music
The music you should play at a party to ensure conversations flow
Conversations may flow more easily at parties if the background music is obscure skynesher/Getty Images If you want your guests to be particularly sociable at an upcoming party, play music they probably haven’t heard before. Jane Brown at the University of Memphis in Tennessee and her colleague Gavin Bidelman at Indiana University Bloomington wanted to…
28 Delightful Gift Ideas for Music Lovers and Audiophiles
Whether you’re trying to find a turntable so Mom and Dad can bust out their vintage vinyl collection, or you want to give the gift of great sound to a young music lover or a middle-aged audiophile, it can be tough to find great-sounding gear that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. That’s where…
The best science-inflected music of 2023
A composite of some of the science-inflected music albums out in 2023 The Fall (Komorebi)In this high-concept, anime-inspired album, Komorebi becomes her alter ego, Kiane, an alien who visits Earth on a voyage of self-discovery. Transported by delicate vocals and the sweeping orchestration, I felt punch-drunk by the end. Bethan Ackerley Complete Mountain Almanac…
Erland Cooper interview: The composer who melts hearts with icy music
Erland Cooper next to his ice sculpture, Glacier Alex Kozobolis I FIRST met musician, composer and artist Erland Cooper outside London’s Barbican Centre in late spring. He had been standing for 12 hours next to his 2.4-metre-high ice sculpture, Glacier. This thawing, crystalline monolith reflected the climate change themes and fragile beauty of his fourth-and-latest album, Folded Landscapes….