Article
Lucy

Albums
Alphabets Heaven
AREA C
Aidan Baker
Black Devil Disco Club
Cluster
Dakota Suite & Errante
Davis & Machinefabriek
Deaf Center
Fancy Mike
FM3
Forest Swords
Frivolous
Hakobune
Kyo Ichinose
Juv
Deniz Kurtel
Sven Laux
Lucy
Stephan Mathieu
Joel Mull
Near The Parenthesis
Netherworld
nunu
Fabio Orsi
Penalune
Pleq
port-royal
Rainbow Arabia
Todd Reynolds
Roedelius
Rosenqvist and Scott
Steffi
Sublamp
SubtractiveLAD
Tapage

Compilations
Back and 4th
Future Disco Volume 4
SMM: Context
Tasogare: Live in Tokyo

EPs
Aardvarck & Kubus
Corrugated Tunnel
Debilos
Djamel
Tolga Fidan
Flowers and Sea Creatures
Anne Garner
Mike Jedlicka / Cloudburst
Mo 2 Meaux-2
Proximity One: Remixes
Darren Rice
Sepalcure
Sharma + Krause
Josh T
Talvihorros
Francesco Tristano
Widesky
Dez Williams

FM3: Buddha Machine III - Chan Fang
FM3

FM3's third iteration in its Buddha Machine series—the first appeared in 2005—doesn't tamper too radically with the formula of its predecessors, which is a perfectly understandable move, given how enthusiastically the first two were received (50,000 units—and counting—sold, plus praise from figures such as Brian Eno and Daft Punk). This time around, Beijing duo Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian packaged four extended-play loops (“Chun,” “Qiu,” “Xia,” and “Dong”) into the transluscent plastic box (available in five colours: red, blue, black, clear, and green) and composed the machine's soothing melodic figures using the Qin, a Chinese seven-string zither. Formally called The Buddha Machine III – Chang Fang (“Zen Room”), the device's simple, time-slowing loops are eminently capable of inducing a peaceful and contemplative state in the receptive listener. Options are kept to the bare minimum, the primary one being a pitch wheel that allows for customized tweaking. As would be confirmed by anyone who's been exposed to it, the Buddha Machine is the perfect little device to have quietly playing on your desktop while you're working and in desperate need of a psychic massage.

March 2011