SONIC TALK - Inside Music Technology

This week we bask in the wonderful light shed by Grace Jones and her seminal Slave to The Rhythm album as well as taking a preview of her forthcoming release Hurricane, then we move on to the Nine Inch Nails Google Earth treasure hunt, of course we mention the recent 3G iPhone release then Crazy Coffins and the joy a man can find in choosing the right luggage, then we finish with the future of retail ads Presonus launch a new online store.

We first talk of plastic figurines and memorabilia as inspired by the Keith Emerson doll, then we're off on to Rich's work on Ramones album Subterranean Jungle, Devo take McDonalds to court, Jay Wasco's amazing rendition of Heart of Gold on the Swiss Army Bass and people who can play and sing one more instruments at a time, we then take the Audiocheck.net hearing challenge, then we discuss electronic drum kits.

Sonic TALK -Sir Ken Robinson At LIMS

This week we talk of creativity, inspiration and divergent thinking thanks to Sir Ken Robinson - who I saw speak at the LIMS show on education day, then we put Rich Hilton on the spot with a legacy question from Dan Austin who wants to know whats the difference between Peak Limiting and Compression and how do you use it? Then the Korg Nano series controllers and we're done.

We skip through the mental futuristic photo browser that is Taggalaxy.de, then on to Krakli Software's rendition of Video Killed the Radio Star, then on to the Moog Guitar which gets it's official launch at Summer NAMM, the Electronic Music Guide, AES, Sonicstate.TV and Prince is 50.

I'd like to shout out a thank you to Dan Austin, who sent in a few topics for us to look at , the first of which is the classic New Order track Blue Monday, drummers who could play tight, then we're on to the reformation of Yazoo with Vince and Alison back on stage "like salmon", Robbie Ryan posts us a comment, the Wizard Master Control program- a funky sequencer, Melloman Walkman based Mellotron from Mike Walters via Tara Busch, Compact Flash for scsi samplers and then we're done...

Starting out with the great Silibil n Brains hoax - two Scottish rappers who fooled the industry for 2 years, Noneric tells us about Snap, we cover Milli Vanilli, the Monkees and Audrey Hepburn too. Mark also has a theory about Pete Doherty and the KLF. Virus targets file sharers, Totally Wired - documentary of Schneiders Buero, Digidesigns' Transfuser grooves on and finally vegetable orchestra and other hand made instruments....

Our topics this week range from a quick plug for the WNYC Radio Lab podcasts, intelligence and rhythmic accuracy proves drummers are clever (or does it?), in-ear monitor systems, Lipps Inc. Funkytown, and the largest UK music chain goes down. Finishing up we talk of the Moog guitar, which turns out to be real after all. Somehow from there we get to Toyah Wilcox and dis-lexia - who says we go off topic?

We start by drooling over the wonderful treasure trove that is the rare gadgets at Wired.com, ponder Leon Theremins thrilling life and why no Gforce-o-mometer and Citroen DS? Then it's on to Metallica and downloads and of course Some Kind of Monster doc, the scary prospect of an MP3 tax in the UK, some real joy with the B52's remix competition and finally Apple clones on sale - good or no? A big thanks to Dave from Richmond Virginia for sending in a snippet of his Evolver and Kaoss pad 3 - keep em coming!

fter discussing the merits of Ostend we move on to the bizarre Beamz laser musical system, then talk boxes get some love - we missed them out last week due to time constraints, then a brief sojourn into music technology spotted at the fair (or carnival if you're US based), Garageband.com get some attention after last weeks Talking Heads topic, Mark's tinitus eq theory, a brief musical interlude from Marc JX8P and a JMJ acapella, then we're homeward bound with 25 top tips for musicians.