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And the winner of the 2012 Eurovision song contest is…Sweden | Held on May 26th in Azerbaijan, the country who won last year, the song contest attracted an estimated 125 million viewers.

Never heard of it? | Perhaps unknown to North American audiences, the Eurovision Song Contest is not only the biggest musical event in the world (despite what the Grammys want you to think), but also one of the largest watched non-sporting events in the world – larger viewing estimates have placed it at 600 million – and one of the longest running television programmes ever, since it began in 1956.

Conceived in the post-war era as another method of bringing European countries together, the first contest, held in Switzerland, only had seven countries participating: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Holland | Switzerland won | Mirroring the European Union itself, it started with some of the core countries in western and central Europe, and spread quickly | In recent years the multitude of Baltic and former Yugoslav nations have started to enter | In addition, and unlike the EU, the contest has been more than happy to include countries which really aren’t in Europe itself: last year’s winners were Azerbaijan, on the border of Iran | Also included have been Morocco, Israel, Turkey (well, Turkey is partially in Europe), Armenia, and Georgia (okay, “crossroads” nations) | A total of 42 countries participated this year, and recent competitions have had to introduce a semi-final system to deal with the overwhelming number of entries | Each of those countries has a pop song, with audiences at home rooting for them and calling in to vote (more on this later) | You can start to see why it’s the most watched musical event on the planet.

Why is it surprisingly unknown outside of Europe? | Apart from being culturally and politically specific to the continent, a major reason is that it the quality of the music is sub-par…As a matter of fact, that’s putting it politely: the songs are frequently atrocious, and oftentimes just bizarre | The big problem is that there’s a heavy focus on winning, which means that most of the songs gravitate towards a style which will “appeal to everyone” i.e. a middle of the road pop | This means a fairly westernized form of popular song (the latest fashion seems to be an “oh-ah-oh” staccato chorus set against quasi-trance elements) | On occasion, more traditional or culturally specific elements are introduced, but rarely at the sacrifice of the contemporary pop, leading to a bizarre musical blend which doesn’t really work | Many countries, even France, have started to sing in English | English has, of course, emerged as something of a global language in the modern era, and so adopting it is seen as another method of casting the net wider | But the oftentimes accented English singing can seem haphazard, and the lyrics are usually bland and generic | No lip-synching is allowed in the contest, however, so out of tune performances are not infrequent | There is also an overly heavy focus on theatrics i.e. photogenic singers, elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics | As with the music, the costumes often have loose to zero cultural connection, but it’s another method of creating a memorable song that might win.

If the quality is so atrociously bad, why has it continued for 57 years, with record viewership? There are a couple of reasons | Number one is politics | Italy quit the competition on a number of occasions, because of declining interest – none of the winning songs would do well on Italian charts – but returned in part because the competition is meant to be about continental togetherness i.e. there was international pressure | Eurovision is especially popular in smaller and perhaps more developing European nations | Winners in the last decade have included Serbia, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, and last year’s Azerbaijan | Estonia’s 2002 win was seen as a way of freeing themselves from Russian influence through song, and showcasing their nation on a European stage | For smaller nations, entering Eurovision becomes a national event, and crowds fill the street to watch their entry compete with the rest of the continent | Azerbaijan even built a contemporary concert hall specifically for this year’s competition.

Politics also turns up during the voting | Half of the four hour broadcast is actually given to the votes, as they come through from each country, and the political ties are evident | The Baltic countries tend to vote for each other, as do the former Yugoslav nations | One particularly infamous relationship is between Cyprus and Greece, who always award maximum points to each other (countries can’t vote for themselves) | There’s little love from them to Turkey, however, as that ancient enmity never quite died | The large number of Turks living in Germany, however, usually means a nod to Turkey in the points.

Another reason for enduring popularity is pure kitsch value | It’s the bizarre spectacle of it all, and the “so bad it’s good” factor which gives the average cringing viewer reason to tune in…almost like listening to Wesley Willis, Rebecca Black, or watching “The Room” | Case in point: in the U.K. the contest was broadcast for many years with commentary from Irish presenter Terry Wogan, who would regularly insert snarky and cynical comments | This earned him a pretty mixed reputation on the continent | However, the BBC accepted that his humorous commentary was part of the reason viewers tuned in, and his successor, Graham Norton, was picked in a similar vein | The farce of it all is sometimes acknowledged by the songs themselves | Russia’s entry this year was six old grannies singing “party for everybody…boom, boom” – you certainly won’t forget that –and Ireland’s entry for the last two years has been Jedward: a comedy identical twin duo who originally attracted a cult following on X Factor, by giving exaggerated and out of tune performances…a regular Tweedledum and Tweedledee | Perhaps most famously, in 2006 Finland entered a gothic metal band, Lordi, complete with full troll costumes, and won the whole thing, at least partially on novelty value.

It goes without saying, in today’s manufactured pop world, that running music like a business doesn’t prove entirely conducive to artistic quality or vision | What Eurovision proves is that running music like a sport, with a dose of politics, doesn’t either | The competition is almost an acultural phenomenon…instead of celebrating the cultural diversity of the continent, it gravitates towards a bland and bizarre middle ground | But, after 57 years, that no longer seems the point |It’s “a triumph of appalling taste” said Wogan, but admitted that he did love the competition each year | And, truth be told, there’s nothing quite like Eurovision, in music or otherwise | Watching it is certainly an event.

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[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

This post appeared on PSFK last week | It’s actually appeared in more places than we can count at this point | Despite all the flack that Mr.Hubran has been getting, it’s pretty to cool to consider tech gadgets as a next iteration of body piercings; it’s really only a matter of time:

Dave Hurban’s video on Youtube generated 900,000 views in two weeks, when he debuted his body piercing at a convention in Baltimore | The professional body piercer created a buzz with his strapless music player by implanting 4-magnetic studs (called microdermal anchors) under his skin | This enables him to place an iPod Nano and other light gadgets on his forearms without the use of a strap | The magnets are strong enough that the music player won’t budge when he goes out for a jog.

Check out the video below to see the gadget piercing in action:

The initiative has drawn mostly positive feedback, but there are some negative comments, including criticism from the Association of Professional Piercers | Much of the responses can be seen here on Tumblr.

Recognizing just how “different” this type of modification is, Hurban told NBC that he does not plan on continuing to use only Apple products | We look forward to see what other brands and lightweight gadgets Dave Hurban works with next.

[Originally Posted on PSFK]

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The most covered song of all time is rumored to be “My Way”, one of Frank Sinatra’s signature numbers, perhaps the most beloved of his entire catalog, as you probably already know | Everyone who covers the song is covering Sinatra’s song, but the song isn’t his | Frank himself was singing a cover, a song written and first performed by Paul Anka | Anka thought it would be perfect for Old Blue Eyes, so sent the song his way | A good idea, except Anka’s original sounded a lot like someone else’s song | Claude Francois’ to be exact, the French singer’s big hit, “Comme d’habitude”.

It turns out Anka took Francois’ melody and just came up with his own English lyrics, which happened to be nearly the opposite of Francois’, whose song translates to “As Usual” | And Anka wasn’t even the first to take a crack at reappropriating the French hit | Before Anka remade “As Usual” his way, a young David Bowie was hired to pen English lyrics to the tune | Bowie’s version, called “Even a Fool Learns to Love”, wasn’t quite finished when “My Way” came out, and was left that way once Frank’s take became a hit.

Sinatra’s is obviously the most famous cover of the song, but there are over 150 other versions in existence, from Elvis, Jay-Z, Sid Vicious, Shane McGowan, Nina Hagan, Nina Simone, and French death metal band Mütiilation, who opted for Anka’s English lyrics instead of the original French.

Speaking of death, if not metal, “My Way” is also the sendoff song of choice, having been played at more British funerals than any other, including, according to J.K. Rowling, Dumbledore’s, or it is at least the song she would most want played there.

The song has ties to death in other ways too… death by karaoke. “My Way” is a karaoke standard all over the world, but in the Philippines, performance of the song at karaoke bars has led to a number of violent incidents, including a string of murders known in the press as the “My Way” killings | Karaoke is everywhere in the Philippines, even outdoor karaoke machines in the rural countryside where men gather to sing in the early morning | Yet no karaoke is more intense than in the country’s many karaoke bars, and for Filipino karaoke regulars, “My Way” has become a show of bravado | On several occasions, poorly sung renditions of the song have caused violent reactions from the crowd, and the ensuing brawls have involved stabbings and gunfire | At least six have died in the last decade from the song being sung, and it is now banned from most playlists, still considered dangerous. Where the song is still available, there is a solemn weight to the choice, one most singers prefer to avoid.

There are a number of theories as to why the song has caused such violence | Some attribute the incidents more to the violent and competitive Filipino culture, the pride many men have in their singing prowess, along with the usual troublesome mix of alcohol and temper, regardless of the song being sung | This is believable, given that there have been non-“My Way” karaoke deaths in the Philippines, as well as in nearby Malaysia and Thailand, including a Thai man who killed eight people over John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Yet, there remains a great deal of superstition around “My Way”, and even the biggest fans of Old Blue Eyes refuse the risk | Butch Albarracin, owner of a school for singing in Manila called Center for Pop, sees the root of the problem in the smugness of the song’s lyrics | In the New York Times article that brought the legend of the “My Way” killings stateside, Albarracin is quoted as saying “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody when you’re really nobody. It covers up your failures | That’s why it leads to fights… ‘I did it my way’ — it’s so arrogant.”

The man has a point. Anka’s words for “My Way” ring with a tone of distinctly American self-importance:

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels

and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows

and did it my way!

Yes, it was my way

Of course it wasn’t his way, it was Claude Francois’, Anka just nabbed someone else’s inspiration and recast it for his own purposes, the way America invented democracy by nabbing it from the French and the Iroquois, a kind of inspiration in itself, but certainly not the standalone kind the song professes | Yet the message of self-reliance and the sanctity of the individual comes across clear enough to incite competitive Filipino violence in its honor | The song reeks of the kind of inspirational sentiment everyone’s a sucker for, the kind that tells you to be yourself, that snowflake of uniqueness | Yet no one ever sees a single snowflake, at least not close enough to tell it apart from every other snowflake falling at the same time, and in a moment’s time that snowflake has joined the pile, just hoping not to get peed on, or muddied up by the tracks of passing time | Snow is snow | You are yourself whether you are trying or not | Anka can flaunt selfness as life’s grandest achievement all he wants, but he’s bragging a given, and over someone else’s song | Perhaps he should have borrowed more from Francois, whose lyrics are better fitting for a song so often covered. The chorus goes:

As usual all day I will play at pretending

As usual I will smile

As usual I will even laugh

As usual I will live

As usual

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The most covered song of all time is rumored to be “My Way”, one of Frank Sinatra’s signature numbers, perhaps the most beloved of his entire catalog, as you probably already know | Everyone who covers the song is covering Sinatra’s song, but the song isn’t his | Frank himself was singing a cover, a song written and first performed by Paul Anka | Anka thought it would be perfect for Old Blue Eyes, so sent the song his way | A good idea, except Anka’s original sounded a lot like someone else’s song | Claude Francois’ to be exact, the French singer’s big hit, “Comme d’habitude”.

It turns out Anka took Francois’ melody and just came up with his own English lyrics, which happened to be nearly the opposite of Francois’, whose song translates to “As Usual” | And Anka wasn’t even the first to take a crack at reappropriating the French hit | Before Anka remade “As Usual” his way, a young David Bowie was hired to pen English lyrics to the tune | Bowie’s version, called “Even a Fool Learns to Love”, wasn’t quite finished when “My Way” came out, and was left that way once Frank’s take became a hit.

Sinatra’s is obviously the most famous cover of the song, but there are over 150 other versions in existence, from Elvis, Jay-Z, Sid Vicious, Shane McGowan, Nina Hagan, Nina Simone, and French death metal band Mütiilation, who opted for Anka’s English lyrics instead of the original French.

Speaking of death, if not metal, “My Way” is also the sendoff song of choice, having been played at more British funerals than any other, including, according to J.K. Rowling, Dumbledore’s, or it is at least the song she would most want played there.

The song has ties to death in other ways too… death by karaoke. “My Way” is a karaoke standard all over the world, but in the Philippines, performance of the song at karaoke bars has led to a number of violent incidents, including a string of murders known in the press as the “My Way” killings | Karaoke is everywhere in the Philippines, even outdoor karaoke machines in the rural countryside where men gather to sing in the early morning | Yet no karaoke is more intense than in the country’s many karaoke bars, and for Filipino karaoke regulars, “My Way” has become a show of bravado | On several occasions, poorly sung renditions of the song have caused violent reactions from the crowd, and the ensuing brawls have involved stabbings and gunfire | At least six have died in the last decade from the song being sung, and it is now banned from most playlists, still considered dangerous. Where the song is still available, there is a solemn weight to the choice, one most singers prefer to avoid.

There are a number of theories as to why the song has caused such violence | Some attribute the incidents more to the violent and competitive Filipino culture, the pride many men have in their singing prowess, along with the usual troublesome mix of alcohol and temper, regardless of the song being sung | This is believable, given that there have been non-“My Way” karaoke deaths in the Philippines, as well as in nearby Malaysia and Thailand, including a Thai man who killed eight people over John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Yet, there remains a great deal of superstition around “My Way”, and even the biggest fans of Old Blue Eyes refuse the risk | Butch Albarracin, owner of a school for singing in Manila called Center for Pop, sees the root of the problem in the smugness of the song’s lyrics | In the New York Times article that brought the legend of the “My Way” killings stateside, Albarracin is quoted as saying “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody when you’re really nobody. It covers up your failures | That’s why it leads to fights… ‘I did it my way’ — it’s so arrogant.”

The man has a point. Anka’s words for “My Way” ring with a tone of distinctly American self-importance:

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels

and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows

and did it my way!

Yes, it was my way

Of course it wasn’t his way, it was Claude Francois’, Anka just nabbed someone else’s inspiration and recast it for his own purposes, the way America invented democracy by nabbing it from the French and the Iroquois, a kind of inspiration in itself, but certainly not the standalone kind the song professes | Yet the message of self-reliance and the sanctity of the individual comes across clear enough to incite competitive Filipino violence in its honor | The song reeks of the kind of inspirational sentiment everyone’s a sucker for, the kind that tells you to be yourself, that snowflake of uniqueness | Yet no one ever sees a single snowflake, at least not close enough to tell it apart from every other snowflake falling at the same time, and in a moment’s time that snowflake has joined the pile, just hoping not to get peed on, or muddied up by the tracks of passing time | Snow is snow | You are yourself whether you are trying or not | Anka can flaunt selfness as life’s grandest achievement all he wants, but he’s bragging a given, and over someone else’s song | Perhaps he should have borrowed more from Francois, whose lyrics are better fitting for a song so often covered. The chorus goes:

As usual all day I will play at pretending

As usual I will smile

As usual I will even laugh

As usual I will live

As usual

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For those who’ve never encountered his music, his career dates back to the 70’s, when he was infusing Middle Eastern compositions with jazz music (something that virtually no one was doing back then and even now) | His current focus seems to be on augmenting the meaning of being a musician in the Middle East | This massive undertaking means that he goes beyond songwriting into the realms of orchestration and the inclusion of poetry, which is arguably a form of expression with important distinctions from lyric-writing.

“We Arabs have no history of our music. In my judgment, we have linked music to singing, and it is time to write down the history of music, not just song.”

Marcel’s latest tour is titled ‘Fall of the Moon’ and it spotlights various works of poetry by the renowned Palestenian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who recently passed away | If you’ve never come across Marcel, we’re happy to be your gateway to his work | Below are videos that we’ve incessentely had playing on repeat this month.

Hela Hela

Walk On

Caress (this performance is living proof that you can never have too many ouds)

Most Beautiful Mothers

Rita

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Like any supporter of the arts we went out on Saturday in search of the elusive limited pressings released by our favorite artists on Record Store Day | Our Facebook and Twitter feeds were rife with pictures from fellow audiophiles who found themselves doing the same thing | We’re glad that the tradition that began last year lived on and we have faith that it will continue to live on.

That said, we won’t be taking the opportunity to brag about our RSD swag, or flaunt the booty of our friends or the community | We, actually, won’t be talking about phyical vinyls at all, but rather the portrayal of vinyls and their impact on it’s owners in film | It’s just our way of showing that the longevity of the support of independent record stores isn’t just social media marketing or creative endeavors by artists to further entice the purchase of a physical release that will keep the industry alive.

RECORDS IN POP CULTURE

Pretty in Pink (1986)

John Hughes made the protagonist Andie’s job the clerk at a TRAX, a record store.

High Fidelity (2000)

This movie revolves around a record store and John Cusak’s obsession with music - only in vinyl form - and it’s roles in his failed relationships.

C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)

Ostensibly a movie about the reconcilliation of a young man’s relationship with his father and his fear of admittance of his homosexuality in Catholic 1970s France | The prominent undertone of the film is the family’s obsession with music, specifically the importance and sacredness of records.

Records in Documentaries

I Need that Record: The Death or the Possible Survival of the Independent Record Store (2008)

To begin with this movie shows very little optimism for the “possible survival of the independent record store.” | From Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat speaking to his ever present DIY sentiments to an overtly odd conversation with Noam Chomsky this documentary, in it’s own way, makes you want to buy records in the same way an NPR fund drive makes you want to pledge.

Sound It Out (2011)

The (posthumous) official film of the first Record Store Day | Chronicling the hardships faced by the last record store in a small town of Teesside, England | The documentary conjours a bit more hope in the viewer than the previous.

Vinylmania: When Life Runs at 33 Revolutions Per Minute (2012)

Although we haven’t had a chance to see this flick yet, it’s certainly on our radar | Touted as the official film of RSD2012, this Kickstarter project shows the reinvigoration of the vinyl industry and vinyl’s inherent superiority to digital music.

It doesn’t seem like Record Store Day will be going away anytime soon | The only potential issue we see came from talking to non-social media oriented individuals | Those people exist? you may be asking | Yes, and we spoke with a few of them who had heard asides on the radio or from a friend, but who had no idea what Record Store Day was | At this point we wonder if appealing to hipsters and preaching to the choir is enough or if other means of dispersement of the message - such as the films above - might need be used to truly spread the message.

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Thanks for your on-going support | You will start seeing some original illustration worked into the logo over the coming months guarenteed!

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Every new logo design is an existential crisis | Many insights are revealed in the process of designing a logo, unless it’s one of those spontaenous realizations | We worked with NYC’s Orthrus Studio and UAE’s Salem Al-Qassemi to figure out a new logo design that set us up for expansion | There were three major evolutions; read the below to learn about each stage!

ABSTRACT FORMS | Looked too app-y

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This was the initial design we honed in on working alongside @salqass, a well-known young designer from the UAE | The logo’s form is comprised of 3 simple oval circles that resemble musical notation | While the form is slick, interesting, and bold, we felt that it would be more adequate for a mobile app, rather than an animation-band | We started to probe other potential directions.

Emblem Band | Not festive enough, lacked vibrancy

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This logo was designed by @aniekanudo of NYC boutique design shop, Orthrus Studio | To make the logo a little more “rock n roll” we took inspiration from Guns N Roses emblematic shape | We also began looking at logos for cartoon shows, basketball teams, and played around with the round shape by adding texture to it | While we liked the idea of having a textured logo, it did take away from its presence when overlayed on a busy background.

Final Design | The Eureka Moment

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It didn’t strike us right away, but this logo carries more significance than anything else | We love the fact we can place illustrations inside the typography | We love how it stands out when filled in | We love the way we can typographically de-emphasize the word “THE” before “MUSIC PARADE” | It’s a logo that compliments and handles complex images | It’s blocky, but not rigid | It has longevity because as we evolve our platform, we can rotate images in and out of our identity | Everything about it excites us.

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We heard lots of great music this month | That said, while we do a monthly round up of some of the great music we heard, they’re invariably music videos | However, lots of the music we hear is only available via the videos rather than visa versa | Before we dig an unncessary hole for ourselves by underestimating the intelligence of our audience, let’s just see if you can see what’s happening here.

Digitals: A Musical, Sort Of by Chris Crutchfield

We’ve all heard this happen: the patterns of everyday life come manifest to our ears as some sort of music | Chris Crutchfield, actor and visualizer put his experience into an extremely visually enchanting experience | We loved it, and you should, too.

Waka Flocka Defends PETA
Waka Flocka Flame is a hardcore rapper | PETA is a hardcore animal rights organization | Say what you will about either group - as far as this video is concerned they are a match made in heaven.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Assailant

Many people have been arrested for public drunkeness | Robert Wilkinson is amongst their ranks | The number of them, however, that respond to their charges by belting Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen from the back of squad car is considerably less quantifiable | 
Enjoy. 

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