Lyricists must write concretely enough to be evocative, yet vaguely enough to allow each listener his personal interpretation. The nineteen-sixties and seventies saw an especially rich balance struck between resonant ambiguity and massive popularity -- aided, as many involved parties have admitted, by the use of certain psychoactive substances. Half a century later, the visions induced by those same substances offer the closest comparison to the striking fruits of visual artificial-intelligence projects like Google's Deep Dream a few years ago or DALL-E today. Only natural, perhaps, that these advanced applications would sooner or later be fed psychedelic song lyrics. The video at the top of the post presents the Electric Light Orchestra's 1977 hit "Mr. Blue Sky" illustrated by images generated by artificial intelligence straight from its words.

The ethos of the band has been to remain experimental and stir a conversation around creativity in the age of machines. With its latest album, Chain Tripping, recorded between the band's home in Los Angeles and Marfa, TX, they've pushed this conversation even further: into AI. Yacht is comprised of Claire L. Evans, Jona Bechtolt, and Rob Kieswetter, and the trio transformed and crafted its working method for Chain Tripping. The result is a 10-song pop album which falls in the intersection of DIY and high-tech. "At a certain point, you need something to push you out of your habits and make you excited, challenged and a little scared again," Evans says.

That's the response you'll hear from self-proclaimed music purists talking about technological innovation in song creation. Sampling, synthesizers, drum machines, Auto-Tune--all have been derided as lazy ways to make chart-topping hits because they take away the human element. The new argument among fans and musicians will be about the use of artificial intelligence in songwriting. According to several estimates, in the next decade, between 20% and 30% of the top 40 singles will be written partially or totally with machine-learning software. Today, recording pros can use A.I.-powered programs to cue an array of instrumentation (from full orchestral arrangements to hip-hop beats), then alter it by mood, tempo, or genre (from heavy metal to bluegrass).

After months filled with teases, rumors and speculation, Sonos has finally introduced its first speaker with built-in support for voice commands. Today, at an event in New York City, the company unveiled the Sonos One, a device billed as "The Smart Speaker for Music Lovers." As expected, the main attraction here are the voice features, which at launch will be powered by Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant. We say "at launch" because Sonos CEO, Patrick Spence, ended the presentation with the news that the One will also work with Google Assistant in 2018. You'll notice right away that the new speaker, which arrives October 24th for $199, looks nearly identical to the Play:1.

Filmmaker Duncan Jones says his dad, David Bowie, inspired him to make movies. The director of "Moon" and "Source Code" talked about his late father Wednesday at the Los Angeles premiere of Jones' latest film, the video-game adaptation "Warcraft." Bowie died in January at age 69. "My dad was obviously prolific in music, but he also acted and I think I had the most fun when we were on film sets... I think I got the (directing) bug back then," Jones said.

It's more than fitting that the first posthumous video for a David Bowie song would depict a psychedelic shot through the cosmos. "I Can't Give Everything Away," a standout track from his final album, "Blackstar," gets a gentle lyric video that recalls vintage animation and science fiction, and alludes to death while embracing its mystery. The video, directed by Jonathan Barnbrook, uses cosmic imagery from the album juxtaposed against snippets of the song's lyrics. And with every day since Bowie's death, its message seems more weighty. "I know something's very wrong / The post returns for prodigal songs," he opens.