Music

The Musical Siblings Of Ska Punk

The Interrupters are a tight-knit family affair. Beyond their high-energy sound, the band is uniquely anchored by three brothers who have played together since

The Myth of the Mozart Effect

Listening to Mozart does not actually make you smarter. While a 1993 study showed a brief boost in spatial tasks, it was merely a temporary mood lift rather tha

Creating the Most Unwanted Song Ever

Artists once used data to intentionally craft the world's most hated music. They combined bagpipes, operatic rapping, and commercial jingles to create a sonic e

The Hidden Architect of Demoscene Sound

Known as Lizardking, Gustaf Grefberg mastered the art of creating complex music using extremely limited computer memory. He even pioneered a unique genre called

The Secret Code Musicians Use to Jam

Professional studio musicians don't read traditional sheet music; they use a numerical shorthand to instantly play songs in any key. By swapping letters for num

The Forbidden Sound of History

Known as the Devil in Music, the tritone is an interval that sounds unsettling and unresolved to the human ear. For centuries, this specific dissonant sound was

From Juilliard Violinist to Thrash Metal Icon

The Great Kat is a classically trained Juilliard violinist who traded her concert bow for an electric guitar. She now performs high-speed, aggressive metal vers

A Melody Born at a Deathbed

Arthur Sullivan composed his most famous song, The Lost Chord, while sitting by his dying brother’s bedside in 1877. He finished the manuscript just five days b

Mastering the Human Pipe Organ

The musicians of Huun-Huur-Tu possess a unique ability to sing multiple notes at once. Using a specialized throat technique, they produce a deep bass drone alon

The World's Largest Instrument Is Underground

Deep inside a Virginia cavern, the Great Stalacpipe Organ uses ancient rock formations as musical keys. It spans 3.5 acres, turning the entire cave into a massi

Braille Is Its Own Unique Language

Braille is not just a simplified code for the alphabet. It is a completely independent writing system that blind readers experience as a language all its own, r

Composing Music From Pure Sound Physics

Instead of traditional notes, spectral music builds entire symphonies out of the hidden inner structures of sound. By analyzing the physical spectrum of a singl

The Animated Masterpiece That Won An Oscar

The Cat Concerto is a legendary Tom and Jerry cartoon that actually won an Academy Award. It follows Tom as a concert pianist whose performance is constantly in

London's Thousand Year Old Hidden Cathedral

Despite being a site of worship for over a millennium, Southwark Cathedral was only officially declared a cathedral in 1905. It spent most of its history as a h

The Band That Accidentally Invented Outsider Music

Forced by their father to form a rock band, these sisters created music so rhythmically confused it defied standard melodies. Their lone album is now considered

Why The Denver Nuggets Almost Failed

Before becoming an NBA powerhouse, the Denver Nuggets were known as the Rockets. They changed their name to avoid confusion with the Houston Rockets when prepar

The Computer Scientist Behind Microsoft

Before her massive philanthropic career, Melinda French Gates was a talented software developer. She joined Microsoft in 1987, where she helped build some of th

The Nineteenth Century Roots of Springfield Beer

Springfield, Illinois became a hub for German-style brewing in 1849, long before the modern craft beer movement. The Reisch Brewing Company pioneered this local

Stravinsky Wrote This for an Anniversary

Igor Stravinsky composed his famous Dumbarton Oaks concerto as a gift for a wealthy couple celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary. It is named after th

The Punk Roots of Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy began as a spontaneous side project within Chicago’s aggressive hardcore punk scene. The band members never intended for their casual jam session t

The Expanding Web of Boogiepop Characters

Despite spanning fourteen novels and multiple film adaptations, the sprawling Boogiepop series relies on only four core protagonists. Every new installment cont

The Forgotten Classic Of British Musicals

Despite becoming a massive box office sensation in 1956, this upbeat musical is now strangely absent from modern pop culture. It features a beloved school teach

The Massive Radio Archives of John Lennon

Decades after his death, John Lennon starred in a long-running radio show that reached seven million listeners weekly. This series aired over 200 hours of rare,

The Strange Longevity of Dance Fads

While most dance crazes disappear as quickly as they arrive, some defy the odds to become cultural staples. Despite being labeled as temporary fads, iconic move