Track of the Weekend #50: Mumford & Sons - “Hopeless Wanderer”
Wow! Can you believe it? No really! Can you believe it? We’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half and we’re only at 50 tracks of the weekend! I didn’t realize that we missed so many weeks… This is literally the only thing that I have to do…
Ah well, nothing can diminish the importance of this milestone. The Track of the Weekend has been a career-making stepping stone for artists in their rise to fame. Who could forget when “Thrift Shop" was the Track of the Weekend when the video only have 5,000 views? Or the legendary single of French post rock group Man Is Not A Bird? What about Get Lucky? Face it, no one would’ve heard it if it hadn’t been for Whyd.
Yes, the Whyd community really are the tastemakers of tomorrow. We look forward to another 50 Tracks of the Weekend — no matter how many weeks it takes — and we celebrate our 50th with an excellent track and hilarious video thanks to Green Room Session. No one is a stranger to Mumford & Sons, easily the world’s most popular group to feature a banjo, whose southern style and liberal syllable use is immediately recognizable. “Hopeless Wanderer" could be anyone of us, but instead it’s the comedy quad-fecta of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, and Will Forte taking the roll of the Mumford family. Over-the-top? Of course, but that’s why it’s so fun.
So unclip your suspenders, ruffle your beard, raise a metal beer mug: here’s to the future!
Make Your Own Playlist Contest On Whyd
If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we have had a number of different playlist contests, from the end of the year 2012 contest to the One One Six contest to the most recent Do You Like That Song? contest. Playlist contests are a great way to engage the Whyd community, introducing your musical project to 25,000 strong music lovers and getting them excited about sharing the music that is connected to you.
Playlist contests are free to create and organize, and provides your current audience a new level of communication, while snagging more page views from the Whyd faithful who are constantly seeking out awesome new places to discovery their next favorite tracks.
So if you are a DJ, blogger, artist, curator, magazine, concert venue, festival, or just a plain old music lover, check out the Playlist Contest page to see how it works, and then get in touch with us to get it set up (tony@whyd.com) If you know someone who might like to do something like this, please share this with them too!
Never stop jamming!
Hilarious Whyd Memes
We love memes. Memes are a great way to explain funny points, comment on serious things, and just make people laugh. You can probably relate to these situations, from the venerable Philosoraptor:
To the internet’s favorite grandmother:
Memes can critique us:
And of course Grumpy calls out the obvious:
Don’t worry Grumpy, it’s coming!!
Any other ideas for Whyd memes? Send them to us by posting them on our Facebook page!
Interview with Poejazzi: London Spoken Word Architects
1. Before we get to the specifics of Poejazzi, how do you view the role of poetry in today’s society and how is it tied to music?
We think of poetry as part of everyday life, especially in music, so we have always put the two together because we see them as related. Through our poetry and music nights we wanted people who wouldn’t necessarily have been exposed to much in the way of poetry or who may have believed they wouldn’t enjoy it to find themselves liking it through its connection with something that most of us like: music.
2. When did you start Poejazzi and what was the original idea?
Poejazzi was originally a monthly night that started six years ago, its founders wanted to create the kind of night they wanted to go to. It developed into an organization and online magazine, poejazzi.com, 18 months ago. Now we are publishing poetry apps (our first one comes out in a month), producing concept shows like our new re-imagining of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and visual content like live sessions, as well as putting on our regular nights.
3. Can you define what Spoken Word means to you? How is it unique as a medium of expression?
Spoken word equates to honesty for us. It is unique because it can be accessible and deeply personal at the same time.
4. Tell us about the tradition of your live events. What is the vibe and who should attend?
The vibe is generally very eclectic, both of us have very broad taste in music so you can expect to see all corners of the alternative world represented, even if it’s pop music, at a Poejazzi night it would be pop music with a twist. We always consider the mood each act evokes and who they should be with on a line up so people get a range of experiences from the night. All of our spoken word acts are as amazing as the music acts, there’s always that equilibrium, so neither is an afterthought.
We love championing people we think people will be hearing more of or should be and people who may be established but we feel are deserving of even more fandom! From the responses we get from both regular Poejazzi-goers and new faces, the night is a beautiful medium between challenging and entertaining, so there is always a level of innovation or surprise from our acts but there will also be an element of no matter how alternative this may sound that it could be popular once people have been exposed to it because it sounds fantastic.
We’re pretty selective as a duo about what we like musically and we have to be very critical running an online magazine as well as a night, so we are always putting ourselves in the shoes of the crowd watching and thinking “is this entertaining?” “is this life-changing?” “is this interesting?” because that is what we want from a night out like this.
5. Who are the minds behind Poejazzi and how did you all come to work together?
Poejazzi is run by partners and music/spoken word obsessives Joshua Idehen and Charlotte Morgan-Nwokenna and all visuals are created by the wonderful director Bruno Ramos. Joshua Idehen is also the vocalist in the band Benin City, founded Poejazzi six years ago with friends and poets Musa Okwonga and Inua Ellams. Inua Ellams is now a guest curator for special nights whilst Musa Okwonga has a very busy and great career in broadcasting, journalism, and music/spoken word. Former editorial assistant Charlotte Morgan-Nwokenna was looking for new challenges and so Joshua convinced her (with cake and promises of future success) that that challenge could be Poejazzi: she joined Poejazzi 18 months ago to help expand the night into an organization that published poetry digitally and has an online magazine.
6. Can you leave us with your favorite inspirational quote?
“Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.”
Thanks guys! Make sure you Like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter to get the latest updates, and definitely subscribe to them on Whyd to hear some examples of excellent spoken word!
Track of the Weekend #49: Flight Facilities - “Foreign Language” feat. Jess
You know what? Funk you. Funk you motherfunker.
No, I know what you’re going to say, why the hate? Shouldn’t we all love each other? Isn’t that what sharing music on Whyd is all about?
Well, you clearly don’t get it. You see, to call someone a Motherfunker is a compliment on Whyd. It means that you have succeeded in sharing music that involuntarily moves parts of our bodies. It means you have pushed us into a glorious place where music takes over.
Le Blog des Pépites Musicales (literal translation: The Blog of Musical Nuggets) is definitely a motherfunker. These dudes have been climbing the World Whyd Rankings, dropping hot tracks all over the place, and now officially receive the coveted Track of the Weekend with the sizzling, funktastic Flight Facilities - “Foreign Language” feat. Jess from the Australian indie electro duo who have been coming out from down under since “Crave You” garnered world wide fame, but “Foreign Language” seems to be the theme of the summer, hopefully inspiring a lot of motherfunking.
Looking for a DJ? Here are some of the coolest DJs on Whyd
Do you want some international flair to your music? The type of energy that just doesn’t seem possible from the music you’ve been listening to? Sometimes we need the creative forces of a DJ to breath new life into music, arranging it in such a way that emotions build into glorious climaxes of sound. Here are a selection of some of the elite DJs from around the world that call Whyd home:
Adele Shields - DJ from London featuring deep/techno/house music, like her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.
Chris Bushnell AKA BINGO - DJ/Producer from Orlando, Florida, dropping hot mixes, connect via Facebook and Twitter.
EVO-K - EDM DJ from Italy. Read her interview with us, and hit up her Facebook and Twitter pages too!
Cheaper Shepherd - DJ/Producer/Manager from Baldwin Records in Paris, get the inside scoop by connecting to them on Facebook and Twitter.
Hide Kadota - Tokyo-based DJ pushing long form mixes
Brooklyn Bitches - Paris-based DJ duo dropping all kinds of electro. Get at their Facebook page.
Radar! - DJing between London and Paris, this dude is one of Whyd’s most active people. Hit him up!!
What? You’re not on Whyd yet? Here is an invite link to sign up directly. You’re welcome here with us!
Playlist of the Week: SUMMER TIME by Grégory Rouxel
It’s the last day of July, and the majority of France has quietly slipped away to the beach, countryside, mountains, or anywhere that is not close to their jobs. Except us. We will be working all summer to make sure that Whyd continues to grow, budding like the flowers on the trees and spreading our pollen into the wind, stuffing up noses and making eyes watery around the world. Ah, allergies how we’ve missed you. We’ve also missed the incredible medicine Benadryl, which conquers allergies like France conquered nations when it was a world power (200 years ago, ZING!). To say thank you Benadryl, here is some free advertising:
BENADRYL: IT REALLY FUCKING WORKS
So to keep the summer jamming going, because one must never stop jamming, there is a playlist that we keep going back to, something that fits the summer like the mercury in the thermometer, pushing ever upwards. Its creator is a man who is also an entrepreneur, working on a new web service to help home and apartment sellers, and more importantly, who once helped Gilles feed Tony's cat (the cat of the rising sun).
Not all who attempt to feed Tony’s cat have survived (which is the main reason why Tony can’t go on vacation this summer). M. Rouxel is one of them.
His musical selection for his playlist SUMMER TIME is pretty good too, which is why we recommend it if you are looking for something great to occupy your ears while your mind wanders to thoughts of topless beaches and topless beers.
Interview with Johan: Music Miner at Soundigger
1. What are the different faces of your personality?
One could define my personality as very open in a number of different domains. Clearly music is at the forefront, but I am interested in everything that is around me on a daily basis. From cinema to reading passing ads to traveling. I love to discover, learn, and share the little things I find everyday. Very involved in everything that I come across, I like to go as deep as I can. Always unsatisfied with my work, I try to do more, take detours, and improve what it could be. I’m currently working on the rebuilding of my blog, modification of design, a new logo and making stickers.
2. When did you first have the idea to launch a music blog?
First off, I was definitely fed up listening to my friends listen to Maître Gims, Pitbull, David Guetta and other Zaz during road trips or happy hours. I wanted to make them discover music with a capital M. Just the guts and those that rise the charts. I bummed around for a while on friends’ music tweets (@ilovezistrack, @absolutebass, @musiquechic, @bordwood among others…) The idea to launch my own blog came a long little by little as a result of following them, and they were the ones who really gave me the desire so I have to say thanks! We arrive at the start of 2013, and I decided to launch the site. I was alone at first, then a friend came and joined me to cover Hip Hop on the blog. So we are two.
3. Where do you find your music?
I use 2.0 web tools a lot to discover new tracks. Principally Soundcloud, but also Whyd, Shufflr, YouTube, ExFM… Certain artists send me their links directly and I thank them graciously. I try more and more to find music blogs from other continents to enlarge the range of musical styles and get a way from European artists who are already widely covered by the French blogosphere.
4. What are your goals for Soundigger? Who should read your blog?
By creating Soundigger.com, the primary goal was to break as many people as possible out of their commercial shackles, freed from peroxodized clips which can be endlessly consumed on national radio and TV channels. We want to make people discover, and bring forward, lesser-known talent, creating connections with them and other bloggers to carry out various projects, and to create a small community. To do interviews, live reports from festivals… that’s what I had in mind when I created the blog.
At Soundigger, we love diversity, as much musical as human, that’s why our publications are not reserved exclusively for specific types of people, snobby preps or other hipsters, but just as many people as possible. If Jacky the farmer on the corner discovers, appreciates, and shares the latest releases of Bit Funk, Fakear, or Apollo Brown on our blog, that would mean that wouldn’t probably couldn’t get any bigger.
5. What other blogs do you recommend?
Among the following blogs, a good portion come from friends with whom we discuss and share a lot of music and advice. It’s the magic of web 2.0 that we know these people thanks to the same love of music
- http://www.ilovethistrack.com/
- http://absolutebassline.tumblr.com/
- http://lecoledumicroenbois.com/
- http://www.spreadtheword96.com/
- http://moosetache.over-blog.fr/
- http://www.musique-chic.com/
And many more!
Thanks Johan! Make sure you like the Soundigger Facebook page, and of course subscribe to Soundigger on Whyd!
Do You Want To Help Us Build The Best Music App Ever Made?
These are some of the music lovers you will be making this app for.
If you are one of the many people who has been following our story, you know a good amount about how we operate. If you are new to Whyd, take a look at the Facebook page to see our personality. We built Whyd based on the needs of our community, and the conclusion is unanimous, we need a mobile app.
Our talented team has already started the ideation, but we are looking to add a mobile developer versed in iOS to join our team for a long term contract and help Whyd’s music lovers be able to take the Whyd experience with them on-the-go.
There are some requirements to see if you, or someone you know, would be a good fit for this position:
- Do you love music? Have you ever sacrificed something important because you couldn’t stop listening to a good song? Have you lost relationships because you just had to jump into the mosh pit? Do you look at people who listen to Bruno Mars voluntarily with utter disgust? If the answer to these questions is yes, you’re 70% of the way there.
- Do you love to code? Do you hack and make in your spare time? Can you put together beautiful code at a speed that is so fast you are embarrassed about it? Do you have the patience and desire to go so deep in the details you can’t find your way back to the surface? Do you want to make your mark on this world with music, with an app that you will actually use yourself everyday? If the answer to these questions is yes you’re now 85% of the way there.
- Is your spirit entrepreneurial? Have you launched side projects, do you have ambitions to make a world wide impact, and the confidence to try to achieve it? Are you willing to stand up for your ideas? Do you have the spine to take criticism at a volume that makes our neighbors regret having offices next to us? Can you defend your ideas and execute them quickly into reality to astound us all? If so, you are now 95% of the way there.
- Do you speak enough English to understand this offer? Are you willing to move to the US and work on this project for your entire adult life if necessary? Can you clearly present ideas and work with an international team? If so, congratulations, you are now 100% of the way there, and we would love to have your CV and schedule an interview with you.
Track of the Weekend #48: Darius - “Velour”
Man, it was a hot week in Paris. Everyone was sweating, sitting planted in front of fans spinning merciful air around our oven of an office that bakes in the afternoon sun until it’s impossible to type on your keyboard without drenching it in dripping sweat. It was so hot this week that the Hot Tracks on Whyd were just Tracks. It seemed like everything was on fire.
***Editor’s note: We are not complaining about the heat, au contraire, it is actually welcome after almost two years of no summer or heat. It feels beautiful, the city of light glows in bright sunshine, the architecture is crisp and dynamic, all of those little details that fade away with the gray drizzle are startling present, like a treasure you forgot you had buried away in your closet. That being said, there is also no AC here, so it does get a little toasty.***
But like ice in our coffee the Track of the Weekend provides a cooling emotional soundtrack to the week. With the ticking of a stop light ready to start a race, “Velour” by Darius was added by Aline — who has been setting trends left and right and now passed over 10,000 subscribers. “Velous” develops like the heat it suppresses, burying layers of sound over the fire until it all re-ignites into a blaze of glory.
Never stop jamming!