The Fourth Dimension (Or, Time and Music)

As human beings, we move fluidly between the first three dimensions, for the most part. We cross length, width, and depth forwards and backwards. Within time, however, most of us can only conceive moving forward. Or so it was, until the advent of music downloading.

With the advent of music downloading, listeners no longer needed to buy complete albums to get more than the single. We could take whatever song we wanted, download songs out of order, crossing forwards and backwards in the fourth dimension. In our new found freedom, we killed the album.

I'm here in support of the album. Sure, individual songs are nice, but isn't there something about crafting an album as an experience? Not just throwing in interludes, but letting the music rise and fall throughout the album.

Have I got you yet? Then check out DJ Neil Armstrong's mixtape Bittersweet. Its not new, but I've been listening to it the past two days like crazy. He's a pretty cool guy. And this mixtape has a real story arc.