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.
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 […]
Korg Volca FM Now Out in the Wild
Korg is coming through for us today. In January, most of us were left hanging on for more info about the volca fm. Although the minilogue stole the show, the Korg volca fm truly came out of left field. When everyone and their keyboard-playing mama is jonesing for the next analog synth, here’s this Cracker-Jack-sized miniature digital synth, […]
Sir George Martin Dead at 90
Sir George Martin will always be remembered as the Fifth Beatle, but today we remember the great gift he provided to the world. Originally, he dreamt of being the next Rachmaninov or Ravel, ideas he gleaned from witnessing the power of a full blown symphony orchestra at a young age. His first real career would […]
303 State: A History of the Roland TB-303
The Roland TB-303 houses one of music’s most singular sounds. Scroll down a bit and hit play on Phuture’s “Acid Tracks.” What do you hear? That knocking beat of the TR-707 gives way to what sounds like a bass line contorting itself from within. Slippery, percolating, and squelchy, it’s the sound of an unique instrument being pushed to […]
Neon Bunny – 서울 하늘 Romance in Seoul
Though we’re already two months into 2016, I’d like to take some time out to note two releases that struck the most chords with me last year. Without a doubt I’ve been gobsmacked by my favorite single of 2015: Neon Bunny’s 서울 하늘 Romance in Seoul, and it’s the first release I’d like to talk about. How come? […]
Beat Connection: Footwork
Welcome to zZounds Beat Connection. Beat Connection is a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how. We do so by providing you a musical starting point to get you going in that direction. Today we focus on a style unique to our fair city of Chicago: Footwork.
Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire Dead at 74
Maurice White’s battle with Parkinson’s may have ended on Feb. 4th, but something vastly important will live on in the legacy of his music. Turn on the radio, maybe to that side of the dial you tend to neglect, or listen to more voraciously than others, and before today you’d be bound to hear something […]
Arturia MatrixBrute: An Avant-garde Analog Synth
The MatrixBrute’s product description opens up with plenty of questions: When was the last time you felt your heart beating faster? When was the last time you heard sounds you had never heard before? When was the last time you met an instrument that truly inspired pleasure and creativity? The only question I have is how. How […]
David Bowie at 69
David Bowie will rise again. Much like the biblical Lazarus, I believe it won’t be from his own doing. Something we’ve learned from our modern world is how vast and varied the places and people are that have been touched by his living record. As news of his passing goes around, we start to feel how […]
