UC Press Blog

By Táhirih Motazedian, author of Key Constellations: Interpreting Tonality in FilmMy path to music theory and film music was a circuitous one: in college I originally started out as a music performance major, then (due to a hand injury) I entered the world of planetary science, and after several

By Amy Coddington, author of How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and RaceAs hip hop turns 50, many mainstream outlets have highlighted how it has utterly transformed U.S. popular culture. And they’re right: look around, and it’s hard to see or hear something that hasn’t been influenced by th

FirstGen scholar and author Jacek Blaskiewicz talks about his academic journey and new book "Fanfare for a City"

By Kerry O’Brien and William Robin, co-authors of On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement“Thursday evening was a major moment for musical Minimalism,” the New York Times declared last month. The Chicago Symphony had played a new Philip Glass work at Carnegie Hall while, nine blocks uptown,

By Guthrie Ramsey, author of Who Hears Here? On Black Music Pasts and PresentWho Hears Here? is part of the UC Press Phono: Black Music and the Global Imagination seriesI wrote the essays in my new book Who Hears Here? On Black Music Pasts and Present over twenty-five years. These writings s

A stunning musical biography of Stevie Nicks that paints a portrait of an artist, not a caricature of a superstar.Reflective and expansive, Mirror in the Sky situates Stevie Nicks as one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century.This biography from distinguished music historian Simon Morris

By Mark Levine, author of We’ll Play Till We Die and Heavy Metal IslamThe video, posted anonymously on Facebook, had only 300 views when I first saw it. The singer wasn’t named, and in fact wasn’t even in the video — the camera stayed steady on the crowd. The words supplied their own visuals: “A