Pop music and classical music are supposed to be different worlds. Yet, in the last few years, the two have begun bleeding together again. On “Colouring of Pigeons,” from Swedish pop duo the Knife’s just-released album Tomorrow, In a Year, one can hear echoes of both Varèse’s Ionisation and Guillaume Dufay floating among metallic passages reminiscent of Björk. The album itself is the score to an opera about Charles Darwin, made in collaboration with avant-garde Berliner Mt. Sims and the British multimedia artist Planningtorock. It merges the artiness of musique concrète and minimalism with the grit of house music.

Since that’s far from the only high-brow stuff whizzing around overhead, we thought we’d give you a look at five composers whose works influence some of the indie pop you know and love. Listen to their music, and the work they’ve inspired, after the jump.

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Today at Flavorpill, we wished that Gabourey Sidibe had found her way onto this Vanity Fair cover. We watched a dog smile like a person. We tried to imagine kissing someone for three hours in an empty museum. We channeled other people’s emotional pain. We found ourselves on Team Macmillan. We read Dave Longstreth’s letter to Don Henley. We wondered who is going to walk off with Miramax. We judged the kind of person who would steal Ricky Gervais’ Flanimals. We watched Taylor Swift look surprised over and over again. We wanted to curl up with this poem pillow. We were disturbed by the literal music video version of “Billie Jean.” And finally, we drooled over Tim Burton’s new website. Does the man ever do something that isn’t cool?

Dirty Projectors have released a new limited-edition single of two tracks from their Bitte Orca sessions that didn’t fit the bill; they were previously only available on the band’s UK-only “Temecula Sunrise” EP. As good as can be expected following the critical success of their sophomore album? Yes. Whether they deserved their own 7″ is the real question.

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Today at Flavorpill, we were excited to learn that Elizabeth Banks will be playing Alec Baldwin’s love interest on 30 Rock — but does she really have to channel Sean Hannity? We discovered that Tom Cruise was the original voice of Captain Planet. We wondered why anyone would be curious enough to drop $1B on a CD-Rom for Windows 98. We wanted to join a complaints choir. With news of Elvis Costello and Neko Case joining its cast, we were more intrigued than ever by the Stephen King/John Mellencamp musical. We heard more from Dave Longstreth’s old “boy band.” We vowed never to watch the Jersey Shore porn parody, Jersey Whores. Not even for research purposes. Not even if Michael Cera cameos. And finally, we were amazed that Nic Cage can play anyone — even Sarah Palin.

Dave Longstreth looks like a dinosaur. He slouches when he plays the guitar, lowering his head to reach the mic stand, which he refuses to raise. His Statocaster is strapped far above his waist and so his lanky arms have to curl around the guitar, his hands dangling like little raptor claws. For the past six months since the release Dirty Projectors‘ Bitte Orca, we have allowed Longstreth and his gang of human harmonizers to devour our iPods, our “Best of the Year” lists, our “Best of the Decade” lists. So when we finally see the band live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, we realize — the predator stance is appropriate.

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As a general rule, Dirty Projectors songs are loquacious. They sputter and bellow and blurt until their every edge is on display, and the edges mumble into one another every once in a while. In keeping with this pattern, listening to the Dirty Projectors’ upcoming album, Bitte Orca (which NPR is streaming here), is like pouring out another round from a carafe full of bliss to a tipsy, antsy crowd. Read More »