Reading Time: 2 minutes This is the story of “Lounge11.au,” an audio file that is a long-forgotten example of one of the first internet viruses. Remember when this was what we meant by “viral”? The music in this video is a loop of a track called “lounge11.au” Lounge11.au used to play in a continuous loop on the Hormell Food’s […]
Music
Exploring the world of music from a secular perspective.
Posted inMusic
Music is made of time
Reading Time: 3 minutes Music is a hard thing to study or even talk about because it can’t stop moving. Aside from film, visual art tends to stand still, giving the viewer some control over the experience. But music moves forward relentlessly, thwarting any attempts to get a firm grip. Say you tell a friend that you went to a Frida Kahlo exhibit […]
Posted inMusic
The one Beatles album you must hear 200 times before you die
Reading Time: 4 minutes Every year, we see articles alerting us to “The 200 albums you must hear before you die.” I’d rather tell you about the one album you must hear 200 times before you die. And I know the album in question. I’ve already clocked the requisite number of hearings. And in fact, I’ve surpassed 200 listenings. […]
Posted inMusic
The glorious rabbit hole that is Postmodern Jukebox
Reading Time: 3 minutes Okay, so let’s stop shouting at each other about trans issues and Dawkins, gun rights and cops. This is unrelated to anything and apropos of nothing. I’m just sharing with you some obsessions. I have, for a few years, been obsessed with a YouTub musical phenomenon known as Postmodern Jukebox. They take classic rock and […]
Posted inMusic, Secularism
Retreat!
Reading Time: 2 minutes Along with Shelley Segal’s awesome Atheist Album, Cursive’s brilliant Happy Hollow is one of the great (and rare) overtly atheist/agnostic albums. This is (as I have posted before) one of my favourite songs on the album: They checked the shrine and the temple but he wasn’t there They checked the mosque and the chapel; nope, […]
Posted inMusic, Religion, Secularism
Who is Björk? The supreme singer who makes real all things.
Reading Time: 5 minutes Famous people, like Jesus, greatly help ideas go viral. That’s why it’s important to note that I’d never heard nontheist artist Bjork sing until last week.
Posted inMusic, Politics
Raging Against the Machine
Reading Time: 3 minutes This is a random Friday post about a band that I got into as a teenager but with a very veneer sort of understanding. I got the angst and anger. Sort of. But not really. Listening now, I get. My, do I get it. Perhaps you will only dig this if you were a teenager […]
Posted inMusic
British Iconoclasm: Christmas No. 1
Reading Time: 2 minutes Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Morrison. $£*&s are still running the world. Well did you hear, there’s a natural order Those most deserving will end up with the most That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top Well I say, “Shit floats” If you thought things had changed Friend, you’d better think again […]
Posted inMusic
Woodstock ’69: ‘We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden’
Reading Time: 4 minutes A vaguely spiritual but not religious vibe accompanied much of the social upheaval in the 1960s. It hinted at what might be possible in secular society.
Posted inMusic, Secularism
God’s Been on Holiday
Reading Time: < 1 minute Some Monday music for you, to keep you company. I always loved this. Good lyrics: