The Worst Band Names Ever?

As most of you know, we recently celebrated the 1,000,000th track shared on Whyd. We’ve seen music from nearly every country and continent, from emerging artists and from established players. We’ve seen a lot of weird band names, tracks where we weren’t sure which part was the band name and which part was the title of the song. 

There is a Twitter account called @pisspoorbands that lists ridiculous names for bands. We found this awesome list on Hypebot (a site dedicated to music and technology, one that we check every single day). Which is your favorite? Ours is “Assfault”

  • Craig and His List
  • Menstrual Pancake
  • Wooden Juicebox
  • The Punted Child
  • Justin Thyme
  • Like a Brown Nail
  • The Coolest Spandex
  • The Semi-Solids
  • Beware of Hotdog
  • Cumbersome Horse Pill
  • Leaving Large Puddles
  • Assfault
  • It Takes Two to Mango
  • Fish Hickey
  • Duncan & The Donuts
  • Comb Out The Crumbs
  • Tim Buck, Too
  • When Erosion Happens
  • Prison Dating
  • Suburban Brad and the Pitts
  • Man is not a Bird ;)

Are you looking to start a band yourself? Need some ridiculous ideas? There is also an excellent resource for you: http://stupidbandnames.com/ 

Just click the button until you get a name that you like. Next step, Super Bowl Halftime show! That’s how the music business works right? 

Whyd London: Launching September 3

Amidst the rows of brick houses bending like waves out from the winding Thames; under the drizzling clouds that mist a population clad in peacoats; a sound resonates. From the east side squatters to Bond street chauffeurs, from the Camden tunnels to the heights of the Shard, music can be heard, in all its glorious forms. For there are few cities in the world more steeped in the brew of music than London. 

So it is with nothing but excitement that we announce our next innovative city community page in the UK’s capitol, launching officially on September 3rd featuring the best of the Whyd community in London: curators, influencers, music lovers, and the music that’s making London move. 

Are you in London? Get in touch so you can be one of the official contributors! 

Share the teaser page on Facebook! http://www.whyd.com/london

Track of the Weekend #97: Arcade Fire - “Afterlife” (Flume Remix)

The summer continues its march, as tomorrow marks the August 15th festivities and the long weekend that will see throngs of vacationers head to relaxing destinations across Europe. A long weekend deserves a long track of the weekend, and this week’s top track can be described in one word: epic. 

Flume has been having an incredible year, and has even become the favorite to win the title of King of 2014 on Whyd. He brings his Midas touch to nearly everything that he produces. So it is no surprise that his remix of Arcade Fire's “Afterlife" flew to the top of the hot tracks this week. An anthem spanning just over 10 minutes, “Afterlife” feels like being trapped in limbo, not quite a payment for the debt of sin, but a frustration of not arriving in heaven either. 

Thanks to Muriel for nailing this one! 

Track of the Weekend #96: Lily Wood and The Prick - “Prayer in C” (Robin Schulz Remix)

There are small numbers of people on the streets of Paris these days, and those who are here head to the Paris Plage to take in the sun along the banks of the Seine. Everyone else is along the coast, including half of the Whyd team who are flanking the various parts of France from Brittany to the Côte d’Azur. But one thing is consistent, we are listening to great music, and this week is no exception. 

Robin Schulz is a regular favorite among the Whyd community, and so it is no surprise that when he takes a remix on Lily Wood and The Prick’s “Prayer in C" that it would shoot up the hot tracks. Blending deep house into soulful tones is not easy, but the delicate balance in "Prayer in C" is an instant hook, which is why it’s already making waves in the mainstream.

Thanks to Jeoffrey Paris for getting it to us!  

Track of the Weekend #95: Stevie Wonder - “Superstition” (C2C Remix)

Sometimes the track of the weekend needs an explanation. Sometimes a song doesn’t need any introduction. Mariah Carrey singing “I’ll Be There” in the 90’s. Dixie Chicks covering “Landslide.” These are epic songs, covered by talented artists to give to a new generation of listeners.

C2C, the celebrated French DJ group who are regularly the most popular artist on Whyd thanks to their innovative style, revisited arguably one of the most famous songs of all time: “Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. When we saw this track added to Whyd by Steven Thomas-Brondeau, we instantly knew it would be the track of the weekend. And here we are. Enjoy your weekend with this exponentially funked up tune: 

iOS App V.2 is Out!

The Whyd iOS App has been out for about a month and half so far, and the reviews have been awesome. “Life-changing,” “the best music app out there,” and “I’m using Whyd more than Spotify,” are just a few examples of the praise from our music lovers. 

But like any V.1 there are limitations, and our mobile team consisting of Damien “Taylor Swift Code” Romito and Loïck “Dub was so 2013” Müller have been working like crazy to bring the Whyd app meet the social expectations it demands. 

The big news is that our famous “long tap” feature to like and re-add has been expanded to sharing. Now you can send your tracks - and entire playlists - to your friends on Whyd, Facebook, Twitter, and even via email or by SMS! Now, when you add a track that you know someone else will love, you can make sure they won’t miss it. And when your friend says, “yo man, I love this playlist,” you can send it to them directly, whether or not they have a Whyd account. 

The app also updates the player for better, continuous playback. 

PLEASE NOTE: For our music lovers who have already downloaded V.1, the new version tends to crash when you open the notifications in the update. We are working on a solution as quickly as possible, but if this happens to you, just delete the app and redownload it. The problem goes away and of course all of your music is still there! 

And, please keep giving us feedback so we can continue to improve the experience: tony at whyd dot com

1 MILLION TRACKS

When you are in a start up, it can be difficult sometimes. Watching the metrics sag, wondering about which feature will lead to explosive growth. Creating a road map and discarding it the next day. But sometimes, something happens that makes it all worth it, that gives you the confirmation that yes: what we are doing matters, and it’s working. Last night, we celebrated a major milestone, we surpassed 1,000,000 tracks added to Whyd

Our music lovers are the best on the planet, passionate about discovering the next awesome sound, and passionate about sharing those discoveries with everyone else. 1 million tracks later, we can say that the quality of music on Whyd is only improving: more activity means more discovery. More followers for our curators, a wider range of possibilities for our listeners. Tracks added from the web and now mobile. 

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you to our amazing community of curators for all the music you’ve shared with us. For a small little team split between Paris and San Francisco, crossing the millionth track added to Whyd is a game-changer. It powers us forward, to get to 10 million tracks added and to keep constructing a place that is dedicated to music and music lovers. 

With your help, we will get there. 

Never stop jamming! 

Track of the Weekend #94: Seekae - “Test & Recognise” (Flume re-work)

July is almost over, and the offices in the incubator are emptier than ever as the hordes of entrepreneurs take their computers and iPads to word at the beach. We launched Whyd Madrid yesterday, an excellent radio to discover awesome new music. And the track of the weekend recalls the unique sounds that Whyd is world famous for. All is good. 

When Australian electronic artists get together, the result is often remarkable. There must be something in the kangaroos. This week’s track of the weekend is another example of two Aussie forces merging: Flume takes Seekae's “Test & Recognise" and warps it into a hypnotic wormhole that itches the back of the left side of your brain. It’s another track of the weekend from Le Coup de Lapin, one of our core music lovers (just be careful when you play darts with him!). 

Welcome to Madrid

On any given evening, Plaza del Sol might be one of the world’s most buzzing places. It’s a square in every sense of the word, filled with people strolling, eating ice cream, or sitting to drink Jager (at least when we are there). But it only represents a fraction of the pulse that beats like a drum all through the night, because in the Spanish capitol, energy is everywhere. And that energy is fueled by music. 

Music from the Spanish-speaking world spans the globe, from the barrios of Mexico City down to the Chilean desert over to the white villages of Andalusia and back across to the palm-and-Bentley-lined suburbs of Los Angeles. It is impossible to categorize as a genre, impossible to capture in one summary, but it begs to be shared and listened to, and with the launch of the next city community, we at Whyd are trying to centralize and diffuse the spirit that this type of music represents, for our listening pleasure. This is the goal of Whyd Madrid, which we are proud to announce today. 

Just like Whyd Paris, we have grouped together a collection of key curators who embody this spirit, to present you a Madrid Stream, their profiles, and three new playlists everyday inspired by those Madrileos. 

So as you switch on your air conditioning, add a couple extra ice cubes to your beverage, and sit back to enjoy the summertime, tune your ears to Whyd Madrid, and enjoy a new taste of Spanish music from those who know it best. 

And (there is always an and) of course we are looking for more and more curators to join the Whyd Madrid community and contribute their discoveries, so if you are in Madrid, or know someone who would be perfect for it, please get in touch: tony at whyd dot com. 

Never stop jamming! 

BBQ is Back! [PHOTOS]

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It’s been nearly two years since the infamous BBQ that crippled our ability to host parties in the little garden behind our incubator, but it was too nice of a day to sit by without pulling out the old charcoal and roasting some merguez. Damn it feels good to be a grillster. 

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Adrien making some serious bread:

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Getting that fire going:

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Hot day in Paris, perfect for beer and BBQ!