Some days I start feeling kinda jaded about the “web”. Then a new concept comes and whacks me in the face and I sit up and take notice again. This time, to be precise, it hit me in the ear. The Silophone is a project that uses a huge grain elevator to transform sounds with its ultimate reverb. Specs: “reinforced concrete, 200 metres long, 16 metres wide and approximately 45 metres at its highest point. The main section of the building is formed of approximately 115 vertical chambers, all 30 metres high and up to 8 metres in diameter.” It’s in Montreal (thus the “metre” measures). What is so very cool about the setup is that you can upload sound files and hear them played to you live, via the magic of the Internet (and RealAudio). Thousands of sound files, some juvenile (cuss words), many a reflection of popular culture (Buffy bits, South Park songs), have been uploaded by the web-going public and played back.

When I first hit the site, someone(s) was merrily playing away, but I was soon left alone to try out the reverb by myself. What I’d really like to do is blast Beethoven’s 5th or Spybreak! (from The Matrix’s lobby shootout), but I’d have to do some editing (there’s a 1mb file limit). Instead I settled for the Simpson’s StoneCutters’ song, which I had handy. Of course listening from inside the silo itself is probably no comparison to a web broadcast. Hmmm, I think I’ve got a Tuvan throat singing mp3 somewhere. (And I really hope they don’t get dinged for having illegal music files on their site.) (via Yahoo’s Daily Picks)