Canadian duo Data Romance have joined the throng of artists offering up seasonal treats. ‘Little Drummer Boy’ may have been immortalised by the power-duo David Bowie and Bing Crosby back in 1977 (we won’t talk about the Terry Wogan / Aled Jones version – er… LOL?) but Ajay Bhattacharyya and Amy Kirkpatrick have gone some distance to stamp their own identity over it; sensual vocals colliding with clattering beats and faint atmospherics – certainly stirs the senses. Recorded in one take using a single microphone and a “Monome” (a small laptop sized grid of LED buttons that are assigned to trigger samples) – the results can be downloaded (and indeed watched) below.

Data Romance released their single ‘Bones’ last month which, if you’re so inclined, can be downloaded for free alongside a host of remixes for the price of a tweet. More info via the bands website.

An interesting insight into the film “127 Hours” – set to be released on 7th January. If you are interested in music composing for film then watch the video below!

The Octatrack DPS-1 is an 8 track dynamic performance sampler. The Octatrack is ideal for radical audio processing and performance oriented sampling. Every track features real-time pitch scaling & time stretch and the next generation Elektron step sequencer has been designed with maximum usability and efficiency in mind.

Take a look if you want a listen to how cinema is changing as well as how sound is evolving with it.

The video is spoken by Stuart Bowling, who gives a good insight into the importance of sound during film and how it can change the way films are viewed as well as the power it can give. 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound is discussed, as well as its inclusion with 3D films.

A dark and weird film. I haven’t seen it but from this trailer, it definitely looks like I should be!