Superheroes of Space

Superheroes Of Space - The Album

2009-05-30T00:58:00.000-07:00

Downloads

The audio

Zip file of MP3s (80.7 MB)
Apple Lossless versions from Mediafire (coming soon)
MP3s from Last.FM
MP3s from Jamendo

The artwork

Ready to print A4 PDF

The track listing

Laika
Music: Kip Loades (produced by Rob Fisher)
Lyrics and Vocals: Layla Vandenbergh
Droids (gonna rock this mothership)
Music: Dan Gresham
Lyrics and Vocals: Greg Dean
An Echo of Mimesis [subject: James Turrell]
Music: Joe Dean
Lyrics: Tim Donderevo
Vocals: Kelly Hoglund
I am the Space Hand [subject: DEXTRE]
Music: Jimmy Schmitz: First Engineer ISS (additional synth commands: Doctor 30)
Lyrics: Tim Donderevo
Vocals: Microsoft Mike
Russian Man Outside [subject: Alexey Leonov]
Music: Greg Dean
Lyrics and Lead Vocals: Barney Brown / Kip Loades
Voyager
Music: Robot Android Fisher
Lyrics and Vocals: Craig Macintosh
Dear Mars Rovers
Music: Craig Macintosh
Lyrics and vocals: Jules Peters
Backing Vocals: Sam Berry
Probe II’s Golden Message [subject: Voyager II]
Music: Dan Waldkirch
Lyrics and Vocals: Kip Loades
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Music: Mike Weber
Lyrics and Vocals: Joseph Ashley-Smith
Lonely Planets Club [subject: Pluto]
Music: Tim Marchand and Jules Peters (percussion: Julian Lambert)
Lyrics and Vocals: Dan Waldkirch
Dave [subject: 2001]
Music: Eric Lebofsky/Tim Donderevo
Lyrics and Vocals: Bob Rocket
Space Junk
Music: Barney Brown (additional drums: Jim Smith)
Lyrics and Vocals: Eric Lebofsky / Tim Donderevo
Step Aside Roger Moore [subject: Yuri Gagarin]
Music: Digital Midget
Lyrics and Vocals: Jimmy Binks and the Shakehorns: JuPiter (Jules Peters), Spaceman Sam (Sam Berry) Tim Martian (Tim Marchand) (additional backing vocals: Eddie "Dwiddles" Peters)
That’s the Worm’s Game [Subject: Wormholes]
Music: Jules Peters (drums and percussion: Julian Lambert)
Lyrics: Nick Osbourne / Richard Yates
Vocals: Nick Osbourne / Mad Sparks
Freeman Lowell
Music: The Incredible Flight of Birdman
Lyrics and Vocals: Tim Marchand
The Burning Man [subject: Gully Foyle]
Music: Joseph Ashley-Smith
Lyrics and Vocals: Dan Waldkirch

Album mastered by Tim Donderevo

Artwork by Greg Dean and Dan Gresham

Images Courtesy of NASA

The lyrics

Read all the lyrics

Copyright

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

DEXTRE VIDEO!

2009-05-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Friends of every nation...

Here's a sneak preview of one of my Superheroes Of Space tracks! Enjoy the album!

Tim
XXX

Ta Da 2

2009-05-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Some possible issues of copyright with some of the images used on the last cover had prompted a re-think. The original concept didn't work without most of the subject matter represented so I trawled Nasa's copyright free gallery for inspiration. And there it was - Astronaut Mike Gernhardt doing the classic foreshortened flying pose of a Superhero. In Space! (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_313.html )

A few tweaks, a bit of smoke for effect, lots of sparkle and shine and out pops a new cover.
Thanks Mike...

Are we "Go"?

2009-05-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

Are the tracks all in yet?

Because...I am getting Excited!

Ta-Da!

2009-05-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

You'll have to imagine the spacejunk and wormholes somewhere around the top just out of view. All your other subjects are there. For some reason there were no Victorian engravings of astronauts and rockets in my source books(!) so we have moved away from this aspect of the brand identity while hopefully retaining all the other recognizable features of the 'Superheroes' trilogy (sorry, I sound like I'm on the apprentice). Thanks to Dan for helping out and providing some other great images for the project which will be released soon.

EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE

2009-05-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hey - IML!

In only 13.7 million years, we have come from a very small hot primordial state into an infinitely expanding dimension of (hopefully saddle-shaped) timespace. Right at the expanded end of the chart is the IML's Superheroes of Space album - appropriately the newest and coolest thing in the universe.

I'm in the process of mastering the Superheroes Of Space album, and I want to thank you all for making my job so easy. I know I always plotz when I first hear all the tracks - but this bunch of songs is really something else. I feel like everyone was trying to out-do themselves, and succeeded.

The quality and integrity of the audio is so high for this project, that I've had to take a different, subtler approach to mastering. Across the board the production of the backing tracks was way more consistent than albums 1 & 2 and the integration of the vocals well handled. To get geeky - instead of mastering with compression to get all the tracks sounding similar (and loud) I'm using a rad EQ called 'Har Bal' to tweak the odd freq. That's all.

As usual - doing some intensive listening has revealed the subtlest elements of all your songs; I've heard them, and dug them, and hopefully enhanced them where I could. V. excited about this album - its as heavy and beautiful in places as any music I listen to - and spazzy as hell.

Nice!

So close now. Can.. almost.. touch...it...

2009-05-09T01:13:00.000-07:00

Inching ever closer, last tracks should be ready within days, some mastering work already started. I think we have just enough oxygen to last...

[For any of you struggling to pass the time until release date, try reading The Dirt (The Motley Crue story). Just finished it - its bloody amazing - and I don't even like Motley Crue! Best rock and roll book I've ever read. Anyone wanna start a glam rock band?!]

Grreg Sevven

D E A D L I N E

2009-04-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a busy album this has become. I know that a lot of members have been as frantic as I have, getting their tracks together - but from what I've heard so far - the standard is way high, and the songs are awesome. It never fails to amaze me, the level of subtlety and detail that makes its way into IML tracks. I'm really looking forward to getting intimate with all of them.

Eric and I managed to record the vocals for our SPACE JUNK track this past weekend in Milwaukee. It was a heck of a challenge, and we almost completely abandoned our rap approach to Barney's experimental track; but in the end we tapped into our hidden hip-hop identities and got stuck into the track. It was incredibly challenging to vocalize all the complex rhymes - super-fast rhythmic singing does not come naturally. We were rhyming all night in the pub afterwards.

Feeling quite sad that the trilogy is coming to an end - but very glad that it's concluding in such style. Rock on IML!

Semi-interesting stuff.

2009-04-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, I've been working on my senior thesis as a Music Technology student at Ball State University. The topic I chose is speed composition/songwriting, and I picked out a couple artists and groups to talk about and interview. Guess what? The IML is one of them. As part of the assignment, I had to make a website presenting the information...it's not too flashy, but it gets the job done, and here it is:

http://djwaldkirch.iweb.bsu.edu/MUMET/

Greg, Tim, and Barney gave me lots of great insight into how and why the IML works, and I'm sure some of you would be interested to read about it.

The site is basically just my 32-page paper divided into 7 parts...if you're having lots of fun in the IML and want more opportunities to write music, I encourage you to look into the other sections of the site!

Looking forward to more vocals soon!

Dan

P.S. I made the site in about an hour, and it's not due for 2 weeks...if you spot any mistakes, let me know!

But he still hasn't gotten his stuff back.

2009-04-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished and uploaded my vocals for Tim M's Pluto track, and I love how it turned out. It's called "Lonely Planets Club," and I went in a bit of a strange direction for the lyrics. In the song, Pluto is a somewhat bitter divorcee, probably living at some sort of bachelor pad. He recalls his recent breakup with our solar system, and though he's in a lot of pain, he remains somewhat optimistic. His support system is, of course, the Lonely Planets Club. In the end, everything turns out great for Pluto, because he finds happiness in a new relationship with the Kuiper Belt. A little stupid, I know, but the decision was made after I learned that Pluto's heart is literally made of ice and stone. If that doesn't scream "messy breakup song," I don't know what does.

I was obsessing a little bit over these lyrics for the past few days...I think I may have over-thought the concept, but I really like the song. I especially like that you can take it out of the context of the Space album, and it could easily be just about a guy, not a planet.

That's about all I have to say about it...download it and enjoy! And of course, let me know if there are any mixing issues...I've been working on it for the last 4 hours and I have no idea what it really sounds like anymore.

Do Androids Dream of Electro?

2009-04-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Recorded all lyrics to my song yesterday (4 robots, a party rabble singalong, a vincent price impression and some heavy 80s rap) and it sounds .... well... er.. I dunno. So I asked my team of critics for some feedback as I always do. My 4 year old said it 'sounds a little bit scary', my six year old asked for Hannah Montana back on the ipod and my wife said it sounded better in the shower!!

Hmmm..... Anyway, had great fun doing it. Had never sung much in character before and it turns out there were quite a few characters waiting to be released.

Deadline on Monday. I'm all excited like its Christmas Eve and I'm 5 years old.

Prima tempo

2009-04-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

As the production of the Laika song draws to a close I wanted to share my experience of being a first-time songwriter. I was handed the brief just after the Cambridge Science festival gig was finished so it seemed particularly pertinent to make it as educational as possible. One of the great things about the IML is everybody's forced to do some research; I love researching so spent a couple of days scouring the web for as much on Laika as possible, moving into the USA-USSR space race and the Cold War, ie ended up generally trying to get my head around 20th century Russian politics and wondering how I was going to fit all that into a 3 and half minute song. What became almost immediately apparent is that the guy responsible for putting Russian animals in space, Oleg Gazenko, actually felt pretty guilty about the whole Laika business so that seemed like a great starting point. In 1998 he said this:

"Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog."

One of the other scientists (Vladimir Yadovsky) took Laika home, on the eve of her space journey, to have some play time with his kids. I was getting a sense that there was a level of guilt from the scientists about blasting this dog into space on her terminal journey and that Laika was a pretty lovable little dog. Thus the song I've written is an attempt to be from the perspective of these scientists at the time (thus it turned out I didn't have to fit 50 odd years of Soviet politics into the song afterall, phew) and gave me an excuse to try and sing with a bit of a Russian accent. After I'd written what turned out to be pretty much the final version of the song I read the marvellous graphic novel Laika by Nick Abadzis - he did tonnes of research and came up with practically the same story so that was quite gratifying!

Once I'd done the research I was surprised at how easily the lyrics were to write (much thanks must go to Kip here for giving me a firm structure to work with) -- maybe not surprising to you guys but shocked the hell out of me, I thought it was going to be much harder. But I was fascinated by the process and the different way of thinking it provoked (compared to editing medical journals which is my usual brainpower outlet). However, it plagued me after a few days; for a week I had the song endlessly, incessently on a loop in my mind, got pretty sick of it and had to just entirely leave it alone for a while. Still, I played my mum a rough version I'd recorded and it made her cry so I thought I was probably on the right track.

Anyway, the final result will be uploaded soon and I'm happy with it. Barney's been doing some nice production on it (though I did have to say 'let's turn down the robot effect a bit') and I've been learning some basics of logic pro this evening. So, all in all a fun learning and gratifying experience which I'm keen to repeat...

Here's a short animation all about Laika which I wish I had done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz7Xbo1m5XA

xx Layla

Only 10 vocal tracks this time. Fighting...urges...

2009-04-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've just finished recording vocals over Ash's doomy track about Gully Foyle (main character of "The Stars My Destination"). I had a lot of fun with this one. It's DARK, folks. It immediately reminded me of Deftones' "Change (In the House of Flies)"...a whole lot of atmosphere, and a whole lot of groove. There's actually one bit left to record: a teeny tiny screaming part...it's a little too late for that right now. Don't worry, the scream is tasteful. On a related note: I wonder if I'm the only metalhead in the IML...

I don't want to ruin it, but there was something sort of funny about working on this track: half of the lyrics were already written for me. If you're interested in spoiling it for yourself, head over to the Wikipedia article about the book...it won't take very long for you to find what I'm talking about. That said, I did write lyrics of my own, and I really like those too.

And in some IML news: Greg asked me to take on another track in place of my roommate Mike, who is a very busy guy. I'll be singing over Tim M's track about Pluto. I'm really excited about this because the two tracks could not be more different. My work on Ash's track is similar to the Blackbeard track from the Sea album...but I'm going to have to do something completely different for this new one. It's so...happy! I've always wanted to try something a little more...flamboyant, vocally speaking. I'm excited.

An interesting predicament: one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Jonathan Coulton, has a song about Pluto called "I'm Your Moon." It's a love song, from the perspective of Pluto's moon, Charon. Charon is trying to cheer Pluto up after his recent demotion from planet status. Also, Charon and Pluto are roughly the same size, so Charon doesn't revolve around Pluto, they revolve around each other. Jonathan Coulton called this particular phenomenon "the most romantic thing I've ever heard."

So, I have to do something else! I have two ideas for making a happy Pluto song. Idea #1: a song sung by a pre-2006 Pluto...he's just so happy to be a planet, and nobody can take that away from him! Idea #2: a song sung by Planet X (Pluto before 1930). Everybody's looking for him, and he's trying to get their attention...I'm over here, guys! The problem with that: it might come a little too close to "Call Them X"...but maybe not. Votes? Other ideas?

Time for bed!

Robox

2009-04-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent the whole day programming, chopping-up and editing robots. Good old Microsoft Mike did the honours, singing on Jim's track about DEXTRE the Canadian space hand. I have to admit (though its a crazy-making process) I LOVE editing robots! Mike comes out with the most random and ridiculous pronunciations and bullsh*t. I also wrangled with some Vocodering, via Cubase's lovely VST plug-in. I'd love to have pitched Mike, Cornelius-style, but I don't have the budget for Melodyne right now. This is what Cornelius does with robots....

What music did Neil Armstrong take to the moon?

2009-04-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

The answer to this is in an excellent article on the links between space travel and music in american culture.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6021883.ece

Hope all's going well with the song writing...

Time travel and the IML

2009-04-02T02:37:00.001-07:00

Time passes so quickly. There you are, walking around Cambridge eating Jarlsberg cheese out of your hand, when SMASH! ... a week has suddenly gone by. I used to think that I fell into mini comas, but apparently this is how everyone feels.
All of a sudden, the vocal deadline has started to approach for IML Mission 3. It has reared up like a post-coma rush. It's not in my face yet, it's not days away, but it's there.
My usual method for describing approaching deadlines is to compare them to how close Omar Sharif has come over the horizon in that interminable scene in Lawrence of Arabia. I'll say, for example, "the deadline is three inches high now", or "the deadline is horseback, about three metres away" or even, "the deadline is shooting at me with a rifle; it's an Arab. What the fuck is going on?" It's a very scientific comparison and more people should use it.
Fortunately, I've been doing a lot of reading about wormholes during this period. And if there's one thing that wormholes can actually punch in the guts it's time itself. That's very useful, I thought. These IML deadlines are very tight - let's see if I can use my assigned IML theme to lengthen the amount of time I can spend on the vocal.
Thus, as well as research, I have been conducting experiments. You know, making homemade wormholes out of locks of David Bowie's thigh hair that I bought on the internet, mixed with malt loaf and my own vomit (it's not hard to induce vomit these days - I just peer outside and catch someone's eye and I'm there). Anyway, I succeeded. What I mean is, I passed through my own wormhole - please don't sneer - and emerged in 1977.

No, really.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that - as well as technically being at least three decades older than anyone else in the IML - I've been working on my vocal track now for over thirty years. It's been an obsession. Everything about it had to be perfect. I'd spend half a decade honing it and then I'd suddenly become exasperated and scrap it and start again, moving on to new recording technologies and production techniques. I've made at least sixteen different versions, using at least three hundred different vocal melodies and four hundred different sets of lyrics. At one point I had the perfect version on tape, but then someone on a hover board pinched it from my paws and I was back at stage one again.
It's been an epic adventure, not unlike that of T.E. Lawrence's, except for the lack of similarities. But all epic adventures, of course, have to come to an end.

So where am I now?
Well, after thirty years, back now in 'real time', sharing the same deadline as everyone else in the IML (I can see you, Sharif), I've decided to start from scratch again. You might say that I travelled back in time for nothing, that I've wasted thirty years, but I don't see it like that. Experience is everything. Well, not everything - experience isn't a packet of Frazzles - but it is important. I've been through three decades to get to this point. I've been through a wormhole of my own creation for Christ's sake. Now, more than ever, I am ready to start writing some lyrics, to sing heartfelt of my travails, and to discuss the delights of watching Overboard with Goldie Hawn at the theatre on its cinematic release in 1987 (now that is why people should time travel). My work starts now.

Mars 500

2009-03-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

I think we'll miss the deadline for this 'crew', but I reckon a copy of Superheroes of Space would provide great consolation and worthy distraction for these claustrophobia junkies:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7966731.stm

Under the Radar

2009-03-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

When did the new logo go up? I've only just noticed it - another work of magic. I'm disappointed there isn't a Stephen Hawking silhouette in the orbit though ...

Hi Nick, thought I'd edit your post to let you see your idea...

Not really doing it for me (although looks more like Dr Strangelove). The original is way better - love the use of negative to fit the alien onto saturn TT. Very pleasing!

41 IML tracks

2009-03-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

Science (13) + Sea (13) + Space (15) = 41 tracks!

That's immense. Bands have put out 'best ofs' on less. All in the space of a year too.

Still working on the Vincent Price impression. I am practicing on the way to work. Passers by must think I'm possessed.

Maybe I am.

Vince

Junk Holes and Space Hands

2009-03-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Barney's backing-track subject 'Space-Junk' couldn't be more relevant to all the crazy shit happening in orbit right now. That boy's got his finger on the pulse! If you haven't heard, the ridiculous International Space Platform (ISP) has been all but immobilized by a tiny piece of orbital flotsam - requiring teams of astronauts to perform dangerous and expensive space walks to repair damaged flaps. No doubt they'll need to be rescued by the Russians as usual, in their 1950s-era Soyuz spacecraft. But perhaps the Canadians have found an alternative to super-costly astronaut mechanics...

For my solo IML entry, I've been given Jim's fabulous backing track, the subject of which is DEXTRE - a Canadian robot hand, designed specifically as a remote maintainance droid for the ailing ISP. Check him out...

...hopefully, DEXTRE will be the first of a generation of space robots that replace humans and do a better job of exploring space.

gig. done. must. write. lyrics.

2009-03-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Just started work on my space track, a very contemporary slice of 'spacehousepop' from Dan G. Think I'm going lite this time, it seems appropriate after taking my last 2 IML tracks very seriously. The plan so far is to have some rap verses (in the style of King Tim 3rd ), a chorus sung by robots and a Vincent Price middle 8. I hope Dan won't mind.

The world of music doesn't have enough Vincent Price middle 8s and its time to add one more. Sure, he's dead, but who isn't these days? I guess this decision must, in some way, be influenced by my toying with the idea of watching a Michael Jackson show at the O2. At least, I was toying with it until my wife declared 'You 're not spending a hundred quid to watch a paedophile dance' and I guess, put like that, she probably has a point.

Shamon

Write your lyrics you bloody bastards

2009-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

That was said in the spirit of Tim Dalton a la Flash Gordon. I'm not sure he ever said that but there you go,. Anyway for Dan W's excellent Record Time IV project I built a lyric writing machine. It's great, and you should try using it whilst writing lyrics for Superheroes of Space. It's called iLyricise because unless it's got an i in front of it, it isn't modern or online. Go and play with it

I've tapped "Laika" into it for the purposes of writing about ... Laika. In short iLyricise condenses a Wikipedia article about any subject into a list of words, ranked by how rarely those words appear in that article. What more can you want? What? What? Good night.

James Spader Is All Over Me

2009-03-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know how he does it. I'll spend three months avoiding James Spader and then he'll suddenly pop up somewhere unexpected, usually late at night in some high art/soft porn cine-flick, or he'll send one of his clones out onto the street so that I think I've glimpsed him near Woolworths or Rumblelows or somewhere. Anyway, he's infiltrated the IML this time ...
On Monday I received my IML vocal assignment: a magnificent backing track from Julian, who did such a sensational job on our Robotnik track (which has been played on Radio Scilly, such is its high regard on the islands). Lots of vocal melodies usually come to me pretty quickly when I hear a backing track, but this one smoked me up all nice and foggy. I need to flex some different muscles this time. I am very excited about what might happen though.
Anyway, my theme is wormholes. A great theme. I did a little research, googling and the like, and one of the first things that came up was ... Stargate.
Spader, you c***.

2009-03-09T06:56:00.001-07:00

Excerpt from the recording session for "Dave",
Chicago - Feb 27th - March 1st.

We finished mixing at 3:45pm still unsure about what we had made. A few more listens convinced us that the improbable racket we had strung together actually sounded like a song. My Orion III shuttle back to Milwaukee was at 5pm - and so with the aid of Eric's array of sci-fi gadgets, our collaborative backing-track was completed, and I returned safely back home to Earth.

This was the first time Eric and I have collaborated on writing and recording music - and the tight rendez-vouz window we had arranged demanded airtight scheduling and efficiency. After an initial music listening session, featuring Camel - Giorgio Moroder - Jeff Wayne's War of The Worlds and Focus, we agreed that a prog-disco approach was in order.

This was my first time working with Ableton Live - which is an unconventional but powerful DAW of the German persuasion. I think we really pushed it's capabilities, and were both doing a lot of manual-reading. The beauty of using Ableton's loop-based composition was that we could easily integrate our disparate parts fairly smoothly. Ableton's synths & plug-ins are sex - but we had the immoderate fruition of using Eric's incredible Moog Little Phatty - which integrated beautifully and gave some authentic progformances.

I hope Rob enjoys working on the track. I'm really looking forward to working on the AMAZING backing-tracks that I've recieved. This could easily be the best IML album to date. Stay on target!

The Space Project: Phase 2 Blueprints

2009-03-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Listed by musical composer, theme, recipient

Barney (Space Junk) to Eric and Tim T
Mike (Free Choice) to Ash
Ash (Gully Foyle) to Dan W
Greg (Alexey Leonov) to Kip
Dan G (Droids) to Greg
Rob (Voyager) to Craig
Incredible flight of birdman (Freeman Lowell) to Tim M
Joe and Greg (Yuri Gagarin) to Julian
Jim (Free choice) to Tim T
Kip (Laika) to Barney
Dan W (Free choice) to Kip
Tim T/Eric (Dave 2001) to Rob
Julian (Wormholes) to Birdman
Tim M (Pluto) to Dan W
Craig (free choice) to Julian
Joe (James Turrell) to Kelly

Space abstinence

2009-02-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

For the first time ever with the IML I'm going to not listen to any of the other instrumental entries until the album has been mastered. I've always listened to everything as it was submitted in the past but at the same time, regretted it once the finished album has been delivered. I'm adding a few extra drums (which Jim bashed out for me the other night) to my track this evening then its done. Definitely time to upload and be done with it. And for when we get to the lyric writing stage, I've just written a little lyric writing application (for Dan W's Record Time IV project) which assists with automated lyric writing, so no excuses for a lack of interesting words. And now it's time to say goodnight at the end of a lovely day. Goodnight.

One Small Step

2009-02-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

Looks like I'm the first to get my instrumental track in! As some of you may have heard, an event called Record Time IV starts tomorrow. The goal of Record Time is to write and record an album in a week. As RT4 will be ending on March 1st, I realized I had to get my IML recording done as soon as possible!

So...the frustrating part: I actually recorded two songs for the IML. The first one was very, very spacey. It was also a rather terrible song. It was only piano, and about 12 tracks of synth pads, and it took me far too long to realize no one was going to be able to sing over it, and it would probably be skipped within the first 15 seconds of listening.

Eventually I scrapped it and wrote something that literally could not be more different. While I love the first 2 IML albums, there seems to be an abundance of slow and mid-tempo songs...I thought something very upbeat might be appreciated. What I came up with was a 3-minute pop-punk song that, while not spacey whatsoever, has a high potential for catchiness. And plus, I think it's time we stop equating space with synth pads. Obviously, the spaciness of this track will have to come from the lyrics.

Also, I decided not to pick a theme for my track...I'd like to say there was a good reason for this, but honestly I just couldn't think of anything in space that's really happy or fun, which this track seems to call for...but I'm sure my vocalist will think of something.

I'm a little worried my track will disrupt the flow of the album, but hopefully it will fit somehow. If not, I suppose I could always do something else!

Shameless plug: if you want to make an album in a week, starting tomorrow, join Record Time! Search for it on Facebook, or if you don't have one of those, e-mail me at djwaldkirch@bsu.edu

Later!
Dan

What does space sound like?

2009-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

A noisy vacuum (not cleaner mind). I'm jumping off the Hubble tip and am now going to write (or have nearly finished writing) some music around the theme of Space Junk. For this I want to incorporate some found sounds and stumbled across this site.

I've checked with Sven who runs the site and he says that providing we name check the individuals that contributed the samples, we can use them. What a nice man. I'll use one or two so our credits list for the album doesn't run too long.

I hope everyone else is having fun with the Space theme. I'm having a ball, and also getting quite nostalgic thinking back to the previous 2 albums we've put together. So nostalgic in fact that I'm going to incorporate aspects of our previous recordings into this one. OOOOOOH, how exciting. I will however, in doing so, be clearly violating our strict Creative Commons Licence which says no derivative works. I hope the masters of the IML won't sue me. Please don't. Please don't sue me.

Finally, thanks to my dad for showing me the composite photo above which depicts the known space junk currently orbiting Earth. This is what inspired me to switch themes.

10...9...8...yadda yadda

2009-02-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

So the space and military thing didn't really pan out. Jammed some chords over some military sounding beats but it wasn't working (and sounded a little too reminiscent of Ian Brown's fabulous 'My Star') so I am now exploring the vast emptiness of space through the medium of acapella choir and cowboy harmonica which, perhaps suprisingly, is working out very well. From chats I've had with some of the participants the theme seems to be inspiring an even more experimental approach from the IML this time around. I'm already excited about this and can't wait to start hearing the tracks pour in over the next 10 days (that went quickly didn't it?!).

At the IML rehearsals for the science gig we were discussing the possibility of haranguing a celebrity guest onto the Space album. A Moore or a Hawking might go down a treat (Carol Vorderman is on stage before us but I guess she can wait until we record Superheroes of Maths) We will use the science festival gig to network further...

In unrelated news, half of me is so excited that my daughter has just put up her first music poster in her bedroom. The other half of me is aghast that it's the Jonas Brothers.

Vox B4 Notez = Bzzt

2009-02-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

I just read an article in a recent issue of New Scientist explaining in very poetic language what may happen when our Solar System does or doesn't collapse (I've Decided To Capitalise Our Solar System). The words are beautiful and would make a lovely song. I'd like it to be the lyrics to the song I've got to write for Superheroes of Space, but they can't be. That's the thing, when we write our albums, we sometimes hear the finished track, but have to make do with knocking out half of it (the backing track), only to pass it on for completion elsewhere. I think there's a good challenge in there, maybe I'll just have to write a track which sounds like the end of out Solar System as depicted in New Scientist so the lyricist will have to go in that direction for inspiration. So it's a toss up between Hubble and the end of our Solar System for me. There's only one way to decide this, invent some kind of quantum device which helps me select the correct theme based on whether it does or doesn't teleport a photon.

Hubblecast HD

2009-01-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a bunch of nicely produced free video podcasts from the European Space Agency and Hubble. That link there will open up there page on the iTunes store so if you haven't got iTunes installed lord only knows what will happen. As it's the year of astronomy this year they've just recorded a short series on the history of the telescope. Get involved. I think I will write my backing track about Hubble after all. I keep going back to it, and it's got a nice dramatic story behind it as well.

2009-01-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

Things, as we know, come in many sizes. This is also true in space, and spacecraft are no exception. Here's an excellent illustration that will give you some idea of how some things are small and some are big.

In space no one can hear you play the banjo

2009-01-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

Check the sticker on the top of his visor! It looks like Rob is taking this project VERY seriously indeed!

Great to see so many people signed up and sharing thoughts. I am feeling inspired by a recent exhibition I dragged my family round at the Vand A called Cold War Modern. It charted the impact of the space race on the design world and the political implications of the aesthetics that followed. Got me thinking about the ideology of space being hijacked by politics and the military as a topic for my track. Now, where do I go from here?

Woof

2009-01-22T02:35:00.000-08:00

Although it has been covered before, I'm fascinated and saddened by the story of Laika, the dog the Russians blasted off into space in 1957 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika). As I am effectively unable to play any instruments, creating the music for this song is going to be a challenge, and I will be relying on the help of Fish studios, and drafting in Millen and Smith to help interpret the feverish and maudlin ideas that are haunting me at the moment. I may even try to find a good dog vocalist to do a performance on the track, or perhaps I should leave that wonderful part to whoever gets to do the vocals.

Happy Birthday Buzz Aldrin!

2009-01-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

That's all I have to say.

Hubble trouble

2009-01-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

Well I've just watched a documentary about the Hubble telescope and all the great work it (and the people that make it work) have done to expand astronomers knowledge of the universe. Here's a link to their marvelous Hubble photo gallery.

This isn't to say that I'm going to write some music inspired by Hubble. The problem is, as Douglas Adams put it "space is big, really big" or something like that. I'm not sure where I'd start. That's what this post is about. Where do you start? I don't know whether to pick up an acoustic guitar, a synthesizer or a piano. Alright, I'm not going to pick the piano up whatever happens but I might sit near it, and plink it.

Maybe I'll play a version of rock paper scissors with hand shapes for a guitar, a piano and a synthesizer. I can't think of any other way of proceeding.

2009-01-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

Even thought I loathe NASA - they have an awesome website full of loads of great source material, much of which is copyright free:

www.nasa.gov

...there are some really classy podcasts, and be sure to check out the multimedia tab > images.

This is an image from the Cassini spacecraft [CLICK ON IT!] The photo is taken while in the shadow of Saturn, looking back at it's eclipse of the Sun. Note the weirdly bright rings, which normally look dark against Saturn's surface. Above the rings on the left side of Saturn you can see Earth. Look closer - I'm waving.

XXX

Dear Mars Rovers

2009-01-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Jules Peters

You droids

Rolling round mars

Like two Johnny 5s

The warmth of the sun keeping you alive

But now my boys

You’ve gotten quite old

And I must confess to you

Something that you should be told

These recent reboots just don’t seem to compute

There was no instruction from us

Erratic behavior

Flash memory failure

Stop turning my screen saver off

What’s wrong?

(what’s wrong…What on Earth’s going on?)

You don’t

Have much more time left

So if I may be bold there’s something id like to suggest

Stop testing the atmosphere looking for water

It’s probably all too deep and beyond our reach right now

And kindly perform

One last task for me

Go look for your brother I’ve told him the same

He’s heading right now for Arcadia plains

God’s speed and we thank you for all that you have done

In a few decades time with luck we may see you again

When we come

When you’ve found each other

Stay alive take cover

Find a sunny spot

And charge up and hold on if you can

Till we get you home again

Step Aside Roger Moore

2009-01-01T23:36:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Jimmy Binks and the Shakehorns

Born as a Kulak on collective farms

Big daddy hiding talents keeping family from harm

Relax Stalin, we're only farming

Slightly above peasants but nothing too alarming

A charming little darling

An enquiring mind

A fighter pilot teacher

An inspiring find

Relax Josef, we just want to know stuff

Follow my vocation be the hero of a nation

Who's down with triple CP

Yeah you know me

Psychological physical tests on me

And these 20 other mothers got nothing on me

Vostok's locked and

I am the key

See you later Dmitri its down to two

Both of us standing here at 5 foot 2

Tit off

Titov

No chance that’s the truth

You're too middle class and a little too aloof

We're proud of you Gagarin

G-g-going where no one has ever gone before

Yeah…Then came the day

Up up and away

Something to say to the USA

You got your sound bites but now we got some

Houston you've got a problem

I'm the sputnik chaser

Record breaker

Step aside Roger Moore I'm the real Moonraker

I'm Yuri G-G-Garin first man in space

27,000 KPH the winner of the space race

Here in space everything’s a first

Have to eat and drink but I don’t even have a thirst

Should I have a biscuit

Should you risk it

I'd rather have an egg but there is nothing here to whisk it

Look at me I’m here in space

Look at this massive smile on my face

I'm so excited and I just cant hide it

Now I’m back here on the ground

What do I do now?

I got to get back up somehow

I don’t care how

Even if it kills me I’ve just got to get back into outer space

108 minutes it was over too soon

That shlong Armstrong will get to go to the moon (moon)

Make his mark with his own 2 feet

The mark I left was a skid on my seat

Lord it's hot upon re-entry

They'll be rapping about this in the 21st century

2000 Fahrenheit and the Vostok's blazing

Christ its blue

The Earth is amazing

Seen the world

Let them know that Yuri's coming home

5 4 3 2 1 and zero

Columbus of the cosmos I'm the Kremlin's real hero

Keep your Gorbachev, Kalashnikov, Kasparov

Who's the one you think of when you hear the words blast off

We're proud of you Gagarin

G-g-going where no one has ever gone before

We're ga ga for Gagarin

G-g-going where no one has ever gone before

We're proud of you Gagarin

G-g-going where no one has ever gone before

Freeman Lowell

2009-01-01T02:46:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Tim Marchand

(On this first day of a new century, we humbly beg forgiveness and

dedicate these last forests of our once beautiful nation, in the hope

that they will one day return and grace our fallow Earth. Until that

day, may God bless these gardens and the brave men who care for them.)

Tragedy is no one cares

How did we get so lost?

In this synthesized wilderness?

They say there is no more disease

No more poverty

No one's out of a job

But do you know my friend?

That's not the end of it

Cause she is never going to see the simple wonder of a leaf in her hand

I cant believe they'd do it

Cant believe they'd blow it all away

Take Mother nature's greatest gift

And throw it back in her face

When supplements are meals

Then a cantaloupe just stinks

And you cant even tell the difference

How pitiful

Coz everything's the same

If all the people are exactly the same

Now what kind of life is that?

What kind of living is that?

Used to be

Flowers growing all over the Earth

And there were plains of tall green grass

And blue skies and even fresh air

But now it's all...it's all become the same

The beauty of a forest

The simple wonder of a leaf

These things have been forgotten

I don't think you understand

What is lost is not replaceable

What is lost is gone

Can't let them do it

Let them blow it all away

Take Mother Nature's greatest gifts

And throw them back in her face

Coz everything's the same

When everyone's the same

Well what kind of life is that?

Pitiful

A forest in a dome

Iguana and the toad

Rabbits running free

Swimming in a stream

Drones planting trees

The beauty of a leaf

Cantaloupe just stinks

Dried synthetic crap

75b degrees

Tall green grass

Robots playing cards

Tortoise and the hawk

Sleeping in the grass

She is never going to see

Its not too late

Everything's the same

No imagination

Its not too late

Don't throw it away

Everyone's the same

No frontiers left

Its not too late

I had to do it

Couldn't let them blow it all away

And don't think that I'll ever

Excuse what I did

I've taught you everything

Everything I know

I had to do it

I had to let it go

(God bless you Freeman, you are a hell of an American)

(Thank you Sir, I think I am)

Russian Man Outside

2009-01-01T01:03:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Barney Brown and Kip Loades

I can see Yuri’s house from here

The shadows on his lawn

The dawn is on St Petersburg

And I’m above the dawn

I think there’s something wrong about the way that maps are drawn there’s something wrong, so wrong

Perhaps because I float within a vacuum far from earth

I ought to start to start my space walk now

But does it matter how

No man has passed this way before

I stride on heaven’s floor

Returning to the ship will be the thing that I can do when I am done, so done

My tether, my umbilicus, my mother ship stay true

And so 12 minutes gone I think it’s time that I went back oh God I’m stuck (so stuck)

So, in the event you get stuck

Vent, excessive air from your suit, or you'll die

Now, I know I want to go home

Laika

2009-01-01T00:55:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Layla Vandenbergh

Missile tech is what we did

Went to space with first Sputnik

Khruschev decreed a space spectacular

Celebrate the revolution

Cold slums of Moscow, your only known home

Oh Laika, small comrade, come help, help win this race

We took mongrels from the street

Should be used to survival feats

Put in boxes ever smaller

How many days can you stay in Laika?

Ever obedient, perfect citizen

Perfect trainee little Muttnik

Iodine spots mark the sensors

Suited, strapped. To the Cosmodrome

You blasted, your heart raced, you could not calm down

Oh Laika, you circled the Earth in weightlessness

Look at us Americos, Soviet victorious!

Confinement and centrifuge

In the lab did not prepare for this

Sit quiet if you can, forget the chains and calm that heart

Agitated but more restful now

In orbit, mission cleared

Damaged craft, loss of protection

Heating up now, how long can this last

Temperature rising, elliptical sway

Oh Laika, you gave all you had and faded away

Our world desire for space supremacy

The dogma, oh Laika, your life, it’s your legacy

You led the way for safer flight

The only one we sent to die

In our hearts, comrade respect

Have we learnt enough Kudryavka?

You paved the way for safer flight

The only one we left to die

In all our hearts, comrade respect

Sweet little Laika now we regret

Dave

2009-01-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Bob Rocket

Warmth is dissipating as we travel from the sun

Interest's relocating as nothing new happens

Thirty days is all it takes to disconnect the past

Jupiter's chaotic roar stems the silence and routine

And the farther we are carried forth, our focus intensifies

To maintain connection with our shrinking star, we've never been as far

Sabotage is born of half a billion miles of burden

For secrets weigh as heavy on man's misjudged machine

No one could anticipate he'd be the first to panic

Born out of desire to champion the mind

Intelligence aspires to weave itself in kind

Now it's time to cut the line, the program's run its course

We'll redesign and we'll give rebirth

Through star fields, past globular clusters

And junkyards of discarded vessels

Faced with inconceivable fate, I draw courage from reason, from logic

I am beyond hope and despair

Sleep recalls the hard black slab standing tall once more [at the foot of the bed]

The simplicity of its shape belieing its perfect construction

I am emptied and filled with senses more subtle than vision, a new conciousness

Necessities of matter will dissolve, the child is reborn

Born out of desire, to champion the mind

Intelligence aspires, to weave itself in kind

Now it's time to cut the line, the program's run its course

We'll redesign and we'll give rebirth

The second dawn of man, races from afar

Master of the world but child of the stars

That's The Worm's Game

2009-01-01T00:36:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Nick Osbourne and Richard Yates

Agujero de gusano

El insecto, mi hermano

Agujero de gusano

Te quiero, mi hermano

Llenaré su garganta de materia exótica

Y seré un fantasma en el pasado

Pero te prometo

¡No voy matar a mi abuelo!

Vacuum fluctuations during transportation could annihilate your hole

The worm would rather you be your own father than remake broken bones

Don’t be your child!

If you even make it past the tonsils

You’ll be squeezed like spunk from an onion (I’m all fucking shook up!)

There’s a light in the hole

But the worm will only fold

You’ll be left with monkey egg on your face

Or in 1442 you might invent chicken soup

And your father will be poisoned by the same

That’s the worm’s game

Wonderful

Oh darling you’re wonderful

And I want you to know the truth

As I go through the wormhole

But I want you to know that Nature hates your kind

And so devised the Chronology Protection Agency

Todo es gusano, Elvis

Abre los brazos, Elvis

No es peligroso, cariño

Quiero el pasado

Todos hombres enterrados

Las palabras, las bebidas, cariño

¡No, Elvis, no!

Debo hallarme en el pasado mañana mismo

Y jugaré con la luz de un universo paralelo

¡Sígame, Elvis, sígame!

Dentro el agujero de gusano

¿Para quién es la paella con pollo?

And in the tunnel there’ll be fourteen visions

That will come and go

And the very last will be death … death with your mother’s face on it

There’s a devil in the worm

So that when you take your turn

He will crush you like a winkle in a vice

Or in 1893 you might shoot Butch Cassidy

But then perish of a bee sting on the plains

That’s the worm’s game

¿Cuánto tiempo lleva aquí, Elvis?

Lo siento, no hablo español

Pero me gusta … ¿hamburgers?

!Hamburgers!

The Burning Man

2009-01-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Dan Waldkirch

Gully Foyle is my name

And Terra is my nation

Deep space is my dwelling place

And death's my destination.

I see a shape against the black

Surely the Vorga hears my cry

They’ll find me here and bring me back

Surely they cannot let me die

Don’t let me die.

Gully Foyle is my name

And Terra is my nation

Deep space is my dwelling place

The stars my destination

I’ve felt the fires of the sun

I’ve seen the writing on the wall

All of their pain might be undone

If they had listened to my call.

I’ll kill them all.

I’ll kill them all!

Lonely Planets Club

2009-01-01T00:33:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Dan Waldkirch

She invited me in

She gave me a name

Then she left me spinning on my side

As she walked out the door

She said “I always knew

That we couldn’t make it,

But we tried.”

If you’re feeling cold

If you’re feeling far away

Well then we’ve got a space for you

Why?

So maybe I’m small

So maybe I don’t have much to say

But since you ‘ve been gone

It’s been harder to see

But it’s always been dark here anyway

Lonely Planets Club

We know just how much it hurts

So come in and have a drink or two

You’ve turned my heart

To ice and stone

So far apart

I’m on my own

Pick up the phone

Oh baby girl

It hasn’t been long

I’ve already found somebody new

She’s got a nice belt

And it’s just a short drive

And she understands me, unlike you

If you’re feeling blue

Keep on spinning anyway

Cause together we can make it through

Lonely Planets Club

Everything will be OK

All because I fell in love with you.

Droids (gonna rock this mothership)

2009-01-01T00:32:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Greg Dean

It’s your captain speaking, welcome aboard,

Check your oil, check your circuit boards,

We got a rendezvous at 11 o clock

And yeah that’s earth time baby and its time to rock.

We’re gonna get down everybody,

To the breakdown everybody

All my droids on the floor, robots give me more.

Robo DJ can I get a

1234

Mama always told me, don’t hang round with those droids.

And others always told me, what’s wrong with normal girls and boys.

Bridge

(oooooooh) Droids just wanna get down (yeah)

(oooooooh) When you’re working 9 to 5,

Party just to feel alive.

Chorus

(Droids droids) we only wanna party,

Lock the hatches gonna rock this mothership

(Droids doids), we’re only getting started,

Hit your switches gonna stay on target,

(Droids droids) just a little naughty,

Bolt the hatches gonna blow this mothership

(Droids droids) We only wanna party,

Party all night long,

Shakedown, it’s a takedown, to the breakdown.

Daddy always told me,

One look behind those gleaming eyes,

And rust corrodes from every side,

And whosoever shall be fooled,

Will rot inside a space capsule.

Bridge

Chorus

From every server machine to any type of droid,

We got the aliens, the robots and humanoids,

Any weather get together just to have a good time,

Droids’ll rock a party like its 2099

ET phone home, its time to rock the microphone,

Beats like a metronome, mixing like a chromosome,

Set your party program to the break of dawn,

We’re gonna party all night, party all night long.

Party, all night long,

We just wanna party, all night long

(Repeat to end)

Voyager

2009-01-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Craig Macintosh

Is 'Rumours' still at number one?

Is 'Annie' still the Broadway queen?

Do cowboys and sailors still dance - disco to John Williams themes?

Well it's moved on and on and on and on...

What about air disaters and Isreal?

Still dropping bombs? Kiss, lie and tell? - within a pale blue dot.

Some distance away never wondering how, as you fly

As you fly away from here

How the beat of this heart

Beats with you even though we are billions of miles apart.

But how's a big surprise supposed to rise?

You make it through - close your eyes and wonder how, and wow it on

How it feels to pass beyond the ice storms of Jupiter

Across the oceans Eupora holds

Around the rings slings and throw you on

This is a pale blue dot that wonders

To wonder if wonder were gone.

A bitter cold and it's so dark

Nothing feels and nothing moves

Just punching numbers in

It's only for you that I fly

That I fly away

Ten billion miles apart

If I knew what I was doing

If I knew that I helped.

VRG 31. OWLT AT TIME SET. 10 DEGREES. OWLT AT TIME SET. AOS.

VRG 31. OWLT AT TIME SET. 10 DEGREES. OWLT AT TIME SET. AOS....

OUT.

Klaatu Barada Nikto

2009-01-01T00:21:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Joseph Ashley-Smith

We come in peace and goodwill

With a message for your world

You've got to come together

If you wanna hear me say what I came to tell you

The future of your planet is at stake

You'll have to put aside your fears

'Cause tensions and suspicions do not serve

To endear you to the other worlds

Oh everybody's saying

You'll never find a way to keep the Earth from straying

Soon it's gonna be too late

You've got no time to waste

You'll forever be left down here

This world is all you have

Don't throw it all away

Do I have to stop the world

For you to see

That violence is not the way

The situations never been as bad

As it is today, it is today, it is today

We come in peace and goodwill

With a message for your world

You've got to come together

If you wanna hear me say what I came to tell you

The future of your planet is at stake

You'll have to put aside your fears

'Cause tensions and suspicions do not serve

To endear you to the other worlds

Oh everybody's saying

You'll never find a way to keep the Earth from straying

Soon it's gonna be too late

You've got no time to waste

You'll forever be left down here

This world is all you have

Don't throw it all away

You're not alone in outer space

This world is all you have

You'll only have yourselves to blame

Don't throw it all away

Probe II's Golden Message

2009-01-01T00:15:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Kip Loades

If anyone is out there

we have a message for you

it's on a golden record

so you can get to know Earth

in case you ever find it

well we may well be long dead

but you will know we were alive

My name is Voyager II

and I've got alot to tell you

I have seen a few things in my time

I am an unmanned space probe

on a Planetary Grand Tour

and I radio back what I find

On Jupiter I probed alot

I even probed its Great Red Spot

which was a complex storm

and it was info-porn

I thought my circuits would be shot

If anyone is out there

we have a message for you

it's on a golden record

so you can get to know Earth

in case you ever find it

well we may well be long dead

but you will know we were alive

Saturn was a cold spot

and the camera platform locked up

when I probed the upper atmosphere

I probed Neptune's dark spot

and I measured what its mass was

what was once obscure now is clear

The next stop was my greatest high

I probed Uranus for the first time

I found the strangest things

probing into the ring

Uranus was a wild ride

If anyone is out there

we have a message for you

it's on a golden record

so you can get to know Earth

in case you ever find it

well we may well be long dead

but you will know we were alive

Hello there

we're out here

we've got a message for you

Hello there

we're out here

it would be nice to know you