Blog : Arnhem

Angel

Notes from the weekend

1. Watching The Fault in Our Stars (with my boyfriend) in Holland is magic. A cosmic bonus: one of my favourite songs (Strange Things Will Happen) from my favourite band in the whole world (The Radio Dept.) played in one of the scenes, without me knowing that they are part of the soundtrack! The best surprise ever. I just love moments like that.

Me and M recorded this specific song during the time we just met. I took out my phone, he learned the chords quickly, and then we recorded it on that one snowy night. Later on, I made it into a movie which was an entry for Stockholm Shorts 2011. It was all DIY – I recorded a spontaneous Skype conversation (he was in Holland, I was in Singapore) and put the music over it. It brings back all the warm and fuzzy feelings. Aww. You can see it here:

Strange Things Will Happen from Angel Trinidad on Vimeo.

2.

“Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure.” – E.F. Schumacher

3. I spent a lot of time in the sun this weekend. I saw Marloes again, after a long time! We walked around town, ate ice cream with loads of sprinkles, walked into shops to smell shampoo, and hung out at Roof Garden. We played N64 there and I beat her thrice at Super Smash Bros. Hehe!

Ice cream

4. I saw Case Mayfield play live at Roof Garden today – it was super dreamy. Then I ran into Marloes again at the Albert Heijn. We had drinks and sat in the sun with Pim at TAPE.

Case Mayfield

Marloes and me

5. A big birthday box arrived last Friday from home! It was filled with presents from my parents, one of my favourites is an old Mary lamp from my childhood. It’s absolutely beautiful- it reminds me of my mother, prayer and solemn, quiet memories.

6. Things I am loving lately: sweet popcorn, vanilla and tonka bean oil diffusers, my succulent plant in a pink pot, dogs, a crazy little goat called Jerry, cheering for my team when it wins, chocolate chip poptarts, being on Softly Sometimes and wearing my Swedish clogs. I also loved talking with my best friends on the other side of the world again, helping a friend who’s getting married with social media stuff, and Facetiming with parents. 🙂

Angel

Ice Hotel // Scandinavia Night (Birthday Special)

Tomorrow night at TAPE, 22:00! See ya!

Our first Spotify DJ is back! Ice Hotel is born in the Philippines with a Scandinavian heart. She spreads a big love for danceable indie pop, sparkly electronica, melancholy chillwave and fuzzy shoegaze wherever she finds herself in. TAPE is the place on Friday 13 July for infectious melodies, fun dancing and a simply gezellig time!
 
Also, she’s having her birthday soon – so friends, future friends and fellow lovers of feel-good, irresistible, sparkly music come dance and celebrate with us! Welcome!
 
 
Angel

Ice Hotel // Friendly Galaxy Party

DJ Wichje and Ice Hotel!
Photo: Jeroen Trispel

Last Friday, I dj-ed at Luxor Live for my friend Melissa’s awesome Friendly Galaxy Party. It was great fun! I made a playlist that was sparkly, spacey and dancey to follow the intergalactic theme (enter silver shirt and face glitters). The result: a mix of thumping Daft Punks and Chemical Brothers, laser-firing Robyns, dreamy New Orders, attitude-y M.I.A.s and dancing feet-tickling Crystal Castles to name a few. Plus, I got a little help from my dj-elves of the night Mark and Willem who’s back from Australia! DJ Wichje was my partner that night – it was my first time to do a duo set and what can I say, it was awesome and two times the fun! Our music are different from each other but suprisingly, it works very well- a good combination of soft + hard, electric + smooth, pop + rap, Angel + Devil (our dj-duo name haha)!

I prepared a playlist for you guys of what went down that night, enjoy! See ya later space invaders. 🙂

Ice Hotel // Friendly Galaxy from angelf on 8tracks.

Angel

On a roof and under a bridge

Where does your garden grow? On a roof, and under a bridge.

Last Friday was Roof Garden Arnhem’s opening – Arnhem’s summer hangout of the century. Roof Garden is an initiative of As We Speak + Belhamels to transform the top floor of a parking garage into an open space where people can relax and have fun – there is a bar, a coffee corner, a jacuzzi, wooden crates, sunning chairs, a viewing deck and green plants all over. SUPER FUN!

It reminded me of Trädgården in Stockholm, me and my friends’ (and everyone’s) favorite hangout during the summer. Located under the bridge, you can’t help but smile the moment you enter the labyrinthine summer party garden. It’s the vibe of the place that makes you feel so good – everyone is just so happy there. Video installations and Nintendo games, ice cream carts and indie pop gigs, sofas and ping pong tables, dazzling people and dancefloors. I think of Trädgården all year long, even when I’m not in Stockholm and even in the middle of winter. It is place where a lot of my happy memories are stored: hazy summer moments of playing ping pong to catch someone’s eye, sitting on top of elevated crates gazing across the dancefloor, dancing with Suzy and Carol and the rest of the gang, laughing my heart out. The apple ciders and the midnight sun.

With Andy, Marina and Isabella. Tradgården, Stockholm 2010.
With Kniven, Kalle, Andy and Felix. Tradgården, Stockholm 2010.

I can’t help but experience a future deja vu! Trädgården followed me to where I am now- this time in the form of a skyline sensation. (“Joy moves always to new locations, the ease of its flow never freezing” – says Rumi, my favorite 8th Century poet whose wisdom keeps popping up with every turn of my modern life. One of my best friends Bituin wrote that line on a birthday card she gave me when I was a teenager. I never forgot about it.)

Here are my very first pictures of Roof Garden Arnhem, so in the future I can look back and say “Oh this was the very beginning of that golden summer!” Here we come, fantastic memories!

Where does your garden grow? On a roof and under a bridge. Cheers to past, present and future special places! 🙂

Angel

Mondriaan Dream Sequence

Dream Sequence 1.
Helene and Anton Müller, wild at heart. Someday, we will be patrons of the arts. A very nice architect friend of ours will build our own art nouveau hunting lodge, decorated with paintings of the Munch and van der Lecks of our time (who will also be our friends).

Dream Sequence 2.
Face to face to face with Mondriaan, van der Leck and the new flowers of Van Gogh.

Dream Sequence 3.
Getting lost in the sculpture garden, in pursuit of the elusive coffee tent in the middle of the woods.

Dream Sequence 4.
Biking in the Veluwe and feeling a great big rush of freedom. Everlasting fields, as far as the eye can see. Rugged trees and mighty skies. Remembering Anne Frank’s words written on her bedroom wall: “I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle and look at the world, feel young and know that I am free.”

—

Read more about the dreamy landscape of the Veluwe, the history of the Kröller-Müllers and Arnhem as a creative city (my favorite cafe TAPE was even mentioned!) in “Wild at Heart“, an article from KLM’s inflight magazine Holland Herald.

Angel

Facing Pages and drifting off to the Swedish archipelago

I popped by the Facing Pages festival yesterday and checked out all the pretty independent magazines on exhibit.

One of the magazines I was browsing through had a feature of a Swedish family’s summer house on the west coast of Sweden.

This is one of my dreams (with a small adjustment: mine will be on the east coast, an hour’s boat ride from Stockholm). The ancestral house sits on a rock quarry, with separate apartments for the members of the family. Look at the interiors – perfection! Rustic, charming, unassuming, impeccable design and at the same time simple, cozy, and with that hard to explain Swedish touch. It’s more of a feeling, I suppose.

Angel

Home

This is my home right now. Well, I have always had a home, different ones in different times. Home to me for the past years have been a psychological phenomenon, a place where you can be yourself and where you are surrounded with the people that you love and who love you. A place where the most authentic “you” can flourish, and where you have the freedom and the state of mind to create, express and just be yourself. Simply, somewhere where you can be comfortable, happy and true. It is a bit different from the traditional definition of home, which is a more physical and non-flexible entity (and most usually refers to “where you came from”). Mine is a more mobile definition, perhaps a skill I have adapted to to match the currents of my life and/or a truth that I have discovered. I believe that you can be at home anywhere. In any case, for me some places (physical ones) tend to stick out more as “home” than others. One particular place radiates because my dreams live there.

And another one, this one.. this one grows on me with each passing day. 🙂

 

Angel

Ice Hotel @ TAPE

Friday night was super fun! I dj-ed at TAPE and played Scandinavian indie pop, electro, shoegaze, the usual Angel sound. It was my first time to play at TAPE (and in Arnhem!), so I was curious to see how people will take it. From the smiles on their faces, the shuffling on the dance floor, the buzz in the air and the feedback I got, they liked it! 🙂 Some nice people even came up to me to say that they loved the music! Ahhh.

Good music should be playing everywhere! It’s such an important thing, but often taken for granted. Good music can change your mood in a heartbeat and can instantly make you feel better.. even great! And if I can give people a happy, sparkling feeling on a Friday night, then I am already happy!

And it doesn’t even have to be so complicated, good music is good music. You don’t need to be a “professional” DJ to get a crowd going. Well.. but I guess you have to have an impeccable taste in music! Hehe.

Here are some more action shots from last night:

I might do this again soon, I’ll keep you updated! For now, I leave you with one of the lovely tracks from last night, enjoy!

Jonathan Johansson – Blommorna (Niva Remix) by NIVA