Machine Shop: Hype Machine Team Blog

We’ve been having a lot of fun with the site for the past few weeks, with a header paying tribute to Nine Inch Nails, and our earlier Halloween colors, but we’ve also been making some design changes, which you can now see!

The update now live on the site streamlines the site player experience, makes much better use of the space on the site, and will soon make all the different site sections of the site clearer and more accessible. Oh yeah, the site is also wider – we noticed everyone bought those wonderful wide-screen displays, we are now ready to make great use of them.

This is a beta of the update, so stay tuned for more, and give us all the feedback you’ve got.

What do you think?

We make the site to keep everyone finding something new, and today we are testing a new revision to the Latest front page.

Starting now, the front page (also accessible as “Latest“) will only show the most recently posted tracks that have never been blogged about before.   This means that they are as fresh and new as possible, which is what the Latest page is all about.

You can still see the more complete view that includes reposted tracks by clicking “Filter->All Songs”.

Try it out!

We have something new for you today from the Hype Machine Labs. We call it Fast Forward.

Fast Forward is a speedy, immersive way to explore new music being discussed by the world-class blogs we index at The Hype Machine. I mean it: it is really fast.

We’ve been thinking about this idea since SXSW 2009, and after some further inspiration, thought to push this experience further. Fast Forward is like a spinning radio dial across radio stations curated by music bloggers.

From the latest, popular, or genre channels of blogged music, we show you screenshots of related blog posts, while playing short samples of the songs being discussed. Want to read the whole post? Click the big image on your screen. Like the song? Click the heart to add it to your Hype Machine favorites. Use your arrow keys, space bar, or the > button to skip to the next sample.

Now, do this for a few minutes. The favorites you add via Fast Forward won’t be auto-posted to Twitter or scrobbled to Last.fm, if you have that enabled on the Hype Machine, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Find something new to love? Keep going! There’s always more music up ahead.

This is still an early beta, so we’d love to know what you like, don’t like, or when something is broken. Please write here. Thanks!

SBTRKT is one of the most exciting artists to come out of London’s effervescent “bass music” scene over the past year. Following the release of his wicked debut album (which premiered right here on The Hype Machine), SBTRKT brings his LDN vibes to NYC this week. 

Along with our friends at TREEHOUSE, we’re stoked to co-host a special SBTRKT after-show party on Saturday in Brooklyn. Join the Hype Machine team for a fun hang and a big set behind the decks from the man himself. 

Free with RSVP here.

That’s right, we are having a show at the Northside Festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!  If you want to meet us, we will be there too (find us via Twitter, or green Hype Machine shirts), come say hi and meet other intense music lovers.

MINKS, Com Truise, Big Spider’s Back & Gavin Russom (DJ Set)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Doors 8pm, $10 (or Northside Festival badge), 21+

Cameo Gallery
93 North 6th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 302-1180