Your Favourite Album Might Vanish Soon.

Music can (and does) disappear from Spotify, Apple, etc.

I love music in all genres, and I have my all-time favourite albums in all those genres. Recently I had a craving to listen…

Mourning the Death of Music.

Why are people in such a hurry to kill art?

In my last two essays I’ve shared about how AI has stolen 90% of my income, as well as my reason to get…

AI Is Stealing Far More Than Jobs.

Loss of career/income pale in comparison to loss of purpose.

Before I read my new essay, I just wanna let you know that everything on our website is now half price. Whether…

Replaced by Robots.

The truth is that AI has already taken over.

Before I read my new essay, I just wanna let you know that everything on our website is now half price. Whether you’re a complete beginner…

Overwhelmed With Content? Use This Method.

One simple question can get your time (and your life) back!

I deleted all my social media accounts 11 years ago, yet every day I’m overwhelmed with things to listen to. And…

AI Hitmaker to AI Hitman.

Wow, that escalated fast!

It was only two years ago that I was sitting here at my desk watching a video on how generative-AI was now able to make music. I remember thinking: Man,…

Counterclockwise Music.

This Song Makes You Feel Good.

When I listen to “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, I’m instantly transported back to my childhood in the ‘80s. In fact, if I close my eyes while listening to it, I’m…

Odd Time Signatures

That Aren’t Odd.

Rare Rhythms That Move People.

American band Death Cab for Cutie recently released their new album “I Built You a Tower”, and the song “Stone Over Water” is a brilliant example of how…

Wanting Fans Is Not Wanting Validation.

Music is social. No fans = No relationships.

My previous essay, titled “Making Music Is Bad for Mental Health”, was a kind of eulogy to the pre-smartphone fan. You know, that person who…

Making Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health.

Songs need listeners, but most people are too busy scrolling nowadays.

You’ve just finished a new song. You love it! You’re beyond thrilled. You can’t wait for people to hear it,…

Life in a ‘90s Grunge Band.

Comparing the music world of 1996 to 2026.

It’s 9pm. Friday night. December 20th, 1996. Cape Town, South Africa. I walk out on stage. The air is thick with smoke from the fog machine…

Creating Calm Through Song Structure.

How to make a sonic sanctuary, like Tamikrest.

My favourite Saharan rock band Tamikrest just released their new album “Assikel”, and I’ve had it on repeat this week. Why? Well firstly, this is a…

A Couplet a Day,

Keeps Insanity Away.

Daily creative habits for better mental health.

We’ve just moved. Again. For more than a decade now, Kate and I have been averaging about one move per year. Last year we…

Forget Meditation, Listen to Music.

Meditating isn’t effective enough anymore.

As people become more addicted to their phones, society’s obsession with mindfulness meditation grows. I think that’s because the collective unconscious knows that we desperately need to take back…

Writers & Readers Against AI.

If you’re pro-human, join Paul Kingsnorth’s campaign.

The brilliant English writer Paul Kingsnorth recently launched a campaign for everyone who loves humans and human creativity. So if you also miss the good ol’ days…

AI Human vs Human AI.

A brief history of transhuman music.

Most AI-generated songs now sound more human than most human-made songs.

How did music go so horribly wrong? It all happened so fast, too! If you’re a Gen…

Musical Heroes in the AI Age.

Nø Førmat! You need to know about this record label.

Nø Førmat! is an independent record label based in Paris. They’ve been around for over 20 years, and they’re one of my favourite…

We Are the Orchid Children.

A call to highly sensitive musicians.

“Dandelion” children are those resilient and healthy kids who can survive and thrive under most circumstances. “Orchid” children, on the other hand, are those sensitive and fragile kids…

The Music Theory of Fun.

These two things make songs feel good…

In my previous essay Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? I told the story of how music was intentionally transformed from a fun and communal activity into…

Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?

Music used to be our greatest joy, then this happened…

1964. Fun, Fun, Fun. That was a song on the album “Shut Down, Volume 2” by my childhood heroes, The Beach Boys. Go…

Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.

How to find purpose, passion, and meaning in your life.

Okay so what’s a musical memoir? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines a memoir as “an account written by somebody about their life and experiences”.…

An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.

One simple question that will change your future.

New year’s resolutions don’t work. All the studies on them reveal this same finding. Yet every January 1st, millions of people make them. Again. Knowing that…

The Best Music Is Behind Us.

But that’s a good thing! Here’s why…

This essay began as a “Best Album of 2025” post, where I was going to share my favourite album of the year and what I loved…

The Geography of Musical Scales.

Finding peace in pentatonic places.

It’s thought that pentatonic scales are the most ancient of all the musical scales. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, it’s worth paying attention to these five-note scales…

Music is Mind Control.

Lyrics are little Derren Brown’s in your brain.

Do we have free will? That ancient question actually misses the point, because the concept of free will implies that we’re free to act on our desires.…