Track of the Weekend #75: Tame Impala - “Stranger In Moscow”

Big smiles here at the Whyd office today, despite the extreme amount of pollution in the air, we had our first truly viral track. For the entire week, we thought the track of the weekend was going to be the NEUS remix of Pharrell’s jam “Happy.” But this morning when we checked, Tame Impala’s cover of Michael Jackson’s “Stranger in Moscow" added by newcomer Boris Floyd Jr. had shot out of nowhere to the top of the hot tracks, being re-added almost 60 times in a day. 

You will hear why. Tame Impala's signature atmospheric style overlaps perfectly with MJ's ballad, on and on, again and again. 

DIALOGUE #2: Mawimbi & Whyd at The Machine de Moulin Rouge

Next Saturday night (March 22) will be a rocking cabaret of afro-infused beats at the landmark establishment that is almost as famous as Paris itself. The Collective Mawimbi have been invited to create the line up for the Central area, and they are bringing two acts down for the UK for our aural pleasure, both featuring unique rhythms and percussions, filling some sort of pleasure zone that you didn’t know you had. It’s classic Mawimbi, and it’s why this party is going to be unlike anything you’ve heard before. 

The Busy Twist: https://soundcloud.com/thebusytwist

Drumtalk: https://soundcloud.com/drumtalk

The Editor of DumDum.fr Talks Music Journalism, Garage Rock, and Taking Music Head On

The DumDum.fr team, that’s Anthony top left

Hello Anthony! Can you tell us about when you realized the importance of music in your life? 

It came rather late, as a teenager, I was really obsessed with soccer and girls among other things. Like all kids I liked music, but I developed a few different obsessions towards the end of my adolescence. When you grow up in the suburbs, far from concert venues and hype, you can’t fall into the scene out of luck. For me, it was garage rock, most notably the Black Lips, that I discovered thanks to their cover of a Dutronc track “Hippie Hippie Hourra.” An absolute headbanger. So I started to be interested in garage rock, the “Nuggets” compilations, those types of things. It was from that moment, more or less, that music would assume a capital importance for me. 

You are the Editor of DumDum. What is the objective of DumDum, and who are your readers?

We never really know too much about who are readers are. We get a good response from Facebook, Twitter, but I tend to think that the majority are always silent. These are questions that I prefer to not ask myself. As for the objective of DumDum, it’s to show music from a different angle, to try to go further. The project has matured greatly since we launched it. We made some novice mistakes, most notably editorial. Today, with our daily articles, we try to take music head on. And with out annexes, we try to take a step back, to tell stories, and talk about people. Because music, in the end, lets us say a lot about life and the world we live in. 

Why did you become a music journalist? Are you passionate about music or writing? Or the two? 

Well, as I said before, it’s kind of crazy in my head. I studied at a journalism school, initially to become a sports journalist, I love soccer. But I quickly realized that I was heading straight into a wall: I picture myself at stadiums with my microphone trying to grab the stupid comments of football players. Therefore I directed myself rather naturally towards music and culture magazines. I started at Technikart, then the excellent magazine VoxPop that doesn’t exist anymore. Afterwards, it became a job, even if I don’t write exclusively about music. And fortunately elsewhere. 

You also contribute to other publications, like Snatch and Rolling Stone, is music journalism different from the web to print? 

Online music journalism and print aren’t very different along the lines of supports. On one hand, it’s a shame, I think that print magazines will stop doing news updates and talking about top singles. That makes sense: people don’t get their doses of discoveries from a paper magazine. They pay 5 euros to read long-form subjects, and deep interviews, things that we don’t find as much online. Looking back, that which I’ve written for DumDum or Rolling Stone I create in the same way. We have a tendency to think that an online magazine takes less work, that everything must be short, but in the end, I think that’s short-sighted: long-form has existed online for a long time, and it’s taking a more and more important place there. Looking at the stats from DumDum shows this, some of our long articles get a lot more clicks than the short little updates. 

Subscribe to DumDum on Whyd to stay up to date with their latest discoveries! 

NEW ALBUM: “Reversible” by InShape, Out Today (INTERVIEW)

On the cobbled streets of Rue L’Olive here in Paris we meet the electro rock duo InShape, two up-and-coming artists who have been collaborating for the past few years. The latest result of their labor is the new album “Reversible" which is out today! 

Learn about their history, collaboration and composition process and what they appreciate about their new album in our French interview, organized by the lovely girls at We Do Music

And take at least one listen to their single “Clarity” to understand what their unique style entails: 

Track of the Weekend #74: “Pictures” FlicFlac & Bearson’s Remix of Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Good morning Incubator! 

A beautiful week of springtime layered over us in Paris this week, and as the buds come out of the trees, the jackets and coats are being shed, velib’ stations are empty, and the long lost sun stirs smiles across hibernating Parisian faces. If any song can capture the feeling of the end of winter, it’s this week’s Track of the Weekend. FlicFlac & Bearson's remix of “Pictures" by Benjamin Francis Leftwich feels like it breaks through the low drizzling clouds into an abundance of light and warmth. Congratulations to Bertrand for the perfect timing sending it to the top of the Hot Tracks

"Sweaty, Erotic, Electro" Krone Korp March 14th

Are you in Brittany? Or anywhere in western France and are looking for an awesome night out? Krone Korp are your guys. Created about a year ago in April, 2013 in Rennes, Krone is an association that brings together great music, culture, and fun people to its unique “sweaty, erotic, and electro” soirées. 

This time, it’s full techno, and the guys at Krone are bringing in some big residents the well-known Concrete soirées, famous in Paris’s electro scene. It’s all coming together at 1988 Live Club on Friday, March 14th, and Whyd is a sponsor of the event! 

Here’s the line up with links to their Soundcloud pages for your listening pleasure: 

FRANCOIS X (Paris - Concrete/Dement3d)

ANTIGONE (Paris - Concrete/Construct Reform)

THÉO MULLER (Rennes - Midi Deux) 

SEIMIANE & BLCKSMTH (Rennes - Krone Korp Records) 

Here is the official link, don’t miss it! 

Arte Creative + Maximo Park: Win A Concert At Your House!

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PHOTO: One of the many places that you could make Maximo Park play. Still clip from the promo video below.

ARTE Creative, buddies of our partners TRACKS from ARTE TV has come up with another excellent competition, this time they are offering to send rock band Maximo Park to play at your house! If you’ve always dreamed of bringing a world class act to play at a party, or to impress a date, or to piss off your neighbors, here is the chance you’ve been waiting for! 

Here’s what you need to do: send a one-minute video to ARTE Creative and get the most people to vote for it that you possibly can (send them to us, we will vote for them too!). The five most popular videos will be presented to the group, so they can choose the winner. Everything needs to happen before March 15th. You still have two weeks, but you need to hurry! 

NOTE! Contest is only open to French and German residents!

Here is the official contest details: http://creative.arte.tv/fr/labo/concert-domicile-maximo-park

And here is a teaser of the group: get hype! 

Track of the Weekend #73: 20syl’s Remix of Schoolboy Q

Deep hip hop rises to the top on Whyd this week as 20syl's remix of Schoolboy Q - “The Purge/Rapfix Cypher" takes the highest honors of the Hot Tracks. You all know 20syl from Whyd favorites C2C, and this track will instantly remind you just why they are so loved. Funky, fresh, and with that signature uniqueness, this remix will have you jamming all weekend long. 

Whyd + SXSW = Endless Awesome New Music

Next week in Austin, Texas, the world’s bands, tech companies, start ups, brands, and music lovers will gather for what has become probably THE music and tech event of the year - SouthbySouthwest - and we will be there! 

Whyd was one of 10 French start ups selected by UBI France to represent France and present our ideas to the larger world. It is an honor and we are proud to be alongside other cool French start ups like our good buddies Evergig! So if you’re at SxSW and you’d like to meet up, let us know! 

But the real magnitude of SxSW is the sheer quantity and very high quality emerging artists. There will be nearly 2,000 groups and performers over the next two weeks. Impossible to take in, but don’t worry, we have your back. 

We put together the COMPLETE, and completely unofficial SxSW playlist, featuring every musician, group, and performer, for your listening and discovery pleasure. Trust us, it’s loaded with your next favorite bands. Share widely and enjoy! 

Let Process Take You Into The Depths Of Your Mind

Yo! Can you fill us in a little bit about your backstory? Who are you and where are you from? 

Yo! I am Remy (Auymer is my artist name) from the south of France, Marseille, and I have been based in London for four years now. I was working in shops and started to produce and play music there in my hometown and it’s here, in one of the most interesting cities in the world that I met Alice, half French and half Brazilian and also our graphic designer Federico. This city was for all of us a way to expand our interest for electronic music. 

London is a city that is world famous for its music, the standard is really high. What are you bringing to the scene today? 

Process is a new project that we launched in May 2013. After exploring London’s clubs, bars, and private parties, we got amazed and inspired a lot, but we realized that the average entry price was quite high and that the spirit was often quite business oriented. Although we went to so many great venues, with brilliant atmosphere and proper sound systems, we always felt there were quite a lot of standards, and the first one was the high price. We soon realized there was one type of party you couldn’t really find and that was free (or cheap) entry, good vibes, intimate venue, just for the love of music. The normal story in London if you want to put up an event and get to have a “name” in the scene, you need to book a pretty famous DJ to attract people and it helps to have a big venue, already quite known. However, we didn’t want to think this way. 

Instead, we wanted something where people discover new music and new talent. From the beginning we thought that with minimized funds and some contacts, you could organize a party that would make people happy and create the right vibe, without necessarily having an already settled DJ. We thought of having more of a party for everyone, that people wouldn’t need to pay much to have a great night and that everyone could contribute, by telling their friends, playing, proposing ideas, etc… 

We got exactly what we wanted at our first event when we gathered around 100 deep vibe lovers in our intimate venue in East London and hell yeah it was such a great night! So I guess Process is just adding some fresh air to the scene, with no pressure to be successful or competitive in the industry; more of an alternative night with fresh and deep beats in a warm atmosphere… Just a night for fun, about music and great people! 

Tell us about your obsession with deep music. Who should come to your events? 

We are really into all those kinds of post apocalyptic, dark, cerebral, acid, minimalist, and deep electronic music so it goes from deep house to dub to techno. And we keep on expanding our knowledge of it and musical culture here in the UK. It’s a type of music that could not be understood at first if you are not really into this. It might seem harsh and scary but it takes some interest to actually catch the little thing that makes you understand why artists such as Lucy, Tom Dicciccio, Rrose, or Polar Inertia (to name a few) are making this type of music; to understand what they are trying to say and get across. You will then understand the spirits that they put behind their machines. 

What we love the most is to see every time where they are driving us to another dimension that was unknown for us. I am pretty sure that the range of frequencies they use in their productions, which can be really love or really high, creates something in our body and brain. And this is what we want to do with Process, make people aware that this type of music can be really festive, energetic. I try to do a kind of step by step when I play at Process, going from different types of electronic music to drive the crowd to this dark, cerebral, and post apocalyptic dimension. 

It’s taking the crowd through a journey, and what is great about Process is that it is a diverse crowd; people there like many different types of electronic music, and the challenge is to get all of them to follow. And until now, all of them did! Indeed you don’t need to know everything about techno to go crazy on some deep beats, it’s all about explaining where I am trying to get you, and having you follow me! 

When is the next event and what else can we look forward to in 2014? 

The next will be in early 2014, still in one of our intimate venues with the same atmosphere! Then we have a couple of projects in mind, like a series of “open podcasts” in which everyone is invited to be a part of by sending his mix. Also, we have some collaboration in mind, with some like-minded friends to create always a better party and bring quality music. 2014 will be an inspiring year for us, no doubt about that! 

Subscribe to Process London on Whyd, and make sure to check out both Process London's and Auymer Music's Facebook pages!