- Wow! I just got back from seeing Royksopp up in San Francisco at Bimbo’s 365 Club (which was way over-crowded) and they were pretty amazing for doing a majority of their songs live. Of course, a good portion of it was just sequenced but the male vocals were all performed as well as (on what I think was a Roland V-Drums series kit) a bunch of percussion. Also, the duo synthed it out with some classic Korgs and such. All of the new album they played sounded fantastic, but truly the best part was the first mix of “Eple” that just sounded amazing. The live version of “So Easy” also was much more rockin’ and the “Blue on Blue” sample on those speakers was just so much more heavy and enjoyable.

The one thing that confuses me about the new album, which I adore, is the lack of sampled material. In Melody AM I believe every track is set up around a source sample and built up. As far as I can tell, they have totally ditched the sample scene for synths. Now, if you have been listening to my new material, I cannot criticize, but still, they have definitely changed their sound. Is it for the best? Maybe, maybe not. On a side note, where is the Ernest Saint Laurent remix of one of their new tracks?! The godly transformation of “Remind Me” into an arpeggiated dance dream with the most magical saw bass from the first album sits atop my list of best remixes ever. I think I shall go purchase the album!

In other news, I’d like to introduce anyone who hasn’t used it, to a VSTi I just can’t get enough of, OHM Force’s Minimonsta:Melohman! I does just about everything Moog Modular does but doesn’t kill your CPU when you attempt to load five instances. All in all, it’s a great Moog emulator with tons of presets that can be tweaked out with the greatest of ease. I’m currently using it on the Hyperbubble remix I plan to finish up sometime soon. The price is also very tempting. Go check out their demo now!