Incline, “toposonic corpus explorer,” transforms granular synthesis

Imagine granular synthesis, taken in entirely different dimensions. That’s Incline — Cristian Vogel’s cross-bred mixture of microsound and machine learning segmentation. It explodes sounds into a highly configurable topography, then applies precise envelopes, with unique rhythmic and textural results. Here’s how to explore those strange new worlds.

Jazz Szu-Ying Chen and Surgeon remind us why craft and art matter

Surgeon’s Shell~Wave easily tops my favorite techno records from 2025, a nice return to form for Tresor Records. But as we’re awash in generated artwork, let’s devote our own brain cycles instead to listening to Surgeon talk to Taiwanese artist Jazz Szu-Ying Chen about the craft of making this album cover by hand.

Peter Kirn - December 10, 2025

Dub techno original Fluxion on atmospheres and narratives in Haze

Konstantinos Soublis, aka Fluxion, has been quietly pushing the boundaries of dub techno and experimental electronic music for over two decades. His latest album, Haze, represents a profound exploration of musical storytelling. For CDM, he breaks down that work track by track and dives into his thought process, then and now.

David Abravanel - May 6, 2025