Music: The Artists Breaking New Ground in London

Are you bored with London’s nightlife and musical gigs and routine artists? Then you have clearly been looking in the wrong places. London is a creative hub that hosts all sorts of far-fetched projects and ideas. Here are four musicians who blew our minds away with their amazing events in London.

Imogen Heap

The London-born singer, composer and engineer is working on a new way to create and perform music – with a pair of gloves. Her Mi.mu musical gloves, which were initially backed by the University of West England, allow an artist to make music by moving while wearing them.

Waving your left or right arm, or moving your fingers in a certain way makes different sounds and Imogen worked with collaborators in her London home to test new applications for the technology. She also used the technology for her song “Me, The Machine”.

Watch her demo of the gloves here. One of the special artists in town these days.

 

Eric Prydz

This Swedish DJ made quite an impression in June with his new 5.0 Hologram show. He demonstrated the audio-visual experience at Victoria Park and the 15,000-plus people in the crowd were stunned. There were flying astronauts and mystical faces, topped with some excellent music. Prydz has been working on his EPIC show since 2011 but it’s only this year that the DJ and his technical team have managed to make such a memorable show.

Look here for the video of the astronaut hologram at Eric Prydz’s EPIC 5.0 show at Victoria Park.

Björk

Ever the innovator, Björk created a full-blown VR experience at Somerset House. She first recorded a new version of “Notget” in a studio that used technology to transform her into an avatar, then used it as the starting point for the project. Björk appears in different weird outfits, painting in 3D or singing while the viewer walks through the experience.

Every detail was closely scrutinised to deliver a realistic and mind-blowing experience. Björk is now touring Europe with this experience and the project has already won the Digital Grand Prix at Cannes.

 

Watch a snippet of the experience here.

Gorillaz

 

This “virtual” bad was created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in 1998 but it has made a strong comeback, and its world has evolved. The revival started in May 2017, when the band began posting enigmatic posts on its social media outlets, which was followed by the announcement of a new album “Humanz”. Fans were over the moon. Gorillaz also curated a music festival “Demon Dayz” and released 4 new songs, some with 360° music videos.

Before the festival the band announced a show at Brixton Academy with £5 tickets where they stunned the audience with new songs, cool graphics and even a gospel choir. The show was truly an experience and was packed with surprise guests such as Benjamin Clementine and Noel Gallagher.

Watch the 360° video here and check out these artists.

 

By Kamelia Gantcheva

 

The post Music: The Artists Breaking New Ground in London appeared first on Felix Magazine.