Matthew Ashcroft

At the pub and I am utterly baffled to be hearing ‘Ocean Man’ by Ween blaring over the speakers

t.co/tPRz9HwPMX

SWEET WOBBLY JESUS

A black beanie with Autechre written on it, accompanied by a grey beanie with a small label bearing the logo of Skam Records

Back home after a cracking three days in Leeds, with more vinyl than sense, slightly melted ears and a new addition to my weirdly specific collection of ‘beanies I bought at Autechre gigs’

Just walked down the Liverpool-Leeds Canal to pass the time till my train. Felt like a bit of a plonker when I ended up at Project House again. Time for the trek back!

The cover of ‘Flying Beagle’ by Miko Kikuchi, featuring a very happy beagle side-eyeing the camera.

Just seen the best record cover of all time in person at Crash Records.

Psychic Resynthesis, by Mark Fell 10 track album

On a related note, I’m only now learning that Mark has a pair of new records out, including one on the very same @frozenreeds.com I bought a SDEM CD from last night. Happy days! (And man I’m out the loop)

frozenreeds.bandcamp.com/album/psychi...

Further highlights included being quizzed on my Manchester gig shirt every 20 minutes, people being amazed I’d come up from St Helens, and being behind Rob in the bar queue before the gig

(And speaking briefly to Mark Fell, which I am still struggling to believe happened)

Autechre was immense. As you’d probably expect. SDEM and Mark Broom in glorious form and all

I met a musical hero of mine before heading in, and I am genuinely impressed I wasn’t a gibbering bag of nerves throughout

A black beanie hat with ‘Autechre’ written on it

IT IS AUTECHRE O CLOCK

Off to go get my brain rearranged by Autechre once more!

I have found a Force Tracks 12” whilst record hunting in Leeds. This entire trek was worth it

A big sign saying ‘Welcome to Leeds’

I’m in the place at the time at the time at the place. And I need some food.

I’m off to Leeds this morning. I fear how much I am about to spend on vinyl

Psycho Killer (The Cube Guys Remix Extended Mix) by Talking Heads on Apple Music Song · 2025 · Duration 5:56

The Cube Guys remixing Talking Heads wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025, but it exists I guess!

music.apple.com/gb/album/psy...

I’ll have it when it hits outlet prices in a year or so

The Transformers Retro line deluxe Seaspray figure, on its cardback, which recreates the red grid pattern of the original Transformers packaging. The figure has a yellow head and legs, blue arms and feet, and a white body with black highlights across the figure.

The Transformers Retro line deluxe Seaspray figure, next to the much smaller Titans Return legends class figure from a while ago. Both figures have a yellow head and legs, blue arms and feet, and a white body with black highlights across the figure.

The new Seaspray figure from the Retro line arrived - first impressions are that I’m a big fan, but gobsmacked at how much taller he is, even if that’s the way mini-vehicles have gone in recent years. Time to give the transformation a go!

Never a dull moment in Scottish football is there

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Black and white image of Soft Cell's Dave Ball.

'#SoftCell bandmate, Marc Almond, said: "Thank you Dave for being an immense part of my life and for the music you gave me. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.”'

R.I.P. Dave Ball

buff.ly/M52snfB

Trade and Play is a cracking shop, so I’m not chuffed to see grifting morons badmouthing them.

I had the greatest chicken sandwich of my life in here the other week

A CGI picture of a clenched fist raised aloft, from the ending video of Quake II for PC.

Beat Quake II! Had a cracking time with it, even if the final level was a bit forgettable. Lots of fun finding the secrets in this one, although I think the original is a bit more memorable level-wise.

I should buy one of these to have another crack at the G1 colours I painted my OG into. Then again, I’d probably ‘crack’ the plastic after 20 seconds

Last night I dreamt I’d ordered the LG-EX Big Powered boxset, and woke up in a cold sweat this morning thinking I’d actually ordered the thing irl. Curse you, Transformers in my subconscious!

(In general the tweakability of samples is fairly exceptional - there’s some strange omissions (no attack!?) but I’ve never found it too much of a problem in practice. Heck, I made an entire drum kit out of Pingu going ‘noot noot’ on the thing!

I haven’t used the Digitakt but from what I can tell it’s not *as* menu divey. Still a bit of stuff hidden away, but it’s always felt quite immediate and live-recording friendly to me. Per step parameter locks are a doddle and all 👍

The TR samples on my unit were recorded from Rebirth for iPad - with it being sample based, parameters like decay might not sound as true to the OG, but they’re very useable and you can do retrigs and fills too

Adventures in Procrastination, by Syndication 8 track album

Shameless self promotion, but it’s used on every track here - mainly to do the percussion, but also bits and bobs like the Miku in ‘Presto’ and the plucky synth in ‘Apollo’

syndication.bandcamp.com/album/advent...

I cannot overstate how important the Model:Samples is to my music these days (when I remember to make any!) bit of a learning curve, but deceptively complex and fun to use