Music
Audition and Its Discontents
By John S.W. MacDonaldMusicophilia is a medical short-story book brimming with anecdotes about people’s musical afflictions and talents—their amusias, dysharmonias, dystimbrias, and synesthesias.
Is Piracy Killing Independent Music?
By Alex CummingsPiracy is an everyday feature of the New York landscape.
Prefabulous
By David Shirley“Antiques!” snarls Prefab Sprout’s composer/lead vocalist Paddy MacAloon in the opening bars of “Faron,” the first track of the band’s 1985 pop masterpiece Steve McQueen.
A Steal at Any Price
By Todd SimmonsIt’s ancient history at this point that Radiohead released their first new record in four years with a pay-what-you-want download on their website, months in advance of a standard release.
Indie Baroque
By Katy HenriksenThe cover of Les Ondes Silencieuses, the latest release by French experimental musician Colleen (neé Cecile Schott), features a black and white illustration of her playing the viola da gamba in an enchanted forest at night; inside she’s depicted playing the spinet.
