Microphone Check

The invention of the microphone, for anyone who might need to know, is a complicated story involving a string of technological advances in the latter part of the 19th century. But the man generally credited with the breakthrough that put mics into widespread use was EMILE BERLINER, a German Jew who fled his homeland for America in 1870. Berliner’s placement of a layer of carbon particles between two contacts greatly improved the sound of recorded voices and was essential for—among other applications—making telephones work. He sold his patent, in fact, to ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. Berliner was a giant figure in the early days of the sound and music industries: He also invented the gramophone—the predecessor of modern vinyl records—and founded DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON, which eventually became POLYGRAM, which became a key part of UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, and which survives as the world’s leading classical music brand.

The vast majority of modern microphones, including those used in consumer technology like mobile phones, take advantage of an invention by two BELL LABS researchers nearly a century later. JAMES WEST, an African American, and GERHARD SESSLER, another German expat, gave us the electret microphone in the early 1960s. There’s a good chance there’s one in your pocket right now; you’ll find plenty of them in your local music, film or TV studio, too. If you’re a professional singer or, say, a fashion-conscious A-list rapper, you may be more accustomed to standing in front of a high-end NEUMANN condenser mic, for which you can give thanks to yet another German, GEORG NEUMANN, who founded his company in 1928, a year before Emile Berliner died. Neumanns were the first condenser mics ever marketed and they remain the gold standard. The company’s early years were somewhat rocky; the complications included Allied forces bombing its factory during World War II, and Neumann’s wife, who was Jewish, doing her best to avoid being arrested by the Gestapo. Neumann and his company eventually settled, post War, in West Berlin, from which he couldn’t easily travel back into East Berlin or the rest of East Germany, not even on a highway. But that's another subject for another day.

It’s Friday

And that means new music from RM, whose INDIGO is the second in a series of BTS solo albums that began in July with J-Hope’s “Jack in the Box.” RM’s album skips through a dizzying array of collaborators, including Anderson .Paak and Erykah Badu, and styles including rock, R&B and folk, but “I just hope it could be digested in (the context of) a pop genre,” RM tells Variety. “I don’t care about the genres. I just like the sounds”... METRO BOOMIN’s dazzling army of collaborators on his second solo album, which arrives four years after his debut (plus a couple of weeks that he needed to clear his samples), includes Future, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, John Legend and the late Takeoff. HEROES & VILLAINS also features cover art that appears to be a homage to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”... Knoxville singer-songwriter ADEEM THE ARTIST fell into country music, the New York Times informs us, “when their parents decided their firstborn should not be singing the Backstreet Boys,” which is my new favorite country origin story. WHITE TRASH REVELRY, their second album since announcing they were nonbinary, explores “the misadventures and intrigues of a lifelong Southern outlier”... This magnificent ‘80s throwback from singer/songwriter SHANNON CURTIS’ GOOD TO ME, an album that began as a pandemic-era healing journal and ended up as a synth-pop suite, deserves to be a hit in this year of Kate Bush.

Also today: New music from Babyface Ray, White Lung (Vancouver punk group’s final album), Yemi Alade, Yungeen Ace, 100 gecs (surprise EP), Itzy, Kara, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Carl Cox, Leftfield, Tobacco, Black Ox Orkestar, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Frank Carlberg Trio, Chris Abrahams, Other Half, NOFX, Obvurt, Morgan Wallen (three new songs), Olly Murs, Suss, Sarchasm (Bay Area pop punks’ final album), Massa Nera, Micah P. Hinson, Brendan Benson, Donovan, posthumous albums from LIL PEEP and CHINX, and TO THE MOON AND BACK, a RYUICHI SAKAMOTO tribute album featuring Devonté Hynes, Thundercat, Hildur Guðnadóttir and others.

Etc Etc Etc

Thirty-five years of STEVIE NICKS talking about CHRISTINE MCVIE... Christine talking about Stevie... VARIETY’s Hitmakers and Hitbreakers... It’s Dec. 2. How does BILLBOARD already know the year’s top songs and albums?... A brief history of music listening interfaces... Sending love and positive vibes to the CLEAN’s HAMISH KILGOUR and his friends, family and fans.