Well folks, 2012 is off to a roaring start – on the first day of the new year, we were the featured video on Vimeo’s HD Channel. As I type this, the video’s been viewed 15K times since the feature! And a few weeks ago, we were featured on the extremely awesome Laughing Squid – bada bing bada BOOM!
Moving right along, wanted to share with you the alternate version of the 360° music video for “Come and Go.” This alternate version allows you to pan the camera around in either direction as the video plays. Makes you feel as if you’re right in the center of the action – pretty wild stuff. And definitely make sure to watch it in full-screen mode to get the full effect.
I’m outrageously psyched to share the first video from PRINTS for the song, “Come and Go (feat. The KickDrums).” As you probably noticed, the video is quite a bit wider than your average video – that’s because we shot it using a single-point capture 360° panoramic video camera! Think of it as ULTRA widescreen… as if you’re looking in all directions at once. When one character steps off the screen on the left side, they simultaneously enter the screen on the right side – it’s a real mind-melter, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you watch it in full-screen mode to get the full panoramic effect.
The video has already gotten a wonderful response on the web, with features at both Paper Magazine and The Atlantic!
I co-directed the video with my super-talented pal, David Sosnow. David is the co-founder of Kogeto and specializes in making 360° video camera lenses. The company has gained quite a bit of notoriety lately for their DOT, an attachment that allows you to shoot 360° video with your iPhone (TechCrunch and USA Today articles).
I met David serendipitously through a mutual friend (and the video’s co-producer), Tavit Geudelekian. From the very beginning, we wanted to capture the senses of euphoria and over-the-top joyousness of the song. It’s also quite epic in nature, feeling both fast and simultaneously slow, and we knew that slow-motion video would lend itself perfectly to that sensation. As Tavit, David and I discussed the technology David was pioneering at Kogeto, we knew instantly that we had to work together, and that 360° would be the perfect way to create the fully-immersive video experience that the song needed.
As we sketched out possible concepts, we kept coming back to one basic issue: in order to fully-exploit the 360° technology, we had to keep things interesting in all directions at all times. If we didn’t have some kind of action or character movement occupying the full 360° spectrum, we would have giant empty spaces on screen. Our challenge was to come up with something visually-compelling that would surround the camera in a circular form at all times. The image of ladies dancing in a circle first occurred to me on the subway, but it was critical to keep things beautiful and other-worldly, as opposed to crass or heavy-handed. We hoped to achieve that beauty and mystery by the identical costumes. And by having the one blonde actress in a different outfit, we hoped to create a sense that they were a team or unit of some kind with a fearless leader.
We shot the video over the course of two days on location in Brooklyn, first in May 2011 (with the ladies), and then in June 2011 (with the singer, Alex Fitts). Remarkably, our only expenses in making the video were the rental of the dolly ($70) to hold the camera for the walking shots, and then meals at both shoots (thai food & pizza, respectively). David and I then painstakingly edited the video over the course of about 3 months at David’s Brooklyn apartment. We worked incredibly well together and were able to push each other and take the video in different directions. It was a true collaboration, much like the recording of PRINTS.
As we were editing, we thought it would be best to keep the overall image “flat.” With 360° video, there are some players that enable the viewer to pan around the full 360, themselves (for example, see here). We were concerned that by giving the viewer too much choice vis-a-vis which direction to follow, it could feel overwhelming to watch. We also believe that the image is most stunning when you can see the full 360° all at once. We will be making a pan-able version available soon, but we wanted the definitive version of the video to be “flattened.”
David and I poured our hearts and souls into this project, and we had an incredibly fun time making it. None of it would have been possible without our amazing actors & friends, and we are so happy to finally be launching it into the world. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did, and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment below – I’ll be sure to reply ASAP.
Lastly, if you’d like to grab the MP3 of “Come and Go,” here’s a link: bit.ly/Wilkis_CAG
Psyched to share the third and final (for now, at least) remix of “Come and Go.” This one is courtesy of the incredible Spacebrother (Jared from Innerpartysystem). It premiered recently over at Some Kind of Awesome, where they said it “will definitely make you feel like you’re floating in space.”
I absolutely love what Jared did with it, and much like the other two remixes, he took the song to a new and completely different place. It almost reminds of “jynweythek” from Aphex Twin’s “Drukqs.”
Take a listen and let me know what you think! And by all means, please feel free to download it & share it far and wide.
Proud to share the second “Come and Go” remix, this time featuring awesome verses from two incredible rappers, Big Pooh (who you might recognize from Little Brother) and The Kid Daytona. The remix premiered earlier this month over at RCRD LBL, where they called me an “indie beat whiz…” works for me!
Ever since I first finished this song with The KickDrums, I kept thinking in the back of my mind how well the beat would feel with some rap verses – was so cool to hear Pooh and Daytona tear it up.
Take a listen via the Soundcloud player above, or download it here alongside the original version. And please feel free to share any and all of it far and wide:
The PRINTS launch has gotten off to an incredible start, and I am super psyched to share the first remix for “Come and Go” – this one is courtesy of the legendary RJD2. It premiered over on the MTV Blog just the other day.
For those of you that don’t remember, I first linked up with RJ when I remixed his song, “The Shining Path,” from his album, The Colossus. And so when it came time for me to start getting remixes together for PRINTS, I hit him up.
Unsurprisingly, I LOVE what he did with it. He took the idea of the song and transported it to a completely different context, and that’s exactly what a great remix should do. If you compare the two, the original song is so electronic and tech-oriented, whereas RJ’s remix is completely organic – he played each of those parts (the drums, keys, bass, synths) live in his studio.
I am proud to announce the unveiling of my new project, PRINTS. I have been hard at work on it for nearly two years, and I am so incredibly happy to finally be sharing it. I have outlined the mission statement and will be debuting each piece over at www.prints.fm, but in a nutshell, it’s an ongoing series of singles, remixes, videos, and artwork – I refer to each collective work as a “print.”
For each “print,” I first write an instrumental piece and then collaborate with a different vocalist, sometimes together in my studio, and sometimes back and forth via the web, until each “print??? takes its shape. The goal is to draw both myself and my collaborators out of our comfort zones, in the hopes of pushing each “print??? to new and unexpected heights.
We called the song “Come and Go,” and I can safely say that it is one of my favorite recordings I’ve ever made. The song premiered over at Consequence of Sound the other day!
Musically, I wanted to explore the common space between extreme opposites, and specifically in two ways: 1) I wanted to create something that felt simultaneously in slow-motion and hyper-speed, and 2) something that felt hard-hitting – like a punch to the gut – while still feeling uplifting and positive. Lyrically, Alex would be the better man to ask as he wrote the lyrics… but the big themes I take away from it are doing whatever you want, following your heart and not worrying about the consequences.
This past weekend, I properly switched from iTunes to Spotify, and I still won’t shut up about it. If you know me or follow me on Twitter (@AlanWilkis), you’d know that I’m constantly hunting for and devouring new music. And something about the ease, convenience, and available selection within Spotify has drummed up an excitement in me that I haven’t felt in years. Specifically, as I loaded up all this new stuff to listen to in Spotify, it was the closest I’d felt to when I used to go to the record store and blow all my money on a stack of CDs… and this got me excited… so much so that I felt compelled to write about it.
I also thought it would be a great opportunity to share my listening process with you. For the past several years, I have stuck to a few very strict and somewhat OCD rules for listening:
When I come across a new album or EP, I load it into a queue. I listen to each album 3 times, usually over the course of 1 to 2 weeks, and then I pretty much never listen to it again. I have found that 3 listens is just enough for me to take it all in. As I listen, I try to rate each song. By the iTunes 5-star rating system, I would give my favorite songs 5 stars, the decent songs 4 stars, and everything else, 3 stars or less… Though I so rarely come back to music once I’ve listened to it 3 times, I will ONLY come back to 5-star songs.
It ain’t perfect, but it works for me, and it has enabled me to digest a massive amount of new music, beyond a surface-level understanding and at a relatively fast rate.
Spotify doesn’t have quite as robust of a rating system – you can either favorite a song with a single star or not… But what it DOES have is wonderful social integration, and that’s got me super excited because I can finally share all this crazy awesome music that I’m always finding in such an easy way.
I’m going to continue starring things as I go, and then I’m going to share those findings in real-time in my public Spotify profile: AlanWilkis. And it may be a bit ambitious, but I’m going to try to publish my weekly or perhaps monthly favorites. You’ll be able to hear what I’ve been listening to and inspires me most, and maybe, just MAYBE, you’ll find some stuff you like, too…
It’s been a while – sorry about that. 2011’s been hectic… lots to catch up on! These last few months saw the release of two albums I co-produced and am extremely proud of. The first is Project Jenny, Project Jan’s “Home Sweet Home,” for which we earned a prestigious NPR ‘Song of the Day.’ The second was The KickDrums‘ “Meet Your Ghost,” released on Last Gang Records. They’ve been tearing up the college music charts and spreading like wildfire across the ol’ interwebz.
Aside from the production and the usual remixing, what’s by far been keeping me busiest is MY next project! It’s been roughly two years in the making, and it’s some of my favorite music I’ve ever recorded. It’s a new direction for me, and I CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE IT! Not going to spill the beans quite yet, but there will be plenty of goodies to come soon, so keep your eyes peeled…
Moving right along, it gives me immense pleasure to share my latest remix of YELLE’s “Que Veux Tu.” YELLE is an indie-pop trio from France, comprised of singer, Julie Budet, and producers, GrandMarnier and Tepr. Their most recent album, “Safari Disco Club” (via V2 and Downtown Records), is an irresistible romp through synth-heavy 80’s dance-pop… in French… it RULES.
I first became connected to YELLE through one of those how-awesome-is-the-internet moments… I got a Google alert linking to an interview with YELLE in Rocket Magazine. I naturally checked it out, and lo and behold, Julie mentioned that my Temper Trap “Sweet Disposition” remix was her favorite song at the moment! My jaw hit the floor, and I immediately mentioned it on twitter… Next thing I know, I’m emailing with them, and they want me to remix their new single, to be included on their Beatport Remix EP. And so, here we are… Man, I love the internet…
I had a LOT of fun making this one. As always, I scrapped all the elements of the original version except Julie’s vocals and recorded all new parts from scratch. It’s such a fun song, and her voice is so sweet and playful – I wanted to try to create something a little more contrasting and gritty than the original. I started out by recording different interlocking guitar parts and then degrading them with a few effects. Here’s a video of me tracking some of those parts:
I tried to keep building the song up over time so that it would feel like it exploded into the choruses, and so that the sections AFTER the choruses would feel like an ever bigger release. I made sure that each texture and counter-melody could fit with each other, so that I could bring them all back in at the end of the remix for a (hopefully) big finish. Another thing to look out for are my handclaps – I was really trying to make a “hook” out of them… This is also the first remix in which I bust out some whistling. Lastly, one more fun fact, that crazy high-pitched melody that comes in after the chorus, right around 1:02 – 1:15, is actually Julie’s voice! I processed & mutilated the crap out of it to create an almost synth-like texture out of it… neat, huh?
Anyway, it was an honor to work on this one. I adore YELLE and think they are massively-talented, and I feel crazy lucky to be involved with them. I hope you like what you hear, and please feel free to share this one far and wide… Be sure to follow YELLE on twitter (@YELLEtweets) and “like” them on Facebook.
Apologies for the recent radio silence… Been psychotically busy finishing up my new record! I won’t have anything to share with you quite yet, but I’m proud as hell of these new jamzzz.
Also been remixing up a storm, writing music for some films, and producing! The Project Jenny, Project Jenny album I co-produced is dropping momentarily – here’s the first single, “Nadine.” And another record I co-produced for The KickDrums should be out in late Spring/Summer via Last Gang Records (home to Chromeo, Tiga, Mother Mother, and many others).
Moving right along, I’m psyched to share my latest remix for the wonderful UK-based Fenech-Soler. I’ve been a fan of these guys for quite some time, ever since I heard them featured on Groove Armada’s “Paper Romance”. So you can probably imagine how thrilled I was to find one of my remixes on Fenech-Soler’s mixtape a while back!
A few months later, their label (B-Unique/Warner Music) came knocking on my door to remix their newest single, “Demons.” They then liked my remix so much that they pressed it on vinyl, along with another remix from Jokers of the Scene, which you can and should buy HERE. Also, Mark Ronson premiered it on his East Village Radio show! Not too shabby…
In a nutshell, here’s why I like Fenech-Soler: their production is subtle but extremely detailed, great arrangements and sound choices, amazing songwriters, and their singer’s (Ben Duffy) voice is ultra-powerful. As a remixer, it’s always a challenge to take a song that you already admire and respect, and turn it upside down, but I suppose that’s never stopped me in the past…
The only piece that I kept from the original recording was Ben’s vocal. I wrote and played all new synth, guitar, drum and bass parts. The original song is really uptempo and intense… so I cut the tempo in half and went after a much more laid back 90s R&B feel. Was channeling my inner-Timbaland, and was also pretty inspired by some of Raphael Saadiq’s guitar arrangements from “100-Yard-Dash” (he pretty much always inspires me). Also, check out my tom tom drum fills – they make me think of Phil Collins every time…
Ok enough talky talky, stream it here:
And I STRONGLY urge you to listen to the original afterwards, to see how far away I took it:
Hope you guys like this one… it’s one of my favorites that I’ve made, honestly.
My Film School remix has made its way around the interwebz, and the feedback has been delightful! Thanks to everyone who checked it out and was kind enough to write something nice about it. And if you still haven’t heard it yourself, stream it above and/or download to the right…
Here’s the recap: Consequence of Sound Afternoon Jams The Audioperv “AW has done it again… We’ve featured Alan’s work before and it only seems to be getting better.” Some Kind of Awesome Cause=Time Daily Beatz “As he so often does, he starts out by completely changing the beat of the song… A little harder with a little more grit and 8-bit, but the fantastic original still shines through loud and clear.” A Heart is a Spade Pasta Primavera “Old faithful aka Alan Wilkis aka “The??? Man decides to end my week on a high note with his new remix of Film School which I was pumped about ever since he tweeted about working on it. Wilkis never fails to disappoint and keeps it up on this.” Indie Music Filter “Continuing to be a ‘go-to’ remixer…” Music Like Dirt Free Indie Above The Fold “One of our favorite remixers… Up to his old tricks.” Kata Rokkar Les Enfants Terribles “The uber-talented Alan Wilkis, shot us a copy of his latest work… I’m digging the percussion on this one.” Nerdy Frames Skeet Beatz “I’m really feeling this jam. Alan Wilkis kills it on this track.” Parasites and Sycophants Indie Here Music for Perfect People “Brooklyn’s remix master” The Pop Stereo Site of Sound “Alan Wilkis kills it as always, I appreciate everything he does.” JayeLAudio “AW takes great tracks and puts his own unique spin on them and tests your allegiance to the original… AW’s interpretation gets rid of everything except lead singer Greg Berten’s pained vocals and adds slowed synth and almost a slow clap to paint the angst of the lyrics.” MAAMF “One of the great things about Alan Wilkis is that he doesn’t change tracks drastically. Instead, he adds to them, embellishes them. You can tell that it’s still that track by your fave band, but you can also tell that there’s someone else that has put their own distinct take on it.” Heave Media Dumb Bass Gonzo’s Music-o-rama Lyfstyl Revenge of Rob Gordon
Welcome to Wilcassettes, the home of everything Alan Wilkis. Alan is a Brooklyn-based music producer and remixer. His latest project is called "PRINTS" and can be found here: http://www.prints.fm
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