You can purchase the new song here.

Coldplay – Christmas Lights Video is a post from: wax&wires

Related posts:

1. Coldplay Snubs Spotify

New Jonsi Song – FREE Download is a post from: wax&wires

I posted this on my tumblr quite a while back, but realized I never shared it here. It is an awesome interactive HTML5 piece for Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown. It was created by Chris Milk, who is also responsible for the equally brilliant Johnny Cash Project, as well as a handful of other pop music videos for Kanye, Gnarls Barkley, Modest Mouse and more.

Everybody has been heralding Web 2.0 for it’s interactivity, and we’ve seen some of the repercussions of that for the music industry in the way artists’ content goes viral and how bands communicate with fans. Now we’re starting to reach a third tier where so much content is actually user defined and user generated. Very cool.

theWildernessDowntown.com
theJohnnyCashProject.com

Chris Milk and A New Kind of Music Video is a post from: wax&wires

All the music and none of the mud makes this the best way to experience Bonnaroo. YouTube and Ford have teamed up to stream (live and tape-delayed) video from this year’s Bonnaroo festival.

Artists include The National, Tori Amos, Tenacious D, Regina Spektor, John Fogerty, Weezer, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem, Norah Jones, and a ton more.

Check it out: youtube.com/bonnaroo

Bonnaroo Free Webcast is a post from: wax&wires

Why this flood hasn’t garnered more attention from national media, I’m not quite sure. The Tennessean has a post up, including many photos, surveying the damage to some legendary pieces of music history.

You can read the full post here. Poke around on the rest of their site to see even more photos, and read some encouraging stories of artists helping out.

For ways in which you can lend a hand, please visit hon.org. You can register to volunteer, or donate funds via the tabs on the left. You can also follow on twitter @HONashville.

VIDEO: Nashville Flood Damage At Musicians Hall Of Fame is a post from: wax&wires

The music video has become an integral part of web presence, and web presence has become an indispensable part of the musician’s arsenal. Though budgets have dwindled and many of the pioneering directors from the first wave of the MTV revolution have gone on to bigger and better things, a new generation of directors is pushing the medium back into the spotlight. However, this time around, simple videos of bands performing songs in podunk bars or rappers flashing cash with bikini-clad girls around won’t due. The polished gloss and glamour of old have been exchanged for quirky aesthetics and compelling narrative. It seems now, the weirder or more outlandish the story line, the higher chance the video has of going viral. And make no mistake about it, that’s the objective from stage one.

MIA’s YouTube-banned video of ginger genocide sparked a number of interesting articles on the topic over the past week, my favorite read being from New York Magazine – Internet Killed the MTV Star. It looks long, but reads quickly, so do it! LA Times also had a piece about it in their music blog – Music Videos Make a Comeback… not as pressing a read. Definitely check out the second piece to the NYMag post though, a slide show of famed directors’ videos from the YouTube generation that you can see here.

The Music Video Re-Revolution is a post from: wax&wires

It seems like every musical endeavor Jónsi embarks on, from Sigur Rós to Riceboy Sleeps, conjures a fantastic and dream-like quality. Perhaps there’s something in the water up in Iceland, or more likely, he’s one of the unique talents of our generation.

A few months ago, if you were on the Sigur Rós mailing list, you got a preview of Jónsi’s new solo project, and an oportunity to download a preview track, Boy Lilikoi. You might still be able to snag that on his website, I’m not sure.

We now have the official release date of Go, April 6th, and know that it will contain 9 sure-to-be-brilliant tracks. Of the bits I’ve heard, Jónsi’s solo debut picks up where Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust left off, with driving percussion and dancing orchestral arrangements, but incorporates more english than any of his previous projects. Until then, enjoy the new video for the first song on the album, Go Do, and sift through a plethora of media on his site.

VIDEO: Jónsi – Go Do is a post from: wax&wires

In it, you’ll see hip hop legends and other artists like Public Enemy, De La Soul, Beastie Boys, etc. You’ll also witness the argument from the side of the artists who have been sampled including mister p-funk, George Clinton, Clyde Stubblefield and more.

Check your PBS showtimes for Independent Lens, as it begins showing on Tuesday (though I can’t catch it until Sunday)!

Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”

The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more. It also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, funk legend George Clinton.

As artists find ever more inventive ways to insert old influences into new material, this documentary asks a critical question, on behalf of an entire creative community:

Can you own a sound?

Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport is a post from: wax&wires

This interactive art installation was the brain child of James Theopane Jr. While the mobile phones play “Carol of the Bells” in this video, you can log online and control the music for yourself here. The only trouble is, at least when I tried it, there was no feedback mechanism in place to let you see or hear what you were playing.

Work asked me to do something for their Christmas card. I work for an Interactive Agency.

To cut a long story short, after a company-wide upgrade the agency had a lot of old mobiles gathering dust. We took these, built and hoisted a gigantic interactive chandelier/mobile that plays Christmas jingles in our reception.

To add a little xmas spice to the mix, anyone can go online and enjoy annoying the hell out of people waiting around in the reception, by playing the thing live from their web browser: xmas.lbi.co.uk

Details on how we made it and some behind the scenes content are available on my blog: theophane.co.uk/mobile-mobile

Mobile Mobile has been made as a semi-permanent hanging (exhibition) space. In January the mobiles will be replaced with another hanging media, then updated month in, month out.

Mobile Mobile is just one in a line of many great lo-fi art/build concepts; from the Design Museum’s Aquarium, Digital By Design, Troika and The Cloud, the Printer Bleeping Thingy (I can’t remember who did it), all the great work by W+K, and of course, AKQA’s wonderful microwaves from last Christmas.

Looking forward to many more to come.

Carol Of The Cells is a post from: wax&wires

Polyphonic claims to have predicted Norah Jones’ success before she garnered top honors for her album back in 2002.

Take it all with a grain of salt though, as the U-Playa goal is clearly (as it should be) to make money as a business.

You can submit your song to see if you’ve got a hit right here.

The video quality’s subpar on this, but definitely worth a watch.

Using Math To Judge your Songs’ Hit Potential is a post from: wax&wires

Half a decade later, I was reintroduced to Danielson after really getting into Sufjan Stevens, and hearing of his ties to the band. I slowly started to get what it was that Daniel Smith was about, and what he was trying to do with his music. It finally clicked why he has such a fervent fanbase.

Today, Danielson releases a new 7-inch in partnership with Weathervane Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the social conscience with regards to independent music and artists’ rights, particularly in Philadelphia.

Check this video out too, for more of the technical info on the production process of Daniel Smith.

VIDEO: New Danielson Project is a post from: wax&wires

Moby’s point about working from home, creating an environment conducive for creativity is a good one. It reminds me of the whole idea behind Record Plant LA when it first opened up, creating a space that feels more comfortable than a studio.

VIDEO: Moby Shows Off His Drum Machine Collection is a post from: wax&wires

Running since 2007, TBC has accumulated quite a library of performances, each unique and equally brilliant. They’ve now done a few sessions outside of London, thus escaping the trademark cabs, but the spirit is still evident through all of their pieces.

Here’s one of my favorites, Doves performing Kingdom of Rust. I actually kind of like the cab version better than the one on the album. Remember, it’s a true testament to the strength of a songwriter when their songs can transcend genre, sound great, and still pack an emotional punch even on an acoustic guitar in the back of a cab.

There’s some other great ones from Ryan Adams, Bon Iver, Death Cab, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Cold War Kids etc. etc. Be sure to check them all out!

VIDEO: Black Cab Sessions is a post from: wax&wires

Although I don’t understand any of the dialogue, I can more or less deduce what’s happening: A computer runs an FFT on an audio file to pull out what frequencies are being tapped at any given moment. It then relays that information to the piano, where said frequencies (or close estimations therein, since the piano doesn’t represent the whole spectrum) are struck to create as close to the original waveform’s sound as possible.

Practical implications have yet to be seen, but it’s definitely a fascinating project. If we could find an acoustic instrument, likely not 12-tone equal temperament as the piano is, that reflected a broader range of frequencies, we could get closer to replicating the original audio.

I think that might defeat the point though, as the missed frequencies are the very thing that give the “Talking Piano” its unique, albeit creepy sound.

VIDEO: The Talking Piano is a post from: wax&wires

A few months back, Versant asked for fans to vote on a song that they should cover via an online poll. The winner, perhaps due to Mamma Mia’s hype spike at the time, was ABBA’s SOS.

Here’s a cut of the song amidst some random band footage and a slow-mo Diet Coke chug… random.

Now, does it belong on the sweetest covers ever list?

Versant Covers ABBA’s SOS is a post from: wax&wires