Midlife Music

[midlifemagazine]

MIXLIFE 3: Nevrland

In the MIXLIFE series we will ask artists that we love to make a mixtape and we will ask them some questions about it. In this third MIXLIFE we are presenting Nevrland, the Belgian duo consisting of Munix and Ssaliva. This mix aired as a guest mix on our monthly radio show on Internet Public Radio.

MIDLIFE: hey boys

MUNIX: goedenavond

MIDLIFE: bonsoir : ))

SSALIVA: yio

MIDLIFE: how is everyone?

SSALIVA: good good. Police academy 6 on tv so cant complain. MUNIX: yupp good too, no school tmrw, life's ok.

MIDLIFE: haha sounds like you are both chilling....

MUNIX: always haha/i>

MIDLIFE: could u tell where u live?

SSALIVA: Verviers/Liège MUNIX: yupp same

MIDLIFE: ok ok. when did you meet? (classic questions :p) But really wanna know

MUNIX: in liège through our mutual friend Olmo, shouts to Olmo. SSALIVA : hehe no prob. yea through Olmo at a Folie Douce party. MUNIX : then we shared a stage at dour in 2014 with liyo & steff from heartbroken, and both projects (hbkn and nevrland) kind of started from there, and some house parties in liège woods. we started playing together at the house parties, mixed all night long on our computer and having the best fun so we just decided we had to keep doing it. SSALIVA : yea good times.

MIDLIFE: you tell it like its been twenty years ago though

MUNIX: well the parties were exhausting. SSALIVA: hahaha feels like it was ages ago actually… we need to do more house parties i think.

MIDLIFE: you have a good house to do that?

SSALIVA: we have friends who own a house in Liege valleys, we used to do lots of parties there. super isolated, so we used to rent a soundsystem MUNIX: yup very special place, but it's a huge mess everytime so you usually need to find a good occasion.

Would the valleys be a good show if it was recorded in Liege?

MUNIX: valleys? dont think i know the tv show, is it like the hills? oh no they look british. SSALIVA: actually dont know valleys. but basically u can do anything in Liege MUNIX: yeah considering their look I think it would work well in Serain. SSALIVA: lol MUNIX: yeah we have all of the white trash u need down there.

MIDLIFE: are you a bit white thrash yourself?

MUNIX: yeah white is thrash anyway, I guess SSALIVA: guess we are yea. doesnt get better either haha

MIDLIFE: you have a dream to get out of Liege and move to the hollywood hills or something like that? or do you really feel at home where you are?

MUNIX: I dont think any of us wanna get too tropical, were too used to our shit climate. SSALIVA: nah not at all, i just like it a bit country side. if anything i wanna go more towards green areas.

MIDLIFE: with wifi tho ? or at least electricity

MUNIX:Yeah a coutryhouse with just electricity to only make music and stop listening to all the other things happening / being all the time on the internet would be awesome SSALIVA: ideal nevrland move rn would be to rent a cabin for a week or smthg and work on new stuff. MUNIX: a flat in some nice place and god wi fi and a belgian country house would be perfect. SSALIVA: Haha, we re on the same page

MIDLIFE: thanks for the mix btw, really enjoyed.

SSALIVA:❤ MUNIX: Thanks to you! it's all love

MIDLIFE: Do you have a favorite song atm or/ do you have some tracks that have been on repeat the last couple of days?

MUNIX: usually everytime young thug releases something there's your answer hahah. SSALIVA: haha same MUNIX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uotrEWJaFbg SSALIVA: connection here is shit but i mostly listen to renaissance music these days .

MIDLIFE: Do you have other plans for the future?

MUNIX: yeah in the next months, just have a month left to think about school then life has taste again. SSALIVA: nothing too precise rn, releasing music in the next months basically. can't say much more than that. i mean work on new material is the main thing i guess. SSALIVA:police academy 6 s not so good btw. they should have stopped after the 4th one i reckon.

MIDLIFE: theres an actor named Pat Proft in police academy 6, i thought that was pretty funny.

SSALIVA: haha yea. MUNIX: he's american, wish he was from some country i never heard of where everyone has funny names like that.

MIDLIFE: with two presidential elections in recent times (usa and france) i wonder if you thought about who would be a good candidate for presidency in belgium?

MUNIX: woaaw, eden hazard maybe SSALIVA:haha oui MUNIX: or thibault courtois cuz we can always trust him.

MIDLIFE: im trying to find a way to say bye, because like to keep these kind of short, but was nice talking to you. shoutouts?

MUNIX: yeah was real nice! Shouts to Olmo, Heartbroken, Folie Douce, La Superette, Hermutt Lobby and Radar Radio SSALIVA: Olmo yeaa. 0comeups always MUNIX: oh yeah true i wanted to write it. shouts to him for being so outchea! SSALIVA: and Walter. MUNIX: yeah walter mitchy and everyone else we have love for. And if ur in liège friday come to lara gasparotto's exhibiton we'll be there playing music.

MIDLIFE: oh wait, last thing, please tell me where and how the pics were made !

MUNIX: the photos were taken on the 21st of july in verviers! national day. we found an old graveyard around the city while the fireworks were going. mormorty aka noémie merca took the pitcure. shouts to her! ayyy

MIDLIFE: okay thanksssss, good night!

MUNIX: goedenacht ❤ ❤ ❤ SSALIVA ❤

MIDLIFE: ❤/

MUNIX:❤ u too. And shouts to gavin! ❤ That was fun. SSALIVA: yea thanks g

Listen to Nevrland's MIXLIFE here:

Nevrland on Soundcloud

Photo1 by Noémie Merca and Photo2 by Ssaliva>

[midlifemagazine]

MIXLIFE 2: Swan Meat & Dj Heroin

In the MIXLIFE series we will ask artists that we love to make a mixtape and we will ask them some questions about it. In this second MIXLIFE we are presenting Swan Meat and Dj Heroin, a couple of producers currently (DJH is just visiting) living in Chicago. This mix aired on our monthly radio show on Internet Public Radio.

Hi guys! how are you, where are you?

SM: We r eating food in Chicago

how do you make a mix together, who selects, who mixes, how do you organize that?

DJH: We selected tracks together , then made 15 minutes each while being off a lot of monster energies.

which flavour?

SM: The purple 1s that taste like gasoline but are sugar free so ... health

can you tell something about the tracks you selected? do you have a favorite one?

DJH: We tried to make unique juxtapositions of things that normally wouldn't appear in a context together , but ultimately it just boiled down to personal taste / spontaneous ideas SM: Fave track: DJH x Prurient x extratone mash-up. Was also glad I found a way 2 include Kate Bush on this mix🌹

big fan of kate bush?

SM: Yes! Grew up playing the piano / writing lovelorn teen ballads so Kate has always been a huge inspiration

Do you two also make music together?

DJH: Yeah , we're working on material together + already have a track out (swan meat - vespers w/ DJH)

i love that track. are there other things coming in the future?

SM: yeah! I'm working on a 2nd solo EP + will be embarking on a Europe tour this summer! DJH: I'm working On another solo project as well / some collaborations and looking for shows 4 the sommer as well

how did you end up in chicago?

SM: I'm in Chicago for a graduate program & sound. & DJH is visiting me here 2 make music together!

that's sweet! is the program interesting for you? And how is being in chicago for you DJH, do you find it inspiring?

It's ok. It concentrates on a very niche / academic aspect of sound & sound design. Theory based and fairly (definitely) male-dominated. I've actually had more than a few existential panic attacks over how to make my studies & the swan meat project work w/ each other. DJH: I enjoy being in Chicago bc urban spaces / larger cities pose a contrast to the rural nature of the area I live in (in Germany) , but it's primary being w/ swan meat that's inspiring to me 😇

i hope the best for you two and will see you both this summer! s/o?

SM: s/o permalnk family, Gerard Way (pls collab w/ me), all dramatic ethereal lady singer-songwriters, established & otherwise. DJH: S/o wwwings , ( hbd Arseny ❤ ), all my friends + family Special thx to apple bite convenient store Chicago.

Listen to Swan Meat and Dj Heroin's MIXLIFE here:

Swan Meat on Soundcloud Dj Heroin on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

First track of BEAN’s new EP + Chat

In two weeks we are releasing a 4-track album by a young German producer that listens to both the artist name BEAN and his other name Benjamin. We thought it was time for an introduction and we are doing so by having a little chat and sharing a first track of his upcoming 'Dawn' EP.

goodmorning Benjamin, how are you?

im little bit ill but ok so far

what u up to today?

well i had to get at 6 in the morning to get a new table from ikea , delivery lol - my table im working on atm is way too small , its my chilhood one , thought ok lets step up haha

haha :D what are you working on then?

mostly i do music , got this mini nova with some keys , gonna step up a bit with a bigger range of keys to get those lovley chords. and im working on my pc , im into IT

so how is your creative process?

good question , some days , like yesterday i said to myself ok you nedd to do music today , cause i hadnt for almost a week - i stard ableton and just make shit around and if im lucky one instrument (mostly the kick) is right and i work on it , i have always in ming i dont only wanna do a technical good track but rather a track that sound bit weird and has always an heavy AND emotional site. sometimes i have ableton open , allready late to anything , not showered and in jogging pant but still just try around - those tracks are the best lol

is that how the EP 'Dawn' was created?

yea i was drunk once and thought about tracks , nice tracks but with no conection to their artists ..if you know wha i mean - i wanned to focus on the kick drum and emotional. my main thought was not to make an ep only for the club or otherwise not at all

How was the experience of working with Kareem Lotfy?

well it was funny , im very shy usually but he seemed very sympathik to me , you showed me some of Kareems art , you wrote him than i did and on the next day i went over to kareem with a friend of mine. than after a beer and a general chat about music life etc lol he showed me his musik , i showed him mine he said he can hear the kick affection too 🙂 than he starded to work on some ideas of the artwork - how he worked looked so "easy and fast" but he def knows exactly what hes doing !

yeah i know what you mean... have you heard his track on 'Mono No Aware'?

yea i did yesterday , i like it a lot hes building up emotions - but one thing why i liked him and his work and i agree on is , he dont seems to be in any thighten scene , so am i. i think u can hear that in the music

is there any scene you relate to a lil bit?

well since i started with music and before i guess i tryed to avoid scenes groups or so for the reason that i dont wanna get set anywhere , i always wanned to do my thing and wanned to have the "freedome" to change my styles etc without anyone saying " u cant do that people wont like it bla bla bla". and i dont trust a lot of people

i feel you i feel you... do you dj or play live?

well , i used to play live with ableton , when i starded with techno at around 15 - now i play a 45-1 hour set of only my tracks on these dj things lol. i used to play on partys from like 14 to 18 , couldnt dj , just play a big set of any dj and get some money hehe thats how i got new shoes etc

haha yes. it's the same for all of us... your track 'Copy', the one we are sharing today, can you tell me something about it? -and why you want to share this one firstly?

imho its a very strong track , very agressive but has this to me very moving and unique synth part - its like the ep has a few sides , not a pure dancey track and not pure melodic.

oh yea, what did you dream last night. and do you have dreams for your future?

i dont remember but i didnt sleep for long tonight , i have dreams for the futre , realistic dreams and some simple ones , i have very clear aims with my music not in any labels or so , i m just sure that music is my thing. one dream is to go to any restaurant u wand lol no matter the price haha

haha, what's your favorite food?

u yea those spicy hot wings and any type of asian food i guess i use soy sauce on anything even sweet things sometimes... i have a bad taste , my friends say.

Okay that's a good ender, talk to you soon benjamin!

have a good day man!

Midlife on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

The Offering of Dasychira

Living between New York, Berlin and Johannesburg, Dasychira is an artist influenced and pushed by his need to adapt to new environments. Like an insect he seems most fit to survive these constant changes. We met on facebook for a chat about his music and vision.

hi, how are you, what have you been doing today?

hey there, i just woke up actually ! haha. i'm headed to the studio today in about an hour and a half

ohh you're lucky to have a studio! do you share it with others?

well, i have a quaint lil studio at home with a few speakers, my push and a synth or two. but the studio i'm going to today is in soho, i'm pretty lucky to have access to it

how did you end up in new york? -you are from south africa right?

i guess it had always been a dream of mine to live here. once i finished high school i applied to nyu and got in so i made the move yeah i'm from johannesburg

Always been a dream of mine to visit SA... I actually first thought, when I saw your name, that you might have dutch/belgian roots (lots of people here in Belgium with the last name Martens!) what are you studying at nyu?

it's definitely one of the most beautiful countries on the planet, i think everyone should experience it at least a few times :)) yeah funny u caught that, one side of my family is dutch which kinda makes me first generation south african i guess. i'm studying music in this really great program

I loved your lastest album btw (which i've told you already haha) can you tell me something about its title? Why 'Immolated'?

aww thank u so much !! i chose 'immolated' after coming across it in a text, and at first i imagined it as an offering of one's self via sacrifice. and that's definitely what i wanted the project to be - an offering of my emotional identity without the safety of a constant geographical location

i can feel your detachment listening to the track 'cadeceus'. Do you, as a musician relate to certain geographical musical scenes, or do you feel detached from those as well? (for example NY's/Johannesburg's/Berlin's)

yeah that track is important to me since i wanted to resemble a dissection of sorts. the project followed the life cycle of a bug like creature, and in this phase it was being pulled apart despite it being somehow intact and alive. absolutely. i think now i feel attached to the scene in new york the most at the moment but johannesburgs electronic music scene is very close to my heart. there's a lot of incredible music coming out of there at the moment. berlin is amazing too - id say in part all of these places have significance to me because of the people who live there too

The story of your album vaguely reminds me of Elysia Crampton's one, for her American Drift album on Blueberry records. How did you get in touch with them?

thanks, that's honestly one of my favorite records of all time. halfway thru last year i had all these demos ready and i wanted to get in touch with them so i reached out via email and that was that

that's cool, are you working on a new release?

that's definitely the plan at the moment. i've just been writing for a bit and waiting to see where that takes me - i've realized the record ends up being more about the context to me than the songs themselves

so it's really about telling a story to your listeners?

exactly, and actualizing the narrative for myself too

how would you go about doing so during a live set? I suppose most of ur shows are in a more clubby environment?

yeah some are i suppose. i played my debut live set a few weeks ago at trans pecos and then again with a few friends at sunnyvale recently. the vibe was definitely a little different from a club since both shows were centered on mostly live performance, so people were there to listen and have a more intimate connection with the music. my live set is mostly me using spds and playing certain parts on the push

I feel you. What was the last album you listened to?

i've been listening to 10,000 days by tool recently, i rediscovered it about a week ago

haha I once saw them at a festival in Belgium when I was like 16 years old. The visuals were really amazing. Are there specific artists that influenced you?

yeah i think their artwork especially for that record creates so much depth for the music. i'd say this record was definitely influenced by elysia, aphex twin and Mica Levi

shoutouts to anyone? -was really nice talking to you btw : )

yeah! def s/o to faltydl, embaci, kyselina, sylvain, rick and sarah for sharing this creative journey with me leading up to the release. 💚 also shouts out to u and mmidlife for this interview of course 💚

thank u, it was a pleasure 💚

Dasychira on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

MIXLIFE 1: Rui Ho

In the MIXLIFE series we will ask artists that we love to make a mixtape and we will ask them some questions about it. In this first MIXLIFE we are presenting Rui Ho, a dj living between Berlin and China and a member of the Genome 6.66 Mbp collective.

Where and how did you record this mix?

At home It's the first time I tried to do a mix with Ableton because everyone says it's freaking easy lol but I kind of spent a long while on it hehe. I mean also i wanted the mix to be certain way and technical it's very different than doing it on a mixer, I used ableton mostly for producing so very easily can go into that logic. So the mix is quite special for me, I did this one before my single came out actually and just got the why be remix like not very long time ago. And was watching Akira and bunch of other cyberpunk classics. So that was the opening of the mix, very cinematographic in a way haha. And then I love to play with the emotions jumping between very banging beats and super romantic/emotional melodic kind of stuff, there are several stuff I would probably not play in a club like the Huang Lin track and the Yves Tumor one, but I feel like it’s perfect here.

You just did a track on the co-op compilation ("---a call-to-action, and an invitation to be aware of the organizations and communities which have been active in a struggle for equality and aid for years.") how did they reach you and how did it feel doing a track with those intentions?

Mika reached out to me for this, briefly after the horrible US election result came out, people are all showing their emotions/opinions on this and on all the horrible things happening all over the world in general. I was really grateful and inspired when she asked me to do this track indeed. And the track is called Jacked, was actually a very special project of mine that i have been working on it for a long while (Did a demo with me singing on it like 2 years ago actually lol) It was a weired track for me, like it tells the story about who I am, where i'm from, but also the relationship of me and my surroundings. I was feeling very isolated and defeated when I was making this track two years ago, and recently changing a lot of the elements on it and making it into a newer version gives me a new perspective of this track and also a different layer of meaning to it

what's your favorite track in the mix?

haha let me check the tracklist again lol hmmm has to be either Huang Ling - Ruan Mian Mian or Karen Mok - Golden Flower hahahah so difficult to choose lol I love them all lol

whats coming for you in the future?

hmmm currently working on a remix track for a french artist called Yung Soft, who's gonna also be my guest on my BCR show next week hehe, then preparing also an EP which is coming out on Genome early next year, hopefully before march.

Listen to Rui Ho's MIXLIFE here:

Rui Ho on Soundcloud

Photo's by: Amandine Kuhlmann

[midlifemagazine]

POV: Samuelspaniel in Japan

Samuelspaniel, Japan-Tour, September 2016.

Samuelspaniel on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

An evening talk w Blue Stork

Its a cold november day. We both jus got home w Nicolas Humbert (Blue Stork) & we catch eachother at 11 pm for a quick talk about fantasy worlds, Berlin and childhood gaming memories. Being involved & busy in music more then half a decade, Blue Stork's work surely has a lot to offer.

so hows your day been so far nicolas?

good, went to class and some toystore to buy some yugioh cards, rather calm day

that's nice, do you have a favorite card? als hows your deck

i have 3 and making my 4th don't really have a favorite card but more favorite archetypes rite now it must be cardians since their basically based on another traditional japanese cardgame so kinda a cardgame inside a cardgame 😀 but it isnt very competitive so for competitive i would choose metalfoes since they based around fullmetal alchemist akira and some other animes

sounds v gud, i remember i used to like and tried yugioh as a kid as well what do u think, do u draw inspiration from such worlds often? also u watch anime, do u have a favorite one?

hard choice recently i like the madoka anime a lot abt an alternative take on magical girl stories me and my girlfriend referenced and partly based our musical/art peformance we worked on last month on a show in oslo10 in basel and generally yes i think i draw my main inspiration out of such worlds

must've been pretty sick, how was it?

it was fun i like doing something which challenges me and gets me out of my comfort zone, i remembered when i started art school i didnt like people putting me into the performance art corner just based on my character but now i made finally peace with it haha haha

yes thats indeed a nice and p interesting thing to do and very important too do you often play with your gf, i.ruu together?

50/50 we end up working on things a lot since we hang around most of the time w each other and we try to help each other

yes that is so nice. i really like that that on yr recent music u mostly used different methods of creating music then before how do you find this completely new way of music making (coding)?

i came to it a year ago funny enough through seeing my now gf iruu playing live w pure data but also an old friend of mine, pato, used supercollider back then i started makin music in 2008/09 and it looked really interesting but took me a while but i like how lightweight and straight to a point u can work w coding

are u into 'general' coding too?

more or less i get more into other languages but im kinda slow and lazy

what are those languages?

i tried python on codecademy and lil bit of html/java/css for my websites nuffin to crazy tho

what was the first thing u created with sc?

my first track i did w supercollider atleast the ones i uploaded must be this one: 🌌 or this one https://soundcloud.com/potdl/kek-seq15/s-IFgpU both around march after learning for 3 months from online tutorials by eli fieldsteel

both of these are very nice so you've been using it for like 8 months now 🙂 do u have a favorite waveform?

square i like generally 4 and 8s haha

im listening to dorch, so nice that ur referencing it to silent hill. love these clausrophobic but at the same time beautiful drones

ye big game for me and other friends its actually a siren test in denmark....

did you have many consoles as kid?

ye gameboys and sometimes pc never to much once a ps2 for a bit but wanst mine kinda had the money to buy my own game systems when i got older but i appreciate more now then then i think

what do u think the most important game of your life was? also, do u play some games currently?

silent hill shattered memories and maybe silent hill 2 but the feeling i got after shattered memories was intense i play mostly yugioh rite now either with real cards or on ygopro but dishonored 2 is looking good and that skyrim remaster (i never played it back then) also silent hill 3 was intense sry i meant 4 well all of them haha but 4 is really sad

are some kind of yugioh events being organied in berlin?

ye i mostly go to a shop called bb-land dont kno what the name means tho lol

haha sounds interesting, the name also ur making fine art too, u have a tumblr with a lot of different stuff do u have some artists/musicians the work of which u really like / find inspiring? tell us more abt your art / installations

my friends art its hard to say, from anyone recently famous-ish i would say bunny rogers and i.ruu haha dont kno where my art leads me rite now but i like the frame fine art gives mes i can do videogames, installation or pure sound peformances im really interested in all forms i still like collage a lot irl collage i mean haha maybe im still searching and i end up being another painter haha not "fine art" related but westworld is pretty good

do you ever paint?

as an element sometimes when i say collage i mean mixed media collage like i draw on them and paint like on this one: but i like finding my material more then buying it, like if it comes naturally to me it has story and feels more personal or im jus lazy lol /cheap

haha yes, i find it really nice and it has a feeling of closeness to me doing this, i mean using found objects/material do u have any active sideprojects? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8QunGN1Itg gavin jus sent me this

dont kno, the musicals i do w iruu seem like a recent side project its a cool sound

what are those musicals abt?

its cut and paste from disney musicals and pop songs iruu/lindsey writes the lyrics its often abt a female and male but it switches within the musical often w scifi/fantasy aesthetics involved i mainly find the absence or the low use of instruments/music tools interesting and making sounds with out mouths 😮

that sound interesting, would love to c one of ur shows! hows the scene in berlin btw?

hmm it seems more bleak and trendy from the outside but the inside is quite colourful and counter cultural its weird how berlin is like one big school with lil cliques who kno each other and respect each other but real friends seem rather rare "respect" each other i mean haha """""""

do u have a favorite spot in berlin?

hard to say i like keith bar a lot but as a place i like alexander platz a lot, kinda dystopian the cop shop there is pretty dope i like also where i come from a lot cause its a more villageier part of berlin village-ish, u know what i mean

have u ever been on the top of the tower?

yes more then i was younger tho 🙂

how did u find the feelin u had up there?

dont remember so well since i was very young the one or two times i was up there i think i was impressed it was moving too haha

ok so, really last question. whats the last thing u usually do b4 falling asleep? since its midnite soon 🙂

watch a series w my gf and go to bed haha

sounds perfect since its a few minutes past midnite i think ill also go to bed have a gud nite & sleep well, thx 4 the interview 🙂

no problem was fun

[midlifemagazine]

POV: 9M-MRJ

Big crying scene in the first Pokémon movie.

-Dopey, A bike & a compass .

The front of our gallery (opening mid october)

Salmon addict.

No comment.

Inspiration ( NASA SPYING ON U)

A child in the arms of his mother.

my head, painted in these nice colors. ( s/o 2 jeka 4 suiting facial expression)

Ellie and Japie Krekel

my baby stores her knives in special ways

Me and baby (im in love)

9M-MRJ on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

Lord Pusswhip is changing his name to Lord Baldwhip

We are having a chat with Icelandic rapper and producer Lord Pusswhip. He came to our attention through his collaboration with Lauren Auder on his latest album 'Lord Pusswhip Is Wack'. Digging a bit deeper, we discovered he also worked with Antwon, Metro Zu, Th@ Kid, Kojey Radical, Prada Mane and more people that ring bells. Currently living in Berlin, Pusswhip's connection with his home country and it's history still feels strong.

hi Þórður, where are you?

hiii! right now i'm at my friend's place in berlin, i'm picking up keys to my own room in an hour - i slept in today so i'm feeling like a fully charged battery

what brought you to berlin? -you are from iceland right?

yeah i'm from reykjavík the capital of iceland, basically i was visiting berlin almost exactly a year ago and when i came back home i was in university and it felt like a total waste of time, so i decided to change my enviroment, it was the right time for something like that and it was the right decision for sure

did you go through musical changes as well by changing your environment?

hmm good question, i would say that i've gotten better as you do in one year, i feel like when producing beats you're always learning new things and finessing your style, but regrettably i've just been moving around and working on my headphones which is not ideal for a producer at all, you kind of need the booming speakers and a desktop, at least. but i've also gotten more exposure here on the continent which is great - as well as absorbing the sound of berlin. i've started working with 4/4 beats and stuff like that, i had a certain prejudice towards techno and house because the stuff play back home is mostly shit. i think my next solo album will have a lot of more dancier stuff

while you were typing this I noticed you just uploaded a new track to your soundcloud.(https://soundcloud.com/mantisfromdamudgang/fjoelkynngi) what does FJÖLKYNNGI mean?

nicely spotted, it's an old word for sorcery/witchcraft. it's the noun, the adjective is "fjölkunnugur", i think i learned it in high school from the viking sagas. for some reason the west fjords of iceland were the main place for sorcerers, maybe because they're so isolated or something? but it's classic to call someone from the westfjords fjölkunnugur. its weird how the majority of the people persecuted in the witchhunts in iceland were men, the opposite from the continent

that's really interesting! lol alley catss just sent me that his skyrim character looks just like u...

ahahahahah swag, thats funny cuz they use a lot of icelandic names and stuff from the nordic mythology

intriguing tattoo btw... its connected to mythology as well?

it's these old magic runes, they have a meaning but it's secret!

when the secret is revealed it loses its power?

no i don't think so lol

ive got my gf here asking how iceland formed you as an artist. there seems to be a good scene for what you do there? wich is remarkable considering it small number of residents

i studied piano for like 7 years when i was a kid and then when i discovered punk at like 11 that's how it all started i always thought the scene was a bit overrated, now i kind of stopped thinking about that negative stuff, there's a lot of wack stuff but that's not gonna be remembered in the long run anyway a lot of good stuff at the same time

how will it end?

um i feel like rap is kind of juvenile in itself (not in a derogatory way, it's just a young man's game) so i definitely want to transition to something else, film music is what i'm really interested in. if i'm 40 years old still making lord pusswhip music i vowed to change my name to lord baldwhip

Listen to Lord Pusswhip's latest album here:

[midlifemagazine]

Alley Catss talks about no ordinary feeling

It’s a bit after midnight. Maté Janky (Alley Catss) just sent me the ending track for his album due to be released trough Midlife Music in a short while. Listening to it made me feel like I heard blink-182 for the first time, waited six months, got the cd for my birthday and listened to it again. A strong happy memory. The interview took place on facebook, where we have chatted regularly.

hi Maté, what are you doing?

(haha lmao) hello gavin, not much, doing the usual nighttime internet routine, checking out some old files laying around,browsin yt wbu

im good thank you :-) send me your last youtube find please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j4D3a0o974 probably this was the last really gud one i found and actually sampled, love toshifumi hinata's surreal soundscapes and how he makes me feel also the art is v nice w the song

looks like a 'second life' screen cap don't you think? btw i agree youtube is amazing for finding new (old) music... what about yourself, do you use youtube a lot to put your music out?

yes exactly and that's what i like the most in it i think, i can get really excited abt these kinds of artificial virtual environments and how there this omnipresent sentiment of being lost is almost at all times present (at least in my head) well yes, actually the best stuff i think i released was uploaded to youtube and nowhere else

do you feel lost sometimes too?

yes i like feeling lost, it's kind of an intimate experience imho

(okay i'm a bit drunk, and very emo because of that track of yours )

( Thank u man ) (((((((i need to get drunk too))))))))

you gave me your split tape with s olbricht that came out on opal tapes some time ago, do you have more collaborations in mind with him? (thanks a lot btw for the tape) ((ly))

not really, we kind of drifted apart from each other’s stuff but it was v nice to work with him (ly2)

something else, do you like the TV-show 'river monsters'?

haha unfortunately never heard of it but it seems cool. always liked aquatic animals

its a show about man-eating fish

wow ((wow)) that sounds pretty cool do you like that shoW?

yes, actually there was a new episode out today that i recorded but still have to watch. will do it before i go to sleep. whats your favorite sea creature?

pretty hard to say sea slugs are actually p sick what is yours?

oh yesssss there are lots of super pretty sea slugs! like that blue dragon

same was just about to say that tho but didnt wanna be so specific, lot of them are pretty cool

what's the last book you read?

i think its galapagos from kurt vonnegut but im still reading i need to get a grip on literature again

that's funny i was holding a vonnegut book in my hands earlier today, sun was shining, but decided to start an easy thriller. i don't think a lot of music producers get asked about their reading habits. tell me what is your favorite food? (lol at this interview)

(tf man) i dont really have favorite things, but if i had to choose a dish it probably wouldn't be something too sweet. ((lol))

how's the scene in budapest?

getting kind of quiet recently or maybe it's just me missing out, i tend to play only at events i or my friends organize nowadays but i enjoy that the show with rin (https://soundcloud.com/lynnrinsuemitsu) last week was really nice

was the crowd feeling it?

yes, her part definitely, at mine i wasnt looking (lol man how drunk ru😺😺 )

(4/10 chianti drunk)

(ahke ) what do you drink on your night out?

haha, pils probably. Whatever kind they have on tap.

yeah i like pils too, feel the same abt beer mostly no I'm just like some beers taste the same some don't some I like some i dont lol pls start with a normal question now - - - this is fun

how do you compare playing live to making music in your studio?

first of all idk if my bed can be called a studio but yeah, i kind of enjoy creating music at home more than playing live especially with the method i ve been using since forever, of which i m getting more bored n bored . . . im always in a struggle deciding whether my desire for more knowledge is lacking or is it that i just need an environmental change, i mean daw/method wise i always feel that i'm less and less of a person as time passes, forgetting about myself… i love sade's song "no ordinary love"

can you connect that to your fascination towards music that gives a feeling of being lost?

yes i think that appeals to me a lot. i mean that's kind of the reason i'm trying to dig up more n more stuff

coming back to sade's hit song, did you ever watch the video? it's about sea creatures.

yes Omg i used to listen to that song when i was 10 while bathing in our 3sqm bathroom *having a shower * from my mom's old sagem cell or motorola was it

the nostalgic feeling for you lies beyond the lyrics' meaning i guess?

it goes perfectly well with my idea of loungéy spaces no, rather the mallets and all the harmonies behind they create something special for me

I feel you

i'm really enthusiastic about that song i think i have a youtube playlist named "bathroom music" with only that song

thats amazing, what other playlists do you have?

well ive just been trying to make some reasonable ones have some for games, lot of hardtek and shoegaze too

What are your gaming habits?

i dont really game, but as i mentioned earlier im kind of in love with virtual environments so i watch a lot of gameplays i use them for visuals almost everytime i love 'myst' and similar games

Luca (Samuelspaniel) and Iused to play age of empires, did you ever play that?

omg that was like my favorite game for ever, my classmates and i used to create maps for eachother a lot of times also remodelling battles i remember being told to leave the room cause my friend was getting angry at me peeking at the map he was making

the map editor was so cool, have strong memories as well with this. what civilization would you usually play with?

Middle easern civs most of the time, you?

Vikings or Japanese

Nice

they made a movie out of world of warcraft, do you think a movie about age of empires would be worth to watch?

Im not sure If they had the ost then maybe

The soundtrack is amazing yes. Whats ur fav game soundtrack?

Hard question. Its kind of cheesy but I love soundtrack of Blood

Did you ever go to church?

No ☹ Did u? Even tho im christened

As a child yes, with school, to get blessed

Yeah we never had that

Do you feel blessed?

No. Not at all.

Listen to '3ro' by Alley Catss here:

Alley Catss on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

New Wulfy Benzo Track + Interview.

We are chatting with Wulfy Benzo on Facebook about his to-be-released new album 'Winter's Phenex'. As I'm waiting for him to reply to my initial 'hi', Wulfy is in his room taking cute photobooth pictures to add to this article.

Hi Wulfy, where are you, wuu2?

im in brussels for a few weeks so i have little bit of time to reconcile with my identity and the identity of my pets (my cat mixmax who is 8 years old and 2 cute little rats)

what are the rats' names?

1 is called angel and the other 1 is called vladimir

do you identify with baby animals? (referring to your lyrics)

no because my brains are way too developed into human maturity to actually identify with them but baby animals are very important to me in a metaphorical way that they are helpless and likely to be killed by anything and everything out there in the wild

I heard you killed a little bunny once...

these are rumors a magazine made up to make me look bad never killed an animal except when i put salt on a snail when i was like 5 but that was stupid and i regret that every day

is the part of the story where you are taken away by police because you are making a scene still true?

i hate police police hates me next question

hahaha, ok. About the music. every song on your new mixtape is titled with a URL, what does this mean to you?

i like urls mostly because of the way they look and because they include many different and codes in a short piece of text (national identity like .de , .nz , .aus etc etc) so i sugarcoated my titles with lots of different text codes and references i work with so they're not "poetically limited" or however u wanna call it

http://angelwings.blogspot.be/ refers to a blog named 'Angel-Eyes' where someone wrote 1 post in 2001: 'whatever this is'. can you tell me how you came across this strangely beautiful website?

havent come across that but thats cool. i hope ppl can discover things with the song titles but itd be coincidence; its just purely from aesthetic influence and the way those letters sound together and form a sculpture. websites are all relative and when the internet will cease to exist the functions of these URLs will too but their text and letters will remain also to get back to the URL is that i hope to distract people from the sweetness of the music. its like synthetic prescription drugs which are packaged in this corporate and plain layout but when u let them "corrupt" ur body (maybe a bit of a heavy word) theres sweetness and ecstasy and painlessness waiting u never couldve imagined

are you into sci-fi a lot?

ye scifi is cool but i like a lot of stuff. havent read enough to really talk about it conifdently i ve been looking for the book "the wanderground" by sally miller gearhart but i cant find it anywhere , i believe strongly in her quotes about men.

what can you tell me about the album title?

it plays into the scifi topic, its a reference to ursula le guin's fictional planet "winter/gethen", which is experiencing an iceage and where all the inhabitants are biologically intersex. then phenex is a demon who is described as possessing lots of legions and the talents of "an excellent poet" and a "good singer". its a combination of those two references.

coming back to what you said previously, i can feel this album is indeed a lot sweeter than your previous one, 'story of rat'. Is this on purpose or is that just what happened?

i think with story of rat i was more angry at people and it was also made primarily in autumn/winter , with this project i also accepted some emotions into my life which i think i resented last year and i think these emotions in particular are considered sweeter by most people than the ones i was working with last year

you are growing up. are there big musical influences we should know about -apart from drake? or certain people you are really into atm

of course! i tried sampling some atonal compositions in this like george antheil which is lit as fuck and also some ravel who is one of my fav composers. then naturally i listen to a lot of rap music mostly lil uzi vert, OVO artists, nicki minaj ,thugga. then im also into club music, thunderdome, death metal (coffinworm, toadliquor, meth drinker) and so much other stuff. talking about music is hardddd because i always get carried away but i really try to include all my musical interests in the work because i believe its important.

okay, thanks. i'm getting hungry. we should finish this interview. quick last question: what's your favourite food?

mexican food. especially quesedillas

bye wulfy (heart)

bye gavin (heart)

Listen to http://angelwings.blogspot.de/-TZ7lLxQPP-I/A here:

Wulfy Benzo - Winter's Phenex will be out on MM000 (https://soundcloud.com/midlifemusic) 09/07/2016

[midlifemagazine]

POV: Wulfy Benzo

A glimpse of young rockstar Wulfy Benzo's multilocal life through his iphone lens. No dickpics.

The hound of love

-______-

deutschland, all seeing eye, illumiratti style

neukolln in march

hi , its wulfy

hamburger tour de force

this precious fly, transported from berlin to sweden by air

a beautiful riverside view of stockholm

a coffin worm surrounded by worms

20/20 ("Clear Vision" Hawaii), 222 (Chiacgo), 417 (SW Missouri because of meth capital) , Agua, Albino Poo, Alffy, All Tweakend Long, Anything Going On, the attenborough (London; 11/29/07), Artie (as in artifical, Boise, ID 7/30/09) , Bache Knock, Bache Rock, Bag Chasers

Wulfy Benzo on Soundcloud

[midlifemagazine]

POV: N-A-R-C

A day in the life through ten photos shot by Brooklyn resident NEWAGEREALCHANGE.

So I'm in pjs and my favorite shoes I wear around the house. Just waking up.

We do the sonicare thing, best toothbrush in town. Martin is probably listening to mixes from our new record, we are so close!

Bed not made yet. We're moving soon so the bedroom is pretty empty! Tho to be fair it's always been pretty empty ;)

My aunt gave me these pants and they make me happy. I could stand to wear them outside but they're loud af.

Getting ready for a film shoot I'm doing tonight called The Blue Dot. It's my first short and I'm so excited!

The gels for the lights of my shoot made some extraordinary patterns on my wall. I went ham and took a million pics.

Another crazy reflection from the gels!

Yep, luscious reflections.

I love the way the house looks with all these gels, so beautiful, I want to try more of it at our new place. Martin is hanging before we start shooting. He's helping with sound. Thanks Martin!!

This is my piano. It's quite shitty actually but it's been my writing companion for about 4 years now. Ppl coming for this shoot now! Bye bye!

N-A-R-C on Soundcloud