I drew on some of my previous Grateful Dead analyses for my newest MusicRader column, Bob Weir in Five Songs and a Jam.
Tag Archives: MusicRadar
AI transcription on MusicRadar
This week I wrote my first software review for MusicRadar, assessing a web app that promises to create sheet music from audio recordings. TL;DR it doesn’t do a great job.
A couple of media hits
I’m quoted in an Associated Press article talking about why pop music in 2025 is so bleak and in MusicRadar talking about Radiohead’s “Let Down”, the template for every Coldplay song and an expression of Jonny Greenwood’s love of Steve Reich. MusicRadar wanted an explainer on “Let Down” because it’s currently red hot on Tiktok. I suspect …
Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd on MusicRader
Big week for publication for me! I’m back on MusicRadar with articles about two 1970s rock classics, “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath and “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd. Both songs are so familiar, and built from such unremarkable musical components, that I didn’t realize how weird they both are until I got in …
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William Orbit’s polymetric groove in an All Saints song
MusicRadar asked me to write about “Pure Shores” by All Saints”, which I guess was a bigger deal in the UK than it was here, because I had never heard of it. Nice track though. I had definitely heard of the producer, William Orbit, who made Ray of Light with Madonna. The coolest thing in …
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Is ABBA, like, good?
MusicRadar has so far mostly only asked me to write about music that I like, but once in a while I have to put my own preferences aside. I did it for Wonderwall, and this week I did it again for ABBA.
Everybody Loves The Sunshine
For MusicRadar, I wrote an analysis of “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” to honor the passing of Roy Ayers. I have loved this tune for a long time, but I could never muster the energy to work out those chords until now.
A year of writing for MusicRadar
I am now a year (plus a couple of weeks) into my first professional (non-academic) music writing job as a columnist for MusicRadar. Most of the columns so far have been assignments from my editor Matt. Once I got the hang of things, I started pitching more ideas too, most of which Matt has agreed …
RIP Roberta Flack
I asked MusicRadar if I could do a Roberta Flack column in honor of her passing, and they agreed, so here’s an analysis of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” along with a broader appreciation of her. Before researching the column, I did not know her music beyond the greatest hits, how funky and political …
Is music getting dumber?
For the first time, MusicRadar asked me to write about a couple of scientific papers rather than a song or album. The basic argument of both papers is that popular music is getting simpler over time. The papers have some limits to their data sets and methodology that should lead you to take their sweeping …