Bleep

For this L.P. DMX KREW claims that "Each time a copy of "Many Worlds" by DMX Krew is unwrapped and played for the first time, the universe splits into an ifinite number of universes each containing a different LP with different music on it. Of course we are only able to experience one universe and I have planned for the music to appear on the LP" This is Ed's theory based on a theory of Quantum Dynamics called the Copenhagen Theory. So we asked Dr Natasha Mcarthy, a Doctor of Philosophy of Science to review the album with these principals in mind:

"'What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.' Thus ended Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, a text that enthused those philosophers who fathered logical positivism. The positivist thesis, that we should not formulate metaphysical hypotheses that stretch beyond available evidence, drove the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. And the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the subject of the DMX Krew's series of LPs, The Collapse of the Wave Function.

It goes like this. Quantum particles, such as electrons, behave oddly. Fire an electron at a barrier with two tiny slits in it, and it will appear at the other side as if it went through both of them. It behaves just like a wave, spread out in space, and its behaviour is represented mathematically by the wavefunction. But, if you try to detect the electron as it passes through either slit, if you try to measure its exact position, the wavefunction 'collapses', and the electron is just an ordinary particle going through a single path in space, passing through one and only one slit.

The Copenhagen Interpretation tells us not to worry about these weird features of quantum mechanics. Just accept the theory, and don't ask about the reality behind it. There is no more to be said, so let us be silent. But some have asked for more. What is it that happens when you measure the electron, which makes it change from acting like a spread out wave, to acting like a tiny particle? What is the quantum world really like?

This is where Ed DMX comes in. The Collapse of the Wavefunction (vol 4): Many Worlds explores the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. On this view, the electron does pass through both slits. But when you measure it doing so, you force the world to split into two - one where the electron goes through one slit, and another where it passes through the other. Every such measurement is a splitting of the world into myriad parallel universes. It's like saying that the tracks of this LP could sound any number of ways - until you play it. Then, an infinity of different universes are created, where it sounds different in each. A bit hard to swallow perhaps?

Can DMX Krew's offering shed any light on the paradoxes of the quantum universe? Probably not. But there are some pretty nice tunes here. A little more lush than many of the DMX Krew's offerings, and while everybody is inspired by Kraftwerk, the influence is particularly apparent here, to a nice effect. There are some tricky moments - the move from physics to a history lesson in 'William the Conquerer' (vol. 5) is an odd change of tack, but overall these LPs are a complex and sophisticated listen. They certainly beat silence."