August 2010
31 posts
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“[R]ather than raising the bar for entry into the higher echelons of consumption,...”
– Aram Sinnreich, Mashed Up: Music, Technology and Rise of Configurable Culture
Read an excerpt here.
[hat tip: Suzanne Lainson]
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Rest in peace, er, at 33 rpm →
Have your ashes pressed into vinyl records.
Guess records really are a dead medium.
[hat tip: Justin Snow]
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Listen: carefully? →
Jeph Jacques on listening to music casually versus concertedly:
Music affects us on three levels- conscious, subconscious, and emotional. You don’t necessarily have to be consciously concentrating on a song to appreciate it or learn from it or have it affect you. […] A good song should appeal no matter HOW casually you’re listening to it- the details are the icing on the cake, the stuff...
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WatchThe Peanuts gang dances to Joy Division.
Created by Deanna Zandt. Via Kevin Marks.
(and yes, I realize I’m on the verge of having to retitle this Tumblr fuckyeahjoydivision)
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“[N]either is the song the natural unit of music experience. We very rarely sit...”
– Russell M. Davies, “On Words”
Essay on the how digital creation and distribution is disrupting the natural ‘units’ of publishing, in music, magazines and more.
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“My guess is that most people find new pop the same way I do: you hear about...”
– Anthony Volodkin (fascinated), founder of the Hype Machine, writes:
From the first part of Atlantic’s series on music discovery. This one features the Hype Machine.
If you want to understand music discovery outside of ‘hit prediction’, ‘social tagging’ or ‘twitter regurgitation’, read the other...
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“Most of us will recall a time in our lives when we, too, first heard a song...”
– Laura Barton, “Hail, Hail, Rock’n’Roll”
“Recall a time”? You mean, like in 2007?
More on the emotional resonance of music: Why do we love the songs we love?
If you’re reading this, you probably have a song that meant (or means) this much to you.
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“I guess I’ve always been interested in the triumvirate of music, mathematics and...”
– Tristan Perich, creator of 1-Bit Symphony, interviewed at The Creators Project.
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WatchAudio reactive visuals designed to look like Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album cover. In case you wanted something less static than a cake.
(via Bruce Sterling)
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“The shift away from cheap, shoddy, and digital is apparent beyond...”
– Daytrotter: Where Good Music Gets Saved
A lovely profile of the live-music website at The Atlantic.
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WatchKeith Fullerton Whitman, “0771”
Modular synth joy. And gearheads, take note: “…it’s in 1080p, so if you zoom in on a big monitor you can see each module in detail.”
[ht: Derek Walmsley]
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Who knew monotony could be so interesting? →
Over at his blog, musician Josh Millard explores algorithmically making music monotonous. But Millard’s writing about boring music is anything but boring. His descriptions of the process and results are clear, insightful and hilarious. Go read and listen.
[ht: npseaver]
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A lost generation of female artists?
Top 40 female artists are hot, in an idealized, airbrushed way. Top 40 male artists, on the other hand, are occasionally hot, but are frequently fugly.
Over on zed equals zee proper, a short essay examining the disparity, and some optimism for a future world in which female artists don’t have to conform to record-company-executive ideals of beauty.
Women in music: the lost generation
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“But being a physicist, I said, ‘Suppose there were 1,000 people doing...”
– Musician, astrophysicist, and zed equals zee music/nerd hero Brian May on the “stomp-stomp-clap” section of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
Brian May on NPR’s Fresh Air
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