Posts Tagged → music

The Sonic Side of TikTok

“A Brief Sonic Ecological Survey of TikTok Meme Culture“, by Max Alper. A super interesting article on sound based memes on TikTok:

“All of the above styles of TikTok audio are made by users intentionally using top of the line social media tools somewhat incorrectly, at least according to the developers of the technology. Of course you’re not supposed to stick your earbud mic down your throat, just as you’re not supposed to scream at the top of your lungs through a fancy autotune filter or apply scotch tape directly to the grill of a condenser mic. Perhaps it’s by using these audio tools in unexpectedly “wrong” ways that young people continue to keep it fresh; the more extreme and unexpected the sound is, the more “based” it can be. I’ve been told that’s a good thing.”

Holly Herndon’s Eternal Video

“Holly Herndon’s video for her dizzying new song “Eternal” follows the lonely journey of a machine as it analyzes and connects to a human face. It’s blurry and disorienting: a collage of eyes, ears, and mouths materializing in front of the camera, soundtracked by one of the most direct melodies Herndon has ever composed. Synth-orchestra blasts beam in from Y2K pop radio. A dance rhythm keeps stalling out while it’s buffering. “Right in front of my eyes,” a choir sings, slowly, in unison”.

[via]

Music For Sleeping Children

Music for Sleeping Children is an experimental collaboration between internationally recognized visual artist Charlie White and Mercury-nominated musician and producer Boom Bip (also known as Bryan Hollon). The project stems from White’s investigations of the representation of American adolescence, and was born from a relationship forged between White and Hollon in 2009 when they collaborated on “We Like to Shop,” a simple clap-along song from White’s experimental cartoon, OMG BFF LOL that Hollon converted into a throbbing club track for the work’s US premier at the Aldrich Museum. From there, White and Hollon set out to realize a far more ambitious project conceived by White as the marriage of in-depth teen interviews, discussions, and studio projects with pop, electronica, hip hop and experimental composition. Working in tandem, White and Hollon fashioned the concept of each track around the original studio recordings of teen girls ranging in age from 12 to 16. From eager enthusiasms, to exuberant chants, to adolescent melancholia, Music for Sleeping Children underscores the complex tensions resonant in the teen voices while transforming each girl into a popular music form of her own. Magical, uncomfortable, and original, Music for Sleeping Children is an artwork, an archive, and an album.

http://musicforsleepingchildren.com

Pussy Riot strikes back

“Feisty anti-Kremlin activists — the ones that terrorized the Red Square with purple smoke bombs and an illegal performance of their hardcore tune Putin Pissed Himself – strike again! Pussy Riot crashed Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour with their new anthem Virgin, Exorcise Putin! and its catchy chorus of “Holy shit, shit, shit/Holy shit, shit, shit.” Watch the video as they trash around and get dragged out by security and Russian nuns.”

[via animalny]

Multicolored vynils

“In summer 2011 The Flaming Lips released collaborative vinyl EPs with Lightning Bolt, Neon Indian and Prefuse 73. The ‘starter blob’ of vinyl for each disc was assembled by hand using random amounts of different vinyl colors, ensuring that every record would be unique. Here are a couple of Flickr photosets of the finished products (and a bit of the process) as they came off the presses.”

(via)


The Cup Game

Si chiama “The Cup Game” ed è un gioco arcinoto negli States, perlopiù tra bambini e adolescenti, che lo usano come passatempo durante i campeggi estivi. Cosa serve? Un bicchiere di plastica e un po’ di senso del ritmo. Nel giugno 2009 però, una band tutta al femminile, le Lulu and the Lampshades, ha deciso di utilizzare quel beat per scrivere una canzone, che hanno poi postato su Youtube.

Il pezzo si chiama “Cups” (You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone) ed è di quelli che restano in testa dopo solo un ascolto. Tuttavia, non è diventato molto famoso fino al giugno 2011, quando Anna Burden, diciassettenne dell’Indiana, non ha deciso di realizzarne una cover, sfornando una versione che batte l’originale per ritmica e grazia vocale.

Ma il “cup beat” è diventato una vera mania e Youtube pullula di ragazzi che si cimentano con il gioco, e con la canzone. Eccone alcuni. Non viene voglia di provare? A me si.

e infine… ecco il mio :-)