Various Artists - At Home With the Groovebox

The Groovebox combines three classic synthesizers from the 1980s (the 808 and 909 drum machines and the 303 bass machine) as well as a sampler of new and old sounds. Tannis Root developed the machine and has used Grand Royal's stable of artists (and then some) to compose a piece each, demonstrating the versatility of this retro instrument. The selection of artists is interesting, but not too surprising -- Buffalo Daughter, Beck, Cibo Matto, Sonic Youth, John Mcentire (from Tortoise) -- and all are dab hands at samplers and rhythm boxes to start with and the resulting songs don't depart too far from their usual work. Read More