Fake Science

We’ve talked about brain music before – everything from brain music therapy to binaural brain beat synthesizers to hardcore brain-controlled synth action to bogus stories about dudes controlling synths with mind bullets.

It’s hard to believe, but it looks like there may be a commercial future for brain music medicine.

According to a Fox News report, Dr. Galina Mindlin, a psychiatrist at Columbia University in New York City has been using brain music therapy for three years to treat a variety of ills, including insomnia, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, depression, substance abuse and stress.

A complete treatment, which includes a brief medical evaluation, a recording of the brain waves and a personalized music file, costs $550.

According to Mindlin, the therapy has an 80-85 percent success rate. That’s where my BS detector goes off.

Drug treatment programs have abysmally low completion rates – one study reports that about 3.5% of those that start a drug treatment program complete it.

Call me skeptical on brain music therapy, even if there’s a market for it.

Let me know what you think!

Digital Music store Fake Science has released three live concert performances by synthesist Robert Rich. The MP3 downloads are sets recorded at concerts in San Francisco.

Rich is one of the pioneers of ambient music. His music has a unique sound that combines home-made acoustic and electronic instruments, microtonal tunings, computer-based signal processing, chaotic systems and feedback networks.

The downloads are $5 each, and previews are available at the Fake Science site.