Beirut remains a city in pain following the August explosion in its port. A new crop of music compilations has arrived benefiting independent relief efforts, including from Lebanese and Arabic artists.

This year is a constant reminder that even in dark times, there are musical messages to hear. Bandcamp has extended their Fridays giving back commissions to artists, so it’s another chance to stock up on downloads and assemble a collection you’ll listen to on repeat.

In a rare 1991 film, Lev Sergeyevich Termen joined an all-star assemblage of composers from Russia and the US in Theremin’s Moscow apartment.

Imagining a future of instruments now can involve combinations of electronics, voltage, computation, and the physical. Grab a virtual seat at this talk from Ableton Loop for more.

It’s what The Guardian called the “Pulitzer of the new instrument world.” There are paid commissions and star judges. And this year is different, because (of course) the whole event goes online. Welcome to the 2021 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.

An update to Zoom today helps address its woefully low-quality audio – essential, as classes, music rehearsals, and even conferences rely on this tool.

Experimental, “chaos”-driven, West Coast synthesis is now delightfully popular. And the creative folks at Newfangled Audio have developed a monosynth – free, and they’re quick to add, without iLok.

Ash Lauryn, Detroit-born journalist, DJ, and creator now based in Atlanta, helms Beatportal this month and champions “Black and underground” music in all her work. Here’s where to find it all so you make sure not to miss it.

What if Conway’s Game of Life, a Tamigotchi, a Turing machine, a Game Boy, and a stack of ecology and philosophy books got mixed up in a transporter accident and then spawned… a new monome program? Well, it’d probably look like this.

Party like it’s 2002. By popular demand, Sonic Bloom has recreated the “vintage” color skins of Ableton Live 2, 18 years ago.