We’re back from Coachella! First let me address what seems to be a hot topic: What in the hell was that crazy instrument that was featured in the finale of Björk’s set?
Of course, any of our regular readers in the audience already saw this post and knew the ‘crazy instrument’ to be The reacTable (read react+table), or, a “multi-user electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface”. And, if it’s not the original, it must be a facsimile based on the open-source reacTIVision 1.3 framework. All amazing things created by the Music Technology Group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.
The finale of her set was a new song titled, ‘Declare Independence’, from her forthcoming, ‘Volta’ album which is being released in on May 8th in the US and is available for pre-order right now on Amazon.
Presumably, the studio recording of ‘Declare Independence’ uses the reacTable that was employed in the live performance. Here is the studio version of ‘Declare Independence’ for your inspection—Listen and love:
MP3: Björk - Declare Independence
And because I’m a total Björk fanboy, here are some more goodies that you might not have heard yet.
First, A remix of a classic by the always-on-point DJ Ayres (of The Rub):
MP3: Björk - Hyperballad (DJ Ayres Remix 2 Short)
Second, a cool little medley/blend by DJ B-Ju that we snatched from ChazBlog in this recent post:
MP3: B-Ju - Björk vs D-Styles (13 min. mix)
Third, some Vitalic remix goodness from a 2005 12″ white label:
MP3: Björk - Who Is It (Vitalic Mix)
And lastly, hear what happens when Spank Rock gets ahold of one of Björk’s brand-spankin’ new track, ‘Earth Invaders’ (snatched from Analog Giant, respect!):
MP3: Björk - Earth Intruders (Spank Rock Remix)
You can visit Björk at her MySpace or official site.
Many of the Coachella performances, including Björk, were filmed professionally and broadcast at the AT&T Blue Room, and there should be an archive of the show going up sometime soon. But for those who can’t wait, there’s plenty more ameature footage of varying quality, like the video displayed above, on YouTube.
