The Mission District of San Francisco has a new secret DJ, and he doesn't play turntables: he secretly listens to every song that is heard on its streets.
There's a musical spy lurking over San Francisco's Mission District: a solar-powered Android phone hidden on a street pole in an undisclosed location, tirelessly listening to every “bop” it picks up below. Following the sounds of the 415 like a silent music detective, the low-budget contraption is operated by an old Shazam-equipped Android phone and records an endless playlist of everything it listens to.
Riley Walz's curious invention is not just any gadget. Dubbed the “Bop Spotter,” it's always on, ready to tag every song played within earshot. So far, the listening device has identified many electronic anthems crossing its neighboring orbit, including “Where Are Ü Now” (by Skrillex, Diplo and Justin Bieber) and “Break Free” (by Zedd and Ariana Grande).
You can even track and download the entire playlist to view recorded music in real time. Bop Spotter's record reveals a genre-bending mix of pop hits, hip-hop throwbacks, reggaeton hits and dance anthems. With a CSV file downloadable from Walz's website, anyone can access the sonic diary of the cityscape and imagine they are walking the streets of the Mission District.
For Walz, the reward is more than just capturing the next shot. His favorite moment so far has been watching the Bill Withers classic “Just the Two of Us” at 3 in the morning in, presumably, a moment of pure spontaneity.
Walz says he was inspired by urban technology like the police ShotSpotter, which is designed to triangulate the location of gunshots in dense areas, but his project has an entirely different mission: tracking the organic soundtrack of the city. The Bop Spotter and his continued undercover gig as a DJ cost him about $100, he said. 404 Media.
“This is cultural surveillance. No one notices, no one gives consent,” Walz writes. “But it's not about catching criminals. It's about picking up vibrations. A constant transmission of what's happening in real time.”
You can learn more about Bop Spotter and access his complete music record here.
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