The Rhythms of Primes

And the sonification of decreasing density

A 10-minute video exploring the rhythms inherent in prime numbers. For me, what was most remarkable was experiencing, through sonification, the decreasing density of primes as the numbers get higher. For context, check out its preceding video (below), which breaks down the correlation between the math and the sound. (Thanks, Adam Boyd, for the tip.)

*Originally published in a special, experimental September 23, 2022, “TWiS x 3” edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via [tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet).*

twitter.com/disquiet: Reverbs No Hollowness

From the past week

I do this manually each Saturday, usually in the morning over coffee: collating most of the tweets I made the past week at twitter.com/disquiet, which I think of as my public notebook. Some tweets [pop up sooner](https://disquiet.com/2022/09/22/the-guitar-circle/) in [expanded form](https://disquiet.com/2022/09/19/sonic-verbs-68/) or otherwise on Disquiet.com. I’ve found it personally informative to revisit the previous week of thinking out loud. This isn’t a full accounting. Often there are, for example, conversations on Twitter that don’t really make as much sense out of the context of Twitter itself. And sometimes I tweak them a bit, given the additional space. And sometimes I re-order them just a bit.

▰ In that odd situation where I have four completed pieces (three on music, one about television) due for publication before the end of the year. When they surface it’ll be like, “Oh yeah that.”

▰ Nice. At Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this year, the Jerry Harrison / Adrian Belew *Remain in Light* set immediately follows Elvis Costello’s (two different stages), so I can just leave the latter a little early. That’s Saturday, and on Sunday the Dave Alvin / Jimmie Dale Gilmore set is right before Galactic (featuring Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph), also on different stages. Those are the four sets I’m most interested in. If I’m missing anything else in particular, lemme know. And if you’re reading this but won’t be in San Francisco, all of the above (excepting Galactic/Joseph) will be live-streamed!

▰ The 21st novel I finished reading in 2022: *Summerland* by Hannu Rajaniemi. An alternate-history late-1930s spy story in which life after death necessitates a new branch of the British intelligence services — i.e., “What if Johanna Constantine was the protagonist of a John le Carré novel?” Very enjoyable.

▰ If you switch regularly between full screen and windowed, this can save you some actual headaches and seasickness:

▰ I fully support this vision.

▰ Current status

▰ Encountered during lunchtime walk and upon returning home:

▰ *”Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound
Reverbs no hollowness”* Stoked to see this Shakespeare production this coming weekend: Lear, with music by Marcus Shelby ([calshakes.org/lear](https://calshakes.org/lear/)). Side note: we need to bring back “reverb” as a verb.

▰ The 22nd novel I finished reading in 2022: *The Future of Another Timeline* by Annalee Newitz. I definitely enjoyed it, but it’s way too heavy to simply be “enjoyed.” Even with its fairly positive ending, you’re left rattled. It’s a time-travel novel in which history is battled over via “edits” that are like real-life Wikipedia edit wars — imagine Neal Stephenson and Galland’s *The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.* but with gravitas and punk rock, or if Octavia Butler had been hired to rewrite *Back to the Future*.

▰ I wonder the same:

▰ Actually, no, I did mean “excising.” Sorry, Algorithm, but I feel like these little blue lines are getting out of control.

▰ When you’re working from a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy (repeat at will) and only fairly late into the process realize that what looked like an eighth note has, in fact, been a sixteenth note all along.

A Virtual Stroll Through Mexico City’s Sounds

Listen to the "informal economy" of street life

Take a virtual/interactive browser-based stroll through the sounds of Mexico City, aka Ciudad de México, aka CDMX), and learn about the sonic aspects of the “informal economy” that is street vending. “The soundscape of the city is not fixed,” the narration goes. “It changes as the city does. As services become outdated — needs and preferences evolve, residents are displaced by new waves of gentrification and development, regulations shift — sounds inevitably disappear. … Similarly, the music of organ grinders (once an iconic sound of CDMX) may soon fade from the streets, despite its promotion by local government. Organ music simply isn’t as appealing to younger generations.” Check it out ➔ [pudding.cool](https://pudding.cool/2022/09/cdmx/)

*Originally published in a special, experimental September 23, 2022, “TWiS x 3” edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via [tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet).*

Prada x Cliff Martinez

Scoring a runway

Apparently the music in this Prada womenswear runway show is by Cliff Martinez (*Contagion*, [*Kimi*](https://disquiet.com/2022/02/18/the-sonic-set-design-of-kimi/), *Solaris*), who worked with frequent collaborator, director Nicolas Winding Refn (their team-ups include *Drive*, *Too Old to Die Young*, *Only God Forgives*, and *The Neon Demon*), on videos for the installation. If you watch the archived comments scroll by as the video plays on YouTube, you’ll see numerous assumed Prada aficionados describing the music as “creepy,” which is accurate and to be expected, since that is often the impact of this duo’s modus operandi.

I’m all for fashion houses hiring great composers to do bespoke scores for their shows. I feel like I’ve read smart critiques of runway music, in particular how name DJs performing at the events get paid large fees while the musicians whose tracks they play may earn little if anything — but I can’t find a citation in my browser history.

According to IMDB, Martinez had no releases in 2000 and 2021, with the exception of his work on the TV series *The Wilds*, so until his next reunion with Refn or Soderbergh, we may just have to listen to Prada on repeat.

Video originally posted at [YouTube](https://youtu.be/pE7iaQkTgUM).

The Guitar Circle

Robert Fripp's new book

I’ll say this: the day you finish reading a 561-page book about practicing guitar, you practice guitar.

Robert Fripp’s new book, The Guitar Circle, is a beast. A mountain of aphorisms. Seemingly every other page is aphoristic in one way or another — and then in case you missed any, there’s a nearly 40-page alphabetical list of them at the end. It’s also quite funny (witness his rebirth as a YouTube sensation with his wife, Toyah Willcox) and odd, so don’t fall for any “He’s an old prog curmudgeon” preconceptions.