Oh dear, I knew that this would happen rather sooner than later… But I have to tell you about these: I recently purchased the fantastic MPD32 (http://www.akaipro.com/mpd32) “Performance Pad Controller”, which I am really happy with, even though I haven’t yet explored it very much.

But now, there is something brand new from Akai that seems highly recommendable already before anyone has seen those devices in real life: The LPD8 “Laptop Pad Controller” (http://www.akaipro.com/lpd8) and the LPK25 “Laptop Performance Keyboard” (http://www.akaipro.com/lpk25). Of course, this is only relevant for all those mobile musicians out there, but since I am only having very little space in my bedroom home studio, I would certainly also like to see them there. And both the keyboard and the pads look much more convincing than Korg’s recent approach to ultra-mobile musical controller devices (http://www.korgnano.com/).  What do you think?

I’m aware that anything sponsored by companies in this way may look suspicious, but on the other hand, I wouldn’t care personally, at least not in this case, because of my own experiences with the topic (I’m suffering from tinnitus since around 1989.) And I’d rather have hearing aid producing companies sponsoring such initiatives than increasing the number of hearing problems amongst the “iPod generation” causing a lot of additional expenses in the health care systems of our home countries. Which might become relevant even for the US in the foreseeable future…

So, please take a look at http://hear-the-world.com

So, this is still my favourite album of 2009. Troels Abrahamsen’s WHT. Listen to it and download it at Bandcamp, or buy the nicely designed vinyl and get a download voucher for free. This guy and his band Veto is definitely one of my very favourites in Danish not-so-much-underground-anymore-but-rather-mainstream electro rock. His solo work is hosted on his Myspace site or on his personal blog. It’s all slightly weird, and he definitely has that very, very distinct preferred groove in almost all of his songs. But his voice is really outstanding, and I just like the atmosphere he creates in all his work.