Daft Punk’s Guy-Man credited as producer on Travis Scott’s UtopiaRapper Travis Scott has finally released his long-awaited album, Utopia, and to the surprise of Daft Punk fans, one song on it was produced by Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo, AKA Guy-Man of the iconic French dance duo.

READ MORE: Beatport.io launch digital collectable series about Berlin’s techno scene

The album is filled to the brim with producer collabs from James Blake to Beyonce, SZA and even the controversial Kanye West.
However, the third track on the album, MODERN JAM, is where Guy-Man’s production skills really come to light. You can even hear Scott refer to Guy-Man at one point with the lyrics “Hey, Guy-Man, brought him home from France”.

Unsurprisingly, it is certainly one of the more electronic-sounding tracks on the album and has Scott rapping over the top of a looped beat that develops throughout the song.
Fans in the comments have praised Scott and Guy-Man’s production skills on the track, with many even claiming how old-school it sounds.
“I’m feeling this 90s type beat. I need a music video on this that has a 90s theme. Travis killed it,” writes one listener.
“This is going to go nuts in the club. Brought an old-school vibe. 80s type shit,” wrote another.
In more Utopia-related news, Travis Scott’s Utopia launch concert and livestream from Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza has officially been cancelled due to safety concerns. The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate announced that there were also issues with the “peculiar rituals performed by the star during his performance, contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions.”
The concert was set to take place tonight (28 July), and all ticket holders are being issued refunds via Live Nation Middle East.
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The second single, Loading, from James Blake’s next album is hereJames Blake has released the second single from his forthcoming album – a track entitled Loading.

READ MORE: Romy’s moody new dance anthem The Sea is produced by Fred again..

This new song is set to be part of Blake’s seventh full-length body of work, Playing Robots Into Heaven, which is due to be released on Polydor in September.
Listen to Loading below:

The track sees the Limit To Your Love producer and singer dip into a 909-flecked 4×4 techno beat and back out into softer moments typical of Blake’s style. Although they haven’t been credited, the track features Blake’s vocals in various pitches, alongside other undisclosed vocalists.
This track follows the first single from the album, Big Hammer, which was revealed in June. While the second single is more in-keeping with mellow sounds associated with Blake today, Big Hammer reverts to his post-dubstep style, with a boisterous leftfield trap-cum-trip-hop beat, a bleeping synth and rap samples.
The music video for Big Hammer, which you can see below, shows a Clockwork Orange-esque mob crashing into various buildings, terrorising the public.

The tracklist for the forthcoming album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, which will come out on 8 September, is below:
1. Asking to Break
2. Loading
3. Tell Me
4. Fall Back
5. He’s Been Wonderful
6. Big Hammer
7. I Want You to Know
8. Night Sky
9. Fire the Editor
10. If You Can Hear Me
11. Playing Robots into Heaven
In May of 2022, Blake created an album specifically for users of Endel, an app that uses AI to create reactive soundscapes for sleeping and studying. The album is called Wind Down and is an ambient group of tracks designed to allow listeners to sleep healthily.
On the Wind Down album, Blake said: “The Wind Down soundscape I created with Endel lets me explore the more ambient side of my music and create a project to support people in a new way.
“It’s mesmerising to hear how my music blends with the science-based sounds of Endel’s AI and I think we’ve invented something not just beautiful or even meaningful, but truly practical.”
Pre-order James Blake’s next album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, via jamesblakemusic.com.
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Bandsintown launches free Release pagesBandsintown, already the go-to platform for live show marketing, has added free Release pages to help artists announce new music, merch drops, contests. tours, presales, and more. Artists keep the. Continue reading
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From Universal’s $2.93bn in Q2 to Spotify’s price hikes in over 50 markets… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThis week's biggest stories...
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Belles Ondes EQ1979 EQ1979 is a stereo VST analog console strip emulation inspired by a famous British console module with red gain knob. It features: An input saturation stage, which emulates... Read More

Beatport.io launch digital collectable series about Berlin’s techno sceneBerlin is known for a lot of things, from the architecture to the food, but one thing stands out, and that is its bustling techno scene.
Beatport has launched a digital collectable series in collaboration on new NFT marketplace Beatport.io with Berghain bouncer and photographer Mischa Fanghaenel, portraying the city’s techno community.

READ MORE: Damon Albarn praises “super musical and smart” producer James Ford 

The leading online music store for DJs has launched into the NFT space to celebrate the music and art that comes from this scene, named NACHTS – which translates to “at night” in English.
According to Beatport, the collection was also developed in collaboration with some of the scene’s biggest artists, such as Ellen Allien, Âme, Ben Klock, Dixon, DVS1 and many more.
“The NACHTS project started during the first lockdown as an idea,” explains Fanghaenel who has been a bouncer at the infamous Berlin club for ten years. “If this is it, if no club in Berlin will ever open again, how are we going to preserve what we had? How are we going to memorialize this culture?
“In the event that everything was gone, how could I document the range of characters that came together in the scene? Looking at the different people that shape this culture, I understand why it’s so important to have places in which everyone can simply come together and be themselves. That’s why I want to share how beautiful life can be.”
In August the first limited drop of the NACHTS series will be released – a collaboration with DJ and producer, Len Faki, including a bonus track from his latest album ‘Fusion’ that was produced exclusively for the edition.
Mischa Fanghaenel’s accompanying portrait exhibition NACHTS will open as part of the upcoming Berlin Art Week on 14 September where collectors will be able to use the NFT as a ticket to access.
For more information, you can head to Beatport.io.
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Do you need a digital music royalty broker to get paid?Some companies unnecessarily charge artists for something that SoundExchange offers for free. Keep reading to learn more. from SoundExchange NO! You do not need digital royalty brokers to get paid. Beware of independent. Continue reading
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Why songs are getting shorterThis week’s Hypebot Flashback Friday post digs into a trend that is showing no signs of abating. Bobby Oswinki shares why. Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Songs today are shorter. Continue reading
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SSL’s G-Series Bus Compressor gets a multiband upgrade, the G3 MultiBusCompSolid State Logic has launched a new plugin, the G3 MultiBusComp – a multiband extension to its popular G-Series Bus Compressor.

READ MORE: 10 of the best mastering compressor plugins and software processors

While the original compressor, a digital version of its renowned SSL G-Comp Stereo Bus Compressor 500 Series hardware module, offers just single-band compression, this new upgrade lets you be more detailed with your mix.

Thanks to its multiband nature, the G3 MultiBusComp offers enhanced flexibility compared to standard single-band compression, resulting in a more natural and transparent sound. It provides greater control over shaping and managing dynamics by independently processing different frequency bands – the lows, mids and highs.
With three independently configurable frequency bands, the G3 MultiBusComp delivers SSL’s distinctive glue compression. The 4K Drive control, inspired by SSL’s SL 4000 Series, supposedly adds warmth and character, while the powerful sidechain routing allows customising high pass and low pass filter cutoffs for each band.
Usability has been improved too, with a resizable GUI that lets you take the plugin from 50 per cent of its original size to 200 per cent. You can also now test changes to your sounds using a new audition feature.
SSL has spent the year expanding its coveted plugin collection. In March, it added to its SSL Complete subscription with the SubGen sub-bass plugin. In June, it continued its appreciated run of hardware released with the UF1 single-fader DAW controller.
Solid State Logic’s G3 MultiBusComp is available for purchase at $199.99 / £159.99 / €199.99 on the SSL eStore or through SSL’s Rent-to-Own plan. For more details and free trials head to solidstatelogic.com.
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Tupac’s custom-designed crown ring sells for over $1 million – and it looks like Drake was the buyerA custom-designed ring once owned and worn by rapper Tupac has fetched over $1 million at an auction, and it looks like Drake may be the one who purchased it.
The ring sold last Tuesday (25 July), and its huge sale made it the most valuable hip-hop artefact ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.

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It was designed by the rapper himself, and worn during his last ever public appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). It sold for more than three times the auction house’s estimate at a hip-hop-themed sale in New York, and now possibly belongs to Drake.
The ring is inscribed with “Pac & Dada 1996,” a reference to his engagement to actress and model Kidada Jones, the daughter of record producer Quincy Jones. It has a diamond-encrusted gold band topped with a gold circlet, and is studded with a cabochon ruby and two pavé-cut diamonds, as reported by CNN.
In an Instagram story posted by Drake where he shouts out the new release from Travis Scott, Utopia, he appears to be holding that very same crown-shaped ring. Take a look below:
Image: @champagnepapi on Instagram
Tupac’s ring was sold among a collection which comprised of 119 items, from art to letters to flyers to the hardware used to create some of the biggest hip-hop anthems, and more.
This included one of the first-ever KAWS figurines, a pair of rare Nike Dunks, the SP-1200 sampler RZA used on Enter The Wu-Tang, and RZA’S original three-page handwritten liner notes for the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album sleeve.
Drake is currently touring, and you can get tickets at his official website.
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Sound Dust PLANKTON SONAR PLANKTON SONAR for Kontakt. PLANKTON SONAR is a friendly Kontakt device for building beautiful, organic system music and deep undersea pinging ripples. Like a warm... Read More

Damon Albarn praises “super musical and smart” producer James Ford Blur’s Damon Albarn has praised producer James Ford who worked on the band’s latest and ninth studio album, The Ballad Of Darren.
The producer also worked on The Car, the latest record from Arctic Monkeys, and Albarn believes his vocal register sounds pretty similar to their frontman Alex Turner on the new album.

READ MORE: Producer James Ford on working with Depeche Mode for Spirit: “A lot of it felt like marriage guidance counselling”

“I think he’s great, I sing a lot like him on the new album,” says Albarn in an interview with German publication Musikexpress (via NME).
“You know our producer James Ford?” he adds. “He also worked with the Arctic Monkeys, I mentioned that to him. But what could I have against that? I love Alex’s voice. I just prefer to sing in a lower register now.”

I had an incredible, surreal time making “Ballad of Darren” with some absolute heroes. Hope you enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/LPP6uo7UOs
— James Ellis Ford (@jamesellisford) July 21, 2023

Albarn also went on to discuss Ford’s impact on The Ballad Of Darren, and praised his work ethic: “James is just super musical and smart, he works very intuitively, he also likes a drink. We have the same sense of humour,” he says.
Earlier this year when speaking of working on The Car, Ford explained why he resist the urge to over tweak: “I try not to do that with other people’s records, not putting things in time and in tune too much because I think that human-ness and that wonkiness is what I love to hear in other people’s records and often gets ironed out in a modern production process,” he said.
“To not do that to yourself is harder – it’s easy to hear someone else’s mistakes and see the value in it, but it’s hard to see the value in your own mistakes a lot of the time.”
Check out The Ballad Of Darren below:

To view all of Blur’s upcoming live dates, check out their official website.
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Microphones stolen from KMR Audio London-based pro audio retailer KMR Audio are urging manufacturers and the pro audio community to be on the lookout after a large number of microphones were stolen from their store.

“I know neither of us wanted this”: Off The Grid Campout organiser accepts John Summit apologyDJ, producer and label owner John Summit has publicly apologised to organisers of Off The Grid Campout festival following a dispute over its name, and the name of his record label. He has now vowed to rebrand to resolve the issue.

READ MORE: “Most of the music released nowadays is empty of any soul and emotions”: Folamour on modern dance music

Summit, who founded Off The Grid Records, took to Twitter last week to write that the owners of Las Vegas-based dance music festival Off The Grid Campout had sent a cease and desist letter to Summit demanding what he called a “seven +” figure sum if he didn’t change the name of his label.
The festival’s founder, Mikey Cromie, later responded via a Facebook post, saying that there was never any lawsuit or demand for seven figures in the dispute over the name. Cromie also said that attempts had been made to contact Summit’s team for over a year with no response, leading to the cease and desist letter. Summit’s management contacted Cromie, suggesting coexistence, but this was declined.
Worryingly, according to Cromie, he also received “hateful” messages from John Summit’s community of fans.
In a new development, John Summit has apologised to the festival organiser, vowing to change the name of his record label. John Summit’s record label, Off The Grid Records, will now rebrand, which will surely resolve the issue.
The tweet by Summit, posted on Tuesday, reads: “about the label name, i acted out of emotion and truly apologise for all the drama i stirred up in taking it to social media… to all my fans, please stop sending negative messages to OTG campout. i was wrong in condoning that behaviour in any way.”

about the label name, i acted out of emotion and truly apologize for all the drama i stirred up in taking it to social media. i’ve been talking w the OTG campout team and apologized to them directly but i also wanted to do so publicly. they’ve agreed to stop pursuing legal action…
— John Summit (@johnsummit) July 25, 2023

not gonna lie this past weekend really put everything into perspective, spending time to realize what really matters in life and taking my ego out of things and looking at the bigger picture. i’m not a perfect person whatsoever but i’m trying to be a better person everyday
— John Summit (@johnsummit) July 25, 2023

Summit later posted a screenshot of a thankful message from Off The Grid Campout’s Instagram account, highlighting that the public apology had put a stop to the hateful messages, with some fans even making their own apologies. “I know neither of us wanted this”, the message reads.

so fkn happy to hear this from OTG campout and proud of u all for listening and treating them w the respect they deserve now we on to bigger & better things! pic.twitter.com/KaWeiejyFK
— John Summit (@johnsummit) July 26, 2023

Find out more about Off The Grid Campout.
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PSP audioware introduce BinAmp plug-in BinAmp aims to capture the sound of the Class-A triode preamp used in Binson's iconic Echorec 2 magnetic drum delay machine.