Dear Linechange reader,

We appreciate you tuning in every week. For the newbies: we're a newsletter that aims to inform you intelligently (and respectfully) about anything hockey + tech + culture.

This week, we're kicking the tires on a new concept: the end-of-month roundabout. The last newsletter of every month will feature news about a particular topic.

We'll start our first roundabout with: Hockey Music <-> Music in Hockey.

• Organs at hockey games: why ?!?!

• Speaking of which, the Flames get a new organist, and he seems rad

• Jets latest team to permit individualized goal songs

• The one & only Hans Zimmer does musical intro's to Kraken

Making Organs Great again

As a hockey community member, you can't help but get that immediate ping of warmth inside your heart once you hear that first tonality go off. I'd argue that the sound of an arena organ brings out the "watching the game as a kid with my gramps " feels.

But...Why organ music in hockey? It's intriguing, to say the least since hockey isn't known as a musically inclined sport. Well, musicologist Antonio Giamberardino developed a 123-page ( I kid you not) thesis on this very subject in 2011. His findings? Well, the use of organs in hockey settings started in Chicago in 1929.

The author postulates that the organs were introduced by the Hawks in order to "enrich the presentation of the game" and that it " brought the fans together" and could actually " change the outcome of a game and increase odds the home team would win".

Now that's what I'm talking about. Can't help but love that hockey is and always was the most superstitious sport in the world. It's important to note that live organists are still common in spite of all our technological advances.

Here's where it gets funky: Antonio speaks about the power of nostalgia on the consciousness. Teams have found that the organ can seduce listeners into a particular narrative, that is "neither logical nor illogical", as per the musicologist, while framing a current experience as pleasant through an auditory experience that provides an overly pleasant view of the past.

In other words, fans feel nostalgic for an event they have no real personal connection to.

Lastly, the organs seemed - at least at the beginning - to be a way for professional teams to "wink" at fans and let them sense a pinch of goofiness ( man, a church organ at a professional game eh?!)

Moral of the story: even after all the bloodied fighting, at the end of the day, it still was just a game.

Flames bring in new organ blood ( no pun intended)

The protege of Joosen, the late Flames organist of over 34 years, has taken over the team musical gallery. Warren Tse is a bubbly character and embodies the spirit of a hockey organist: somewhat geeky, somewhat of a loner, but most importantly an avid fan of the game.

Tse recently mentioned to CBC that he adapted his tunes mid-game, played to the crowd's beat & understood how to acutely rev up his team. Interestingly and in line with the aforementioned musicologist's thesis, Tse strongly believes he can add an advantage to his home team.

Here at Linechange, we love to see this kind of news make headlines because it highlights the pure hockey experience.

PS- Props to the Flames that could have opted for a Spotify Organist.

🤌

Goal songs galore

In a move so obvious that it's weird to call it news, more teams are now letting players pick their own celebration song after they score a goal. Well, kinda anyway.

The teams still play their goal song FIRST, but then they flip to the track that the scorer chose ahead of the game. The Jets just launched this option after the Sabres, Flames, and Canucks tried it out in the past few years.

It's been decades that the MLB has been letting players choose their song when they walk to the plate for their at-bat.

Yes, we get it, hockey is a team sport, but these fun little details is what the sport is all about.

Critically acclaimed Hans Zimmer helps the Kraken buzz

Hans m*therf*c*in Zimmer, wow Seattle, you're fancy and we like it.

The Kraken got the musical soundtrack legend to create their team soundtrack. I guess it doesn't hurt to have Jerry Bruckheimer as a co-owner ( queue in: ohh duuhhh now that all adds up)

The music composer for the Pirates of the Caribbean made an 8-minute riff that is pretty sweet. Check out a short tidbit here on the Kraken twitter post.

And if you prefer listening to Hans Zimmer's Kraken soundtrack on top of that famous Shane-Wright-Habs-draft-day staredown, well we took the time to piece that together. You're welcome.

Alright, that's a wrap.

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