Whyd’s New Logo: We Need Your Help!

If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that Whyd is a community led project to create an awesome place for us music lovers to collect and share the tracks we love, no matter where the music comes from. We’re gearing up for some big things this fall and winter, and one of those things is the branding of Whyd. While the current Whyd logo has served us well, it is rather uninspiring and bland — a relic of the past, and considering that Yahoo! just shat the bed with their new logo, we want to make sure that the face we will be presenting to the world is something that captures Whyd’s attitude, that is in itself an ambassador for all of us and the music we share. 

Since building our platform according to your wishes and desires has led us in a good direction so far, we wanted to reach out to you to ask if any of you have any ideas, inspiration, or designs that you’d like to send us. In a way, we are crowd-sourcing our logo inspiration. We will take everyone’s suggestions into consideration, and if someone manages to come up with a logo that is perfect in itself, or nearly perfect, we will pay you for it as if we had hired you as our creative agency.

There are only a few criteria that need to be mentioned:

  1. It should have the name “Whyd” spelled out, since our name is not immediately simple to pronounce, it helps if people can see the whole thing.
  2. It should be urban, edgy, not the washed-down Silicon Valley “apps for your mom” style that tries to appeal to everyone but just ends up making everyone yawn.
  3. The fewer colors the better, and please none of this green/red/blue/yellow Google/Microsoft/Ebay shit. Choose a strong color and go with it.
  4. Try to incorporate something to do with music. That’s the juice of this whole thing, after all.

Send them to us, or suggestions, ideas, questions! hello@whyd.com

11th September 2013

Interview with Now Playing Mag: An Eclectic Box of Musical Discovery

1. When was Now Playing Mag born? Why did you create it?

Now Playing Mag was born in February 2011. Everything came from a conversation. Along with other friends who are passionate about music and who are also bloggers, we realized that while we wanted to follow the news from all of the musical genres that we love, we could easily find ourselves opening a dozen windows in our browsers because it was nearly impossible to find an outlet that covered all of our tastes. I listen to everything, almost without any restriction. I have a collection where Vampire Weekend resides along with Billie Holiday, A Tribe Called Quest, Angélique Kidjo, Van Morrison, Benjamin Biolay, Blur and Spice Girls. Now Playing Mag was created for all people out there with eclectic tastes, a media outlet where all different facets of music meet. 

2. Who is the team behind the magazine? Who does what?

Today the Now Playing Mag team is made up of 20 members coming from around France and even Florida! I don’t know how to really define our functions at Now Playing because they are all multifaceted. I am the Founder, Editor-in-Chief, webmaster, director of publication, and I manage too. There is also Morgane, the other editor/boss, she manages the articles, partnerships, and contests. I am assisted by Léa, who handles contacts at labels, promo agencies, and others as well as planning. In terms of editing and content, there are a few teams here at Now Playing. Some of them cross at times. The hip hop team is piloted by Stéphane with Pierre (who also handles jazz) and Atman; the indie team is managed by Sarah with Camille D and Morgane; the electro team is where we find Imane, Johann (who is also our graphic designer), Louis, and Morgane; the soul/R&B team is Francine, Célia, Laurene, and Florien (and also often Atman); Emilie takes care of rock; Camille B. the French scene; and Astrid handles music from around the world. Finally, there is Ludovic who is behind the photographs and the acoustic sessions. 

3. What are the musical genres that you cover?

Now Playing Mag is defined as being a “eclectic music box,” from jazz to indie pop including soul, R&B, rap, electro, world music, French classics, pop, metal, and folk. Alternative and classic scenes meet here. For the time being we have a smaller focus on genres like country and techno, but that will change! 

4. Who should read and listen to Now Playing Mag? Do you have plans for the future?

I would say everyone! Mostly people who are avid for discoveries. For the future, we aspire to position ourselves among the referenced media for musical discoveries. We are also building a new version of the digital magazine that corresponds with our hopes and those of our readers. 

Make sure to like the Now Playing Mag Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to them on Whyd

10th September 2013

Interview with soundsearch: Sending Emerging Talent Straight To Your Inbox

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1. There are a lot of music sites out there, why was soundsearch created?

Before soundsearch, we set-up a new music discovery blog. As a result, we were constantly looking for new and unsigned music to feature on the site. The process of finding suitable artists can be a long, lonely, and often unrewarding experience, believe us! Last.fm is good for discovery, but it only recommends you bands of equal size to that which you’re listening. For example, if you’re a fan of Adele, it suggests you listen to Duffy, Jessie J, and Amy Winehouse (to name but a few), most of which you’ll probably already be listening to. Soundcloud is also great to use and has fantastic embeddable widgets for blogs, but is mainly based around genre search which doesn’t really narrow anything down. Spotify and other streaming services attempt to recommend new music, but their artists come from major labels and distribution services such as Ditto Music, as as a listener you never truly discover new and unsigned music. The very fact there are a large number of sites out there can be intimidating to users and fragments an artist’s audience, as well as putting off those looking to discover new and unsigned music. 

We founded soundsearch with the aim of facilitating the discovery and creation of new and unsigned music, giving users an effective discovery tool and artists the opportunity to get their sound heard, as well as collaborate with one another. soundsearch allows you to discover new and unsigned music based on your tastes, after all, music is personal.

The prototype offers users the chance to discover new and unsigned artists based on their current music tastes, with tailored recommendations delivered direct to their inbox. Signing up to this unique new service will introduce you to a new and unsigned artists, together with access to the site’s additional editorial content such as the collection of “discovered” artists.

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2. Who is behind the site?

We (Jack and Rich) met at University and immediately found that we shared the same passion for entrepreneurialism and both had an overwhelming desire to create something from scratch. We’ve been trying different business ideas ever since we met, from organizing city-wide student music festivals, through to creating concoctions of wheatgress, milk thistle and crushed up B12 pills in our attempt to try and make a hangover cure!

When we’re not pouring our souls into our laptops working on soundsearch, Rich works as a chartered surveyor at an engineering consultancy and Jack is a Product Manager at Universal Music. We’d say that we both bring different attributes to our partnership which somehow seem to complement each other. If we think about it, we still find it a bit strange that a lad who grew up on a sheep farm and an aspiring south London DJ get along so well. I guess sharing our passion for music and what that brings to people keeps up pretty close.

3. Can you describe the styles of music you feature?

The very nature of our service means we aren’t biased to any particular genre or style of music. Our goal is to have soundsearch become the destination for all types of bands, musicians, singers, producers, and DJs to upload their sounds and let the site drive the discovery process. As it stands, the music we’ve featured is anything and everything that is exciting to us, from summer dance vibes from the incredible Toyboy & Robin, to a French instrumental post-hardcore artist called Man Is Not A Bird, and more recently the delicate acoustic sounds of singer-songwriter Kimberly Anne.  

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4. You have a brand new site that just launched on Friday, what is it all about?

We have huge ambitions for soundsearch and really believe that it can bring something to the market which could change the music industry forever. Our business plan is made up of a number of assumptions, things which we think music listeners want, and the site before was a prototype to test as many of those assumptions as we could with what little money we had. We’ve been working relentlessly to get our idea out there, hitting the streets of London signing people up, chatting with crowds at festivals to see what people think, and the feedback is encouraging, so we progressed with the new version based on what we heard. We have been lucky to find Myles (our developer) who also has an incredible passion for music, which has driven him on to put the hours in coding. The site works as a portal to find new and unsigned music based on the artists you love, and we don’t see that changing any time soon. The new site will also include our “discovered” artist library, and something new which you are going to have to check out for yourself! 

We are constantly looking for music fans and dynamic individuals to join us on our quest for the discovery of new and unsigned artists. Whether you’re a musician, web developer, talented writer, or if music is your life, we want to hear from you! 

9th September 2013

Track of the Weekend #53: Macklemore ft. Ed Sheeran - “Same Love” (De Hofnar Bootleg)

Whyd's Blonde Music Ninja is back sneaking through an open window in the dark night and slipping the smooth sounds of Macklemore’s track “Same Love" sung by Ed Sheeran and bootlegged by De Hofnar into our ears. “Same Love” is the fourth single off of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s album “The Heist,” and the second time that one of the tracks holds the honor of the Track of the Weekend. 

It’s calming, soothing sounds, incredibly positive message, and contagious melody have kept this track elevated atop the Hot Tracks all week. It’s the BMN’s first salvo in #WhydWarOne. We will have to wait and see how the community responds. 

6th September 2013

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Shuffle ==> hfSfleu ==> Shuffle

It was the number 2 most requested feature (narrowly beat out by the mobile app which is coming!) and now it is live on Whyd. The ability to shuffle the tracks in your playlists, your profile, and your stream. Listening to music on Whyd just got a whole lot better. 

Some of you may be wondering, why the hell are you talking about adding a shuffle feature to a music service? Shouldn’t that have been there from the beginning? Sure, you’re probably right, but it’s important to remember why Whyd was created. Whyd was not created to be a full service listening destination. It was created to be the place where the trendiest music lovers share the coolest tracks of the moment. So your incoming stream is already shuffled because people are adding their coups de coeur from all over the place. 

But as the service and platform grew, and people have posted more and more music, with certain all stars having added more than 2,000 tracks, it’s a pain to scroll down and search for music that you’ve already added. The experience demanded a shuffle option. Now it’s here. 

Never stop jamming! 

5th September 2013

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Interview with Mawimbi: Afro-Electro Waves

1. Where did the inspiration to create this collective come from?

Clément, who produces music under the moniker Pouvoir Magique, has been developing this kind of ethnic/tribal vibe for about a year now, and since we’re all friends and appreciate this blend of contemporary and traditional trends, it felt pretty natural to pursue this esthetic within a DJ collective of our own. All of us listen to a lot of afrobeat, footwork as well as house and techno, but we had yet to find our identity. When Romare’s latest EP “Love Songs: Part One” came out, its underlying speech about afrocentrism, how certain modern genres of electronic music relate to African music, by way of the African diaspora, really spoke to us. We found it fascinating and yet rather unexplored. This provided the idea for our DJ collective and this is when we decided to start doing something in this direction. Mawimbi allows us to have this strong musical identity that sets us apart from other crews in Paris. Don’t get us wrong: we love Paris’s vibrant techno and house scene. We’re not bored of hearing techno and house - yet. But we thought “if there’s room for us as another DJ crew, we gotta find something truly original, something that speaks to us and sets us apart.” So yeah, we all had the same idea and the same kind of revelation, it seemed quite logical and natural to create Mawimbi. 

2. What is unique about these African styles that gets people dancing so much?

First and foremost, there is a strong emphasis on rhythm. It is always there, driving the whole thing, it is definitely something you want to dance to. Also, black populations influenced the major part of the musical creation of the last 50-60 years, so part of what we play rings a bell in a collective subconscious. There’s plenty more reasons, we could go on for hours! We’re trying to wrap it up here in a few lines. African music sounds unusual, because it is often really raw, almost “over the top” and uses sophisticated rhythmic and melodic patterns that go beyond the boundaries of what our western ears are used to hearing. And at the same time, it sounds familiar and pretty “catchy” because it sometimes feels “primitive” and closer to your body that anything you’ve heard before. You lose yourself into it, like you’re in a trance. That lower level of consciousness is what we are trying to reach when we play as Mawimbi DJs. Mawimbi is about finding sounds that have this “ritual” dimension, that make everyone want to gather in a circle and let their bodies speak for them. Mawimbi actually means “vibes” in Swahili. That’s what we’re about: real vibes from the black continent. 

3. Tell us about yourselves, how did you come to work together?

All of us have been friends for a few years now and we are all either producers or DJs. We chill together, party together, go on holidays together, sometimes DJ together, and yet we had never created something together. So it was kind of natural to think that we were always doing things together but not playing together as much as we would like. Mawimbi is the first thing we started that matters to all of us. It is somewhat the first realization of our friendship. I think you already understood: Mawimbi’s motto is “Together” - and we’re all fans of the Thomas Bangalter & DJ Falcon track, yeah!

4. What are your plans for the near future and do you have some upcoming shows?

Keep having fun organizing one monthly party in Paris, championing that very special blend of electronic and African music that we love so much, see people having fun, getting Mawimbi crazy and spread the word about what we do as a collective. Beside our parties, we want to keep building our community, write articles on our tumblr, and set up a series of mixtapes/podcats by musicians and DJs we think fit our concept. Adrien (SSCK) and Clément (Pouvoir Magique) are both working on a forthcoming EP. And we’re also thinking about releasing a free sampler of original tracks and club edits. 

Out next shows are September 6th at La Petite Taverne, rue Pigalle, a brand new bar/club opening this month. On September 12, we’re playing a free show at Le Batofar on the terrace, starting at 6pm, then we’re playing the opening set of the “Dirty Safari” party in the club. 

Join Mawimbi on Facebook and subscribe to them on Whyd! Come and see them spin tonight at the #AperoMusicTech at Point Éphémère, we’ll be there all night! 

4th September 2013

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#AperoMusicTech #3 Tomorrow Night @ Point Éphémère FAQs Answered

People have been trickling back to reality after their extended vacations here in Paris and that means it’s time to celebrate the famous Rentrée. While not as dangerous as the re-entry into the atmosphere from space, the Rentrée is marked by a severe lack of motivation and the dire feeling that the nice weather will slip away into the chilly mist that blankets every Parisian wintertime. 

So tomorrow night we gather to meet up, chill, and party to celebrate what is forecast to be a spectacular evening along the banks of the Canal St. Martin. 

Some frequently asked questions about the event:

Q: Can I bring my friends?

A: Yes, all of them. 

Q: What do I need to do to be a part of this Durban Dance flashmob?

A: Go to this link and follow the instructions here. 

Q: Can I bring gifts for the Whyd team to thank you for your hard work?

A: Of course, but any sort of gift will be shared with the community

Q: Will anyone there speak French?

A: Oui, tout le monde. 

Q: What time should we show up?

A: Whenever you want, it’s supposed to be beautiful out, we’ll be there starting around 19hr, so anytime is fine (but remember the flashmob Durban Dance is at 21:30 on the dot.)

Q: Will Tony be wearing his signature bow tie?

A: Of course not, it’s supposed to be like 33 degrees tomorrow!

Q: An African prince just offered to give me $10 million to keep for him, should I give him my bank details?

A: While not related to the event, in most cases, if the African prince is not standing in front of you holding the money out and asking you to take it from him… either way, don’t give out your bank details to anyone online. 

Q: Is there a f**king mobile app yet or what?

A: Woah buddy! Calm down! It’s in the works, we started on it a few weeks ago, remember, the team is pretty small, so things don’t move as quickly as we like, but we are on it and it will be on your phones soon!

Q: What kind of music will be at the event?

A: Ah! Back to questions about the event! Our music will be spun by the Mawimbi Collective, featuring Whyd legends ALT and SSCK along with Pouvoir Magique. Here is the article about them for more info.

Q: So, is this a party or an apero?

A: It starts as an apero and turns into a party, like all aperos should. 

Q: Will there be pétanque?

A: No, and please don’t throw anything at all, we like having events at Point Éphémère, so don’t mess it up for us! 

Q: Is there a Facebook event?

A: Yep

See you tomorrow! 

3rd September 2013

An Afternoon of Music and Pétanque

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Yesterday in a square in Paris’s trendy Marais district, Radio Faubourg Simone and the Mairie de 3eme organized an afternoon of music spun by a chill electro DJ and pétanque, France’s summer tradition that involves accurately throwing heavy metal balls around. 

Our Gilles went to participate in their competition with good friend and Whyd music lover Matthieu, and when the dust settled, they were the last team standing! Beating out 7 teams of pétanque veterans who couldn’t believe that this rag tag group could throw and roll heavy metal balls so accurately! 

Congratulations Gilles and a huge thank you to Radio Faubourg Simone for throwing the event and providing excellent music the whole time. Check out Radio Faubourg Simone’s Facebook page to find out about their next events! 

2nd September 2013

#Mawimbi #Flashmob Durban Dance Instructions

OK, so after trying to mimic the awesomeness of the dancers in the video, it’s become very clear that as a group, we need some clearer instructions for how to make this work. Idea #1, forget about the fancy footwork, we are going to simply follow the beat with body and arms, that will automatically make things easier. 

Now, here is how the video breaks down:

1. It starts with moving the arms like you are walking on a tapis roulant. Swing your body from side to side.

2. After a few beats, there is some fancy footwork, for this part just concentrate on the arms, pulling them back while following the beat with your body.

3. This is where it gets fun, we will all turn to our left side, and freeze for a beat like this.

4. Then we come out of freeze into the movement into the first spin. 

5. Look at the dude in the back, basically you pull your arms back like a chicken, stick your stomach out, and rotate around. 

6. Continue the spin until you get back facing front.

7. This is the one movement with the legs that we will do, a sort of rotated kick with your knee bent. 

8. The kick is followed by a double slap with your hands. 

9. Then we go side to side a few times (on double beats)

10. Side to side like this

11. Then we dip for the first of two spins. 

12. Coming all the way around…

13. With one motion into the arm in the air. 

14. Then dropping and spinning in the opposite direction the same way for the second spin…

15. Finishing with the same arm in the air movement as the first rotation.

Good luck practicing! 

30th August 2013

Track of the Weekend #52: In The Valley Below - “Peaches”

It’s strange how music works sometimes. When we were looking up bands to check out at the Rock en Seine Festival last weekend here in Paris, we came across a group called In The Valley Below, a girl/guy duo from L.A. Having never heard of them before, we did a quick Whyd search and found their single “Peaches," added a few months before by Evergig Community Manager and good friend FP. Tony re-added it before going to the show, the track had a lot of untapped potential.  

It was an excellent performance, complete with unusual instruments (the girl was using chains as a sort of percussion) and a creeping vibe that builds into powerful choruses. It was definitely the type of group that you see turning into a cultural force. 

When we checked the Hot Tracks on Monday, “Peaches” was already #2, and since Tuesday, it has held the top spot with no sign of letting go. Have a great weekend listening to this jam! 

30th August 2013