(DTC356 Blog 7) Rhythm Science

I couldn't tell if Paul D. Miller, the author of Rhythm Science is a really educated and talented writer. Or, a average joe who is using large words in order to sounds smarter. Either way the text made little sense to me and there fore went over my head. So, here is my attempt at making some sense of the reading:

1)Rhythm Cinema- "Sometimes the best way to get a story across is to simply tell a story" (p.80). In this section Miller discusses how conveying meaning can be better by telling a story. He does this by giving examples of films.

2)Rhythm Space- "We live in a world so utterly infused with digitality that it makes even the slightest action ripple across the collection of data bases we call the web" (p.89). "It all depends on your perspective" (p.92). All people look at situations differently and the world wide and the innovations of the web and other technologies are bringing us all closer together. 

3)Errata Erratum- "During the time that I spent researching for Errata Erratum, I found so many examples of how Dj culture Intersected with some of the core tenets of the twentieth-century avante-garde that it seems to have unconsciously absorbed them all" (p.93). Avante-garde is a french term used to categorize cutting edge artists. Miller speaks about how Dj's are the new cutting edge artists of the generation.

4)The Future is Here- "When I got back from that party I cut all my hair off, leaving green, foot long dreads on the floor" (p.101). Miller was influenced by the culture of each place he visited and that affected his music.

5) The Prostitute- "My challenge to myself is to always try to create new worlds, new scenarios at almost every moment of thought" (p.108). Miller uses the moments and experiences in his life to stay original and new.


While exploring the website whosampled.com I found a lot of todays songs sample the music of the past. This really reminded me of what Miller was talking about how the experiences in his life influence his music now. If the artists that sample the beats off of another song from the past there is a good chance that the song was either a song they really liked in the past of a song that has the same message being conveyed. Take for example "The show goes on" by Lupe Fiasco, which samples Modest Mouse's "Float on". Both songs talk about struggling through adversity so maybe Lupe sampled the beat because he was listening to their music recently and was inspired. Or, maybe he liked the over all message of it and wanted to recreate it in his own vision.