Danny Hajek

Supernova Story on NPR’s Weekend Edition

Danny Hajek — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:53:15 +0000

Last month, my brother and I drove out two hours east of Los Angeles to the small desert town of Yucca Valley, California. Amateur astronomers had gathered outside the Community Center parking lot to spend an evening looking at the stars. The night’s featured object was Supernova 2011 fe, a type 1A supernova located in the Pinwheel Galaxy just above the big dipper. Highly sensitive cameras captured the image from deep space; a small spec of light – the supernova, 21 million light years away.

Listen to my story on NPR.

Hello!

Danny Hajek — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:19:55 +0000

Martin Solveig is an electronic music DJ and producer out of Paris. He was raised on classical music but got into DJing at the age of thirteen when he received his first set of turntables.

Back in September, Solveig teamed up with Canadian singer-songwriter and member of the band, Dragonnette, Martina Sorbara. Together, they produced the song, “Hello” which has taken the world by storm.

The music video depicts Solveig and fellow DJ, Bob Sinclair as tennis stars competing against each other. Very clever production.

Hooray for Earth

Danny Hajek — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:02:25 +0000

The New York based group, Hooray for Earth recently released a video to their latest song, ”True Loves.” Check it out:

Hooray For Earth – True Loves from Dovecote Records on Vimeo.

CocoRosie

Danny Hajek — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:32:09 +0000

The story of CocoRosie is about as unique as the members who make up the duo. Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” Casady formed their musical group back in 2003 in Paris. But they’re both American. Sierra was born in Iowa, and Bianca in Hawaii. Their parents separated at a young age, and both daughters ended up living with their mother, Christina. She believed that a formal education was holding the girls back and that experiencing the real world was the best education her daughters could receive. So neither Bianca nor Sierra ended up finishing high-school.

Instead, the two girls spent summers with their father, a former Iowa farmer, who had become fascinated with Native American culture and religion. Bianca and Sierra would join him while he visited Native American reservations and participated in vision quests.

At age 18, Sierra moved to New York, then Paris where she pursued a career as an opera singer. Bianca was back in Brooklyn studying linguistics, and being a world apart, lost contact with her sister. But by 2003, Bianca was growing restless in her small Brooklyn apartment and decided she would travel the world. First stop: an unexpected visit to Sierra’s Paris apartment. Her trip around the world suddenly transformed into an opportunity to communicate with her sister again and, of course, record CocoRosie’s debut album, La maison de mon rêve.

Since then, the sisters have been inseparable.

A unique quirk of this duo is their apparent admiration for facial hair. During live performances, in music videos and in pictures, both Sierra and Bianca will sport fake mustaches. Interesting…

One of their most memorable songs is titled, Lemonade from their 2010 album, Grey Oceans. Their music video for this track is especially bizarre:

Roadtrip

Danny Hajek — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:28:47 +0000

My six and-a-half hour drive down to Nashville, Tennessee last weekend required me to pack my SD card with some mp3′s. Thankfully, the night before my trip, I stumbled upon KEXP’s Song of the Day Podcast, which features 300+ full length songs for free.

One of my favorites that came up during my drive comes from Crooked Fingers. Guitarist and vocalist of the group, Eric Bachmann joins featured artist, Neko Case in this track titled, “Your Control”.

Ski Beatz & Mos Def

Danny Hajek — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:17:50 +0000

Ski Beatz released his debut album, 24 Hour Karate School on September 21, 2010. The album endured some delays due to copyright issues, coming out an entire six months after its intended release date. And though it has some powerful voices as featured artists lending vocals over nicely produced beats (like Jean Grae and Jay Electronica), 24 Hour Karate School missed out on one major collaboration…due to copyright issues.

Mos Def was supposed to appear on the album in a song titled, “Cream of the Planet”. But clearance issues forced him off, and the end result is a mellow, echoey jazz fuzed track. Luckily, we haven’t totally lost Mos Def’s voice. Some music videos were shot for promoting 24 Hour Karate School before its official release - including “Cream of the Planet” before it was left as an instrumental. Check it out:

We Are the People

Danny Hajek — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 02:20:07 +0000

I keep coming back to this group. Empire of the Sun’s throwback to 80′s pop tinged with new-age synths and cleanly produced beats always makes for an enjoyable listen. Plus, they’re a unique duo. Lead singer, Luke Steele pictured below with one of his trademark eccentric outfits posing next to a bison.

So, in honor of their weird-ness, today’s remix is of ”We Are the People” from Empire of the Sun.

Jimmy2sox is the man behind the remix. He takes this track into a more danceable realm, adding a driving club beat with an unforgettable smooth sax. Check it out:

Daft Punk + TRON

Danny Hajek — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:49:48 +0000

Disney’s TRON: Legacy was released this past Friday, already grossing $43.6 million at the box office over weekend.

The sci-fi sequel to the 1982 film TRON packed in high-speed action with stunning 3D visual effects within a neon-glowing city placed in a dark, barron world. So for the soundtrack – who better to employ than Daft Punk? (And be sure to keep an eye out for their cameo in the movie.)

Here’s Daft Punk with Derezzed off the TRON: Legacy soundtrack:

Ready for the Weekend (12/17)

Danny Hajek — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:43:26 +0000

The Go! Team is back in full force this week with the release of their new (long awaited) album, Rolling Blackout.

The Team is comprised of six members out of Brighton, England with one of the most unique sounds coming onto the indie music scene. Loud, distorted guitars back schoolyard chants over funky hip-hop rhythms. To put it simply: they’re a lot of fun to listen to.

Their new single makes for the perfect song to dance to this weekend. It’s “Buy Nothing Day” from The Go! Team :

Stop Motion Post-it Notes

Danny Hajek — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:57:42 +0000

Bang-yao Liu was a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design when he got the idea to create a stop-motion video. With the help of his professor and some friends, Liu created an animated stop-motion sequence based on the frustrated/tired/procrastinating mind of a student. He did this with the help of the simple Post-it note:

three months planning
four days shooting
6,000+ Post-it notes

…all for a video that lasts one minute and 55 seconds.