Is “Alright” Kendrick Lamar’s most political song? It does fit perfectly well into America’s modern narrative of black vs. police. One thing is for sure, it’s another visceral experience whose music video is a visual masterpiece featuring Kendrick flying through the streets and rapping atop streetlights before getting shot by a white cop. It’s the latest in his string of hits off of “To Pimp A Butterfly” confirming what we thought all along: 2015 is the year of Kendrick Lamar.
When the temperatures soar above 40ºC (+100ºF) like we’ve been having this week here in Paris, there are few things better than an ice cold Heineken, the emblematic beer in a green bottle with a red star that’s available in even more places than Coca Cola (well, maybe, don’t quote us on that). But Heineken is not just cool temperature-wise, they have also been a leading source of inspiration and they are very deep into music culture. They did, after all, create GreenRoom, which is an awesome source for the latest trending news, especially for music.
We read GreenRoom’s posts all the times, from their music services comparisons, to insider Game of Thrones updates. The unique style and voice works perfectly (if you speak French!). And they have shared nothing but good music on their Whyd page since almost the very conception of Whyd. Mad respect.
Now their offering grows, as they have just released a very slick app - My Greenroom - which lets you download their articles for offline viewing. You can also see top lists of the most read articles, and see the articles that your friends have liked, to make sure that you can know what Marie Robin has been reading!
They are also releasing a mix between a magazine and book called “Festival Mon Amour” in collaboration with Snatch magazine. The publication is a limited edition featuring the world of music festivals. You can pick up a copy at places like Collette, Palais de Tokyo, la Gaité Lyrique, and Mama Shelter.
If you’ve been following us in the recent months you know that we’ve announced interesting things to come from Whyd. We are passionate about connected design, IoT, and everything that makes home living not only easier, but more aesthetic and emotional. In our research we stumble upon tons of interesting projects launching on crowd-funding sites around the world. They are created by brilliant minds who need as much support as possible to make their dreams into reality. It would be a crime not to share them with our trendy community of creative music lovers, since we have a hunch that you are into technology as much as we are. It’s part of the modern lifestyle.
Crowd-funding has changed the paradigm of the way products are created. In this new column of the Whyd Blog, we will be presenting you with the coolest products we can find that combine technology and the home in an aesthetic way – exploring things like new interfaces, increased autonomy, and more functionalities – always with an eye for design.
If you find any gems yourself, please send them to us!
- Never stop jamming!
Let’s start off with a simple idea that was maximized to its full potential. Introducing Aumi, a smart, blue-tooth connected nightlight that you can control either with an app or directly on the device through a unique touch interface. You can select from millions of different colors, control intensity, and set timers. A built-in battery keeps it on when the power goes out, and it doesn’t block a second plug!
What we like: The combination of touch control and app. It’s not always easy to find your phone, type in your code, and open an app (which is hidden in a folder four home screens away), especially when it’s something as simple as turning the brightness down or up. Being able to control the Aumi on the device is a big plus.
Bonus points: The design. It’s simple, elegant, and minimal. The rounded design invites you to touch it, and gives you a very intuitive way to do that, but the familiar dial function.
There are already almost 1000 backers, and it has surpassed its goal already! The early bird specials are already sold out, but you can still get one Aumi if you back $35 on Kickstarter.
Heat wave’s a-coming here to northern France and the city of light is set to become the city of swelter. Skirts flutter in the hot breeze and sweat drips from brows. Perfect time to enjoy the icy goodness of a mojito on a terrace while listening to some dreamy music. An ideal song for this situation is Isaac Delusion’s new single “How Much You Want Her” that just dropped this week on Microqlima. You already know Isaac Delusion from our Whyd interview, and their two previous tracks of the weekend. This track is a clear development for them, the voice flying high like a satellite in low-Earth orbit, the rhythm and guitar teasing and building, and one of the best choruses we’ve heard all year.
We’re proud to belong to a community of music lovers like you. Together, we built the leading music curation platform. Now, we want to go farther.
We created Whyd to invent aesthetic, empathetic and simple products that help you feel positive emotions. We’re leveraging art, design and technology to bring you beautiful experiences. We love music. Music inspires us. Music is a fundamental part of our lives. We want to give you the next evolution in music.
We believe it is the time to re-imagine the home speaker and how you listen to music at home.
It is time to design a speaker that seamlessly connects you to the music you love.
It is time to design a speaker that looks insanely great to fit your home.
Music is art. Your speaker should be too.
We’re re-inventing the home speaker and we need your help! Join the journey and get notified as we share stories along the way:
Every so often an artist comes along that can rivet you without words. Someone who can create entire atmospheres of feeling and emotion with no air. Someone with the ability to paint a picture with no paint. You get the idea. Right now that artist is Feynman, who - not to be confused with the legendary physicist - has been spinning around the world like electrons in an Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
He just released his EP “Illusions,” on Fake Music. Let’s get the details:
Released: May 25, 2015
Genres: electronic
Tracks: 5
Who would like this EP?
Fans of Ratatat’s beats, Daft Punk’s funk, The Chemical Brother’s energy.
Our thoughts:
It’s been a while since an emerging artist has delivered such a high-energy EP, where the funk runs rampant like a hippopotamus in a flooded Georgian zoo. Feynman weaves threads of style and swagger through rises and falls. “Diego in Vegas” is a turn-your-speaker-up-until-your-neighbors-fucking-hate-you track that will get your bones a-rattling.
But at the same time it’s rather classic, settling in for the sort of mainstream electronica that enabled Daft Punk to rise to global fame. This is comforting in an era where experimentation has gone to such extremes that genre defining has become a one-song game.
Everyone get ready. This weekend is France’s Fête de la Musique, which is an all-day, all-night celebration of music that takes over cities on June 21st, the first day of summer. There are endless things to do, and as the hour waxes late so do the craziness, filthiness, and drunkenness. Capturing this inevitable feeling of raging is Foals’ new single “What Went Down” from their forthcoming album of the same name. Foals’ fans might be a little turned off by the rawness and clamor, but it represents a new direction for the group, one that more hardcore fans will find a welcome change, and one that’s perfect for this weekend in Paris.
A spectacular June evening is descending along the banks of the Canal Saint Martin, Paris’s premiere place to sit and drink rosé for the apéro as the sun warms your shoulders at 7 pm. It is here, behind an ever-morphing tag and a pathway that we arrive at the Comptoir General, a mix of African influences, antiques, and Caribbean vibes. Three of four members of Dead Sea are waiting with me for pints at the bar.
Their friendliness is instantly apparent. Caro, the singer, was the first to meet me. Her English is great, she even tells me the other guys - Alex and Charles, the brothers who started Dead Sea - were worried about doing an interview in English. I reassure them. We step into the courtyard. The mic clicks on.
This interview was translated from French. Tony Hymes for Whyd in bold.
Dead Sea, the name, is that because you are Jordanian? Israeli? Is there a reason that you chose this name?
Charles: There is no particular sense, it’s just two words that we like, together.
Caro: There is also the idea of voyage too.
Charles: True, it evokes the idea of travel, the sea, death. We listen to a lot of psychedelic music, and Dead Sea sort of goes along with that. Plus the two words go along well together, doubling the “EA.”
Does the image of the Dead Sea as a place, is that something that you like too? Dryness?Low mountains in the distance? Salt?
Alex: Everyone floats.
Me: That’s the psychedelic side, everyone floating.
Charles: Never thought of it before!
Looking at Charles and Alex, both decked out in leather jackets.
And when did you guys buy your first leather jacket?
Charles: Maybe 5 years ago, before we did a lot more psychedelic rock. We had other clothes then, like when we were in a different group we had our name on the back of a jacket. The idea of the Dead Sea is to make rock with machines. It’s not to do electronic music, but to keep the rock spirit.
When did you meet Caro?
Alex: We met her a year ago at the Paris Psychfest. We had made a flyer looking for female singers, and we put them in all of the girls bathrooms, and then Caro sent us some samples and we really liked it.
Did you already have a project, Caro?
Caro: I had already been involved in a few other projects in the past. I attended a music school in England, and I had some folk groups. When I arrived in Paris I didn’t have a project, and I was looking for a group to find. And coincidentally I was at the Psychfest and saw their flyer, looking for a female singer. So it came along at the right time, and the style fit me really well.
You guys released an EP recently, two songs. Are you rather happy with the EP?
Charles: Yes we are happy. We based all of the communications for the group around the two songs and the video. We are at more than 20K listens on the EP, which is pretty good.
Alex: We also have had a lot of reviews on blogs.
What did the reviewers say?
Alex: Overall they were mostly positive.
Charles: In any case, the people who never responded probably didn’t like it.
That’s probable, there is also the side where everyone tries to be a friend to everyone: they do a review, you share it from your side too to help them reach a wider audience too. It’s always going to be positive with blogs of that size. So in that case, what is your biggest criticism of yourselves right now? What is the thing that you are most trying to improve?
Charles: Good question.
Caro: Maybe the scenography,
Charles: We are trying to work with a small company for the lighting, staging for performances, making a logo, we would like to work on the visual side. On the music side, we are just trying to make more songs so that we can have 10 by the end of the year and release an album.
Tell us Caro, what part do you play in the creation of Dead Sea’s music?
Caro: I was pretty happy from the beginning since there were a lot of singers that responded to their flyer, so there was a sort of contest. They sent us two demos, and they wanted me to write the lyrics and melody, which I did, and they liked it. Now I also have a synth so I can play around with that. But mostly it’s the lyrics and melody, which works out well since everyone has their own part.
When it comes to creating new songs, do that come from just jamming around or are there specific places where you find inspiration?
Alex: That could come from a specific place, lots of times it comes from listening to other groups. We spend a lot of time studying different lines and segments, sometimes Charles sends me a synth line, or a drum line.
Charles: Since we are making music electronically, we find a starting point and build from there.
Is it because you are brothers that you jam well together? Is there something in your DNA that links together vibrations?
Alex: I think so, yes, we grew up in the same place, listening to the same music.
Are you both happy, at the same time, with one song?
Alex: Sometimes there are disagreements.
Charles: And when we are all happy that’s when we know the song is done.
Alex: But we do have disagreements, that can last for weeks!
Charles: We have a set of songs that we all like, and it’s that set that we play live.
Imagine one year from now, what are your realistic expectations?
Caro: I think the most important part is to have a full album by the end of the year. We’ve been talking that having only two songs out there can limit us and what we can do in terms of audience. So an album will bring us to the next level. And in a year definitely to do festivals, even small ones.
Alex: And with the album to find a record label.
Caro: Find people that support us!
Are you going to be playing live soon?
Charles: Yes, June 23rd and 26th. The 23rd is at the Bababoum, and the 26th is in a small room called the Buzz, it’s the place that we met Caro!
Caro: Yes! We’ll celebrate my first year anniversary with the group!
Sometimes the middle of the week can drag. Hump days are like speedbumps, slowing you down and pulling the weekend further out of reach. Sometimes the only thing you can do is find some hype music and turn the volume up. Shake away that stagnancy, drive forward my friend.
We’ve got just the playlist for you this week, Techno curated by our friends Process London, who know a thing or two about the genre. Let’s get the story behind the curation:
When did you start listening to Techno?
I start listening to Techno about 5 or 6 years ago.
Did you ever have a moment when you felt like Techno started speaking to you?
Every time! When I listen to a track for me is like the artist is talking to me, trying to tell me a story.
It works even better on a big sound system!
What are some example situations when you would listen to this playlist yourself?
It helps me to focus so I listen to it a lot at work when I need to get things done quickly; As well as when I get back home after a long day and I need to relax with a beer or a glass of wine. Techno goes really well with wine!
If you had to choose just one track from this playlist, which one would be your favorite?
There are a lot! but I would go for one that I have added in February: Utkast - &&&&
If you think things have been a little quiet here at Whyd recently, we can assure you, it’s about to get much louder.
For the past nine months we have been carefully crafting our next product, and we hope the result will blow your socks off. We’ve added key new team members. We’ve expanded our workplaces. And we’ve been busy preparing all of the ground work.
As music lovers, what we are building is catered to you, to your needs and desires, all coming from an opportunity we’ve identified to drive innovation towards a better music experience.