We’ve reported at length about the run-up to the release of Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories and their flawless teaser campaign which included airing TV commercials during Saturday Night Live, street posters in major cities in March and an album release launch at a farm fair in remote Australia. With the album’s single “Get Lucky” topping charts all over the world, now comes word that the Parisian electronic music duo have entered the Formula One game with British race team Lotus, who have uploaded a few brief clips to YouTube about their collaboration. The chaps at Pitchfork point out that Columbia Records, Daft Punk’s label, is a new Lotus F1 partner. Watch these video below and drool.

Jon Gooch, the DJ/production dynamo behind dubstep/electro entity Feed Me and influential drum ‘n’ bass project Spor, announced via Twitter that he plans to take a respite from DJing in the fall. The news was certainly unexpected, especially considering that Gooch has been touring consistently and has become a major name on the global electronic music scene. “I went to a Dance Music ‘EDC’ event last week and had absolutely no idea what was going on,” he tweeted. “…However I’ve got a pressing feeling that its not…what I’m supposed to be doing. Around Autumn time I intent to stop, at least for a while.” Gooch’s next tweet came from Austin, where he was playing and reported that the club seemed nice. “Arrived at Kingdom in Austin with @brosafari. What a nice club, can’t wait.” Gooch hasn’t tweeted since, leaving fans to wonder what the future holds for him.

After making a shambolic debut as a DJ in Sao Paulo last summer and later spinning at Cannes, Paris Hilton has made good on her promise to make house music all night long. The heiress has announced to Showbiz 411 that she has signed to Cash Money Records and will issue her dance themed second album in the summer. Hilton reportedly received production help from her now ex-beau Afrojack and has been quoted as saying that the upcoming full-length sounds “more house” and vastly different from her first pop album. What else is Hilton up to? Plenty. “I’m getting ready to launch my 17th perfume,” she said. “And I’m also starting the Paris Hilton Foundation for children’s causes.” Let’s hope a DJ tour isn’t in the works.

★★★☆☆

After Volume 3 revelled in accepting missions of infiltrating clandestine factions and subversive bass metamorphoses, Volume 4 arrives with an expansion team staying both on-point and ahead of the pack by cultivating its dubstep rams and raids. Jakes begins the fourth quarter with more of the same speaker stalking and severing, despite being backed by a gameshow choir that could make you millions, and Kryptic Minds and Steve Digital explore contrasting digital lost worlds where one wrong move and the walls cave in.

So Tectonic have hardly lightened up, but in places the belligerence taking secrets to the grave has been told it can cross into maximalist subject matter and makes the mood less profound. Of the skinnier assassins taking their place in the Bristol label’s latest line-up, Guido’s “State of Joy” is as much at home in the lounge as it is firing purple shots, and there’s a certain positive stride to Sinistarr & Texel’s “Decibell.” Pursuit Grooves’ “Hard Beginnings” seems to define tension, but becomes secure through expressing drama on the low. Bad news for crosshair marksmen, but more evidence of dubstep’s multiplex levels, especially when heads get upped by the footwork/trap networking from Decibel’s “Talk” and Mumdance & Logos’ “Drum Boss” evading definition by throwing down bass multiples. Ever turning evolution captured, the cut of the edge may have faintly, contentiously dulled, but Tectonic consistency still puts ample snap into a scene snapshot.

File under: Distal, Beneath, Jack Sparrow

Having individually released tracks on labels such as OMGITM and Coco Machete, the musical partnership between MarKus Lange and Vanilla known as Ostblockschlampen continues to gain momentum. On June 3 the Teutonic twosome will present their Signs EP on Police Records, and we’re pleased to debut the title track from the three-tracker.

Brimming with high-octane synth lines, ravey vibes and lots of bass, Ostblockschlampen show the world that they aren’t afraid to mix things up.  “Signs” is a big-room club hit in the making and is the official song of Sputnik Spring Break Festival taking place this month in Germany featuring heavyweights like Vitalic, Boris Dlugosch and Bookashade. Download below and hear what all the hubbub is about.

Web Promo Ostblockschlampen – Signs (Zombie Prince Edit) / Police records by POLICE Records

Fast forward to 2013, and Ableton is here to deliver version 9 of their coveted DAW, and with several years elapsing since the last revision, this release received a host of powerful upgrades. To guide through the many layers of sound, effects and instruments in Live 9, the application’s browser received a major facelift, making it much easier to find what you are looking for with minimal fuss. MIDI clips can now be auditioned without having to load them, instrument presets can be heard with just a click of the mouse, and the immensely influential search function is simply amazing. While the previous versions had some level of ability to modulate certain parameters within the Session View, you can now fully automate any parameter of anything you are working on, all in your individual clip in Session View. This makes performance while recording much more fluid, and when arrangement time rolls around, much faster to get the song moving in the direction of your inspiration. Automation can now be curved throughout, creating even more flow and fluidity while crafting sounds.

One of the major selling points of Live has always been the excellent effects suite packaged with the software; in fact, there are many major producers out there who only use Live plugs on their tracks. This round, Live 9 got a steroid boost in the effects category, adding to the already colossal offering within this DAW. Notably so is the new Glue Compressor. Ableton partnered with Cytomic on this release, and added their popular bus compressor to the effect lineup, which was normally a $100 plug-in, has really made a major improvement. The original compressor in Live is great, lots of ability to squash and pump audio, however this new Glue comp is the perfect icing on gluing together drums or whatever, leaving them with a nice clean transparent dynamics modification. While Glue Compressor is the only “new” effect, many of the traditional Live effects have been revamped and updated to today’s demanding standards.

Bundled with the Suite version of Live 9 is Ableton/Cycling ‘74’s own Max for Live plug-in host and development environment. What Max for Live basically brings to the table is everything and anything you could ever imagine in a plug-in, and then some. Ableton basically opens their doors to the software design world, and allows skilled craftsmen and innovative thinkers to create and design the plug-ins of their dreams, all within a platform that is fully compatible and integrated into Live. For those of us who are simply just here to make music and not here to redesign the delay processor, Max for Live is still a very useful feature. With a little time spent online looking at various creations from Max for Live users, you can download (for free) any of the thousands of plug-ins that users have created, just do a quick search and you will see the endless creations. Ever want a filter that sidechains to a tempo-synced delay that gradually introduces green noise over time? Well, look to Max for Live for creating this effect, the possibilities are endless.

What is probably the most anticipated feature in the new version of Live (besides Push, more on that later), is the ability now to convert audio directly into MIDI information. In the past, we could always record a MIDI performance, and then use it to play audio from a VSTi or hardware MIDI instrument. Now, Ableton is here again to change the way we make and look at music: Audio to MIDI. In a nutshell, this function allows you to take any piece of recorded audio and convert the sounds into MIDI data, allowing you to use your own sounds with the notes (or drums) from the original piece of music. There are three algorithms for this conversion; Drums to MIDI, Melody to MIDI, and Harmony to MIDI. The drum function is simple; just load a drum loop and Live will convert your clip into all of its individual parts, then launch a drum rack with drum sounds already loaded up. Have two very different drum loop samples that you would love to use? Just drag the new piece of audio on the already converted drum rack, and your new audio loop is instantly readapted to the MIDI environment. Melody to MIDI is best for monophonic conversions, or audio that goes from note to note and does not contain chord information. If you have sounds that contain chords however, the Harmony to MIDI algorithm works best. While these functions aren’t 100% flawless, you will be very surprised how accurate they are at conversion, and with all of the serendipitous mistakes along the way, you may find yourself behind a fresh new idea. Although it takes a bit of fussing around for you to make what you want to happen, it is well worth the time invested. I would however like to see some conversion parameters added to future revisions, as this may make for more predictable results. All in all, this is one of the most amazing functions of the new Live 9.

Last, but hardly least, is Ableton’s new Push instrument. This new hardware device is the first of its kind from Ableton direct (there have been many Ableton specific controllers over the years), and is revolutionizing the way people work on music. What makes Push so amazing is several different key features. First of all, with this new controller, you can now access all of your instruments, effects and sounds directly from the controller, allowing for less screen and mouse play, and more performance and groove design. With a LCD across the top, several rows of buttons, and of course the MIDI encoder knobs, you can easily access all of Live 9’s guts with less time staring at the monitor. The controller has a 64-button grid (8×8) similar to Novation’s Launchpad; however, this is the real magic to this beast.

Integrated into this matrix is a clip launching function, step sequencer, unique MIDI keyboard, and several MPC-styled effects. While launching clips is nothing new to a Live controller, what is new is the integrated isomorphic MIDI keyboard. What this basically does is let you change the grid from reading as a chromatic scale, to a user-defined scale of your choice (ie. A# Minor, etc.). This makes the grid buttons only display notes that are directly in key with the scale you define. So instead of remembering all the interval changes when running chords up and down a chromatic scale (very difficult by the way), you just have to remember the pattern of your chord, making it much more intuitive for the non-concert pianist. Add a ribbon touch strip to manipulate pitch bend when in Instrument Mode and to load different banks of sounds when in Drums Mode, and you are on the way to creating the music of the future.

Having changed the face of music today through the release of previous versions of Live, this complete bundle of sounds, instruments and effect is your ticket to the future of music creation. While the basic features have been displayed in this review, this is nowhere near fully describing the limitless possibilities of Ableton Live 9. Proving as the industry standard for live performance stability, the summing engine of the software has improved as well, making Live a standard installation in any professional studio as well. If you are looking to get into producing music, or are a producer looking to capture that forward-thinking sound, then this timeless audio workstation is the fuel for your passion.

★★★☆☆

Not a compilation giving a chance to MCs to run their mouth — and they’d be hard pressed to make words stick here anyhow — it’s the turn of producer overlords and instrumental heavies to pull up and create chaos. From beat one, roughneck enterprise creates pixelated nightmares (Youngstar) raked with too-hot-to-handle bassline gunfire, unwieldy brute force that makes any silence deathly, and realises epic high speed chases (J Beatz) or predatory games of off-future hide and seek. All the while keeping alive a DIY ethic that magnifies the bedroom studio setup to a monstrous scale.

The 2.0 could be code for a form of trap and the creation of a transatlantic bridge, making music for low riders that breathe fire and showing opportunism with Tre Mission putting Rihanna through the blender, Faze Miyake and the bewitching Mr Mitch dropping down low, and TRC giving a footwork shout-out as momentary remission. Despite the unofficially cosmopolitan aspect of the compilation, putting on international acts that vouch for the scene’s expansion, very British mannerisms remain — handclap rhythms (Decibel’s “Bend” sounds almost outdated), faux brass wobbles, synth-played string plucks, percussion sourced from everyday electronics, and the spraying of well-worn dub effects and tubular lasers. There are moments of 8-bar bluster and low-rent grinding that are uninspired, monotonous, uninventive even, but to approach this 35-tracker unprepared or undercooked would be foolish.

File under: Ruff Sqwad, Terror Danjah, Agent X

★★★☆☆

Recorded when the morning after has come too soon, Jimpster’s easygoing deep house and soul solutions make enquiries as to the lounge’s opening hours. When engaging space-sprinkled themes, Jamie Odell regularly checks his distance away from the bar and when to engage in the dancefloor’s throng, battling to energise and refresh you.

“Hold My Hand” is for when the techno-schooled nightowl wants to come out and play, mildly more persuasive in telling you to convert your casual head-nod into something more pro-active; while “High Wire” is a soul clap gesturing to go with what feels right – on a groove slickened by knee-weakening keys, it’s all love. The twittering flicker to “Rollergirl” shows Jimpster redirecting the ante as a way of upping it, in a semi-European method that soon drives on, and “Wanting You” may have you fielding questions about spiritual plains, astrophysical relations and whether you dreamt Cassie appearing in the background. The acoustic tapestry of “These Times” meanwhile has the album departing on a solemn note.

There’s no doubt you’ll feel calmed in the company of Jimpster’s sounds moving like champagne suds in a gold-rimmed glass. Said bubbles can compare to a really smooth drink that you can quaff repeatedly, until you realise it might actually be blander than it says on the label, though a more courteous companion you couldn’t ask for.

File under: Audiomontage, SIS, Shur-I-Kan

This weekend news surfaced that house DJ/producer Romanthony died on May 7 in Austin, Texas. Known for his ’90s underground hits “Let Me Show You Love” and “The Wanderer,” as well as fronting Daft Punk’s “One More Time” and “Too Long,” the cause of the artist’s death has not been yet made public but was confirmed via his sister and several friends and collaborators on social media. With a unique style incorporaingd Prince’s lyricism and Green Velvet’s dance floor grooves, Romanthony was a unique and original voice in house music. He most recently featured on Kris Menace’s Features and was reportedly working on a track with Boys Noize.

“It is so sad,” Boyz Noize tweeted yesterday. “Romanthony and me were working on such an amzing song together. he said it was the best song he had ever written.”

Romanthony, whose real name was Anthony Moore, was only 46.

Image via Wikipedia

Images by Erik Kabik/Retna and Life After Dusk