There's a new fad in British electronica, where instead of programming sampled sounds or synths, artists go digging for an obsolete piece of musical technology—like this German invention, basically a brass tube twisted around a couple of times and attached to a trio of metal cylinders with pistons on top. Then they'll get someone who knows how to blow into one end, adjusting frequencies via breath control and depressing pistons in specific combinations. They even use these old-fashioned synths that plug into amps instead of digital interfaces—synths that aren't even programmable. It's sort of like electroclash, but with much older technology. It's,... More >>>