Listen To A Record Made Out Of Ice By The Shout Out Louds

By Nick Venable | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Music, perhaps more than any other form of media except literature, can often take second place to the way the artist gets that bit of music out to potential fans. Some bands are bringing cassettes back into the fold, and a few 8-tracks have popped up over the last few years. Remember when USB sticks were primed to take over our listening habits? I have my own album I was going to release in the form of a fireball in the event of planetary Armageddon, so that Earth’s ghost could enjoy my tunes. But a record made out of ice? Now that’s just crazy. Even crazier? Making it yourself. Get your hipster gloves on.

The Swedish group Shout Out Louds are one of those indie bands that are for people other than me. Their songs don’t speak to me, but it’s possibly because I’ve been hearing their production value crisp and clear. For their single “Blue Ice” off of their upcoming album Optica, the band
got together with ad agency TBWA Stockholm to produce ten DIY ice records for ten lucky fans. The kit comes with distilled water, used for it’s clarity, and a silicon freeze tray with a vinyl pattern inset for the wicked cold grooves to form. Six hours later, and you’ve got yourself a warbling, skippy, hissing track that has to be immediately removed from the turntable after being played, as to not damage anything. So be sure and take your bathroom breaks before listening.

Here’s the promo video for the making of the record, followed by the song itself, which in this format sounds like the background to one of David Lynch’s more mundane nightmares.

And for those completists who just need to hear what the original song sounds like, here’s the room temperature version.

And so I extrapolate and imagine the Beach Boys releasing “California Girls” in the form of actual women who just sing the song when you press their belly button. But I dare not imagine how Tool’s “Hooker With a Penis” would fare. And I think we all know how Nirvana’s last single could have been taken to the head.

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