Tag Archives: Music

The Evolution of a Performance: Peter Muller Live in León

Tonight I’m playing a show in León, España at my guy Fran’s Bar Agustín. The name of the event is The Crazy Peters Present ModBlues. ModBlues standards for Modern Blues, because the bar plays this kind of music we had to cater the name a little bit to the audience. I’m not sure if Acoustic/Electric Singer-songwriter hip hop would really work in this case.

The comic together of this show represents the power of community and support in the León music scene. After arriving too late to play at the open mic at the Gran Cafe, my singer friend Mary and I ended up at our friend Fran’s joint, the Bar Agustín. Mary asked me if I’d like to play some tunes for both of them. After jamming through The City and some other tracks Agustín asked if I’d be down to play a show at the bar the following Monday.

Fran then talked to a friend who used to play in one of the first punk bands in León and he  made up the event poster:

I then spent the next few afternoons practicing with Mary who has a killer voice on her roof overlooking Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral:

Next Fran talked to other local business owners and put up some posters around León’s Barrio Humido. This poster is at a local favorite spot known affectionately as “Lo de Patri,”:

Finally Fran reached out to my dude Jota who is the lead singer of Los Platillos Volantes and Jota agreed to lend me and Mary a PA system that his band uses. I will be playing music mostly from Shake This Maze and the Radio Leon Broadcasts.

From the idea of the show, to the artists involved, venue, promotion, equipment, and rehearsals  this is a Collective effort and demonstrates the power of the Leon Musical Community.

I’d like to thank all those involved and see you tonight Live! at Bar Agustín in León!

Reflection and Response

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Radio Leon #3

The Radio Leon series continues! This episode features live looping,  blast from the past electric track, and an exclusive interview with local Leon DJ Dani Massaro . Dani’s interview is going to be split between this episode and the Episode IV coming out next week. Check the transcript below for the original version en Español and an English translation. It was a raw experience to discuss the music scene, social environment, and the “capital,” of fiesta in Leon with a local participant. Stay tuned for Episode IV coming to you live from Leon!

(Photo: Peter Muller. Taken in León on the FEVE rail line looking East at the Naredo Station)

Transcript of interview with Dani starts at 5:40

Para empezar de donde eres y donde estas ahora?

To start off, where are you from and where are you at?

Yo soy de aquí de León llevo (yo) viviendo aquí ya son 30 años los que tengo viviendo en esta ciudad. Una ciudad maravillosa como has podido ver.

I am from Leon, and I have been living here for 30 years. (Leon is) a marvelous city as you have had the chance to see.

Como y cuando empezaste a pinchar y hacer las cosas de DJ que haces ahora?

How and when did you start DJing?

Interesarme por el tema de DJ y demás ahora hace relativamente poco hace 5 años así y a pinchar yo hace 3.Tenia un amigo que pinchaba mi amigo Raúl Costa que pinchaba aquí en León. Bueno Te trayendo te va trayendo y al final bueno con sus contactos tal pude empezar a pinchar yo.

I began to get interested in DJing relatively recently starting around 5 years ago and began to spin 3 years ago. A friend of mine, Raul Costa, was spinning here at the time in Leon. He brought me around and through his contacts I was able to begin spinning.

Donde pinchas ahora?

Where do you spin now?

Ahora estoy pinchando en el Cañón Santa Ana/. Es una discoteca que esta en el centro de León en el núcleo de la movida fiestera de León en el barrio húmedo. Recomendable a todos. Abrimos a partir de los 3:30 todos los Jueves viernes y sábado hasta que salga el sol. Hasta que el cuerpo aguante

I’m currently working at the Canyon Santa Ana, a club in the nucleus of the party scene in downtown Leon. We’re located in the Barrio Humido and I recommend checking it out. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we open at 3:30 A.M. and close when the sun rises. Or for as long as the human body can take.

 

Hasta el cuerpo aguante dicen en la puerta. Para ti que quieren decir Reflección y Respuesta?

Hahah, it should say that on the door. What does Reflection and Response mean to you?

Reflexión y respuesta el tema de la música. Para mi la música es todo. Igual que un músico, un guitarrista coge su guitarra en un momento malo en un momento bueno y fluye, fluyen las notas fluye el sonido la música. Para mi es lo mismo pero poniendo música pinchando no es mi música pero si que es mi sesión de cada momento mi sesión melancólica mi sesión alegre mi sesión motivadora. Para mi es gran parte de mi vida la música si es necesaria siempre, siempre

Y el tema de respuesta…el tema de respuesta pues por ejemplo en el trabajo esta clara. Lo utilices como medio para que la gente disfrute, igual que un músico hace sus composiciones para que la gente bueno oye en esos días mas para que la gente lo compre que para que la gente lo disfrute. si lo disfrutas ya es la leche, pero darle hora a vivir. Eso es lo mismo es hacer llegar al bar y meterte dentro de la vida de esas horas de la gente que viene al bar y eso es una satisfacción muy grande cuando ves que la gente responde

Reflection and Response are a theme in my music. Music is everything for me. A musician, a guitarist uses his/her instrument in a good or bad moment and the notes, sound, and music begin to flow. Similarly when I spin, even though it’s not music I created, I craft the session. My sets can be melancholy, upbeat, or motivating, for example. For me music is huge part of my life and is always necessary.

As for Response…the idea of Response is obvious in my work. One uses response as a means to entertain people, just as a musician composes so that people-well these days it’s so people buy records and if the public enjoys the record that’s awesome, we all need to live. This is similar to when I arrive at the bar and for a few hours I am part of the lives of the people that are there and it is satisfying to see people respond to what I’m doing.

 

Sisi siempre me imagino cuando los DJs puede ser algo bueno algo lindo y se ve desde la plataforma que la gente esta baliando

I imagine that it must be satisfying to look out from the DJ booth and see people enjoying themselves.

Es una Buena sensación

It’s a great feeling.

 

Como se relacionan estas cosas con hacer DJ?

How do you relate these ideas with DJing?

Si pues es eso también cuando llego al bar si llego con un mal día tengo la música como moda de escape si tengo un buen día pues mucho mejor.

If I arrive to work in a bad mood music provides an escape and if I’m in a good mood it’s that much better.

Quienes son tus influencias y inspiraciones

Who or what are your influences?

Las primeras influencias que tengo con la música son mis papas. Mi papa y mi mama. Toda la vida les han encantado la música, cualquier tipo de música tienen una cultura música para mi espectacular y extensísima. Yo he mamado música toda la vida en casa. De hecho desde que yo estaba la abriga de mi madre siempre me ponían música.

Ya profesionalmente pues este amigo Raúl Costra DJ que ha estado en León estuvo en Barcelona. Ahora Freddy..es mi jefe. Son dos años y medio trabajando con él y lleva 25 años en eso de la noche y también es una gran fuente de inspiración.

My principal musical influences are my parents. My father and mother have loved music their whole lives and listen to all types of music that provided them a rich taste in music. I have devoured music my whole life; in fact beginning when I was in my mothers womb my parents began to expose me to song.

Professionally I would say my friend Raul Costa who spins in Leon and Barcelona (is an influence). Also Freddy, who spins and is my boss. I’ve worked with home for two years and he has 25 years of experience in the nightlife of Leon and also represents a source of inspiration.

Y ya de gente así más conocido tampoco.. te gusta su música te gustan sus temas pero bueno tampoco como fuente de inspiración no.

Cuando hay en Myspace o Tuenti siempre mencionan como Bob Marley pero seguro que tal artista tiene más contacto con sus padres o con sus amigos

Claro, fuente de inspiración Tiesto, pues no. Que hace Tiesto?

I wouldn’t consider major well known names personal influences. You might like an artists music or songs but not as inspiration.

On Myspace or Tuenti I see artists mention people like Bob Marley as inspirations but surely that artists is much more close with his or her family or friends.

Right? What has Tiesto done for me lately?

-Reflection and Response

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Feature: Rasmus Brix

Welcome Northern Europe to the LIFESTYLE Collective! Rasmus Brix is a singer-songwriter whose tunes are both melodic and catchy. Coming out of Denmark, he established himself as an integral part of a growing music scene in Madrid, Spain over the course of the last year. AFter returning home at the end of his stint in Madrid he continues to write and record good music.  Check out the below interview below and Rasmus’s tunes Lonesome Friend and Time is Not.

Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?

RB: I am from a small town in the outskirts of Copenhagen called Brøndby. It has a lovely forest and a beach. It has its ups and downs like all other places, I guess. The ups I like. Today home is Copenhagen.

What does Reflection and Response mean to you?

RB: To me reflection is the gathering of thoughts and impressions followed by a good stirrup and a change of lighting. Response is (and is sometimes not) a relatively spontaneous reaction to something relatively permanent, prepared and thought through. That and more.

How does your music fit in with that definition?

RB: I’m not sure if it does. I guess the songs I write are responses to reflections – and sometimes they are the reflection.

What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?

RB: I’ve been writing songs and playing them. Next project will be sorting out my situation at the university and maybe find a job.

Who or what inspires you?

RB: “THE INSPIRATION”. People, songs, books, conversations, thoughts, doubts, moods, etc. At the moment listening to Ben Howard makes me want to write and play. Sam Cooke is singing in my headphones while I’m writing this, and I like it. I met a friendly gentleman called Juan Luis on a train a few weeks ago and our conversation made me write a song. I’ve written a song to a tree. Bob Dylan showed me that it’s OK to use simple chords. Van Morrison, Nick Drake, Bon Iver, James Vincent McMorrow, Johnny Flynn, Paolo Nutini, The Bowerbirds, The Rumour Said Fire and The Black Keys are nine inspiring groups/ musicians on a list I haven’t got the patience to carry on with. I don’t know. It’s all a bit messy.

Shout out to…?

RB: Oswaldo for stopping and listening that one cold Sunday afternoon in the park when fingers were getting cold and sore, – and for inviting me to come play in the studio, of course; people at bars and streets in Madrid for clapping their hands and filling me with that good stuff that feels funny and calms the nerves; troubadours and other music men and women from hither and thither.

Be sure to check out Rasmus’s Soundcloud for updates and new tunes.

-Reflection and Response

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Radio Leon #2

Episode Two of Radio Leon is finally here! This episode is focused on acoustic tracks and features an intro, a track from Shake This Maze Live From the Studio, a Jazz Classic, and a Surprise at the end. I recorded half the tracks in Robledo de Fenar and half the tracks in the capital city of León,my new home for August. Thank you for the support for the last episode and I hope you feel this installment!

-Reflection and Response

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Reflection and Response: The Zine, Volume I

Reflection and Response: The Zine, Volume I is a project we have been working on for the past couple months. This collection of thought, craft, and experience is rooted in the processes of Reflection and Response through the artS. We decided to compile many of the installations from the first 9 months of our Feature series into a pressable format in order to fully appreciate and expand the timeless dialogue that these artists have engaged in. the LIFESTYLE collective presents this Volume with hopes of building further dialogue, collaboration, action, and artistic exchange locally and globally.

A true thank you to the following nine contributors for bringing their powerful and inspiring work to the collective:

  • Samuel Bostick
  • Megan Branch
  • Danny Kaufman
  • Diana Cervera
  • Stefan Paul George
  • Vatche Donikian
  • Leopoldo Pérez Obregón
  • Vivian Garcia
  • Ellie Cross

The Zine is available for FREE.

In order to grab a copy:

Directly from Peter in Leon, España or from Vicken in New York City…contact the.lifestyle.rr@gmail.com.

Online ($5 flat shipping cost)…

 

 

 

Thank you for supporting the LIFESTYLE collective’s first publication!

Reflection and Response.

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Snapshots From the Collective

Radio Leon (Robledo de Fenar, León, España) by Peter Muller

 

Reflection and Response.

The Snapshots from the Collective series works to create a space for Reflection and Response through photography. ANYone who wants to contribute ANY photos to this project can email us submissions at the.lifestyle.rr@gmail.com. One photo will be posted each week, and photos will only be used for the purposes of this series. Thank you and we look forward to building and expanding the Collective!!! -P & V

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Reflection and Response: The Zine (Pre-Release)

Reflection and Response: The Zine, Volume I is a project we have been working on for the past couple months. This collection of thought, craft, and experience is rooted in the processes of Reflection and Response through the artS. We decided to compile many of the installations from the first 9 months of our Feature series into a pressable format in order to fully appreciate and expand the timeless dialogue that these artists have engaged in. the LIFESTYLE collective presents this Volume with hopes of building further dialogue, collaboration, action, and artistic exchange locally and globally.

Thank you all for your continued support and lookout for the official release coming up soon! The Zines will be available for FREE distribution anywhere.

Reflection and Response.

P & V

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Shake This Maze: Tools of the Trade VIDEO

It’s been a long time comin, but today marks the release of our Shake This Maze Tools of the Trade VIDEO!! With this project we have taken our Patchwork audio-visual collaboration approach and applied it to itself.

The video content was filmed throughout the process of handcrafting the album cases for Shake This Maze. This documents the stages of cutting, stenciling, writing, folding, gluing, and packaging that went into bringing the 100 physical copies of STM to life.

Meanwhile, about a month ago, P brought out a couple of creative remixes that he based off of various tracks from the album. One of these remixes appears in the soundtrack of the video, along with a few other cuts from the album.

From the Leon studio to the Brooklyn workbench, from music to art, the Tools of the Trade Video sees the Patchwork process double down on itself and spin out through film.

This is a LIFESTYLE studios production.

Shake This Maze: Tools of the Trade from the LIFESTYLE on Vimeo.

Here’s an additional link for YouTube.

Much love to yall for the support!

Reflection and Response.

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Radio Leon #1

Radio Leon is a summer project. For the months of July and August I will be working a bilingual summer camp in the small Spanish town of Robledo de Fenar. I’ve brought some of my equipment from Madrid including my laptop, Akai MPK Mini, Novation Launchpad, Mics, Apogee One Interface, and acoustic guitar. On my days off I’ll be putting together a Broadcast of various projects I’ve been working on and release an episode every two weeks. Some of the pieces I’ll be putting up include Looping, Acoustic Guitar pieces, Shake This Maze Live From the Studio, and some special surprises. Along with the audio, I’ll release Tools of the Trade pictures and various Snapshots documenting the process and places that make up Radio Leon. I also hope to have some interviews with local DJ’s and people from the area. Tune in and check the RR coming straight out of Robledo de Fenar, España.

“I’m currently sitting on an overturned bulldozer head…”

-Reflection and Response.

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Photo Flows STM

Whatup! Upon receiving the Shake This Maze Second Edition in Madrid I found a surprise in the package. V’s printer started to lose ink while printing LS photos that come with each edition of Shake This Maze. Inside of an envelope I found 4 of these unique prints with various lyrics from songs throughout the album written on them to tell a story of STM in the form of a montage. V’s use of seemingly useless materials was a dope way to create from found materials.

And as all else slept and tired of that bass/In it’s beautiful hum I found a place…That’s the power that’s behind the lines I spit/ Hard to catch like a line drive hard hit….So if it wasn’t for this pen and this pad and this beat/ I would have been as mad as I was sad at seventeen…Give some reason to the path under our feet…So many piles of poo/ Cover the ground defiles the truth/ It took a while for me to see the meek inside your cool…In a one man room playing the blues getting pennies in this straw hat…Now it dawns on me the futility/ of passing judgement on other societies..This night this night this night it wears on/ Know I should sleep but the time to care is gone..SHAKE THIS MAZE TO THE CORE WITH THESE CHORDS AND VERSES…So here we are the scars are shown? And it feels so nice to be finally home…The city’s a lonely thing when it’s only you living.. Search for the spark to start this shit flaming/ Burn the house of cards down all in and sick of playing/ Then flip the table over all the chips fall down/ Return to the night before the dawn clouds..

-Live from Comillas, Cantabria, España.

Reflection and Response

-P

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