This December, online electronic music magazine and global dance music connoisseurs Resident Advisor have teamed up with the wireless hi-fi speakers SONOS to launch a four part film series tracing the roots of some of electronic music’s biggest stars. The documentary film series uncovers the intimate stories of Chris Liebing, Eats Everything, Magda and Matthew Dear going back to their home towns and identifying those formative places and moments that influenced their careers and lives.
As part of the House of SONOS, the hub of the #ORIGINS series, the 4 unique films will be accompanied by an eclectic and exclusive playlist created by each of the artists. Chris Liebing, Eats Everything, Magda and Matthew Dear have dug deep into their crates to curate a playlist especially for the House of SONOS, allowing you to celebrate the joys of a lazy Sunday at home or an everyone-back-to-mine house party. Chris will curate the Lounge, Eats Everything; The Kitchen, Magda; The Loft and Matthew Dear; The Bedroom.
The overarching theme of the four part film is to uncover those defining moments in our early lives at home that influenced and shaped our musical pathways. For me, it was the Beach Boys bellowing out of our lounge on the weekends when I was about 5 or 6. Undoubtedly, those colourful melodies have now shaped what I look for in good music today; simply put – rich harmonies. But another dimension was my location. Growing up in North London throttled me down a musical pathway that most people my age were immersed in during the mid-noughties – oh yeah, that indie-kid scene. My love for North London school bands Bombay Bicycle Club, Cajun Dance Party and Pull In Emergency led me down more interesting pathways to the folk artists that my parents loved like John Martyn, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell – artists that I treasure today. I think London being that hot-pot of hundreds of cultures has really shaped what I love; from UK Hip-Hop to West African folk music. The emergence of Dubstep out of South London almost a decade ago also exposed me to electronic music for the first time and introduced me to a cathedral of genres that I love to listen to on a daily basis now.
Chris Liebing kicks off the ORIGINS series. His story begins in the ’80s in Linden, a small village in the German countryside. From an early age, Chris was drawn towards a love for dark, melancholic music, a passion that would shape the rest of his life. In the episode, we revisit the first steps he took on this path, and find out how his experiences made him the artist he is today.
Watch the #ORIGINS documentary below and stream his exclusive playlist within the House of SONOS right here.