Category Archives: music

Google Play Music: 18 million songs and no respect

Posted on 2020-08-23 by skierpage

I signed up for Google Play Music All Access (Google marketing managers are incompetent at naming) the week it was announced, back in the good old days when Google’s motto was “Do no evil” and every month they brought exciting … Continue reading →

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music: wondering at Stevie Wonder

Posted on 2020-08-04 by skierpage

Play Stevie Wonder’s immortal run of albums – Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life – and you will be repeatedly floored by his artistry and talent. What brings tears of … Continue reading →

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music: Trevor Horn and the Buggles in 1979

Posted on 2020-06-29 by skierpage

I revere producers as much as musicians and songwriters. I was dimly aware of producers, starting with the mysterious “produced by Bones Howe” in big letters on the back of some record… I thought it was the Carpenters but now … Continue reading →

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computers generating art

Posted on 2020-06-19 by skierpage

First came text GPT-2 and other AI Transformer models are impressive. After you hand the AI an enormous corpus of text, you give it some text and it continues, generating character after character that make up recognizable, even creative, language … Continue reading →

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music: relationship advice or Cocteau Twins?

Posted on 2020-02-26 by skierpage

Quick quiz: who wrote “Intimacy is when we’re in the same place at the same time. Dealing honestly with how we feel, and who we really are. That’s what grown-ups do; that is mature thinking” ? A: noted relationship philosopher … Continue reading →

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music: Billie Eilish = Nina Persson of The Cardigans

Posted on 2020-02-16 by skierpage

On a lot of songs (“myboy,” “idontwannabeyouanymore,” etc.) Billie Eilish sounds like Nina Persson of The Cardigans! “everything i wanted” is “Sick & Tired,” while the vaguely “up” songs are channeling “Celia Inside” and other gems from The Cardigans’ “Life” … Continue reading →

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music: questions for Cory Wong

Posted on 2019-10-22 by skierpage

I paid for a VIP pass to Corey Wong’s upcoming show so I could spend more time with such a great musician. Part of it includes a master class, but I hope I can just ask him questions, including: What’s … Continue reading →

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music to which it’s easy to make hand gestures

Posted on 2019-09-27 by skierpage

Jia Tolentino writes in The New Yorker about TikTok, an app/platform on which people record themselves goofing around to music. ‘A twenty-six-year-old Australian producer … told me that he was now concentrating on lyrics that you could act out with … Continue reading →

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Hamilton musical beyond outstanding

Posted on 2019-08-30 by skierpage

Before seeing “Hamilton” I listened to its soundtrack while reading through most of its lyrics and some of the excellent annotations on the Genius site, stopping before I learned too many of the reveals in Act 2. So I knew … Continue reading →

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music: more Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour classics

Posted on 2019-08-27 by skierpage

A friend urged me to listen to this show, preserved on a Web site. Open an episode in Chrome, Play in Popup, send to Chromecast Audio, and enjoy Bob nattering away on interesting collections of songs. I Shazam all the … Continue reading →

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