Off the Record is a gripping, sweeping history of music, says Sanjoy Narayan

The YouTube series 'Off the Record: An Incomplete History of Music' spans 9 episodes and over 10 hours, produced by the Cosmic Shambles Network and presented by Charlotte Ritchie.

The series begins with the Big Bang and astrophysicists discussing sound waves from the universe's birth, then explores whether music is invented or discovered in nature.

Science writer Philip Ball is featured, defining music as sound that is deliberate, organized, and intended, including birdsong and whale calls.

Episode Two connects music to mathematics, tracing from cosmology to Pythagoras, arguing that music and math have historically been inseparable.

Episode Three examines prehistoric flutes from 40,000 years ago in German caves and music's role in ritual, medicine, and governance in ancient Egypt and Greece.