The Wilderness Downtown

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

The Arcade Fire has released a new interactive video experience in conjunction with their Grammy Award winning album "The Suburbs" (2010).  When users arrive at the site, they are prompted to provide the address of the house they grew up in. Press play, and the film begins with an hooded figure running down an unidentified street to the song "We Used to Wait." Soon, complimentary frames open with Google Maps images of the surrounding area of your childhood home moving to the music. The idea of making music videos personal to each audience member is revolutionary in its own rite, but the band isn't done yet. Part way through the song, a frame opens up that encourages users to write a postcard to themselves when they were a child living in that house. The interactivity gives fans a chance to contribute to "The Wilderness Downtown" by submitting these postcards to the online community. When the band goes on tour, they will use these cards that appeal to innocence and youth for concert promotion. Arcade Fire will use what they call "the wilderness machine" to create the cards out of materials that, when planted, will grow a new tree.

This initiative is progressive on so many levels. Not only are they promoting alternative forms of media production, but they are also encouraging an involved and invested community of fans. Anytime a media platform becomes interactive, users feel a heightened sense of connection to the brand they are following. In addition to these artistic and social considerations, the experience becomes environmental by promoting the planting of trees, and hopefully, the beautification of the neighborhood you used to call home. Needless to say, the Arcade Fire is contributing to the advancement of our creative networks, and the way that artists interact with their fans through digital media. The experience is free and certainly worth every minute.

Now, What  do you see?

Tangible sound

I got a record player yesterday. Yes, a real live record player. A Crosley CR249-TA Keepsake USB turntable to be exact. I couldn't be more happy. I forgot what it felt like to have a physical object that plays sounds. But, who am I kidding? I was 10 when the MP3 was introduced into the market in 1999, so I guess I never really knew.  Just three short blocks from my house in Greenwich Village is Generation Records. I spent 45 minutes thoughtfully thumbing through the stacks of new and used music, taking in not only the names of the artists, but also the beautiful artwork flipping by me like a slideshow of nostalgia and anticipation. Finally, I settled on the Black Keys - The Big Come Up (2002). In preparation for Coachella 2011, I felt the need to stay faithful to the lineup. The next day, I couldn't stay away. I went back and bought The XX (2009), Abbey Road (1969), and The Arcade Fire - Suburbs (2010). My ears are happy.

It feels gratifying to revert back to the pre-MP3 mode of tangible sound. Being able to visually see my growing collection instead of just checking the number of songs at the bottom of my iTunes window makes me feel connected to the music in a way that I never experience unless I attend a live show. The physical presence of music and its associated equipment gives it an aura of ownership and identification that simple digital listing cannot provide. However, it is not only being able to see and touch the medium producing the music, but also experiencing the technological process itself, that adds to the tactile temptation of playing records. When the needle is placed on the record, it vibrates along the groves of the record to create a sound that is electrically amplified. The full and luscious sound of the friction that is produced by this process has layers of texture and depth that you can feel when you listen to it. Most of all, I feel connected to an earlier generation because of this physical artifact. I can time travel back fifty years to an era when music was thriving in a very socially conscious way. If I can bring those artifacts into to the 21st century, I only hope some of the spirit and passion of the previous century makes its way into my New York niche too.  

Now. What do you see?

Steal

With the advent of the Internet and other forms of mass media, there are more and more possibilities for productivity and increased market share. The capabilities associated with a powerful platform like cable television or the World Wide Web attract many eager business men and women to try and get a piece of the pie, and the pieces the media industry serves are quite tempting. The enterprises that result from these new mass markets must create means to protect what they have produced.  They have a right to benefit from the products their intellectual and economic property generate without fear that hackers and file sharers will offer it for free to millions of eager downloaders. It is paramount that those creative and constructive minds feel safe that their artistry will not be misused. Without scaffolding like copyright protection and corporate backing, many artists would not pour their hearts and imaginations into their work. They need these structures in order to let their minds free into realms of abstract energy and inspiration. 


At the same time, however, they make their works for people to savor. What would art be if the audience was not encouraged to contemplate it with their whole being? For all the revenue that the industry produces for the few people who make the art, what public good does it serve? It seems lately that those who control the media are more focused on their bottom line than expanding the consciousness of the masses. Websites like ThePirateBay and BitTorrent that enable users to access songs, movies and many other types of media for free are not inherently evil, nor do they represent the collapse of the music industry. With added bandwidth capability of our networks, there are many possibilities not only for efficiency and education, but also for wastefulness and foul play. As culture connoisseurs and media lovers, it is up to us to maintain the good character of the Internet. I believe that users should have a right to access the content that others have created, but we must be mindful of our impact. Those who use media responsibly should not have to suffer for those who abuse the power it wields. Buy what you can, take what you can't, but make sure to appreciate it. Open your senses and let the rich culture around you nourish your spirit and your imagination. Let it help you grow and transform into someone more alive in this world. Share that understanding with everyone around you. Give back. People dedicated their lives to it's creation. Do not take that gift for granted, or we may loose the possibility for freedom. 

Now. What do you see?

The "Real Life" Station

As I begin my last semester of college and prepare to turn my radio to the “real life” station, I hope that reflection will lead me to new realizations about the industry I aspire to become part of. As a Media, Culture and Communication major at New York University, I have spent four years contemplating the electronic devices that have become engrained in 21st century culture and what those networks mean for the way I perceive my relationships, the market and myself. Have the wit and social graces of Tolstoy and Austin been drowned in a sea of tweets and LOL’s? Will Photoshop gloss over the beautiful impurities of the strange and the underground? Are the fumes from Perez Hilton’s white Sharpie slander causing investigative journalists everywhere to collapse at their desks? Will hidden cameras and associated IP addresses track you every move? Are they watching you right now? To fully address these concerns and other possible outcomes, I hope to begin a discourse about individuals and companies who are working to capitalize on the qualities of the digital era that promote widespread creativity and productivity. Communications and Aspirations will spotlight best practices from diverse fields of the media including the Internet, TV, film, music and cellular data. I will not only look at current material but also at past phenomena that blasted the industry into new realms of relating and insight. Despite the breadth of subject material that I will be looking at, the golden thread that cannot be unwoven from my perspective is a focus on Communication –it permeates our relationships and aesthetic understanding, it brings societies together while also bringing you to yourself, and it cannot be disassociated from the human experience. It may take many manifestations and applications, but Communication is key.

Now. What do you see?