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Music

Joel Holmberg DJs The Internet (And It's Hilarious)

In the mix with DJ Filetype SWF! This pioneering mixmaster uses a web browser’s tabs to take you on an audiovisual journey. No requests though.

If you thought you’d heard it all when it comes to DJing, then you may have to have a little rethink. OK, so you’ve seen numerous methods and ways someone can mix: turntables, CDJs, laptop, iPads, Kinect, iPhone, iPod shuffle…But how about using a web browser?

Internet jester, artist Joel Holmberg (who we interviewed a while back) has taken the art of mixing and turned its mish-mash culture on that most fundamental of internet applications: your browser. Styling himself as turntablist DJ Filetype SWF on SWF Radio (among many other aliases), he uses a browser tab’s SWF file to supply the tunes. You’ll be able to hear potential bedroom floor fillers such as “Three Open Tabs” while Joel gives a wry DJ commentary over the top with insights like “This is what home ownership sounds like!” when on a property services website. In a found sound online remix of the web, you get visuals (the home pages) as well as sound, and a focus on the more amateur end of web design. And there are some funky basslines to be heard.

Whatever you think of the result in terms of dance-ability, you can’t deny its ingenuity. And it’s certainly an interesting and unconventional way to experience the web where, for once, you’re not in control. Go give it a try here.