Live Review of Cockney Rejects Contact: sue@opaquemanagement.co.uk Web: cockneyrejects.com Players: Jeff “Stinky” Turner, vocals; Michael “Olga” Algar, guitar; JJ Kaos, bass; Ray Dust, drums There was a feeling of togetherness at the Regent Theater on a Friday evening in May, a genuine vibe of punk family. Let's face it—no casual punk fans are venturing out to see English Oi! pioneers the Cockney Rejects in 2025. No, the people at the Regent for this show were lifers. It was a mixed bag of young and old, male and female, various cultures. A Cockney Rejects crowd is anything but one-dimensional. But the one thing they have in common is a commitment to punk. There was a long list of openers and we got to the Regent in time to see the last two—Castillo and The Voids. Both were appropriately riotous, noisy, and had a few gems on the setlist. If the job was to warm up the crowd for the Rejects while earning a few new fans, then it was a case of job well done. But nobody was upstaging the Rejects. It had somehow passed us by that Toy Dolls man Olga is now playing guitar for the CRs— vocalist Stinky Turner is the one remaining OG, and he assembled a new Rejects lineup in 2024. But Stinky, Olga, bassist JJ Kaos (Last Resort, Anti-Nowhere League) and drummer Ray Dust (The Business, Argy Bargy) are a formidable presence. The setlist was perfect. Opening with "Flares 'n' Slippers," they blasted through "We Are the Firm," "Are You Ready to Ruck," and "Bad Man" with no small amount of joy. Stinky did his shadow boxing thing, the veteran football/soccer warrior that he is. And when he introduced bonafide classic "The Greatest Cockney Rip Off" as a singalong, the crowd didn't let him down. That crowd, incidentally, didn't give the band a moment's peace. There was barely a second where at least one future stagediver wasn't up there with them, throwing sweaty limbs around and yelling into the mics. Hey, that's punk! They ended with their version of West Ham F.C.'s anthem "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," and then their trademark "Oi! Oi! Oi!" Everyone then spilled out onto the Downtown Los Angeles street, drained and sweat-soaked, but very, very happy. The post Live Review of Cockney Rejects first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Spanish authorities arrest five people in $541M crypto fraud caseEuropol reported that the investigation was ongoing, but authorities had made five arrests connected to a scheme that defrauded more than 5,000 people.

Tesla sends driverless Model Y from factory to customer to promote its robotaxi techThe car traveled around 15 miles on highways, surface streets, and even a roundabout. But many questions remain about the stunt.

Blowtorching Electroplated 3D Prints For Good ReasonWhat if you electroplated a plastic 3D print, and then melted off the plastic to leave just the metal behind? [HEN3DRIK] has been experimenting with just such a process, with some impressive results.
For this work, [HEN3DRIK] prints objects in a special PVB “casting filament” which has some useful properties. It can be smoothed with isopropanol, and it’s also intended to be burnt off when used in casting processes. Once the prints come off the printer, [HEN3DRIK] runs a vapor polishing process to improve the surface finish, and then coats the print with copper paint to make the plastic conductive on the surface. From there, the parts are electroplated with copper to create a shiny metallic surface approximately 240 micrometers thick. The final step was to blowtorch out the casting filament to leave behind just a metal shell. The only problem is that all the fire tends to leave an ugly oxide layer on the copper parts, so there’s some finishing work to be done to get them looking shiny again.
We’ve featured [HEN3DRIK]’s work before, particularly involving his creation of electroplated 3D prints with mirror finishes. That might be a great place to start your research if you’re interested in this new work. Video after the break.

Summer sale at Plugin Boutique: Save up to 74% on Korg synths, Excite Audio’s full suite, and UJAM effect toolsPlugin Boutique’s summer sale is in full swing, and if you’re in the market for classic synth emulations, creative effects, or complete production bundles, there’s a lot to be excited about. From faithful Korg revivals to experimental multi-effects from Excite Audio and UJAM, prices are slashed across the board, with deals ending as soon as 15 July 2025.

READ MORE: The best free and paid-for plugins you need to know about this week

Among the hottest deals, several of Korg’s most beloved soft synths, including the M1, Wavestation, Polysix, and MS-20, are each going for just $49.99, 50% off their usual price.
These virtual instruments are revered for their iconic sounds, heard across everything from ‘90s house to modern synth pop. The M1, in particular, is a digital reissue of Korg’s game-changing 1988 workstation. The plugin features over 2,700 presets, replicating the original’s signature PCM waveforms and lush effects.
If you’re after a more comprehensive collection, Korg Collection 5 – which bundles 17 instruments spanning the company’s entire synth lineage – is now $199, down from $399. From the analogue grit of the MS-20 to the futuristic polish of the Triton and beyond, it’s a deep and flexible package that covers nearly every corner of electronic music’s history.
Speaking of the Triton, the Triton/Triton Extreme is also individually discounted at $149, a solid 40% off. Meanwhile, the Korg Gadget 3 for Mac (which scored an 8/10 in our review of it), the brand’s creative DAW-groovebox hybrid tool featuring over 40 virtual instruments, is half off at $149.
The Korg sale runs until 15 July, so if you’ve been eyeing any of these, now’s the time.
There’s more than just synths on offer too. UJAM’s range of effects and production tools is also getting the summer treatment, with discounts running until 3 August. One highlight is the Finisher RETRO multi-effect, now priced at $19 instead of $29. Designed to instantly evoke the reverb-heavy, analogue charm of classic records, the plugin offers everything from analogue flangers to tape hiss and beyond.
UJAM’s UFX Bundle, which includes UFX Delay, Reverb, and Filter, is also on sale for $29 (U.P. $49). And for those wanting the full suite of UJAM’s creative FX engines, the Finisher Bundle is also marked down to $69 from $99, bringing multiple sonic styles under one roof.
Finally, prices of Excite Audio’s Complete Collection have also been slashed from now till 31 July. Normally priced at $518, the full 18-plugin suite is currently priced at $259 or 50% off. The bundle includes tools like Lifeline Console, the acclaimed all-in-one channel strip praised for its mix-ready warmth, KSHMR Chain, a time-saving plugin for syncing FX chains across multiple tracks, and the award-winning Vision 4X, an advanced visual analyser built with feedback from electronic music veterans like NOISIA.
Head to Plugin Boutique to check out the full list of offers.
The post Summer sale at Plugin Boutique: Save up to 74% on Korg synths, Excite Audio’s full suite, and UJAM effect tools appeared first on MusicTech.

KIT Plugins release NOIZ One Vox NOIZ One Vox combines compression, de-essing, delay and reverb with some additional creative effects in an effort to provide users with an all-in-one vocal-processing solution. 

As AI deepfakes spread, Denmark plans to give individual citizens copyright ownership of their own face and voiceThe proposed law is believed to be the first of its kind in Europe, but US legislators are working on similar initiatives
Source

This “Artist Manager” on LinkedIn Doesn’t Have a ClueThis so-called industry insight on LinkedIn isn’t just wrong — it’s harmful to artists.

Apple Music adds a Musicians hub, Replay, Apple Radio specialsTo mark its 10th anniversary Apple Music adds a musicians hub and new features to mark its 10th anniversary. The creative campus and studio will open this summer in Los Angeles.
The post Apple Music adds a Musicians hub, Replay, Apple Radio specials appeared first on Hypebot.

Live Music News Roundup: NIVA, new Maine Ticket Law, ScalpersThis latest live music news roundup includes 2025's NIVA conference news, a tough new law in Maine, scalper financing and more.
The post Live Music News Roundup: NIVA, new Maine Ticket Law, Scalpers appeared first on Hypebot.

Qu-Bit announce the Bloom v2 The latest version of Qu-Bit's Bloom sequencer comes kitted out with a whole host of new features including per-step clock-sync’d ratchets, new random variation functions, additional channel outputs and more. 

SlapAsSound VoXoV vol.19Human vocal VST - VoXoV vol.19 has landed. And this time, CAT is at the controls. You'll find VoXoV vol.19 for free inside the VoXoV BNDL Chill. From our CAT to your speakers – enjoy, get inspired, and keep creating. Read More

Growing dissatisfaction among young people to drive BTC price: AnalystJordi Visser argued that growing dissatisfaction among those 25 and younger with the current financial system will increase BTC adoption.

OpenAI reportedly ‘recalibrating’ compensation in response to Meta hiresWith Meta successfully poaching a number of its senior researchers, an OpenAI executive reportedly reassured team members Saturday that company leadership has not “been standing idly by.”

Windows 95 on PlayStation 2 Works as Well as You ExpectedWhen you hear “PS2” and “Windows 95,” you probably think someone forgot a slash and are talking about peripherals, but no — this hack is very much about the Sony PlayStation 2, the best-selling game console of all time. [MeraByte] walks us through the possibly ridiculous task of installing Windows 95 on the last hardware anyone at Microsoft would ever endorse in a video you can watch below.
Obviously, the MIPS-based Emotion Engine at the heart of the PS2 is not going to be able to handle x86 instructions Win95 is expecting, but that’s all solved by the magic of emulation. [MeraByte] is running a version of Bochs, an x86 emulator that has been built for PS/2 after trying and failing to install Windows (both 3.1 and 95) to an experimental DOSBox build.
As expected, it is not a smooth journey for [MeraByte], but the flailing about and troubleshooting make for entertaining viewing. Once loaded, it works surprisingly well, in that anything works at all. Unfortunately, neither the mouse nor Ultimate Doom 95 worked. We suppose that ultimately means that this hack fails since even Doom can run Doom. The mouse thing is also important, probably.
If you have a PlayStation 2, maybe skip Windows 95 and try running GoLang.  If you do have DOOM running on the PlayStation 2, send us a tip. There was never an official release for PS2, but after 26 years, someone must have done it by now.