Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, July 20, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – The Ethiopian American sci-fi hip-hop group, CopperWire, has launched a project on kickstarter.com to help convert their debut alum into an interactive video game. In April 2012 they released Earthbound on the San Francisco based label Porto Franco Records. Their new project entitled Star Bound is the sequel to that effort, a remix app that adapt to listeners’ input.

“It’s a totally revolutionary way of listening to music, every listener will have a different experience,” said Ellias Fullmore, the lead developer.

Starbound is an ambitious project that will also include sonified light curves (the sound of actual stars), a space flight game, and an interactive art widget that includes a comic book.

“We are basically using math to compose the music,” Elias said. “Each input from the user makes that experience unique. I know it sounds crazy, right? It’s a brand new concept.”

The group also credits Dr. Jon Jenkins, an analyst at NASA Kelper labs, for allowing them use his work in their music. Jenkins produces sonic light curves (the sound of stars) using data from NASA’s Kepler Spacecraft. “Mr. Jenkins came to one of our shows with his wife and we had such a great time with him,” Elias said. “He is an older guy and he was the only white guy in the whole hip-hop show.” He added: “He just thought that it was fascinating that we used his work to make music. He never imagined it. His wife was in tears.”

The band CopperWire also includes Ethiopian-born singer and songwriter Meklit Hadero and Seattle underground hip-hop artist Gabriel Teodros. “We have known each other for a while,” Elias said. “Meklit and Gabriel are actually cousins, and we have traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya together in the past and recently we did a musical tour of Ethiopia. That’s when we decided to form the group.”

Watch:

—
Learn more about StarBound and support the project at www.kickstarter.com.