Red Bull Music Academy heads to Paris in 2015

To ring in the start of the application phase, Red Bull Music Academy will release its annual Various Assets compilation on January 13. Recorded at the 2014 Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo, the selection of tracks assembles the work of 58 international music makers, who melded minds and delved deep into the circuits in the Academy studios. This year’s compilation will feature music from Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo participants Lafawndah, Zebra Katz, Xosar, WIFE, Larry Gus, Palms Trax, Torus, Nightfeelings of Teengirl Fantasy, and many more.

Besides giving some of the world’s most talented young musicians a unique opportunity to forge collaborations in a state-of-the-art creative hub, a series of eclectic events, installations and talks were also part of Red Bull Music Academy schedule. A chiptastic line-up of legendary video game music composers took the stage in a celebration of the Japanese artists featured in our exclusive video game series Diggin' In The Carts; famed electronic and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda brought his test pattern installation to his homeland for the first time ever, providing a self-enclosed capsule of beautiful, immersive symmetry in the midst of one of Tokyo’s busiest shopping districts; Daito Manabe built a Human Sized Synthesizer in collaboration with KORG and Red Bull Music Academy, which was set up for two days in Shibuya for the public to enjoy; Academy lecturers TOKiMONSTA and Just Blaze turned a sushi conveyor belt into a beat machine as part of the Sushi Sequencer.

The legacy of all that has been shown and discussed here will live on after the Academy leaves town, as the recording studio on the ground floor will continue to be run as a creative space for Japan’s most visionary music makers and foster collaborations between Japanese and international artists.

ABOUT RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
The 17th edition of the Red Bull Music Academy will take place in Paris in autumn 2015, bringing together 60 carefully selected producers, vocalists, beat-makers, instrumentalists and DJs. They will be invited to attend intimate lecture sessions and collaborate on music in an expansive, custom-fitted complex of creative and studio spaces. As always, Red Bull Music Academy lectures are then available as archived video content on our website.

More than 1,500 musical luminaries have participated in past incarnations of the Red Bull Music Academy. Former lecturers include Giorgio Moroder, Chuck D, Steve Reich, Sly & Robbie, Bernie Worrell, Mark Ronson, M.I.A., Q-Tip, Hot Chip, MF Doom, Ryuichi Sakamoto, RZA, Stephen O’ Malley, Gilberto Gil, and pioneering synth inventors Bob Moog, Tom Oberheim, Don Buchla, Roger Linn, Dave Smith, amongst many others. Plenty Academy alumni have gone on to become true figureheads of their scenes like experimental electronic music producer and beat music innovator Flying Lotus; Hudson Mohawke, the Scottish producer behind the beats of Drake and Kanye West; Russian DJ, producer and label head Nina Kraviz; LA soul singer Aloe Blacc; Mexico’s Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Natalia Lafourcade; and the UK’s own Katy B, who introduced the whole world to the sound of London’s dubstep, funky and garage.

The Red Bull Music Academy has been pairing music legends and emerging beatsmiths since 1998 in cities such as Berlin, Cape Town, Melbourne, Barcelona, São Paulo, London, New York City and Tokyo. This unique combination of old school knowledge and new school sounds is unrivalled for its creative exploration and achievement. Each yearly Academy edition leaves behind structures to encourage musical collaboration and creative exchange for years to come. By the end of 2014, there will be eleven fully equipped Red Bull Studios around the world.