Not often does a film score stand out as a work of art independent of the movie it embellishes, but there are the rare exceptions. Everyone remembers the zither tune in The Third Man, Howard Shore’s ominous counterpoint clocks in After Hours, or…

I used to want to franchise a band—recording songs in a step-by-step kit that anyone could use. With AI writing songs, the idea’s less farfetched than ever.

Listening to Steely Dan’s Gaucho.

Listening to Steely Dan’s Gaucho.1.The cover of Steely Dan’s 1975 LP Katy Lied shows an out-of-focus praying mantis floating amid bulbous plants. I used to stare at it as a kid, listening to the record in my dad’s leather reading chair and wonderin…