From the mint-and-hot-pink labels to the wobbly pitch and effects, make no mistake: Dreadbox are teasing their upcoming Hypnosis with retro synthwave fetishists in mind. And from the sound, we’re okay with that.
Music
Images of KORG volca modular, volca drum appear online
Unconfirmed and unofficial images identified as KORG volca modular and volca drum are circulating across social media channels today, after first appearing on Reddit.
Ethereal, enchanting Winter Solstice drone album, made in VCV Rack
It’s the shortest day of the year and first astronomical day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Don’t fight it. Embrace all that darkness – with this transcendent album full of drones, made in the free VCV Rack modular platform.
Download a free two-hour Panorama Bar mix from nd_baumecker
Nothing brightens midwinter like music. So the warm glow of nd_baumecker’s mixing is something special. The delayed download is out now from Ostgut Ton, the label associated with Berghain and Panorama Bar.
Build your own scratch DJ controller
If DJing originated in the creative miuse and appropriation of hardware, perhaps the next wave will come from DIYers inventing new approaches. No need to wait, anyway – you can try building this scratch controller yourself.
Here’s an Electro-Harmonix pedal in concrete, for some reason
So many questions. Someone decided to encase their Electro-harmonix Big Muff Pi Distortion / Sustainer in concrete, and now wants to/is forced to get rid of it.
Animals and Synthesizers is reason to love the Internet again
It was the worst of times, it was … the worst of times. The Internet and social media has doled out hate and trolls, democracy-crushing propaganda and tribalist fragmentation. But then, an Internet Christmas miracle happened.
TidalCycles, free live coding environment for music, turns 1.0
Live coding environments are free, run on the cheapest hardware as well as the latest laptops, and offer new ways of thinking about music and sound that are leading a global movement. And one of the leading tools of that movement just hit a big milestone.
Hands-on: Complex-1 puts West Coast-inspired modular in Reason
Propellerhead has unveiled a modular instrument add-on for Reason, Complex-1. It puts a patchable, West Coast-inspired synth inside the already patchable Reason environment – and it sounds fabulous.
Generative music from Shanghai’s AYRTBH: interview, download
The mysterious, murky, glitchy-future sounds you hear from, AYRTBH, Shanghai’s Wang Changcun, emerges from an algorithm. That software can make this album over and over again without sounding the same. The artist explains – and shares a specially generated exclusive for CDM readers.