DJ Koze's 2013 album opus Amygdala has continued to bewitch all who encounter it since its release. Tipped as his own personal Sgt. Pepper, the sublime long-player revealed a fully-realised and personal body of work, complete with a classic songwriting at its core, House in its heart, and veins coursing with psychedelic color. La Duquesa' was the album's dreamy single standout, a journey into deep, tropical ecstasy. XTC' begins in the same spirit, and captures the all the blissful allusions of its name, but its initial gentility belies the deep intensity to come. Floating pads glow with celestial ambience as a kick drum is gradually coaxed into solid form, and the introduction of spoken text begins the second act. Many people are experimenting with the drug Ecstasy,' it says, ...is the drug like the lie and meditation the truth Or am I missing something that could really help me". XTC' then transforms: sweetly imploring tones become demanding, gentle gradients between chords turn hard-edged, and sharp hi-hats cut through the haze. Complete with Koze's signature percussive quirks, it drives towards the track's final pay off: an undeniable, all-consuming, irresistible high. Knee On Belly' recalls Koze at his most tongue-in-cheek and overt, it is bright, bold and literally brassy, using cut-up horns of all shapes and sizes to patchwork together his own unique arrangement. With the highs and mid ranges accounted for, Koze adds in a swollen, thrumming bass line to mix to bring this floor-filler to life. Knee on Belly' recalls a raw, filtered and funky approach to groove, with a nod to disco house and the art of artful sampling, as it orbits between its own neon highs and simmering lows.

Pampa024A DJ Koze -  XTC

More info:

Full stream of 'Landslide Pt I,' Landslides debut EP.

Landside - Still There

Time for something a bit more melodic this month. I wanted to see how far I can get sequencing a bunch of different voices only with the Audio Damage Sequencer 1. I've used it for two voice patches all the time, with the latest update there's now a new mode that greatly simplifies note entry into the CV out lines. 

It's all fairly simple subtractive patching and rather straightforward. So first we have a two osc paraphonic voice: Two Cwejman VCO6 are sequenced with the main pitch and the first CV out, going through a Cwejman MMF6 and Addac 802 VCA. The Seq 1 main gate is used to trigger an ADSR-VC2 that modulates the filter and VCA. Some key tracking and FM from one of the oscs on the filter as well, plus PWM on the osc with a Doepfer A-143-3. Next, a bass voice. The second Seq 1 CV out is used for pitch, the accent out for the gate. For the voice, we have an Addac 701 going through a Manhattan Analog SVVCF and a further 802 VCA channel. For the ADSR, the second ADSR-VC2 channel modulates the filter and VCA again. Finally, the third Seq 1 CV out is used to trigger a CTG-VC that gates the sine output from another Addac 701 via a third 802 VCA channel. A Qunexus is set up to transpose that osc occasionally. Some PWM on the bass osc and vibrato on the last one from the remaining A-143-3 channels. That's it for the patch.

The three parts are multitracked into Ableton in one go, no editing on the tracks itself. However, I added two RE201 returns, one delay and one reverb focused. Additionally, some EQ, compression, as well as more reverb and delay in Ableton to bring it all together as always. Hope you enjoy it and cheers!

July 16: Sequencer 1 Multitrack

Read our interview with @jon_hester and check out this podcast's tracklist here: bit.ly/JonPod

Groove Podcast 70

Tracklist

Groove Podcast 70 - Jon Hester

02 - 160907 1132

So this patch was setup, and was running all day. Then decided to record it. Everything was live. All the level adjustments where either done on the A138p Doepfer perfomance mixer, handy thing, or volume on the Memotron/MS-20. Straight into 2. No post processing.

Thanks to David Fyans for the use of his excellent picture. 

Original here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/erstlaub/32004868931

Precipice

A direct recording from a prototype - playing with circuit ideas beyond my Molnet project.

First steps beyond Molnet

Download: https://www.xlr8r.com/news/2017/04/download-a-new-planetary-assault-systems-mix/

@luke-slater

[via XLR8R]

Download

Download: Planetary Assault Systems - The Light Years Mix

http://iamthys.bandcamp.com
I played keys on a modular patch and added percussion.

These Lights Must Suffer Night

self-generating patch with 3 voices, derived from one quantized Wogglebug output

Krell2 Experiment

The Garden of Brokenness Excerpt

Vyv Hope-Scott is a composer and musician, writing and producing finished music tracks for TV and media use. Via music production libraries such as Carlin (now CPM), Boosey & Hawkes, Music Sales, SPM, Red Igloo and others he has written over 600 tracks which have appeared in films including Zoolander, TV series from Crimewatch to The Catherine Tate Show, Spongebob Squarepants to Beavis and Butthead. At the more leftfield end of the spectrum he performs regularly with the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, various jazz and improvisational groups.

Krell2 Experiment

Vyvyan Hope-Scott