Author Topic: Sci-Fi Music (Read 79847 times)

Roney · **Reply #25 on:** March 10, 2007, 01:12:02 AM

I could only find the dead-tree write-up rather than the original ask-the-reader blog but The Guardian has done a round-up of Guardian-readers' favourite songs about "Sci-fi and Space": http://music.guardian.co.uk/readersrecommend/story/0,,1929642,00.html The blog was much more diverse. The end product says a lot about what a Guardian journalist considers to be "worthy" SF

And my own suggestion didn't make it. Queen, "'39", from "A Night At The Opera": the first and sweetest folk song about the heartbreak of relativistic space travel.

Jim · **Reply #26 on:** March 10, 2007, 01:24:49 AM

Quote from: SFEley on March 08, 2007, 09:24:13 PM

My wife and I were seeing this other couple at the time...

Wait, Steve, does that mean you and your wife were... um...

Quote from: SFEley

...she managed to swing us all backstage...

Well, I guess it does.

Totally kidding, dude.

SFEley · **Reply #27 on:** March 10, 2007, 03:27:47 AM

Quote from: Jim on March 10, 2007, 01:24:49 AM

Quote from: SFEley on March 08, 2007, 09:24:13 PM
My wife and I were seeing this other couple at the time...

Wait, Steve, does that mean you and your wife were... um...

Polyamorous? Yes. It isn't really a big deal.

Jim · **Reply #28 on:** March 10, 2007, 12:24:50 PM

Quote from: SFEley on March 10, 2007, 03:27:47 AM

Polyamorous? Yes.

You had a host from a poly-oriented podcast read a story for us at one point, and I never made a connection along those lines.

(Sigh) I was born ten years too early. I'm the last generation to still whisper about such things behind the hand. In the end, the joke's on me.

ClintMemo · **Reply #29 on:** March 10, 2007, 02:34:33 PM

"UFO Tofo" and "Flying Saucer dudes"
by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

DKT · **Reply #30 on:** March 12, 2007, 03:56:00 PM

I just listened to a song called "Ender Will Save us All" by Dashboard Confessional.

sayeth · **Reply #31 on:** March 12, 2007, 04:19:42 PM

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt 1" - The Flaming Lips: "Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me, but you won't let those robots defeat me."

"Mothership Connection (Starchild)" - Parliment

"Fazers" - King Geedorah

lowky · **Reply #32 on:** March 13, 2007, 02:50:03 AM

Quote from: Roney on March 10, 2007, 01:12:02 AM

I could only find the dead-tree write-up rather than the original ask-the-reader blog but The Guardian has done a round-up of Guardian-readers' favourite songs about "Sci-fi and Space": http://music.guardian.co.uk/readersrecommend/story/0,,1929642,00.html The blog was much more diverse. The end product says a lot about what a Guardian journalist considers to be "worthy" SF

And my own suggestion didn't make it. Queen, "'39", from "A Night At The Opera": the first and sweetest folk song about the heartbreak of relativistic space travel.

You mention Queen and you don't mention the fact that they did two scifi/fantasy movie soundtracks....
Flash Gordon and A Kind of Magic (Highlander)

Anarkey · **Reply #33 on:** March 13, 2007, 04:07:01 PM

The KLF. I'm not really a Doctor Who fan (read: I've never seen an episode), but even I groove to their "Doctorin' the Tardis" released under their Timelords incarnation.

Jim · **Reply #34 on:** March 15, 2007, 02:11:07 PM

The Mainstage at the Monkey podcast has some pretty spacey music up on its latest episode... listen for free, of course.

Zathras · **Reply #35 on:** March 16, 2007, 02:57:48 AM

The best example I can think of is "The Songs of Distant Earth" a CD by Mike Oldfield. Oldfield enjoyed the Clarke book so much that he based his recording on it. The song titles are based on parts of the book like "Magellan", "First Landing", "Sunken Forest", etc. The music is kind of that ambient, dreamy stuff.

Otherwise, what about Kraftwerk, the German electronic band? They have a bunch of songs about computers and robots, etc. Who can forget the classic "Elektro Kardiogramm"? I guess a lot of people.

Planish · **Reply #36 on:** March 16, 2007, 03:33:04 AM

There's always the subgenre of Surf Rock known as "Space Rock", but unfortunately the only title I can think of is "Telstar" by The Tornados (and covered by many others).
Nowadays, maybe "Man or Astro-man?" - http://www.astroman.com/ - fits the bill.
Fender Reverbs, whammy bars, and Theremins - what else do you need?

lowky · **Reply #37 on:** March 19, 2007, 05:05:12 PM

What about Monster Magnet. Alot of their song titles deal with sci-fi themes.

Anarkey · **Reply #38 on:** March 20, 2007, 02:47:08 PM

Quote from: lowky on March 19, 2007, 05:05:12 PM

What about Monster Magnet. Alot of their song titles deal with sci-fi themes.

I heart Monster Magnet's "Space Lord". Thanks for reminding me of it. I have more music than I can reasonably listen to, and things get forgotten.

lowky · **Reply #39 on:** March 21, 2007, 09:43:48 AM

Quote from: Anarkey on March 20, 2007, 02:47:08 PM

Quote from: lowky on March 19, 2007, 05:05:12 PM
What about Monster Magnet. Alot of their song titles deal with sci-fi themes.

I heart Monster Magnet's "Space Lord". Thanks for reminding me of it. I have more music than I can reasonably listen to, and things get forgotten.

I love the whole album Powertrip. Probably my favorite by them, with Spine of God next. Just ordered two cd's last night by a band called Turn me on Dead Man, that remind me of Monster Magnet somewhat. and you have to love a band that does a song about the Hale Bopp cult.

Roney · **Reply #40 on:** March 25, 2007, 12:29:18 AM

Quote from: lowky on March 21, 2007, 09:43:48 AM

I love the whole album Powertrip. Probably my favorite by them, with Spine of God next.

I'll always love Dopes To Infinity. Oh well, there's room in this world for both of us.

The very fact that EP forum folks like Monster Magnet is... not surprising.

lowky · **Reply #41 on:** March 26, 2007, 12:53:08 PM

and if a fantasy podcast is spun off, I already know the perfect musician for that one. Anything by Ronnie James Dio. I swear almost all of his stuff, esp. Rainbow era sounds like he's singing about the D&D session from the night before.

Tango Alpha Delta · **Reply #42 on:** March 15, 2008, 02:36:06 AM

"Lazarus! Come forth!"

I'm resurrecting this thread because this song has been haunting me this week, and besides, I thought it might be a nice topic to revisit after the great Homelands Cafe Brouhaha Massacree of '08.

The song is by Muse, and is called "Starlight". You can stream the full version here for free (I don't think you even have to be a member... let me know if I'm wrong, and I'll stop linking to songs there). It's almost a perfect Escape Pod song!

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

Starlight
I will be chasing the starlight
Until the end of my life
I don't know if it's worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to re-ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

But I'll never let you go
If you promised not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

And I'll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms
I just wanted to hold

stePH · **Reply #43 on:** March 15, 2008, 03:35:09 AM

Haven't checked into them (yet), but I've heard the band Chrome described thusly: "If Philip K. Dick had a rock band, it would sound like this."

Among stuff I have heard, there's VoiVod. Pretty much the entire albums Dimension Hatross and Nothingface (the latter containing a cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine"), plus the song "Forgotten in Space" from Killing Technology and the Asimovian "Golem" from Angel Rat; maybe a couple of others that I'm forgetting at the moment.

[edit]
From the album The Outer Limits there's the epic "Jack Luminous", and "We Are Not Alone", to name a couple more.
[/edit]

And of course, there's Frank Zappa's "The Radio is Broken", an homage to cheesy sci-fi movies in the same way that "Cheepnis" honored cheesy monster movies.

Darwinist · **Reply #44 on:** March 15, 2008, 04:33:27 AM

Quote from: lowky on March 26, 2007, 12:53:08 PM

and if a fantasy podcast is spun off, I already know the perfect musician for that one. Anything by Ronnie James Dio. I swear almost all of his stuff, esp. Rainbow era sounds like he's singing about the D&D session from the night before.

I was into Dio from the early 80's to the mid 80's, until I discovered Husker Du. Dio's solo stuff after the Rainbow era is also full of dragons and wizards. From "The Last in Line" on.

DKT · **Reply #45 on:** March 15, 2008, 06:18:43 AM

Quote from: Tango Alpha Delta on March 15, 2008, 02:36:06 AM

"Lazarus! Come forth!"

I'm resurrecting this thread because this song has been haunting me this week, and besides, I thought it might be a nice topic to revisit after the great Homelands Cafe Brouhaha Massacree of '08.

The song is by Muse, and is called "Starlight". You can stream the full version here for free (I don't think you even have to be a member... let me know if I'm wrong, and I'll stop linking to songs there). It's almost a perfect Escape Pod song!

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

Starlight
I will be chasing the starlight
Until the end of my life
I don't know if it's worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to re-ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

But I'll never let you go
If you promised not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

And I'll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms
I just wanted to hold

I LOVE that song. Actually, that whole album has "space opera" written all over it. Did you see the Knights of Cydonia video, TAD? It's pretty hilarious.

Tango Alpha Delta · **Reply #46 on:** March 15, 2008, 02:05:48 PM

Quote from: DKT on March 15, 2008, 06:18:43 AM

I LOVE that song. Actually, that whole album has "space opera" written all over it. Did you see the Knights of Cydonia video, TAD? It's pretty hilarious.

He's right, kids: Knights of Cydonia, spaghetti western meets Barbarella! It's a h00t.

gelee · **Reply #47 on:** March 17, 2008, 06:38:36 PM

I have that Muse album. There is definatley a spacey sort of feel to it. Spider Robinson did a collaboration with David (I think) Crosby called "To the Stars" or something to that effect. It's a little cheezy, but the song writing is very solid, and Robinsons voice isn't half bad. I think you can stream it from Spider's website.
For fantasy stuff, I don't think you can beat the soundtrack from the first Conan movie. Basil Poulidouris realy outdid himself.

Planish · **Reply #48 on:** March 19, 2008, 01:55:27 AM

A college room-mate introduced me to the work of Morton Subotnik (an electronic music pioneer), with the albums Silver Apples of the Moon (1967), and Sidewinder (1971).
Sample from Silver Apples of the Moon - http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/samples/silverApplesSmple.mp3
Sample from Sidewinder - http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/samples/sidewinderSmple.mp3

Mostly made on a Buchla "Electronic Music Box" system, an analog synthesizer. The sort of sounds you might expect to hear as a sound effect for a ginormous '50s computer, complete with das blinking lights.

(PS - this is not a photo of a Buchla)

Liminal · **Reply #49 on:** March 19, 2008, 02:54:35 AM

I have, no world of a lie, the soundtrack to the novel of Battlefield Earth. You read right, the soundtrack to the novel, composed and at least partially played by crazy ol' L. Ron himself. It's on vinyl and I don't currently have a working record player, otherwise I'd record it and post some samples on my site.

I want to second The Flaming Lips. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is only one of the more obvious of science fiction themed songs. There's also "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" off the Soft Bulletin.

And though they were sad
They rescued everyone
They lifted up the sun
A spoonful weighs a ton
Giving more than they had
The process had begun
A million came from one
The limits now were none
Being drunk on their plan, they lifted up the sun

Forcing it off with their hands
The trapdoor came undone
Above our heads it swung
The privilege had been won
Being drunk on their plan, they lifted up the sun

Yelling as hard as they can
The doubters all were stunned
Heard louder than a gun
The sound they made was love

In fact, most of their albums have at least one or two tracks that feel very science fiction-y.

Author Topic: Sci-Fi Music (Read 79847 times)

Zathras