Music
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Wussy (Best Band in America?)
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It’s been a year since the last entry here. So I could blog about the end of Planck, the first observation of gravitational waves, fatherhood, or the horror (comedy?) of the US Presidential election. Instead, it’s going to be rock ’n’ roll, though I don’t know if that’s because it’s too important, or not important…
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Songs about f*&%ing
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First, my apologies that I couldn’t resist the almost not-safe-for-work title, especially to those expecting posts about astrophysics and cosmology rather than a reference to a 1987 record by Big Black (which it’s worth pointing out can be found in its entirety on YouTube). But this is not a post about Big Black. Rather, it’s…
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SDSS 1416+13B
It’s not that often that I can find a reason to write about both astrophysics and music — my obsessions, vocations and avocations — at the same time. But the recent release of Scott Walker‘s (certainly weird, possibly wonderful) new record Bish Bosch has given me just such an excuse: Track 4 is a 21-minute…
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Harmony in the Universe
Cosmology fans in and around London: Please come here my colleague Jean–Philippe Uzan, visiting us from Paris, who will talk about “ Harmony in the Universe: between science and music” this coming Thursday, 25 October 2012 in the Huxley Building here at Imperial College. It’s free, but please contact us at astro-outreach@imperial.ac.uk if you’re going…
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Cage 100
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Today (September 5), John Cage would have been 100 years old. A few weeks ago, I went to the John Cage Centenary Celebration at the BBC Proms. Cage is probably best know for 4′33″, his infamous 1952 piece consisting of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence (originally in three movements — although he eventually…
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Expat playlist
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I am in England for Independence Day this year, having just spent last weekend back in the USA. Here’s a taste of the view from my ancestral (i.e., my parents’) home: So I’ll eat a burger in celebration, and listen to some appropriately-themed music from my playlist (in order of release): Van Morrison, Almost Independence…
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50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong
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I wandered across Prince Consort Road from my office in the Blackett Laboratory a few weeks ago — to the Royal Albert Hall and Elvis Costello‘s Spectacular Singing Songbook tour. Elvis has settled into a comfortable phase of his career; he hasn’t quite managed a late-period resurgence — his last true masterpiece was probably Blood…
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Distant objects and nearby music
Normally, I would be writing about the discovery of the most distant quasar by Imperial Astronomers using the UKIDSS survey (using excellent Bayesian methods), but Andy and Peter have beaten me to it. To make up for it, I’ll try to get one of the authors of the paper to discuss it here themselves, soon.…
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Mekonathon
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As I’ve said repeatedly, the Mekons are my favorite rock ’n’ roll band. Their music has sustained me since about 1990, after I first saw them at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro, already more than a decade into their careers. By then, they had already gone beyond their punk roots, invented alt.country avant la lettre, and skewered…
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Don Kirshner, R.I.P.
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Rock’n’roll impresario Don Kirshner, “the man with the golden ear”, but better known to members of my family as “Cousin Donny”, has died at 76. He was a fixture of American adolescence from the 50s through the 70s (when rock’n’roll was mostly about adolescence). He achieved his remarkable success behind the scenes of the music…
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