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Review: Analog Africa has repressed the highly valued and long since sold-out Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River: Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982. It is a compilation that superbly shows off the raw energy and funkiness of the Congolese rumba scene. This is the country that spawned such as legendary bands as African Jazz, OK Jazz and African Fiesta and it is said that the concert ahead of the legendary Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman is what really set young hopefully musicians on their paths, after they saw James Brown play live. The story of those artists and the labels they released on in the ensuing years is what is told so well here across four sides of vital wax.

Review: Analogue is the Greek label which takes no prisoners in its pursuit of pure techno perfection and that's abundantly clear on this latest Various Artists drop, as Dax J kicks into gear with the searing, pummelling intensity of 'Ares'. It's a proper fist-shaker which sets you up for the hi-octane rumble of Kaiser's 'Kal' and ANFS' industrial jackhammer 'Amete'. That leaves Jerm to clean up with another weapons grade sheller driving ever-downwards in the ultimate ticket to peak time submission. This is techno in the toughest sense of the word - a very specific sound executed perfectly.

Review: The prolific and influential John Coltrane comitted many a seminal recording to vinyl across his career. His 1961 work My Favourite Things is one such album and it now gets a special new pressing as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Atlantic Records. The landmark album came from the same sessions as Coltrane Plays The Blues (1962) and Coltrane's Sound (1964), but marked something of a shift in his career. His playing is exploratory and innovative, unforced and naturally stylistic across gems like 'Everytime We Say Goodbye' and more.

Review: Released in 1960, Giant Steps was a watershed album for John Coltrane, solidifying the saxophone legend's reputation as one of the most influential and innovative musicians in jazz history, as well as delivering jazz to an increasingly mainstream audience, while garnering significant critical acclaim. Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind Of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one. Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked here by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers - who was the only bandmember other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated, replicating the alternate non-Bill Evans lineup featured on 'Freddie The Freeloader' on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane's tenor solos.

Review: The debut solo album by David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame, If I Could Only Remember My Name is an ironic title for an artist first striking out on their commercial own. But despite its faux-amnesiac title, this freak-folk opus is actually a striking claim to, not a loss of, personal musical identity. Following the success of 1970's Deja Vu with Stills & Nash, Crosby sought to expound on that album's methodology - hard psychedelic drugs, brushes with insanity, copious studio time - to produce a crisp, profound and multifaceted vision on the intersection of blues, folk and collective music-making, with every legend from Neil Young to Joni Mitchell to Graham Nash in tow. The highlight has to be, above all, 'Tamalpais High (At About 3)'.

Review: The classic 1977 album Aja by Steely Dan gets a deluxe reissue treatment from Analogue Productions, reminding us once more of its stellar jazz-inspired arrangements, complex harmonies, and impeccable composition. Known affectionately as a 'studio is an instrument' album, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were meticulous and uncompromising at the time of its crafting. It's for these reasons alone that Aja remains a masterpiece, in which titles such as Peg, Deacon Blues and Josie resounding again with blues-pop-rocky flair.

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Dent on the side, product in perfect working order***


Like a greatest hits of recent Analogue Solutions synths, the Ample combines sound elements from the Fusebox with jack patch points, a patch pin matrix, plus sequencer and CV touch pads from the Generator, creating something new and unique.

Supplier's Notes:
Ample combines the best elements of several of Analogue Solutions' recent products.

The sound elements of Fusebox
Jack patch points of Concussor Eurorack
Patch pin matrix of Vostok
Echo from Dr Strangelove
Sequencer and CV touch pads of Generator

It shares all this yet still has its own sound!

Ample can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be

This synth has been given a large and diverse number of controls, that along side the patch sockets, will give even the best and experienced synthesist endless possibilities.

This synth presents the controls in a user friendly and familiar synth layout that, together with this manual and other resources, enable even the new guy to get great sounds.

Synth - Percussion - Audio Processor

Ample is a compact analogue synthesizer. Analogue - as in really analogue. Aside from the MIDI chip (which has to be digital), everything else is totally analogue using real transistors and op-amps. There are no CPU stabilised and quantised circuits, no DCOs, no digital LFOs and no digital EGs, as found on other so called analogue synths. The circuitry is based on designs dating back to the mid-1970s. So Ample has a genuine old sound.

Circuits included

3x Analogue Oscillators

There are three analogue VCOs - each providing a wealth of features and modulation choices. VCO3 can easily be utilised as a LFO.

2x Analogue Low Frequency Oscillator

LFO2(/Sync) has a triangle wave output. VCO3 can be used as an LFO and has Saw, Triangle and Square wave modulation signals.

Analogue Filter

Ample uses a four pole 24bB per octave low pass filter.

Analogue Amplifier

The VCA can be set to THRU so it is always 'open'. This allows Ample to be used as an effects processor.

2x Analogue Envelopes

There are two EGs - each having full control over ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, and RELEASE.

Modulation

Great thought has been placed into modulation route choices, allowing a wide range of sounds to be produced, including percussion and 'modular' sounds further extended by patching with the jack sockets and pin matrix.

MIDI

MIDI is intentionally kept simple - so you can concentrate on making new sounds and making music - not getting tied up with SYSEX programming.

You get the all important control over filter cut-off using MIDI Velocity.

Patchable External CV Control Sockets

Ample has many input and output audio and CV sockets - to allow the synth to be effectively re-wired to make new sounds.

The sockets also enable it to be easily used with Eurorack and other modular systems. They can be patched together.

Sequencer

Ample has a vintage style 16 step sequencer.

Touch Keys

There are 6 touch keys that each output a set voltage. Use this to play the pitch or as modulation signals. A great tool for inspiration!

Pin Matrix

A neat way to patch the synth.

Echo

Nice lo-fi echo / delay.

Review: Nat Birchall is a prolific artist and someone who has proven he can do all forms of jazz from spiritual to contemporary to dub styled. This newest album from him finds him join with an expanded Unity Ensemble to cook up six original compositions featuring the likes of cult UK tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore and guest percussionist Mark Wastell. They all came together initially at a John Coltrane tribute concert at London's Cafe Oto last year and soon found they had a common creative group so decided to get in the studio together. That early synergy shines through here on a lush five track record that is expansive and uplifting and rich in celestial melody.

Review: Dimi Angelis makes a fine statement with his 13th release via the ANGLS label and it is packed with raw, authentic beats across four robust tracks that are destined to captivate dancefloors. The A-side features 'Shadowland' which immediately ensnares listeners with its lasso-like loops and spatial nuances. Meanwhile, 'Intergalactic' ignites the dancefloor with its mechanical noise assault and superbly uses the 909 to build suspense with punchy rhythms. Flipping to the B-side, 'Crionics' plunges you into a deep sonic abyss where tension abounds and finally 'Ice Warrior' concludes the journey with abstract yet fulfilling frequencies. Dimi Angelis returns with his distinctive sound, primed to electrify floors from basements to warehouses once more.

Review: Aniara's output has always been brilliantly designed for club deployment but could never really be considered as mere tools. The artists who appear on the Swedish imprint have a cultured sound and a knack for crafting maximum impact from minimal elements. Enter Mattias El Masouri who does just that with the sublime 'Time Dilation In Ultraviolet'. It's a hypnotic deep house cut with real drive that's down to the deft broken kick drum patterns, pulsing synth and heady pads that swirl above. 'Inre Dimension' is a 13-minute plus sonic daydream with paddy drums, drumming pads and perfectly airy hi-hats that anchor you in the heart and now as your mind wanders.

Review: Aniara's white label number four delivers more techno goodness direct to the dance floor. The A-side features two of Arkajo's most compelling dance-floor tracks, with both offering a propulsive groove and warped and dubbed-out basslines. On the flip side, Dorisburg and Efraim Kent (who are here making their debut on Aniara) present the darker vibes of 'Data Smuggler' which rides on broken beats and has real menace in the airwaves. It complements the A-side with a more deep mood and hypnotic rhythm that will be pure dancing bait.

Review: Christopher Ledger continues to broaden the scope of his sound as a producer by bringing unabashed breakbeat acid into the folds of his broader tech house trajectory. There's still a pervasive deepness to 'Access Denied', no matter how big the beats or how wriggly the synth lines are. 'Nala's Groove' has a proggy tint to it, and 'From Above' rolls along in gorgeous blooms of synth work and deft percussion. Clearly the inspiration of classic 90s-styled beats worked their way into Ledger's production process, and he's made them his own.

Review: Adlas has a compelling signature sound - its quick and punchy but also seductive and funk. The opener on this new EP for Answer Code Request certainly fits that bill - Headland' has nice analogue drums and elastic bass down low with rich, smeared synths up top. 'Oscillation' gets deeper and rides on a rolling beat that rocks back and forth with ambient synths up top and a sense of mysticism in the air. 'Bluff' gets back to bumpy beats and dubbed low ends with some static-charged pads and 'Static' is the deepest of the lot - a subaquatic deep techno trip for the heads.

Review: Waxahatchee is emerging, butterfly like, from a cocoon that has kept her safe for most of her career. There was nothing ugly or hidden about Katie Crutchfield's older output. But it was intimate, quiet, thoughtful, vulnerable and, at times, almost a little nervous. At least some of those adjectives became irrelevant with the last LP, Saint Cloud, and now she follows up that ten-foot-tall 2020 triumph with Tigers Blood, continuing in a similar vein. Having significantly increased the size of her audience with the preceding, infinitely rousing record, Crutchfield simultaneously looks to please those newcomers and win even more over here. The tracks are similarly open armed, proud and accessible, but the razor sharp songwriting - dealing with everything from trying to stay still without being bored, to self doubt - has lost none of its impact, and the instrumental arrangements have arguably never been stronger.

Notes: A unique hardware synth, Aodyo's Anyma Phi uses physical modelling mixed with virtual analogue oscillators and filters, creating a versatile setup for sounds from resonant acoustic timbres to experimental hybrid sounds.

Supplier's Notes:
Explore and create your own sounds

Discover Anyma Phi, the essential physical modelling synthesizer. Your portal to creating new sound universes inspired from the real world, where objects collide, vibrate, and resonate.

The best of both worlds

Anyma Phi blends the classic ingredients of electronic music, like oscillators and filters, with physical modelling technology, allowing it to simulate acoustic sound sources, such as strings or reeds, as well as resonating structures, like wood, glass, or metal.

Create Unique Sounds; sound design for all

The matrix provides a quick and easy way to explore your sounds by following a physical metaphor, with four macros for each of the five stages of sound generation: Excite, Vibrate, Resonate, Global, and Animate.

Infinite Possibilities; a semi-modular powerhouse

Beyond the matrix lies an insanely powerful semi-modular synthesis engine where you can harness a wide variety of oscillators and effects, and control them effortlessly using an impressive modulator system. Going so deep into sound design has never been easier before with such a small box!

Anyma Phi Editor; standalone, but well-connected?

The Anyma Phi can hold up to 200 patches, and everything you need to create them is right on the machine. You can also benefit from the large screen of your computer (PC or Mac) to edit, manage and share patches even more easily, in a streamlined environment that displays all the synth modules at once and their interactions in real time. Learn more about the Anyma Phi's Updates and Downloads.

MIDI Controller; In tune with its environment

With its small form factor, it can sit on your keyboard, or anywhere on your desk. You can control it using any MIDI controller, keyboard or sequencer, with first-class support for wind controllers, like Sylphyo. And it also shines with World and microtonal music*!

Just Tap and Scratch; the world is your oyster

With its stereo input, you can also use the Anyma Phi as a versatile effects processor for your other gear, or use any external sound to excite its resonators and other physical models. And you don't even need a mic to get interesting sounds: just tap and scratch directly on the case of the Anyma!

Technical specifications:

Hybrid monophonic synthesizer, with physical modelling components
Memory: 200 patches
Stereo audio outputs:
L-R 1/4" mono line jack outputs
1/4" stereo headphone jack output
Stereo audio inputs:
1/4" stereo jack audio input
Internal piezoelectric mic when external input unplugged
MIDI inputs and outputs via USB and DIN ports
Powerful digital semi-modular synthesizer engine:
3 oscillator slots (more than 40 types, including wind/string physical models, modal resonators, virtual analogue and digital algorithms)
5 effect slots (more than 30 types, including resonators, granular processors, and FM operators) along 2 serial buses (Main, Aux) + 1 mono reverb
16 modulator slots (more than 40 types, including envelope generators, LFO, curves, interpolators, slew limiters, sequencers, physical and algorithmic processes, etc.)
32 mapping slots (virtual patch cords), each allowing to control any synth parameter (including another mapping) using a modulator or a controller input, with sidechain input and min/max/curve/smoothing
Responsive to pitch, pitch-bend, velocity, breath control/expression, as well as 4 other controller inputs (with MIDI learn)
External MIDI CC control for the matrix and the entire patch (via NRPN)
World-class microtonal support: up to 8 custom tunings, 50 onboard presets, onboard editor, MTS import/export
Built-in arpeggiator: 15 patterns, internal/external MIDI clock sync, custom triggers
Support for up to 3-note paraphony when building a patch
External audio processors
Automatic random patch generation (optional)
Free software editor/librarian (Mac/PC)
225 x 120 x 70 mm (8.9 x 4.7 x 2.8") and 900 gr (2 lbs)
Included: Anyma Phi, 5V PSU and USB cable
Designed and made in France

Review: The Veiltail EP by 747 features two heavyweight songs: 'Veiltail', which is a driving, heavy cascading melodic track with bubbling acid flourishes and a touch of soaring trance influence, and 'Stairway', which is a more electro-slanted track that's nevertheless just as pulsating and dramatic as its predecessor, perhaps a touch of Rephlex-style aural radioactivity. The Canadian label Aquaregia continues to be a trendsetter in the very competitive genre.