Four stabbings reported at Eastern Electrics. Houghton gets cancelled. Deckard’s Dream gets a little brother. Loopmasters buys Beatport sounds.
Stabbings at Eastern Electrics. Four men were stabbed at Eastern Electrics, which took place last weekend on August 3rd and 4th, 2019. All four stabbings happened on the 3rd, and three of the victims were taken to hospital and reported to have suffered no life-threatening injuries. The fourth victim, a man in his forties, was stabbed at around 10pm, and his condition is currently unknown. “We can confirm that four serious assaults took place at Eastern Electrics on Saturday 3rd August,” Eastern Electrics said in a statement. “All casualties were transferred to hospital after being treated on-site by our medical team.” The police are currently appealing for witnesses to come forward to help with their investigation by calling 101.
Houghton cancelled. Due to extreme weather, Houghton Festival was cancelled on Thursday — the day it was scheduled to begin. The Met Office forecasted winds of over 60 MPH, as well as thunderstorms and heavy rains in Norfolk, which made continuing with the third edition of the event impossible. “Tragically, following this morning’s reports and further consultation with authorities, health and safety and all the festival directors, the decision has been made to cancel Houghton 2019,” festival organisers wrote in a statement on Facebook on Thursday. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers, staff and performers, which would be compromised if we were to go ahead.” Houghton’s lineup featured artists like Ricardo Villalobos, Four Tet, Shanti Celeste, Ben UFO, object blue, Tama Sumo, Hunee, Powder, Vladimir Ivkovic and many others. Read the full statement below.
Tomorrowland’s drug problem. Several Tomorrowland crew members have admitted to dealing drugs at the festival. VTM NEWS, who verified their reporting through speaking with other employees, talked to witnesses who claimed that people took jobs at Tomorrowland specifically to sell drugs. Since security checks were less stringent for employees than for regular entrants, festival staff were more easily able to smuggle drugs into the event. The Brussels Times reports that 61 drug dealers and more than 400 drug users were caught at last month’s festival. “We are convinced that this misplaced behavior of some crew members is very exceptional,” a festival representative said.
Stompbox. Well-known guitar pedal manufacturer EarthQuaker Devices is developing a Eurorack module, following other pedal developers like Eventide, SnazzyFX, and 4ms into the Eurorack market. Afterneath Eurorack is a port of the Afterneath reverberator pedal, which is highly popular with both guitarists and synthesists. Like the pedal version, Aftermath allows for control over key sound functions like drag, mode, diffuse and length, and has knobs for input and mode. The availability and price are still TBA, but tentative launch date is some time next year. Watch a video on the Afterneath below.
Loopmasters steps up. Loopmasters have had a busy week. Not only have they announced Loopcloud V5 which promises the addition of “plugin instruments, effects and cloud storage,” for what it’s calling its “biggest update ever” the Brighton based company also announced their acquisition of Beatport Sounds. With Loopmasters having recently departed from Splice just a few months ago this is a big statement from them and should take the company into new territory. To download Loopcloud, visit the official website.
Deckard’s Voice. In an Instagram post, Black Corporation announced the forthcoming Deckard’s Voice — a mini version of Deckard’s Dream, which is a clone of the Yamaha CS-80 synthesiser, made famous by its heavy use in the Blade Runner score by Vangelis. While Deckard’s Dream is an 8-voice polyphonic analogue synthesizer, Dream is a single-voice version trimmed down for Eurorack, but shares the same circuitry as its big brother. The price has not yet been revealed, but Black Corporation said it will be shipping this autumn. Get a look at Deckard’s Voice here.