An abundance of brain scans, experimental studies and case histories has, in the end, failed to answer certain vital questions: What is music? Where can we find it in the brain? Why does it do what it does to us?

The brain is, in essence, a musical instrument—taking bits of material from a world of chaos, then shaping and modulating them into one graceful, lyrical stream. Yet, despite some scientific success in mapping its discrete compartments, it is an organ that resists efforts to render its workings in black and white. Cognition involves processes that are simply too wide-ranging and complex to be assigned to a single anatomical location.

Scientists have had to grapple with this, as well as with what is known as “plasticity.” At a recent conference on “Emotion, Music & the Brain” (…) Concetta Tomaino explained the phenomenon: “Simply put, the brain changes as it experiences and learns.” In effect, those attempting to pin down its internal circuitry are chasing a moving target.

Yet, the plasticity that reshapes the brain as we grow is also a blessing. “The challenge is in knowing how it can change when there is damage,” says Dr. Tomaino, “and then working with the neural networks that are still available.”

{ Wall Street Journal | Continue reading }

artwork { James Roper }

{ Def Jam Recordings (LL Cool J., Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Run–D.M.C…) reaches its 25th anniversary. | 1. Krush Groove, the cult 1985 film that tells the story of the birth of Def Jam Recordings. 2. The third member of Run-D.M.C., Jam Master Jay, was tragically killed inside a Queens recording studio 2002. The perpetrator has never been identified. | Photos: NY Daily News | more | Related: The song refers to 911, the emergency phone number. }

{ This is the graph the record industry doesn’t want you to see. It shows the fate of the three main pillars of music industry revenue - recorded music, live music, and PRS revenues (royalties collected on behalf of artists when their music is played in public) over the last 5 years. | Times | Continue reading }

{ Press release entitled “? Bowie,” dating from 1966, in which the 19 year-old David Jones explains why he has adopted the stage name David Bowie, “There are too many David Jones’s.” | Christie’s }

If I had to pick a year for hip-hop’s demise, though, I would choose 2009. (…) Jay-Z’s new album, “The Blueprint 3,” and some self-released mixtapes by Freddie Gibbs are demonstrating, in almost opposite ways, that hip-hop is no longer the avant-garde, or even the timekeeper, for pop music.

{ New Yorker | Continue reading }