“Deep calm”: Roland Mood Pan is a digital handpan

Sometimes, Roland gives us predictable things. Sometimes, the company decides to digitize the handpan for an electronic hand percussion instrument that can also make gamelan and singing bowl sounds, pretty environmental noises, and function as a Bluetooth speaker.

Two stills of Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay leaping in front of checkered green and gray background, in his signature hat, a Sony logo in the upper left-hand corner.

Peak 1996: When Jamiroquai met Sony MiniDisc in Japan

It was once the pinnacle of digital recordable audio, a would-be successor to the mighty cassette tape. And for one glorious moment in 1996, Sony MiniDisc was all that was right with the world, exemplified by a trippy Japan-only ad campaign with none other than Jamiroquai.

Peter Kirn - May 22, 2025

HyperSplash is glitchy hyperactive fun – $3 Max for Live from MIRA新伝統

If you don’t know the hyperfuturist post-anthropocene duo* MIRA新伝統 aka Honami Higuchi and Raphael Leray, you need to. But now for three bucks – $3!! – you can drop their absolutely addictive Max for Live mayhem into your Ableton Live set. Should you? You should.

Peter Kirn - April 23, 2025

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