Monday, April 28, 2008

Coachella summary

So, this is a quick summary of what I saw and what I thought about it. We are currently in Santa Barbara, staying at Max's ridiculously nice house. Saturday, it's Vegas. After that, possibly a roadtrip to Mexico. Here is the coachella summary for you, in order of how good it was. Starting with the worst.

#23 Architecture in Helsinki: It was gay, very very gay. Not as in happy. The other gay.

#22 Justice: I couldn't get out after Chromeo, I almost got trampled to death after losing my shoe. This hype needs to pass, I saw people doing the hustle, the YMCA and the thriller dance, to the sound of "Waters of Nazareth". How they got to this point, I will never know. Busy P is PR-Jesus and deserves more credit.

#21 Jack Johnson: It's cheesier than Mickey D's, Pizza hut and BK's combined. It was way to big of a stage for a guy who wouldn't even hurt a fly. Because of the fact that he could never catch it by himself.

#20 Aphex twin: We saw one song and we didn't like it so we left. We're very hard to please. I just wanted to see the man who supposedly owns the weird metal-box at Elephant & Castle. Ghazal will know what I'm talking about. The rest of you could have tuned out for this segment, sorry.

#19 Fatboy slim: He's old. Really old. And after his awesome opening with "Praise you", the place turned into Ibiza. By that, I mean drunk, ugly brits with a hunger for more beer and sex with anything that moves. Like Eddie would have put it: "They come over to my house and the fish stop swimming."

#18 Gogo Bordello: Mexican old guys jumping around on stage, trying to strangle their own dancers. Linus really enjoyed it, I'm not really sure. There was definitely energy, which covers up for the fact that they all probably spawned in a shady brothel somewhere.

#17 Dj Mehdi: Definitely one of the most charismatic DJ's. He's like a child, playing with CD's. That being said, his set was way too long and he didn't play enough hip-hop.

#16 The Verve: I haven't really listened to them, that's probably why they're not higher up. The singer is Chris Martin's identical twin, it's eerie. Good show.

#15 Sebastian: I'm really sick of his stuff, but his version of "Killing in the name of" saved it all. He's almost as lame as Kavinsky, but not really. Also, he looks like he just came from a funeral. Possibly his own.

#14 Spank Rock: Spank rock was sick, so it was just Amanda Blank, Mapei and some other girl. If that would have been on the schedule, it would have been fun but now it just sucked. It was like inviting Tom Selleck to your birthday party, and then Burt Reynolds shows up. It's still great, but it is no Tom Selleck. It is no Tom Selleck.

#13 Portishead: I hadn't slept for 48 hours and there was a strobe right next to me. I thought I was going to have a fucking seizure. That aside, what I saw was pretty good. Pretentious, but definitely pretty good.

#12 Linton Kwesi Johnson: Even though I can't take poets seriously, he was actually kind of funny. Also, the fact that I stood next to Chloe Sevigny made the whole experience a lot more pleasurable.

#11 Chromeo: Everyone who came to see Chromeo, actually came to get good spots for Justice. It was a real shame. The sound was shitty and when Chromeo play live, its' like there is only...Chromeo. There is just not enough energy to make a good show. I just love their songs enough, the rest doesn't really matter.

#10 Cut copy: The guys in CC really look like boys who are in a band. I can't really take that seriously but hey, they put on a pretty good show. I fell asleep, though. Robin 1 - Cut Copy 0. Or the inverse.

#9 Busy P: Anyone who starts a DJ-set with "Video killed the radiostar" is great in my book.

#8 Simian mobile disco: I love their music and I was actually suprised. The pace was a lot higher than expected and even though you can tell from a mile away that they are not performers, they did a good job of pumping up the crowd. If they had played "I Believe", they'd have been higher.

#7 Santogold: We got there way too late, I'm really glad she's coming to Sonar in Barcelona. What we saw was great, it was like a "heavier" version of M.I.A. Also, her backup-dancers were incredibly hot. Like Claire Danes in "Igby Goes Down". Sorry, I had to squeeze that in.

#6 A-Trak(disregarding Kid-Sister): That guy is so fucking clutch, it's ridiculous. I don't want to talk about it.

#5 I'm from Barcelona: I don't listen to that type of music. Ever. It was a lot of fun, though. That's about as much as I could say about them. They're like if the Carebears decided to become a Manu Chao cover band.

#4 Diplo: Definitely the best of the sets that we saw. I feel like Diplo is kind of like a Salvador Dali-version in music. It's weird and provocative, but somehow, it just works. That was a terrible comparison, feel free to throw rocks at me if we ever cross paths. Anyways, it was a good show.

#3 Sean Penn: This was, undoubtedly, the most hilarious "concert" ever. It was a half-hour appearance by Sean Penn where he said that George W Bush is a cock-sucker and that he wanted everyone to get on a bus with him to New Orleans to help the poor. The whole thing was very admirable but I couldn't stop thinking: Does Sean Penn know how fucking far it is from Indio, CA to New Orleans, LA? Next year we have Susan Sarandon, telling everyone to go to the moon with her, in a canoe.

#2 Modeselektor: Germans do it best. Basically, what god did in 7 days, Germans do in 45 minutes. Just give them a computer. The atmosphere wasn't very good though. Probably because Americans know European electronic music about as well as they know geography.

#1. MGMT, Boys Noize, Hot Chip, M.I.A, Yo Majesty, Kraftwerk, Kavinsky & Bonde do Role. Basically, all of the concerts that I didn't get to see because I was stuck in the fucking desert. At the most awesome party ever, but still.

Yes/No

Yes: Sebastian's version of Killing in the name of.

No: Kavinsky's sex appeal is less cool than living in Tjernobyl. He seems like a douche.

Yes: In between Chromeo and Justice, when the whole crowd sang "Sweet Caroline". And by "the whole crowd", I mean the whole crowd.

No: The fact that you couldn't bring alcohol onto the camping grounds or the festival area made me want to eat my own head.

Yes: Santogold's dancers.

No: Simian Mobile Disco not playing "I believe".

Yes: Every single DJ played "&Down" by Boys Noize.

No: When Boys Noize played "&Down", people were probably sick of it. Poor guy.


// R


p.s I'd like to give a little shout-out to all guys who go to concerts without a shirt on. You can go fuck yourselves. Right in the ear.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Los Angeles is very Vogue.

Yesterday, me and Linus did something that is the most Robbin & Linus thing to do in the whole world. We got off at LAX and decided to take the cheap route to Choachella. That included: Bus C to a transit center, bus 40 to downtown LA, bus 60 to the Greyhound stop and then the Greyhound to Indio, CA. We arrived at 9.10 and the bus for Indio was set to leave at 14.00. We never made it. Why? In downtown LA, between the 40 and 60 bus, we found a place that had arcade games. So we missed the 14.00 bus and had to wait for the next one, leaving at 18.30. So, what was there to do in the terminal, while waiting? Well, there were arcade games so we subsequently spent 20 dollars on completing one of the games. We are now ranked #4 among everyone who have ever played the Jungle-shooting game at the Greyhound terminal in Los Angeles. It's really not as cool as it sounds, I guess.

Being in the shallow and superficial Los Angeles(So I've heard) made me think of Vogue. Not so much the magazine itself, but people who kill themselves because of it. You have to be pretty fucking stupid to look into Vogue and think that there are people who actually look like that in real life. I'd say Vogue is about as realistic as Batman, Power rangers or the Bible. The only difference between Vogue and the former three is that people read Batman, Power rangers & the Bible and then they go out and kill other people, not themselves. That's alot less self-destructive.

There are way too many people who need to stop reading that magazine in awe of the girls that are in it. Agyness Deyn's real name is "Laura Hollins", Tyra Banks probably couldn't beat Flipper in a game of chess and Heidi Klum's husband looks like Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre(granted, he can sing). Also, you should keep in mind that all of these people have gone hungry for a decade. I'd say magazines like Vogue exist, not to make us feel bad, but to take our minds off of the fact that we are assholes towards the rest of the world. So if you absolutely feel the need to read something that confirms your pathetic status in this world, read the National Geographic.

I'm now at Coachella and have just discovered the suttle, yet sublime pleasure of owning a tooth-brush. The schedule is weird, who wants to see Sebastian blast his noise at 2.00 pm? I'd say 50 % of his own family, tops. I'm not sure what we're seeing today, all I know is I'm staying as far away from Dan Deacon as possible. Because he sucks. Alot.
Yesterday, me and Linus did something that is the most Robbin & Linus thing to do in the whole world. We got off at LAX and decided to take the cheap route to Choachella. That included: Bus C to a transit center, bus 40 to downtown LA, bus 60 to the Greyhound stop and then the Greyhound to Indio, CA. We arrived at 9.10 and the bus for Indio was set to leave at 14.00. We never made it. Why? In downtown LA, between the 40 and 60 bus, we found a place that had arcade games. So we missed the 14.00 bus and had to wait for the next one, leaving at 18.30. So, what was there to do in the terminal, while waiting? Well, there were arcade games so we subsequently spent 20 dollars on completing one of the games. We are now ranked #4 among everyone who have ever played the Jungle-shooting game at the Greyhound terminal in Los Angeles. It's really not as cool as it sounds, I guess.


Being in the shallow and superficial Los Angeles(So I've heard) made me think of Vogue. Not so much the magazine itself, but people who kill themselves because of it. You have to be pretty fucking stupid to look into Vogue and think that there are people who actually look like that in real life. I'd say Vogue is about as realistic as Batman, Power rangers or the Bible. The only difference between Vogue and the former three is that people read Batman, Power rangers & the Bible and then they go out and kill other people, not themselves. That's alot less self-destructive.


There are way too many people who need to stop reading that magazine in awe of the girls that are in it. Agyness Deyn's real name is "Laura Hollins", Tyra Banks probably couldn't beat Flipper in a game of chess and Heidi Klum's husband looks like Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre(granted, he can sing). Also, you should keep in mind that all of these people have gone hungry for a decade. I'd say magazines like Vogue exist, not to make us feel bad, but to take our minds off of the fact that we are assholes towards the rest of the world. So if you absolutely feel the need to read something that confirms your pathetic status in this world, read the National Geographic.


Sunday, April 20, 2008

Sweden and the insignificance of the rest

While being over here, I've discovered that not many americans are familiar with scandinavia and how things work over there. There are many beloved inventions over here that need be credited. IKEA, The Knife, the zipper and the original coca-cola bottle, just to name a few. Therefore, I feel that it is absolutely essential that you understand the hierarchy in which all of these countries exist. And that hierarchy is that all the scandinavian countries, except for Sweden, basically suck. I guess there are many ways to list the Scandinavian countries. This list is mine and it is correct.

#2 Denmark: My judgement on this is definitely going to be tainted by a tourist I overheard the other day. I was a fat person who complained to his wife because he didn't get enough cheese on his hamburger. He was annoying for numerous reasons. He was fat enough to have things orbit around him when he walked down the street, and danish(to me) sounds like Chewbacca trying to sing James Brown songs backwards. Copenhagen is what's keeping Denmark ahead of Norway. When talking about moving to either Denmark or Norway, the term "Sophie's choice" acquires a whole new meaning.

#3 Norway: Norwegians have more money than we do, so do Danish people. That seems to really bother my parents, but I refuse to be intimidated by someone who has only been an independent nation for about 17 minutes and who has a cultural heritage that consists of shiny fish that swim upstream, The scream and Royksopp.

#4 Finland: Nobody cares about Finland.

#5 Iceland: There is definitely nobody who cares about Iceland. Except for J R R Tolkien, and he was a weirdo. That's right, I went there.

So if residing in Scandinavia is something that you plan on doing, keep in mind that Sweden has the greatest number of cool cities in all of Scandinavia. We have them in plural. That means we have two. Denmark has one, Iceland and Finland have half of one together. Purgatory sounds more appealing than Oslo. I guess, in conclusion, Sweden is the best out of all the Scandinavian countries. Disregarding Switzerland, of course.



I'm bringing back one of my favorite songs. Sorry, I forgot to post pictures from San fran, Santa Cruz and Berkeley. I'll post them in two sets, first one comes on Thursday, I think. Then it's Coachella.

// Robbin

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Soundtrack to San Fransisco

This is the official tune to San Fransisco so far. Ghazal is going to know what it is, since I'm talking about me, Jens and Linus. The fact that I haven't seen this live pisses me off.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

If you're gooiing to Saaaan....I hate that song.

"I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD" said Jack Dawson from Titanic, a couple of hours before he drowned. I don't mean to rain on his parade, but is it only in my dreams that the king of the world is actually able to swim? I'm not sure why I brought Titanic up, since I'm listening to Roxette. Roxette has nothing to do with Titanic, I think. To be honest, I'm not sure where the whole Titanic-Roxette-topic is going, so I'm just going to drop that one.

San Fransisco is alot of fun already. I spoke to Ghazal at 4.00 am this morning, which was really nice. It's interesting being in a city that's apparently more gay than christmas and has more crack-heads than cross-streets. I think I might have had my first burrito yesterday, it was fucking excellent. It was like having Emilio Estevez wrapped in bread, I kid you not.

We lost Jens last night at a club, I'm hoping he's fine. He's already gotten a free t-shirt in a store, this is probably the only city in the world where Swedish p.y.t's will get shit for free.

Regarding pictures, recent polls tell me that I have very few christian readers. This is equally shocking as it is alarming to me. Hence, the next picture post will be my last desperate(yet valiant) attempt to get rid of the ones that I do have. In other words, pictures coming up.

// R

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Nothing comes for free.

We are now in San Fransisco. The cab ride was kind of a rip-off. I guess nothing's free in this world. Except for Tibet, apparently.

The everglades are moderate fun.

Here are the Key West/Everglades pics. As usual, my FB-friends have already seen them(I post there first because I fucking hate blogspots posting system. Virtually the only mistake google has made. Ever.) Enjoy.