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Review: Japan's Thinner Groove flesh out their distinctive aesthetic with every new release. This time around, they welcome none other than Lemmi Ash, KOOLMFL and Sonic Weapon for a collaborative three-track EP of lowercase minimal tech and textural vignettes. The aim of the game is best encapsulated in the label's commentary: "each track can add a distinctive touch to the night, as like completing your cocktail with lemon and/or lime". Each track indeed sounds to the ear akin to how a fruity garnish tastes, with Ash's 'Presence' bringing tart citrine breaks notes to a gracefully held glass vessel. KOOLMFL's 'Atonbow' is drier bitters, barely availing itself of its trembling chords and sampled vox after an ultra-snappy initiation featuring a mere bass and kick-clap. Thinner Groove know all too well that good music is like an excitation of the flavour palate, and that minimality is the thing that lets such flavours sit.

Review: &Chakib is the debut album from Swiss Producer, DJ, and live-act Dominik Traub, also known as Dandara. Infusing influences from Africa, Asia, and Latin America with European techno and house, Dominik's signature sound shines through. The album's inception came after a fateful encounter with Algerian vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Chakib Bouzidi at a festival in Basel. Despite Chakib's untimely passing, Dominik continued the project, honouring his memory by completing the work. Infused with Chakib's voice notes and collaborative recordings, the album serves as a heartfelt tribute and through resilient collaboration and creative influence it emerges as a fine collection of globally influenced dance music.

Review: Under the border umbrella of the Yoyaku crew, Kord El makes a strong debut appearance with this first EP on Superbanger. The vibe on the record is instantly detectable as balmy, trippy tech house which stays on the subtle side of the trance spectrum and lets the groove take centre stage. 'Kryptonight' is a swirling, hazy mind warp peppered with samples and hypnotic chimes, anchored by the warmest of basslines. 'Grammy' is a slightly techier, dubbier affair for when the party's fired up a notch, and 'Stereo Solitude' plays around with breaks in a delicate fashion for maximum rolling effect. 'Phantone Zone' slips a little 303 into the soup, and makes it sound wholly natural in another prime slice of contemporary wigged-out house.

Review: Guitarist extraordinaire and former Kiss vociferator Ace Frehley's tenth solo album 10,000 Volts is the sonic equivalent of Gakuryu Ishii's bolshy film 'Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts' - a massive, electrifying, out-of-this-world experience that embraces the pure shreddage of the electric guitar, in an ultimate face-off between human and machine. The analogy of overridden circuitry is unsurprisingly useful for evoking related emotions in Frehley's case, as on the title track, on which a perfectly phased-out riff accompanies the lyric, "She hit me like 10,000 volts, when I saw her face". Then come the covers, such as 'Walkin' On The Moon' and the equally raw in-your-facers such as 'Cosmic Heart' and 'Life Of A Stranger'. No fillers here.

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Box opened, but product is in excellent condition and in perfect working order***


Part of 1010's excellent Nanobox series, the Tangerine is a tiny powerhouse sampler. A fresh new approach to sampling, from one-shots to loops, all the way through to four-hour recordings.

Supplier's Notes:
Sweet and Tangy Sampling

The nanobox | tangerine delivers powerful sampling in an ultra portable form factor. With this nanobox, you can add recording, sample playback, clip launching, slicing, and musically intelligent looping capabilities to your desktop or travel rig. With an intuitive touch screen interface, nanobox | tangerine makes easy work of selecting, editing, and tweaking your samples. You can stream large samples of up to 4 GB file size straight from the microSD card. Interact with other musical components via MIDI. Load multi-sample banks with over 500 samples for amazing instrument reproduction. Tweak your configurations to get them just right, then save them to multiple presets for future reuse.

Top features

Play up to 24 stereo polyphonic notes when your samples fit in the 64 MB of internal memory or up to 8 larger stereo samples streaming directly from the microSD card

Play multi-sample banks with up to 16 velocity layers and 576 WAV files loaded in one preset

Configure 8 stereo sample pads per preset as single or multi-samples, clips, slicers, or new recordings

Stream long samples from the microSD card with a max sample size of 4 GB, which can be many hours of audio

Trigger samples with the touch screen or MIDI input as one shots or melodic notes

Control how samples start and stop by choosing from one-shot, toggle, gate and piano (New!) launch modes

Tweak playback through a variety of sample parameters, including start position, length, pitch, gain, filter, loop mode, launch quantization, ADSR, Exclusive Grouping, clip synchronization, slice placement and sequencing, and MIDI note and channel mapping

Quickly and easily use MIDI mapped controls for more tactile access to common parameters

Record up to 16 sequence layers per preset.

Get into the groove with a fast, fluid, and intuitive workflow

Make music anywhere thanks to a compact and nearly indestructible design

Recording Capabilities

Configure each pad for stereo or mono recording with the option to synchronize the start and stop times to clock inputs
Trigger recording via audio level threshold
Create perfectly sized loops by setting the recording length
Enable immediate playback after recording for live looping capabilities
Make recordings up to 4 hours in length
Resample the master output without patching
Automate recording of a multi-sample bank via MIDI
Store recorded samples as WAV files on the micro SD card then remove the card to transfer them to your computer

What is Included:
nanobox | tangerine - Compact Streaming Sampler
MicroSD card with 85 presets and over 1500 wav files
Colour matched USB power cord
Type B TRS MIDI To MIDI 5 Pin DIN adapter
Quick Start Guide

Technical Specs:

Power: USB-C connection 5V, 500mA
3.5mm audio input and output
Maximum input and output level: 2Vrms
DAC and ADC resolution: 24-bit
Internal resolution: 32-bit
Sample rate: 48kHz
MIDI Input: 3.5mm Type A/B auto sensing
MIDI Output: 3.5mm Type B
Clock Input: 1,2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 PPQ selectable
MIDI support: Note On/Off, Velocity, Pressure, Mod Wheel, Aftertouch, CC mappings to common parameters, program changes and clock
H x W x D: 1.5" x 3.75" x 3"
Weight: 0.25 lbs.
2" touch screen, 2 knobs and 4 buttons in a 3.75" x 3" x 1.5" package

Additional information

Weight: 0.65 lbs
Dimensions: 7.75 × 4.85 × 2.25 in

Notes: Use this cable to connect your Bluebox to a data source and a power source at the same time. This will allow you to stream audio over USB. The cable has a USB B male connection on one end and two USB B female connections on the other end: red for power and black for data.

Stream Audio Over USB with Bluebox

If you bought a Bluebox for desktop before September 2023, this handy adapter will make it easier to connect your device to a computer. New firmware allows you to send audio from the bluebox to the computer and back.

The adapter splits the power from the USB signal to help avoid noise from your computer. It also enables you to power the device separately in case your computer or hub is not suitable for the demanding power requirements of the Bluebox.

Connect the male end to the USB Power port on your Bluebox. Then connect your bluebox USB B power cable to the red female jack, and a USB B data cable to the black female jack and you are ready to stream audio.

Specs

Length: 3.25", 8.25 cm

Weight: 1.2 oz, 34 grams
Dimensions: 6.5 × 2.5 × 0.75 in

Review: The Just What The World Needs label is back with its 15th EP from the eponymous production outfit behind the imprint and it carries right on from where the last one left off. 'Track 1' is a fiery and Latin-tinged Afro gem with funky rhythms and big horns that bring sunny and open-air party vibes. 'Track 2' has a hint of MPB to it with more low-slung funk grooves and steamy vocals while 'Track 3' then flips the script again with a more cosmic vibe and plenty of mad Rhodes chords. Last but not least is 'Track 4' with some lo-fi and light night melon twisting disco sounds.

Review: As part of the ongoing anniversary celebrations around the classic album from Naughty By Nature it is getting reissued on several formats. This is the double CD version for ultimate old school appeal. The group's third album sees them dabbling in gangster rap imagery - see chainsaw on the front cover. Their 19 Naughty III was first released in 1993, in the fallout of their earliest breakout single 'O.P.P'. To mark its 30th birthday, this reissue from Tommy Boy urges us to cast our minds back to early 1990s New Jersey, when Treach, Kay Gee and Vin Rock were at peak naughty, extorting Spike Lee into directing some of their music videos, not to mention laying down menacing, wicked and rousing verses on the likes of 'Uptown Anthem', '19 Naughty III' and 'Sleepin' On Jersey'.

Review: Contemporary vocal jazz favourite Jose James makes a staunch return after a long hiatus, following up 2008's The Dreamer with a brand new album, 1978. Combining James' deep love of jazz and hip-hop with songwriting and production nods to R&B heroes Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Leon Ware, 1978 is a suavely smooth operation of handclapping funk and organic bossa nova; it's sonically a meeting of the cosmopolitan collective minds New York to Brazil, bringing Afro-Latin sensibilities to the lyrical and productive form that is gritty hip-hop.

Review: Dark Entries takes it back to New York City in around 1982 for this previously unreleased record from Ike Yard. This cult crew was made up of Stuart Argabright, Michael Diekmann, Kenneth Compton, and Fred Szymanski and they worked in their own realm somewhere between proto-body music and No Wave peers in New York. They disbanded just a year after forming having dropped an EP on Les Disques du Crepuscule in 1981 and then a self-titled album for Factory in 1982. Using the Korg MS-20 and the Roland TR-808 they cook up plenty of hybrid electro-acoustic sounds and ramshackle rhythms that are underpinned by moody baselines and perfect to get bodies moving in the club. Whether you're a post-punk fan or lover of weird electronics, this is well worth checking out.

Review: The 1985 boxset is a comprehensive collection of The Waterboys' musical endeavors during that year. It features a diverse range of materials, including unreleased tracks, demos, outtakes, and live recordings. The set also includes a remastered version of their acclaimed album This Is The Sea. The boxset offers a glimpse into the band's creative process, with numerous alternate versions, song sketches, and covers. It also showcases the band's eclectic musical influences, ranging from traditional Irish folk to experimental rock. Despite its length, the boxset is a cohesive and engaging listen. The remastered This Is The Sea is a highlight, with Tom Verlaine's guitar playing adding a new dimension to the classic album. Other standout tracks include the previously unreleased instrumental 'Meridian West' and a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Sweetheart Like You.' Overall, the 1985 boxset is a valuable addition to the collection of any Waterboys fan. It provides a comprehensive overview of the band's creative output during a particularly fertile period. The boxset also offers insights into the band's musical influences and their commitment to their craft.

Review: '1989 (Taylor's Version)' sees global pop icon Taylor Swift revisiting one of her many masterpieces with a newfound maturity and depth. Swift's 2023 reimagining of her 2014 album breathes fresh life into iconic tracks like 'Shake It Off' and 'Blank Space,' while also introducing previously unreleased material like 'The Lakes.' With Taylor's trademark introspection and emotional resonance, each song feels like a rediscovery, resonating with both nostalgia and contemporary relevance. The album serves as a testament to Swift's enduring talent and artistic growth that she can re-captivate listeners with fresh infectious hooks, irresistible beats, and poignant storytelling and in doing so once again reaffirms her status as a modern music icon.