This summer I collaborated with my daughter who plays double bass. She gave me a challenge to create a track with hand-made and home-recorded sound sources only. In our living room in Berlin we put to work key chains, porcelain cups, tea boxes, beard combs, voice, hands, and of course her double bass, plugged as instrument and tapped as a kick drum.
Artwork by her, too.
Last Sunday I participated in the Berlin marathon. It’s been an incredible run. Thank you my dear family, friends and beautiful strangers on the road. Your energy was overwhelming.
Here are some of the tunes I trained to over the last few years.
In New Zealand’s Maori tongue Reko means white, in the sense of hair turning white as you are getting older. Myself, I am not as young as I used to be. I still love going out every now and then. Ebb and flow is important. This track was inspired by an Innervisions night out at Trouw, Amsterdam, in 2009.
Alternatively, you may head to Beatport or SoundCloud.
Listen to a Nupacific guest mix on the awesome Swound Sound show by Makossa and Sugar B (pictured) on FM4 radio. Thanks Makossa! Jump here for more about Swound Sound.
One day Berlin was covered in snow. Softening the city noise. drinking tea, dimming down the lights, I recorded this drift of tracks I heard from our community across the world. Makossa liked it, and the mix got broadcast on radio FM 4, Vienna. Artwork created by De la Stella
Take a deep breathe. Most people don’t know this, but I have created my own merch.
My first fashion accessory is a unisex necklace called ‘work song’. I hope you enjoy wearing these Nupacific necklaces as much I enjoy making them. Jump over to Bandcamp to order. Okay, you can breathe again.
I love Mike Nock since I first encountered his recording ‘Sweet Surrender’ during my work at Eastside Radio in Sydney in 2001. His music taught me it can be tough out there creating music. It’s easy to get obsessed, to lock yourself inside like a hermit trying to improve your craft. Yet ebb and flow is key – which is why we’ve got to let go sometimes. Thanks Mike!
Wow. Thank you.
It’s been an incredible flow of feedback on the album. One track folks mention again and again is Mahana. Now, here’s the video.
Visuals by delastella, a vision mixer based in Berlin. Crazy? Alright then. I’ve seen delastella visuals shining in dark clubs, and, personally, I’m loving them.
Okee doke. That’s all for now.
Hey all,
here’s my debut album. I have followed my heart from Germany to the Southern hemisphere and back, and it has been a beautiful process of building trust with myself, as a music creator.
For a few years, my family and I lived in a pretty remote coastal village north of Auckland. We drank, showered and cooked with rain water. We enjoyed panoramic sea views, and we could hear the ocean waves rolling at night.
I was deeply inspired by this experience in New Zealand, an island far away from the country I was born. I felt compelled to create these tracks. They felt from the source.
Many immigrants search for a home nowadays. My heart is with them, today more than when I was young. On my journey, I was lonely often, and I learned to appreciate home not as a principle or a postcode, but rather as a transient cosmic feeling of togetherness. Like when someone invited me into the kitchen for a cuppa, or raised an eyebrow.
Thanks,
Phil
Grab it on Bandcamp
Stream album on Spotify
On Beatport
Or on iTunes
