The beauty the colder season brings always never fails to floor me. My 2 favorite artists to listen to during the winter come to together and bring ISO50 an exclusive single Baryon.
There was chaos and violence, a collision of dark matter and heat.
In the maelstrom, a legacy was created and a new moon born.
She left something here forever.
But amongst infinite black depths,
Theia rages on.
Markus Guentner’s new album, Theia, arrives early November on double transparent vinyl housed in a matt-laminated gatefold sleeve.
I was first introduced to Whitestone via my involvement with Italian electronic musician and producer Indian Wells’ sophomore release, Pause, for whom I did the album art for. Whitestone had contacted his label, Bad Panda Records, expressing interest about collaborating in creating an “interactive experience” for the release as part of a new platform they were developing. Naturally, as a designer (and musician myself) I was intrigued, specially after watching the video above, so I asked Roey Tsemah, founder and creative director of Whitestone, if I could pick his brain for a bit:
ISO50: What is Whitestone exactly, and who is behind it?
Roey: Good question, Whitestone is a platform for interactive music. It is a place for artists and fans who want more than just pressing play.
I am a musician, and as most musicians I’m also one of those die-hard music fans who still buy vinyl. About 4 years ago I set myself a goal to take album artwork to the next level, help artists make use of the browser as means of expression and create music for the internet.
I’m always comparing it to MTV. MTV created a place for artists to release music for TV and by doing that they inspired a different kind of creation. Conceptual artists like Peter Gabriel used the medium creatively and made history with videoclips like Sledge Hammer. We would like to do the same with interactive music.
At the moment we are a team of 4 people and we want to keep the platform independent so artists like us can gain the most off of it. We are raising funds on Kickstarter to help us build the platform and community. We hope that artists and fans who read this will help us bring Whitestone to life.
When MTV actually played music videos
Roey Tsemah’s Sketchbook
ISO50: What inspired you start a platform like this?
Roey: Artists like Bjork, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, who have made interactive apps and videos before. I just want to see more artists make stuff like this. Also, I think interactive experiences are a great way to add value to music online. Fans want to support artists but at the moment the only reward artists give them are MP3 downloads… Personally I don’t have anything to do with MP3s, they just take up space on my drive. I think there are better ways to reward supporting fans.
ISO50: How will people collect this new form of “interactive album art”?
Roey: Members accounts (both fans and artists) are built out of two main components – The Timeline and the Library. The Timeline (pictured above) is similar to other social networks, while the Library (pictured below) works similarly to Pinterest. Both fans and artist can add albums, mixtape, interactive experiences etc to their library, regardless of where they are online. Other fans can then follow them based on their curation. The whole idea is inspired by the way we used to discover music before streaming – we used to check our friends music collections, go through their CDs, bootlegs and mixtapes – our music collection says a lot about us and I believe it’s the best way to discover music.
Whitestone doesn’t distinct artists from fans in that sense, all artists I know are first of all music fans. At the moment there is no place we can explore, for instance, The Gaslamp Killer’s music collection, imagine how cool that would be…
Music fans (me included) spend hours, days and nights learning everything about albums we love, many of us contribute our knowledge on music forums and Facebook groups. Whitestone has a ranking system to reward such fans, encouraging them to participate and share their knowledge. The higher fans are ranked among the community they become influential and the platform rewards them with badges and coins to buy content on the platform. Also,they get the attention of their favourite artists who can then reward them with merch, gig tickets etc.
ISO50: What artists, both musicians and visual, would you like to see adopt your platform?
Roey: The general rule is everyone who gets inspired by the medium, the internet, the screen, code and data. Artists who see the possibilities in creative code, generative art etc. I love what Random Studio are doing and also Resn. They create rad interactive experiences. Musicians like Flying Lotus of course, Cold Cut and any Ninja Tune artists. Warp also, but that’s just because I’m into this kind of music at the moment. I also think it may benefit many ambient and minimal techno artists like Claudio PRC, for example
ISO50: So you’re a designer as well, what would you say is your favorite album cover and why?
Roey: Ow… there are so many… I love Ghostpoet’sSome Say I So I Say Light, the newFKA Twigs and Currents by Tame Impala (which I think would make for a sick interactive experience). Everything Bjork makes. Same with Radiohead (I love the process they go through with their longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood) Flying Lotus, Moderat, there are many, many more. I guess I can’t really name a favorite because I love different kinds of stuff. I think what attracts me most is the process and how the result reflects on the music.
Tame Impala – Currents (Design by Robert Beatty)
ISO50: Where do you see Whitestone in the future?
Roey: Basically I want Whitestone to be a hub for true music fans and artists online. A place where they can connect and support each other. A place not owned by a huge corporation but a small independent group of artists. I truly believe that together we can pull this off, I hope the readers will join us and help make it happen. We made a special website to honor all our backers, it’s an interactive credits page where every backer becomes part of a “Stone” -The bigger the stone is, the stronger we become as a community, the closer we get to our goal.
If you wish to support Whitestone, visit their Kickstarter campaign and pledge to get one of these amazing art/research books designed by Roey himself, among other rewards:
My passion for discovering music bounces around from genre to genre, for the last few years I keep coming back to THIS sound. I understand the repetition and substance might be lacking for some but when I listen to music this song is pretty much the exact thing I want to hear, its soo rare to find that feeling being fulfilled.
This one is short but as rewarding as it gets, a bounty of special tracks mixed by Astro Nautico’sTime Wharp. There’s a wide range of cuts that show off how unique a Time Wharp set is, his natural way of flowing in and out different moods and genres is one of a kind.
The refreshing efforts on putting out new styles of music has to be born somewhere and 1080p seems to be the front runners when it comes to revival of new age and IDM music. The above collection of demos really shows that off, really been enjoying the CFCF album too if you haven’t had a chance to hear it.
All new 1080p tracks—demos and rough cuts and direct takes from upcoming cassettes and 12″s.
Tracklist
Earth Boys – Spring Fling
Image Man – Esle1on
Trust Image – Sun
Co La – Suffering (Tuesday)
Dialect – Chewing Springs
I Am Just A Pupil – Apothecary
Talk Story – Water Baby
??? – River Drum
Sasha, Jan + Rezzie – Wild Heart
Kirk The Flirt & Peter Pressure – Never Ever Give Up
Project Pablo – Lalime (OG Mix)
Loophead – Aesthia
Khotin – Human Voice
??? – Clouds of David
Journeymann Trax – Inside
Mall Grab – Drive
Max McFerren – Hard To Say
??? – Bounce With
??? – ???
Trust Image – Rory’s Dream
Beta Librae – Wavy
Via App – Set You
What gorgeous repetition, if you’ve been following the collection or any LV releases then you knew Vynehall was going to deliver and did he ever.
The first Musik For Autobahns was a delight: softly-softly ambient and subtle cuts from the likes of Move D, Suzanne Kraft, Roman Flügel and plenty more besides. Even amongst Rush Hour’s bounty that year, it stood proudly out. A ripple of excitement went through BR HQ upon finding out Gerd Janson was lining up a second, with no shortage of marquee signings all coming correct with their A game.
Recorded May 2015 at La Berceuse, Seattle WA with guitar, magnetic tape and voice Thomas Meluch is back at it again in the ambient ring. Some William Basinski style repetition here, with only 2 tracks being reviewable you can still get a good sense of what is gifted to us. The calmness and delicate crackling is almost too clean for Thomas but its a great change up and beautiful edition to his discography.
Not much is explained on why Galcher Lustwerk has the alias Road Hog besides that he misses driving which relaxed him and i’m sure there’s less pressure it. This release is a bit looser and bright in my opinion, there’s a ton of repetition as always but the meat and potatoes of it all has a positive raise. The track Stretch is the most Galcher because of the chord progression, either way its worth your time and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
No info attached but it looks like we’ll be getting a Airbird & Napolian album this month via Cascine. Their last single was definitely a favorite from Playlist 16.
