Tagged with " Berlin"
D E N A - “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools” & Interview
Posted under: Okay, so most people who know me pretty well know that when I get excited about a particular song or artist, I get REALLY f***ing excited about it. I’m usually bouncing off the walls, jumping up and down, desperately eager to share my new found love with everyone that I know. So when the Belgium-based music blog, Disco Naivete, premiered the new breakthrough video for D E N A‘s undeniably catchy, blinged-out single, “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools”, I nearly lost my damn mind.
Since the video’s premiere last week, it’s reached well over 30,000 views on YouTube and caught the attention of the rising UK pop star, Charli XCX. I got in touch with D E N A (aka Denitza Todorova) to see if I could get the full scoop.
Watch the video for “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools” & read the interview below:
So where are you from originally? How long have you been making music as D E N A?
I am originally from Bulgaria . I moved to Berlin a few years ago. After the split of my first band (2 girls-> me on synth and she on drums), I focused on writing for my own project about 2 years ago. I’ve been working with the Finnish-Berlin based crew from Kaiku Studios on the production.
The video for “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools” is so spot on in every way. It matches the song perfectly. How did you come up with the concept?
This track has the most, let’s say, inverted lyrics I’ve ever written. On the one side it exaggerates and plays ironically with symbols of success, on the other side it’s actually a pretty honest and unfiltered complaint against bad weather and being broke, while all you wanna do is have a good time with friends in the sun. I felt that a video could give the lyrics the best back up, so that people don’t think I sing about how I am so into diamond rings and stuff. We came up with the idea while brainstorming what could be the inverted image of the blinky blink symbols of the chorus. It was actually pretty natural to come up with the flea market concept, Plamen Bontchev (who shot it) is also Bulgarian and knew about this Balkan-vibed-market in his neighbourhood. It was important that we go to a real place with real people, where it’s all about making “CASH” and being surrounded by objects. I had the time of my life while shooting, everyone was incredibly nice and wanted to participate! I even sold some stuff for other people while shooting, haha! We spoke a lot of Bulgarian too, actually almost everyone there was from the Balkans, which made it all way easier, since we could talk and hang out and have fun with everyone.
It seems like a lot of people are already comparing you to artists such as, M.I.A. and Santigold. Is there any sort of connection there? Are you a fan of their work?
Yeah, I noticed that. I guess it’s some kind of a shortcut thinking—tagging phenomenon world we live in, so I was wondering is it about the beats or my voice or because I am not a native English speaker, or is it my sweater? But I don’t wanna spend time on that. I’m just doing my thing. I respect and love not only M.I.A. & Santigold, but also fat beats, snare drums, chords, harmonies, jazz and yeah: MUSIC!!!!
Erlend Øye from Kings of Convenience makes a cameo appearance in the video. What is your relationship with him?
I met Erlend a couple of years ago in Berlin and we became very good friends. My other family guys from Berlin and him play together in The Whitest Boy Alive. So our crews joined, and Erlend has been supporting me from the very beginning, getting me to sing on both their albums, putting me on sold out venue stages for the first time in my life, to sing with WBA (“Gypsy Woman” by Crystal Waters) and so on. It’s amazing that he was in town when we shot the video for “CDRSP” and showed up on the set to sway to the beat with me.
What are your plans for the future? Can we expect a full-length album? Any record labels?
I am working on my album with Jonas Verwijnen / Kaiku Studios in Berlin, I have a bunch of really banging tracks already and I am continuing to write & produce more. I don’t have a label yet, but I am looking forward to work and release new songs in the next months.
Be sure to follow D E N A on Facebook, Twitter, and SoundCloud.
Paneloux & Kyson - “Until I Be We Can’t.”
I don’t know what it is about this Kyson dude, but it’s something special. The Berlin-based producer and musician takes his talents to a new level with this free flying collaboration with fellow Berlin vocalist/musician Paneloux. The swirling and pushing beat gives the allusion of weightlessness as he peppers the landscape sky with even lighter chimes, vibraphones, classical guitar, and flute melodies. It’s an all around beauty.
Kyson - ‘Free Saturday Beats’
Berlin producer Kyson (who we’ve mentioned before) just dropped a batch of fresh beats. It almost seems like he didn’t know what to do with them, so he uploaded them to SoundCloud, slapped a garage sale-like sign on them- Free Saturday Beats and called it a day. These scraps serve as well as most peoples finest works. Mixing lush vocal samples with washed out ambience, you can’t help but feel your floating someplace between an all encompassing ocean of sound and the endless emptiness of space.
Enjoy the set below, and like the sign says- the beats are free for download.
TV Buddhas - ‘Band In The Modern World’ EP
I don’t know what’s been up with me lately, but I’m having a sincere affair with grungy hard-nosed electric guitar parts and steady drum beats. I guess it’s just welcoming to know that there still exists a few garages somewhere with dudes (and chicks) smoking cigs, spitting on each other, and playing music fast enough to break dermis and draw blood… TV Buddhas is a trio from Berlin and Tel Aviv who just released their new EP Band In The Modern World (via TROST). I should probably mention that the EP is named after a video log from their first ever US tour in 2010, the self-proclaimed “saddest indie tour diary ever made“. Don’t worry pals, it goes with the nature of your sound: nobody showing up, losing money, getting stood up - those are all merits along the way to serious punk rock stardom.