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.
Interview: Yasuaki Shimizu of Mariah
No album has astounded listeners this year quite as much as Mariah’s Utakata no Hibi. From websites like Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, FACT Magazine, all the way down to the Quietus and the Vinyl Factory, not many albums released today could top such varied tastemakers’ “Best of 2015” lists, let alone with something originally released upwards of three […]
The ASMR Series — Massage ASMR
If, you’ve traveled our world wide web recently, you’ve probably run into videos like these. Videos where someone is either whispering in a very soft voice, brushing something, or tapping at some other thing. These videos are now known as a new type of content named for the physical feelings they produce: autonomous sensory meridian […]
Pierre Barouh – Le Pollen
Let me first start by apologizing. My apologies to Julia Holter, Kelela, and Deerhunter, for not extending the courtesy of detailing how vital their latest works are to this musical year. This same mea culpa of not extending my critique to them, I’d like to extend that as well to the latest works of Neon Indian […]
New Gear Report: ROLI Seaboard RISE 25 and AKAI MIDImix
ROLI Seaboard RISE 25 Keyboard Controller It’s not often that I get excited about a keyboard controller. All the things that people care about like action, key size, the amount of knobs or faders, etc. on a device do nothing to pique my interest. My mind has been made up, and at this moment I’d […]
Comus – First Utterance
Allow myself to repeat myself. It’s nearing Halloween and maybe, the second time will be better than the first? Let’s ruminate a bit on October. Isn’t there something strangely dark and alluring about this month? In nature, we look forward to trees changing colors while the heat from the summer subsides to cool our muggy air. We look forward […]
The Musical Almanac: Japan’s City-Pop
The Musical Almanac is an ongoing series highlighting musical styles or genres from around the world. Today, we focus on this unique style from Japan: City-Pop. Sometimes the barrier of language can be so high as to render history muted. Most people now have the luxury of being able to decipher what exactly J-Pop is […]
Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance – One for the Road
For me, there are certain albums that are tied to certain vistas and experiences. Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the America’s largest railway museum in Union, Illinois. Nostalgic for a time when you could travel the world at a pace more conducive to reflection, I set my sights. For half the journey, […]
Get the Tone: The Berlin School of Electronic Music
They say the enemy of good art is the absence of limitations. We’ve heard this in the past, with artists like Tangerine Dream and Manuel Göttsching, who by necessity, used workarounds to real life technological limitations as ways to create their own brand of music. How? By taking simple techniques and applying it to the musical tools they […]
Gasolin’ – Gør Det Noget
Now without further introduction: The Danish Beatles…erhm what? I mean, with a little introduction here’s: The Boogie Beatles. The Boogie Beatles you say? Yes, exactly. That’s I meant to say. Why would one say that if such an idea doesn’t quite register without a bit of an introduction. Ok, here’s one: In 1971, young singer-songwriter […]
