Here is a guy called Reggie Watts producing soulful, skatty, hip-hop with the use of just his voice and a small sampling machine… (via)

The clip below, from the same guy, made me smile too…

Last night Niklas and I had the pleasure of witnessing Plunge record their next album at Gula Studion. It was a great night of firsts, first time in a ‘proper’ studio (where the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans, The Ark, Marit Bergman etc. have recorded), first time hearing Andreas play with his own band, first introduction to live, freeform jazz. Actually, I’m told that calling it ‘freeform jazz’ is really just a demonstration of ignorance. Plunge should apparently be discribed as (something like) “an experimental, existential, minimalist trio who express influences from the world of jazz along with other forms of improvised music…”

It was surprisingly relaxing and so inspiring to hear such great musicians and to watch their musical interaction. Now I have a sense of the “conversation” that Andreas has been trying to describe to me for so long.

The great thing about Sweden is there are still people who dress like Rupert the Bear – matching chequered trousers and scarf!

Last night I was chilling out with Christopher and Anna and we decided to play Scrabble. The strange thing is that in Sweden it’s called Alfapet, and has extra letters Ö, Ä, and Å. I told them that I would play in English, but that they were welcome to use Swedish. They chose to play in English. The game was really strange when it comes to scoring and the making up of words – we decided that the extra letters would count as As or Os, but in the Swedish scrabble there aren’t as many Es, and Cs are worth 8 points, instead of the usual 2 points (or is it 3?) Confusing.

After eluding to questions of calling and purpose over passing weeks I thought I might unveil a tiny fragment of what feels like mine…

I think that one of the aspects of my ‘calling’ is the hosting of parties. This evening Peter, Ellen and I hosted a party at the apartment, which felt like a success. One of my passions in life is bringing together people from different walks of life, introducing them to each other, and seeing the interesting network of relationships that blossoms, along with the cross-pollination of ideas.

A couple of years ago I was at New Wine and I heard Mal Calladine teach this concept – that some people are supposed to be hospitable through the throwing of parties. I like the way it expands the concept of vocation. Living as something of a nomad in recent years (barely staying in one place long enough to decorate my room), I haven’t had as many opportunities to throw parties as I would like. Whenever I have, however, I feel elated, kind of like I’m doing something I was made for.