2022 Pink Floyd Calendar now available to order

Pink Floyd music in neuroscience study on how the brain works

Just published is a research article, on the use of Pink Floyd’s music to analyse the brain (https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002176). As a result of the analysis, AI was able to reconstruct part of Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1, from brain waves alone. Whilst in itself, you might wonder what the point of that is. There is a hope that eventually, technology will exist that can use AI to determine what someone who is non-verbal is wanting to say. This would have huge implications for assisting such people, which is why the breakthrough is seen as so significant. The audio that was created is very muddy sounding and hard to make out, but there are clear parts that (knowing the song) you can recognise such as the “All in all…” lyrics. Whilst there has already been work on translating brain activity into words, the ability for AI to recognise musical elements could result in much more accurate “translation” within brain–computer interface (BCI) applications, conveying emotion behind words and phrases – key to proper comprehension of people’s thoughts and feelings. The analysis used 29 volunteers, who each had epilepsy and during a procedure (iEEG) had 2668 electrodes put onto the brain’s surface. Some 347 of these were on the part of the brain used for music processing. The team behind the work were Pink Floyd fans, so used their music for the research. A huge amount of detail on the work can be found here (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002176) for those interested in much more detail.

New Hipgnosis “Untold stories” book coming from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell

The lockdown period seems to have been beneficial, not just for reducing the spread of infection, but encouraging writers to pull books together, and we are now starting to see the fruits of these labours, with a number of publications being announced… and here’s another. Arriving in bookshops, both online and along the high street, on October 21st, 2021, is a new, 320-page book from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell – Through the Prism: Untold rock stories from the Hipgnosis archive (https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-21). Founded in 1968 by Po, Storm Thorgerson and Peter Christopherson, graphic design firm Hipgnosis gained a legendary status by transforming the look of album art through their designs for artists such as AC/DC, 10cc, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett, and Black Sabbath. The publishers promise that in the book, “Powell presents brutally honest, entertaining and revealing insider stories from the world of rock, featuring an eclectic cast of pop stars, comedians, actors, managers, gangsters, and inspirational world figures from 1966 on. His narrative is packed with anecdotes – from the founding of Hipgnosis to surviving drugs busts, and from the creative process behind the most iconic album artworks of all time to mounting the Pink Floyd exhibition, Their Mortal Remains – and is richly illustrated with Hipgnosis artwork and Powell’s own photographs. “Drama and creativity are the common threads throughout these amazing stories. With candor and insightful reflection, Powell reveals how he and Storm became an effective creative partnership despite their volatile relationship; how the final colour artwork for Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy was created; how the most iconic album cover of all time – The Dark Side Of The Moon – came about; and how the 2017 Pink Floyd retrospective became the largest and most successful music exhibition ever mounted by the Victoria and Albert Museum – despite the deeply antagonistic and dysfunctional relationship between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Throughout, Powell exposes how the trappings of fame and glory upset the balance of everyday life, bringing creativity and destruction in equal measure. “Packed with exciting insider stories and anecdotes featuring famous musicians, managers, and actors, Through the Prism is a must-have for music and pop-culture fans.” Certainly sounds a cracking read, which we can’t wait to get our hands on. You can order this book through the following links, taking advantage of Amazon’s free pre-order price guarantee – should their asking price drop at any point between you ordering it, and release, they will automatically charge you the lowest price during that period! Ordering through our links also helps with BD’s ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it: Amazon UK (https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-21), Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage-20), Amazon Canada (https://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamageon-20),
Amazon France (https://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamageon-21), Amazon Germany (https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0500252378/braindamage0f-21), Amazon Spain (https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/0500252378/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8 tag=braidama01-21 linkCode=as2 camp=3626 creative=24822 creativeASIN=0500252378) and Amazon Italy (https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/0500252378/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8 camp=3370 creative=24114 creativeASIN= 0500252378 linkCode=as2 tag=bradamonl-21).

Beneath the Surface: LOR

Happy Friday one and all! It’s a wonderfully sunny afternoon & I’m joined by a wonderfully talented singer-songwriter, who has just released her debut single, ‘Used To.’ LOR is Toronto’s newest voice in alternative RnB and our latest Beneath the Surface guest star! 1. What first got you into music/who inspired you to make music? …

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