Keen On

Yesterday, we featured a conversation with Jonathan Taplin about the dearth of high quality contemporary music and movies. The music writer, David Rowell, agrees with Taplin, but goes one step further, suggesting that we no longer even like new music. In his new book, The Endless Refrain, Rowell the rise of music streaming and the consolidation of digital platforms has so decimated the musical landscape that all we want to listen to now are the old hits of our youth. New music then, for Rowell, is being destroyed by new technology. The internet has frozen culture into a nostalgic mixtape of greatest hits. David Rowell grew up in North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For nearly 25 years he was an editor at The Washington Post Magazine and has taught literary journalism in the MFA department at American University. He is currently a senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. His books include the novel The Train of Small Mercies, Wher