Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory, Microsoft put the PC in the MPC, an unreleased Aphex Twin album from 1994 and David Byrne’s music industry analysis.
Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory prepare to perform minimalist composer Terry Riley’s historic piece In C at London’s Barbican Centre. An insight into the Ableton-based setup employed for the collaboration can be found in an interview with producer/DJ Hendrik Weber and Heming Valebjørg, a percussionist from the The Bell Laboratory assemble, above.
Putting the PC in MPC. A glimpse of the MPC’s future. ‘Microsoft Embedded’ PC-hardware hybrids to be introduced, including prototype Akai MPC and Numark DJ products. Intel i5 cores give these new instruments robust computation, touch screen, and open-source expansion capabilities. Check out the video below.
An unreleased Aphex Twin album from 1994. Caustic Window surfaced on Discogs, with its price listed at $13,500. After talks between the record’s owner, Richard D James’ label Rephlex Records, and the electronic music forum We Are The Music Makers, a Kickstarter will give people the chance to receive a digital copy of the album. Find out more here.
How will the wolf survive? Can musicians make a living in the streaming era? David Byrne of Talking Heads predicts a precarious future for the professional musician based on an in-depth analysis of the music industry today, with special attention paid to the effects of subscription streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora here.
Let’s nerd! Groove visit Todd Terje prior to the release of his first LP It’s Album Time to talk about the Norwegian disco don’s beloved ARP 2600 synthesiser, his blog Let’s Nerd, and the magic groove of the Roland TR-808. Read the interview here.
“E-Bloc Electro Shock and the Soviet Synth Pop Drop”. Andy Votel, boss of the crate-digging Finders Keepers Records, puts together a 10-track playlist of electronic music from eastern Europe’s socialist past, and guides us through the idiosyncratic history of each track here. Listen below.
Calls for an end to Ultra Music Fest. A Miami commissioner wants Miami residents to see footage of drug-fuelled acts of riotous violence and debauchery at Ultra, and calls the Miami festival’s profits ‘blood money’. Read CBS Miami‘s report and watch the footage here.
The Black Dog’s new project. Sheffield’s Richard and Martin Dust, two-thirds of techno outfit The Black Dog unveil ‘Application’. According to a press release, the brothers spent two years in the planning stage “before a set of rules and principles were fully realised for the creative process in the studio” and their first album System Fork will see release on Dust Science Recordings. An initial video artwork for Application can be viewed below.