From gear to music, welcome to the capital of DIY. Music technology makers and musicians from the experimental to the party end of the spectrum are gathering soon in central Europe, and they’re worth a listen and look wherever you may be. Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, was already home to […]

Not just less is more. More from less. Call it the sub-$200 studio. Our friend Tomash Ghz has made a track with sounds produced using only the Teenage Engineering PO-12 and the MeeBlip anode. Listen: And, very cool, have a go at the project files via Splice: https://splice.com/ghz_tomash/tomash-ghz—teslacoil For the record, that’s US$59 for the […]

The first antidote to any element of today’s music scene we don’t like is to begin sharing the music we love. And here’s a case in point. It’s a must-listen mix of all-female artists (via the female:pressure network), assembled by Akkamiau Kočičí aka hiT͟Hərˈto͞o. This list for me is significant not because these are female […]

It’s a long weekend in America, many bits of Europe, and other parts of the world, and that inflection point has arrived where the Northern Hemisphere looks forward to summer. So, let’s celebrate, turning attentions from dark, moody techno and experimental ambience to some splashes of color – techno plus all its further branches and […]

Techno right now has a problem. It’s kind of a nice problem to have. There’s some music that’s just terrifically well-produced in the spotlight, so much so that it’s tough to say no to it. It’s a bit like having the number to a Chinese takeout place and knowing every time they deliver it’s going […]

I’m remiss in not posting this last week when it debuted, and I suspect many CDM readers have heard already, but if not – drop everything, and have a listen (in full) to ‘Platform,’ the new LP from composer/producer Holly Herndon. The full LP is now on Spotify, etc., or NPR First Listen. There’s a […]

Fraction by Sinevibes video demo from Sinevibes on Vimeo. Sinevibes has been on a roll lately. The one-man Mac plug-in shop keeps churning out elegant, attractive plug-ins with a consistent color-coded visual interface, variations on a theme that invariably include clever twists. And now, this. Fraction isn’t the first slice repeater plug-in. But it might […]

Documentary MusicMakers Hacklab at CTM Festival 2015 from CDM on Vimeo. With computers and electricity or without it, musical performance has the potential to be expressive, powerful, immediate. Making music live in front of an audience demands spontaneous commitment. What technology can allow us to is to wire up that potential to other fields in […]

From small boxes, big sound, and enormous fun… Something has happened in the evolution of electronic music production. What was once so often a slow process has become a jam, what was carefully orchestrated on screens finds itself embodied in gear. And small and affordable “toys” can often deliver the greatest “switch-on-and-play” satisfaction. Helsinki’s Recue […]

You’re going to need some bigger pockets. (Overalls?) British-born, Kyoto-based Ally Mobbs has hacked the inexpensive Teenage Engineering PO-12 drum machine into a full-sized box. Instead of the tiny, fingertip-challenging buttons, you get nice, big arcade buttons. He’s also made a lovely-looking wooden case and a jack connector.