Inside look of the abysmal dimensions of Flying Lotus
Flying Lotus released his fourth studio album in September and is currently on road in the US and Europe playing his amazing and peculiar sounds. The album called 'Until the Quiet Comes' is a perfect manifestation of the innovative nature of Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus aka FlyLo. I said peculiar, because the electronic jazz album has a blend of free jazz with the varying musical tones, shifts, ghostly vocals and irregular drum beats. As magnificent he is as a producer, he is also as good of a DJ. This is why you get the feel of being on a musical trip all the way through the album, that shows the quality and skills of a masterful DJ. It's not often a DJ can produce such an eccentric sound and still get the crowds going ape-sh*t. Of course the otherworldly stage show concept must also have a part in this! Check out the video of the innovative 'Layer 3' stage show assisted by the Red-Bull Music Academy!
The album release has been a success both critically and sales-wise. Selling 13,000 copies in the first week and deputing at number 34 on the US Billboard 200, there's no doubt we're dealing with a piece of eccentric art here. But let's look a little into the stage show accompanying the album on tour.
FlyLo explained the 'Layer 3' concept in simple terms: “There are three layers that make it. The front transparent scrim, the second layer is my area where I’m performing and behind me there’s another scrim. Three layers. Layer 3. Simple.” it may sound like an uncomplicated affair, but the audiovisual experience is actually mind-boggling.
“I think as we get older that idea of magic is just taken from us… I really try to dabble in things that feel magical,” FlyLo explained the idea, “I can add moments that are synced up to the visuals if we wanted to. That idea is really fun to me, because I’m really into the show feeling very cinematic but still very danceable.”
Check out the video explaining more closely how the stage-show comes into being and see the mesmerizing performance yourself!
Crowd-sourcing music videos – cheap marketing or a win-win situation?
It's no secret that there's not a lot of profit in making a music video. MTV has long stopped showing music video and television, in general, has marginalized in this medium. Most people use Youtube for their audio-visual needs, so it's a real bad move to try to stop people from seeing your video. Instead most of the labels have their own Youtube channels and music videos haven't lost their importance among fans. However, as they aren't directly profitable, the video isn't something always worth spending as much money on as used to.
This is especially true for upcoming producers who haven't established them yet. Although the video for a song is important for the fans, the meaning has altered. It's not like you could see the video only once on your TV-shows top 10 anymore. You can watch it as many times as you please, you can stop it, rewind it and comment on it. There's also the possibility to interact with the music video and this is something both the producers and the eager fans and student movie directors have catched on. So, crowd-sourcing music videos has become a widespread practice in todays age. As you look at some examples of contest winners below, you really get the idea. Although the money issue is at play here, the inspiration side of the story seems to be all-important.
Recently, Afrojack tried his hand at cheap music video production and failed miserably. From a top level DJ you expect certain amount of quality, no matter how amateur and cool the end-product is supposed to be. The video collage from his tour was, however, just awful. The video was taken off from Afrojack's official channel reportedly for 'people getting offended by it'. A nice excuse for something that actually received so much bad publicity, he's management probably thought it best for it to disappear into the night. Although, as many of the die-hard fans had already ripped the video, you can see what I am talking about right here.
deadmau5 and Imogen Heap have gone another direction with their Heapmau5 animation contest for the track 'Telemisscommunications' by deadmau5 and Imogen Heap:
"deadmau5 and Imogen Heap have set up a global competition for animators to produce a segment of the official video to 'Telemiscommunications'. Tons of people will get to see your work and you'll get paid a bit for it too if we choose you :)"
There's still time to enter the Heapmau5 animation competition, check out the specifics here.
As the official statement goes, you'll get your work published and even paid a little bit! What could be better for someone looking to make a career in visual arts? A music video that a fan creates derives from the emotions, thoughts and notions the music gives ground to. Out of this pure passion for the music and the artist come the most authentic and genuine artworks. Sure, you can produce a video with bikini babes and get 53 million Youtube views like 'Sexy Chick' by David Guetta and Akon, but if you really want to do something original, crowd-sourcing is the easiest and most efficient way. Thus, the answer for the question in the title, is simple: crowd-sourcing music videos is a win-win situation for everybody!
One great example is producer/DJ Moby, who chose his favorite from over 500 entries for the 'Wait For Me' video competition. Nimrod Shapiro won the competition for this piece!
Another example, this is the official music video for 'Ljósið' taken from Ólafur Arnalds' album 'Found Songs' (2009). It is a really beautiful classical piece, but what's really special about this one, is that the video is a result of crowd-sourcing. After finishing the album Olafur encouraged people to send in pictures, animations, videos or whatever inspiration his music evoked. So for a upcoming artist, this was a really great way of getting his name out there with relatively low costs. Now the video has been watched over 1,5 million times!
Unveiled video for ‘Just One Last Time’ by David Guetta and Taped Rai + new release buzz
If you're familiar with the latest news about Guetta, you've probably heard tracks from his re-release 'Nothing But The Beat 2.0'. If you haven't, then head to Interviews section and hear Guetta's thoughts on the album. 'Just One Last Time' with Taped Rai has gotten a new cut, which is going to be released on December 31. The track is supposed to serve as a follow-up to 'She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)'.
In addition to the re-release of the aforementioned single, there's also news about basically a re-re-release. That's right, Guetta is planning to put 'Nothing But The Beat' and 'Nothing But The Beat 2.0' together and form 'Nothing But The Beat Ultimate'. Looks like a marketing scheme gone too far? You can give us your thoughts below! Certainly there's those who are fed up with re-packaged goods, but there's also a lot of die-hard fans looking for just something like this for their collection.
Watch 'Just One Last Time' by David Guetta and Taped Rai! It's gotten a million views in 1 day!
A beautiful piece of Benga’s live show at the Warehouse project
This must be the most soulful video footage of a dubstep-party I've ever seen. During the 10-minute look into Benga's DJ-set you will hear 'I Will Never Change' and the beautiful 'Pour Your Love' with the vocal help of Marlene.
The black-and-white slow motion frames present effectively the emotions and energy fizzing at the Warehouse Project. See if you can feel the vibe too – this one's not only for dubstep fans, it's a high quality video of a place you'll want to be after seeing this!
First video from ’18 Months’ by Calvin Harris featuring Tinie Tempah
'Drinking From the Bottle' i lyrical dance tune which has now gotten a 'lyric video'. Calvin Harris celebrates drinking from the bottle and partying like it's 1999, the track's got uplifting trancy synths and of course Tinie Tempah's vocals. The video is edited with professionality, but it's no a spectacle.
The lyrics do help track the reference-filled track better, check out the video and the tune yourself!
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