Since starting on classical guitar around 2000, Diego has become a multi-instrumentalist at heart, but specializes in keyboards and electronic instruments. A sometimes member of various At the Drive-in-adjacent El Paso-based bands, Diego fell out with the scene/sound and does his own things now. He’s worked as a staff writer for the zZounds Blog and a product specialist at zZounds for well over 10 years. If you ask Diego’s significant other, his true talent is cooking.
Beat Connection: Reggaeton
Welcome to zZounds Beat Connection. Beat Connection is a series that examines modern and vintage dance styles by providing you a musical starting point to get you going in that direction. Today we shift our focus to the tropical-tinged dance music of Puerto Rico: Reggaeton. Reggaeton holds this fascinating distinction of being both a completely […]
Aphex Twin’s Cheetah at Summer NAMM
Already a few hours into our coverage of Summer NAMM day 1, we were met with this cryptic tweet from record label Warp: New Product Demonstration pic.twitter.com/6EaUqOBmww — Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) June 23, 2016 Out of the blue, we were caught trying to figure out if this was another put-on by the ambient music master […]
Moog Minimoog Model D Reissue Unveiled at Moogfest
Moogfest 2016 Coverage We’re back from Moogfest after a whirlwind weekend taking in the incredible performances and seminars! Click on either of the knobs to learn more about what we saw at this one-of-a-kind festival! It was just the first day of Moogfest in Durham, NC, and we already were treated to a big announcement: the Moog […]
Suzanne Ciani Interview
Moog would be hard-pressed to find a better ambassador to what the essence of Moogfest stands for than Suzanne Ciani herself. A pioneer in every way, Suzanne nurtured her love of the Buchla synthesizer and music itself into realms that scarcely existed when she began her career. Using sound design as a platform for creativity, […]
Prince’s Most Notorious Musical Instruments
Prince might be gone but elsewhere the dissection of his cultural influence still reigns supreme. There are thousands of think pieces, listicles, and gifs competing right now for your moment of thought. If all of this feels overwhelming, join us as we shift our focus onto a much lighter topic. Let’s explore some of the unique gear Prince […]
Prince Found Dead at 57 in Paisley Park Estate
These are the words the no one expected to hear today: “Prince dead at 57.” Just this past Friday, the town of Moline, IL experienced probably the largest amount of internet chatter it has ever had because of one man. This force of nature, Prince, had to touch down his airplane not to rock this small […]
The Musical Almanac: The Rise of France’s Chanson
The Musical Almanac is an ongoing series highlighting musical styles or genres from around the world. Our future destination is to get to the powerfully sublime Nouvelle Chanson music of France. But, first, we have to explain how we’ll get there. Today we take one step back and discover its humble beginnings. Stay tuned for the next […]
‘The Life of Pablo’ As Imagined By A Japanese Producer
Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo is supposed to be a deeply personal, impenetrable, and massive work-in-progress presented as a released album. I mean, at least that’s what I’ve heard. Myself, I haven’t heard it personally. Unless you’ve had access to Tidal and/or money to burn at the iTunes store, most likely the only way you’ve had a chance […]
Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer Dead at 71
It’s with heavy hearts that we’re looking back on the career of Keith Emerson from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, following his passing from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on March 10. Arguably, one of the first visionary keyboardists to make the move from traditional keyboards into the realm of synthesizers. Striking off with Greg Lake from previous groups […]
