Teenage IKEA Frekvens Engineering

There's no denying that IKEA has been there for me over the years like a good mate. It has delighted me with doughnuts and "coffee" in Budapest. It was there for me with shower curtains and mats when our landlord in Barcelona forgot to mention that our bathroom was covered in mold. It has provided warm refuge in cold Berlin when we needed warm blankets for our damp and concrete residence.

I have downed my share of Swedish meatballs (the veg version too!), expanded my horizons with tasty veggie sandwiches, and swooned over the wonderfully designed collaborations for toys, playing cards, and furniture.

So when I got the notice from teenage engineering that they were handing out STL files for  the new Frekvens collection it really made me wonder what the heck was going on. Time was not on my side this time, so it wasn't until a bit later that I came full circle.

Follow along here - I've been caning this "MY NAME JACK" track by Maassai.

Which led me to @Jwords, the producer, Soundcloud, the recent list of which contained a CENO Mix, the avatar pic for which was teenage engineering's 400 modular synthesizer.

So here I found myself back at TE's site, like a dusty, thirsty pirate, drawn in by the sweet siren sight of an all black, portable, yellow, modular synth.

Where was I? What's the point of this story?

Maassai? Jwords? IKEA? Teenage Engineering? I don't even know anymore.

The new IKEA collection looks fantastic. The model 400 by TE obviously looks fabulous. The Maassai delivery of the wonderful Jwords track is really interesting.

Just when you think this strange web of connectivity between such disparate elements can't get any more interesting, keep scrolling, and you will find a picture of this man.

Who is it? What is with the styling?

This photo is so interesting. The bare feet, all of the jewelry, the natural smile, the little flap of exposed skin on his back, the well-fitting jeans. What does it all mean? There is something really comforting and cool about this guy. He's not flexing some radical new fashion, crazy tattoos, or in-your-face attittude. It's just the dad from outer space with a fresh sweater and interlocking modular rave paraphernalia.

Something is afoot.