Search dance music

Review: Roma Zuckerman investigates the intriguing idea of 'The Phenomenon of Provincial Mentality' on his new EP for Gost Zvuk. As is often the way with techno from Russia, this is evocative, sparse material with fizzing lo-fi details and hints of distant transmissions from long-lost worlds. 'Nightmare Forms' gets things underway in dubby and rolling fashion and elsewhere you have warped mind melters like 'Arzt' with their pulsing sonar signals, more crunchy and off-grid workouts like the trippy 'I Play Everyday'. There a more frozen techno landscapes like the icy '4CH005I' to complete what is a bold double album.

Review: D:fferent Place started life back in 2019 and key a low profile and has done the same ever since. We still are not sure who or what is behind these releases but they keep coming at an unhurried rate but always with great style. This sixth offering is another club-ready mix of house, tech and minimal starting with the dry, stiff beats of 'Mr Science' before bringing more loose feels and broken beats to the deft 'Funkadelic.' 'U Got Me UP' is pure backroom house tackle with dubby undercurrents and last of all is the bumping, acid laced 'Analog Tales' for a nice mid tempo workout.

Review: NIJI Marks a milestone in his career with Somewhere in the Middle, a new five track EP that signifies a superb debut after years working with others. It finds him diving deeply into his serious love of jazz as well as the musical roots of his Nigerian heritage. It comes plenty of high profile collabs with other great of the game such as Moses Boyd, Gregory Porter and Beverly Knight and is another superb example of his next level piano playing skills. These most immersive and lush tracks are packed with captivating melodies and sci-fi sounds that future proof it as well as connecting it to the past.

Review: Youandme has been around and turning out the dubbed-out sounds for seemingly decades. He lands now on the equally long-standing Rhythm Cult label with a limited and splattered new 12" that delves into the depths of minimal tech house. It features lead cut 'PPPPP' - a smooth, frictionless masterclass in hypnotic sound designs and feathery grooves with occult synth motifs. Berlin's Ian Pooley then offers a moody basement house mix, Cinthie gets into some flailing and dusty breakbeat action and Yotam Avni remixes with a more melodic sound laden with lush bells.

Notes: Expandoor

The Expandoor gets you quickly and simply using AMP's Melody Oracle, Star Song, or Touch Tones (as well as other possible future devices) as a CV and Gate controller. It outputs Eurorack-compatible CV and GATE signals, transforming your AMP device into a versatile and novel modular synth sequencer or controller. The Expandoor can be used as a standalone tabletop box, or mounted in a 3U 10HP rack space.

Three independent GATE outputs:

Just as the three "Register" zones on your AMP device gate the audio for the three octaves of the built-in synthesizer, there are three corresponding gate outputs on the Expandoor. The 1/8" jacks labelled "BS" "LH" and "RH" output ~11V DC gate signals whenever those zones are gating "ON" on your AMP device.

CV output, tuners and LED indicators:

The jack labelled "CV" outputs a tuned set of CV values (0-11V), tuned independently but correspondingly, to the set of tuners on your AMP device. The row of multi-turn tuners on the front panel allow fine tuning of each CV state. One tuner is active at a time, depending on the state of the "INTERVAL" zones on your AMP device. The active tuner is conveniently indicated in real time via lights found to the right of the tuners. The indicator lights serve a second function of showing you which tuner on the controlling AMP device is also active in parallel.

AMP LINK jacks

The AMP LINK jack on the bottom left of the front panel (with the arrow pointing IN) connects your controlling AMP device into the EXPANDOOR. Use only shielded CAT 5 or CAT 6 cables and connectors (the correct cables will have metal end connectors). The AMP LINK jack on the right outputs a signal identical to the input, allowing chaining of multiple Expandoors and/or Wave Expanders. Do not plug more than one AMP controlling device into a single Expandoor simultaneously, or damage to the devices could occur.

Each controlling device requires its own Expandoor or Wave Exapnder, but multiple expansion modules can be chained from one controlling device. One potential benefit to chaining expansion modules is the ability to output multiple tuned, corresponding but independent, CV channels. Meaning multiple sets of harmonic values could be tuned and accessed at the command of the single controlling AMP device, or accessed via other modules in your system.

Tech specs:

Input: AMP LINK via shielded CAT5 or CAT6 cable
Power: 12V DC Supplied via AMP LINK
Outputs: 3 Gate (~11V unipolar), 1 CV (variable 0-11V unipolar)
Tuners: 8 multi-turn fine tuners for CV, with indicator lights
Size: 3U 10HP (approximately 5.25" H x 2" W x 1.5" D)

Review: .While Brazilian guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento and American saxophonist Sam Gendel first met and played together at the dawn of the last decade - at a Los Angeles cafe both used to frequent, fact fans - it was only last year that they decided to collaborate on a release. The Room, the resultant album, was reportedly recorded in two days in a studio in the Californian countryside. It's an undeniably magical and sun-soaked affair, with Gendel teasing fluttering, flute-esque improvisations from his soprano saxophone while Do Nascimento delivers impeccable, finger-picking meditations on his seven-string acoustic guitar. The latter is undoubtedly a virtuoso with his own distinct style - a Brazilian take on classical guitar, incorporating nods to lesser-known regional music - but instinctively knows when to step back and allow Gendel the limelight. Impressive stuff all told.

Review: Jack Kenworthy's latest album under the longtime Moniker Colouring is a veritable headstand. Whereas his earlier projects dealt in made-up scenarios in the lyrics, Love To You Mate concerns the loss of his brother-in-law to bowel cancer and the subsequent coming-closer to his family, making this the first album to deal with a focussed, concretely personal subject matter. Continuing Colouring's post-Britpop slant, taking cues from Coldplay, Elbow and Keane through to the more electronic and contemporary influences in the genre such as James Blake and Radiohead, this is a deep-dive into a sorely-untrodden theme for indie singer-songwriter music; that of the family reuniting over the ties that truly bind.