And this is meant in the most literal sense. Have you ever tuned into a radioshow, which suddenly got polluted by the incessant, grinding voice of a person so utterly in love with themselves that you lack the appropriate tool to make it stop. To really ram it home that this infuriating wall of self-congratulatory inanity must cease and never be allowed to speak again? Well, it turns out you’re in luck. Norwegian company Skrekkøgle has invented a radio with an accompanying cork that let’s you whip out a can of STFU on that cretin of a radio host.
Remember how we told you not to sleep on this documentary last week? Well, it turns out we kinda slept on it. It was released last Wednesday. Hey, what do you want, this is a busy company! Anyways, the of Red Bull Music Academy’s spot on one of the most important labels of last decade is pretty tasty (and self-deprecating in that characteristically dry New York fashion), so step inside, press play and check out James Murphy’s rakish new hat - and enthusiastic take on peanut butter.
Listen to the music being played in Dalston, London, Williamsburg, New York, or Nørrebro, Copenhagen; these days music discovery apps are a dime a dozen, but the Clerkd app makes a remarkable promise that just might nudge the app landscape in a bold new direction if the student-founded enterprise from Helsinki play their cards right and manage get enough people invested in sharing on their network.
Marvel at the painstaking work of paper cut enthusiasts who spent what seems like a significant part of their lives just to impress your eyeballs. Show these people some goddamn respect and watch this video immediately!
There are quite a few domino videos doing the rounds on the web, but very few are as inventive and well-executed as the action in the promo for A-Trak and Tommy Trash’s ‘Tuna Melt’. Sit back, relax and enjoy the relentless ride through dominoes, flames, water, toilets and pretty much anything else you can think of within a dominoes-related context.
- with this nifty little wooden juicer called Turn Around, which not only looks beautifully simple, but also brings back juicing to its tactile origin through the ‘Nordic hyper analogue design’ as KiBiSi put it.
In this, the latest Fragment interview, we stayed close to home, more specifically the Copenhagen borough of Nørrebro, where we had an in-depth conversation with up-and-coming producer/DJ Beastie Respond AKA Tobias Hjørnet Pedersen. This is what the Rinse.FM-featured, Blawan-remixed and progressively rising artist had to say about drum and bass, his enduring love for the 80s - and singing into an iPhone on the bus.
Ghostly International, our discerning friends who have given us so much good music over the years, have slowly moved away from being ‘just’ a record label and branched out into art, style, pop-up shops and most recently: sugar. More specifically, they’ve created a remarkable limited art edition of Beacon’s new album ‘The Ways We Separate’. Housed in a sculpture cast in sugar and epoxy, the latest Ghostly innovation should make an eye-catching addition to your record collection.
- is one of the cleverest pieces of experimental sound design we’ve laid our ears on for quite some time. By performing the seemingly simple act of rubbing leaves against a turntable, composer and sound designer Diego Stocco creates overwhelmingly delectable ear candy that makes turntable wizkids like Kid Koala seem like musical conservatives in comparison.
One of the world’s best DJs throws down the sound among the scantily clad pool posse of Boiler Room Miami. Enjoy the timeless, tantalizingly tasteful set of the main man Carl Craig as he takes you on an electronic odyssey of great things past and present from Moodyman to Omar S.
Gold is rocked around the neck and on the ears as Johannesburg’s finest treats us to a set full of syncopated gems and low-end delicacies. The crowd may not exactly be going apeshit, but this will in no way deter us from bigging up Spoek’s Boiler Room set.
More mindblowing stuff from the world of experimental sound design. j.viewz has made it his mission to play one of Massive Attack’s most enduring hits on an aubergine, some strawberries and a carrot. A mission that he succeeds in completing with flying, fruity colours.
Our partners over at KiBiSi have yet another award to place on what must be an increasingly strained mantelpiece. And this time around they took it home with a magnetically attachable bike light that performs a cut above the rest while being easy on the eye in that characteristic KiBiSi fashion.
- is not the title of ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist john Frusciante’s latest solo album. It’s actually a sound experiment that makes water flow in awe-inducing shapes and patterns. Click play on the video and prepare to be delighted.
That’s right, Studio A will be having Traktor weeks in Studio A from the 4th until the 16th of March, which means that everyone’s welcome to drop by and try out Native Instruments’ acclaimed DJ Software used by a diverse and brilliant range of DJs from Matthew Dear to Richie Hawtin.
Yes, that’s a promise we’re prepared to make even though the documentary hasn’t even been released yet. How did we work up the nerve to posit such a bold claim in the face of potential ridiculing from the legions of nerds who will no doubt have irreconcilable opinions on this topic? Well, for starters because Ghostly International’s Jason Amm AKA Solvent produced and co-wrote the damn thing. And when the list of interviewees reads: John Foxx, Vince Clarke (Erasure), Daniel Miller (Mute), Carl Craig, James Holden, Trent Reznor, Dominic Butler (Factory Floor), Legowelt, Chris Carter, John Tejada, and Gary Numan, you know you’ve struck solid gold.
The very competent RBMA crew say that:’H∆SHTAG$ is a new series of mini-documentaries from the Red Bull Music Academy, chronicling some of the most fascinating themes emerging from the web in recent times, from #cloudrap to #seapunk, #postdubstep to #advancedpop.’ Whatever it is, it’s most definitely worth a watch.
REWIIIIIIIIIIIND! Ninjatune mainstay, Bonobo, sure does know how to light the fires of an already sizzling Boiler Room.
Here's a little video we made to celebrate the day of love. Not for the faint of heart. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! We're so loved up that there's free shipping on all headphones in the webstore...
As it turns out, scientific inquiry into sound doesn’t only have an impact on our ears. It can also be extremely easy on the eye as these photos from the audio chambers at the Technical University of Denmark are a stunning testament to.
Tonight is the night that Beck Hansen reinterprets and performs David Bowie’s classic ‘Sound and Vision’ in collaboration with 170 musicians. Taking place on a specially constructed circular stage and working within a multi-directional sound environment, the performance will explore the possibilities of perspective and sound movement surrounding the audience. This rather spectacular concept will be recorded using 360º equipment and shown online February 10th.
Red Bull just opened an impressive new studio right here in Copenhagen. Designed and built with the aim of giving local talent a forum for recording and producing music, the latest initiative from the Red Bull camp looks characteristically on-point and painstakingly realized.
This is our medium and these are its contributors in no particular order.
Emil AKA Emil Viril and AIAIAI go way back. Or at least a couple of years back. The Tartelet Records boss works in our office and is sort of our man in Berlin. When he's not providing Eyes & Ears with insider knowledge, clues and interviews, Emil frequently DJs in both Copenhagen and Berlin and constitutes one half of the hilariously named producer duo Muff Deep.
Throne of Blood Records started in Dec 2006 as a joint venture between The Rapture and DJ James Friedman. Initially created as a venue for releasing remix singles off The Raptures 2006 album Pieces of the People We Love. This year Throne of Blood will continue to push ahead with more releases in the pipeline and a host of live events to follow. Cosmic Kids, Bohemian Groove, Bicep, Daniel Avery, Call Super and Populette are only a few of the excellent artists on our good bud James Friedman's roster. Always searching for the new and next, expect to be surprised in the coming months as the label's talented bloggers come at you with with off-kilter anekdotes and straight up brilliance.
Christian Zander AKA The Emperor of Antarctica was born in Denmark and grew up in Hans Christian Andersen's hometown, Odense. In 1998, he dropped out of high school accepting a job offer from a local ad agency. After that, he worked in Copenhagen on Nike, work which resulted in the first Cannes D'Or Grand Prix given to Denmark since 1961. He then went on to work on the Lego brand at PR firm 'Sigma' before co-founding 'Bottega Areté, an experimental design group and artist collective, in 2002. Bottega Areté were pioneers in the digitally driven VJ scene in Scandinavia in the early 00s. In 2006, he relocated to Bucharest and worked between Denmark and Romania until 2008, when he returned to Denmark to start his solo practice as 'the Emperor of Antarctica' - working on graphics for music, the design of Copenhagen luxury hotel apartments Stay Copenhagen, and as the Art Director for Danish headphone brand AIAIAI. From 2011 till the end of 2012 he relocated back to Bucharest to focus on his own studies again. Focusing on aperiodic patterns and programming. He keeps a tight relationship with us here at AIAIAI and for that we're eternally grateful.
Ulrik AKA Uggis is the editor of Eyes & Ears. He works at AIAIAI where he handles written communication and internet-related dealings and when he’s not sat in AIAIAI HQ he finds the time to be an awkward Trekkie who nerds about music and occasionally contributes to Dazed Digital.
Fie is our resident film geek and movie-going enthusiast. She has a weekness for sci-fi and a preference for kitchy old stuff, but genre or vintage is no limitation – she ventures, views and reviews. Moreover, Fie used to hide out in the projectionist room of a Northjutland cinema and constantly yearn for the flickering cinematic realm. Now she's using her eyes and ears to bring her filmic recommendations to the light of day.
Long-haired, leather-clad, impossibly tall Ole likes Rock 'n Roll and is not afraid to look like it. When not blogging for us or attending gigs in Nørrebro's grubby rock bars and clubs, he studies Ideation at KEA with a focus on music.
Previously affiliated with the now sadly defunct but still legendary Copenhagen club, Dunkel, the Dunkel Radio crew are comprised of Najaraaq, Daniel and Andreas, three very musical, bright young things who make it their business to report from the global electronic underground. Expect discerning tips, in-depth interviews and quite a few curveballs from the Dunkel Radio Crew who also DJ at Studio A from Time to time.