It is radio-reactive.
A Brooklyn record label released a music app on Wednesday that only works on the Williamsburg Bridge and tailors its playlist to your exact location on the East River overpass.
The Williamsburg Bridge Radio iPhone app switches on automatically when you arrive at the bridge, then plays fast-paced songs as you move uphill and more laid-back tracks as you travel down towards land, according to its creators.
“It knows when you are at the peak of the hill and that is when the chill track will start,” said Heather Brodie, a wordsmith at advertising agency Sid Lee, which built the software for record label Uno!.
The agency created the software shtick as a gimmick to promote the label and its artists, which include rapper Mykki Blanco, disc jockey Jacques Greene, and experimental producer SFV Acid.
“It is a conversation piece to get people to talk about the music,” said Sid Lee associate creative director Cecilia Azcarate.
But the app’s authors said they were also inspired by their own commutes over the borough-spanning suspension bridge.
“We all take our bikes over the bridge and push very hard and then coast to the beautiful view, and we decided there should be a soundtrack for that,” said Azcarate.
This paper took the app for a spin on a drive over the bridge on Thursday and found it worked as promised — but probably is probably better for bike and foot trips than car commutes. The so-called “radio” station played two 60-second snippets on either side of the bridge — a rap song kicked in the second we passed the bridge’s threshold on the Manhattan side, then switched to a piano ballad as we approached the Williamsburg end.
The app is free, and Uno! says it plans to broadcast different tunes every day.
— with Joseph Altobelli
