Radiohead has released a video for their song “House of Cards” using no camera, instead created using data visualization.

The video was created using two technologies that use scanning systems and lasers to capture 3d images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics uses a 360 degree revolving scanner using 64 lasers to capture a detailed close-up while Velodyne LIDAR  captures larger ranges of geographic terrain that results in a rough scan.

The band has also made the data available so other people can manipulate the data and create their own video. You can see and manipulate the data here and also download tools yourself to create a video. You can see the resulting videos at the House of Cards Youtube Group.

Finally, here is a quote from the short film on the making of the music video:

“In a weird way its a direct reflection of where we are in society. Everything is data. I mean, everything around us is data driven in some shape or form and we are so reliant on it now.  Our lives are digital.”

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I’m a sucker for music websites. Here are a few new Web 2.0 sites that have caught my eye recently.

SeeqPod simply scrapes mp3s and music videos from the web and makes them searchable – similar to the Baidu mp3 search but more. It also searches video and there is also a discovery tool to find related music. Additionally SeeqPod has a profile system that allows you to save songs to a playlist to listen to them later.

Songerize is a simplified interface to SeeqPod. Very simple. Very fast. Very user-friendly.

Songza is another music search engine similar to SeeqPod but has a much simpler interface as well as twitter integration.

The next two sites come from the mixtape trend that existed before the advent of mp3s and playlists. One of the most treasured gifts you could get from someone was a good mixtape of songs. People developed their own art and method for creation, sometimes having strict rules for the placement of songs. They often were created for certain reasons such as the ubiquitous break-up mix or a mix to tell someone you had a secret crush.

First, my recent favorite, Muxtape. It allows you to create an MP3 mixtape by uploading songs from your computer. It is really simple, there is no social networking aspect, but you can add favorites.

Mixwit is a similar site, but instead of using your own songs it seraches Seeqpod and SkreemR to find the songs, often making the searches too complicated. You can create a profile and have multiple mixtapes as well as add artwork to your tape. Fuzz is perhaps a good alternative to Mixwit – providing the ability to decorate your tape as well as embed it in a widget. Mixaloo further allows you to embed a mixtape in your site and earn money if people buy the playlist. Finally, take a look at Mixx where collaborative mixtapes are made by request.

An earlier analog site is Tiny Mix Tapes, a music blog that will also create a playlist for a requested type, for example one requested is “We’re both artsy, neurotic, pretentious douchebags. We’re perfect for each other. Let’s make out. ” This actually uses humans to create a mixtape for you.

Here is another handy mashup for people who read Pitchfork – an indie music review site. It combines recent reviews with the audio from rhapsody. There is nothing fancy about the site – just a useful reference.

For many other music sites check out the roundup at Mashable.

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Interactive Architecture dot Org pointed me to an interesting lecture presented by Molly Wright Steenson titled “Strategic Boredom” presented at the IxDA’s Interaction 08 conference.

Here is a great quote taken from her presentation:
“Extreme boredom distracts us from boring ourselves.” – François de La Rochefoucauld

Steenson discusses Gordon Pask’s Musicolor (1953) – an interactive piece that has the ability to become bored with its users. In the piece, music and visual feedback interact with each other and the user. A musician plays in response to visual cues (lights and images.) If what the musician plays is to similar to what it has played before, the machine stops responding – it gets bored. The musician must react in a new way and play something different in order to illicit a response.

Gordon Pask (1928-1996) worked in Cybernetics – a broad interdisciplinary study of the structure of complex systems, especially communication processes, control mechanisms and feedback principles. Many fields of study have been influenced by cybernetics including, game theory, system theory, psychology, philosophy and architecture.

On another note, I missed the Boredoms play in New York this past month on my trip home, but here are a few YouTube clips.

The Boredoms are a Japanese noise-rock band who’s recent show introduced a custom 7 neck guitar. They previously held an event on 07-07-07 where they played with 77 drum kits.

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