The Airportline: Observations

The Airportline office was rocked with some bad news yesterday which will negatively impact our already poor cash flow situation. If there would not be so many more causes worthy of donations and aid I would consider putting up a donation box here on the blog. Then again, I expect that the bulk of my readers also venture around financial issues from time to time. Anyway, this is no time for public despair. Instead I look forward and take the punch on my cheek like a man, and with the help from this fantastic pop song from the Swedish indie-pop favorites The Radio Dept. who are gearing up to release a new album this spring I continue to venture forward.

Facebook. Ah, it is interesting isn't it? How people behave there, the fact that you see the same people over and over, many of them who you never actually talk to, or want to know what they are doing. I've been forced to delete some of my 'friends' after excessive updates about them baking, or chillin' in the couch, or whatever, most of them are in Swedish and are not translatable unfortunately. Anyway, The Oatmeal.com has made a Facebook personality outline on their site. And since it is Friday, why not head over there and have a good laugh.

I've changed my mind so much I cant even trust it
My mind changed me so much I cant even trust myself

One of Airportline's favourite lyrics, and song titles.

Biked to work in freezing temperatures.
Wrote things, many things.
Emailed people, many people.
Some answered.
One calling me Edvard instead of Patrik.
It's ok, its Monday I answered.
It was Monday.
It is Monday.
Still.
The cold is also here.
Still.
Soon I will be in a car.
Play some floorball, eat some food, read some Jonathan Ames, do some sleeping.
Then it will start again.
Bike to work in freezing temperatures.
Write things, many things.
Email people, many people.
You might see a pattern.
In all of the first days of my life that is lining up
In front.
Of me.

I lost track of time, or I didn't loose track of it, but I filled it. Never made it to Fanfarlo on Tuesday. Concert was sold out, went and saw Deacon (member of Animal Collective) at Trouw instead, it was not a great show, not including the fact that he was wearing a Mali football jersey with Keita (Barcelona player), which by all means was quite fantastic. Then a Swedish friend of mine came from Sweden and we had vegan food and ecological beer. We had lunch in my old University building, I bought a book from Jonathan Ames even though I lack money, and we saw some terrible Dutch pop musicians and had beer that was not ecological. We went shopping and saw an exhibition called Niet Normaal, had some more beer, some pizza and we went to Utrecht one early morning where I scored three goals in a floorball game. Then went back and did not have bitterballens with our beer. We saw the FA-Cup game between Preston - Chelsea and fell asleep to Man Utd - Hull. We bought Belgian beers in the snowfall and made videos with questions and watched several episodes of Bored to Death. Today we woke up with hazy minds and he made his way out on the snowy streets and headed towards Eindhoven Airport. I stay low, guard my time and space. Trying not to loose it.

Airportline was recently encouraged to write a short presentation message that would be sent to his new colleagues. This is what he wrote:

I’m originally from Karlstad, Sweden but have lived in Malaysia, the United States and The Netherlands. I really enjoy working and studying in an international environment and appreciate the fact that I will be able to continue to do this at Spark. I finished my Masters degree in European Communication Studies at UvA in October last year, in my master thesis I researched the role of organizational culture and core values in Greenpeace International and Philips. At SPARK I will mainly work with communication aspects and try and develop the newsletter and website and figure out how we can use social media to make an even bigger impact and hopefully intensify the community around our projects. On my spare time I am an aspiring fiction writer, floorball (kind of indoor hockey) player, music nerd and excellent meatballs chef.

I biked with the other people through the streets of Amsterdam. The morning was young and the the streets paved with the gold that was painted by the sun on the water. The bike cues towards our office buildings, I used to stand on the other side and look at them, think that I am not those people, that they do not belong to my city. That they lived in their boxes, with time sheets, and money to buy shoes with their girlfriend/boyfriend on Saturdays in the Jordaan. Now I am on their side, biking the same streets, still wont have money for new shoes, but I will follow the pattern which modern society lays out for most of us. And now I will head over to the floorball court and yell at some floor-ballers, make them follow my instructions. Ah the smell of structure. It smells nothing like Laakso's 2005 Album My Gods. Maybe that is why it sounds to great right now. Specially the song Someone Somewhere, which you can listen to here. There is no 9-5 mentality there, is there?!

Airportline has had Fanfarlo's debut album from last year, Reservoir, on heavy rotation since getting hold of it in early December. After some hazy discussions over vegan food and underground rap music at OT301 here in Amsterdam it was decided that we should try and see if there are any good shows coming up in the city. This is something I normally do, but since my future has been in a constant flux the last few months I have not bothered investigating it very closely. But now, when I have tied up two jobs (one fun with very little money, and one less fun with ok money) which I will do parallel for the next couple of months I can start looking again. And, turns out that Fanfarlo is coming, on Tuesday, to Paradiso! Being lead by the distinct voice of fellow swede Simon Aurell this British folk-pop orchestra ends us sounding quite similar to Airportline favorites Noah And the Whale. Fanfarlo also brings the indie-crescendo masters Arcade Fire, and more acoustic and richly orchestrated folk-bands as Beirut, to mind. All in all it is a band that master to craft beautiful songs that should go down well in the rainy Amsterdam reality we exist in. This Sunday Airportline treets you to two acustic numbers with this wonderful little big band

One and a half years ago in a Short stories work shop. Choose a picture from a book with animals and write about it. I chose one of a cat flying into the unknown. A bit like this picture. Then we got ten minutes to write something. I remember that a Ukrainian artist who wanted to write a children's book liked what I wrote. This is how it turned out:

It represents movement, a forward motion in life. It’s about taking a chance and jumping into something unknown. It’s fun, elegant and natural. Standing still is missing out on everything that is moving, and since life is a movement, an organic evolution, its life you’re missing. A cost too great to bear, so you throw yourself out into something that is unknown and you might land on something unpleasant but it’s ok. It is what you learn from the movement that gives life meaning. Just as breathing is a movement of air, the physical movement of yourself is life: you stop either of them and it’s not only a stop of motion, it is a stop of life. Leaving is also entering and there is no use in looking back when life is happening in front of you. And even though there is knowledge in history, there is life in the future, and I choose life everyday of the week. Leave the motionless people behind, the once that are too afraid to let life shake them up. I have no time for them, as I move forward, they stand still.

The Airportline comment section is still not working. It is sad and true at the same time. I hate sad and true things. Long time Airportline friend, and now executive literary project editor, Gustav emailed this comment however:

Vecchio means old, I learned the other day. Or some word that resembles vecchio means old, at least. And now you use it on your blog. And I understand. It makes me proud of myself. Of some reason.

Gustav also blogs about his life in Rome and what he does at the United Nations World Food Program. Sometimes it is about trucks (yawn) and others about bookstores (yeah!).

One week ago on Ponte di Santa Trinita in Firenze. Two brown shoes on a triangle with Ponte Vecchio in the background.

So I am working on this small project, which among other things, focus on IKEA's re-launch in the Japanese market in 2006. I am looking into the company's advertising strategy, which was very successful and where IKEA set up small museums around the city and did several very creative things. In the middle of this search I stumbled over this Japanese commercial that seems to be from last year. It made me laugh. So I though it might make you laugh as well. In case you are covered in snow, or just a bit cold.

In Subbacultcha! Music Magazine December 2009 - January 2010 issue.

Top 5.
No 4.

Song: You Cried Me - Jookabox
Song of the year with that wonderful lyrical breakdown. No I can't let you do it! You should go, there's not much time. What? No! I won't let you do it! Ohw! Are you sure? Ok! Ahoooowahoow!

the whitest boy alive 1517 street concert ic berlin

the whitest boy alive | MySpace Music Videos

2009 came and went like all years do, with a volcano of music washing over us in all kind of formats. I lost track for a while, went back, got tired of the new, sat long night listening to 2 Pac and wanting time to stop so I could catch up. But the time when you actually could keep up is long gone, there is not enough time for anyone to keep track of all those great tunes that crawl around the internet waiting for some hungry ears to explode into. This is not a list, just some comments on things I paid attention to at some point. I was suppose to make it better and longer but ran out of steam.

Best song title
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – This Love Is Fucking Right.
Sweet indie pop that combines Belle & Sebastian cuteness with Jesus and Mary Chain distortion. It turns out sounding like a cheerful in love version of Swedish pop masters The Radio Dept.

Best falling in love song based on a European capital
Camera Obscura – French Navy
2009 was the year that this Scottish outfit finally got the recognition they deserved, and with an album like this My Maudlin Career it was always going to be impossible for them to stay under the radar. Makes you want to book a trip to Paris even if it is on a Eurolines bus.

Best White Funk
Whitest Boy Alive – 1517
It was early in the year when they played in a cold Berlin in front of a functionally dressed Berlin hipster crowd (see video above). The music was warm as a thick Norwegian sweater and the funk was whiter than Nordic milk.

Best lets turn everything into maximum
Passion Pit – Moth's Wings
This band annoyed many this past year. It is not difficult to understand why. With a high pitch voice and 1000 kilos of emotions in each song it takes its toll on the ears. But while Passion Pit became unbearable in the album format they occasionally got things right. This song, with its twisted electro chorus and confetti sound, did bring plety of smiles to my face.

Best British darkness epic pop
White Lies – E.S.T.
Having been dominated by Editors the past years, this year brought another black and white loving band when White Lies burst through with this magnificent heavy song with a chorus that is lethal in case you happen to hear it while jogging. Great Joy Division throwback. No idea how the rest of the album sounds like.

Greatest pop number
Atlas Sound – Walkabout (feat. Noah Lennox) / Girls – Lust For Life
I’m not even gonna write anything about these songs cause they are both so epic, and both define all that is good with a pop single that you just will have to listen yourself. I don’t believe that there are musts in life but if I would believe in it, I would tell you that you have to listen to these songs. You must listen to these songs. See, now I said it.

After what by all means should be labeled as a cultural day, crowned with a visit to Villa Manin (where Napoleon cruised around and gave away North East Italy and part of Croatia to Austria in exchange for some nice islands and recognition of France as a country) and the art exhibition The Age of Courbet and Monet, where some fine Impressionist art was hanging (among them the painting Poppies in the field by Pál Szinyei Merse (1845-1920) which immediately became one of my favorites of all time) in a great palace it is now time for a day of sport ('Una giornata sportiva'). Here is the plan:

15:00 Udinese - Lazio @ Stadio Friuli
18:15 Snaidero Udine - Carimat Pavia @ Palasport Carnera
20:45 Juventus - Milan @ the sofa a casa.

Only thing left now is a another cafe and then to wrap a Udinese scarf around my neck and venture out in the frigid temperatures that seems to follow me during my Christmas travels. Tomorrow I head north and back to Amsterdam which I hear is one big snow disaster. Oh, what joy!

One of Airportlines favourite bands talk about growing up and what sounds like the end of music making from one of my true creative role models Erlend Øye in The Independent:

"Doing this album and the tour is definitely the end of a chapter for me, of these last two years," says Øye. "There are the three Kings of Convenience album, and the other albums I've been making. I feel I've said a lot. It's not the end of the band, but as a recording musician, I would love to take it easy now. I've said a lot of things. I wouldn't want to write anymore after this unless it really came very strongly to me. I don't think I'm going to be looking for it anymore. I guess there is all the other life out there. When you record albums, tour, record albums, tour, it's a constant state of emergency. You are losing out on normal life, on having friendships with people, routines. I guess at my age, either you just continue at a constant state of emergency or you have to really slow the pace down, try to reconnect to normal life, if such a thing exists."

He was talking non stop in his cell phone, pacing around the train compartment throwing out italian words as if he was appearing in an Italian rap contest. Outside the wet streets of Padova slowly lined up next to the train which hurried through rainy landscapes. We listened to my mp3-player and tried to cure the heads we forgot about last night while tucked into one of the few alternative places in what probably is one of the most stunning cities I have visited. Florence is proud and arrogant and I cast no blame. In Pop Café they played loud Hot Chip remixes and served beer from Munich. It felt like a pocket from Berlin. My friend who lives there but flew to Bangkok today bought Amaros and they were as dolce as most things are here. Now it was post Amaro time and the man had been talking since we entered the train in Florence. There was no indication that he was running out of words. He had words, some of them apparently about how bad his brother was, the others remain unclear. But he had them and there was no denying the fact that he had to get them out, outside his head, into our lives. We had no say in this. So I banged my legs to the sound of Arcade Fire and was told I looked like a boy.

Last night Airportline walked the steep hill of Tarcento to witness the future, masterly disguised in a fierce fire which many a italian people, and one Swede, watched while drinking 1 Euro wine and eating some fine sausage. While on the top people were confused: towards which direction was the fire actually blowing? Turns out it went south, in what an expert is describing as "an unusually undecisive fire". This however did not hinder this expert, whose credentials remain unknown. He concluded that the "year will eventually be good although we'll have to make some sacrifices in the beginning". After the fire the city of Tarcento blew off some impressive fireworks in the cold air and when the final part of the giant fire fell to the ground to sheering Italians we knew that sometimes a giant fire on a hill is all you need to feel good, even though tomorrow might not look that great.

Somewhere ten minutes drive from Udinese calcio's football stadium Stadio Friuli. Have just been served some gnocchi with ragu and other goodies topped with espresso and some home made Limoncello. Working after this taste explosion is proving difficult, but it has to be done cause in a few hours we are going to see some kind of end of last year bon fire that will predict the future. If the smoke blows towards the east it will be a good year, if it blows to the west a bad one. Some Italians apparently started burning the future already yesterday, with constant eastward smoke as a result. This is the real deal though, or so the tell me. I will keep you posted about the future when I hear more about it. Tomorrow the Aiportline excursion travel south to Firenze.