archive

Music we cling to

Leigh Michael Harrison (UWO): Factory Music: How the Industrial Geography and Working-class Environment of Post-war Birmingham Fostered the Birth of Heavy Metal. From Maisonneuve, who gets to be part of the pop music canon? Temporal warp, the brain and music: Michael Pulsford on music as an act of recovery. From Wired, Brian Raftery on how two outcast rappers built an insane clown empire. Is music for wooing, mothering, bonding — or is it just "auditory cheesecake"? Older than civilization, music fosters communication, wellness, and bonding across all cultures, but where it comes from is disputed. In the supposedly benighted music business, a lot of things are making money. Eric Lyttle on the death of smooth jazz: Who will mourn its passing? When Rock 'n' Roll Jesus met Rock 'n' Roll Buddha: What happens when Kid Rock ducks into the studio with producing god Rick Rubin? A review of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-hop by Dan Charnas. Why do we hate modern classical music? Avant garde art and architecture are loved, but in music we cling to the past; forty years after their deaths, Hendrix and Joplin now seem part of the mainstream culture they rebelled against. Murder Music: Jamaica’s dancehall music is being blamed for the country’s violent attacks on gays, but there are many who don’t see the music as homophobic, only the battle cry of a changing nation (and part 2). Where does sad music get its sadness from and whom should you ask, a composer or a cognitive psychologist?