Twin Peaks Day or not, there’s always music in the air, but here’s a compelling hip-hop album that was released today in honor of Laura Palmer‘s passing 27 years ago on February 24, 1989.
Twin Peaks themed hip-hop duo, Dwellers on the Threshold, is the collaborative effort of drummer and producer Michael Pipitone (aka Architekt) and MC Buddy Leezle. Forged through a mutual fascination with the works of David Lynch and melded over many a hazed viewing session in the Ludlow section of Philadelphia, Live from the Black Lodge is a 9-track odyssey into the twisted machinations of the city’s Eraserhood, laced with decidedly Lynchian overtones.
Watch the Dwellers’ video for The Great Northern to get an idea of their style, but don’t let that famously dreamy Audrey’s Dance sample fool you. Like David Lynch, they go dark and bass-heavy as well on tracks like Fire Walk with Me and Win Dem Earle, while reminding me of that DJ Shadow “Endtroducing” sound on others. Aces!
[bctt tweet=”Don’t let that dreamy Audrey’s Dance sample fool you. Just like David Lynch, Dwellers on the Threshold go dark too!” via=”no”]
Dwellers on the Threshold – The Great Northern (Video)
Live From The Black Lodge – Visualizer Playlist
The album is out today on Actual Records. Get your digital and/or physical copy from Bandcamp.
Fire walk with 
To Whom It May Concern:
I’d like to take a moment to say what a great site you have here!
Now that I’ve said that, I have been pondering a question for a while and perhaps you or the fans here can help me. I became a fan of the series when it first aired in my late teens (I missed the pilot and the first full episode, which means I joined up when Cooper had his dream). The current level of interest that I see in the show makes me wonder what the median age of the average fan is. From the videos and photos here, it seems like many of the hardcore TP fans could not have been very old (or even alive) when the show originally aired. So, what brought them into the woods for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie? Did they watch the show in Bravo reruns, or on VHS, or DVD, or Netflix (like I did recently)? It might make for an interesting sociological study, if nothing else.
Keep up the fine work, guys! And, of course, beware of BOB… 🙂
I was born a month before the first episode of twin peaks aired. In 1990.
And later I learned that my mother was a great fan of the show. But it wasn’t before 2010, when I was 20 years old that I would learn of Twin Peaks. I have always been a huge fan of video games, and the finish company Remedy, who made the more famous games Max Payne. In 2010, Remedy released the video game Alan Wake. And I fell completely in love with it. Top 3 games on my list. And one of the behind the scenes videos from the game mentions that they are heavily inspired by this show called Twin Peaks.
“Twin Peaks..?” I can’t seem to recall hearing about it. So I look it up. A show. Or should I say, THE SHOW, that inspired Alan Wake. Well damn! I have to check this out! So I shamelessly torrent the first season in the best quality I could find at the time. And after watching the pilot. I was in love, I binge watched the two seasons and the movie, fire walk with me. Showed it to my girlfriend and friends. And everyone I knew! Since then, I must have watched the complete series about 7 or 8 times, and plan to rewatch it again before the third season!
So now you know! Hope you enjoyed my tale, and I hope you enjoyed a damn fine cup of coffee while reading it! And get back to me, for sure, I always love talking Twin Peaks with a friendly fan!
-KJ
Thanks for replying, KJ! I must say that the sheer number of references to Twin Peaks in other media is somewhat baffling. For instance, I had never heard of the game Alan Wake until you mentioned it. What kind of imagery inspired by the show does the game have?
It has so many.. here is just a few of them if you dont mind a read 🙂
Ive also seen twin peaks being referenced in numerous other tv shows and video games. Anywhere from the simpsons to fringe. And the show Psych did an entire episode about TP where many of the original cast had guest roles, Dana Ashbrook and sheryl lee being among those.
-The setting of Twin Peaks is almost exactly the same as Bright Falls: A seemingly small and harmless (but fictional) logging town in Washington. In both towns, strange events occur.
-The Oh Deer Diner is a reference to the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks – the layout is identical to Twede’s Diner in North Bend, WA, where Twin Peaks was filmed. Even the clothing of the waitress looks almost identical to Shelly Johnson’s, but is red in the game instead of blue.
-The Cauldron Lake Lodge is very similar to the Great Northern Hotel in Twin Peaks – they’re both old wooden hotels on a cliff overlooking a lake.
-The way the patient in the Cauldron Lake Lodge crawls over the couch and tries to scare Dr. Hartman and Alan Wake is the exact same way the surreal person “BOB” used to scare people in Twin Peaks.
-A more obvious reference is the Lamp Lady, Cynthia Weaver, an old crazy lady that carries a lantern all the time. In Twin Peaks, an old crazy lady called the “Log Lady” carries a log all the time.
-In one of the manuscripts, FBI Agent Nightingale mentions that “… he didn’t like the trees or the coffee”. In Twin Peaks, FBI Agent Dale Cooper mentions, while entering the town, that the trees are beautiful here and later on, he gives compliments about the coffee at the diner.
-Ranger Rusty makes a compliment about the coffee at the diner, just as FBI agent Dale Cooper makes compliments about the coffee everywhere he goes. There is even an achievement named after his quote “Damn Good Cup of Coffee”, which you get after collecting 25 coffee thermoses.
-The Bright Falls sheriff’s department is nearly identical to the one in Twin Peaks.
The Alan Wake strategy guide contains notes on where to find the 100 thermoses of coffee written by an unnamed FBI agent. In some of them, this agent comments about his fellow agent “Cooper”. One note mentions Cooper attending a transcendental meditation seminar and another note saying Cooper had “out there” theories in the past.
-In the book The Alan Wake Files, interviews are transcribed that Agent Nightingale made with his micro-cassette recorder. Agent Dale Cooper always recorded everything with his iconic micro-cassette recorder, starting his sentence with “Diane, …”.
-Mirror Peak is a reference to the name of the show Twin Peaks. Mirror can sometimes refer to two of the same person (like twins) and then Peak.
In one of the last scenes in Alan Wake, Alan is confronted with his doppelganger, named Mr. Scratch, who was going to replace him if he died. This is exactly what happened to FBI agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks. He was trapped inside the Black Lodge and his doppelganger replaced him in the real world.
-In The Signal, a cardboard standee can be found of Sheriff Sarah Breaker, with a description that mentions her being the “…only girl in the Bookhouse” and tells of a “secret society” in Bright Falls. In the town of Twin Peaks, The Bookhouse Boys is a secret society.
-In a shed in Chapter 1 (the one with a radio inside) there is a locket hung up on a hook. This is a reference to Laura Palmer’s locket which became a key piece of evidence in the search for her killer.
-KJ
Wow. Maybe Mr. Lynch and Mr. Frost should sue for copy right infringement… 🙂
Seriously, there’s a lot of linkages there. Do you think looking for these enhanced your viewing of TP? I could see how it might either heighten or decrease the viewing experience.
Born 1993, am currently 22, I think I saw snippets on TV, but I was too young to have watched it aired in New Zealand. Still have old VHS tapes lying around, but it took us a long time to get the full second season on DVD in the country, importers were so hard to find. My Dad’s a big Lynch fan, our whole family loves Twin Peaks, had an influence on me since probably 12. Just watched the whole thing again last year with my youngest sibling, 14.
Still never seen a finale that has topped it, though Edge of Darkness comes close.
Thanks for replying, Otto! I must say that (except for the movie Dune), TP was my first real experience with David Lynch’s work, which for me has been somewhat hit and miss. I love Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, but I couldn’t stay awake through Inland Empire and I’m scared of Eraserhead… 🙂
This reply probably wont fit in irder because fir sone reason I couldnt reply to your last comment.
But well I didn’t really notice all at first. But after I watched twin peaks and went back to Alan Wake I would say TP increased my enjoyment of AW, rather than the other way around. Seeing as they got so much from TP. But now whenever I pick up a TP reference anywhere else I get oddly excited. Nothing like knowing that people creating stuff loves the creation of Lynch and Frost!