Some more news from France this month, following our meeting of two of the country's finest at PLASA last week. Netik and Troubl were in town to demo and further test the new Mixvibes software which is starting to make some waves in the world of digital controllers (see Skratchworx's upcoming review and our upcoming PLASA one for more on that). In between rounds of freestyling, beatmaking and generally messing around we managed to sit down with these two and find out what they've been up to, full details of which are upcoming in an interview.
In the meantime however we can tell you of 3 upcoming projects involving these two guys, 2 break records and a new mix.

Coldcut, the legendary duo behind the Ninja Tune label and responsible for some absolute gems over the last 15 years, have a new album in the pipeline, 'Soundmirrors', which is scheduled to come out in January 2006. With classics like 'Say Kids', 'Beats and Pieces' and their Eric B. & Rakim remix, Coldcut are responsible for giving the bug to a whole generation of producers, DJs and tablists and so it's great news to learn that the old masters are coming back with their first new material in 8 years! Ahead of this exciting release Ninja Tune have put online the video to 'Mr. Nichols', a track from the forthcoming album which features none other than Saul Williams.

Following on from the first part of our Pro X Fader feature which showcased the various features of this new fader and the history and work behind it, we can now bring you a full q&a with the creators and developers of this product. With its imminent official release at PLASA in London next week, you can now find out in more detail who the people behind its inception and development are, how much work went into creating this new piece of kit, explanations of the various features behind it, details on the compatibility range and possible upgrades, the reason for its pricing and the next step for EB. The questions put forward were gathered by ourselves, Gizmo and Deft from Skratchworx and the public. They were answered by Siya (head of Eclectic Breaks), 2tall (one of the testers), Paul (Eclectic Breaks’ electronics engineer), John and Mike from Seltron and TKD, their Japanese partner. Hand in hand with this q&a you can check the world’s first review of the Pro X Fader over at Skratchworx.

Texas man Nick Nack dropped one of the nicest scratch tools last year, in the form of 'Soundscraftman', and before the much awaited follow up to it he's dropping 'Broken' a 12" scratch tool dedicated to the break. Out now on Extensive Research, 'Broken' is by Nick's own account 'a break record, but there is a bit more than meets the eye. The B Side of this record features four instrumental tracks that express the essence of what a “break” really is. It’s all about the drums and bass, that raw, undressed, virgin funk that is the basis of a great song. The record also features skipless scratches, vocal phrases and skipless drums.' We got our hands on a copy a few week's back and having had time to play with it a bit, we can now bring you a little review of it as well as the chance to get your hands on a copy.

It's been a busy year release wise for tablist material, with a lot of albums, EPs, compilations, scratch tools and break records coming out of the US and Europe. The latest addition to the growing list is Rob Swift's third solo album, 'Wargames'. We first found out about this release from Rob, when we spoke with him earlier on this year. The album is dropping this week, on the 6th of September backed up by a DVD (directed by John Carluccio, of Battle Sounds and Hop Fu fame), on Coup de Grace records. Featuring the likes of Large Pro, Breeze Evahflowin, Ricci Rucker, Toadstyle, Bob James, Melo-D, Quest and more, this is sure to be one of the major releases of the year which should please both the tablist fans of Rob's previous work as well as hip hop heads and fans of good music. With strong political and social themes running through the album, this is definitely one of the most interesting and unique releases in the world of tablism, and one which sadely stands fairly alone in the world of music today. This may not be the 80s and the era of Reaganomics but that doesn't mean that artists shouldn't make a stand for what they believe in, so it's good to see Rob take the lead with 'Wargames'. Be sure to check Rob's site for more info on where to get a hold of the album and check Turntable Radio's September show for extracts from the album. And also be sure to check the interview we did with Rob for more information on why and how he made the album and more.

Here's some news from Eastern Europe, courtesy of DJ Mentalcut. DDC TV is a short documentary about hip hop with guest appearances from First Rate, Killa Kela, Koobs, DJ Krime and DJ Eprom. The whole thing was shot, directed, edited and scored by Mentalcut and it offers a really nice insight into the Polish and Eastern European scenes as well as showing some top footage of the aforementioned artists. Notably First Rate using the faderboard, Kela doing his most recent routines and the Polish DJ Eprom pulling off some very nice cuts. You should definitely keep an eye on Eprom, as he is one of the most talented guys to come out of Poland right now.