KMR Audio Synth Expo - May 13th

In an effort to get some interest in their new range of synthesisers, the good folks at KMR Audio in North London organised a little get together of synth makers last month. I popped up to a far off place at the end of the Northern line called Totteridge and Whetstone to see what all the fuss was about, chat with makers and have a few free beers.

Brighton Music Conference 2015 - Pics and show floor

Now that the dust has settled, here's a quick look at the offerings in and around the show floor at this year's Brighton Music conference on the Friday. While the size of the exhibition area is not as big as some of the larger exhibitions in Germany or the US, the exhibition area was split in two areas: one dedicated to music production (including synthesisers, keyboard controllers and the like) and the other half looking at club furniture (such as lasers, booths and DJ equipment), with lots of other organisations like the PRS, Loopmasters and music schools in attendance. 

Reverb Units part 1: Alesis MicroVerb

Despite a reputation for the stomach-churning low end bass sounds that the Minibrute and Microbrute can produce, both are capable monosynths in their own right for fluttery leads, clean arpeggios, sequenced runs and all sorts. In fact, I really enjoy using the MiniBrute to simulate CS80 leads for Vangelis-like synths. The only thing I find fault with is the flat, mono output; it doesn't really sit well in a mix or if you're just jamming. In fact, what the world needs is more reverb.

Messe14 Roundup

Now that the dust is well and truly settled on the Frankfurt Musikmesse 2014, its probably a good time to take stock and see what was interesting during the show. Notably, there was nothing new from Moog, though as they tend to blow their budgets and big announcements at NAMM, this is to be expected.

Musikmesse 2014

As with every single year, the 2014 Musikmesse in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, has crept up on me again and Sonic State have just made me aware that the show is NEXT WEEK! Of course, with NAMM stealing the early 2014 thunder for product announcements, it's interesting to see what other new products are going to be announced.

In particular, with Bitwig confirmed to attend as exhibitors in their home country ahead of the final release date of the Bitwig DAW in two weeks, it's a good time for them to highlight new features of their software.

Judging from Sonic State, there's plenty of new product announcements from Arturia, Korg and Waldorf, so it's great to hear that there's more products coming out. Perhaps they have purposefully held back a lot of gear from NAMM to present here? Either way, it's good to stoke the rumour mill and I look forward to hearing the news next week!

Source:
http://musik.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/besucher/willkommen.html
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2014/03/07/messe-2014-musikmesse-here-it-comes/

30 Years of MIDI - NAMM 2013 Panel

An amazing lineup of six people on the NAMM 2013 panel, featuring a good collection of artists, technologists, keyboardists and more. Anyone starting to watch this panel should know at least one or more of these influential panelists, but this panel also includes the surprising inclusion of the late great George Duke.

Now that 30 years have passed, it's amazing to see that MIDI in its original format is still going strong and while it still continues to do what it was designed to do, there are definitely some limitations with the specification that need addressing. Judging from comments and conversations, there does seem to be a need to be able to implement better parameter control from synthesisers and other MIDI-enabled instruments. As Dave Smith points out at around the 18 minute mark, MIDI was developed and optimised with what was available in the 70s/80s and to work well for keyboard synthesisers specifically, though he appreciates that the demands of artists are growing.

A fascinating panel to watch and quite informative to the modern artist/engineer, not least for the combination of panelists that will never be eclipsed.

Lovebox 2013 coverage

Well, it wouldn't be the summer if I didn't make the annual pilgrimage to Lovebox. After all, it's just a stone's throw from where I live at the moment and well worth checking out for a good variety of different acts and genres.

Another E-Festivals free ticket, it was great to be able to relax rather than run around like a mad man like I was at Hyde Park, especially in the heat, and it was fun to have the company of my photographer Lawrence over the weekend. Certainly have a new appreciation for Rudimental and John Newman, amongst others. Lovebox 2013 was great fun for the Friday and Saturday and I can't wait to see what's going on for next year.

Reviews are available as follows:

Day 1:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-friday.shtml

Day 2:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-saturday.shtml

Day 3:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-sunday.shtml

British Summer Time Festival

In a shocking turn of events, Britain has finally experienced a summer worthy of the season. With Glastonbury distinctly not muddy and with the temperature climbing, Hyde Park has been transformed into an inner city festival arena with plenty of top name acts playing, gourmet food stands, loads of bars (though paradoxically never enough) and even some fairground rides. As I write this, the arena is still open for business until the weekend and there's plenty still to come from the likes of Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Lionel Richie and Jennifer Lopez.

Of course, as all of this musical gala is right on my doorstep, I need very little excuse to go out and check it all out, however in another shock turn, I have actually taken a slightly different route to getting in and experiencing this festival. Yes, folks: I've actually become a site volunteer to escort people around, give directions and generally be a go-to guy. After all the Olympic fever last year that I missed out on (for better or worse), I actually enjoyed the chance to see a festival from a slightly different angle. I still have another shift on Sunday to catch Lopez & Lionel, but I thought I would cover what's been going on in the park over the long, hot weekend.

Support your local record store!

This coming Saturday is Record Store Day and there is plenty going on in London's Soho record shops to warrant going out into meat space. Phonica and Sister Ray will be hosting live bands and DJ sets, with plenty of offers, sales and competitions, so there's plenty on offer to keep you busy.

Above all things that an independent record store can offer, I think my last experience spells it out clearly. Following a delightful hour long rummage yesterday through some of the stores on Berwick Street in Soho, London, I came away with the following haul after paying about £15 for the lot. This is a selection of things I have been on the lookout for for a while but never fancied paying quite so much in HMV for (the Yikes! Remixes album costs about £11 in HMV: I got a sealed copy in Music & Video Exchange for just £3). Sure, the selections might not be the most up to date, but if you are anything like me there will be plenty of albums you have yet to get. Alongside this I had a great chat with a local DJ and we helped each other find some decent quality finds and swapped recommendations along the way.

It's what record shops are all about. Go check out yours and fill your iPod with something new on Saturday. Who knows, you may even enjoy it!

More information at:
http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/

A reminder of why London x Rodigan = amazing

The Great Ticket Scandal

Concerts, gigs, festivals, sports matches, theater tickets, it doesn't matter: with the festival season and summer holidays coming up, it's important not to get shafted by touts, resellers and ticket websites and this video goes some way to providing a bit of a cautionary tale.

In a way, I do have some sympathy for those people who are shelling out hundreds (and thousands!) of pounds for gig tickets to see their favourite artists. However, I can see why Viagogo and Seatwave operate these ticket websites if desperate fans are willing to pay these prices and if they do so, they really shouldn't complain as long as they get what they want to pay for. Quite simply, if they are too expensive, then why do the fans feel honour-bound to buy them?

As someone who does a bit of gig reviewing, it has been a little while since I have had to buy a music ticket, but I would certainly get fed up if I had to pay so much for an evening's entertainment. Having said that, the last ticket I bought was from a tout in Brixton for a drum and bass gig, for which I only got shafted an extra tenner for a ticket that was originally an early-bird ticket with a slightly lower price. 

If you can't get tickets, it just wasn't meant to be and if the band is popular, console yourself with the fact that there will be other opportunities to see them. Otherwise, you are only a fool to yourself if you want to pay hundreds of pounds for one off shows and then complain about it afterwards.

Photos from Music Production Show 2012

Moogs at Source Direct

I took a day off on Friday to go visit the Emirates Stadium (home to Arsenal Football Club), which was playing host to the Music Production Show 2012. Strangely enough, this is the only event in the UK devoted to music production and I think it was definitely a step in the right direction, focusing on dance and electronic music as well as guitars and traditional gear.

Amongst the exhibitors were Source Direct (pretty much the UK's number one supplier of all American and import synthesiser equipment), Yamaha, Steinberg, Music Tech, Sound On Sound, Novation, KVR and lots of microphone and studio equipment suppliers, so there was plenty to catch and have a play around with.

Steinberg's Cubase 7 Stand

As the Friday (it was also on on the Saturday) had much more of a student focus, there were a couple of decent tutorial seminars from Yamaha / Erb n Dubs on drum and bass production and Steinberg who were presenting the new Cubase 7 DAW. Lots of exciting new stuff coming up and interesting to get a new perspective on things; in particular, Erb N Dubs had a nice sample CD of drums and kits for all attendees, which I was able to grab a copy of as there were loads of students vying for copies as well. I haven't had a good look around it yet but there's plenty there plus Rex files and Massive presets as well, if you are so inclined. Either way, free stuff is free stuff and I am sure I will find a use for it at some point. 

I also got to meet Nick from Sonic Lab as well, which was a pleasant surprise, who says that he's already gearing up for NAMM 2013 coverage early next year. It just reminds me of quite how ridiculously busy we've all been this year and how 2012 is going to be 2013 in a matter of weeks. Anyway, a thoroughly nice bloke and I'm sure that his website will contain some nice video coverage of the show as well.
 
Hopefully the successes of the MPS 2012 will translate into the organisers returning to London next year for a repeat show and with any luck, making it bigger and better.

More photos after the jump!

New Scandinavian electronica at Queen of Hoxton

Another review from me in the form of Incidentally Nordic 3, featuring some very nice ladies from Sweden and Norway who make electronic music.

Full review:
http://www.egigs.co.uk/index.php?a=14251

Frost:
http://frostnorway.com/

Two for Tuesday - Ether 2012 show reports

I've been a little bit busy of late, with a hectic schedule at work with events at the other side of the country, a strained relationship and other bits and pieces. Life is just never easy, I guess.

Anyway, I've not been so busy that I haven't been able to do some gig blogging and I now have managed to single handedly cover two more events at Ether Festival 2012 for Efestivals, who now have my photos and reviews of Swedish group Iamamiwhoami, who played a big stage show last week, and UK electronic duo Mount Kimbie and their intimate gig at the Queen Elizabeth Hall lobby. Clearly the better lighting of the Iamamiwhoami gig resulted in some better photos, but never mind; both were excellent gigs and nice additions to the lineup of acts that have been playing this year.

Iamamiwhoami Review and Photos:

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/ether/2012/photos-review-iamamiwhoami.shtml
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/ether/2012/photos-iamamiwhoami-ether2012-cs.shtml

Mount Kimbie Review and photos 

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/ether/2012/photos-review-mountkimbie.shtml
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/ether/2012/photos-mountkimbie-ether2012-cs.shtml

Apparat Band at Ether

Hot on the heels of Oxjam, I've just had a review of Apparat's band added to EFestivals as part of the Ether season. It feels weird to review without my best mate doing camera work but as the cameraman I asked to help out is so flakey and unreliable, I have also taken to doing photographs.

Full review and photos available at;

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/ether/2012/photos-review-apparat.shtml

SW4 coverage and reviews

First up are the reviews that I have written which are now up on Efestivals to read. I've also updated the reviews page (top bar) with some other reviews I had forgotten to stick up there, so eat your heart out. Not sure about photos for the festival though.

Chase & Status, Skrillex & others @ SW4 Festival / Clapham Common, London / 25th - 26th August 2012

Review day 1: http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sw4/2012/review-saturday.shtml

Review day 2: http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/sw4/2012/review-sunday.shtml

 

In the meantime, check out the three videos I have posted on Youtube of the festival - there are some great people with better videos as well so you can get a better feel of the show.

Knife Party on Day 1

DJ Fresh on Day 2

Roger Sanchez on Day 1

Got an email read out from Hospital records!

I've just got back from Edinburgh in Scotland after a one-day event I helped put on and after travelling for ages, getting hot and bothered in the day, suffering in a suit and dealing with lots of other niggling problems, I was ready to eat something quick and go to bed. Just as I was going home, one of my friends messaged me to say that Tony Coleman read out the email that I sent them after Lovebox to thank them for putting on an awesome tent of music. Needless to say, this has totally perked me up - cheers Tony!

It's on Hospital Podcast 178 around the 37 minute mark - I'll post a link when it goes live on the Hospital Records website and in the meantime, iTunes has it for download here.

Lovebox = amazing

I've just come back from the Saturday of Lovebox 2012, hosted in my own stomping ground of Victoria Park, East London and I have to say that it was an amazing day. This is also why my Saturday Soundtrack post was late ;) 

Some excellent music all over the park, especially the drum and bass in the Hospitality tent. Definitely worth paying on the door for a day that included Groove Armada, Kelis, Fred V & Grafix, Booka Shade, Camo & Krooked, Adam F, Friendly Fires and loads of other little acts and DJs.

I think I will get round to a quick gig review as well once I get my head down!

What's Going On/What's Happening Brother? - Marvin Gaye

Every now and again, I get a little bit upset that musicians who have given an awful lot of awesome output to the world have been taken from us too soon. Marvin Gaye is one such person and this live performance of his award winning single What's Going On from the album of the same name goes to show that a song to the backdrop of drug abuse, rising taxes, police brutality, war and pollution is as relevant now as it ever was. 

Marvin Gaye was one day away from 45 when he was fatally shot by his father in 1984; just under one year before I was born. Rest in peace.