Our Very Own Musical Skeptacular

There's a trend among some of the longer-running US TV shows of, after a few seasons, releasing a musical special. I guess once a show's creators know they're on safe ground, and that their show isn't going to be cancelled in the near future, they can take the risk of making a themed episode - and music seems to be a common theme. Shows that have had their cast break out into song for an episode include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Community, Psych and Scrubs. And, although I'm not a fan of musicals, this issue of our newsletter will be focusing on music and audio.

Kicking us off, I briefly introduce the Most Mysterious Song on The Internet - honestly, most of the article's actually about the old PC game Doom! Committee member Brad MacClure follows up with an article about the magical frequency 432Hz. Then I look into vinyl records, and whether they're superior to modern digital audio encoding technology, followed by Bronwyn bringing you some truly atrocious songs from cults. We then finish off with a double whammy from me, looking into some of the nonsense health claims about the uses of binaural beats, and talking about how I spent some of my youth testing out claims of there being hidden backwards messages in rock music.

Mark Honeychurch

As a skeptic I love a good mystery - the kind of puzzle that Arthur C Clarke would write a book or make a TV show about. A couple of weeks ago I found a set of YouTube videos about a contrived ... (919 words)

Category: News

Brad MacClure

Music is an amazing phenomenon. It's something probably every neurotypical person feels connected to. You rarely hear someone say “I hate music” or “that person hates music” and, if you do, I suspect ... (1581 words)

Category: News

Mark Honeychurch

I was in JB HiFi the other day and noticed that vinyl records have made a comeback. There were rows and rows of new releases on vinyl LP, selling for between $50 and $60 a piece. It reminded me of an ... (1178 words)

Category: News

Bronwyn Rideout

For every Bill Gothard who terrorises his followers into believing that music with a fast beat will bring them closer to the devil, there is a Sri Chinmoy who is driven to play music, albeit ... (1664 words)

Category: News

Mark Honeychurch

About 10 years ago a friend asked me about binaural beats. I had to admit at the time that I was oblivious, and had never heard of them. He proceeded to describe a fun audio effect, one that only ... (1372 words)

Category: News

Mark Honeychurch

When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time hanging around at my best friend's house. His family were committed Christians, and I was a young atheist. This was a time before I converted to ... (2089 words)

Category: News