Does the enduring mystery behind the superior tones of Stradivarius violins lie in their "stronger acoustic response in the lower octaves" than that of more ordinary violins? After spending ten years painstakingly measuring the acoustics of violins rated from "bad" to "excellent" by professional musicians, George Bissinger of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, says that the 'excellent' old Italian violins in his sample show a significantly stronger ... Read full entry

The sad news of the death of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright last week, brings to mind a three part video synchronization of the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Pink Floyd's trippy Echoes track. Roger Waters, yet to balk at the sci-fi association, went so far as to say his 'greatest regret' was that they didn't do the score for 2001: A ... Read full entry

Talking of Parklife, music festivals, and the like, Garrett Murray puts the boot into the concert system: "Standing room only" is one of the worst phrases ever created by man. Do we stand to watch television? To watch movies in a theatre? To watch a play? To take in ANY other form of entertainment? People always say this is because of dancing, but I've been to many, ... Read full entry

Metallica's new album Death Magnetic has been so highly compressed that it has become distorted, according to some sound engineers. It has also been pointed out that this was a deliberate move by Metallica, and the album's producer, Rick Rubin. Compression, no matter how bland it makes a recording, shouldn't end in distortion - as it has in the case of Death Magnetic. This is a mistake. It's ... Read full entry

I've spent the last couple of days enjoying the latest album release, the fifth in-fact, from General Fuzz aka James Kirsch, titled Soulful Filling. James was good enough to get in touch last year when I was looking for some down tempo music I could listen to while working, and suggested I give his compositions a try. The General Fuzz music is just right, not to upbeat, not ... Read full entry

Word Magazine album map: find the exact location of the cover photography on your favourite album. Rocking.

Sting and the Beatles top the list of artists whose song lyrics are often misheard, according to a recent survey in Britain. Song Michelle has a line "Michelle ma belle, sont des mot qui vont tres bien ensemble tres bien ensemble", which is heard as "Michelle ma belle, some say monkeys play piano well, play piano well", while Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds line "The girl with kaleidoscope ... Read full entry

Led Zeppelin's rock classic "Stairway to Heaven" is estimated to generated the band up to US$562 million since its 1971 release. Not bad at all for an eight minute long song, not bad at all. And had Led Zep opted for licensing deals, they could have earned even more. Because the band is notoriously protective of its work, "Stairway" hasn't met its full moneymaking potential. While other ... Read full entry

A list of the 50 greatest Australian albums of the last 50 years. While some claim that recent technology is rendering the album obsolete, the best bands are still judged by great albums.

It looks like the anti-piracy message still isn't getting through if recent research, showing every iPod or digital music player owned by British teenagers contains an average of 842 illegally copied songs, is any indication. Fergal Sharkey, former lead singer of the Undertones and now chief executive of British Music Rights, said: "I was one of those people who went around the back of the bike shed with songs ... Read full entry