In any Opera History 101 course, Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) is cited as one of the most influential figures in the development of opera. And, of course, this is true. Gluck’s operas, and his…
Do Yourself a Favour recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the music show Countdown.
ABC
Are there lessons to be learnt from the success of the seminal Australian music program Countdown, and the ways in which it bolstered the Australian music industry during the 70s and 80s? Do Yourself a…
Singer, songwriter, poet and writer, Steve Kilbey has recently released his memoir, Something Quite Peculiar.
debra/Flickr
Bassist and lead singer of The Church, Steve Kilbey is one of Australia’s most prolific musicians. The band released their 25th album, Further Deeper, in October and will play The Queenscliff Music Festival…
Breakdown was an interactive audiovisual dance performance at Ears Eyes and Feet in May this year, Austin Texas.
Rodrigo Carvalho, Yago de Quay, Sunny Shen
Computers have shaken up how we create and listen to music, and there is more radical transformation to come. The potential for digital music to be interactive is leading to new ways to experience and…
ABC Radio plans to cut back on the number of concerts recorded on Classic FM.
Ryan Egan/Flickr
Today, in a statement to his staff, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said: ABC Radio plans to cut back on the number of concerts recorded on Classic FM. This is a prudent efficiency measure that still…
Kiss your lunchtime web surfing plans goodbye, because I guarantee that whatever page you were planning to visit next, you will instead want to go to YouGov. We know that your musical taste tells everyone…
Keeping the neighbours happy is what rock’s all about … kind of.
Maria Nayef/Flickr
As high-density urban living becomes more common in Australia’s larger cities, many live music venues are under increasing pressure to restrict noise levels. In an industry that’s already feeling the pinch…
Band Aid is an apt name, addressing the symptoms of the Ebola crisis rather than the underlying reasons.
EPA/ Hannah McKay
It really doesn’t matter if you don’t like this song. It doesn’t matter if you hate the artists. What matters is that you buy the record. So said the Irish songwriter Bob Geldof last weekend, in anticipation…
Jimi Hendrix is a member of the so-called 27 Club – a very exclusive club, as it turns out.
EPA/Eduardo Miranda
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. – Groucho Marx Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club. I told him not to … – Kurt Cobain’s mother upon hearing of the death of her son What…
Rock ‘n’ roll is never just about the music.
EPA/ Abir Sultan
The Rolling Stones are currently nearing the end of their seventh (and quite possibly last) tour of Australia and – despite cancelling the Hanging Rock gig due to Mick Jagger’s throat infection – are still…
The ‘EasyJet set’ get on inexpensive flights each weekend for some techno tourism.
EPA/Michael Hanschke
Some 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall – on November 9 1989 – Berlin is a utopia for many people. In otherwise precarious and uncertain lives, Berlin holds out the hope of pursuing creative work…
A surgeon performing a lithotomy on a patient, c. 1747.
Wellcome Library
You don’t have to be a horror fan to be well acquainted with some of the 20th century’s classic slasher movie music. Even if you’ve never sat through Psycho, you could probably immediately recognise the…
When was the last time that you sat down and listened to someone telling you a story? I don’t mean your latest TV box-set instalment, gripping as it might be, or a beer-fuelled pub anecdote. I mean the…
Johnny Cash’s pertinent social commentary is likely to be lost in Tex Perkins’ translation Far From Folsom.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Last week, Sydney Festival launched its 2015 program – under Belgium born director Lieven Bertels – and it was revealed that Australian rocker Tex Perkins will recreate Johnny Cash’s 1968 Folsom Prison…
Musicians such as Amy Winehouse die young at much higher rates than the rest of the population.
EPA/Andy Rain
Art is a cry of distress from those who live out within themselves the destiny of humanity … Inside them turns the movement of the world; only an echo of it leaks out – the work of art Arnold Schoenberg…
Remarkably, Rodriguez has not released any new material since his first two albums in the early 70s.
Wikimedia Commons
Searching for Sugar Man (2012) brought worldwide attention to the music of Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez. The academy award-winning documentary focused on the efforts of South African fans…
Learning a musical instrument begins with the act of making music with our bodies.
AAP/Yonhap
Yesterday, Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne and Arts Minister George Brandis announced A$594,000 in funding for a new national music teachers mentorship program. The details have sent music…
Electronica musician Chet Faker, on Future Classic distributed by Warner, is nominated for the ARIA’s album of the year.
EPA/ Anthony Anex
Since the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) award nominations were released last week much of the talk has been about how 80% of the nominations for album of the year were released “independently…
Danger Mouse’s 2004 album belongs to a decades-long chain of musical practice.
The Grey Album
In early 2004, I downloaded The Grey Album, created by a then unknown producer named Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). Like many others I did so as a result of the Grey Tuesday protests sponsored by cyber…
Looks like the future – sounds like status quo.
EPA/Daniel Hambury
Late last week, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke released his new solo album – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes – via BitTorrent, Inc’s “bundle” platform. Visitors to the service pay a US$6 fee, receiving the usual torrent…