The Beatles’ Abbey Road 50th Anniversary: An Album Way Ahead of its Time?

Often derided by critics of the excessive use of compression, was The Beatles’ Abbey Road one of those 1960s era albums that were simply “way ahead of its time”?

By: Ringo Bones

Overuse of compression in the recording studio had recently received a bad rap due to mainstream rock and pop records sounding worse and worse in the attempt to make them have the impression of sounding louder. Well, it seems like de rigueur post 9/11 worsening sound quality of mainstream rock and pop music when the recorded drum-kit sounds like it is made of latex rubber that make those late 1970s early 1980s rap / hip hop recordings sound audiophile by comparison. But without compression, The Beatles’ Abbey Road would not have sound like the Abbey Road that Beatle-maniacs with good audio-gear are familiar with.

Back in 1969, producer George Martin at the time of Abbey Road’s recording sessions creative use of compression in the recording studio made the bass guitars and drum-kit sound as if they were in front of you given the limitations of multi-track analog tape recording technology at the time. Often mistaken that it was recorded in 1989 – as opposed to 1969, Abbey Road is simply one of those 1960s era albums that’s way ahead of its time in terms of technical excellence during its production.

The Beatles’ Abbey Road album’s 50^th Anniversary fanfare was kicked off with the reenactment ack in August 8, 2019 of the iconic August 8, 1969 photo shoot of the album cover in front of the Abbey Road Studio’s zebra crossing where the “Fab Four” posed for the iconic zebra crossing that eventually became the album cover. Abbey Road is also well known as the last Beatles album were all of the four band members worked together in the studio.

Originally released in September 26, 1969 in the UK and October 1, 1969 in the United States, a 4 CD and 4 LP 50^th Anniversary boxed set reissue of Abbey Road is scheduled in September 27, 2019 where additional tracks mixed by record producer Giles Martin – son of the late George Martin. Audiophile Beatles fans could judge for themselves on how the new remixes stand up to the original George Martin produced ones with the iconic Abbey Road style vacuum tube compression.

The Mid 1990s Australian Alt-Rock Music Scene: The Glory That Was?

Maybe it was the convergence of great-sounding affordable hi-fi and bands “accidentally” composing their best stuff, but is the mid 1990s Australian alt-rock scene nothing more than a faded glory?

By: Ringo Bones

From the perspective of my audio-buddies, it seems that there’s a consensus that the years between 1995 to 1997 - whether by happenstance or design - the Australian alt-rock music scene managed to compose music way, way, way better than their American and British counterparts and with a sound quality way above average than the ones by the Americans and Brits. Which is no mean feat indeed given it is not easy to record a realistic sounding drum-kit on a 24-track analog tape running at 30 inches per second, especially when tone-warming compression is involved. Maybe my idea of a realistic sounding rock music recording involves what Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant hears on stage just a few feet away from John Bonham’s drum-kit, but hey we all have our preferences. And the Australian recording engineers managed to produce the magic of sound realism around this time period too.

One of the stand-out groups of the time was Deadstar with Caroline Kennedy on vocals and Barry Palmer of Hunters & Collectors on guitars. Seen by many as a so-called “supergroup”, Deadstar largely evolved from the previous success of Hunters & Collectors with their Ghost Nation album in the college radio scene in the United States near the end of 1989, and given that Hunters & Collector’s frontman, Mark Seymour is the brother of Nick Seymour of Crowded House who also got big in the States with the runaway success of their Don’t Dream Its Over single back in 1987. Although Barry Palmer is not one of the original members of Hunters & Collectors when they started out in 1981, many Deadstar fans see Barry as better off with Deadstar during the mid 1990s and maybe this is primarily the reason why he left Hunters by 1998. But most Deadstar fans see Caroline Kennedy and Barry Palmer as the glue that holds the band together back then. Even though Caroline Kennedy is still composing new music, to me, the mid 1990s is probably their very heyday and given that through the prism of time given how long ago that was, I often confuse the video of Deadstar’s Don’t It Get You Down with some other video where some girl who looks like Caroline Kennedy was wearing a Lunachicks t-shirt was sorting a bunch of 6L6 vacuum tubes with a tube tester.

Another stand-out band of the mid 1990s Australian alt-rock music scene is Pollyanna. With the runaway success of their Long Player album back in 1996, most of their non-Australian fans who I knew back then often commented “why can’t Americans write good stuff like this anymore…” which speaks for itself. But as for me, I’m just too busy rocking out to Keep Me Guessing and Potomac and their other hits back in July 1996.

And who can forget Sceamfeeder, with their runaway single Dart. I now forgot who said it, wheter it was one of my ex girlfriends or my little sister, but back in 1996 when Maayim Bialik’s TV series Blossom was still airing on NBC, but after seeing the music video of Screamfeeder’s Dart one of them commented “now I know what Mayim Bialik with a nose-ring looks like" after seeing Screamfeeder’s bass player Kellie Lloyd on the Dart music video. I think Screamfeeder is still around and touring.

Another stand-outs of the time was Moler, with Infatuation, Mustang Bass and Red Light Disco in continuous airplay back in 1996 to 1997. Back then Moler more or less became the de-facto Hale-Bopp Comet viewing soundtrack. Weird fact, it was often overlooked by radio DJ’s and TV video music jocks that the “uncensored” version of Moler’s Red Light Disco was the one being played. I think Moler just released new stuff this 2019.

Probably one of the most “interesting” bands of the mid 1990s Australian alt-rock music scene was Rebecca’s Empire. On lead vocal duties were Rebecca Barnard and her then domestic partner Shane O’Mara on lead guitar duties. Often referred by their overseas fans as the “Australian Liz Phair”, the band was active from 1994 to 2000 – although Rebecca Barnard performs solo from time to time. Their album The Way of All Things was seen by many at the time as the best Australian alt-rock album and the single Empty is probably the best known of the group at the time. 

And let’s not forget Snot with their catchy and rocking Cromagnon Man. And even though Snout had other songs with nice music videos, most of their mid-1990s era fans remember them for Cromagnon Man.

Other bands of the time also include Nancy Vandal with their “green party approved” remake of Mӧtley Crϋe’s Kickstart My Heart. Frenzal Rhomb probably gained international exposure around this time period and some say Australian musical icon Yothu Yindi did their best touring performances during the mid-1990s. Maybe You Tube is the closest thing we have so far of reliving the glory days of the mid 1990s Australian alt-rock music scene, unless of course if one has access to a working time machine – or maybe I just took it all for granted how good it really was back then. 

Could Skrillex’s Dubstep Music Be Used As A Mosquito Repellant?

Is there any truth on the recent discovery by scientists that musician Skrillex’s dubstep music could actually be used as a mosquito repellant?

By: Ringo Bones

I don’t know if this was discovered purely by accident or a really funny April Fool’s Joke but an international team of scientists recently announced that dubstep music by the musician known as Skrillex was shown to repel mosquitoes. According to a recent scientific study that got widespread press attention back in April 1, 2019, a new way to avoid mosquito bites is to listen to electronic music – specifically dubstep music and specifically by the U.S. artist known as Skrillex.

In an experiment that used electronic music to test whether it has “mosquito repellant properties” where an international team of scientists subjected adults of the species Aedes aegypti – popularly known as the yellow fever mosquito – to various types and genres of electronic dance music to see whether it could work as a sonic mosquito repellant. Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, a track by Skrillex which features on his Grammy-award winning album of the same name was chosen because of its mix of very high and very low frequencies.

According to the results published in the journal Acta Tropica, female mosquitoes were “entertained” by the track’s wide range of high and low frequency sounds and attacked hosts later and less often in comparison to pregnant female mosquitoes on the prowl in a dubstep-free environment. Scientists said “the occurrence of blood feeding activity was lower when Skrillex’s music was being played.” 

The scientists also found out that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex “far less often” than mosquitoes not exposed to Skrillex’s music and they also state that “the observation that such music can delay host attack, reduce blood feeding, and disrupt mating provides new avenues for the development of music-based personal protective and control measures against Aedes-borne diseases”.

Entomologists – especially those that study various species of mosquitoes – had known that various sound frequencies can affect the behavior of mosquitoes about the same time when radio sets with sufficiently loud speaker systems became widespread domestic appliances near the end of the 1920s. And for this reason, various ways to repel mosquitoes of varying effectiveness already exists since the “Roaring 20s” but it seems that Skrillex’s dubstep music is so far the most effective.

Most people living in swampy areas know that mosquitoes hum but this is only audible when they close enough to our ears. But unbeknown to most people, it is only the female mosquito that bites and only when they are pregnant and when female mosquitoes are pregnant and hungry for human blood, they avoid male mosquitoes like hell. One suggested method to avoid being bitten by hordes of female mosquitoes is to keep a swarm of male mosquitoes with you, but this is easier said than done because – unless you are an entomologist specializing in various species of mosquitoes, it is quite hard to distinguish between male and female mosquitoes.

As far back as the late 1920s, various electronic tone-generating devices that mimic the hum of the male mosquito was shown to be very effective in preventing humans from being bitten by the pregnant female mosquito if they stay within a certain radius of the tone generator. These tone generators can generate sine waves between 5,000 Hz to 14,000 Hz a range of sounds where different species of male mosquitoes are known to “vocalize”. But if Skrillex’s dubstep music is more effective than this in repelling pregnant mosquitoes, then maybe portable boom-boxes are now the most effective mosquito repellant in the 21^st Century.

Does Hip Hop Music Really Makes Aging Cheese Taste Better?

Even though “older” music critics who are paid to do reviews might classify hip-hop and electronic dance music as “cheesy”, but does playing hip hop music to cheese as it ages really make them taste better?

By: Ringo Bones

When I read about a recently conducted experiment whose results show that hip-hop music actually makes cheese taste better, memories of anecdotes that dates back from the 1970s about saxophone-based Jazz music are supposedly good for flowering plants spring to mind. But given that the news story about some types of music supposedly makes cheese taste better was published in a number of reputable news outlets, my “musical curiosity” immediately got the better of me. The news states that a recent experiment conducted in Switzerland called Cheese in Surround Sound has found out that exposing aging cheese to certain types of music makes it taste better.

The study was put together in order to investigate how the microorganisms that give cheese its flavor might react to various types of sound waves. During the experiment, nine identical 22-pound wheels of Emmental cheese were placed in individual wooden crates and exposed to five different genres of music and three different sine wave frequencies (high, mid, low) for 24 hours a day over six months. One of the cheese was designated as a control cheese – depriving it of music altogether.

Each wheel of cheese was assigned a song that would play on a loop for 24-hours during the maturation process. Some of the music tracks used included W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and A Tribe Called Quest’s Jazz (We’ve Got). There was also a Techno wheel of cheese that was subjected to Vril’s 2011 track UV off the Ostgut Ton compilation Berghain 05.

After the duration of the musical listening sessions, these so-called acoustic cheese wheels were then subjected to taste tests by food technologists from the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. In their findings, these food technologists that the “cheeses exposed to music has a generally mild flavor compared to the control test sample”. The taste testers also concluded that the wheel of cheese exposed to six straight months of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest had “a distinctly stronger smell and stronger, fruitier taste than the other test samples”. These amazing results show us how the bio-acoustic impact of sound waves affect the metabolic processes of bacteria responsible in cheese making. Which makes me wonder if those 1970s era experiments of various genres of music being studied on their effects of the growth of garden plants really do have scientific merit.

In further taste tests, the music exposed cheeses were presented to a panel of highly qualified culinary jurors in a blind taste test, all of whom noticeably favored the Emmental cheese that was exposed to the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. The culinary panel also found that the cheeses that were exposed to low-frequency sound waves were sweeter than the rest. But during a chat with NPR, cheese enthusiast and experiment organizer Beat Wampfler states that there was “not such a big difference” between Rock ‘n’ Roll cheese and the Techno music cheese. Maybe the Swiss scientists should try exposing a new cheese batch to Primus’ Sailing The Seas of Cheese album. 

World Heavy Metal Music Congress For A Half Century Of Heavy Metal?

Some may say that Heavy Metal Music is in gradual decline since 1989, but does the first ever “World Metal Congress” in celebration of heavy metal music’s 50^th anniversary proof that metal is still a significant cultural tour-de-force?

By: Ringo Bones 

When the world’s first ever World Metal Congress kicked off in London, England back in March 22 and 23, 2019, it was largely seen as a celebration of half a century of heavy metal music. And given that it got the blessing of Black Sabbath guitarist Toni Iommi, many still saw it as the celebration of Black Sabbath virtually inventing heavy metal music during their first ever gigs in Birmingham, England back in 1969. Unfortunately, a significant number of heavy metal music fans harbor the perception that heavy metal music was already in gradual decline since 1989 and has since superseded by forms of music deemed for friendly to the so-called millennials. But are there any truths to this?

Even though there are still kids as young as eight who are becoming dedicated heavy metal music fans once they are exposed to it, the median age of a typical heavy metal music fan that can be found in most concerts are typically around 45 years old and the women in their 20s who are there are usually spoken for by guys in their 50s, although there are exceptions. More often than not, as heavy metal music celebrates its 50^th birthday, it often reminds me of the 1990s era Classical Music scene where most of the enthusiasts are made up of middle-age guys.

Is heavy metal music still a significant global cultural force 50 years after its inception? Well, the first ever World Metal Congress says it still is. Although it might be up to us “middle-aged-metal-heads” to recruit new initiates into our so-called “hobby” given that it is the young bloods are the ones who’s been keeping heavy metal music fresh since 1989.

DNA: Music Recording And Playback Format Of The Future?

With traditional independent record stores now closing and malls no longer selling Red Book Compact Discs, will DNA prove to be the “future-proof” music format of the future?

By: Ringo Bones

With traditional independent music stores – ones that sell vinyl LPs and Redbook 16-bit 44.1 KHz sampled compact discs closing and big malls no longer selling Redbook CDs, it seems that it would only be a matter of time that every Generation-Xers music collection could be consigned to the dustbin of history much sooner than expected. Thankfully, to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the release of their most successful album, UK based electronic music group Massive Attack released their Mezzanine album on DNA back in October 2018.

Massive Attack worked with Andrew Melchior at the technology consultancy 3^rd Space Agency – the man who helped Bjӧrk convert her performance of “Stonemilker” into virtual reality for her 2015 MOMA show. According to Melchior: “The advantage with DNA is that our civilization could crash into dust and rebuild itself using entirely different technology, meaning they couldn’t access our computers or disks, since every human carries DNA, we can expect any future civilization to work out how to play back DNA-stored information. Which means the first thing a future civilization would learn about us might be Mezzanine.”

Using the DNA molecule to store vast amounts of digitally encoded information is more than just a science fiction pipe dream that was first popularly presented in the Superman movie franchise Man of Steel. The idea has first been published back in 1964 to 1965 when a Soviet era physicist named Mikhail Neiman published his work on the subject in the journal Radiotekhnika. But the first successful execution of encoding digital data onto a DNA molecule was back in 2012 when Harvard biologist George Church encoded one of his books onto a DNA molecule.

The electronic musicians Massive Attack worked with scientists at TurboBeads, a commercial spin-off from the Swiss science, engineering and mathematics university ETH Zurich, to adopt a technology pioneered by maverick US biotechnologists Craig Venter when he created a synthetic chromosome of a bacteria species in the laboratory with four “watermarks” written in the DNA. Robert Grass, professor at ETH Zurich’s Functional Materials Laboratory and his colleague Reinhard Heckel used similar chemical techniques to translate Mezzanine’s digital audio stream into genetic code. “We store digital information in a sequence of zeroes and ones, but biology stores genetic information using the four building blocks of DNA,” Grass explains. “We compressed Mezzanine’s digital audio then coded it as DNA molecules by converting the binary 0s and 1s into a quaternary code – with adenine representing 00, cytosine representing 01, guanine representing 10 and thymine representing 11. The resulting DNA resembles natural DNA in every way, although it contains no useful genetic information.”

According to Massive Attack band member Robert del Naja: “The storage potential of DNA is huge.” Indeed, one milligram of the DNA molecule could store the complete text of every book in the US Library of Congress and have room to spare. Del Naja also states: “If you think about DNA versus the ridiculous amounts of server farms that have got to be cooled 24/7 all around the world, this looks like a much better solution going forward. It allows us to archive music for hundreds of thousands of years.” Unfortunately as of late no word yet on the newfangled format’s sound quality.