Forwards Festival 2025 Saturday: a headline masterclass from Barry Can’t Swim, plus electric sets from Orbital, Annie Mac and Ezra CollectiveOf the two days at Bristol’s Forwards Festival last weekend, Saturday was certainly the bigger electronic music draw.
While Sunday’s lineup proved an enticing proposition – even after the somewhat last-minute and unexplained cancellation of TikTok sensation and festival headliner Doechii – for us EDM obsessives, the chance to see Barry Can’t Swim, Orbital and Annie Mac in the space of a few hours was a little more tantalising.
Situated in the far corner of the deceptively large Clifton Down on Bristol’s west side, Forwards – now in its fourth year – is billed as a music festival “for the future”, with multiple stages hosting an eclectic lineup of music talent, plus the Information Stage, dedicated to discussions and debates on current affairs and social and political issues.
To be honest, though, after we make it through the festival’s main entrance, we head straight for the music. Political issues can wait.
Credit: Giulia Spadafora
First on our hit list when we arrive mid-afternoon is Annie Mac, who is blessed with a two-hour set on the smaller, new-for-2025 Arches Stage.
Inconveniently, Aussie electro-pop heroes Confidence Man are playing at the same time on the West Stage, so we split our time and catch half an hour of their very fun set before heading into the packed out Arches Stage for a masterclass from veteran DJ Annie Mac. Her multi-decade career is evident in her ability to command a crowd of hundreds of drum and bass fanatics, who rock the Arches Stage for the duration of her set.
Credit: Khali Photography
And after a nice change of pace from British jazz quintet Ezra Collective, with live instruments keeping the day’s groove with a smorgasbord of genre flavours including afrobeat, soul and hip-hop, it’s time to head back to the East Stage for another dose of EDM, this time from legendary Kent-based dance duo, Orbital.
For the synth nuts present, Orbital are arguably the spectacle of the day. Phil and Paul Hartnoll are unmistakable as they don their signature head torches, backed by an entrancing light show and surrounded by banks of hardware synths which, of course, they programme in real time.
That the Hartnoll brothers are veterans of the rave scene is subject to no debate, as they blaze through a dynamic set with both old and new tracks like, getting things going with the thumping, mid-tempo Dirty Rat, before treating the crowd to the trancey grooves of Lush and certified crowd pleasers Satan, Halcyon and Chime.
Credit: Eljay Briss
The highlight of the day, though, expectedly, is Barry Can’t Swim. When the Scottish DJ and producer – real name Joshua Spence Mainnie – takes to the West Stage for his headline slot, he’s had approximately one day of festival headlining experience, after also taking the top slot at London’s All Points East just the day before.
But Mainnie has clearly been a festival headliner-in-waiting for some time. His characteristic brand of groovy, melodic and often jazz-infused house music has the crowd moving throughout, while a hypnotising light show and the inclusion of live instruments makes for a set that perfectly encapsulates the eclectic array of artists who performed earlier in the day.
The highlight of his set has to be newer track About to Begin, which, when its thumping kick and groovy bass line fill the Clifton Down airwaves, takes the atmosphere up several gears and once again solidifies Barry Can’t Swim as the dance festival circuit’s latest headline favourite. Literally my only criticism of his set is that it wasn’t longer, and at one and a half hours anyway, that’s saying a lot.
Barry Can’t Swim is on an exponential upwards curve at the moment, and his Forwards headline set proves it’s well deserved. If you ever get the opportunity to go to one of his shows, we strongly recommend you take it.
Should I go to Forwards next year?
Credit: Eljay Briss
If you’re a Bristol native and festival lover, Forwards should be a no-brainer. As it wraps up its fourth year, we can only imagine the calibre of artists that might appear next year. Its lineup is hugely varied, and this is reflected in the diverse array of music lovers who turn out. It’s also a logistical triumph, with the site very well and ergonomically mapped out, meaning it feels perfectly busy – not too sparse, not too packed out.
Even if you’re not from Bristol, making the trip to attend Forwards in 2026 would certainly be worthwhile. Of course, it’s still very early days and no artists have been booked yet, but given the festival’s current trajectory, we’d assume next year’s lineup will be just as good, if not better. And if you do decide to go, we’ll almost certainly be seeing you there.
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From Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters record to BMG’s H1 results… it’s MBW’s weekly round-upThe biggest headlines from the past few days – all in one place
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SSL introduce the Revival 4000 channel strip The latest addition to SSL’s range of outboard gear sees the company revisit their classic 4000B/E console designs and package their preamp, dynamics and EQ sections into a sleek 1U rackmount chassis.

Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Drum Machine Lite FREE via Beatport’s Global Remix Challenge
Beatport has launched the Global Remix Challenge, and everyone who enters gets a free copy of Excite Audio Bloom Drum Machine Lite. Bloom Drum Machine Lite is a compact drum plugin that blends vintage drum machine sounds with modern sequencing features. Despite being a lite version, it typically costs around $35, so getting it for [...]
View post: Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Drum Machine Lite FREE via Beatport’s Global Remix Challenge

Fuse Audio Labs Flywheel tape sim is only $18 until August 31st
Fuse Audio Labs has discounted Flywheel, its excellent reel-to-reel tape emulation plugin, to just $18.24 until August 31st (regular price $71.74) at Plugin Boutique. In my opinion, Fuse Audio Labs plugins are criminally underrated. They consistently offer high-end plugins (especially if you’re into different flavors of retro saturation) at very fair prices, especially during sales [...]
View post: Fuse Audio Labs Flywheel tape sim is only $18 until August 31st

IK Multimedia launch new Tonex Modeler IK Multimedia's new Tonex Modeler applicaton that introduces a variety of user-requested features and promises to deliver more accurate and expressive Tone Models. 

Trump administration’s deal is structured to prevent Intel from selling foundry unitThe deal allows the U.S. to take more equity in Intel if the company doesn't retain at least 51% ownership in its foundry business.

Billie Eilish’s Best Tracks Turned Into LullabiesAnnounced on Thursday, "Rockabye Baby's newest release, Lullaby Renditions of Billie Eilish, is out now on all streaming platforms! The album reimagines 13 of Billie's biggest songs as gentle instrumental lullabies, using glockenspiels, xylophones, mellotrons, and more, designed to charm fans of all ages (not just little ones).""Watch/listen to the adorable lullaby animation of "bad guy" HERE.

The post Billie Eilish’s Best Tracks Turned Into Lullabies first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Former Coinbase, Jump, Citadel quants land $20M for onchain HFT platformWeb3 startup aPriori has raised a total of $30 million to expand its onchain trading platform as institutional DeFi demand grows.

NatLife Sounds Trance Essenziale Vol.1 for Arturia JUP-8000 VTrance Essenziale is a soundbank of 54 Arturia JUP-8000 V Trance presets, inspired by the classic sound of the late '90s and early 2000s. This pack gives producers authentic tones that shaped the golden era of trance music. Italian sound designer Gianfranco Carone created the original presets, and NatLife refined them for improved balance and usability. Together they built a practical Arturia JUP-8000 V soundbank that delivers leads, plucks, basses, pads, and atmospheres. Each preset captures the timeless energy of early trance, making this bank a solid choice for producers looking for reliable sounds with a classic vibe. Content: 54 Arturia JUP-8000 V trance presets Designed by Gianfranco Carone (Italy) and refined by NatLife. Inspired by trance styles of the late '90s–2000s. A practical soundbank that expands the classic Arturia JUP-8000 V palette. https://youtu.be/1CqN4a49U7A Read More

These Loewe headphones cost over $135,000. Why? Take a guessThe era of high-fashion headphones is among us, thanks to a new collaboration between hi-fi audio brand Loewe Technology and coveted jewellery company, Jacob & Co. The two available models, Noir Rainbow and Ice Diamond, will set you back €99,000 and €119,000, respectively. But is that price just for the diamonds, or will you actually get world-class audio quality with it?
With the handcrafted headphones, the two brands promise “high-resolution audio”, which one would expect for the price. More specifically, both the Noir Rainbow and Ice Diamond models feature an amplifier from Texas Instruments and a “high-performance” 50mm driver in each earcup, with a minimum frequency response of 20hz. They are compatible with spatial audio and are “optimised for Dolby Atmos.” You can use the companion app to customise the EQ of the sound, although it’s currently unclear how capable the app is. Mimi Sound is also supported for audio personalisation.
Meanwhile, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) is available for both models, along with multiple settings for intensity and transparency, with an Intelligent ANC ambience control.

As for connectivity, the Loewe x Jacob & Co headphones are equipped with Bluetooth 5.3 and sport an analogue audio input, plus a built-in microphone. Its Bluetooth connectivity supports AAC, LC3, LC3+ and SBC audio codecs — notably, there is no support for lossless codecs such as aptX Lossless.
Both models boast a 65-hour battery life.
Now for the expensive stuff.
The Noir Rainbow model, which is the €99,000 pair, is handcrafted with a 14-karat rose gold ring, with 15.97 carats of “vibrant gemstones”.
Meanwhile, the Ice Diamond headphones are handcrafted with a 14-karat white gold ring (weighing 42.5g), with 12.47 carats of “dazzling diamonds, including 456 brilliant-cut stones.”
“This is sound, reimagined as jewellery,” says Loewe. “Each headphone is a sculptural work of art the world has never seen before. A rare expression of beauty, precision and mastery. Shaped entirely by hand, every detail reflects the highest level of craftsmanship, from the radiant setting of each stone to the flawless finish. Singular in creation, timeless in spirit. A true collector´s treasure”

And, of course, what luxury headphone would be complete without a bespoke AI assistant? ‘Leo’ is on board both pairs — a “discreet voice assistant” for “real-time translation.”
Tempted? You’ll need to be super rich and super quick. The headphones are a limited edition series, with only 10 models being produced.
The luxury headphones will launch on the Loewe Yacht (where else?), which is a D55 Sportiva — “a masterpiece designed by Studio Dini”, according to a press release. “Entirely built in aluminium, both hull and superstructure, recalling the same materials belonging to Loewe, the yacht combines sophisticated design elements together with elegance in equal measure. Flying the Maltese flag, the Loewe Yacht (D55 Sportiva) embodies contemporary design and refined Italian craftsmanship.”
Finally, the two brands sign off on the press release, assuring that we can expect more products to come: “This collaboration marks not only a milestone in luxury audio art, but the start of a new chapter inLoewe’s journey, blending design, fashion, and technology. More extraordinary creations will follow in September 2025.”
Learn more at loewe.tv
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Y2K on Doja Cat, Grammys, Elliott Smith, and why making music with TikTok virality in mind is ‘setting yourself up to fail’Ari Starace is the latest interviewee in our World's Greatest Producers series
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Animatronic Eyes Are Watching YouIf you haven’t been following [Will Cogley]’s animatronic adventures on YouTube, you’re missing out. He’s got a good thing going, and the latest step is an adorable robot that tracks you with its own eyes.
Yes, the cameras are embedded inside the animatronic eyes.That was a lot easier than expected; rather than the redesign he was afraid of [Will] was able to route the camera cable through his existing animatronic mechanism, and only needed to hollow out the eyeball. The tiny camera’s aperture sits nigh-undetectable within the pupil.
On the software side, face tracking is provided by MediaPipe. It’s currently running on a laptop, but the plan is to embed a Raspberry Pi inside the robot at a later date. MediaPipe tracks any visible face and calculates the X and Y offset to direct the servos. With a dead zone at the center of the image and a little smoothing, the eye motion becomes uncannily natural. [Will] doesn’t say how he’s got it set up to handle more than one face; likely it will just stick with the first object identified.
Eyes aren’t much by themselves, so [Will] goes further by creating a little robot. The adorable head sits on a 3D-printed tapered roller bearing atop a very simple body. Another printed mechanism allows for pivot, and both axes are servo-controlled, bringing the total number of motors up to six. Tracking prefers eye motion, and the head pivots to follow to try and create a naturalistic motion. Judge for yourself how well it works in the video below. (Jump to 7:15 for the finished product.)
We’ve featured [Will]’s animatronic anatomy adventures before– everything from beating hearts, and full-motion bionic hands, to an earlier, camera-less iteration of the eyes in this project.
Don’t forget if you ever find yourself wading into the Uncanny Valley that you can tip us off to make sure everyone can share in the discomfort.

Free LA2A plug-in from Universal Audio Universal Audio have just announced that they will be celebrating Labor Day weekend with a flash sale. From 28...

I got lost in Moog Messenger’s massive Res Bass sounds£725 / $815, moogmusic.com
Haven’t you heard? It’s all about the bass. Or, more specifically, it’s all about Res Bass. Sure, Moog Messenger is a two-oscillator monophonic synth with wavefolding capabilities, FM, and plenty of modulation options. Yes, it’s got a robust arpeggiator, a 64-step sequencer with parameter recording, loopable ADRS’s, and the ability to store patch presets. All good stuff to be sure – but it was the new bass compensation feature, which allows you to dial up the filter resonance without losing low-end, that garnered the most attention upon the instrument’s release.
Well, I’m here to tell you that everyone is wrong – Messenger is not, in fact, all about Res Bass. It’s about so much more.

READ MORE: “We’re doubling down on what we stand for”: How Moog delivered the Messenger

Let’s start with my favourite surprise, the feedback circuit. This is one of the most musically satisfying implementations of feedback I’ve heard in a synth, and part of that is down to where it sits in the signal path. It’s pre-filter, taking its source directly from the mixer output, and this means that you can really push the sound in wild and weird directions before reigning it back in with a low-pass.
Then there’s the sub-oscillator. Erik Norlander, Moog’s Director of Keyboard Development, told me he challenged company veteran and VP of engineering, Steve Dunnington, to add a little “secret Moog sauce” to push Messenger’s capabilities beyond what the Subsequent 37 or Sub-Fatty could achieve. The result is a sub-oscillator with the nifty ability to change waveshape – from triangle wave to square wave with pulse width modulation – independent of its parent signal.
In practice, it’s an understated but surprisingly powerful addition that fills out the sound in a supremely satisfying way. And once you factor in the inclusion of continuous waveshaping and Buchla-style wavefolding on the two main oscillators, FM modulation, and the ability to sync both oscillators for additional tone control, Messenger’s sound design chops look very strong indeed. Using just oscillators and feedback, I found myself getting well and truly lost in the sound of this instrument before ever getting to Messenger’s mighty filter section.

Ok, let’s talk about Res Bass. Using what the company describes as a “unique pole-mixing design”, Messenger claims the ability to retain as much low-end as you could want, even as ear-splitting amounts of filter resonance is dialled in. I can happily report that the feature managed to exceed my high expectations.
If anything, the company has undersold the feature, because it doesn’t just add extra oomph, it can give your sound an entirely new character across the entire frequency spectrum. Bass tones bite, leads feel punchier, and filter sweeps growl with a weight and presence that I’m not sure I’ve heard before.
The new filter innovations don’t stop there. We also get a 2-pole 12dB slope in addition to the traditional 4-pole 24dB slope, and band-pass and high-pass modes. Taken together, these features add a lot of modern functionality without compromising the classic 904A filter sound – I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all of them become a standard part of Moog’s filter design moving forward.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
Messenger manages to seem bigger than it actually is. It feels solid and sturdy at 4.9kg, but with dimensions of 58 x 32 cm, this is still a fairly compact instrument. Yet nothing feels cramped; there are full-sized semi-weighted keys with aftertouch, room for pitch and modulation wheels, and extensive I/O options which include MIDI over USB-C and DIN, CV/Gate ins and outs, and external audio input to the filter.
Borrowing from its big brother synth, Muse, Messenger also boasts a powerful arpeggiator and sequencer combo. The line between these two melodic tools is actually quite blurry because the arpeggiator can act as a pseudo-sequencer with a 16-note pattern and the ability to turn individual steps off. Meanwhile, the sequencer brings more powerful options to the fore with per-step parameter recording, note probability, and note pool; a great new feature that lets you play a set of possible notes for each sequence step to draw from.
One thing you won’t see on Messenger is a digital display. Perhaps it’s just my own screen fatigue, but it felt genuinely refreshing to navigate this instrument using only physical buttons and dials. Thanks to a skilfully executed ‘one-knob-per-function’ layout and a classic left-to-right signal path, this instrument has a learning curve suitable for beginners and pros alike. After using it for less than an hour, both in-depth sound sculpting and mid-performance tweaks began to feel largely intuitive.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
That said, there are some drawbacks to a screen-less design, and these are apparent when using the arpeggiator or navigating the config menu to find deeper settings. Basic functions are a breeze, and even more complex parameters are all deftly handled with just a few button-plus-dial combos. But if you want to switch the arpeggiation to a specific pattern or fine-tune the pitch bend range, then consulting the manual is likely the only way to find what you’re looking for.
For a time, Moog’s instruments started to feel like bespoke luxury items – priced at levels that average musos would seldom consider. Messenger’s £725 ($815) entry fee is clearly a pivot moment, placing it firmly in ‘premium workhorse’ territory.
But the monophonic synth market has plenty of sharp-elbowed competition, and while Messenger lowers the ‘Moog-markup’, it certainly hasn’t eliminated it. For a few hundred less, you could net yourself a Novation Bass Station II or an Arturia MiniBrute 2. And, if you’re open to digital options like the Korg Wavestate MkII, or hybrids like Behringer’s Deep Mind 12, then the competition is arguably steeper still.
That said, I doubt anyone could regret investing in Messenger. It’s chock full of thoughtful design choices, future-ready features, and all backed up by genuinely fantastic sound. If you’re a first-timer looking for an approachable entry point to the world of synthesis, a professional looking to bring premium tones to the stage or studio, or if you’re just longing to own a piece of the world’s most famous synth brand, there’s never been a better moment to step into Moog’s world.

Key features

Two oscillators, sub oscillator, and noise generator
Classic ladder filter enhanced with multimode functionality and Res Bass
Two LFOs with options for frequency and audio rate modulation
32 full-sized semi-weighted keys with channel aftertouch
256 included presets
Pre-filter feedback circuit
External audio input to filter
6 CV ins/outs, MIDI over USB-C and DIN, sustain and expression pedal inputs
64 Step sequencer with note probability and parameter recording

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