Track of the Weekend #98: Caribou. - “Our Love”

Getting close to the end of August, and the French phenomenon know as “la rentée” or the “re-entry.” And no, it’s not referring to the return capsule of a space ship. It’s all about the masses of people coming back to work and school starting again after the vacation months. A lot of stuff gets planned for the rentrée, but there is still a week left before it officially begins. One week to get out there and enjoy the sunshine, play some pétanque, and listen to some great summer jams. 

After claiming the Track of the Weekend #87, Caribou. is back again at the top of the Hot Tracks with their hit “Our Love" an up-tempo romp that builds on their signature mathematical style, adding depth to each layer, subtracting lag, and constructing a crescendo at the end that will have you pressing repeat. 

Thanks to Dominique Lutier for getting this one to Whyd for us! 

8 August 2014 Playlists From Our Curators Around The World

Want to stay current with the sweetest tracks being shared across the world during the middle of the summer? Our community of music lovers has got you covered. Here are 8 playlists from August 2014 from our curators in Thailand, Japan, to France and a lot of places in between:

47 tracks from LR

91 tracks from Indie Music Choice

88 tracks from LilComa2Nana

35 tracks from We Provide Electronic Music

26 tracks from Romain Boissieres

19 tracks from Gilles Leveque

15 tracks from Zeckery David Wetson

14 tracks from Maytawee

Never stop jamming! 

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

The Charcuterie Musicale: Interview with DJ Halouf

1. Can you tell us about your musical personality? When the turntables are hot, what are you playing? 

My name is Omar and I am a Muslim but as I love irony my stage name is DJ Halouf (Halouf means pork in Arabic). 

I created The Charcuterie Musicale de DJ Halouf. It’s a blindtest activity that tours festivals, bars, or private parties. The idea is to go from funk to rock via world music and electro, etc. There are all the major titles that everyone has danced to and knows by heart. The atmosphere is very festive and convivial thanks to the proximity and back and forth between the players and the DJ. The level of difficulty is adapted to each party so that the players find the response (be it the title of the track, or the artist), then, it’s a question of speed! 

The same idea for the blindtest is to chop up the tracks, so I don’t wait for the end to switch to a completely different track. That’s why it’s called Charcuterie Musicale, plus it goes well with DJ Halouf! 

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Echoes and Dust: Interview with Music Bloggers and Therapists

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Quite a few people contribute to Echoes and Dust, how did you create something so large and how do you orchestrate that today?

I have no idea, to be honest, how we’ve created something this large! We now have about 70 writers in 20 odd countries around the world which is amazing but that certainly wasn’t our objective from the start. In fact, for the first 3 years or so it was pretty much just me. I’ve been incredibly fortunate in the last few years to have encountered (largely through Twitter) a group of people who are passionate about music and have wanted to dedicate their time to covering it for us. I can’t thank them enough. 

I think what attracts a lot of people is that we have managed to build a real community of like-minded music fans (obsessives!) who want nothing more than to have other people around to share their passion with. We have quite a visible presence on Twitter and I think that sucks other people in. It’s a real family now and increasingly different groups of people are meeting up, going to gigs with each other, staying at each other’s places abroad, etc. Personally I’m probably prouder of building this community than of the website itself. 

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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! 

3 Awesome #Madrid Playlists

Have you been one of the lucky people to listen to the awesome music being shared by our new-born Madrid community? The Spanish capitol is world famous for its energy, and that’s in large part thanks to the awesome music that infuses the city like the summer heat. 

Each day on the Whyd Madrid page, we feature three new playlists dedicated to the Spirit of Madrid: http://whyd.com/madrid#playlists

Today we’re featuring playlists from Rob Filomena, Sergio Pastrana d’Abbadie, and Voyageman

Esta en Madrid tambien? Di nos! tony at whyd dot com para compartir su música! 

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! 

Give us your #SummerInParis Playlists: Win a homemade sushi dinner!

Is there a better time to listen to music than the summer? When relaxation is key, we have time on our hands, and every type of event: from BBQs to rooftop parties to bonfires on the beach are so much sweetened by the sound of good tunes. You may have already done it, but if you are in Paris, we want you to create and send us your #Summer in Paris playlist. Email the URL of your playlist to us at tony at whyd dot com. 

Every playlist will be featured throughout the summer on the Whyd Paris community stream: http://www.whyd.com/paris

Around the middle of August, we at Whyd will select our favorite playlist of the summer, and the winner will be invited (with a guest of their choice) to a homemade sushi dinner at Tony's place.

Warning: Tony makes some excellent sushi, you may never fully be able to enjoy regular sushi again after this dinner. You have been warned.  

Happy playlisting, happy summer, and never stop jamming!