Maroon Audio Journal / Music
Records, artists and live performances. Find something worth hearing, then take time to listen.
Oct 16, 2026
Maroon Audio Journal · 16 October 2026 The original Doctor Who theme offers an unusually direct introduction to Delia Derbyshire. Its springing bass and sliding melody are memorable enough to hum, yet their textures resist easy identification. What is making…
Oct 16, 2026
Maroon Audio Journal · 16 October 2026 Sunday at the Village Vanguard · Riverside · 1961Bill Evans: piano · Scott LaFaro: double bass · Paul Motian: drumsRecorded June 25, 1961 · New York City Cover: the 2023 Craft/Riverside reproduction of…
Oct 16, 2026
Audio Journal · 16 October 2026 Eight string players, a library of volcanic beats, and the decisions that made a small palette feel immense. Original album artwork. Photograph: Nick Knight; costume: Alexander McQueen. Image via Björk Official Store. All rights…
Oct 16, 2026
Independent Labels · Jamaica / United Kingdom A guitar overdub and a hinged record sleeve reveal how Chris Blackwell helped the Wailers reach a new audience, and how much was already there. The original lighter-style artwork, reproduced in the official…
Oct 15, 2026
Billy Strayhorn, Juan Tizol and the musicians whose individual voices made an orchestra’s identity.
Oct 15, 2026
From frog calls to Elizabeth Cotten and Doc Watson, the enduring value of a catalogue that keeps its doors open.
Oct 15, 2026
On their 1980 album, Talking Heads made repetition a collective art: bass, drums, voices and disruptive guitars change the song by changing their relationships.
Oct 14, 2026
The address is easy to remember: 2120 South Michigan Avenue. The harder thing is to hear all the people hidden by that shorthand. Chess Records was a company, a network of labels and a meeting place for musicians whose work…
Oct 14, 2026
The opening track of Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You makes a demand with extraordinary economy. “Respect” lasts little more than two minutes, yet its clipped exchanges, rhythmic insistence and spell-it-out climax give the…
Oct 14, 2026
Portishead’s first album, Dummy, arrived in August 1994 with an unusually persuasive sense of age. The drums seemed handled and weathered. A guitar could suggest an old thriller without settling into the reassuring shape of a rock riff. Above it,…