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Grant-Lee Phillips’ Happiness: Oliver Sacks’ “Musicophilia: Tales Of Music And The Brain”

grantleephillipsWhether it was as the guitarist who created the gothic-western landscape of Shiva Burlesque 20 years ago, the even bigger guitar sound of Grant Lee Buffalo that rode herd in the ’90s (while he screwed up his courage to get his feet wet as a singer) or his current solo career (a wonderfully diverse summation of most everything that’s come before), Grant-Lee Phillips has become a consummate musician. Little Moon (Yep Roc) is the kind of record you keep playing until the songs refuse to go away, even long after you’ve switched off the electronics. Phillips is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week, Read our Q&A with him.

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Phillips: Musicophilia: Tales Of Music And The Brain, a 2007 book by Oliver Sacks, has been close beside me wherever I’ve been since I caught the PBS special on the noted writer and neurologist this year. Like music? Like brains? You may like this book. It’s a wildly informative collection of case studies concerning brain injury, musical ability, savants and so much more. It ultimately leaves you realizing that there is more than meets the ear when it comes to the tricky art of music. Video after the jump.