A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: FLYTE “EVERYONE’S A WINNER”

Flyte are an English indie rock band from London who sound like they are from Los Angeles. Soft-rock beats and harmonies cover their music like a soothing balm. This single, Everyone’s a Winner and the whole LP may have slipped under the radar last year and not received the recognition it deserved, but their record label Island Records seems to be in it for the long run. Looking at earlier videos from their first release The Loved Ones in 2017, one can see the band members have traded in their floppy-haired innocence for a more jaded world-view. The band acknowledges that this latest album, This is Really Going to Hurt, is a break up album. As such the music is more introspective and less commercial. Interestingly, the band takes its name from Sebastian Flyte of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Let’s hope their fate will be better than the book’s protagonist.

#flyte #thelovedones #islandrecords #davidbowie #thebeatles #loureed #elliotsmith #nickdrake #bridesheadrevisted #evelynwaugh #bombaybicycleclub

flytetheband.com

AD OF THE WEEK: NIKE’S “FOOTBALLVERSE”

Nike hits the ball into the top corner of the net with this hilarious, slightly insane 2022 FIFA World Cup ad. Yes the planet’s largest tournament begins in a matter of days and all the biggest brands are trying to cash in. For Nike, the pairing is a perfect fit. The epic spot begins with a group of scientists teleporting French soccer player Kylian Mbappé into a testing room alongside Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, who has been digitally de-aged to look as he did in 2006. The scientist then tells the athletes they’ve designed a test to determine who is better between Mbappe and Ronaldinho.

Bringing back past football legends and pitting them against stars of the game from different eras is a brilliant concept, and one that is well-executed. We see an international team of scientists at a secret lab in Switzerland coming up with a way to finally settle the score on which player is the best. At 4 minutes, you would think the ad would get tiresome, but the action, set to Oingo Boingo’s 1985 classic “Weird Science”, stays fresh throughout. And Mbappé turns out to be quite a decent actor.

Cast: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Alex Morgan, Virgil Van Dyjk, Sam Kerr, Kevin De Bruyne, Leah Williamson, Phil Foden, Carli Lloyd, CR Jr, Shane Kluivert and Edgar Davis

META ANNOUNCES THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. VR CONCERT EXPERIENCE

Meta is celebrating what would have been the 50th birthday of The Notorious B.I.G. with the VR concert experience, Sky’s the Limit.

Arriving on December 16, the event is being developed alongside the estate of the rap legend and will feature Biggie performing his classics as a “true-to-life, hyperrealistic” avatar. Fans will also be brought along a “narrative journey” of a virtually-recreated ’90s Brooklyn in The Brook on Meta Horizon Worlds, with writer and music journalist Touré performing as the speaking voice of the rapper. In addition, Diddy, The LOX, Latto, Nardo Wick, Lil’ Cease and DJ Clark Kent will all be performing with the avatar of The Notorious B.I.G.

Watch the full trailer above. The Notorious B.I.G. Sky’s the Limit: A VR Concert Experience premieres December 16.

ARTISTS HAVE INVENTED A RECORD PLAYER THAT PLAYS MUSIC FROM WASTE PLASTIC

Two Korean artists have made a record player that plays sounds from pieces of discarded plastic.

Called ‘Song From Plastic’, the device was designed by Ujoo + Limheeyoung, and the idea came from imagining intelligent life forms discovering “plastic fossils” from the human era tens of thousands of years into the future.

In a video posted by the artists, the record player can be seen playing sounds coming from lids on plastic containers, the side of a toy car and protective glasses.

Played back are plastic musical renditions of ‘The Happy Birthday Song’, ‘Silent Night’ and Franz Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ – as well as everyday sounds, such as children laughing and singing.

In the description that accompanied their work, Ujoo and Limheeyoung wrote: “The sounds of now-extinct beings emanate from a plastic fossil discovered by an intelligent lifeform from a future tens of thousands of years from now.

ORBA 2 IS A HANDHELD DEVICE THAT LETS YOU TURN FOUND SOUNDS INTO PLAYABLE INSTRUMENTS

A new handheld device called the Orba 2 lets you turn found sounds into playable instruments.

The portable, easy-to-use gadget is intuitively designed with a playing surface that reacts to the nine gestures: Tap, Press, Radiate, Tilt, Shake, Spin, Vibrato, Move, and Bump. Through the accompanying Orba App, Orba 2 users can record anything from a bicycle bell or a bird in a tree to roadworks and the human voice, which can then be played, looped, and shared as a melody. You can also import samples you’ve previously recorded.

This palm-sized looper, synth, and MIDI controller is an updated version of Artiphone’s first award-winning Orba device and comes equipped with a new sound engine that includes audio samples and more than 100 new pre-loaded sounds. Among the new audio samples are real instruments like electric guitars and upright pianos.

Orba 2 can be synced via MIDI to other devices and hardware and works with GarageBand, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase, and FL Studio. The device is priced at €159/£139. Watch a demo video below and find out more on the Artiphon site.

Written by Anthony Vanger

Additional research and reporting by Adam “Badger” Woolf