~wavy room ~ episode 4 with Anthony Azekwoh
Anthony is an award-winning digital artist and author. We have a great chat and share music. Also some updates!
~ happy new year everybody! ~, we actually made it to the other side haha. Hi, it’s me your friend Adetunji or freeshype as you know me from the interwebs. I’ve got a good email for you today.
episode 4 with Anthony Azekwoh
in october last year i spoke to Anthony Azekwoh. Anthony is an artist I’ve admired for a long time. I consider him part of a wave of digital artists from Nigeria and Africa that for the first time really had a cultural impact.
we all lived through the NFT mania, now we live in a time where digital artists can extract value from their work, and give people a real taste of what it feels like to enjoy art.
on episode 4 and the final 2023 episode, I and Anthony talked about his success, digital art in Africa and of course music.
tracklist
Babyjet - Nnelg
Anthony's music picks
Sweet Tea (Aduke) - Bnxn
reason - Omah Lay
MOTO - Lojay
Aquafina - Young John
Duffel Bag - Joeboy
Outside - Bnxn
Membaz Only - Kida Kudz
2023 recap⏰
we made 5 episodes last year from February to December with about a 3-month break in between.
As some of you may know, I had the most beautiful wedding in Malaga last August. Creating that moment took a ton of energy from me. I just didn’t have it to slug the production alone after that.
so when I was back from my amazing family wedding holiday, I decided to hire a producer who would help me edit and sort out the order, sound effects and the technical bits of the production.
That became the 808Xtra team, and they worked with me on the last 3 episodes of the year.
i tried a bunch of different methods of distributing the show. At one time the episode was here on Substack. Eventually we settled on using Spotify primarily. I think we will be here a while.
hello 2024🎇
this year marks a big milestone for the show. our goal is to become a media brand for the curious, creative, culture-aware music lovers. (mouthful).
with your help I’m working on improving what we do. I’m grateful because you are getting a front-row seat view of how I’m building this thing.
Solo episodes
I’m taking a break from inviting guests, to basically figure out what a wavy room episode will look like if it was just me and I hosted from beginning to end. I’ll do a few episodes of this and then we’ll get guests back in the mix.
I have some ideas for segments. I know that I will be introducing the songs a bit more for you and bringing in news from the music and wider creative industry.
Please tell me what you might be interested in hearing. You can reply to this email. 🙏🏾
Adding Video
My goal is to record each episode with video as I play the music and talk through the new segments I have planned for you. This means more graphics, and maybe animation ;)
When we do have guests in the future, I’ll be recording video for all my guests on both sides through the internet, so myself and the guest will have full video.
The plan is to turn this into the social media clips and YouTube vids that would help grow our connection to the audience.
New Design
i’m currently working on a full redesign of the visuals for the show. Starting with episode 4, I updated the look of wavy room. I’m mostly just playing it by ear. I’m inspired by gradients, and Neo-brutalism style right now. Peep new logo below.
the idea for this is to create what marketers call a “distinctive brand asset”. In plain English this means some thing that is closely associated with the brand that makes it immediately recognisable.
For most content creators, it’s their face. For wavy room it might end up being my face too but with some careful hard work, it could also include this brand you see below and the way that it shows up on social, web and in real life.
I’ll also be working on a new cover for the show which I’ll share once it’s ready.
Here’s another sneak peek for you. Visuals from wavy room’s new landing page.
i’m really proud of these. I think there’s really something here. There is no radio-style podcast hosted by an African man who djs and plays music in the episode. It’s all broadcast radio, your 99.9 or BBC Radio 1 or RTE 2FM.
this is quite literally something new. we now live in an age of AI-generated content, where everyone is a content creator, you see the same topic/trend rehashed 5 times, the algorithms rule the feeds.
Everyone is playing popular music. Outside all that noise, wavy room is trying to be as original as possible.
It’s not just another talk show, it’s not just another playlist. It’s a space where the people matter, and it’s about providing an experience you can’t get anywhere else.
playlist for you🎵
this one is an oldie but goodie. laid-back amapiano vibes. I know the log drums are pop now but don’t worry. this selection eases you into it.
recommend us🙏🏾
while I take the time to chart a new chapter in this story, I would really appreciate if you could share our show with someone you know. real relationships are what powers this entire thing.
here’s the link to us on spotify.
click that, and share to a friend. tell them “started listening to this, it’s something different”. the good news is we have 5 episodes to binge.
until next time
over the next few weeks, i’ll be working on some of things i’ve mentioned. I’m taking a break from Instagram, TikTok and X while I figure things out. I think anyone who creates anything needs time away to themselves.
creation forces us to look inward. Removing distractions and external stimuli, makes us sit with ourselves and turn to real world inspiration. Like books, and people, and your own very real life.
i’m not totally gone gone though, There is one more episode from last year. I and my friends at DesignOpp held a live painting session with two artists in Dublin.
DesignOpp friend Holly Peireira hosted and interviewed the artists as they worked. We recorded the session, which will be our first episode this year and the only for a short while. You’ll see this on our team socials we are @design.opp on Instagram.
until next time, goodbye from everywhere.
your friend,
freeshype