Never still and sitting in one place... do I always have to go somewhere, travel and enjoy new landscapes?
To be honest, that would be very nice, if I could, and if work allowed me to do it all year round... but the reality is different. I don't have days off (except for holidays, summer and winter breaks and weekends) and there's no one to replace me while the school year lasts. However, sometimes it happens that we can combine the nice and the useful, although at first, we are not even aware of it. And if other people don't point it out to us with some inspired questions like - that's nice, or?
Commuting to work can be nice? 30 minutes of driving to your workplace (in this concrete case it is the Unusual Hotel where I play on Sundays (and during some time also Wednesdays too) is ok? Twice a week I have to drive half an hour there and the same back, I thought it is losing my time, which I anyway have to manage wisely. One hour of my day goes nowhere, having the steering wheel in my hands and my feet on the pedals (this time not on the pedals that I use while playing the piano...). The question came back once again : But it is nice, or? the drive I mean?
Hmm... actually, it is. It is, indeed. I drive by some beautiful landscapes. It is still a coastal area, but with a mountain formation. I need to drive on a road that consists of dozens of bends, a few short tunnels, forests and sea on the other side, and usually on Sundays, the road is full of bikers. Also, one part of the driving experience is passing by a town where there is a speed limit of 30 km/h. That's a bit boring and annoying... not that in these curves we can drive a lot faster.
Apart from enjoying these views, what else I can do while driving?
I usually listen to music from random radio stations I find. But as you can see, Mother Nature took care that there are a lot of stones around... the radio signal is completely lost in some parts. I have to shift them many times, trying to find something that is not cut by a disturbing hissing sound of the lost radio signal every few seconds. It is also funny, how a song is decorated by those sounds, so I recorded a few audio files from those situations. (they are too bad and will never come to the blockchain.)
Last Wednesday I already got fed up with this fight while I was driving back home. Luckily, I had open in one tab on my phone a share got from this post. A four-hour long set by a Spanish guy, Svreca. I have never heard of him before, how could I? But I did my homework, of course :D. Seems that Enrique Mena's style is difficult to label. I read about his music as cold, minimal, sophisticated, abstract and complex. That he uses unusual textures and rhythms, and those layers and textures even I can feel and recognize. Me, an absolute newbie in this music genre. (well, newbie, already for some time now). I do hear that his music is unconventional and experimental and what I can describe is that we have long sections where he adds different layers and depth. Those long sections are somehow magically converted into other, next sections. It is very linear and never boring, and for me, not disturbing at all.
I still didn't finish the listening session of the set which lasts for almost four hours. I know, I know, I should have to already. But once I fell asleep. Other times I listened to just smaller parts of the set. Then I listened to it while driving home on this road, but 30 minutes is not enough for the whole set. And I also found other of his works that I liked very much and went exploring in that field. One day I found a piece I had on repeat for a while. Kyv. I simply couldn't stop. Had to listen to it over and over again.
While browsing among his other works I found Övergång, an EP from 2013. It consists of six tracks, Disorder as the first one followed by a remix of it by Oscar Mulero. Wow! Can't say how much I like the remix! Even more interesting and with more different details that make the disorder a completely ordered section of unexpected, elements. So rich and still minimal (is it still minimal?). Then Övergång comes, followed by three Oscar Mulero remixes! Beautiful compositions again!
I am sure the driving tomorrow morning will be accompanied by this music. You see the tunnels, it is just crazy to try to listen to the radio here.
Yes, tomorrow morning I have again a gig and will drive exactly here. From this point, I will already see my little town and feel how close I am to arriving. More precisely I will see just the spike of the hill that gives shelter to our place. Shelter from strong winds and winter cold. The bay is surrounded by all these rocky formations and protects the area from bad weather. A small microclimate attracts residents from northern European countries to spend here the winter and many of them decide to stay all year round. However, we are not here to talk about the clime but about music. So, what about the music I have shared? Would anyone else like to listen to it while sailing this road to work and back?