Sheryl Crow, Dum Dum Girls and Fleetwood Mac are a few musicians on repeat for Rene Rinnekangas. After that, more ataractic artists are On Rotation. Plainly put, Rene isn’t one to play hip hop.
“More rock ’n’ roll style,” says Rene when describing his own harmonic tastes. “I don’t listen to that much rap.”
For a guy that carves out the craziest paths on every course in order to hop his way to a heavy line, it actually makes perfect sense that he doesn’t listen to hip hop. “I’ve been a big fan of Guns N Roses for a while now, and of course–especially with the movie that recently came out ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’–Queen,” Rene revealed, “those are pretty big for me right now.”
His happy tunes routines don’t start and end with the hill, either. Depending on where he is in the world and what is going on during his days, Rene runs with a regular set each morning while waking up.
“Last year at X Games I was sharing a room with Sven [Thorgren] and every morning we would listen to some Whitney Houston,” Rene said, laughing at the thought. “It’s a pretty good way to start your day.”
Rene respects the power of music on his mood, but still doesn’t deviate from his soft rock ways saying, “Sometimes you are listening to rock ’n’ roll, and then Bob Dylan is a good example of keeping it mellow still.”
“It’s from Scandanavia.” — Rene Rinnekangas
Rene and his buddies kept it mellow last year in Helsinki when he heard Dylan live, it was the last live concert he hit. It was a good one for him, but it’s hard to imagine a live show from Dylan being a bad one for anyone.
Apart from hearing music played live, Rene runs with headphones. Specifically, the classic, corded iPhone phones. In that regard, he says he doesn’t need anything special and even prefers the old school style.
Another preference for Rene, Spotify is his first choice for old school listening when streaming his classic choices. But why Spotify?
“It’s from Scandinavia.”
On Rotation is a new weekly series that shows off a sample selection of what the world’s best athletes are listening to. Each week a new playlist will drop on the Dew Tour’s Spotify account along with a few words from the riders themselves, giving you personalized insight from the pros while you turn on their customized selections.
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