Sibling Power

When we make pictures and videos and stuff, we try to express the music and keep the focus on what we do…

The Jonas Brothers, Tegan and Sarah, The Carpenters, Heart, Van Halen, The Kinks and Radiohead are just some of the few sibling-bands making music and experiencing success. But none of them have grabbed my highly-limited attention as much as, brother and sister, Karin and Olof Dreijer have – the two members of the Swedish band, The Kinfe.

It was about two months ago in Maplewood, NJ, where my friend, Mikey-Boy Rublin had a few friends over the night before he finished moving his stuff to NYC. Mike has a tendency to listen to songs very quickly and, somewhat, haphazardly, and this was the case with the playlist that we were flying through that evening. We were privileged enough to get 1.5 mintute snippets of each song as opposed to the 30 seconds awarded to us by iTunes and other stores. Some didn’t even make it past the 10 second mark. Heartbeats (Rex the Dog Mix), by The Knife, was one of the blessed few. Luckily, Niel, my alternative-music-informed friend, and I advocated to let this song play through to the end. Niel knew the song. My advocacy, on the other hand, was based solely on curiosity and – I will admit – slight annoyance, and this is where my curiosity led me.

Karin and Olof formed their band, The Knife, in 1999, and have since won more than five Grammy awards including Composer of the Year (2007), Best Pop Group of the Year (2003, 2007), and Best Album of the Year (2007). They garnered most of their attention and fans from the release of their 2001 album, Deep Cuts. This was their first pop-oriented album and made use of “hip-hop beats and Euro-techno disco stuff…electric pop with a hint of the 80s.” This certainly worked well for them as this record garnered them a bigger audience.

Sony used the cover-version of the song, Heartbeats, in a commercial. The song was covered by another Swedish singer, José González, for his debut album. However, when most artists would be ecstatic at the thought of a television placement, these two were not entirely happy about having their song placed in a commercial. They are not media-friendly and because of this, they did not attend the Grammy awards during the years they were nominated. They only started performing live in 2006 after much demand, but this was not a part of their initial plan. The Kinfe’s vidoes and music performances are eclectic. They are usually covered in their videos and live appearances because they want to remembered for their art – not their personal life or what they look like because “it takes focus away from what’s important. When we make pictures and videos and stuff, we try to express the music and keep the focus on what we do [rather than on ourselves].” Is it any wonder why they have kept their fans’ attention for so long?

Here is Heartbeat:

“We like to get across the emotion and the feeling.”

Sources:

1. Pitchfork Interview

2. ContactMusic Interview

3. Rolling Stone

Peter Litvin

He pulls funny faces in recording sessions, tells me to shut up, orders me to do 904 takes of a harmony in a song, but my favourite is when he gets into my head and conjures what I hear only in the deep and dark crevices of my mind, and most importantly, he knows and loves what he does. Peter Litvin is the remarkable 25-year-old co-producer I have been working with over the past few months on my project, Proudly South African.

Peter, having been exposed to the likes of the Beach Boys, The Hermit, U2, and Fine Young Cannibals (all this on cassette tapes), began guitar lessons with a local guitar teacher who “drilled” him with music theory and aural and listening skill training that helped pave the way for his great musicianship. He went on to take music appreciation classes in college and, to my surprise, graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Rochester College in Michigan.

May 22, 2009 was sunny and very warm day in New York and it was the first time I met Peter. He gave me a free session- a free four-and-a-half-hour recording session which we spent recording Hope. We completed the song through much hard work and I was so very pleased with his style that I decided then that I would complete the project with him.

Peter is a multi-instrumentalist: bass, guitar, keyboard and percussion. He also sheepishly adds “programming” into the list. A Michigan native, Peter has worked with a vast number of artists in that area such as Bobby Ebeling and Emily Rose and has also increased his popularity in and around New York City. Other esteemed clients of his services include General Motors and Jaguar Motor Car Corporation.

Peter is currently working on an album of his own titled Love Spectacle for release in May this year:

“So when exactly will it be released, Peter? Do you know the exact date?”
“Whatever that Tuesday is,” he responds with mocking smile.

I have not met anyone who strives for the perfect sound in the studio; “his obsession with perfecting the sound quality and artistry is constant” and when he isn’t pushing me to perform almost perfectly on a record, we enjoy taking time out. Our breaks in studio are filled with either stimulating conversation or by Peter fooling me with his card and magic tricks. He must think of me as an idiot. It was really magical! I look forward to working with Peter soon to create some more beautiful sounds, but until then, I hope you enjoy Proudly South African on the 11th of February.

For more info on Peter Litvin, visit his website

The Stars Projector

December 26th is 5 days shy of the end of the Gregorian Calendar year. It is also known as Boxing Day, or simply, the day after Christmas. But this year it will be the day that The Stars Projector made their first release.

The Stars Projector is a two-man band – 22-year old Andrew Bregman and 23-year old David Rublin. Andrew and David met in middle school and were both music lovers. And even though their tastes differed, from Andrew’s love of classical music to Dave’s enjoyment of emo-pop, they managed to find common ground; “By freshman year of high school, we were both into music – but different ends. He [Dave] loved emo-pop and I listened to Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. All classical. We used to make fun of each other for liking the music we liked because we thought it was so bad,” says Andrew.

Andrew being the producer of the two-man band and Dave being the main songwriter, create music that is highly reminiscent of Owl City, who have had major success with their song, Fireflies. The Stars Projector will be resurfacing after some dormancy and are preparing for an untitled album release early next year [February 20, 2010] which will feature songs that are “electronic – which is what Dave wants the band to be.” For now, they will titillate our earbuds with the two singles which will be in stores on the 26th of December – Katherine and All We Needed to Live.

Dave and Andrew both attended Berkley School of Music in Boston and are both multi-instrument players, which include trumpet, bass guitar, guitar, and piano and would sneak off from school: “Sometimes he [Dave] would pick me up from school during lunch and we’d play or spend the day at guitar shops just playing on their guitars,” laughs Andrew. They have performed on numerous occasions in New Jersey and New York, “We did more than twenty shows in the summer of 2007 in Maplewood and New York city.”

Andrew Bregman is a musician I have performed with; “I’m a terrible singer. Eventually, I would like to release my original composition of guitar music.”

For now, here is The Stars Projector.