Korg mini MS-20

There's rumours doing the round about Korg being about to release new MS-20 with a micro keyboard at NAMM in a couple of weeks. Though it's about time for something new in their Monotron/-tribe range, this almost seems to good to be true. A full MS-20 in a case the size of the Legacy collection controller of a few years back. Projected cost at about 700 dollars would put it squarely in Minitaur/Minibrute territory competition-wise. Apparently it's a site at an Argentinian music store (Import Music) that's the source of the rumor. When trying to access the page now it seems to be removed. Still, I'm awaiting official word until I allow myself to get really excited about this. There has been a lot of fake rumours considering analogue Korgs before and doesn't it seem a bit odd if they would call it a Mini MS-20. It ought to be called a Micro MS-20, surely?

The Monofonen Top 20 albums of 2012

Well, here goes. My humble shot at a top 20 list of my favorite albums of 2012:

1. Ricardo Donoso – Assimilating The Shadow

The follow up to last years great Progress Chance from Ricardo Donoso turns mellowed down trance arpeggios into lush kosmische explorations. Donoso has taken his sound and ideas to a new level.

2. Nick Edwards – Plekzationz

It was a bit hard to pick which Nick Edwards/Ekoplekz/Ensemble Skalectrix release to place highest on this chart. But after a prolific year this debut under his own name feels like the most accomplished one.

Read full review of Plekzationz - Nick Edwards (Ekoplekz) on Boomkat.com ©

3. Carter Tutti Void – Transverse

Amazing live recording from a Roundhouse gig in 2011. Meditative and aggresive at the same time. One of the most refereshing albums of the year from a couple of legends in the industrial scene teamed up with a representative of the best of the new generation.

Read full review of Transverse - CARTER TUTTI VOID on Boomkat.com ©

4. Moon Wiring Club – Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets

Late in the year a new album from Ian Hodgson turned up from nowhere. Think of it as a double album where you have to get both the vinyl and cd. In my mind his greatest release so far.

Read full review of Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets (CD Version) - Moon Wiring Club on Boomkat.com ©

5. Cloudface – Wyre Drive

Cassette release that brings vintage Warp acts to mind. Muddy vintage electronics that never loose sight of that catchy melody or acidic riff.

Read full review of Wyre Drive - Cloudface on Boomkat.com ©

6. Vatican Shadow – Atta’s Apartment Slated for Demolition

If I had to choose only one VS release from 2012 it have to be this one. Arguably Ornamented Walls and Jordanian Descent are amazing as well but this is the one that got me really hooked.

Read full review of Atta\'s Apartment Slated For Demolition - Vatican Shadow on Boomkat.com ©

7. Panabrite – Soft Terminal

Last year the Jürgen Müller ”archival” release stunned me. This year the man behind that alias has captivated me with his Panabrite releases. This one is the best of the lot. Totally unmissable if you’ve got the slightest interest in neo-kosmishe library music.

8. No UFO’s – MPC Tracks Vol. 1

The second release from Nice Up Int’l in my top ten, along with Cloudface. This one is an amazing collection of chilled out rhythmic tracks all created on an Akai MPC.

Read full review of MPC Tracks Vol I - NO UFO\'s on Boomkat.com ©

9. Belbury Poly – Belbury Tales

Had quite high expectations on this one. Maybe not my favourite album from Belbury Poly ever, but a great record with some tracks that are some of the best he’s done. Stylish faux folk rumblings.

Read full review of The Belbury Tales - Belbury Poly on Boomkat.com ©

10. Bee Mask – When We Were Eating Unripe Pears

Bee Mask follow up last years Canzoni album with this fantastic sound journey. He also released the almost equally good Vaporware/Scanops this autumn.

Read full review of When We Were Eating Unripe Pears - Bee Mask on Boomkat.com © 

11. Outer Space – Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990)

Outer Space is John Elliot from Emeralds, and after a bunch of more obscure releases finally put out not one but two proper albums this year. This is my favourite of the two, and in my mind the best album to come out of the Emeralds camp this year.

Read full review of Akashic Record (Events: 1986-1990) - OUTER SPACE (JOHN ELLIOTT) on Boomkat.com ©

12. M. Geddes Gengras – Test Leads

A late entry for my part this year, but it has gotten me really hooked. Neo-kosmische debut from Gengras under his own name, with a technoid feels thats adds urgency to the arpeggios and sequences.

Read full review of Test Leads - M. Geddes Gengras on Boomkat.com ©

13. Suum Cuique – Ascetic Ideals

Miles from Demdike Stare put out this collection of noise/drone-oriented tracks recorded during the Emelental sessions, and for me an even more essential listen than the nevertheless great Demdike album.

Read full review of Ascetic Ideals - SUUM CUIQUE (Demdike Stare) on Boomkat.com ©

14. Keith Fullerton Whitman – Occlusions

KFW puts jazz drums through his modular and turn out this absolutely stunning shocker. Noisy and arhythmic but highly enjoyable at the same time. An album that make’s you feel cleansed after listening to it.

Read full review of Occlusions - KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN on Boomkat.com ©

15. Pye Corner Audio – The Black Mill Tapes Vol. 3

PCA’s debut on Ghost Box is great, but it is this album that I have been listeing to the most. A truly unique voice in the hauntologic field

16. Ekoplekz – Skalectrikz

There just had to be a least two Nick Edwards albums on this list. It could have been Snuff Mill Tapes as well, but I think I have to chose this one, for it’s utter unwillingness to compromise. Beautiful improv.

Read full review of Skalectrikz - Ekoplekz on Boomkat.com ©

17. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel – Motion Sickness Of Time Travel

The prolific Rachel Evans releases her greatest work to date with this double album on Spectrum Spools. The epic quality on this one is second to none in the neo-kosmische field.

18. Lee Gamble – Diversions 1994-1996

This got quite a bit of hype when it was released in November. It made me a bit sceptical but then I gave in. And I’m glad I did. Gamble’s hauntological approach to rave chill outs is strangely fresh and rewarding.

Read full review of Diversions 1994-1996 - Lee Gamble on Boomkat.com ©

19. Howlround – The Ghosts Of Bush

Radiophonics has been a great influence on many electronic experimentalists over the last couple of years, but few have managed to make something as fresh and interesting of it as Robin the Fog did with this. Chilling and soothing at the same time.

20. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems

There’s quite a few artists from Modern Love on this chart. This competed with Vatican Shadow’s Ornamented Walls and Demdike Stare’s Elemental for the 20 spot, but since those artists have other representation on this chart I settled for this one.

Read full review of Luxury Problems - ANDY STOTT on Boomkat.com ©

As always it is kind of silly to make lists like these. As if a year constituted any kind of unit musicwise, as if anybody’s music experiences could be quantified thus. This chart is best regarded for what it is, a picture of myself trying to recollect my listening habits for the last year at the end of the year. Other artists I also highly enjoyed new releases from this year was X-TG, Demdike Stare, Raime, VCMG, Andrea Parker, Georges Vert, Head Boggle, Rob Lowe, Silent Servant, 1991, Sand Circles, Dungeon Acid, eMMplekz, Mordant Music etc. etc. etc. 

Bass Bot TT-303

I had the opportunity to listen to the new Cyclone Analogic Bass Bot TT-303 head to head with an original TB-303 today at Jam in Stockholm today. I must say the similarity was quite striking. Easily the best clone I've heard. And the damn thing looks exactly like the original. (The only slight quibble about the design is the rather preposterous company logo, but best forget about that one. Typography has never been a strong suit with synthesizer designers ...) Well, I know I want one. Wether I can afford it, and if it's the most sensible synth investment I could make if I could afford it, I don't know.

Youtube is already overflowing with demos and unboxings and whatnot. Here's a few:

Bee Mask

Chris Madak, aka Bee Mask, was responsible for one of last year's best electronic albums, the wonderfully varied affair that was "Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico". Madak mixes analogue and digital sounds to stunning effect in a way that clearly sets him apart from much of the neo-kosmische scene, and puts him somewhere between that genre and noisy electroacoustic sound experiments. Last year also saw the release of his retrospective double-LP "Elegy For Beach Friday".

The last couple of months have seen him return with not one but two new albums, albeit quite short ones as far as playing time goes. But what they lack in that department they make up for in quality and scope of vision.

The latest one, released on digital this week, is his return to John Elliot's Spectrum Spools. "When We Were Eating Unripe Pears" feels like the follow up proper to "Canzoni". It has that same ability to drift seamlessly from almost pure noise to blissful kosmische without any apparent effort. The sound world Madak paints is captivating. There is a nostalgic streak to the proceedings, but never merely for the sake of it. But I also find it hard to imagine a more contemporary sounding record. It's this duality that make it such an interesting and compelling listen. A worthy follow up to "Canzoni", indeed.

Read full review of When We Were Eating Unripe Pears - Bee Mask on Boomkat.com ©

Last month Bee Mask also released an LP on the label Room40 called "Vaporware/Scanops". It contains two sidelong tracks of roughly fifteen minutes each. This is a more toned down album than "Unripe Pears" and the kosmische leanings are much more apparent here. The general feel is not far removed from what Klaus Schulze managed to achieve in his heyday with albums such as "Timewind" and "Moondawn". Instead of quickly switching between different moods, that Madak does so well on "Canzoni" and "Unripe Pears", here he let's the sequences slowly develop over the whole tracks, and it makes for a thoroughly entrancing listen. Maybe not the most groundbreaking of his work, but an essential entry in his oeuvre never the less. Together with "Unripe Pears" this has convinced me that Bee Mask surely is one of the most interesting acts of the current synthwave/neo-kosmische/experimental electronic scene. Bee Mask manages to combine well crafted composition and cutting edge sound design in a way few manages to match.

Read full review of Vaporware / Scanops - Bee Mask on Boomkat.com ©

Space Wars, Vol. 1

Yesterday I released my latest album as AB Lundberg on bandcamp. It's a quite short thing of around 30 minutes of neo-kosmische arpeggios and pads in a soundtrack to an imaginary and slightly hazy, downbeat scifi movie. Not so much a Lucasian affair of blasting laser canons and giant space stations, more the extra terrestrial equivalent of a sunday afternoon with cream tea at some long abandoned sea side resort. Not like that place were Moz wished for the nuclear bombs to come, in this place it has already gone off, and nobody could care less. It's a place populated by all those old 70's and 80's post apocalyptic cliches, where the heroes of my youth's role playing games meet up with my childhood's futuristic toys and take on the evil empire of mainstream scifi blockbusters.

Vol. 1? Yes, it's part of a longer form idea. There's already stuff recorded for Vol. 2 but how it will turn out I have no idea. Didn't really know there was to be a Vol. 1 to begin with, but these 10 tracks just seemed to represent some kind of unity so here they are.

Vangelis at work in 1983

A Japanese look at Vangelis' work on the soundtrack for Antarctica in 1983. Will also try wearing sun glasses in the studio.

Ozzy vs. the ARP 2600

Apparently Ozzy Osborne had an ARP 2600 tucked away somewhere since the 70's as this clip from The Osbornes show. Wether he once knew how to play and program it (and the knowledge has went the same way as so much in that man's head) or he's always been as ignorant of it's functions as when he rediscovers it, we don't know. Lovely interaction between man and machine. Would love to see a similar video of how Ralf Hutter treats his machines ...