Black Sabbath The Ballet: The Latest Sabbath Renaissance?

 

Given that for Gen-X’ers the 1990s era Grunge movement kicked off the most recent Black Sabbath renaissance, will an upcoming Black Sabbath Ballet proved to be a much bigger “renaissance”?

By: Ringo Bones

Back around April 2023, there was an announcement by Carlos Acosta – the director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet – that a Black Sabbath themed ballet will soon hit the stages across England by September 2023 and later, the world. For those old enough to live through the last great “Sabbath Renaissance” during the 1990s Grunge movement, will the upcoming Black Sabbath Ballet prove to be a much bigger cultural event music wise compared to the one that happened in the 1990s?

Given that the original members of the innovators of heavy metal music all hail from Birmingham, it might be a long-time coming to finally honor them. Not only that, but Birmingham was well-known for being an impoverished, largely underfunded city when Ozzy and his buddies started the band around the late 1960s. And it wasn’t until near the end of the Thatcher Administration – as in the late 1980s – that all of Birmingham’s World War II era bomb damages were finally repaired.

The Birmingham leg of the show will start in the 23^rd of September 2023 at the Birmingham Hippodrome and all of the music will be performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Sparks will undoubtedly fly given the “recondite” nature of “conventional ballet music” normally used in a typical ballet performance. But given the relatively successful “marriages” of Western European Classical Music and heavy metal music – i.e. Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, S&M and Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain to name a few, the upcoming Black Sabbath – The Ballet could prove, at least, a very interesting musical event.

Remembering Charlie Watts

It may be a sad day for Rolling Stones fans, but will the iconic rock band soldier on without their drummer?

By: Ringo Bones

For those who are regularly attending Stones concerts since the 1990s, they’ll probably be voting for Jim Keltner as a potential replacement, but for those who had been there since the Rolling Stones set up shop back in the early 1960s nothing beats Charlie Watts. Often viewed as the “reluctant rock star” of the Stones’ line-up, Watts had been the longest serving drummer of the Rolling Stones when he joined up back in January 1963. While their front-man Mick Jagger had always had doubts of the long-term future of the Stones since the mid 1960s, typified by his now famous quote” I would rather die than sing Satisfaction at 40”. Well, Jagger turned 40 back in 1983 and yet the Stones managed to soldier on as if the band is still in its prime till the present day. Sadly, it seems like time and human physiology are the Stones’ greatest enemy when their drummer Charlie Watts passed away on the 24^th of August 2021 at the age of 80.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney recently paid tribute to the iconic drummer. Famous as the long time drummer for the Rolling Stones and dubbed as “the greatest rock drummer of his generation”, Watts also did drums for his Jazz band during tour breaks. His other well-known hobbies include collecting antique silver and classic cars even though he hardly ever drives them. His distinctive drumming style contributed to the Stones’ rather unique back-beat since the 1960s, he will be forever missed by his fans and music enthusiasts the world over. Only time will tell if the Rolling Stones will soldier on for another world tour. 

Feliz Navidad Is Turning 50 This 2020

Given the Spanish Yuletide classic’s popularity during the past years, did you know that José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad is turning 50 this year?

By: Ringo Bones

In every interview during the past decades, José Feliciano readily admits he wasn’t thinking of writing a Christmas classic when, almost on the fly, he first sang: “Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, proóspero año y felicidad.” And during the intervening years, the now Spanish language Yuletide classic has managed to survive being disco-fied during the disco boom years. Weirder still, José Feliciano probably pioneered writing a de-facto song about celebrating Christmas in parts of the world that never gets snow – probably inspiring Jimmy Buffett to write Christmas in the Caribbean and his Christmas Island album years later, perhaps?

Even though I’ve practically grew up listening to this Yuletide classic – given the song is only two years older than me – I’ve always thought that Feliz Navidad was much older, perhaps dating back at least to the Middle Ages composed by a Spanish monk in a monastery back then. It was only during the late 1980s that I’ve found out that this was originally composed by José Feliciano back in 1970 during a recording session for a Christmas album with Rick Jarrard, who would become Feliciano’s trusted producer and friend over the years. At the time, it was Jarrard who floated the idea of a Christmas song in Spanish. And Feliciano, in the middle of recording in the summer, wrote what would become one of the most enduring Christmas songs of all time.

Sadly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a damper on celebrating this Spanish language Yuletide classic, nevertheless, a plan to release a 50^th Anniversary tribute to Feliz Navidad got ahead. Produced by longtime friend and producer Rudy Pérez, “Feliz Navidad 50^th Anniversary (FN50)” was released by Anthem Records as an Amazon exclusive at the end of November 2020. The recording sessions were done in July 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, but had been planned since 2019.

Remembering Eddie Van Halen

His fans around the world may have been saddened by his death at the age of 65, would heavy metal music be radically different without the musicianship and technique of Eddie Van Halen?

By: Ringo Bones

His death was announced by his son, Wolfgang, after a 20-year battle with cancer, fans around the world now mourns the passing of Eddie Van Halen at the age of 65. Fans who had known Van Halen since the 1970s and 1980s could be forgiven that he died too soon because there are “rock-stars” today who are twenty years older who are still touring – that is before the 2020 COVID 19 lockdown.

Eddie Van Halen, whose full name is Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, was an American musician famously known around the world as the guitarist of the band Van Halen which he co-founded back in 1972 with his brother Alex Van Halen on drums , bassist Mark Stone and singer David Lee Roth. Even though the two-handed tapping technique for the electric guitar was already demonstrated by electric guitar pioneer Les Paul back in the 1950s, this guitar playing technique was more famously associated with Eddie Van Halen during the 1970s, probably because Van Halen manage to compose better songs in which to show-off the technique than Les Paul did back in the 1950s. Without this technique, which was later dubbed as “shredding” during the late 1980s Hair-Metal era, heavy metal music would sound radically different without Eddie Van Halen’s influential technique.

During the 1980s, Eddie Van Halen’s well known collaboration with the King of Pop, the late great Michael Jackson, on the iconic guitar solo on the song Beat It was probably his most well known musical collaboration. Those dodgy Van Halen live bootleg recordings were a must-have for the aspiring guitarist back in the 1980s. add to that the departure of long time singer and frontman David Lee Roth to be replaced by Sammy Hagar had caused a Kultur-Kampf in the Van Halen fanbase back in the mid 1980s, detractors often derogatively referring the Sammy Hagar fronted Van Halen as “Van Hagar”. Eddie Van Halen is indeed no stranger to real-life musical drama. And, by the way, Eddie Van Halen was also a clever inventor with various guitar related patents credited to him, like a musical instrument support that allowed him to play his signature two-handed tapping technique while standing up on stage for prolonged periods without tiring, an adjustable string tension control allowing more precise adjustments than a whammy bar, a type of humbucking pickup and ornamental designs for guitar pegheads and pickups.

Is Donald Trump Using Music Inappropriately At His Rallies ?

From the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign to the more recent reelection campaign for 2020, is President Trump using music “inappropriately” at his rallies?

By: Ringo Bones

The Rolling Stones might be the latest of a growing number of musical artists launching their own cease and desist directives to the Donald Trump presidential campaign after their songs are used inappropriately in his rallies. Even though the Stones had been telling Trump to stop using their songs since 2016, the iconic band finally issued a legal action for Trump to stop.

Donald Trump had been exploiting loopholes in the BMI’s Blanket Political Entities License Agreement law in being able to play a number of classic Rolling Stones, Queen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pharrell Williams, Rhianna and Adele just to name a few. But a growing number of artists are complaining and had launched their respective legal cease and desist orders from their lawyers because their songs are used in a Trump rally for very inappropriate lessons.

Earlier this week, the family of the late Tom Petty posted on the band’s official Twitter account saying that the Trump campaign’s use of his song is “in no way authorized,” adding that he: “would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate.” Pharrell Williams’ Oscar nominated “Happy” was played at a Trump rally hours after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue back in October 2018.

This more than just pointing out the preexisting thinking of hard right conservatives not giving a rat’s ass about copyright laws since the launch of Fox News, being tone deaf to the social injustices endured by non white Anglo Saxon Protestant musicians is one thing, but keeping silent while Trump uses their songs inappropriately in the era of the renewed Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was killed in an act of police brutality is just unforgivable. It’s high time to vote Trump out of the White House this November 2020.

Is Robbie Williams a Secret Trump Supporter?

Despite being debunked for four years, does former Take That member Robbie Williams’ belief that the Pizzagate conspiracy is real make him a “secret Trump supporter”?

By: Ringo Bones

In the wake of the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter protest brought about by the application of excessive force during the arrest of George Floyd, admitting publicly that you subscribe to debunked bizarre conspiracy theories put forth by white supremacist could be tantamount to saying publicly that you are an unabashed Holocaust Denier. Sadly, former member of a popular 1990s era boy band Take That, Robbie Williams, just recently did that in a recent interview.

The 46-year-old sat down for an interview with journalist Anna Brees, and in a teaser clip from the second part of the interview, the Rock DJ singer appears to question the validity of a conspiracy theory alleging that several high-ranking members of the U.S. Democratic Party and U.S. restaurants were involved in an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring. That theory was widely debunked during the 2016 US Presidential Election following an investigation by the New York Times and the fact-checking website Snopes. Although various American far-right and white supremacists groups still believe to this very day that the Pizzagate Conspiracy is real and proof that – according to them – the US Democratic Party are composed of sex deviants, while denying President Trump’s association with convicted billionaire-paedophile - the late Jeffrey Epstein.

As well as the Pizzagate Conspiracy Theory being debunked by a number of investigative journalists, no alleged victims came forward and no physical evidence supporting the theory was ever found. Sadly, it caused the defeat of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Election that resulted in subjecting America into over three years of social trauma that culminated in the COVID 19 response mismanagement and the systemic racism of US law enforcement that resulted in the resurgent Black Lives Matter protests. Let’s just hope this is nothing more than Robbie Williams’ sad attempt to be famous again to the 18 to 24 crowd who are now heavily into Billie Eilish and peacefully marching in Black Lives Matter protests.

Black Lives Matter: The Musical?

Given that the so-called modern music is predominantly influenced by African American culture, should the music industry lend a voice to the Black Lives Matter cause?

By: Ringo Bones

From a musicologists’ perspective, modern popular music is largely influenced by black American or African-American culture. I mean when was the last time a hit song had forgone that signature singing back-and-forth between the tonic and the suspended fourth – i.e. the Pentatonic Blues Scale? Fortunately, our contemporary online digital music streaming providers immediately took notice and avoided from being on the wrong side of history by launching Blackout Tuesday.

Blackout Tuesday was a collective action to protest racism and police brutality in conjunction with the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. The action was originally organized within the music industry in response to excessive police action that led to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breona Taylor. It took place on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Streaming services taking part were encouraged to abstain from releasing music and other business operations. Some outlets used blacked out, silent or minimal programming for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time officer Derek Chauvin compressed Floyd’s neck resulting in death.

Given that Black Lives Matter protests have since gone global, maybe musicians everywhere should do their part to tell everyone that racism is still alive and well in this day and age. Not just in Trump’s America, but also in the rest of the world. Country music band Lady Antebellum recently changed their name to Lady A in the wake of the protests of the killing of George Floyd and ongoing Black Lives Matter Protests. Although if you ask me, the name change is somewhat reminiscent to the 11^th Hour urgency of one of their biggest hits Need You Now. It’s a quarter after one but the famed country music band should have changed its moniker back during the June 2013 Paula Deen racism row.

Spotify For Your Pets, Anyone?

Aimed by the Swedish audio streaming site for their subscribers who felt guilty leaving their pets alone at home, does a Spotify playlist and podcast list for your pets actually offer positive benefits for your pets?

By: Ringo Bones

The Swedish audio streaming site has pitched the scheme specifically for those who felt guilty leaving their pet(s) alone at home Spotify is now making curated playlists specifically tailored for your pets to enjoy. Often referred to as “Spotify For Pets”, it’s been around for over two weeks now and many subscribers swear by it given that the app’s algorithm generates a music playlist that is more or less “liked” by their pets.  But for pet owners with a semblance of knowledge on how the science behind their pet’s auditory system works compared to theirs, are the “Spotify Pet Playlists and tailored podcasts are really backed by science that they offer positive benefits to your pets, never mind if they can even hear them at all given the physiological differences between the human auditory system and your pet’s?

Well, there was a study published by Australian researchers a few years ago that dog breeds used for sheepherding prefer to listen to acoustic guitar based campfire music and even seem to feel relaxed while listening to such repertoire. But what about the more exotic pets mentioned in Spotify’s pet playlists, like iguanas and probably snakes whose auditory system are more sensitive in the low frequency or bass region compared to humans? Would such pets prefer electronic dance music with a surfeit of bass – maybe Meghan Trainor’s All About the Bass perhaps?

Rough Trade Records: Selling More Records Than Ever?

The legendary record label and independent record shop says it has sold more records than ever in the second decade of the 21^st Century, sign that the vinyl LP revival is alive and well?

By: Ringo Bones

When the BBC ran this story a few days ago, I thought that it was part of their “This Week In History” series and they were featuring a mid 1990s vinyl LP revival news story that features the legendary Rough Trade record label. Stranger still, it was a current report on the state of the vinyl LP revival in the second decade of the 21^st Century. But what makes Rough Trade records so special?

Rough Trade records occupies a special place in the hearts of everyone who’s into hard-to-find alternative rock and punk rock albums, or just about any album censored by the Reagan Administration that won’t be displayed at your local K-Mart during the 1980s. Formed in 1978 by Geof Travis, it serves as a launching point of independent rock bands that were later signed into a major label. But during the 1990s, Rough Trade was often seen as the “British equivalent” of the American Go-Kart record label that was famous for the NYC based punk rock band Lunachicks.

I don’t know how the under 30s perceive Rough Trade records in its current form but for anyone who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, the Rough Trade record label will forever be associated with Scrawl, Young Marble Giants, Miracle Legion and Mazzy Star. Though newer bands – as in post 9/11 era bands – like Alabama Shakes, Arcade Fire and British Sea Power are also signed with Rough Trade records. And to audiophiles pushing 50, Rough Trade records was better known during the 1980s for their “rough-sounding” CDs because virtually all bands in this era signed to Rough Trade were submitting their digital master tapes on the early JVC DAS-90 digital recording system.

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.

Farewell Chester Bennington

With the untimely passing of their vocalist, will Linkin Park be able to maintain their previous worldwide success?

By: Ringo Bones 

With the untimely death of Linkin Park’s principal vocalist – Chester Bennington – of an apparent suicide back in July 20, 2017, many of their fans now wonder what direction will the band take or will the remaining members maintain their previous global success. But given the track record of the band’s propensity of overcoming challenges since the success of their Hybrid Theory major label debut album, it seems than Linkin Park could go on – more likely morphing into a very different band musically without Chester Bennington.

I’m probably not the only one wondering why Chester Bennington killed himself despite the success of Linking Park – i.e. successful enough to have founded the Music For Relief charity and being a recipient of the UN Global Leadership Award, not to mention a global success that include legions of headscarves-wearing Muslim teens from South-East Asia which used to be the domain of Metallica, Sepultura, Joe Satriani, Bon Jovi, Scorpions, Rammstein and this is probably all of 'em . It seems that Chester’s demons had become too intransigent for hi to deal alone. 

Being accused as a “manufactured boy band” during the runaway success of their Hybrid Theory album during the start of the 21^st Century – probably because of the execs at Warner Bros doing their part to make the band a runaway financial success despite of the Napster debacle depriving every signed hard rock acts at the time earning their financial dues – Linkin Park responded by sticking to their true selves and touring – which only resulted in legions of fans both in the United States and the rest of the world and two Grammy Awards. All earned before the end of the George Dubya Bush Administration – which is no mean feat indeed given that all of them were still under 30 when they took on the challenge. 

While a significant portion of Linkin Park’s fans view Chester Bennington as the voice of a new generation of hard rock enthusiasts ridiculed by conservatives for harboring “White Liberal Guilt” during the George Dubya Bush administration’s Post 9/11 jingoism, there’s no question of the vocal interplay between the melodic hard rock oriented singing of Chester Bennington and the skillful Rap oriented delivery of Mike Shinoda is the very aspect that marks the uniqueness of Linkin Park. It’s just too bad that Chester Bennington was fated to pass away before his time given that the band has yet a lot of artistic exploring to do.

The Ariana Grande Manchester Arena Concert Terror Attack: A New Low For Terrorism?

Even though radicalized religious extremist have targeted groups of children before – i.e. the Beslan School Siege back in 2004 – does the recent Ariana Grande Manchester concert attack represent a new low for such terror attacks? 

By: Ringo Bones 

The tragic May 22, 2017 suicide bombing of Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert by a 22-year-old British Muslim named Salman Abedi who detonated a shrapnel-laden improvised explosive device (IED) at the exit of the arena after the event. The brazen attack had resulted in the deaths of 23 adults and children, including Abedi and 116 were injured, some critically. At the latest stage of the ongoing investigation, Abedi was suspected of working within a terrorist network and 16 people so far were arrested in connection with the incident, two of which are released without charge. 

Even though Abedi has been under surveillance by the UK’s anti terror intelligence agencies since 2015 after he threatened a local imam for preaching against the so-called Islamic State, he managed to “flew under the radar” so to speak and managed not to raise red flags. Hours after the suicide bombing, initial investigations suggests that Abedi might be self-radicalized. A few days ago, critical evidence has been uncovered that Abedi could be part of a still unidentified terror network following the furor over vital forensic photos that were leaked to the New York Times that angered Home Secretary Amber Rudd that resulted in a temporary halt of intelligence sharing by the UK’s intelligence services and the US government. 

A tribute concert by Ariana Grande has already been scheduled later for the benefit of the victims and the families of the tragic Manchester Arena attack. And as a sign of resilience, concert events and a marathon scheduled after the Ariana Grande concert were allowed to proceed albeit under heightened security.

Farewell Chris Cornell….

As one of the musicians credited for making the “angst-ridden” Seattle Grunge into the musical mainstream during the early 1990s, will the music world be poorer with the untimely passing of Chris Cornell?

By: Ringo Bones 

Besides Kurt Cobain and the rest of Nirvana, it seems that Chris Cornell and his fellow musicians of Soundgarden were absolutely pivotal in thrusting the so-called “Seattle Grunge” into the musical mainstream during the early 1990s. Even though no self-respecting music lover associates the great city of Seattle, Washington with Jazz clarinetist Kenny G, the so-called Seattle Grunge movement of the early 1990s will forever be associated with Nirvana and Soundgarden, in which Chris Cornell has since become an indispensable frontman since they gained fame during the late 1980s with their Loud Love album. 

It was reported that Chris Cornell died of an apparent suicide according to his representative, Brian Bumbery announced to the press on May 17, 2017. Cornell was said to have been found dead in the bathroom of his room at the MGM Grand Detroit hotel after Cornell’s wife asked a family friend to check up on him. Detroit police spokesman Michael Woody told Associated Press that the death was being treated as a possible suicide. 

Cornell’s biggest mainstream hit was probably the soundtrack to the 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royal titled You Know My Name which he wrote with Independence Day composer David Arnold. This was also the first Bond movie of actor Daniel Craig. Chris Cornell also earned kudos with the plane-watching community when in a Soundgarden video Burden in my Hand they used a Swedish Saab 35 Draken to flyby 4-minutes 4-seconds into the music video. Non-plane-watching enthusiasts often mistake the Swedish Saab 35 Draken flyby as a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The music world could be a lot sadder without him and his still untapped potential.