Nobuo Uematsu:  Aria di mezzo carattere

Nobuo Uematsu: Aria di mezzo carattere

Video games are one of my great passions in life. I’m not kidding. I think the medium is absolutely fascinating, and have thought so since I was a child and discovered Baldur’s Gate and Final Fantasy VII. You can laugh. The debate as to whether video games...
Caroline Shaw:  Allemande

Caroline Shaw: Allemande

One morning you wake up and a schoolmate of yours just won a Pulitzer. Another morning, you wake up and a bunch of your friends (and their friends) just won a Grammy. That second event might happen more than once if your friends are in the...
The Idan Raichel Project:  Mi-ma’a’makim

The Idan Raichel Project: Mi-ma’a’makim

In preparation for my sister’s move to Israel this year, I asked her for a list of Israeli pop music I could listen to—you know, for my own edification. “Start with Idan Raichel,” she said. I’d heard of him, I thought, vaguely, but I wasn’t prepared...
Regina Spektor:  Twenty Years of Snow

Regina Spektor: Twenty Years of Snow

Singer-songwriter-pianist Regina Spektor is a force of nature. I am not cool enough to have heard of her before she was cool—I encountered her when I saw her music video for “Fidelity,” like everybody else. Remember that song where they were in a totally white room...