“Playing some Red Hot Chili Peppers song using an actual red hot chili pepper… and a bass guitar!”
LEGO Bionicle Robots Play Kraftwerk And Daft Punk
Musician and daytime technician Giuseppe Acito aka Opificio Sonico created a tiny set of bandmates using LEGO Bionicle robots he’s programmed to play a mix of sensors, smartphones, and other inputs. Here, they perform Kraftwerk’s The Robots and Daft Punk’s Da Funk.
Postmodern Jukebox and Kenton Chen Perform A Funk Cover Of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’
Pop music cover band Postmodern Jukebox teamed up with vocalist Kenton Chen to perform a funk cover of “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails.
The VODER Has Been Around Since 1939
Considered the first electrical speech synthesizer, VODER (Voice Operation DEmonstratoR) was developed by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs and demonstrated at both the 1939 New York World’s Fair and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Difficult to use and difficult to operate, VODER nonetheless paved the way for future machine-generated speech.
How To Get Phil Collins’ Synth Sound For “In The Air Tonight”
In this edition of Reverb Synth Sounds, William Kurk breaks down the Phil Collins classic “In The Air Tonight.”
Originally released in 1981 on Collins’ Face Value, the song has become emblematic of ’80s pop music. Oddly enough, as William explains in the video above, the song’s foundation is built on a preset disco pattern on the Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 drum machine. From there, the song utilizes a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 polyphonic synth and a heavy dose of gated reverb.
Photo Gallery: Steel Panther with Diamante at Toronto’s Rebel Nightclub
Walk on the Wild Side: The People who Inspired Lou Reed’s Classic Song
Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed from his second solo album, Transformer in 1972, was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, and released as a double A-side with “Perfect Day”. The song received wide radio coverage, despite its touching on taboo topics such as transsexuality, drugs, male prostitution, and oral sex. In the United States, RCA released the single using an edited version of the song without the reference to oral sex.
The lyrics, describing a series of individuals and their journeys to New York City, refer to several of the regular “superstars” at Andy Warhol’s New York studio, the Factory, namely Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, Jackie Curtis and Joe Campbell (referred to in the song by his nickname Sugar Plum Fairy). Candy Darling was also the subject of Reed’s earlier song for The Velvet Underground, “Candy Says”.
Spotify, Tencent and Tencent Music Entertainment announce equity investments
Spotify, Tencent Holdings Limited and its subsidiary Tencent Music Entertainment Group today jointly announce equity investments, strengthening relationships between the two most popular music streaming platforms in the world.
TME and Spotify will acquire new shares representing minority equity stakes in each other for cash. In addition, Tencent will invest in Spotify through secondary purchases. Following these transactions, Spotify will hold a minority stake in TME, and both Tencent and TME will hold minority stakes in Spotify.
Spotify operates the world’s largest music streaming service. Tencent, which owns a majority stake in TME, operates the most popular social platforms in China and has a proven record of investing in innovative technology companies. TME is an early mover in authorized digital music and is the largest online music services company in China. It provides a rich catalogue of digital music services including streaming, online live broadcasts and karaoke, serving hundreds of millions of users.
Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder, Spotify, said, “Spotify and Tencent Music Entertainment see significant opportunities in the global music streaming market for all our users, artists, music and business partners. This transaction will allow both companies to benefit from the global growth of music streaming.”
Cussion Pang, CEO of TME, said: “We are excited to embark on this partnership with the largest music streaming platform in the world. TME and Spotify will work together to explore collaboration opportunities, with a common objective to foster a vibrant music ecosystem that benefits users, artists and content owners.”
Martin Lau, President at Tencent, said: “We are delighted to facilitate this strategic collaboration between the two largest digital music platforms in the world. Both of us share the same commitment to bringing music and superior entertainment experiences to music lovers, and to expanding the global digital music market for artists and content partners.”