From the category archives:

music

Rock That Font (Slight Return)

June 12, 2010
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After writing yesterday’s post about the remarkable Rock That Font blog, I sent them a one-sentence email: “Submitted for your approval, my homage to your remarkable blog,” along with the link. Less than ten hours later I had a reply from Shawn O’Keefe, one of the founders, asking if he could publish my Joy Division [...]

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The Delian Mode

April 8, 2010
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Many of my friends have their knickers in a twist about the “New Doctor,” i.e., the actor playing the newest incarnation of Doctor Who, the perennial British science fiction TV series. Having seen a few episodes over the years, and being completely underwhelmed by the show’s low-budget cheesiness (blame the BBC), I have steadfastly refused [...]

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75,000 and Counting

February 25, 2010
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Last January my iTunes library hit the 70,000 song mark. This month I exceeded 75,000. My latest music listening experiment has been the service provided by lala. I used their MusicMover software to match the contents of my library to songs already present in their own archives. Much to my surprise, they were able to [...]

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More Mellodrama

February 5, 2010
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I received a few replies following the Melodrama post, in which you attempted to guess all 24 of the songs used in this clip, “Mash-Mello”: As promised, here is the list of clips, in Artist, Album, “Song” format: King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King, “In the Court of the Crimson King” U2, [...]

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Mellodrama

February 3, 2010
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The flutes that open “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Stairway to Heaven,” the strings in”Nights in White Satin” — these are sounds you know by heart. What you may not know is that they were played on a keyboard instrument called the Mellotron. When I was a high school prog music geek with a crappy band, [...]

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New Toy

January 6, 2010
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I have been playing with my shiny new Bliptronic 500o, which I received for Xmas. Rather than try to describe it, I can show it to you in action. Straight out of the box it’s a bit limited. It only plays in C major (and A minor, har har har), there are only eight instrument [...]

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Can I Get an Amen?

December 11, 2009
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It began as a conversation about that awful Tommy Seebach video (which I refuse to embed here – you have been warned). I told a friend that it was a cover of The Incredible Bongo Band’s cover of “Apache” by The Shadows. The IBB version has been called “hip-hop’s anthem” due to the frequency with [...]

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Son of When Gadgets Mate

October 13, 2009
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As the era of the music CD draws to a close, artists attempting to sell physical products have been forced to become more creative. Those that succeed have figured out how to add value to the package, usually though the inclusion of “bonus material” like a live DVD, or an illustrated book, but that “value” [...]

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five-five-FIVE

September 22, 2009
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Today’s post is about music and science. In this video, a lecture from the World Science Festival, singer Bobby McFerrin demonstrates how humans seem to be hardwired to generate a pentatonic scale. The great thing about the presentation is that it’s not passive. I’m sure you found yourself anticipating the next interval just as the [...]

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Hello, Baby

September 21, 2009
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Before mix tapes became fraught with emotional baggage (as chronicled in High Fidelity), they were the best way for friends to share musical discoveries and favorites. At one point I was juggling six active tape exchanges, each with its own playlist parameters. But the one thing all the mixes had in common was the use [...]

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