Joy Division’s iconic album cover for Unknown Pleasures has become ubiquitous. But what exactly is it? Designer Peter Saville explains the design’s origin as an image of a pulsar found in a science textbook brought to him by the band.

Marcel Duchamp’s impact on art history is well-known, but the Barbican’s newly announced multimedia season, gets specific, digging into how the Dada trickster influenced John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns.

Music on the new CD by Matmos (part of our 2007 Performing Arts season) is based on ESP. Using a technique devised in the ‘30s, the duo recorded verbal responses by subjects after the album’s concept was transmitted to them through the Ganzfeld method.

The Telegraph’s Mark Hudson compares the success of Korean rapper PSY—who’s “Gangnam Style” has made him an international celebrity—to vanguard video artist Nam June Paik. He argues that Paik’s diverse work and reputation paved the way for “innovators” like PSY.

Tributes for Philip Glass’ 75th birthday keep coming, and “First Listen” offers online tracks to the newest, REWORK_Philip Glass Remixed, featuring musical odes by Beck, Efterklang’s Peter Broderick, Amon Tobin, and others.

Folkie Amanda Palmer, once half of Dresden Dolls, earned a whopping $1.2 million on Kickstarter to fund an album, but she wasn’t planning on paying musicians who toured with her—a stance she’s reversed. So why does the outrage persist?

Pitchfork shares what they are calling five essential Yoko Ono performances. Selections include her 1965 Cut Piece at Carnegie Hall, a performance with John Lennon, and her recent collaboration with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

Three days before Sō Percussion debuts its Walker-commissioned world-premiere performance of Where (we) Live, the chamber quartet today released its new album of the same name—a musical exploration of “home” and “comfort zones.”

The Minnesota Orchestra’s union contract ends this week as performers and management head to mediation. Some experts see a lockout in their future. “It’s not in our control, and, obviously, we’d like to avoid it.” said trombonist and union member Doug Wright.