Category: music

“They do vary in quality, hugely. Some were virtually unlistenable. But that didn’t seem to matter, in some ways. I mean, talking to people who bought these records when they were young — even the tiniest thread of melody, of this forbidden sound, was so exciting. And it led to a different world, really, a world of freedom, [even though the music was] not obviously anti-Soviet.”

“‘I was absolutely stunned, gobsmacked really,’ Arthur said. ‘It completely changes our understanding of the works he composed in that period.'”

David Lang: “I just typed in a Google search — I just typed, ‘when you whisper my name I … ‘ I got thousands of pornographic things and terrible things and things that were so specific I couldn’t really use them. But I got a general catalog of what people say to their loved ones that they don’t want anyone else to hear.”

“Modeled after the ‘American Voices’ initiative Fleming brought to Washington’s Kennedy Center in 2013, ‘Chicago Voices’ will partner Lyric’s community engagement department, Lyric Unlimited, with the Chicago Public Library, Chicago History Museum and Columbia College Chicago to engage and interact with city residents in various disciplines and musical genres.”

Anne Midgette: “I write about music; I have a lot of music in my life. But when it comes to introducing my child to music, I have done a terrible job.”

“Compression leaves distinctive signs on recordings that audio engineers can use to analyse forensically how the loudness war has progressed through the decades. Scientific studies show that the loudness of hit records kept increasing from about 1989 to around 2004. After that, the increase in loudness seems to have slowed.”

According to Nielsen Music’s 2015 year-end report, total album sales dropped 6.1 percent from 257 million in 2014 to 241.4 million in 2015. Even digital track sales declined 12.5 percent in 2015 compared to 2014.

“US music consumption rose 15.2 percent in 2015 from a year earlier to 549.4 million albums or their digital equivalent, reversing a decline in 2014, Nielsen Music said in an annual report.”

“Music is a vehicle of understanding. But what kind of understanding does it make possible? Why does it matter? What is at stake?”

“Automated music recommendations are hardly new, but Spotify seems to have identified the ingredients of a personalized playlist that feel fresh and familiar at the same time. That’s potentially a big advantage over competitors like Pandora, Google, and Apple, which largely have the same bottomless catalog of music but take very different approaches to picking the best songs for each user.”