Author: Megan

What Makes It Sound Like Christmas?

In so many cases, when we’re wondering “what makes it sound ____?” where ____ is Christmas, or metal, or Irish, or whatever, the answer lies not so much in the harmonies, but the timbres. Timbre is probably the most immediate aspect of our musical experience. Why shortchange it in our analyses?

Listening

tiles in an apartment in Amsterdam

This is a bit of a watershed moment for me and I need to record it, so I can go back when I slip into my jokey aloof self, and remind myself that this is how it felt when I really finally understood.

AMS/SMT 2016: The One with the Sound Bleed

Mansplaining in Erlkönig, To Pimp a Butterfly, AMS After Dark, and more. Quick summaries of each of the papers I went to (warning: mostly early music and pop) and a Twitter roundup.

Fado

Cuca Roseta blew me away. Her voice was extremely powerful, and her timing with the guitarists was highly precise, even while the tempo fluctuated quite a lot. I was also especially fascinated with the ornamentation style, which is extremely rapid and requires excellent vocal agility.

I Want It That Way

Oliver Wang: “Phil Collins, like Sly Stone and disco producers before him, saw the drum machine as an instrument for aiding a larger musical vision.”