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Hello everyone -

Friday rolls around again, and as we're all enjoying a day off (here in the UK anyway) perhaps this email is more relevant than ever. This week, we round up amazing music-making apps, incredible games to help you chill out and disconnect from work, and I also round up five things that have made lockdown that little bit easier (and more fun) here in my house.

In addition, Wrongtom has delivered his second exclusive article for you all, so do dive into that below. You might not even be a fan of Star Wars, but I can assure you that this piece will provide something for everyone - well, provided Jefferson Airplane and/or Koo Stark whet your whistle if anything George Lucas-related does not.

As ever, stay safe everyone and have a fantastic long weekend,

D.

Exclusive Article! 'Anti-Matter'

This week, Wrongtom steps up with another exclusive article for you all. On the week of May the 4th, Tom writes about Star Wars. As ever though, this is no mere reflection on the obvious. In fact, as something of a fan boy (well, to a degree) I can comfortably say that I didn't know any of the facts he mentions here. Black stormtroppers, Jefferson Airplane, Apocalypse Now all feature, as Tom asks us, "am I the dub Koo Stark?". Take a read!

With plenty more time to kills around the house, how about you scratch that music-making itch? Fear not: making music has never been more accessible, so here's five apps for iOS and Android that might just get you (back?) into production:

1) Endlesss (iOS only)
A relatively new app, Endlesss is great fun. In short, it allows you to jam together songs from a wide array of noises (synths, beats, basslines - the lot). As if that's not enough, you can create live jams where friends can join you in creating music together. Highly social and incredibly addictive, this is the one app that will get you feeling like a maestro in minutes. I liked it so much I wound up making a track from a jam I started on the train into work (last year when beta testing!), with only drums and FX added outside of the Endlesss app.

2) Caustic (iOS link - Android link)
If Endlesss is the pick up and play app that I turn to when bored or needing inspiration, Caustic is the app that got me started on making music again. Containing a few different instruments to create with (a sampling drum machine, a basic mono synth, a Moog-style modular synth and a sampling synth), this makes whipping up tracks dead easy. It is a great gateway into making music and costs next to nothing in the grand scheme either. Dive in.

3) Figure (iOS only)
From the ever-reliable Propellerheads development house, this is an app you can play with on your phone for a long time, all the while convincing yourself you're a techno genius. Simple but very effective in its design, its a great entry-level app to making music and having fun in the process.

4) Jamm Pro (iOS only)
From Ninja Tune, this app for iPad now allows you to upload samples of your own and create all manner of amazing jams. Not quite so entry level as the likes of Figure, but still great fun and with huge creative possibilities.

5) Splice
Some of the above apps allow you to upload samples of your own. But where to find samples? Well, one resource I still find astonishing is Splice. For £7.99/mo you can download up to 100 samples, with any credits rolling over. Need a dub siren for your track? No problem. Vocals for your techno masterpiece? There'll be one in here. As someone who remembers sample culture as endless digging through vinyl etc, this is manna from heaven.


And if you fancy a laugh at my expense, check out the EP I released that was made entirely using Caustic and Beatmaker 3 on my iPad, or the single I released with a friend of mine. Oh how times have changed eh? Still, good enough for Madlib and Damon Albarn, good enough for me, heheh.

Gaming has really evolved of late and ambient/chilled games have massively grown in popularity. It is an area I've come to love as a means to really disconnect from work and focus on something else to catch a break. So, here's 5 games worth checking out:

1) Gris (Nintendo Switch, Steam, iOS, Android)
This game is tough to describe, but I know one thing to be certain: it might be most beautiful game I've ever played. With an ambient soundtrack, you control a girl who has lost all the colour from her world, and as you progress through this platformer, you win back colours to turn the world back from grey (hence 'gris') to technicolour. Few games stop me in my tracks, but this one managed it. Incredible.

2) Abzu (Switch, Steam, PS4, Xbox One)
Abzu is a game in which you find yourself swimming around the most incredible underwater scenes. With no combat, little means to die and just an incredibly relaxing, chilled vibe that can't help but calm you down, this is a prime example of the 'ambient game' genre. Stunning, too. Take a look.

3) Monument Valley (iOS, Android)
Best described as a chilled puzzle game, Monument Valley sees you attempting to solve distinctly Escher-like puzzles, all the while soundtracked by the kind of relaxing score you might have heard on an early Warp comp back in the day. Terrific.

4) Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch only)
I almost didn't include this because if you haven't heard of this game by now, you must have been under a rock. Few games hit true zeitgeist levels, but thanks to quarantine, this is now one such example. The premise of the game essentially sees you landing on your own island and having to build your own dwelling, farm your own food etc. All very chilled and typically Nintendo cute, though some people are even adding Run The Jewels albums to their house artwork, heheh.

5) Firewatch (Xbox One, PS4, Steam, Nintendo Switch)
Another one to file under "stunning visuals", Firewatch is a mystery game set in the terrain of Wyoming. The whole aesthetic of the game is a pleasure to take in, and it is easy to forget the mission of the game itself in favour of just ambling around the woodland.