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David Abravanel mit sein Band

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Interview with Fluxion for CDM

Had a great chat with Konstantinos Soublis, one of the less-sung legends of dub techno whose work goes back to seminal releases on Chain Reaction, refined through albums on Echocord, then taking on a modern classical feel with recent albums on his own label Vibrant Music.

His latest album Haze is an easy AOTY candidate for me - just a great distillation of his knack for melody, atmosphere, and all those essential little things that build up a sonic world.

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My 2024 year-end music roundup on CDM

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Who doesn't want to know what a selfie sounds like?

In my continued quest for all things groundbreaking in sound, I spent some time with Sumu from Madrona Labs and spoke to Madrona founder Randy Jones. Sumu is Madrona's take on digital synthesis - semi-modular like their other plugins Aalto, Kaivo, and Virta, and featuring some innovating ways of processing a sound of up to 64 partials (pure tone components).

Image up top is a photo of me turned into a partial map with companion software Vutu; below is a preset in Sumu using my image partials.

Full article on CDM

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One of my favorite - and one of the most novel - listens this year, Sti.ll sees Joseph Branciforte transcribing Taylor Deupree's classic drone- and loop-heavy work Stil., now for acoustic instruments. An engaging challenge with gorgeous results, and the two collaborators had a lot to share about the process, physical music releases, niche obsolete software, and celebrating inconsistencies.

Full interview w/ music & behind the scenes photos on CDM

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Couldn't let 404 day pass without a tribute to this box of fun. Did a piece for CDM with some ideas for how you can use the SP-404mk2 for jungle, IDM, off-grid beats, and drippy sound design.

Also it pairs really well with the Model:Cycles - if you have both you've got a real Voltron groovebox with the best of sythesis, sampling, sequencing, and effects.

Read & Listen on CDM

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Stephen Mallinder interview on CDM

A real pleasure to interview Stephen Mallinder, whose recent solo renaissance brings some excellently funky industrial with very in the pocket delivery of unique lyrics.

Chatted with him for about gear (and working with Benge’s candyland assortment of classics), playing with words and spelling, his many bands, teaching, and those under appreciated 90s Cabaret Voltaire albums.

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My list of the top albums of 2021 for CDM

(originally went up 12/31/21, just late on getting it up here)

Full lists are below the fold; click through to the link for my thoughts + music + artwork.

51 Albums, alphabetical order:

ABADIR – Pause/Stutter/Uh/Repeat (Genot Centre) Alan Vega – Mutator (Sacred Bones) Alva Noto – HYbr:ID (Noton) Andrew Pekler & Giuseppe Ielasi – Palimpsests (Shelter Press) Black Sea Crime Complex – Argonautica (Primal Architecture) Chrissy – Physical Release (Hoover) Coppé – 蜜 (MITSU // 25 RPM) (Mango & Sweetrice) Dax Pierson – Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction) (Dark Entries) Dean Blunt – BLACK METAL 2 (Rough Trade) Derek Carr – Arrival (Firescope Dirty Bird – Neurogenesis (Dirty Bird) DJ Manny – Signals In My Head (Planet Mu) Dummy – Mandatory Enjoyment (Trouble in Mind) Emeka Ogboh – Beyond the Yellow Haze (A-Ton) Gacha Bakradze – Obscure Languages (Lapsus) Galcid – Hope & Fear (Detroit Underground) Humanoid – 7 Songs (Delsin) Illuvia – Iridescence of Clouds (A Strangely Isolated Place) Inkipak – Inkipak (Mighty Force) Inigo Kennedy – Eyes Closed to the Sun (Asymmetric) Jake Muir – Mana (Ilian Tape) James Welburn – Sleeper in the Void (Miasmah) Jana Rush – Painful Enlightenment (Planet Mu) Jimmy Edgar – CHEETAH BEND (Innovative Leisure) John Tejada – The Year of Living Dead (Kompakt) Llyr – Biome (Mesh) Loraine James – Reflection (Hyperdub) Lotic – Water (Houndstooth) Low – HEY WHAT (Sub Pop) Matthew Dear – Preacher’s Sigh & Potion: Lost Album (Ghostly Int.) Meemo Comma – Neon Genesis: Soul Into Matter² (Planet-Mu) Mira Calix – absent origin (Warp) Monobox – Regenerate (M-Plant) Mouse on Mars – AAI (Thrill Jockey) Mr G – The Forced Force is Not the True Force (CHILDHOOD) Nathan Salsburg – Psalms (No Quarter) Om Unit – Acid Dub Studies (self-released) RP Boo – Established! (Planet Mu) Shawn Rudiman – Flow State (Pittsburgh Tracks) Siavash Amini – A Trail of Laughters (Room 40) Skee Mask – Pool (Ilian Tapes) SKY H1 – Azure (AD 93) Space Afrika – Honest Labour (Dais) Steven Rutter – Riddle Me Sane (Firescope) Stone Giants – West Coast Love Stories (Nomark) The Black Dog – Music for Photographers (Dust Science) The NRG – Live ’94 (The NRG) The Pop Group & Dennis Bovell – Y in Dub (Mute) TM404 – Syra (Kontra-Musik) VC-118A – Spiritual Machines (Delsin) Xeno & Oaklander – Vi/deo (Dais)µ-Ziq & Mrs Jynx – Secret Garden (Planet Mu)

Ten EPs, alphabetical order

Dream Sequence – Do You Still Think About It? (Leisure System) Jlin – Embryo (Planet Mu) Lyric – “Not Enough” / “Praise Up” (M-Plant) Machinedrum – Psyconia (Ninja Tune) minimalviolence – Phase Two (Tresor) MVW – Classic$ (MVW Productions) Patten – Burner (555-5555) Pole – Tanzboden (Mute) R.A.D.E. – Pacific (self-release) sl0p0k – first/last (Valence)

Five compilations, alphabetical order

Terre’s Neu Wuss Fusion – Recalls (Comatonse) Atom™’s This Is series (NN) Robag Wruhme – Connecting The Dots (Kompakt) Various Artists – Planet Love Vol. 1 – Early Transmissions 1991-95 (Safe Trip) MLO – Oumuamua (Music from Memory)

10 reissues, alphabetical order

Arovane – Atol Scrap (Keplar) Coil – Love’s Secret Domain (Wax Trax!) Juana Molina – Segundo (Crammed Discs) Liquid Son – Garden of Eden (Cold Blow / Mental Groove) Nu-Era – Beyond Gravity (Omniverse) Radiohead – Kid A Mnesia (XL) Seefeel – Rupt and Flex (Warp) SND – 4,5,6 (SND) Spiritualized – [first four albums] (Fat Possum) Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World (BMG)

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Spoke to Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock about Seefeel's incredible 1994-96 period, recently reissued by Warp.

Read and listen on CDM

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Very proud to share that Happily, a short film I soundtracked, premiered today as part of the L.A. Shorts film festival.

Many thanks to Aaron David DeFazio & Eric Morgan for including me in their vision! And congratulations to everyone involved in this one.

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Pairing mode: music to listen to right now - a new series - CDM Create Digital Music

Ed.: Pairing mode is a new series focused on music to which we feel connection - mostly new, some back catalogs, all stuff we're listening to. And maybe that's the most essential way to approach music, finding what excites us. Resident music editor David Abravanel launches his new column.

New series based on what I’m listening to now, for CDM. If you’ve got something to promote, get at me on Twitter of at david[at]dhla[dot]me

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“This war will not be fought with weapons, but with compassion, care, solidarity and a radical shift in our priorities.”

Interviewed polymath Giorgio Sancristoforo from my isolation in New York to his in Milan. All about software development, making art from DNA and radiation, and making it through this together in solidarity. 

Read the interview on CDM

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Dial F

dhla.me

Donating 100% of the proceeds from my Bandcamp sales to Partners in Health for the foreseeable future; I’ve also put together a 40% off sale for the full discography. Stay healthy everyone!

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On Streaming Service Branding

Great piece from Cherie Hu about the homogeneity of streaming music brands. My thoughts below; TL;DR this is inevitable when your brand is "we like music".

What we're seeing here is in part the difference between people who spend a lot of time actively listening to and exploring music, and brands whose best path to unicorn status is to "love music." Go ahead and call people snobs or narrow-minded, but we all have our favorites and we all have artists we can't stand. They don't always make sense. For many of us, they're part of our identity.

If you've ever met someone who legitimately has zero preferences to state on music, that's probably a person who doesn't care much for music. Which is fine! But it speaks to why these brands become boring as they grow. Muxtape, for example, was definitely a brand with unique character, until it was obliterated because it was a passion project and not a company that was intended to scale. It wasn't designed to make money or to appeal to all lovers of every genre. Spotify started similar to Grooveshark sharing the music available on its employees’ servers, then adapted to survive.

Spotify's original mission figured that users knew what they wanted to listen to and just needed access. Placing curation in the front seat necessitates better branding.

So there's the conundrum. Your biggest product (that you actually own) is curation, so you need a brand. But that brand needs to cover every conceivable style of music. There's no way to do that and have a distinguished personality. Think back to the era of large chain music stores. Did Tower Records have a particularly memorable brand? Did Sam Goody? No, the distinct and memorable brands were independent shops which couldn't have scaled to those heights.

Even now, go to an independent chain like Rough Trade. The depth of selection isn't the point as much as the curation. They aren't competing with Spotify for options, but they offer curation in what they feature.

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Getting the Signature Auto-Tune Effect

New piece from me for Antares, all about making Auto-Tune sound like “Auto-Tune”. Featuring (gulp) my own voice!

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What You Hear is (Not Quite) What You See

My latest piece for Newfangled Audio, a look at the neuroscience behind human hearing, and how that affects the way we EQ.

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My roundup of 2019 in music is up on CDM!

Check it out

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Drop It: The Kick in Electronic Music

My latest for Ableton - all about the history of the electronic kick drum. Plus, I created a pack of kicks built with Operator & Live devices - download them as samples or as Operator Racks. 

Many thanks to Kevin McHugh for valuable insights on mixing and mastering electronic kicks!