Kutiman: Thru-You(Tube)
Update: Check out Researching ThruYOU for downloads and information about Kutiman’s YouTube remix project
Yesterday, when I first set my eyes and ears on what Ophir Kutiel (aka Kutiman) did, my mind was immediately blown away by the freshness, the untamed talent and the attention to details. Did it really take him only two months to produce?!
The minimalist site, thru-you.com (which is down, again), designed by Bacon Oppenheim (who also did the amazing innovid site), gave the perfect feeling. The music and visuals sent shivers down my spine and gave me goose bumps (especially the final part of I’m New).
I found myself feeling the same feelings of astonishment when I first listened to DJ Shadow’s Brainfreeze, or during Coldcut’s live performance in Tel-Aviv. I immediately started downloading the MP3 tracks – I had to “own” a copy… Then I went over some of the original videos, which were used as samples in the tracks, and started having YouTube conversations with some of the surprised talents, who seemed extremely flattered (as they should!). Then I emailed Kutiman (and got a very warm response from his agent), and started sending every one I know to the site… which was already down. I’m still wondering why they chose to stream the video from their servers, instead of using YouTube’s most powerful feature – embed. Since I didn’t want people not to be able to experience it, I set up a very minimalist “unofficial mirror” site, containing the MP3 files and the YouTube videos downwithutube put online (great thinking, and kudos for including all the links to the originals!).
Kuti, if you’re listening, you are a genius, and I think you’ve just started a revolution (just an example: see what Kevin Rochowski wrote here. He immediately went to the iTunes store and purchased Kutiman’s debut album). I am new.
P.S. You can follow @kutiman and tell him how much you loved his project. Also, I wonder what Colbert is going to have say about it.
Update: I’ve just added the full list of credits/samples to the mirror site, thanks to progosk and Andy Baio.
Update #2: I’ve made the credits/samples list more usable, and I’ve officially changed the title to Researching ThruYOU. I am interested in collecting information about the featured musicians and how this project affects their lives. Please post a comment or edit this wikipedia page…
Innerlogics 