Music can have a ton of both emotional and psychological effects on the brain. Its mnemonic power has been called upon for millennia, as poets and storytellers fashioned some of humanity’s first works of literature from the oral tradition of singing epics. From Tibet to England, the bards of old could recite hours and hours of…
By Liam Singer Live rock music and noisy bars go together like beer and… more beer! The sounds of a drum kit, electric guitar, and amplified vocals are all designed to cut through the noise of clinking glasses and drunken conversations. These are not “dinner party” instruments. Audiences in these spaces don’t always like hearing…
Fear of success seems a bit absurd. We’re all trying to succeed all the time, right? Fear of failure seems logical though; we don’t want to fail… Or do we? My band got into silent film accompaniment about 10 years ago. If you’re not familiar, it’s a show where a live band plays music accompanying…
By Sarah Manning In an interview with the Rutherford Institute in 2012, journalist, author, and jazz critic Nat Hentoff told interviewer John W. Whitehead about some advice Duke Ellington had given him. “Look. Do not categorize about music. You take each musician at the time and open yourself to that musician.” That’s exactly what Nat…
A new documentary follows the production of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ 16th studio album, Skeleton Tree, and the fallout from Cave’s personal tragedy.
Welp, it happened. You didn’t think it would happen but it did. President Obama has completed his presidency with flying colors. Although he still has a few months before he has to turn over the keys, it’s time for Americans to realize the inevitable… We have to break up with Barack. It’s been a good…
This week, VH1 is premiering their much hyped new cooking show, “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party,” hosted by, you guessed it, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart. Now, despite the fact that Snoop and Martha have quite the history, many see this as yet another tacky contribution to the typical unscripted and pulpy celebrity-centered programming for which VH1 is…
Whether we feel comfortable confronting it or not, there exists a fundamental hypocrisy in experimental music today. For me, a straight, white, middle-class male living in New York City, I’ve had to climb over no barriers in order to get deeply involved with what some may refer to as the “scene” here. Playing experimental, noise, or…
The sounds of the everyday punctuate awkward conversation, saying, perhaps, what the characters don’t. These sounds alone could be characters in the film.
By Ian Gordon As a self-taught musician, it can be difficult to find the terminology appropriate to describe musical concepts. I’ve always been a “how does this sound?” type of guy when working with others, as little I have to say translates appropriately to those who have formal musical backgrounds. My relationship with music is…
