Akin to the record’s title, Bon wrote the four tracks on the EP—his debut on Beats In Space—in the morning sun, “reflecting and refracting the colors of daybreak from his compositions.” As you’ll hear in the video below, Dawning Light is filled with the type of bright synths, lush soundscapes, and floating melodies you would associate with the morning.
The EP also arrives with a fittingly kaleidoscopic artwork by Andrew Kuo, and direct mail order copies of the 12” will feature a removable vinyl Beats In Space logo cling.
Dawning Light can be picked up today on Beats In Space as a limited edition 12” and across digital formats. Vinyl orders will include a free, high-quality, multi-format download.
In its latest Plugin of the Week video, Point Blank features Universal Audio’s SSL 4000 E.
When Solid State Logic’s 4000E mixing console was first introduced in 1979, it changed mixing forever and became an instant studio classic—the iconic console has had more platinum records made on it than any other mixing desk.
The new plugin by Universal Audio includes an exacting end-to-end circuit emulation of the channel, including the line and mic amps, with its famous Jensen transformer and the dbx “gold-can” VCA output section. The plugin gives you the hardware’s mic/line preamp impedance, gain stage sweet spots, and exact circuit behaviors, which can now be used to record using the Unison technology available on all of Apollo’s audio interfaces.
Check out more on UA’s SSL 4000 E plugin in the video below, with more on Point Blank’s mixing courses here.
Takete, an iPad app developed by Australian code shop Refined Stochastic, is designed to let users combine audio and video loops with granular synthesis, drum machines, and modular effects. At its core, Takete offers fine control and interplay between audio and visual elements, focused on letting users create performative audio/visual works.
Essentially, Takete gives users a number of audio instruments to use in a mix, as well as a live audio input, along with flexible effects busses for each. You can sequence the drum samples and granular synth in a step-pattern style sequencer; using the same paradigm is a visual component, used for triggering and manipulating video loops synced to the internal clock.
As is so often the case, the app came out of a personal need realized by its creator Jonathan Papert. “I was performing a live audiovisual set using Ableton Live with Resolume linked up, and was struggling to get the results that I wanted,” Papert recalls. “I had a vision of an all-in-one solution utilizing a touch screen, intuitive UI, and solely aimed at live performance and immersive audiovisual results.”
After doing some early tests on an iPad, Papert was encouraged that he could achieve his goals entirely using this relatively minimal hardware setup. “I wanted something affordable, compact and reliable,” Papert says. “Not bringing a laptop to gigs is a really nice bonus, on top of having software perfectly molded to an improvisational performance style.”
The App Store is an increasingly crowded place for music software, but Papert believes that Takete offers something unique—particularly in regard to its visual integration. “The ability to layer instruments, effects, and controllers gives me endless results when performing live and recording,” he says. “I find that my improvisations are now rapidly evolving, and music/visual making has become a more satisfying experience.”
In some ways, Takete is structurally similar to Ableton Live. Where Papert deviated in the design, however, was in terms of the ability to stack units on a single channel. “Live is quite linear within each channel, whereas Takete encourages experimentation by stacking units together on the fly,” he says. “Combining with this the ability to directly synchronize audio and visual channels really separates Takete from any other software that I’m aware of. I truly believe that it is the most powerful and flexible software on any platform for audiovisual work.”
Beyond the the launcher screen’s similar functionality to Live, influences came from notable iPad apps such as TouchViz (a simple but impressive VJ app), Protein Der Klang (an audio sequencer with some unique features), and Robert Henke’s Granulator (a Max for Live synthesizer based on the principle of quasi-synchronous granular synthesis).
Papert is constantly adding features to Takete, which he still considers a work in progress. “I’m always in contact with users, and I tend to add in their suggested features when possible and also work on new features for my own use,” he says. The visual component of the app will continue to grow with some new effects, more extensive automation, and potentially some generative units being added alongside video file playback.
But touch has its own limitations, and Papert’s next plan is to bring hardware compatibility with Korg’s new wireless controllers to Takete. “I do miss the tactile response when playing live, especially,” he says.
The album was made in conjunction with World Mental Health Day and all proceeds will go towards projects that help people with mental health issues through MYMUP (Making Your Mind Up), a Bradford-based mental health charity. Out of the Shadows aims to “promote the importance of emotional openness and speaking honestly about feelings” with 13 tracks that “reflect the contrasting emotional states that contribute to our feelings and overall mental health”; from floating, dream-like atmospheres to intense industrial outings and deep techno.
In support of the album and the initiative, Figure-Ground have offered up LP cut “Fiero” as today’s XLR8R download. Available via WeTransfer below, the beautifully melancholic track shows the deft production chops Figure-Ground possess.
You can pick up the album via Shadow Story’s store, with a more information on the project in the video below.
The EP follows the Parisian’s brilliant V.I.C.T.O.R. album—released last October on La Belle—and features two tracks from the LP, alongside three brand new tracks and a remix by Disco Halal boss Moscoman. Across the six tracks, in typical Golden Bug form, the EP presents a psychedelic mix of swirling synths, chugging drum-machine rhythms, and post-punk influenced vocals.
Alongside the esoteric sounds, Golden Bug has also shared an equally out-there video for EP’s title track. With the hypnotic, analog sounds of “Krokodil” as its soundtrack, the video paints a bizarre picture of three men stuck in a dance loop.
You can watch the video in full below, with the EP available here.
As previously announced, Matthewdavid has released DISK II, a reissued “collection of early feeling-it-out imaginaries.”
The release includes various “ideas, feeling, and inspirations” from the producer’s early ambient experimentations that were thrown “loosely into the internet’s abyss, happy to connect with those willing & able to take the ride.”
As one of today’s free downloads, the Los Angeles producer has shared “Puerto Rican Frogs From Glossolalia,” a bonus cut that was recorded during the same period live on-air for Mitchell Brown’s Glossolalia Radio on KXLU FM in LA 2011. The cut is available for download via the WeTransfer button below.
David Willenberger (a.k.a TRP) will release a new EP on Mörk, the sub-label of Lobster Theremin.
The Future follows on from Willenberger’s Lobster Theremin debut in May 2016; since then, he’s released on Shall Not Fade and Unknown To The Unknown. Now, he joins the Mörk clan with “four tough and ethereal modern classics in his crunchy house-techno hybrid production style,” says the label.
Based in Oslo, Norway, composer Helge Sten has been crafting Deathprod’s music since the early ’90s. Sten is a founder member of Norwegian improvising group Supersilent and has produced records by Motorpsycho, Susanna, Jenny Hval, Arve Henriksen and others. Known for its rare appearances live, Deathprod will present a rare A/V show on its Portuguese premiere.
Valgeir Sigurðsson is an Icelandic composer and producer. His collaborations have included Björk, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Feist, Damon Albarn, CocoRosie, Sigur Rós, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno, Tim Hecker, Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Alarm Will Sound. In Semibreve, he will present his new record Dissonance with a special collaboration with Yannick Jacquet on visuals.
Hailing from New Zealand, Fis produces physical, spirited, exploratory electronic music informed by his surroundings and connection to the natural world. In 2016 he has released his sophomore record, From Patterns to Details, via Subtext. The English poet Rick Holland, who has collaborated with Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins, was so moved by Fis’ work that he wrote a poem for each of the tracks.
Kyoka works as a musician/composer in Berlin and Tokyo and is known for her chaotic and direct musical approach and a heavy, resulting in a broken pop-beat with experimental yet danceable rhythms. She releases her music on raster-noton.
The Portuguese festival has consistently presented some of the most revered electronic music artists from around the word. Emphasis is placed on a carefully curated live program, beautiful venues, together with its impressive audience numbers.
More information, including tickets can be found here.
Delia Gonzalez will release her second LP with DFA, titled Horse Follows Darkness.
Gonzalez is a Cuban-American musician and artist, based in both New York City and Berlin. Her disciplines include everything from composer to filmmaker, choreographer, sculptor, painter, and performance artist. Her musical career with DFA Records began in 2004 when the label released the 12” single Relevee, followed by the album of cosmic acid-house The Days of Mars, with Delia and then musical partner Gavin Russom. In 2015, DFA released Delia’s first solo album titled In Remembrance.
The upcoming release takes its title from a werewolf film her 8-year-old son Wolfgang had created and is based on Gonzalez’ “personal experience of moving back to America (from Berlin) and the journey that followed,” she says. “The record is a manifestation of that, and what one creates for themselves under the given circumstances. Coming back to America, I felt like a foreigner and NYC / America felt like the Wild West.”
The album was recorded with Abe Seiferth at Transmitter Park studios, which Delia likens to “going to the nest tailor.” Seiferth became an integral part of the recording, playing guitar and helping to suggest experimenting with different synthesizers, something Delia was keen to do. Gonzalez refers to Seiferth as “a magical and incredibly intuitive collaborator” regarding the sound of the record.
Tracklisting
01. In Through The Light 02. Hidden Song 03. Roulette 04. Horse Follows Darkness 05. Vesuvius
Horse Follows Darkness is scheduled for May 5 release, with the title track streamable below.
Kangding Ray and Mogwai‘s Barry Burns will release their debut EP as SUMS.
The SUMS project was first conceived by Berlin Atonal, who gave the musicians carte blanche to develop a new group that brought together different elements of both Kangding Ray and Barry Burns’ musical traditions. Adding drumming savant Merlin Ettore, the pair devised a musical world that crafts post-rock soundscapes and structures using the sound-language of contemporary techno and experimental electronic music.
After a grand debut performance during the 2013 edition of the festival, the group then decided to take the project into the studio. Over a two-year period, working with a range of range of instruments, SUMS began to produce tracks that achieved an organic fusion of spatial electronics and rousing post-rock sounds.
The first action of this new phase of the project comes in the form of a three-track EP on Berlin Atonal Recordings.
