A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK – HARUKA SALT & W.Y. HUANG
This week we go deep underground. Brooklyn DJ Haruka Salt and New York artist W.Y. Huang have released a music video for their collaboration ‘OG Gong’. The video shows a dystopian future (or present) where the sky is bright orange (remind you of anything?) and the streets are strangely unpopulated but the buildings are all lit up (also remind you of something?). The industrial techno stomper soundtracks the short film, animated by Race Krehel of SuperCyberTown, where a battle between two giant monsters — one a vivid insect creature, the other a humanoid figure — is thwarted by a mysterious glowing deity, plunging the entire city into catastrophe. My favourite part of the video is where the action stops to reveal a group of people dancing on either side of the six-lane highway. If there was ever a new category at the Grammy’s for “Single that best captures what is going on in the world today”, this track would walk off with the prize hands down.
Full video here
#harukasalt
AD OF THE WEEK: LIFTMASTER
Nostalgia works every time. A fun new ad for LiftMaster brings back Alan Ruck, the actor who played Cameron Frye in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” to promote its smart garage tech. The spot recreates the iconic 1986 movie’s famous garage scene, in which Cameron trashes his father’s sports car. It also brings back the film’s iconic music track, “Oh yeah” by Yello. Only here, although Ruck reprises his role, he’s a grown-up version and the action revolves around his teenage son showing off the car to his own friend. Thanks to Lift Master’s Secure View Garage Door, however, they get caught in the act on camera by Ruck, who surveys them on his myQ app and quips “been there, done that”.
ROCK LEGEND EDDIE VAN HALEN HAS DIED
Eddie Van Halen, guitarist in Van Halen, has died after battling throat cancer. The 65-year-old passed away this morning (October 6) according to his son Wolfgang.
In a statement, Wolfgang, who plays bass in the band, wrote on Twitter: “I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss. I love you so much, Pop.” Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx was one of the first to pay their respects to the guitar legend. “Crushed. So fucking crushed. RIP Eddie Van Halen. You changed our world. You were the Mozart of rock guitar. Travel safe rockstar,” he wrote on Twitter. Billy Idol also paid his respects. “Rest in peace guitar legend Eddie Van Halen. Broken heart We will miss you,” he wrote.
The likes of Muse, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Gene Simmons of Kiss, and Lenny Kravitz have also shared messages of tribute on social media this evening.
HUNDREDS OF MUSICIANS PROTEST OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT
A 400-strong ensemble of freelance musicians has played outside Parliament to highlight the plight of the music industry during the current pandemic.
Conductor David Hill led the performers in a short segment of Mars, from Holst’s The Planets, before the attendees held a two-minute silence. A concurrent protest took place outside Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. The events were designed to put pressure on the government to give more support to self-employed artists.
Violinists Nicola Benedetti and Tamsin Little, and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis also attended to support to the performers, and uploaded footage to social media.
NIGHTMARES ON WAX HAS RELEASED A SHORT FILM TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF ‘SMOKERS DELIGHT’
Nightmares On Wax this week released a short film ‘Smokers Delight’ to celebrate 25 years of his seminal album. The film is inspired by and draws on music from the album.
It’s a surreal, trippy story following Tiger, a benevolent stoner who gets caught in the gap between reality and fantasy.
The film premiered on Warp’s Youtube channel last Thursday.
SPOTIFY GETS SERIOUS ABOUT ITS CHARTS, LAUNCHING WEEKLY TOP 50 LISTS FOR ALBUMS AND SONGS
For some time, Spotify’s daily charts have been an essential measure of music industry success.
Now, the company is giving its rankings a music business-friendly refresh, with the the launch of new Weekly Top 50 charts.
These new lists include a US Weekly Album Chart, a Global Weekly Album Chart, plus a US Weekly Song Chart and a Global Weekly Song Chart. Technically, Spotify already offers weekly track charts for the global and US – amongst other territories – via SpotifyCharts.com, but this is the first time they’ve been packaged up as an ‘official’ Spotify Top 50.
Spotify hasn’t, however, traditionally published any form of weekly album charts.
Spotify’s new Top 50 weekly charts will reflect the standard industry release period (Friday release day through to the following Thursday), and will be published online each Monday.
SOUNDTRAP CAPTURE SIMPLIFIES MOBILE RECORDING AND MUSIC COLLABORATION
Easily layer clips during a remote jam session.
Capture is a mobile app that, like its desktop counterpart Soundtrap Studio, has a dead simple interface that’s designed to be straightforward and intuitive. In fact, when you open the app to start recording a track, all you’ll see in a single red record button. Once you lay down your part (or parts) of the song, or import something you’ve already recorded, you can invite others to join the project. Capture will send an invite link via email or message for them to gain access. Of course, they’ll need to have the app already installed on their mobile device to record. If they don’t, the invite process will prompt them to do so. All of your collaborators will need a Soundtrap account, but the service is freemium, so you don’t have to pay anything to use it — and neither will they.
Capture syncs and backs up everything to Soundtrap’s cloud-based system. Free users can save an unlimited number of projects and up to 900 loops with unlimited storage space. On the desktop, you also get access to 210 instruments and sounds and 150,000 sound effects (from freesound.org) at no charge. More robust tools like auto-tune, time restore, automation and interview features are available for paid plans. Those range from $8-$14 a month.
Written by Anthony Vanger
Additional reporting by Adam “Badger” Woolf
Artwork by Gustav Balderdash
To join This Week In Music please send me an email: anthonyvanger@gmail.com