Dutch dance music duo Dirtcaps team up with director Aaron van Valen for a hilarious look at fandom going awry. Get ready to see Kanye West swagger jacking at its finest. Check it out above.
Brazilian electronic music producer Amon Tobin puts together a special group of talented geeks in his design squad to make a live audio/visual experience called ISAM.
Tobin composes live, on stage, inside of a very large structure, projecting and reflecting wild images to his routine. (more…)
For the right amount, you can get any artist to perform pretty much anywhere — which is how Beyonce found herself performing for Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2010. Too $hort is no different.
A cool 25 grand finds the Bay Area rap legend at the 40th birthday party of Microsoft executive Michael Angiulo. According to TMZ, Angiulo — who is “responsible for the product planning input that drives the vision process for Windows Live and Windows Internet Explorer” - set the whole thing up. Turns out Anguilo is a huge Too $hort fan.
Film directors Frode & Marcus create a simple yet highly effective visual for “Swede-popper” El Perro Del Mar (Sarah Assbring).
You’d think a video with only one scene of an awkward Swedish girl singing and dancing would get boring but the cheap amusement park kareoke backdrop syncs with the vintage 90s esthetic of the song and holds your attention until you are enjoying both the tune and the video. Next month El Perro Del Mar will release her newest full-length Pale Fire.
Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” video, in which the singer flips cards with the lyrics as the song plays, artist Leandro Senna created his own version in a new video.
Senna drew each line of the song on individual cards (66 total) using only pencil, black tint pens and brushes. “I’ve been thinking for a lot of time on doing a personal project where I could get out of the computer for a little bit, and have pleasure doing something handmade,” Leandro writes on his website. “Getting back to the basics.”
Get a closer view of each page here.
One of a handful of parties during the Republican National Convention in Tampa’s neighboring city Ybor was hosted by the Rock The Vote campaign, so presumably, it was about politics. Headlining the show was electro house DJ/producer Steve Aoki. There was no doubt Aoki (whose name sits right under David Guetta on Forbes’ “Highest Paid DJs” list) could bring out young folks out in the masses. But for what exactly? Maybe I’m too square to get the point besides just another party.
Most of the crowd, outfitted in everything from go-go dancing outfits to glitter painted Steve Aoki t-shirts (not to mention rave gloves), definitely were not Republicans.
So maybe the plan was to get all the young ragers together and make them sit through a small lecture before partying. Inside the venue however, it looked like your normal club atmosphere. No register stations, no voting information — just drinks, loud music and party people. Rock the Vote and its sponsor Pringles did spring for 25 flat screens showing Rock the Vote and Pringles propaganda throughout the night. I started to womder if this event was connected to the RNC or even about voting at all.
Heather Smith, President of Rock the Vote, told us she’s positive that parties like this are making a difference in an unconventional way.
“You know, you can go to places where they’re hanging out, you can go online, do mobile programs, you can go to college campuses, but sometimes you need to get people together. That’s what we do with our concerts. We get to convey the message of civic engagement and to define what it means to participate. When there’s 2,000 people dancing for your right to vote, it’s quite contagious.”
The club filled out around nine o’clock and excitement built as Aoki took the stage. The crowd, elated that the stringy haired DJ has taken to the turntables, begins to chant “Aoki!.” A perfect moment for a speech. I mean, we are in the middle of the RNC, right? Aoki takes the microphone and says, “I’m doing this for free so ya’ll better go f***ing vote!”
Henry Havoc, a single parent from San Antonio, TX, is all about principles: “Sticking to a balanced budget, sticking to the truth, no unjust wars — that’s why I’m here.”
“Here,” is the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida in Tampa, waiting for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul to arrive to speak at a rally days before the RNC.
Havoc carries around an American flag with words Sharpied on top of the stars and stripes that read:
“My country is sick, we need a doctor for a president”
They’re lyrics from his song “My Country Is Sic,” which Havoc dedicated to Ron Paul.
Havoc says even if Ron Paul isn’t destined for the candidacy, he still plans to “vote Ron Paul.
Both (Obama and Romney) are supported by Goldman Sachs,” Havoc said. “They both want more wars. That’s not cool, man.”
Henry Havoc’s song is pretty cool. It’s got a Southern hip hop bounce, and lyrics that make Ron Paul sound like one of the characters in The Expendables.
Listen to it HERE.
An update on 2010′s popular Selling Out infographic brings some pleasant surprises for indie bands out there.
Selling Out is based on information shared by indie labels and bands in a Google Spreadsheet.
So, how much does a musician have to distribute in order to make minimum wage ($1160 a month) using classic formats like vinyl and CDs, to new ones like iTunes, Rhapsody and Spotify? (more…)
Buzz Media (owners of music and pop culture sites Stereogum, Idolator, Brooklyn Vegan, XLR8R, and KimKardashian.com) has laid off several of the editorial staff at newly acquired Spin Magazine and announced today that there will be no November/December issue.
In a statement to Billboard.biz, a rep for Buzzmedia said “Buzzmedia and Spin are committed to moving forward with print, but we are still determining exactly how print fits in with Spin’s multiple distribution points and growth initiatives.”
BuzzMedia Music editor-in-chief Jeff Leeds tweeted late on Sunday: “True fact: we are indeed planning to keep producing a print edition of @spinmagazine, though exact form is TBD. I’m not afraid of new ideas.”
In an effort to “understand each other,” software developer company BitTorrent has partnered with DJ Shadow and his digital marketing team Fame House to create DJ Shadow’s Hidden Transmissions BitTorrent Bundle.
This is not the first time BitTorrent has collaborated directly with artists/bands but DJ Shadow is the first artist getting paid directly for BitTorrent distribution of his work.
The bundle comes with three tracks from Hidden Transmissions, archival footage from the MPC era, artist-curated photo vault and time capsule, and optional RealPlayer software. DJ Shadow fans can download that software, but if they do, the partner (in this case RealPlayer) pays BitTorrent, and DJ Shadow gets a cut.
BitTorrent’s executive director of marketing Matt Mason told Music Ally,
“This is the first time in history that anybody’s tried to monetize the BitTorrent ecosystem in a way that naturally plays into its value. The biggest problem with this technology has been that it lets people share things indefinitely at a cost of zero. That’s actually a real opportunity for the content industries if we can build business models on top of it.”
