Tim Byron

This is also a problem for me for exactly the same reasons, and I needed to get a USB hub. It is also surprisingly hard to find new laptops with appropriately large internal hard drives these days, due to the move to SSD.

A screenshot of the headline of an article by Carl Wilson, reading, "Criticism's Biggest Strawman: What was 'poptimism,' and why are people still saying terrible things about it?" It's illustrated by a picture of a straw-stuffed scarecrow in a field, wearing a Taylor Swift T-shirt.

Once & for all, let's specify what "poptimism" was & wasn't, and why many people can't stop blaming it for every cultural change of the past 20 years. Most recently the esteemed Kelefa Sanneh, who's often (wrongly) said to have started it! Today in @slate.com
slate.com/culture/2025...

Can you think of examples of books, films, TV shows, etc. featuring earworms or other types of imagined music? Please share them here! musicinmyhead.org/inner-music-...

Barraged in the past few days by emails, meetings, and notices about funding cuts, AI, and fraud on massive scales while also grading student assignments showing huge increase in genAI usage. Feels like a complete existential crisis for research and higher education.

🌿 SEEKING THRIVING MUSICIANS!

Your story could help others. Complete the quick survey below and contribute to a better understanding of musician wellbeing. PLEASE SHARE if you know anyone who could contribute.

SURVEY LINK: scuau.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Sung from Mr Freeze’s perspective: Wouldn’t It Be Ice?

Was about to say at least we didn’t get the Mike Love-written equivalent to ‘The Universal Coward’ but ‘Student Demonstration Time’ does exist…

How visionary Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson changed music – and my life Brian Wilson, leader, songwriter and producer of the Beach Boys, has passed away at age 82.

Nice to see @hellodrjadey.bsky.social in the Conversation talking about Brian Wilson, and I was there when they met: theconversation.com/how-visionar...

Cale's tribute to BW from 1974 is perfect to share this evening

I never worked with David Huron, but he had a tremendous impact on my life in the world of #musicscience. Wrote this for others in the music cognition community who want to share in his memory.

davidjohnbaker.rbind.io/post/2025-06...

In The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, an 1844 collection of works written by J. F. C. Hecker (and translated by Benjamin Guy Babington), a translator's note by Babington, citing an unnamed medical textbook, recalls the story of a nun who lived in a French convent during an unspecified time (presumably in the Middle Ages) who inexplicably began to meow like a cat, shortly leading the other nuns in the convent to meow as well. Eventually, all of the nuns in the convent would meow together for a certain period, leaving the surrounding community astonished. This did not stop until the police threatened to whip the nuns

oh to be nuns in a convent meowing

As you imply, the 70s really splits rock into subgenres - and so it’s where the various rock canons based around those subgenres diverge. Hopefully grumpy King Crimson fans don’t overshadow all the people who start listening because you’re finally up to Marley or Roxy Music or Carole King or…

I call this the ‘shelfmate effect’: you look up a book in the library & go seek it in the stacks, but then other books shelved nearby also catch your eye

Congrats Joshua!

triple j's Hottest 100 For 2024 Is A Damning Statement On The Erosion Of Local Culture Joe Hardy (does stuff in tech/media/music and co-founder of SydneyMusic.net) shares writing and photography, mostly related to music, culture, community and tech.

Read @hardy.id.au's great analysis of the woeful showing of Aussie talent in this year's Hottest 100. As the domination of streaming services marches on, it's time to rethink how we provide public support for Australian music.
joe.hardy.id.au/triple-js-ho...

I do notice his analysis is missing ‘do an incredible performance on Colbert as good as the late night show performances by Future Islands and Janelle Monae that put those acts on the map’…

Our new study! Participants rated isolated phrases from pop songs for salience and memorability - we found vocals, choruses and what we called ‘compound hooks’ predicted higher ratings: doi.org/10.1525/mp.2... #musicscience

Thank you, this is surprisingly nice! I have a 1966 record by the Baroque Inevitable that this reminds me of, except that this has vocals instead of oboes and what have you doing the melodies.

There is this starter pack of Music Science people which might have some good people for you?: go.bsky.app/4oZbDpj

Excellent - in time for the season at least!

NOOOOOOOOOOO

Cover of the january 2025 issue of Harper's magazine. A black background with the words GHOST MUSIC written largely in green, tangled with wired headphones. underneath in small text it says "INSIDE SPOTIFY'S FAKE-ARTIST SCHEME"

For years, the public has called them "fake artists." But internally at Spotify, the program has a name: Perfect Fit Content. My investigation, and the first look into my book Mood Machine, is the January cover at @harpers.bsky.social. Online now & on newsstands next week
harpers.org/archive/2025...

So yeah, there was definitely toxicity in various internet forums I was on in the 2000s (and I never went on 4chan), but being a white male nerd, I was rarely the target of it.

I’m 42; there were always trolls and bigots online - people are people. But the net was utopian, in a way, for (white male) nerds - ‘normal people’ weren’t on the net anywhere near as much before the enormous rises of Facebook and YouTube from the late 2000s.

YouTube video by tasoli Adam Buxton NWA - Help the Police (laugh track removed)

I can only imagine you as Adam Buxton’s character here… youtu.be/iZyqwOOmETI?...

…and a couple days later, I too now have a positive RAT (I’m okay, just cold/flu symptoms). Always impossible to know where I picked it up, could well have been a work thing on Monday. How’s COVID purgatory been? Hopefully you’re feeling a bit better?

At least so far, no symptoms for myself or @hellodrjadey.bsky.social - sitting outside was a good idea it turns out!

How frustrating - glad you got your booster recently and Wellington friends are looking after you.

The Complete Motown Singles - Vol. 8: 1968 Various Artists · Compilation · 2007 · 144 songs

Notice for my fellow white people: you're probably thinking "Motown is some of the best music ever made! Shame I've heard the same 50 songs over and over".
Good News!
There are THOUSANDS of songs but shitty radio formats kept you from hearing them. Check out year by year playlists of singles alone

For all the newcomers, here is a starter pack of people to follow on #musicscience, music cognition and related topics.

just comment below if you want to be added!

go.bsky.app/4oZbDpj

#musicskyence