A podcast about all things music and space.
Latest episodes
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40 min
Les Baxter's "Music Out of the Moon"
How does one with a penchant for cutting-edge electronic music, West-coast jazz, and lunar fantasies find relaxation in 1947? Why, with Les Baxter's Music Out of the Moon: Music Un…
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40 min
Space Whales
From the alien dolphins in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (so long and thanks for all the fish) to the whale on the cover of the They Might be Giants album "Apollo 18," there a…
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36 min
Total Solar Eclipse Special: "The Narrow Path"
On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across much of North America, within view of millions of people. Most excitingly, the path of totality is coming by Bloomington…
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34 min
"Neptune" from Holst's The Planets
Probably the most well-known piece of space themed classical music is Gustav Holst's The Planets. In this episode, we focus on the last movement of the suite, "Neptune," discussing…
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36 min
"Stardrive" (Uncharted Cosmophony No. 1)
In this new series, Uncharted Cosmophony, we choose a random, previously unknown to us album that seems to have some spacey elements, listen to it, and then talk about it. This tim…
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37 min
Sonification
Sonification is when scientific data is "visualized" or communicated through non-verbal sound. In this episode we discuss the affordances (and some cautions) of sonification in sci…
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38 min
”Alien” (1979)
On this Halloween special, we discuss the music and sound design in Ridley Scott's movie "Alien." Blending science fiction and horror aesthetics, the film relies quite a bit on mus…
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43 min
Alan Hovhaness’s ”Star Dawn”
What connects Dante's 14th century Paradiso, an early 20th century science fiction novel, and a 13-minute "symphony" for concert band written in the 1980s? It may be surprising but…
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40 min
Blue Moon
On this Super Blue Moon, we discuss the superstar tune "Blue Moon." We begin our conversation assessing the contested definition of an astronomical "blue moon," finding surprising…
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37 min
Paul McCartney’s ”The Kiss of Venus”
For proof that the ideas of the Quadrivium continue to resonate in modern culture, we need not look further than Sir Paul McCartney. By pure coincidence, we happened to fall in lov…
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33 min
The Quadrivium
The idea that music and the cosmos are intrinsically connected has very deep roots in many human cultures. In Western cultures, one of the most long-lasting ways that this relation…
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35 min
Janelle Monáe’s ”Metropolis: The Chase Suite”
Musician and film star Janelle Monáe began her catapult to fame with her five suite and three album "Metropolis" series, which builds a wonderfully rich futuristic universe, chock…
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38 min
Moonlight Sonata
The gorgeous and strange first movement of Beethoven's piano sonata Op. 27 No. 2 is one of the most popular piano pieces of all time, but there are many secrets that lie below its…
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38 min
Star Trek Themes Part 2
The anticipated second half of our Star Trek themes discussion! We get very excited about The Next Generation, and then get very opinionated about Enterprise and Discovery, while u…
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37 min
Star Trek Themes Part 1
What is a more iconic space art than Star Trek? As both Meredith and Gabe are Star Trek nerds, we thought it a fitting beginning to our frontier into this podcast series. While of…