With so much new gear coming out each year it is sometimes hard to see the wood for all the trees, but every now and then some things come along that may tickle your inspiration or even a potential game changer. The new AKAI MPC Live may be just that […]

Will AKAI revolutionize the way you make music?

Say hello – wave goodbye to a music year in turmoil. 2016 became the year when a good deal of our music elite decided to do a ‘check out’, with George Michael being the final one although on the door step to 2017. On the other hand 2016 did have […]

20 electronic sounds that made an impact in 2016

Carl Craig, a legend in his own right, is about to embark on a new journey and apparently so one that he has dreamed of doing for a long time. Detroit imprint Planet E links with InFiné to deliver ‘Versus’, a new album by Carl Craig fusing electronic elements with […]

Carl Craig turns the page

As machines and robots become ever more present in our every day life, paired with increasing the digitization we are well on our way towards Kurzweil’s Singularity, but how is this materializing in music in general and in electronic music in particular? We have previously covered how virtual reality and […]

I’m not a robot – Artificial Intelligence in music

For many of us Japan’s electronic music scene is kind of like a black hole, we sure know of J-POP and the success western producers and artists have in exporting music to this far end corner of the world. Furthermore, if you are of age you should also be quite […]

Tokyo round up – Can Circus claim the techno throne ...

Robert Henke aka Monolake is an underground music profile who most likely needs no introduction. His work merges two separate, sometimes even conflicting concepts – technology and emotion. Being a renowned musician, sound engineer and software architect introducing cutting-edge concepts, he is also the man behind the Monolake project, which […]

Interview: Robert Henke (Monolake) and the art of symbolism

In terms of people leaving us the year 2016 will go down in history; David Bowie, Prince…and now Leonard Cohen. Leonard Cohen, the hugely influential singer and songwriter whose work spanned nearly 50 years, died at the age of 82. Cohen’s label, Sony Music Canada, confirmed his death on the […]

A legend has left us – Leonard Cohen dead at ...

Not sure how many times one has thought of investing in a real modular machine park, and in particular one by Don Buchla. It doesn’t matter how many standard synthesizer you light up in the dark, the comparison with a full blown Buchla glowing and playing a self-generating patch in […]

Avant-garde and the source of uncertainty

Entering darkness can be a terrifying experience, but it can also be a way to confront your fears and explore different aspects of your mortal life. We are all struggling with our own mortality and man’s quest for answers over thousands of years, be it scientifically or spiritually, still leaves […]

Into the realms of darkness – The voice of Covenant

Few who are engaged in the modern underground techno scene has have missed out on Charlotte de Witte, still only in her early twenties she has made a massive impact as a DJ and techno producer, releasing her own material in collaboration with major techno contributors, such as Cari Lekebusch […]

The next gen techno clubbers – Interview with Charlotte de ...

Haven´t heard of Alexa, then it is time to step up. Alexa is AI voice behind Amazon´s voice assistant Echo, a woman that has been helping US citizens for some time now with ordering UBER taxis, scheduling meetings, booking restaurants and more. Now Amazon wants to give Spotify and Apple […]

Will Alexa become your new favorite DJ?

In the borderlands of noise, ambient, experimental, industrial, minimal and techno we have iDEAL the Swedish label that has long been in the forefront of an alternative music scene. Started by Joachim Nordwall it has now grown to a force, promoting artists that are pushing the envelope in contemporary music. iDEAL […]

Breaking boundaries – iDEAL-fest report feat Puce Mary, Ectoplasm Girls, ...

DJ, Techno producer, composer, experimentalist, avant-gard artist – the labels we can put on Austria’s finest techno export, Electric Indigo, are many and they all blend well with the impressive back catalog of this forward looking artist. With her roots working in Berlin’s finest record store Hardwax to today’s techno […]

Interview: Electric Indigo keeps on pushing the boundaries in the ...

Not many records have such an allure as the golden record that went into space in the 70’s. Now NASA has officially announced that they will “re-release” this record to the general public. The now iconic astronomer Carl Sagan produced this record to be part of the Voyager 1 and 2 […]

Space explorers rejoice – Carl Sagan’s golden record is up ...

Today minimalism is a given but when Steve Reich did the same in the 60’s and 70’s things were quite different, pioneering the use of tape loops and phase patterns Steve, alongside Philip Glass and Terry Riley, have had a massive influence on today’s music scene. Now in 2016 it […]

The legacy of Steve Reich – Minimalism and Music for ...

If you had your teens in the 80’s and was into synth pop music you’ve bound to have come across Soft Cell or at a minimum you’ve heard their version of the classic hit Tainted Love. Soft Cell was the essence of electronic music meeting the avant-garde, spiced with its own […]

Dave Ball (Soft Cell) goes super ambient on Photosynthesis

We have heard the rumors for quite some time now, both about the return of the ARP, but also that more Volcas were on their way. In yesterdays´s announcements from KORG we got all this plus a spiced up microKORG, a synth that kind of have become somewhat legendary now in […]

It´s KORG bonanza today – New Volca, microKORG and the ...

Avoid spending thousands of dollars on expensive hardware or software gear or simply feel like killing time at work? The world, or rather the web, is full of browser based instruments that can be used for free and in this feature we will guide you to the best ones. Needless […]

The ultimate guide on how to be a browser based ...

Chiptunes and 8 bit music have grown in popularity over some years now, partly spurred by the retro game trend that has been going on for quite some time now.  Commodore 64 was the crowned leader at the time having three audio channels to use in the compositions, compared with […]

AMIGA and the 16 bit music legacy

Perhaps not infinite, but surely close enough – the sound shaping capabilities of 2CAudio’s Kaleidoscope are immense and the overall approach from a UI perspective really pushes the envelope. After having spent some days in the Stereoklang studio with Kaleidoscope it is quite clear that the team behind Kaleidoscope still […]

2CAudio Kaleidoscope – Sound creation goes unlimited

For a month or so Behringer has been teasing the DeepMind 12 and although we are getting quite used to watching blurred out video clips of upcoming machines, the DeepMind 12 may well be worth waiting for. Behringer has been teasing this little beast for quite some time now – […]

Alive and kicking – a 12 voice synth shouldn´t go ...

When discussing the use of electronic instruments in Jazz music you often end up talking about hammonds and electric guitars, but that’s a very narrow definition ruling out most of the evolution made in Jazz music over the past decades. NuJazz is such a sub genre within Jazz that really […]

Nu Jazz – Impressive contribution to electronic music

KORG is a synthesizer company (no shit! hehe) that has truly embraced modern computing platforms. The company has made both top notch clones of their legacy machines like the MS-20, as well as new innovative apps like the KORG Gadget. Bandai Namco, on the other hand, has been very slow […]

KORG and Bandai Namco – The perfect marriage

Ready for some high pitched laser beats that will definitely trigger your imagination. This week we will look closer at ::vtol::’s latest installation as well as experience what may be your next party gadget – the Basslet. Russian based ::vtol:: has a rich track record of producing intriguing and conceptual videos […]

High pitched laser beats and wearable sub-woofers on the go