My New Year’s resolution is “hit record.” Very simply: it means that I will record a lot of my musical improvisations over the course of the year. I’m aiming for twice a week give or take, but I’m not going to be precious about it. I have ideas for what might happen after that, but […]
Category Archives: Music
What Is Music Technology For?
(x-posted on the Social Media Collective Research Blog) In late March and early April, I attended three events that together signal some interesting shifts in thinking about music technology and sound. The first, a day-long symposium on March 24th I co-organized with Nancy Baym, was entitled “What Is Music Technology For?” It came after a weekend-long […]
Once Again, the Political Economy of Communication People Had It Right
Yesterday’s New York Times caught up with a story that’s been making the rounds of the internet music circles since Zoe Keating published her finances about a year ago: in many cases, Spotify pays so little they might as well not be paying artists at all. Sure, artists get fractions of cents in royalties, but very […]
Amateur and Professional Music Night
Last night we attended our neighbourhood casseroles protest at 8, but had to get down to Metropolis for the MUTEK show by 10. So we only marched a few blocks. 75% of the satisfaction but 25% of the exercise. We’ll miss the protests tonight and tomorrow but I gather they will be happening for a […]
Thanks and sorry, Les
Those of you who have visited google’s homepage today no doubt found their logo had a “strummable” guitar, in honor of Les Paul’s 96th birthday. Les Paul helped shape the guitar, and I have him to thank for some of the heavy sounds I really love. But he also contributed to recording and signal processing: […]
A lesson for the humanities from new music
This month’s issue of The Wire has a nice article on the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (including a wonderful description of the dilapidated condition of the original equipment). It was the first thing I’d read about Milton Babbitt in a long time, which led me to go find his infamous 1958 essay “Who Cares if […]
Incomplete Theses on Audio Aesthete-ism: Beginnings of a Rant
1. One or two generations ago refined taste in music meant familiarity with a fairly limited (and stable, learnable) Western concert music repertoire. Today that refinement is reflected through a carefully cultivated, willfully eclectic cosmopolitanism. The déclassé listener likes or understands only one genre of music or a limited genre of music. Even apprentice aesthetes […]