“Shadow” Video Broke 100K Views on Vimeo!

The “Shadow” video broke 100,000 views on Vimeo this weekend! I’m kinda speechless, folks.

A big fat all-capital-letter THANK YOU to everyone who watched, wrote about, supported, and/or helped make the video possible.

“Shadow” Video on Vimeo Staff Picks!

Got some incredible news last night, folks! The video for “Shadow” was selected for Vimeo’s Staff Picks, as well as to be featured on their homepage. At the time of writing this, we’re up to 31K views & rising fast! I screen-grabbed it here before it disappears into the ether… Yahooooo!!!

Portable.tv Interview

Did an interview with the kind folks over at Portable.tv the other day for the “Shadow” video:

“Shadow”‘s haunting, surmounting instrumentals are drawn out by the rapper’s story of the all consuming woman he can’t forget. Contrasted by the ethereal female vocals of White Hinterland, the perfect blend of tension and duality is created.

PRINTS // “Shadow” Music Video

I’m very excited to share the brand new music video for “Shadow (feat. Lyrics Born & White Hinterland)!” It premiered earlier this week over at Consequence of Sound. The video was written and directed by my extremely talented pal, Ryan O’Hara Theisen, and shot on location in Brooklyn in 2011.

Here are a few things Ryan had to say about his inspiration & concept:

Powerful tracks can breathe life into sleepy emotions and memories from the past. ‘Shadow’ found it’s way back to my darkroom days of college, where I worked as a photographer’s assistant. I printed hundreds of portrait images every week and, indirectly, started to create strange voyeuristic relationships with the images of people I was bringing to life…

The visual aesthetic grew out of the John Hedgecoe photo books I studied as a high school student. The photos from those books, especially the nudes, always had a late 70’s magic to them. With ‘Shadow,’ we brought a Hedgecoe nude shoot to life; lots of available light, natural textures, an earthy color palette and an innocent looking model. Outside of the studio, we continued our 1979 world with great vintage get ups and by using the gritty exterior of the DUMBO, Brooklyn waterfront as our background.

I posted a few stills from the video over on my Facebook page - you can check them out HERE.

And lastly, here’s the Soundcloud to stream/download “Shadow” and all of its accompanying remixes for freeeeeee!

PRINTS // “Shadow (Project Jenny, Project Jan Remix)”

DOWNLOAD: http://bit.ly/PJPJ_RMX

Happy Friday, everyone! Pleased to present the latest “Shadow” remix from my pals, Project Jenny, Project Jan. As some of you may remember, I last worked with PJPJ as co-producer on their excellent 2011 album, Home, Sweet Home.

Their awesome remix of “Shadow” gives the song an almost 90’s hip-hop vibe, complete with their own verse at the end - makes me think of The Pharcyde in the best way possible.

The remix premiered last week over at Arcade44, where among other lovely things, they wrote: 

Wilkis is an insanely talented producer, remixer, musician etc., so much so, that it is almost absurd how humble this dude is. The way that Wilkis talks about his projects, past and present, it is almost as if they are no big deal, something that anyone with a computer and a passion for music could do. This is, however, far from the case.

They interviewed me for the piece, and I created an exclusive Spotify mix for them, which you can also grab HERE.

“Wolfman” and Microsoft Project

A few weeks ago, Microsoft brought me onboard for a fun project. They gave me a Lenovo laptop to take down to SXSW and use to make some music. The idea was to record sound samples while walking around Austin, and then use those sounds to create an original song.

A film crew (helmed by director, David Sosnow) joined me in Austin to document my adventures, and then they visited my studio in Brooklyn the following week to check out the progress I was making.

You’ll notice in the video some of the source material I recorded & later manipulated in the song. In particular, the police cone, the handclaps, and of course THE CRAZY WOLFMAN VIOLINIST all make their way into the song somehow or other.

Also, shout out to my trusty sidekick/studio assistant/#1 dog extraordinaire, Tony.

Stream/download the track for free via the Soundcloud player down below, and check out the interview I did on the Windows blog.

TheKickDrums Mixtape + “Come and Go”

My dudes, The KickDrums are at it again! Today at noon EST, they launched a new mixtape, “Follow The Leaders,” available for streaming/free download via LiveMixtapes.com. The mixtape features a number of great collaborations with other artists, and includes “Come and Go,” the track we made together for my project, PRINTS.

If you were alive on the internet yesterday, you might caught some of the crazy Pitchfork buzz for the mixtape surrounding their A$AP Rocky / Lana Del Rey collab. The track is called “Ridin” and has since been pulled from the mixtape on account of the usual music biz BS - as Alex explains:

“Had to pull the Lana - A$AP track due to label reasons. Song got too big too fast. Gonna explain in more detail in an interview today. A$AP wants the track for his album…”

Check out the mixtape if you get a chance, and here’s “Come and Go,” for posterity’s sake:

8 Months into Spotify and Counting…

It’s been nearly 8 months since I dove into Spotify, and I’m pretty much obsessed. I thought I’d do a little recap since my initial report in August.

Upon making the jump, I’ve meticulously updated my Friday Mixtape playlist on a weekly basis with new music. I’ve been listening to each new album I come across 3 times apiece, starring the songs I like best, and then selecting my absolute favorite song from each album. I then add those favorites to the playlist each Friday.

Here are some nerd-stats since I began the process:

• I have added 598 songs to my weekly playlists; 1 song per album listened to.
• I’ve been averaging 15 - 20 new albums per week; 3 listens apiece. 
• I’d estimate 30 hours of actual music-listening per week (accounting for shorter EPs and singles, in addition to full-length albums).
• Per Facebook, I’ve averaged 1180 songs per month.
• My weekly playlist is now up to 175 followers.
• I have starred 3527 songs overall in Spotify.

If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my weekly playlist here. It’s best enjoyed on shuffle: @AlanWilkis Friday Mixtape (updated weekly)

And if you’d like to check out my archives from the past 2 quarters, check out:

@AlanWilkis Mixtape Archive: 2012, Q1

@AlanWilkis Mixtape Archive: 2011, Q4

If nothing else, I hope to at least point you to some sweet sweet jams.

A

@CHLLNGR Exclusive Mix for @URBmag

My pal, CHLLNGR, created an exclusive mix for URB Magazine, and he included his badass remix of “Shadow” on there. Check it:

URB Presents: CHLLNGR

1. Anika “No One’s There”
2. Burial “Shell of Light (Shlomo remix)
3. CHLLNGR“Haven” (Dixone remix)
4. Kuedo “Truth Flood”
5. Little Dragon “Little Man” (Tycho remix)
6. Grandchildren “Everlasting” (CHLLNGRremix) unreleased
7. CHLLNGR“Desire” (Doctor Echo Dub) unreleased
8. Maffi X CHLLNGR“Danger” unreleased
9. Shabazz Palaces “An Echo From The Hosts that Profess Infinitum”
10. Alan Wilkis “Shadow Feat. Lyrics Born and White Hinderland” (CHLLNGRremix)
11. MC Zulu X CHLLNGR“No Stars” unreleased
12. Ghostpoet “Cash And Carry Me Home” (CHLLNGRremix) unreleased