They did it. The Internet Symphony is complete. Nice work by my mate Tom Uglow at Google in the UK – who’s at Carnegie Hall NYC right now. See my original post on the project here.

Röyksopp’s ‘Remind Me’ music video is a classic from 2002. The video gives me music, narrative and informational fantastic-ness. As you know I’m a sucker for diagrams, data visulaisations, infographics and information represented in more digestive forms. It’s good to rediscover things that inspire you.

It [the music video] features a day in the life of a woman working in the London’s Square Mile solely through infographics; this includes labelled close-ups of everyday objects, product lifecycles, schematic diagrams, charts, and is generally illustrated in a simple isometric visual style.
Source Wikipedia

French motion graphics studio H5 are behind this piece and its worth having a look at their other work – very talented.

Minilogue – Animals from ljudbilden on Vimeo.

At the heart of the idea is a musical audition via recorded video submitted to YouTube. Classical musicians play to a specially composed piece of music by Tan Dun, (known for the soundtracks for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero). Here’s an interview about the piece.

To participate in the ‘virtual performance’ musicians simply choose the instrument they want to play, this reveals sheet music (pdf) and a video of Tan Dun conducting. Musicians then record their performance and submit – currently unsure of the magic that happens at the YouTube end.. but would hazard a guess at a ‘massive’ mashup bringing all of the instruments together for Tan Dan’s orchestral vision. To be up for a chance to play in NYC a separate piece of music (list to choose from) and video is required for audition.

It’s a sound strategy that builds content around common interest, talent and idea. What better way to bring credibility than get a notable composer to inspire this talented audience. I look forward to seeing the results… and how its actually executed.

So to help the cause (and the lads) simply download the track from iTunes (its free) and if you love it, go buy the album!

Get to know the band on MySpace

The split screen shows a day in the life of two kids, in such different worlds; one in the comfort of a typical western home and school, the other woken with a kick and set to work in a factory. Makes you realise how fortunate we are to be able to nurture and grow our children in relative comfort and safety. The clip raises awareness of the issue of child exploitation and human trafficking that needs our attention and support.

The idea was from Sydney agency Colman Rasic Carrasco. The video was created by Revolver Film, the left-had split screen was filmed at my partners little boys school, right here in sunny old Sydney.

Lets hope more bands see the value in letting their songs be used for good. The power and the reach of this collaboration will no doubt be astounding.

Can your phone do this?
Talk to me… so if the iPhone wasn’t hacked, cracked and genuinely pushed beyond the realms of its supposed purpose in life – this couldn’t of happened. May we all open our lives and platforms to invention and opportunity!!! It’s Friday, I’ve had a beer – bare with me and get enthused.

First seen on: MAKE

Birdy Nam Nam, at the DMC world championships.

I’m listening to this track almost every morning at the moment. I’ve never seen a BOC video before, and in some ways I didn’t want to (there has always been visuals in my mind, man!)… but I like this, the surf bit is questionable – but all in all it works for me.

Enjoy the clip, and the music of Boards of Canada. If you haven’t heard of boc, or are unfamiliar with them. Check out the boc discography I found on Google.