Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Beat.
The Free States and the Joy of Not Quite Knowing
There is something liberating about not knowing exactly what you are doing. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say about an album, particularly when the modern music industry seems to demand that everyone has a five-year plan, a recognisable brand and a perfectly rehearsed explanation for why every creative decision was made.
By Whitney Millera day ago in Beat
Mark T. Speakman Asks Us to Look Beyond the Surface on “Universe Dreams”
There is something quite wonderful about musicians who arrive at songwriting from an unexpected direction. We tend to imagine the classic route into music involves a battered guitar, a bedroom full of half-finished songs and perhaps a few years spent playing increasingly dubious venues before anyone takes notice.
By Whitney Millera day ago in Beat
14 Songs I Found on a Burned CD from 2007
Before streaming took over, you had a few options for listening to your favorite songs: waiting for the song to play on the radio, trying to catch the music video on TV or paying $15 for a CD that might have only one good track. As a child, I fantasized about owning a CD that magically played all my favorite songs. Unfortunately, this seemed like a fairy tale until Napster and Limewire disrupted the music industry, allowing users to download virtually any song for free--albeit illegally.
By Kaitlin Shanks3 days ago in Beat
The Practice Paradox: What Learning an Instrument Actually Does to a Child's Brain
A seven-year-old sitting at a piano, picking through a page of quarter notes, looks like she's doing one simple thing: pressing keys in order. She is not. In the space of a few seconds, she is reading a symbol and converting it into a motor command, coordinating two hands that are doing different things at different times, holding a steady internal pulse, listening to whether the note she just played matches the one she intended, and — if it doesn't — adjusting the next note without losing her place in the sequence. She is also, in all likelihood, thinking about the next measure while her fingers are still finishing the last one.
By Khali Sollis3 days ago in Beat
My Exclusive Interview With Killy Myne
With over 3,000 Spotify streams on "Burn in Hell" alone, Killy Myne is a rising star in the dream pop genre. Her current discography is small, but she's already crafted a dark image and a haunting sound that mark her as an artist to watch. I reached out to her for an email interview, and if you're a fan of modern slowcore and dreamy bedroom pop, her responses provide an intriguing look at the process behind these soon-to-be-viral singles.
By Kaitlin Shanks4 days ago in Beat
Brooks John Martin’s ‘Do’ is Happiness at the Edge of Reason
I love the fact that Brooks John Martin has taken a subject that could so easily have resulted in a very serious song and decided, quite rightly, that perhaps what it really needed was a bit of fun. There is plenty of weight behind ‘Do’ , the first single from his forthcoming album War All The Time , but Martin seems determined not to let that weight pin the song to the floor. Instead, it bounces, twists, accelerates and occasionally appears to wander off in search of something shiny. And that, I suspect, is rather the point.
By Whitney Miller4 days ago in Beat
Hide and Shine Release Their Third Album "9 Seconds Before Revolution"
I love a band that makes you wonder whether someone has accidentally left the doors open between several completely different musical universes. Hide and Shine are one such band, and 9 Seconds Before Revolution , their third album, is what happens when post-punk, grunge, classic rock, metal, country and psychedelic darkness all wander into the same room and decide that rather than fighting it out, they might as well form a band.
By Whitney Miller4 days ago in Beat
