Tag Archives: the LIFESTYLE

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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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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