Fallon UK won last week the One Show Award for Exceptional Innovation in Media & Marketing , with their Tate Modern campaign. The project invited music artists such as Chemical Brothers or The Klaxons to produce of a series of new music tracks inspired by works at the gallery.

It’s a bit old news, since the website is online since September, sharing the exclusive tracks, that were first available only to the visitors to listen at the gallery. Check video below for the full case study.

It’s interesting to see that collaborations between popular culture, advertising and brands are becoming more frequent. Whether it’s guerrilla or a new use of media (check also the Newsbreaker action), the future of advertising is increasingly searching for references in popular culture and inviting citizens to be/make the advertising experience.

I’m a sucker for soundtracks as they’re usually offer a great selection of music. And if you happen (as i am) to be a fan of Heroes, then you definitely have to check this blog: http://heroessongs.com/

It’s a great community work, and provides direct links to free MP3s. My favorite tune of all episodes still is Eyes from Rogue Wave, that you can listen at the band’s MySpace page. While you’re waiting for the next episode, how about listening to this heroic playlist?

Just in case anyone is interested in the singles, below are my favorite Heroes to tracks and albums by Rogue wave, Sigur Ros and Imogen Heap.:

Either bands/artists aren’t making enough money to produce their own videos, or they have gone into a CGM/Web 2.0 spree, and started asking users to create their music videos. The latest one that i remember of was from Incubus, and had one portuguese winner, Carlos Oliveira.

Now Bjork came up with the idea of asking users to create a clip for “Volta“. The song is “Innocence” and you can download the assets (photos, lyrics and mp3) and create the video until August. Since no prize is announced, probaly only hard-core fans and video jockeys will be interested.

Lately this CGM buzz starts to seem a lot like a designer’s spec work, where we (consumers) do all the work and the content owners reward us with promises of fame.

Well, well, it seems that “A Weekend in the City” was below the expected, as Kele and his band are turning to a new career, doing even more covers of famous pop artists. In their own way, Bloc Party are already pop stars so no harm is done.

Listen here: Block Party Live Songs from Jo Whiley’s Radio 1 Show

Last week, the brazillian composer Amon Tobin released Foley Room, and complains about the leaked pirated copies on its logbook:

all I can comment on with any certainty is how all this has affected me personally and in light of my nearing release this might be of interest to those of you who’ve expressed an interest in my music.
(…)
it’s unlikely that you will be able to order a copy even from online stores … the predicted sales of the record were so low that it didn’t justify the manufacture or distribution to any significant level.
(…)
you can draw your own conclusions as to what this means with regards to my own future output. again I stress that I’m not talking about what should happen here.

He’s making very clear one of the most compelling arguments against piracy: if you don’t bother to buy music, these talented artists (specially on cutting edge areas) will have no incentive to go on.

On another subject, Amon Tobin has also a new website, a journey through a underwater space, with deep sounds and a ambient inspired by H.R. Geiger or “The Abyss”.

It makes a lot more sense after you see the album trailers, with the sound experiments building the foundation for his new album. As a fan of Steve Reich, i’m anxious to listen (and buy) this new album, that is believed to be one of the best works from Amon Tobin.

URL: http://www.amontobin.com/field/
Interactive Agency: Freeset (the company who also made Human Locator)

Good things come to those who wait.

Besides the web/advertising related posts, i evangelize a lot about Arcade Fire so it’s rewarding to see that they’ve just reached #1 in several iTunes charts.

The only thing that i miss is the chance to see them live, but it seems that they’ll be in Portugal at SBSR festival so hope remains. After Paredes de Coura fest 2 years ago, i miss that ethereal atmosphere on AF concerts.

And look what came today with the post: Neon Bible Deluxe Edition.

Straight from Merge Records and earlier than predicted, - the release date is March 6th. The package included a A2 poster all neon-like, 2 flipbooks and a sleek holographic paperbox.

I’m not reviewing it, since my opinion is clearly biased: It’s fucking awesome!

What are you waiting for? Go buy it !

After all the buzz around Of Montreal that Pitchfork did, it was almost unforgivable not to listen to “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?“. The band of Kevin Barnes (from Elephant 6 collective)  went over a smooth reinvention of their sound, more distant from the previous glam/psychedelic/experimental albums.

Of Montreal’s album starts with some vibrant tunes (particularly the first one, “Suffer for Fashion”) reaching a turning point in the extra-long “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal”,  and revealing a new musical rainbow in the second half of the album, that i’m still learning how to appreciate.

But it surely is one of the greatest albums of 2007.

Fueled by the leaked singles and some of the recent concerts of AF, i’ve pre-ordered the Deluxe CD of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible.

According tho the forums, the tracklist goes like this:

1. Black Mirror
2. Keep The Car Running
3. Neon Bible
4. Intervention
5. Black Wave Bad Vibrations
6. Ocean of Noise
7. The Well & The Lighthouse
8. Antichrist Television Blues
9. Windowsill
10. No Cars Go
11. My Body Is A Cage

The Neon Bible site has also some updates, with a spinning phenakisticope - hope i wrote that right - and a screaming evangelic brazilian girl. You can also listen to the new single “Black Mirror”.

There’s also a leak of a live private concert they did on St. Michael Church in Montreal.