Well passed the point of working on mere albums, long-running UK electronic duo Underworld have been busy with more ambitious projects. After teaming up with Danny Boyle for the London 2012 Olympics' opening ceremony, the duo are now working on an intuitive music app with the Volkswagen car company called Play the Road.
The app will utilize data from the car, including speed and RPM, along with steering and location data from the accelerometer and GPS information. That information will be processed via an app in the driver's smartphone, and then translated into an immersive soundscape. The result is constantly shifting audio that works with one's surroundings.
Underworld's Karl Hyde explained that he's always found musical inspiration in moving vehicles. "Driving and music are probably the most important things in my musical education: sitting in the back of my dad's car at night," he said in a statement. "It was a filmscape to me, it was beautifully lit and the dashboard was magical, and radio Luxemburg or some pirate station was on the radio and that was everything to me. It's still the root of why I love music. Being in a car surfing the radio, finding stuff that suits how you feel."
The group's Rick Smith added: "I think we all felt from the beginning that if it was just an experiment that produced an experimental result and that was it thenit was going to be a failure. It needed to arouse emotions, as music does."
More information on Volkswagen's new project is available here. A video demonstrating the app is available below.
The app will utilize data from the car, including speed and RPM, along with steering and location data from the accelerometer and GPS information. That information will be processed via an app in the driver's smartphone, and then translated into an immersive soundscape. The result is constantly shifting audio that works with one's surroundings.
Underworld's Karl Hyde explained that he's always found musical inspiration in moving vehicles. "Driving and music are probably the most important things in my musical education: sitting in the back of my dad's car at night," he said in a statement. "It was a filmscape to me, it was beautifully lit and the dashboard was magical, and radio Luxemburg or some pirate station was on the radio and that was everything to me. It's still the root of why I love music. Being in a car surfing the radio, finding stuff that suits how you feel."
The group's Rick Smith added: "I think we all felt from the beginning that if it was just an experiment that produced an experimental result and that was it thenit was going to be a failure. It needed to arouse emotions, as music does."
More information on Volkswagen's new project is available here. A video demonstrating the app is available below.
