Music

• Up two flights of stairs, the music machinery on offer includes brands such as Moog and Buchla, as well as modern euro-racks.
• (From Michael’s fieldnotes)
  I finally locate the legendary Schneiders Buero, a shop selling analogue synthesizers in Berlin’s Kotti neighbourhood.
• Up two flights of stairs, the music machinery on offer includes brands such as Moog and Buchla, as well as modern euro-racks.
• (From Michael’s fieldnotes) As academics who rarely go a day without playing or making music, we have spent the past decade examining the extraordinary revival of analogue technology.
• This means there are now more analogue options available than at any time since the 1970s, the heyday of the modular format.

The appeal of the slow

• So we dived in.
• Eventually, these forays became our formal research project, which has included visiting record fairs and conventions around the world, going on photowalks and attending listening evenings, and meeting an array of diehard analogue communities both on and off line.

• The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.
• And we expect interest in such experiences to rise exponentially in coming years.
• Recognising our existential need to occasionally slow down can be the basis for winning consumer strategies.
• Recognising our existential need to occasionally slow down can be the basis for winning consumer strategies.

Saved from demolition

• Rather than nostalgia, they are turning to film because of its aesthetic values and a greater sense of creative control over their photos.
• In response, venerable brands including Kodak, Polaroid and Leica have re-emerged – in some cases, almost from the dead.
• We literally saved it from demolition at the very last second in 2008.
• We literally saved it from demolition at the very last second in 2008.
• He said luxury brands such as Gucci are particularly keen on using film photography as this gives their promotional material a different look.

Work, effort, meaning

• When it was conceded that digital probably was better for wildlife photography, James cut in:
  That’s to miss the point!
• The sound might be better but you miss seeing the work that went into the performance, the effort of the players and their crew.
• Work, effort, meaning – these ideas are all interconnected for users and consumers of analogue technology.
• However, when asked to compare the two, they talk about the greater weight and meaning they give to their analogue experiences.
• I think it is the quality of the human voice; it does feel more like someone’s speaking to me.

• And part of what makes this possible is the process of analogue recording, in which all the sounds being made, including the unscripted noise of the recording process itself, are captured in the final track.
• To facilitate this sound, some musicians have even started setting up their own pressing plants, such as Jack White’s Third Man Pressing in Detroit.

The joy of happy accidents

• Half of what you do trying to make music is like a happy accident that ends up sounding better than what you intended.
• When we started, we didn’t have that technology, so we made mistakes and some of them were happy accidents, resulting in iconic tracks.
• When we started, we didn’t have that technology, so we made mistakes and some of them were happy accidents, resulting in iconic tracks.
• It’s these happy accidents that we love.
• It’s these happy accidents that we love.
• For example, the opening bass part of Cannonball, the 1993 song by US Indie band the Breeders, accidentally starts in a different key.
• Bass player Josephine Wiggs began playing the riff one step down, then fixed it when the drums came in.

Digital technology is de-skilling us

• Over the decade or so of our research, explanations for the analogue revival have shifted from nostalgia, to the desire for something physical in a digital age, to the sense that analogue technology is creatively preferable.
• Is digital technology de-skilling consumers, leading to a sense of alienation?
• Using analogue technology is another way consumers can feed this desire to re-skill.
• Rob told us how his love of music had turned sour with the “sheer ease” of digital, starting with CDs and the MP3 player – and how vinyl had reinvigorated him.
• For him, the problem came when listening on digital devices without the “sides” of vinyl albums, and then on music streaming platforms whose digital algorithms preference popular tracks.

‘This song sucks’

• These are the people who want to stretch and break the rules and trigger the happy accidents that create something altogether new.
• For example, photographers who seek more creative expressions by pre-soaking or “souping” their camera film in lemon juice, coffee, beer, or even burning it.
• And among this group, connecting digital and analogue technology is also common – combining two completely different systems to generate even more possibilities.
• Film director Denis Villeneuve’s first instalment of Dune (2021) was initially shot on digital, then transferred to film, before being re-digitised.
• By combining the two, Villeneuve got a film that, in his words, has a “more timeless, painterly feel”.

For you: more from our Insights series:
How music heals us, even when it’s sad – by a neuroscientist leading a new study of musical therapy

The artist formerly known as Camille – Prince’s lost album ‘comes out’

Beatrix Potter’s famous tales are rooted in stories told by enslaved Africans – but she was very quiet about their origins

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The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The decision sent out shockwaves: for the first time, a musician had received the most prestigious literary award on the planet.
• Does it mean the same as it did in 1901, when the first Nobel prize for literature was awarded?

High and low culture

• Is there a justification for distinguishing high and low culture?
• What is the relationship between culture and power?
• Often, the word “literary” is a status symbol, a seal of approval to distinguish “high” culture from more vulgar or less valuable “low” forms of culture.

Word play: text-based video games

• According to data from video game data consultancy Newzoo, more than 3 billion people play video games worldwide – almost half of the world’s population.
• When the first video games were developed in the 1950s, two distinct genres emerged: one was action oriented (such as the pioneering 1958 game Tennis for Two), and the other more text based.

• The inclusion of images in adventure games would not arrive until 1980, when Mystery House became the first “graphic adventure” game.
• Despite technological advances, these games inherited several features from interactive fiction, including the predominant role of text.

Literature on the screen: “story-rich” games

• In more recent years, a new sub-genre of adventure games – known as “story-rich” games – has become popular thanks to independent creators and producers.
• In Papers, Please (2013), a border policeman in a fictional dictatorial regime deals with terrible moral dilemmas on a daily basis.

• They have to explore several corridors while trying unsuccessfully to interact with their surroundings, accompanied by the voice of an enigmatic narrator.
• Upon reaching a room with two open doors, the voiceover states that Stanley “entered the door on his left”.
• Each decision then opens up new paths leading to dozens of possible endings, similar to a “choose your own adventure” book.

• These works are fundamentally based on language, begging the question of why video games cannot also fit into this category.
• Writing has always tried to break away from established ideas, and we know that literature is not limited to words on paper.

Andrés Porras Chaves no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

• My recent study looked at the inequalities rural and regional young classical musicians face, which are unknown to their city-based counterparts.
• There are systemic music inequalities in Australia based on where you live and where you go to school.
• Inner-city, private school kids are often the most likely to access music education.
• These challenges compound and these students may be less likely to go on to tertiary education and careers in classical music.

‘Right from square one’

• So, they were set up with amazing technique and they had the opportunity to go to schools that had an amazing music program.
• To compare my journey to some of my peers who’ve grown up in the city, some of them learned from a teacher who had reached an elite level, a professional level, on the instrument […] right from square one.
• My study participants often struggled to find a sense of belonging in communities where classical music was not visible or popular.
• One musician reflected on their feelings of isolation and lack of understanding from their non-music peers:
  I am really into classical music.

‘My first experience with a real orchestra’

• One initiative to address music inequality is the Regional Youth Orchestra NSW, created by regional conservatoriums.
• The NSW regional conservatoriums are located in diverse communities and aim to address disadvantage by offering inclusive music opportunities.
• The youth orchestra program brings together young musicians from across rural and regional NSW several times a year for intensive residential music camps.
• It was actually my first experience with a real orchestra […] I’m very fortunate for that, and I’m really glad I got to do that […] I’d never really even met an oboist before.

‘It doesn’t matter where you come from’

• As one told me:
  I’m determined to prove that it doesn’t matter where you come from.
• I’m determined to prove that it doesn’t matter where you come from.
• Read more:
  Arts organisations say they want to be 'cultural leaders' – but are they living up to their goals?

Mandy Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• CPI PROPERTY GROUP (“CPIPG”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Stefano Filippi as Head of Corporate Finance.
• Stefano is a graduate of University Luigi Bocconi and conducted postgraduate studies at London Business School and King's College London – Dickson Poon School of Law.
• “Attracting top talent typically leads to the best results, and we look forward to seeing Stefano in action.”’
  In addition to his group corporate finance responsibilities, Stefano will also assume the role of country manager for Italy.
• Giuseppe Colombo, who served in that role with distinction for nearly five years, will remain with CPIPG as Senior Advisor for Italy.