Internet Awesomeness 5: 8in8

This edition only has one awesome thing because I find it to be exceptional and in need of recognition.

Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, Ben Folds, and Damian Kulash have all joined forces to do an experiement for the Rethink Music conference. They are collaborating to write 8 songs in 8 hours together. I'm amazed and delighted by the final product, an album called Nighty Night by 8in8 (the name for their impromptu band). There are only 6 tracks on this album and it took 12 hours to do, but each and every song is exceptional. I can definitley hear that different people influenced each track more, making each song different. This project is just amazing. I can't believe that people actually criticized this group of people for this. It's an amazing project that produced a good album, mixing each persons style and voice.

I never would have thought something so cohesive and awesome could come out of something like this. Not only did they draw on each other for inspiration, but also their twitter followers, engaging in conversation and ideas for songs. If you are interested in the process at all, Amanda Palmer wrote a blog post about some of the process. The whole thing was streamed online and will be available soon to watch in an edited version. I am curious about how they got to these 6 songs and what went on in those 12 hours. You can purchase this album for only $1, cheaper than one track on iTunes, at Amanda Palmer's website. You are of course welcome to donate more if you'd like. The inital proceeds from the first 2 weeks will go to the Berkely City Music Network that helps young people reach their full musical potential. If you don't know if you want to buy it, you can listen to it streaming on the website.

You can also see 8in8's first performance band music and also some solo work on this concert the day after recording their album here. The 1 hour mark is where Amanda Palmer is introduced. The best part is 8in8 performing a mashup of Neil Gaiman's essay about Amanda Palmer's death and Ben Fold's song You Don't Know Me at All. It was so unexpected, yet fit together eerily well. The album is wonderfully performed despite their sleep deprivation. I wish I could have been there.

My favorite quote about this project comes from Amanda Palmer: "we accomplished what we actually set out to do, which was to spend time together, create something beautiful that never existed before, and see what we could do by giving ourselves a deadline, some parameters, sushi, and the ingredients for some relatively decent gin and tonics."