Talk of the town in the past couple of weeks has been Arcade Fire and Google’s inspired interactive music experience - The Wilderness Downtown.
Set to the band’s track “We Used to Wait”, the project is not only a showcase for Google Chrome, Streetview, Maps (and HTML5), but is also a very nice example of how the music industry is embracing tech to create richer audience experiences. It prompted me to consider which other bands have experimented with interactive videos recently, as very few seem to have struck a similarly powerful chord as this previously (sorry). Here are a few that are worth a look, though I have to admit not all the songs are necessarily my favourite tracks…
Users can use their mouse to ‘puppeteer’ lead singer Win Butler. Ever want to make a rock star throw an apple and summon celestial lights? If so, this is the video for you.
2. Labuat - “Soy tu Aire“
Users can create their own visuals to accompany the music using their mouse - designed to let you bring to life the feeling of the music with your own gestures.
3. Cold War Kids - “I’ve Seen Enough”
Users can create their own version of the track in real time with a click of a mouse; either by muting or changing the track being played by each of the four band members.
The online equivalent of an LSD trip, users were able to click the buttons underneath the main visual content of the video to change colours, backgrounds, effects.
A 3d music video in which Twitter comments posted to #killingme appear in the same style as the other things that are ‘killing’ Robyn. I like the simplicity of the mechanic at least…
