The story that never dies ... but we all said that about a Spotify US launch as well. Facebook Music looks like it's due for an announcement this Fall ...

The Hot Chip man's new track "Gabriel" features an R&B-indebted vocal turn from Valentina and a kaleidoscopic video clip.

Native Instruments reveals some big news for Maschine that’s … well, smaller. A new package has smaller hardware and lower price, with the same full-sized software. And an iOS version lets you use Maschine on iPad or iPhone.

As their drum machine / drum sampler / groove workstation with plug-in hosting and doubling as plug-in matures, and becomes a focus of NI’s production and performance side, things are starting to heat up. And yes, this news comes just as we learn more about an upcoming analog drum machine. It’s a Labor Day full of drum machines.

Shrunken Maschine: Maschine Mikro is, for me, the best news. It’s cheaper than the full Maschine package. It’s smaller and lighter, with a more compact controller. You might expect NI trimmed down the samples set – nope, it’s the same 6 GB ibrary. Or maybe they added a “lite” version of the software – nope, it’s the same, full Maschine version. And you still get full-sized pads. The Maschine pads are some of my favorite currently on the market – controller or otherwise – so that’s quite nice, indeed. You do sacrifice some hands-on control: the Mikro lacks the big, beautiful screens on the full Maschine, and the additional knobs and triggers. The eight macro knobs on the full Maschine are pretty handy, as are dedicated group buttons.

So, why would I think Mikro’s a good idea? Simple: when you’re on the road, or performing live onstage in cramped spaces, the Mikro looks like a winner, and all with the same software and at a lower price. For studio use, the full Maschine is still your best choice. But I’m personally going to switch out to the Mikro, especially because – like many people, I suspect – it’ll ultimately be combined with another controller in my workflow. You can have a closer look at our two product shots from NI and decide for yourself. (Yes, there’s a Maschine Bag, and yes, I was just talking to King Britt about his on-the-go luggage setup with his Maschine, but I’m still partial to smaller and lighter!)

Finger drumming video: NI has also released a promo vid of finger-drumming virtuoso Jeremy Ellis tearing apart their new hardware. It’s supposed to make you want to buy a Mikro, or something, except it may make you feel somewhat … inadequate … with your own finger drumming, instead.

Really Shrunken Maschine: If the Mikro isn’t small enough – say, you’re on the East Coast “Chinatown” Fung Wah bus and don’t really have room for your knees – NI also has a Maschine coming for iOS in October. It seems eminently practical:

• four tracks
• sampling (perhaps the most fun part of having this be mobile)
• “high-quality” effects (no reason that couldn’t just be ported from desktop)
• instrument and drum sounds from the standard Maschine library
• bring back your sketches into the full Maschine and edit them there

I’m only sorry it’s called iMaschine. Oh, well.

Komplete integration: As a footnote to this other news, NI notes that Maschine and Maschine Mikro each now support sound browsing and parameter mapping for instruments and effects in Komplete/Komplete Ultimate – the kind of tactile control originally in Kore, now entirely focused on Maschine.

Bottom line: For lovers of this workstation, it sounds to me like Maschine for iOS on the bus, Maschine software on your MacBook on the plane, Mikro in the hotel room, standard Maschine in the studio.

Maschine product page
Maschine Mikro

BLOC Weekend has grown large enough that it has to find a new venue in 2012.

Here's a 60-minute video of the German producer's excellent live set at the streaming party's first Berlin edition.

"Professional Loving" is the new single from Emika, a Berlin-based producer and singer who works as a sound designer at Native Instruments by day and crafts abstract, pop-infused bass music by night. (She's also the mastermind behind the field recordings of Berghain that were used as the foundation for the Ostgut Ton compilation "Funf.") A teaser for Emika's forthcoming longplayer, the EP features two original tracks, "Pretend" and "Professional Loving," that stand as her most accomplished work to date; remixes come from the acoustic techno ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick, Detroit up-and-comer Kyle Hall, and Chicago juke producers DJ Rashad and DJ BMT. The record, on Ninja Tune, is out today in the UK and EU, and will follow on September 13 in North America.

Watch this video on Beatportal

If you know Jan Driver mainly from his tough, gritty, electro-infused tech house releases for Made To Play and his own Grandpetrol, you might be caught off guard by the opening tracks of his new album, "Amatilda." The grinding synths are decidedly Driver-esque, but the live rock drumming sounds like an outtake from a heavy metal studio session. The rest of the record eases into more conventionally electronic percussion sounds, but there's still nothing conventional about the album, which alternates between slow-motion juggernauts, corroded electro, Berghain-grade techno, club hip-hop and even a foray into dubstep rhythms. Released on the venerable Boysnoize label, "Amatilda" proves that there's more to hard-hitting dance music than formulaic "bangers." We spoke to Driver about the making of his album, his work with Boys Noize and Siriusmo, and his fondness for overdrive and compression. Read on for the interview, and check out the full album here.

Read more on Beatportal

1. Ash Roy – Trump (7:36) – EP Pops & Drops (2011, Vertikal Records)
2. Susheela Raman & Ash Roy – Can Also Can (Breger Remix, master5) 8:03 – EP Can also Can (2011, ElektroTribe)
3. Dr Das (Aniruddha Das) – Track 07: Encircle The City (3:04) – Outsider Album (set coming in 2013)
4. Dr Das (Aniruddha Das) – RAISE Up – Dr Das Alien Mix (3:59) – RAISE UP (2010, Outerindia)
5. Desert Dwellers – Track 03: The Dub Sutras (Sensual Sutras Mix) (7:00) – Downtemple Dub: The Lost Mixes (2011, White Swan Records)
6. Desert Dwellers – Track 04: Moonlit Horizons (Caravan mix) (6:17) – Downtemple Dub – Lost Grooves (2011, White Swan Records)
7. Sanathana (Swaroop Guhathakurta)- Track 02: When Buddha met Shiva in Tibet (8:54) – Goa Trance EP: Transition (2011, Goa Trance)
8. Sanathana (Swaroop Guhathakurta) – Track 03: Derek Oldman – Notch (4:30) – EP Spiritual Awakening (2011, Geomagnetic Records)
9. Jaey Gajera – Seven Mile Bridge (8:00) – Higher (2011, Melodic Records)
10. Jaey Gajera- The White Woods (Original Mix) (7:10) – Chiefs Forum Aicid Remix Album, Vol. 4 (2011, Chiefsworld)
11. Shammi Pithia – Track 04: The Dream (4:04) – EP Cinema For The Ears (2007/2008)
12. Shammi Pithia – Track 06:  Sweet Nothings (5:57) – EP Paredolia (2011)

… see all playlists here.

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Slam's Stuart and Orde discuss signing Daft Punk and the origins of the imprint at their recent 20th birthday celebrations in Ibiza.

Die Sängerin und Musikerin Joy Frempong arbeitet derzeit unter dem Pseudonym Oy. Sie bringt quirligen Avant-Pop, schräge Electronica, abstrakten HipHop, futuristischen Soul, dadaistische World-Music und Debussy’sche Klassik auf einen Nenner. Sie arbeitet mit Klavier, Synthesizer, Handorgel, Xylophonen, Samplern und Loop-Geräten. Dazu singt sie.

Im norient Podcast erzählt sie, wie sie arbeitet. Was für Samples verwendet sie, und wie tut sie das genau? Welche Geräusche und Sounds mag sie dabei ganz besonders, und welche verwirft sie?

Joy Frempong – Oy – norient.com podcast by norient

Joy Frempong wurde 1978 in Ghana geboren. Ihr Vater kommt aus Ghana, ihre Mutter aus der Schweiz. Sie wuchs im zürcherischen Dietlikon auf, bestand 1998 ihre Maturaprüfungen und schrieb sich zwei Jahre später an der Jazzschule in Bern ein. Dieser Unterricht habe ihr zwar zu ihrer heutigen stimmlichen Flexibilität verholfen, sagt sie in einem Interview mit Musikkritiker Nick Joyce: Die perfekte Jazzsängerin, die jeden Standard trällern kann, wollte sie jedoch nicht werden.

Joy Frempong war lange Mitglied der Zürcher Experimentalformation Lauschangriff und arbeitet auch mit dem Impro-Trio von Hans Koch, Martin Schütz und Fredy Studer. Mit Fredy Studer arbeitet Frempong auch mit der Band Phall Fatale.

Nach Ghana reist sie noch immer sehr oft, erzählt sie im Podcast. Sie interessiert sich auch für die dortige Musikszene (siehe norient Artikel zu Hiplife: Zwischen Hiplife und Afrofunk), allerdings hat sie bisher nur wenige Kontakte geknüpft. Mit dem Berner Duo Filewile ist Joy Frempong jedoch 2009 durchs südliche Afrika gereist.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ihr erstes Soloalbum unter dem Pseudonym OY – auch Oy Rempong – heisst First Box Then Walk (Creaked/Namskeio).

Das Gespräch mit Joy Frempong fand im Rahmen des Norient Projekts Sonic Traces: From Switzerland statt.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Roger Linn, he of the MPC and AdrenaLinn and Linnstrument, sends us his friendly walk-through video showing you how to get started actually using the upcoming Linn/Dave Smith Tempest analog drum machine. We’re awaiting details on when this unit is actually shipping; I’ll update this post once we hear.

What you get instead, though, is nearly twenty minutes of Roger walking you through every single function – this is as much a video manual as it is a “quick start.” It’s nice to see some clever workflow features in action, and you get some very in-depth looks at how the Tempest operates. This is documentation, not marketing, in a good way.

Incidentally, lest you think the Tempest is late — or, at least in terms of its last known shipping projection — Dave and Roger technically have until the Autumn Equinox, which in 2011 falls on September 23 inclusive, in order to ship in summer 2011. I’d go further to say that they have until the end of the date of the equinox Pacific time, which gives them a few additional hours beyond even the majority of their customer base. They’re currently listing the Tempest as due in “late summer 2011,” but unless they mean “late” as in early fall, they have until the 24th of September before they become seasonally incompatible.

I believe it’s briefly on the cusp of the Autumn Equinox on which MIDI clocks start running backwards, or vocoders talk without carrier signals, or something.

Happy Labor Day weekend, USA (and labor lovers everywhere). Happy Fifth of September, everyone. Only (??) shopping days until the Tempest ships.

http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/
http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/

The UK festival says that it has "outgrown" the Butlin's resort in Minehead and will move to "a brand new venue that can house the state-of-the-art production" in 2012, with the event also set to be staged later in the year.

Cadenza has launched a clothing range off the back of their Ibiza event.

Here's a 60 second video preview of Pioneer's forthcoming two-channel affair.