Some recent things in magazines that may be of interest.
The current (23 Feb 2008, # 2644) issue of New Scientist (I bought mine on a newsstand yesterday) has 4 or 5 articles (the cover feature) on “The Music Enigma.” Some very good catchups on the current state of scientific thinking about music, plus two personal reports from Steven Mithen (whose book “The Singing Neanderthals” is well worth reading) and Daniel Levitin (who wrote the current “This is Your Brain on Music.” (which is still on my bookshelf, waiting to be read)) If you’re near a newsstand that stocks New Scientist, it’s well worth a read.
The Wire arrives so chaotically at newsstands all over the country, that it’s hard to recommend anything in it as “current.” Some people subscribe, and get it months in advance. Some big city newsstands get it air freighted out, and it arrives only shortly after the subscription. Here in little Wollongong, just yesterday I bought the December issue from a newsstand, so this info might be months old news to some of you, but, in the December issue(#286) is a large feature survey article on Harry Partch, with mentions of all the extant audio and video recordings of his work. If you have an interest in Partch, but didn’t know where to start, at the least, this is a handy guide to what’s out there.
Finally, MusicWorks, from Toronto – I don’t know if it’s on newsstands anywhere in Australia/NZ, but I subscribe, and it’s shipped out surface mail, (I know some libraries in Aus get it – if you’re affiliated with a library, it would be worth your while to check and see if yours gets it), but the most recent issue I’ve received (on Thursday) #99, has interesting articles on electroacoustic composer Natasha Barrett, vocal gymnastics virtuoso Paul Dutton, and the multi-talented Anthony Braxton, among others. All worth a peruse. MusicWorks has a website www.musicworks.ca, where some back issue reviews can be read, but if you want to see the magazine, you’ll have to deal with paper.
Cheers,
Warren