Hasta La Gadget!

Japanese breakbeat band Hifana have teamed up with the digital contents label of Wieden and Kennedy Tokyo, W+K Tokyo Lab, to produce a very cool sound sampler, sequencer and game free iPhone App. After running a similar game on the Hifana website in the past, the app is a revival that similarly lets users simulate different sounds that Hifana use in their live performances. Making it that bit more interactive though the App also features a socially interactive game, pitching competing “iPhone Djs” against each other to see who can perform the best recreation of a Hifana track.

What is nice is that this app isn’t just a marketing gimmick for the band but actually a very cool music tool, just check out the video below to see what can be done with it! As well as being able to tap out various different breaks and rhythms using the Apps functions users can also record multiple sounds themselves and lay them into a track. Hifana have been signed to W+K Tokyo Lab since their first album and the app is in keeping with the band who are renowned for using an MPC sampler as a musical instrument in their live performances to create real-time breakbeats without the use of any pre-programmed sequences.

Cleverly widening the reach of the band as well as adding another interactive layer to the App, it uses Twitter to let players publish their scores from a game. Players can choose either band member Keizo or Juicy and perform songs by tapping the correct corresponding flashing pads. The tie in with both the music and the app is a clever way at not only pushing the bands album “24H” but a way of creating a more interactive platform for fans and building on the bands image of using “innovative technology-based creative expressions”.

Icelandic singer Bjork recently released her “App Album” Biophilia, which mixed up the way that digital music is distributed and aimed at tying in the music, the concept of the song, lyrics, visuals and the interactivity of the app. Similarly the Hifana App adds another experience to the albums music, letting fans experience making the bands tracks themselves, almost a behind the scenes peak at the different sounds and techniques the band employs. With the music industry struggling with the rise in listeners choosing alternative, less legal, routes to get their hands on music today, this kind of extra brings added value incentive for the fan to buy into the band as a whole package. Labels and bands that start to make use of ubiquitous smartphone capabilities or tablet devices can now leverage a whole new market, and could even be taken to the next level maybe tying in live performances, visuals and apps for one unified, fully interactive experience.

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