Magpies and hope: a journey into Anastasia Kristensen’s Bestiarium

Far from the cold, hard edges and cookie-cutter music, Anastasia Kristensen is exploring anthropomorphic sound — and digging up “weird, small nests” of music. It’s just the kind of hopeful conversation we need right now. Enter this year’s Bestarium Sombre — and, if you’re lucky, catch Anastasia live. She talks to CDM about the work and that vision.

Mourning Álvaro Ruiz, visionary Mexican electronic music producer

Late last week, we learned of the passing of a legend of electronic music production, Mexico’s Álvaro Ruiz Mayagoitia. His wide-ranging talent across various aliases (Balboa, Ruisort) should have gotten far wider recognition outside of Mexico. It turned with ease from glitchy experimental minimalism to hip-hop electronica to soundtracks, his imagination simply refused to be confined to a single form of expression.

Peter Kirn - January 3, 2024

Bandcamp Tempo Adjust adds a DJ-style tempo slider – and, soon, beat detection

Calling Bandcamp addicts who DJ: this clever browser extension adds a DJ-style tempo slider to Bandcamp’s Web interface. It’s already feature-packed, with more coming, and a great way to preview tempo changes before you buy.

Peter Kirn - January 6, 2023

Go Record Digging with Nina Kraviz, Finding Emotion in DJing and Production

Peter Kirn - March 3, 2015