A review of The Triumph of Music: The Rise of Composers, Musicians, and Their Art by Tim Blanning. A review of Leonard Bernstein: The Political Life of an American Musician by Barry Seldes. From PopMatters, what’s right and what’s left about country music; and who says country can't hip-hop? Mark Fisher reflects on how for three decades hip-hop has provided the perfect soundtrack to the brutality of the neoliberal world-view. A review of Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Rise and Fall of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper. A review of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music by Greg Kot. Stereo for One: Decades before iPod, there was Walkman — and before that, car horns and bird song. A label of love: Island Records, which turns 50 this year, helped shape the modern music business (and more). Has the dislocation of "world" music from its context in community and place led to multicultural mediocrity? Hello Cool World: How the path from cheap baroque to African drums to avant-garde led to jazz, Wilco and Bjork. Swinging in class: Douglas Groothuis on the benefits of jazz pedagogy. Smooth Jazz truly is the music of the gesture; it is music of the pose; it is music that hints at real music without being real music. Let's fight about Deer Tick's authenticity: Because nothing makes for better music criticism than rehashing decades-old arguments about indie cred. A look at the 10 worst subjects for a pop song.
