About Mappa Mundi
The members of Mappa Mundi all washed ashore one day on this lush and lonely island, each one having followed a very different map toward a new verdant world. Steeling nerve and body against the elements, wild beasts, and blood thirsty cannibals, they continue to cast out into the sea with the strains of their music, hoping one day to be found.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Tag Cloud
60s 90s Americana Atomic Bandcamp Beatles Bomb cajón cello delay Dr. Atomic Elliott Smith explosion George Martin guitar Hamlet Jaye Tyler John Adams Jon Brion Ligeti minimalism Music musical News noise Ohio Oppenheimer Phillipe Halsman Photography physics piano Plato Pulp radiohead reverb Rocketopera Socrates Song of the Fortnight strings The Photography Post trumpet ukulele violin wall of sound WonderfallsFollow Us!
E-mail Us!
Subscribe to Our Mailing List!
Blogroll
- Brian Chirls Technology and Media
- Dessert Landscape Explorations of a dessertatarian
- Jennifer Baker-Henry Baker/Writer
- Me So Hungry Explorations of NY’s Varied Food Scene
- Ramen and Friends The Authority on All Things Ramen
Tip Jar
Thank you for visiting and for listening to our music. If you like the sound, please don't be shy about leaving a small donation in our tip jar. We've provided this handy button for donations that will go toward recordings, videos, site improvements and more. Totally optional, but totally appreciated!
-
Tag Archives: Song of the Fortnight
Like a Friend
A cover is a tricky thing. At its worst, an artist attempts to recreate what they love about a song and the cover becomes a cheap facsimile of the original. At its best, the artist takes whatever originally spoke to … Continue reading
Dancing on My Own
I am an unabashed fan of pop music, as I’ve mentioned. Pop is the intersection of many influences and musical traditions, and it’s able to take freely from those roots. In recent years, Robyn has become one of the best … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged beats, dance, distortion, drum machine, electro, Ligeti, minimalism, Philip Glass, pop, Röyksopp, reverb, Robyn, Song of the Fortnight, The Knife, ukulele, violin
Leave a comment
Maybe Stay
“Maybe Stay” is my ode to indecision. As the fellow says, “the life which is unexamined is not worth living.” The problem, of course, is that, in poring too closely over every detail, you can become immobilized by indecision. And … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged 60s, 90s, Beatles, delay, Hamlet, Jaye Tyler, Music, News, Plato, Pulp, radiohead, reverb, Socrates, Song of the Fortnight, trumpet, ukulele, wall of sound, Wonderfalls
Leave a comment
What Have You Done?
“What Have You Done?” is a newer song about my love of pop music, and all the yearning, subversion, and angst that goes with it. We all want to find something that will prove that our lives and our choices … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Beatles, cello, Elliott Smith, George Martin, Jon Brion, Ligeti, piano, Song of the Fortnight, strings, violin
Leave a comment
A Blunt Object, Oh Robert
I have mentioned that I love to write method songs. That is to say, to get into the head of a character I’m interested in and ask myself what I might think in his/her shoes. “A Blunt Object, Oh Robert” … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Atomic, Bomb, Dr. Atomic, explosion, John Adams, minimalism, noise, Oppenheimer, Phillipe Halsman, Photography, physics, Song of the Fortnight, strings, The Photography Post, trumpet, violin
Leave a comment
Ohiosong
And now, without further ado, my head still ringing with samba and caipirinhas, I give you “Ohiosong.” Ohiosong by Mappa Mundi Unfortunately, this is one of those songs that’s really better left unexplained. It’s intentionally vague so that the listener … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana, cello, Chinese, college, erhu, fiddle, folk, Ohio, piano, Song of the Fortnight, sufjan stevens, ukulele
Leave a comment
Mirabelle
“Mirabelle” was inspired by the novella, Shopgirl, by Steve Martin. I like to write songs about moments of transition. Be they moments of decision or indecision, I think we experience the sublime in those moments: all the weight and expanse of … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged character, fiction, method, piano, Shopgirl, short story, Song of the Fortnight, Steve Martin, story, trumpet
2 Comments
No More
“No More” sprang to life, fully-formed, through a process of spontaneous generation. Usually my writing process involves lots of trial and error and experimentation but every once in a while, a song (verses, choruses, and all) just appears fully, or … Continue reading
Cool
“Cool” is the obligatory song about dating, about that excited feeling when you meet someone with whom you click, but then, the next day at work, when you both are working the same shift, you realize that it was all … Continue reading
Lost
“Lost” is an older song, one of the earliest to earn the Mappa Mundi label. It was originally envisioned as a rock song with loud, driving guitars, but then when I started this whole Chamber Pop experiment it turned into … Continue reading