#AperoMusicTech #4 Goes Live on Thursday Night!
Lot of fun events happening in Paris this weekend and next week, the crown jewel being the lovely get-together that has become the #AperoMusicTech event series. The fourth installment, taking place Thursday evening at WorkShop starting at 19hr30, will feature a few of Whyd's staple DJs: the Brooklyn Bitches tandem and R∆D∆R! spinning their signature blends of nu disco — the performances are not to be missed!
The event is being co-sponsored by another one of the Whyd faithful, the playlist music blog BPM (Blog des Pépites Musicales) and for the first time, we will be giving out stickers to the 50 people who come to the event first with special instructions that you will find out about only if you are lucky enough to get a sticker. So come, and get there as soon as you can!
Never stop jamming!
Track of the Weekend #58: Tyler The Creator - “Tamale”
This week’s hottest track is something that spits fire directly into your face, and then cools it off with a saddening coda that leaves you feeling like the rapper abandoned you. That rapper is rising star Tyler the Creator, whose abrasive style has been creating fans around the world. That, of course, and the video, which is absurd, hilarious, and features some serious cat riding. Whatever you think of it “Tamale" will not be something that leaves your memory bank in the near future. Big congrats to Pierre Larmina for landing his first Track of the Weekend!
Win Free Tickets to B T B / L J X H B @ ParisParis TONIGHT!
You might look at this jumble of letters as a Scrabble players worst nightmare, but it’s actually a code for an innovative party and concert series at a nightclub that’s so cool it had to be named twice. The Back To Back series at ParisParis is popping off tonight featuring Lowjack (LJ) and Heart Beat (HB) starting at 11PM.
Share this photo above with the hashtag #ParisParisBTB on either Facebook or Twitter and you will automatically be entered to win two free tickets to the show tonight!
You can find all the details on the Event page.
Reggaelizing Romania and the world: Interview with Reggaelize It!
1. When did you start Reggaelize It! and what was your goal originally?
Well, we started our reggae journey in 2007 under another name (Giarmaica) which we changed in 2011 to “Reggaelize It!.”
The passion for reggae music was our driving force, and we wanted to spread it to the Romanian massive as well, to make a movement, to make a change.
We started as an online reggae magazine written in Romanian, having as a main goal the promotion of reggae music in Romania, and also trying to take part int he growth of the Romanian reggae movement by making reggae parties and live events with foreign artists from time to time.
Between 2007 and 2013 the community that we built around this project grew quite a lot, and it is so diverse, that the Romanians are no longer a majority, fact that made us think about starting to write in English, which we did.
“Reggaelize It!" original purpose was and still is to promote reggae music and culture, always bringing the top reggae related news closer to the music lovers. The only thing that has changed from the beginning is that now we are writing for an international audience.
2. What’s the reggae scene like in Romania?
Unfortunately, reggae music is still an underground genre here. The good thing is that there was obviously a growth in the past two years, regarding the reggae events which increased a lot, and also regarding the artists. You can easily notice the influence of reggae/ragga/dancehall music on the mainstream artists latest releases, who aren’t usually into reggae music.
The reggae scene in Romania is not very big compared to other countries in Eastern Europe, but it’s growing and that makes us happy. For now we wish for more Romanian artists to come onto the scene, and also for more people to attend at the events that are happening the country. And of course, we also wish for a major reggae festival, like many other countries have in the area!
3. Who are some of the artists that you are listening to the most right now?
There are quite a lot of great artists that we enjoy out there, and we could fill up some pages but here are a few preferences from the “Reggaelize It!" team members:
Filip: (Founder of “Reggaelize It!”) Well, I’m listening to a wide range of artists, from classic reggae like Bob Marley, The Skatalites or Peter Tosh, to the new wave of reggae artists like Kabaka Pyramid. Also I really enjoy French artists like Admiral T, MIssie Bamboo, Kalash or Tairo.
Vlad: (Event Manager at “Reggaelize It!”) Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Dennis Brown, Omar Perry, Gentleman, Chronixx.
Georgiana: (PR at “Reggaelize It!”) Personally, I pay a close attention to the new wave of reggae, the ongoing reggae revival movement and its promising talented youths who are bringing back the positivity and the original reggae flavor, such as Protoje, Chronixx, Kabaka Pyramid, Dubtonic Kru, Roots Underground.) I enjoy a large variety of artists from Dancehall representative figures like Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Busy Signal, Damian Marley, to young reggae voices such as Lion D, Jah Sun, Naama, Patrice.
4. Do you see reggae as being on the rise globally? How is it being integrated into other genres of music?
Yes, it definitely is on the rise. From the middle 90’s, the music has known a great development with a return to its original values from the golden era of reggae. Despite the new artists who are coming with the new wave of reggae, you can see international big artists from a wide range of genres of music “adopting” a little reggae/dancehall flavor. Rihanna, Beyonce, Snoop Dogg turning into Snoop Lion, Eddie Murphy singing along with him, a lot of things are happening. And I think it’s good, it helps in a way or another to bring Reggae music closer to those who didn’t get in touch with it before.
Make sure you Subscribe to Reggaelize It! on Whyd to keep up with their latest discoveries!
Track of the Weekend #57: Woodkid - “I Love You” (Quintet Version)
The Track of the Weekend this week is utterly captivating. How captivating is it? you might ask. Well, it is such a good song that the original version was already the Track of the Weekend #26. Woodkid “I Love You” (Quintet Version) is a quiet, heartfelt version of Woodkid's famous anthem. In this version, his velvet voice comes gently punctuated by light piano chords — supported by rising strings that weave harmonies though the song's poetic lyrics.
It also marks the return to the top of Le Coup de Lapin, one of Whyd’s bedrock music lovers, thanks man for getting this to us!
unLabel aka “disruptive ideas for the everyday music business”
This interview features Didier Mary, a man doing some seriously great things for the cultural richness of the world at large.
1. Can you introduce yourself? Where are you from?
I wont enter into too many details as I’ve already lived a few different lives. Spent 8 years at Microsoft (in France and in the USA), as an engineer/technical product leader, in charge of all the technical and support aspects of games, hardware, multimedia, productivity software (incl. MSProject and PowerPoint) for the French market.
Left in 1997 and founded Cybear, a marketing communications agency. Did many web and print projects, got a few awards and prizes. After I bought a music catalogue in 2003, I added Sound & Music design as well as supervision to my offering (through my subsidiary CybearSonic).
Went back to school for an Executive MBA in 2005/6 (HEC + Babson), focused on Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and later did an in-depth program focused on Media & Entertainment that led to the creation of another subsidiary focused on artist booking and management, festivals, and concert production.
While in school, I did my first presentation on the evolution of the music business, that later turned into a project called the “unLabel” aka “disruptive ideas for the everyday music business.” It’s under this project that I work mainly with African artists, offering coaching, training, A&R, publishing, digital distribution, booking, and any innovative ideas we can develop in West Africa. My African network is mainly sub-saharan and goes from west to east to south… As the English speaking countries tend to be more visible and offer better dynamics to artists at the moment, I concentrate on the French speaking ones (easier for a French guy too…).
2. How are you connected to Africa? What is the history of KoToNTeeJ?
To make a long story short, when I met music that pleased me when I was 13 years old (born in the 60s, I already could listen to Soul, Rock n’ Roll on the radio), I fell in love with Jazz while listening to Art Blakey and African rhythms, percussions and brass while listening to Osibisa. Discovered them the same week, listening to vinyls by an uncle who had a great music collection. For years, I bought vinyls, tapes, and CDs (too many…) and always bounced between Jazz and African, and mixes of both such as Acid Jazz or innovative uses of great music samples.
My first “physical” contact with Africa happened at the beginning of the 80s where I helped create a newspaper in Senegal, shipped typewriters and schoolbooks to Madagascar and Guinea for UNESCO.
In 2008, I decided to start blogging, and it was a natural approach to try to push the music I liked. I did it in French on KoToNTeeJ.com (“de la musique au fond des oreilles”) as many blogs already existed in English, but not so many in my “natural” language.
This blog opened many opportunities (went as a journalist to a festival…) and many direct contacts with African artists/bands. At the same time, I was developing the unLabel project, I then produced a few albums in 2009/10 and other projects (tours, festivals in Benin…) I’m helping an NGO too to help children who can’t afford to pay for school in Benin and who then can learn the basic (writing, counting, reading…) as well as music (instruments, singing) and dance.
KoToNTeeJ the blog is still alive, although I had to stop posting (and working in fact) for a while due to health conditions.
You can find me and my activities on various platforms, as I try tools to check what’s useful/easy to implement in a strategy: I did playlists on Spotify, manage many (artists) pages on Facebook, Twitter, or Soundcloud. My digital presence is now mainly on Google+ where I manage many pages too and a nice community: the “African Music Forum" that grows quietly.
3. Who are your favorite African artists at the moment?
First, Africa is a continent with many different cultures and languages. Across the continent, there are many different music styles. Then, there’s no “African Music,” there are African musics, traditional, tradi-modern, or heavily influenced by the west. There are jazz musicians. There are Hard Rock bands. There’s a lot of Hip Hop/Rap/Soul/RnB at the moment of course. I then like many different styles from various regions. I love Mandingue music from Guinea/Mali. I love brass bands from Benin. I love Assiko & Makossa from Cameroon. I love traditional polyphonic music from the rainforest (Baka). Sometimes, in one country, there are various, very different music styles depending on which part of the country or which ethnic group it comes from. For example in Mali, there’s no Malian music, there are many styles. And Malian musics are not the only kind of music in Africa. Same in the South of Africa. There are many styles and variations. South African music contains what you could listen to with Paul Simon and Johnny Clegg. But that’s not the whole stuff. That’s a tiny part. Listen to Kwaito (a mix of traditional rhythms with Deep House and Rap) to Electro Shangaan and old Shangaan music and so on…
And don’t forget the influence of salsa and rumba in many African countries.
Choosing is difficult. In the old bands/artists, my favs are Osibisa (from Ghana mainly) and Manu Dibango (the godfather) from Cameroon I met a few times. But there are many many very good ones, Ali Farka Touré from Mali, Fela Kuti from Nigeria, Hugh Masekela from SA, Franco from Congo.
Contemporary or tradi-modern, there are very interesting people to follow: Fredy Massamba, Baloji, M.anifest, Wanlov the Kubolor, Assi-Ki, Just a Band… Check the AMF Community on G+, there’s plenty to choose from!
4. What are your plans for the future?
I’m working on various projects in West Africa to try to create a sustainable environment for artists: to empower them, to allow them to work and get paid properly, to connect the word (e.g. through social media when internet connections and mobile phones, and electricity, work…) to understand their rights as artists (publishing anyone?) so that they can evolve in the new digital environment where we all live now.
Getting visas to have them travel becomes an everyday nightmare. Traveling abroad (to Europe or USA )are big costs too. Festivals and venues pay less and less, and take less and less risks. There’s a bright future for artists if we’re able to invest in culture (and music) as part of development. I’m trying to help.
Subscribe to Didier on Whyd to keep up with his latest discoveries!
Track of the Weekend #56: The Magician - “When The Night Is Over” CLAPTONE Remix
If you’re looking for a trip, check out the About Page for The Magician, a mysterious character that has been showing up in more and more places over the last few years. A remix here, a hype track there. Now, The Magician has abracadabra-ed his way to the title of Holder of Whyd Track of the Weekend with his brand new track “When The Night Is Over” remixed by CLAPTONE.
As poppy as it is smooth, “When The Night Is Over” feels like a rabbit being released from a top hat: freeing, hoppy, and pleasantly furry. Thanks to the tag team of Tis and R∆D∆R! for getting it to the top spot this week.
Five Awesome Playlists: Never Stop Jamming
Why? Just because. Five awesome playlists to power through the end of the week.
Do You Like That Song? - Nu Disco
Never stop jamming!
#AperoMusicTech #4: Thursday, October 17th at Workshop Paris
If you were with us at the very first AperoMusicTech back in February of 2013, you remember the very unique space where we held the event, a newly opened bar called Workshop. Since then, the event has been growing, and we held two massive parties at Point Éphémère, along with featuring mesmerizing, addictive new DJs spinning deep tunes all night long. Workshop has also taken off, adding a stage downstairs, offering tango courses during the week, and booking music and events literally every night. It makes sense that we return to Workshop to hold #AperoMusicTech #4 in their hospitality.
#AMT4 is timed to coincide with the final day of the MaMA Festival, a music-packed two days of forums and concerts taking place in and around the Pigalle area. Whyd pitched at the Digital Services session there last year, and if you are in Paris we highly recommend checking out the schedule of events. If you are not in Paris but you are coming for the MaMA festival, #AMT4 is your chance to come down and meet the vibrant community of music lovers.
DJ info coming soon!
Tony’s Hypebot Essay: “What Social Media Is Doing To Music (Hint: It’s Not Good)”
After nearly six months of edits, Tony has published an essay about one of the key trends in this world ASM (After Social Media). In it, he talks about how the internet provides an infinite skip option, and that with so many different things competing for our attention, social media is stripping away our ability to connect with anything in a meaningful way, which was the goal in the first place. Music here is the victim. There is hope however, in topic specific social networks for the truly passionate to separate gold from noise. The answer for music is quite clearly Whyd, though that does not get stated in the essay.
What do you think? If you have any thoughts after reading the piece, please feel free to email tony <at> whyd.com.