Here’s part two of my “flashback posts.” Though I’m writing this in March, it was actually sent to me, lo and behold, on January 22! Sometimes things do work out, I suppose.

The Space Project (due out on April 19, Record Store Day, on Lefse Records) is actually a pretty cool concept. Featuring bands like Spiritualized, Beach House, The Antlers and Youth Lagoon, it’s a collection of 14 songs that incorporate sound recordings from space, recorded by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes, that were launched in 1977. These individually unique sounds are actually “electromagnetic radiation fluctuations in the magnetosphere of the planets, moons and large asteroids.” The songs are inspired by particular celestial bodies (see track listing below).

This music and satellites relationship isn’t exactly new. On each Voyager, there’s a time capsule that is intended to “tell our story” (as if the extraterrestrials will give a flying f***, right?). The Golden Record (a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk) includes music assembled by a committee led by Carl Sagan. Their chosen pieces? Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, “Johnny B. Goode,” Australian Aboriginal songs, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a recording of “Melancholy Blues” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven, and more. What, no Ramones?

Space Project Track Listing

Jupiter:
A: Porcelain Raft, “Giove”
B: The Antlers, “Jupiter”

Miranda:
A: Mutual Benefit, “Terraform”
B: Anna Meredith, “Miranda”

Neptune:

A: Spiritualized “Mississippi Space Program,” “Always Together With You (The Bridge Song)”
B. The Holydrug Couple, “Amphitrites Lost”

Uranus:

A: Youth Lagoon, “Worms”
B: Blues Control, “Blues Danube”

Saturn:

A: Beach House, “Saturn Song”
B: Zomes, “Moonlet”

Earth:

A: Absolutely Free, “EARTH I”
B: Jesu, “Song of Earth”

Io:

A: Benoit & Sergio, “Long Neglected Words”
B: Larry Gus, “Sphere of Io (For Georg Cantor)”

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