Learning Music is a group founded by John Wood (based in Los Angeles; keyboardist for Sebastian Tellier and tourist with Inara George of the Bird & the Bee) and containing anywhere from 4 to 20 musicians at a time. With all of the music licensed under Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA), Learning Music Monthly is a subscription-based album-a-month series, available via mailbox delivery as well as high-quality mp3s with full access to the LMM archives- the on-line subscription starts at 1 cent in a “pay-what-you-want” format. Listeners (including non-subscribers) are encouraged to “collaborate in the creation of Learning Music Monthly, with remixes, covers, and sound donations”- see also the Contribute page.

The June issue, LMM 2.4 Geochemistry, is not only an album, but, much to my surprise, a DVD as well! Geochemistry includes 10 tracks accompanied by 10 music videos (or, rather, “the films were made first and the music made last”), each by a different filmmaker, ranging from narrative film (“Navel to the Eternal”) to surrealist imagery (my personal fav “Wyderka”, shown below, and “Ice Cave Baby”). Just as I was wondering if the music video as an art-form had vanished, here Learning Music have done a fabulous job of making their music inseparable from the footage- and even more impressive still as it was written and recorded in just a month’s time! Styles represented here are as eclectic as the film-work, ranging from quirky instrumentals (“Hunt”), danceable zaniness (“Suite 303”), and sunshiney folk (“All in a Summer’s Day” and “Poppies and Horses”). As innovative and entertaining as Geochemistry was, I can only hope for further exciting happenings from this music phenomenon!

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