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[SONG OF THE DAY] Miro Shot - "Lifeforms"

Last week digital utopian darlings Miro Shot released their debut EP Servers, featuring the previously unreleased track, “Lifeforms”. The song, which features the Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra, is rooted in themes around the data that is collected about us, the way it is used to make us feel certain things and act a certain way. As the collective pointed out in a recent Facebook post, it’s important to be aware of the dark parts of technology, there are plenty of reasons to embrace the deluge of technological developments that are being integrated into our lives almost on the daily. As they're quick to point out, for every Cambridge Analytica scandal we have things like Patreon empowering creators with new ways to earn a living.

I don’t usually give homework, but if you have extra time after immersing yourself with Servers for an appropriate amount of time, I invite you to sit with Big Data’s “Business of Emotion” for a sec and then return back to “Lifeforms”. Both approach the themes of data and behavioral targeting, but I find it really interesting how differently the approach to the subject matter is and how they end up informing each other. With “Business of Emotion”, as delivered from the view point of the behavioral targeting algorithm, it’s very quick to point out all that data mining and behavioral targeting there to do is make us feel good so we become addicted to it. With “Lifeforms”, Miro Shot have chosen to insert themselves into the conversation by bringing up personal responsibility. It’s a nuance that you really shouldn’t miss as we continue to shape the future around us. Technology is only “evil” or “bad” because certain humans make it that way, intentionally or not. Starting to realize that Big Data’s not necessarily a pessimist about the future, just not the leader (or Leaders) to point us in the direction of how to ensure we’re gearing up for the brightest and best future possible.

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[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Put Me To Work"

Black Mirror popstar Big Data resurfaced with a brand new track from his forthcoming sophomore LP, 3.0. This new song, “Put Me To Work” while in the same vein of his well-known digital dystopian subject matter, is this time from the perspective of the robot rather than his semi-regular human-centric point of view. This is actually a really clever move on project mastermind Alan Wilkis’ part because the observations that we can take away from this perspective are really quite interesting. The robot mostly gushes about how eager it is to be put to work and all the ways it will be beneficial to the human it’s presumably addressing. Then almost in the same breath the robot is singing a different tune, alluding to replacing humanity without any regard of our collective well being. Maybe Mayer Hawthorne should be co-writing with Alan more often if songs like this are the fruits of their collective labor.

Tell you what, I’d love to put Alan Wilkis and Roman Rappak of Miro Shot in a room together and facilitate a lengthy chat about technology. Given how drastically their respective projects envision technology’s impact on society, it certainly wouldn’t be a boring discussion by any means.

PS - still no word on an actual release date or any other details about the elusive 3.0, but you know who will be more than happy to keep you posted once that info is readily available.

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[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Unglued"

Happy weekend cute people! Yep I’m committing to weekend updates moving forward so lucky you!

I couldn’t possibly go another second without making sure you checked out the latest from my favorite Black Mirror pop star, Big Data. This newest offering from his forthcoming album, 3.0, “Unglued”, is about losing your mind but not necessarily solely in the traditional sense. It’s also about uploading your brain/consciousness and it going completely wrong.

While the majority of his debut full-length 2.0, featured primarily guest vocals, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much project brainchild Alan Wilkis has been feeling himself more and offering up his vocals for 3.0. It’s like he’s pulling a reverse Calvin Harris and I’m HERE FOR IT. KEEP IT UP, DUDE!

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5 Videos To Help You Coast Your Way Through Your Friday Afternoon

Friday afternoon got me like.

Let’s be real, you have no interest in doing any real work on Friday afternoon. If you’re like me it’s a fun challenge to see just how little work you can do but still look like you’re being productive.

If you’re at a loss of worthwhile distractions, fear not. I’ve got just the distract-a-thon for you!

‘Black Mirror pop’ artist Big Data released this 10-ish minute trailer for his latest single, “Monster” and it’s as delightfully dystopian as one could expect from our AI obsessed friend.

My latest obsession in life is the YouTube series Two Minutes To Late Night, which is a metal late night talk show featuring backing band Mutoid Man and is hosted by fictional character Gwarsenio Hall (played by Jordan Olds). I happened to sporadically attend one of their tapings at legendary metal club Saint Vitus and have been hooked on the show ever since. Anyway, like all late night talk shows the episodes feature pre-recorded sketches and the second installment of their Poseur Cops sketch will have you laughing until you’re crying. The nice thing about 2M2LN is you don’t really have to be a huge metal fan to feel like you’re in on the jokes, so music fans of all genres can appreciate their brand of humor.

If you enjoyed the techo-making robots created by artist Moritz Simon Geist and want to see an in-depth look at his cute little music making machines, this behind the scenes video is super informative.

Casual fans of Gorillaz will appreciate this super detailed recap of the Gorillaz universe from their early beginnings to present day. This dude is so thorough with the band’s timeline that while I feel a little guilty that I haven’t spent more time immersing myself in the band’s carefully crafted world, I do have a much stronger appreciation with how just much effort goes into the project.

Y’all know I try to encourage people to love Beck as much as I do as often as possible so I’m rounding out my reccos for today with a close examination of one of Beck’s wackier videos (and we know he’s good for the weird stuff) for his single, “Sexx Laws”, off his 1999 album, Midnite Vultures. I always knew that Beck went super deep with his weirdness, but the painfully obscure inspiration he references in “Sexx Laws” based on what this guy pulled up just further prove that he is my weird cool dad and I hope that maybe one day I might be even half as awesome as him.

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[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "Monster (feat. Jamie Lidell)"

I. Am. So. Happy. These. Dudes. Collaborated. Again. 

Y'all remember the awesomeness that was "Clean" off of Big Data's 2.0, which featured vocal stylings of now Nashville-based powerhouse Jamie Lidell. Well the two have teamed up to REALLY own the Black Mirror pop genre that I playfully invented when "See Through" materialized a few months back. I happened to be starting in on the mini stack of books that Big Data mastermind Alan Wilkis has been casually recommending via his Instagram stories, starting with his #1 recommendation: Life 3.0 Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence  just as "Monster" dropped on Friday. 

Y'all.

The second I got to the chorus of "Monster" I couldn't grab that book fast enough. First of all, I was covered in goosebumps because this first person narrative as sung by Lidell is the kind of story that technologists everywhere : creating technology that we later deeply regret because it ends up being really harmful to mankind. We are definitely living in peak "just because we can make it, SHOULD we make it?" era right now. It's very obvious (and honestly really comforting) that Wilkis has spent a great deal of time pondering this about various technologies we're semi-normalizing in culture and giving us plenty to reconsider before blindly believing that every technological advance is inherently good for us. 

Suffice it to say, every second that I have downtime I am reading that book. Already two chapters in I'm already starting to gain a deeper understanding of the concerns Wilkis' has. It's made me hope that other Big Data fans get curious and equally concerned about our future. 

We're currently 3 songs deep into 3.0's album cycle with no concrete release date in sight, BUT our favorite data driven dude will be hitting the road as he headlines the Sirius XM Alt Nation tour starting in mid-October, so my Kibbe-sense says we'll probably have the whole shebang by then. 

Also in 310 pages I will be making our impending interview official, so know that's coming too. 

BIG DATA Tour Dates:

October 14th - Shelter - Detroit, MI

October 15th - HiFi - Indianapolis, IN

October 16th - Chop Suey - Chicago, IL

October 18th - Rumba - Columbus, OH

October 19th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Cleveland, OH

October 21st - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT

October 22nd - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA

October 23rd - Foundry - Philadelphia, PA

October 24th - Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY

October 25th - Songbyrd - Washington, DC

October 27th -  Underground - Charlotte, NC

October 28th - The Cowan - Nashville, TN

October 30th - Cambridge Room @ HOB - Dallas, TX

October 31st - Bronze Peacock @ HOB - Houston, TX

November 1st - Antone’s - Austin, TX

November 2nd - Lowbrow Palace - El Paso, TX

November 4th - Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ

November 5th - Voodoo Room @ HOB - San Diego, CA

November 6th - Resident - Los Angeles, CA

November 7th - Chapel - San Francisco, CA

November 9th - Dante’s (Take Warning) - Portland, OR

November 10th - Chop Suey - Seattle, WA

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[SONG OF THE DAY] Big Data - "See Through"

🚨🚨🚨🚨BIG 🚨DATA 🚨IS 🚨BACK 🚨🚨🚨🚨

Yo but #realtalk look how fuckin sharp the dude Alan Wilkis looks in this press photo tho! That looks like the kinda dude I'd like to have long thoughtful conversations about the future of artificial intelligence with. 

Spoiler alert: I am probably going to do this very thing and put it on this part of the internet. 

Following up his full-length debut, 2.0, we have our first sampling from 3.0, which will be out sometime this fall. "See Through" features “L1ZY” on vocals and explores the ever blurring lines between technology and reality that can be hard to navigate. Throughout the song, L1ZY becomes more obsessed with virtual reality and ends up being her preferred "reality". As Wilkis continues to carefully pour over the available #data about artificial intelligence and present some possible futures in these songs, with "See Through" he's really challenging us to take a closer look at how subjective our ever day reality actually is. “We wanted to play with the idea of seeing things from the other side and the idea that we all inhabit our own realities,” says Wilkis. “Whether real or virtual, they are always subjective.”

From the looks of the below teaser clip where Big Data is presented in the form of a smart speaker with L1ZY as Big Data's version of Amazon's Alexa, I can already sense that the themes in this album are going to be just as relevant and thought provoking as we saw in 2.0. I am personally super excited about my favorite Black Mirror pop star is back (yes I am going to try to make "black mirror pop" a thing, HUSH). 

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go purchase all of the books I've screenshot from Big Data's Instagram stories and read all of them so I am adequately prepared for our inevitable nerdy sit down. 

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[Night Out] Big Data @ Warsaw (11/08/2015)

It's yah boy Big Data looking bawse as hell at Warsaw (11/08/2015)

So, um, a lot can happen in 7ish months.

Wow. 

I knew that touring pretty much incessantly was going to be good for broadband bud and mastermind behind Big Data, Alan Wilkis, but I did not realize just how fast he would accelerate once it was all set in motion. Inertia is a crazy thing, man. It only took somewhere around 45 seconds of their opening number before I grabbed Sprout's shoulder and disrupted her snapping to exchange delightfully astonished glances and mouth, "OH MY GOD!" to each other. 

When last we met our hero, Wilkis was still feeling out how big to go as a performer, which I know has to be tough considering his backstory hasn't really ever been performance based. What I witnessed on Sunday night was what happens when someone takes the time to actually cut and polish a diamond in the rough. That mofugger **SPARKLED**. It wasn't just his stage presence, which has been updated (nerdy pun intended). *Someone* has also obviously been taking singing lessons because dare I say I didn't miss Jamie Lidell's vocals on "Clean" this time nearly as much as I did back in March. 

Highlight of the night for me was what transpired behind me at what was happening in front of me that inspired me to tweet this: 

Considering his current momentum I just keep wondering to myself if he's ever going to slow down. My guess (and hope if I'm honest) is that he won't. 

You're right, Alan. I didn't know that you were dangerous. 

Catch Big Data on tour with RAC and see what I saw. You can peep dates over on Facebook. 

If you haven't listened to Big Data's debut album, 2.0 you better bump it via the Spotify player below before I shake the stupid outta yah. 

For proof of Big Data's newfound badassery, you can relive our night courtesy of Sprout's snaps below:

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#skoaradio 11/07/2015 liner notes

Really feeling this week's mixtape you guys.

Can't stop. Won't stop. Can't stop working. But it's chill though, the atmosphere I've been launched into has me surrounded by people who are music junkies just like me! In fact, I found Michl courtesy of one of my dope new friends at the office I'm in right now. (Thanks dude!) Sprout and I also hit up Honne on Tuesday this week where we hung out in the dungeon of a basement at Mercury Lounge and chatted with with James and Andy before they got the entire place pregnant. It's good to be busy. Then we had Flagship at Rough Trade on Friday night. Those guys were super great too. Can't wait to interview them and officially usher them into the skoa fam. But yeah, there's a lot going on but the majority of it is awesome. I guess you could say I'm #stressedbutalsoblessed. I hope you enjoyed this week's show. I'd love to hear from you if I just introduced you to your new favorite song (I know I'm kind of obsessing over SOULS right now).

Until next week!

<3

kibbe!

 

And here's the headlines I rushed through that you can read more about (and you should so you're smarter than everyone else):

As always, feel free to snag the Spotify playlist below so you can listen to the sweet jams I picked out for you on the go!

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