muller and Sneaky V archives; The Musical Revolution era, circa 2002-2007. As far back as when we were 14 year old youngsters, we put in countless hours creating music in our makeshift studio, usually taking breaks only for eating globally at local joints, skateboarding at “the Ledge,” and punching the clock at Monterey Market grocery store around the way, with the occasional *extracurriculars. Be on the lookout for original recordings, along with remastered versions, and some 2011 remixes. To kick off this series, we take a look at our old-school sound from “Kickin’ It”… Throw it back! Stay tuned on this RR storytelling session til we hit the new year!
2004.
I slide through a verse/ Smooth like a curse/ Quenches my thirst/ But then I go berserk on ya/ Take joy to destroy ya/ I’ll coy ya/ Don’t know if I’m serious I’ll toy ya
The back room/guest room/laundry room of Peter’s parents’ house in North Berkeley. The setup was basic; what we had was one Boss BR 532 4 track recorder, one Miracle Piano Teaching System (A Midi keyboard with 8 sounds released in 1990. courtesy of Peter’s grandmother), one Fender Stratocaster that we used as a bass using the 4 track recorder’s “bass” setting, and our lyrics:
Kickin It (2004 Original)
Kickin It (2011 Remaster)
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
So I went out bombing and the night was fine/ Straight chilling the wine was divine/ Was a crime/ The way we lied/ And made you cry/ But that’s how we do it/ That’s how we do it on the Northside/ Me and Voko going loco/ Chillin with the folk yo/ No smoke yo/ Just yay the Bay/ Where people play/ Hit it every night and everyday
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
So!
It’s the end of the week/ Straight 3:15/ Walkin home trippin off e can’t you see/ Almost wanna call your girl up on the phone/ Not bouta be alone now that we’re grown/ Life is perfect/ Gonna make a purchase/ I’ll make you worthless/ I make em surgically remove your brain/ End your pain of being fake and lame/ cuz
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
So The Musical Revolution’s taken to the top/ B’s getting popped/ You know we never stop I electrocute/ End disputes with the flows that I hit in my burgundy suit/ I’m a balloon filled up with tunes/ Got the beat V cuz its time to groove/ Lose yourself I’ll make you lose your health/ When I come to your house with my leather belt
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
Who rocks the shit/ 06
Who hits your mom/ 06
Who got the niche/ 06
Whose hecka bomb/ North Berkeley
I slide through a verse/ Smooth like a curse/ Quenches my thirst/ But then I go berserk on ya/ Take joy to destroy ya/ I’ll coy ya/ Don’t know if I’m serious I’ll toy ya
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
One more time said
P.Muller and Sneaky V/ Hitting it like Chucky D/ P.Muller and Sneaky V/ You can’t touch me
2004
-2011 Remix-
Bonus material: the back cover of our album “The Musical Revolution of P. Muller and Sneaky V.”
Reflection and Response.
Feature: Stefan Paul George
the Collective builds.
The last feature of 2011. We are thrilled to present the immensely talented Stefan Paul George, whose songwriting and performing abilities have made him a popular performer around Washington state. His 6 albums make up a prolific beginning to his career. His material is original and always just sounds right. Stefan is an artist who has invested in professional recordings that provide a fit showcase for his songs. He also was a core member of the the old Husky Music Community, whose work increased performance opportunities for students at the University of Washington. This is an artist who has used his voice, guitar, saxophone and pen and paper to reflect and respond to the world that’s around him.
Check it – Peep Stefan’s Reflection and Response interview, followed by his original track Save it for Someone Else. Respect!
Each response leads to new reflections…
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
SPG: I’m from Yakima, Washington. I moved to Seattle in 2007 to attend the University of Washington and have been here ever since. I love the city.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
SPG: Great artists tell stories. When I write I do my best to not only paint a picture of what is going on, or what went on, but also to make a statement about it. Great artists provide with a set and a setting but also a way out, something that makes the situation unique to that artist. Reflection is important as it gives listeners somewhere to be during the song and a place to feel comfortable, but response stays with them long after and inspires them to move from that comfortable place. Each response leads to new reflections which creates a cycle that has me documenting my life musically.
How does Save it for Someone Else fit in with that definition?
SPG: ‘Save it for Someone Else’ is a song I wrote while looking back at the time spent with a past friend. I reflect about reflecting in that I write about driving and thinking. I reflect that I may have not done things right with this person and hint there may be another way. I respond to these thoughts in the chorus by repeatedly saying that if someone gave me the option to go back and change my past, I’d tell them to save it for someone else. So, in response to my reflection of the past, I’m content with it and can’t imagine a different way.
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
SPG: Currently, I’m working on a project with my brother Brandon who also plays and writes a bit. It will be the first time we’ve really recorded together so we are really excited about it. I’m also working on a solo album and a couple music videos. I’d like to get into someone a little less acoustic soon, maybe mess around with some electronic sounds but that may be a little too far up the road to talk about…
Who or what inspires you?
SPG: I’m very inspired by my mother. I like jazz too. I’m inspired by working in restaurants and being away from home, I love home. I’m inspired by my friends who constantly travel, and the ones who already have jobs. I’m inspired by religion though I don’t think it drives my work.
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
SPG: If you’re interested in my music and want it all for FREE, hit up- http://spgmusic.bandcamp.com
and if you like that, like me on Facebook!
Shout out to…?
SPG: Shout out to Peter Muller, 55th and Brooklyn, Big Fun, HMC, and the entire UW community. Shout out to my parents for helping me more than anyone else, ever.
Save it for Someone Else
Reflection and Response.
Recollections, Part 5
Part 5: The Outro
The final installment in this series is a photo from Vall de Boi, a town in northern Spain…
The narrowness of this street is wild. It’s an interesting use of the space, from an architectural standpoint, especially for a small town in the mountains.. What’s really intriguing to me about this is the way people have appropriated the space – with various versions of suspended “gardens” on balconies. A mean #ReflectionandResponse on #ReflectionandResponse, in a way… The architecture was built off of interpretations of the space, and the suspended gardens are interpretations of those interpretations, if you digg me on that! The connections and levels of RR run deep!!
Once again, the Recollections series was a creative LIFESTYLEbrooklyn shoutout to my brother P holdin down the LIFESTYLEmadrid big time!
Reflection and Response.
V.
Final Argentine Thursday: Nas!
First of all I’d like to thank everybody whose been riding with us through the Argentina Thursdays and V’s Recollection series. The periods when we produced these pieces were super important to our growth as artists and fundamental in learning how these mediums really act as reflection and response to our everyday environments. It has been such a joy to share this period and discuss it with others.
To end I go back to the beginning. Buenos Aires, 2010. I began getting back into writing flows during this period, and my first one in awhile was about something that happened far from Argentina, on a street somewhere in Tunisia. My friend and LIFESTYLEcollective member Nassim told about when he started practicing religion again after he saw a boy have a seizure and then miraculously stop. I felt the story would be a cool narrative to put into song. I took a famous track from the Amelie soundtrack, Comptine d’Un Autre Été, sped it up a bit threw some drums and some basic melodic elements and wrote the track.
I rerecorded an acapella today (December 8th) in Madrid.
Full Track (Early 2010)
Acapella (December 2011)
Yea he got up on the bus/ Summer in Tunisia sweat and dust/ And the wheels started to roll/ Things would change little did he know/ 10 minutes later he him lying there/ Eyes wide open in a broken stare/ Epileptic seizure mothers so scared/ The people move back to give the boy air/ While the uncle tried to resuscitate/ The mother realizes he’s slipping away/ Eyes fill with tears as she turns to pray/ Starts to cry shrieks of pain/ And my friends watches this from the bus/ Feels the mother and her grief for her son/ Suddenly he sees it from her eyes / Lost in the moment inside his mind
Suddenly the dude starts to breathe/ The passengers move back to their seats/ The mothers’ tears turn to joy/ And our protagonist smiles for her little boy/ Suddenly the sun starts to rise/ Move from the dark to the morning light/ The people move back to regular business/ And our dude thinks about what he’s just witnessed/ Quite a transition from near death to a new day/ All wrapped in two hours on a Tuesday/ Bus moves on as his thoughts move fast/ Wondered about death since his father passed/ He said he didn’t change right after then/ But after this moment he gained perspective/ So in the next few years he did his 5 prayers a night/ Started to live a more righteous life||
I think it was dope that Nas could tell the exact picture, the moment when he decided to start practicing again. Reflection and Response at its fullest, in a desert out in Tunisia then back to France, Nas’s country of birth. It’s pretty dope that Nas’s initial moment of spiritual clarity became my initial moment of artistic expression through hip hop.
Reflection and Response
-P
The City Swells
Madrid, December 5th.
The city has turned into a universe of holiday. I live in Callao, which is the central shopping district and there are thousands of people that crowd the square outside my flat. There are lights strung up and various ice skating rinks in different plazas around town. That’s the environment that gave birth to this song
I wrote the instrumental for The City Swells yesterday on December 4th. I then wrote the lyrics today.
A Capella
Full Track
In this European capital invaded by lights/ Travelers who have taken flights to come and see the sights/ The crowd swells to dangerous heights/ In the distance street performer yells “That’s all for tonight.”/ Santa’s sleigh on display various nights/ Parents brave the cold with jackets and tights/ Earmuffed Munckin children hold on tight/ This city’s alight
I walk gingerly/ On this history/ These streets a mystery/ What happened here and when?/ Centuries of women and men/ Holidays spent in different fashion Ramadan back then/ Then the Christian kings established the crown/ And the lights went up and never came down/ Today’s the same way a slightly changed town/ These streets fit for horses not porches you find now
So I live in this city that slowly becomes mine/ Discovering places I’m still waiting to find/ No distractions of home memory clouds the mind/ Watch friend’s successes look how far they climb!/ And in such a short time/ Congrats on the victories/ I know we’d rise to infamy/ In our prime/ And while I keep busy I find I miss you/ i hope you’re missing me/ Sometimes
Holiday Reflection and Response
-P
Recollections, Part 4
Part 4.
I took this photo on the streets of Fez in Morocco during a trip there while I was studying in Barcelona. Beautiful place, gotta get back out there sometime!
Reflection and Response.
V.
the LIFESTYLE 
