A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: LIVING HOUR “MISS MISS MISS”
Does living in one of the coldest places on the planet make you more or less chill? Winnipeg band, Living Hour, is staking its claim to be just that with its third LP Someday is Today. Composed of 11 songs, the album finds the band at its most pensive and longing, with its vulnerable lyrics brought to life through lush instrumentation and rudimentary electronica. According to the band’s label, Kanine Records, the project was recorded over a week in their hometown. Despite the speedy recording process, the whole feels cohesive, filled with a cool languour and gorgeous harmonies. Think of a combination of Yo La Tengo and Beach House and you get the idea. Living Hour has redefined chill and this album is a perfect way to ease back into work after a very, very hot summer.
@livinghour #livinghour #kaninerecords #winnipeg #canada #indiemusic
https://www.livinghourband.com/
Pre-order Someday Is Today: https://ffm.to/somedayistoday
AD OF THE WEEK: JOHN LEWIS “FOR ALL LIFE’S MOMENTS”
Anyone dropping their kids off at school for the first time can relate to this tearjerker from UK retailer John Lewis. The time-lapse story follows a young father and his daughter from birth until her first day at school when it is actually the father who needs a hanky rather than the daughter. In a major rebrand away from its previous tagline, ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’, John Lewis is positioning itself to be there for the “events that shape our lives”. As always with John Lewis ads, the music plays a pivotal role and in this case, the old-fashioned song La La Lu from Walt Disney’s The Lady and The Tramp, crooned by Peggy Lee, infuses the video with just the right soupçon of nostalgia. Nice work from ad agency Adam&EveDDB and a brand looking to navigate its way through the cost of living crisis.
#johnlewis #theladyandthetramp #peggylee #oliverwallace #disney
TAYLOR HAWKINS’ 16-YEAR-OLD SON STEALS SHOW AFTER DRUMMING IN LATE FATHER’S SPOT DURING TRIBUTE CONCERT
Ed note: As a drummer, I can tell you that playing that song is no mean feat, and to do it in front of 80 thousand people during a memorial concert for your recently deceased father puts the bar as high as a skyscraper. I was so happy for the band, but also devastated by the sadness of it all. Poor kid, poor band and pour Taylor.
Taylor Hawkins’ 16-year-old son stole the show at the late drummer’s tribute concert. On Saturday (3 September), Dave Grohl united numerous musicians for a six-hour fundraiser at London’s Wembley Stadium in honour of his former Foo Fighters bandmate. Among those to perform were Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Queen and Mark Ronson.
However, it was Hawkins’ son Oliver Shane Hawkins who impressed those in attendance, as well as those watching along at home, the most. He sat in his dad’s spot to drum for Foo Fighters song “My Hero”. The performance was accompanied by images of Oliver and his dad on the screen behind.
Watch the performance here
NIRVANA WIN LAWSUIT OVER NEVERMIND BABY ALBUM COVER
Spencer Elden, who appeared on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind as a baby, has lost his lawsuit claiming that the image constituted child sexual abuse.
In the suit, Elden claimed that the album cover, which depicts him at four months old and was taken by a family friend, had caused him “permanent harm” and a “lifelong loss of income-earning capacity”.
The family were originally paid around $200 (£173) for use of the image. Elden’s suit claimed: “Defendants knowingly produced, possessed and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer.”
Elden said that as a child, he had been unable to consent to the photo being used and sought £130,000 in damages.
CHIMPS SHOW OFF THEIR ‘SIGNATURE’ DRUM BEATS
Researchers who followed and studied chimps in the Ugandan rainforest found that the animals drum out messages to one another on tree roots.
The scientists say that the signature rhythms allow them to send information over long distances, revealing who is where, and what they are doing.
The findings are published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter from the University of St Andrews explained that the wild apes use huge tree roots as a large wooden surface to drum on with their hands and feet.
“If you hit the roots really hard, it resonates and makes this big deep, booming sound that travels through the forest,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science programme.
“We could often recognise who was drumming when we heard them; it was a fantastic way to find the different chimpanzees we were looking for. So if we could do it, we were sure they could too.”
Each male chimpanzee, the scientists found, uses a distinct pattern of beats. They combine it with long-distance vocalisations, called pant-hoots. And different animals drum at different points in their call.
The lead researcher on this study, PhD student Vesta Eleuteri from the University of Vienna, described how some individuals have a more regular rhythm, like rock and blues drummers, while some have more variable rhythms, like jazz.
NEW MUSIC DEVICE TURNS YOUR SMARTPHONE SCREEN INTO A VINYL TURNTABLE
Yamaha’s Design Lab has conceived a new music device that turns your smartphone screen into a vinyl turntable.
The TurnT comprises a portable speaker and a ‘stylus’ that sits on top of a smartphone screen and connects to Bluetooth in order to play selected music, while the song or album can be changed by swiping through a virtual library. Watch the intro video below.
“In recent years, thanks to advances in information technology, new music experiences and music accessories are now offered by various smartphone applications,” Yamaha wrote on its website. “While these services are widely accepted for their convenience and are replacing traditional devices, we believe there is still a longing for more substantive and tactile interaction that cannot be achieved with touch panel operation”.
This latest invention is among the various prototype music devices Yamaha have designed to work “in symbiosis with smartphone apps”. Other ‘Stepping out of the Slate’ inventions include a mechanical music-box and a player powered by candelight.
Written by Anthony Vanger
Additional research and reporting by Adam “Badger” Woolf