Things That Matter To People Who Matter

The Dirty Projectors | Marianne Dages | Metroid soundtrack | Time Cube theory

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Published: Dec 17, 2007

The Dirty Projectors

Mia Ferm

I am obsessed with finding ways to integrate the genius of '70s Afropop into new music. But this guy, Dave Longstreth — who basically is the Dirty Projectors — beat me to the punch. His last album is a reworking of Black Flag's Damaged, but that's the least interesting thing about it. He does these arrangements that never fail to rock and be funky and beautiful and have vocal parts with wild harmonies and syncopations and feature brilliant guitar playing. His two previous albums are more madman-in-the-studio efforts and are just as good. One of them has an animated full-album video that's my dude-you-gotta-check-this-out-on-YouTube choice of the season.

Marianne Dages

I was fortunate enough to know artist Marianne Dages while she taught at UArts, where I work, and now I'm lucky enough to own one of her handcrafted blank books (mariannedages.com). Each piece is a wonderfully tailored abundance of natural delight, combining what I consider to be an ideal for any artist: to take what the earth gives and create something that is both functional and beautiful. I wish I could release every album using one of her handmade covers.

Metroid soundtrack

Norfair, Brinstar and Kraid's Lair may sound like STDs, but are in fact areas to explore in the game Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I recently dusted off my copy of the original NES cart, not specifically to relive the experience of playing the game, but more so to enjoy the tonal density and dissonant harmonic structure of the game's music. The music that I write and perform is heavily inspired by mid-'80s Nintendo soundtracks, and Metroid is by far a personal favorite.

Time Cube theory

Recently, the boys over at Ugh God have been pondering Earth's four-corner or four-day Time Cube rotation (a theory proposed by Gene Ray on timecube.com), wherein the inhabitants of the planet assume they are experiencing a 24-hour daily rotation cycle, when, in fact, Earth is undergoing a 96-hour daily rotation cycle. This means that every inhabitant is actually one-quarter of their "assumed age" (assuming that "age" is based on the concept of a 24-hour day) but will die in the same amount of "time" (assuming "time" is based on the preconceived notion that Earth is on a 24-hour daily rotation cycle). Essentially, this means that you will die younger than expected. Awesome.

 

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