In recent months I’ve found myself pulling up in traffic queues to find the car suddenly filled with low-frequency thumping of the kind I’d normally associate with a failed big-end bearing. Every time it’s been the car ahead of me, which has its stereo blasting away for the benefit of everybody in a wide radius. … More Car stereo systems and gorilla chest thumping
Back when I was growing up and learning physics and music, ‘proper’ music was performed by people with degrees in the subject and was composed by British or European composers between about 1650 and 1900, plus Benjamin Britten (I would include Debussy, but he was French and I was doing the Royal Schools courses). The … More Metal. It’s entirely in the classical music tradition
One of my favourite songs is Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’. It’s such a dumbass number – a three chord riff, three-note ostinato bass, and lyrics that were reputedly subject to CIA investigation on the basis of subversive content. But that was because Berry’s vocals were so muffled nobody could understand them. The lyrics, audible in … More Ten instruments on which I’ve played ‘Louie Louie’
Matthew Wright 