I need some more scifi tunes!

August 16, 2009 11:50 AM

What are the best examples of music that is unapologetically science fiction/fantasy ? I love hawkwind(especially 77-79 era), Gary numan, the legendary pink dots, devo, fad gadget and the like. Help me make the perfect sci-fi playlist.

I also like deltron, cannibal ox, and the anticon collective , and am not opposed to some orb or lee scratch perry, or any genre(would probably love sci fi themed country if i ever heard it)-so it doesn't have to be prog/new wave to make me delighted.

posted by donabean to media & arts (66 comments total)

Magma.
posted by jessamyn at 11:52 AM on August 16 [2 favorites has favorites]

Oh my god... The Exotic Ones. Music at MySpace
posted by kimdog at 11:56 AM on August 16

Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves
posted by porn in the woods at 11:59 AM on August 16

Country Moog is probably the closest you'll come for sci fi country.
posted by yesno at 12:00 PM on August 16

Ozric Tentacles...
posted by Rufus T. Firefly at 12:01 PM on August 16

Ugress (electronica -- by mefi's own gmm)
The Phenomenauts (rockabilly / surf)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:05 PM on August 16

Planet P Project.
posted by kindall at 12:09 PM on August 16

Man or Astro-man?
posted by yesno at 12:09 PM on August 16 [1 favorite has favorites]

And I forgot Man... Or Astroman?
posted by kimdog at 12:10 PM on August 16

but yesno remembered!
posted by kimdog at 12:10 PM on August 16

Voivod! Especially "Dimension Hatross".
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:14 PM on August 16

Servotron (now defunct I believe, alas like Man... or Astroman?)
The A Frames were recommended to me because of my affection for Devo et all... still active, I believe and still awesome.
Add N to (X) can be pretty sci-fi too, I recently described their sound as the soundtrack your favorite robot porno movie.
Which is accurate, but I was describing them to my boss. errr.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 12:25 PM on August 16

ELO's Time fits the bill.
posted by MCTDavid at 12:27 PM on August 16

Zombi?
posted by N2O1138 at 12:29 PM on August 16

Aphex Twin.

Wasn't there a Scientist record where he defeats the space invaders.

I believe Frank Black is always banging on about space.
posted by Fiery Jack at 12:34 PM on August 16 [1 favorite has favorites]

Children of the Sun by Billy Thorpe, Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, ELO's Time, Alan Parson's Project's I, Robot, Rush's 2112, Styx's Killroy Was Here...
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 12:39 PM on August 16

Leonard Nimoy's magnum opus "Bilbo Baggins", as well as his "Highly Illogical".

Pretty much everything ever done by all of the George Clinton-based bands and spinoffs... see P-Funk Mythology.

Sheb Wooley, "Purple People Eater".

Lots of things by Jonathan Coulton. Example (on that page): "Chiron Beta Prime".

David Bowie, "Starman" and "Space Oddity".

Newcleus, "Jam On It".

Blondie, "Rapture".

Several songs by Rush, including "2112" (here's part 2), "Hemispheres" (part 2), "Cygnus X-1", and, uh, whatever that one about the robot who keeps saying "one zero zero one zero zero one, SOS, one zero zero one zero zero on, in distress" is called.

Black Sabbath, "Iron Man".

For that matter, Pete Townshend's "The Iron Man: A Musical".

Styx, "Mr. Roboto".

The Firm (not the famous "The Firm"), "Star Trekkin'".
posted by Flunkie at 12:39 PM on August 16

Jeff Waynes' "War Of The Worlds"
posted by Gungho at 12:42 PM on August 16

FM's album Black Noise has a sci-fi theme running through its tracks. It also has great use of the electic violin by Nash the Slash. Warms the cockles of me '70s heart.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 12:48 PM on August 16

Maybe some Kraftwerk
2nding Aphex Twin
Not sure if this counts, but Dione uses voice samples from many sci-fi movies in his techno/hardcore music
posted by N2O1138 at 12:50 PM on August 16

A lot of Grandaddy's songs had science fiction themes - robots, space travel, post-apocalypic landscapes and so on.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 12:52 PM on August 16

And Mary Timony made a few albums with all sorts of Tolkeinesque fantasy elements in them.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 12:58 PM on August 16

Moon Colony Bloodbath, a concept album by The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice.
posted by spork at 12:58 PM on August 16

Roger Waters' Radio K. A. O. S., Nirvana's The Story of Simon Simopath, S. F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Rick Wakeman, don't forget Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, Deltron 3030's self titled debut...
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 12:58 PM on August 16

Anything by BlöödHag.

Some nerdcore stuff (MC Frontalot, MC Plus+) dips into SFnal themes occasionally.

Melora Creager / Rasputina has a number of SFnal tracks.

There is an unlimited amount of filk in the universe as well.
posted by hattifattener at 1:00 PM on August 16

For that matter, Enya has quite a few SF tracks.
posted by hattifattener at 1:02 PM on August 16

Sy Borg....Gimme dat, give me de chromium cob.....
posted by prinado at 1:12 PM on August 16

Ayreon, Dutch SF prog metal.
posted by Bodd at 1:13 PM on August 16

I keep hitting Post too soon! I've been enjoying The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets lately (not all of it is Lovecraftiana, eg: 20 Minutes of Oxygen), which also reminds me of the music the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society puts out.

They Might Be Giants and Thomas Dolby both have some of definitely-SF and a number of marginally-SF songs.

Firefly / Serenity filk might hit your sci-fi-country target.
posted by hattifattener at 1:14 PM on August 16

The Droids: The Force (1976)
Kraftwerk: The Robots (1977)
Space: Magic Fly (1977)
Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip: I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper (1978)
Frank Zander: Captain Starlight (1978)
YMO: Technopolis (1979)
Sheila B. Devotion: Spacer (1979)
Transvolta: Disco Computer (1979)
Pluton And The Humanoids: World Invaders (1980)
'Lectric Workers: Robot Is Systematic (1983)
Charlie: Spacer Woman (1983)
Rah Band: Clouds Across The Moon (1985)

More here.
posted by iviken at 1:22 PM on August 16 [1 favorite has favorites]

Deep Purple's Space Truckin', and for your country sci-fi listening pleasure: Elvis Costello's Hurry Down Doomdsay. Coheed and Cambria rock their own sci-fi comics. The Atomic Swindlers Float...
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 1:22 PM on August 16

Aube, Ryoji Ikeda, and Merzbow are all Japanese artists who tend to remind people of interstellar travel and alien technology. They also tend to be very harsh and hard to listen to.

Praxis and Carbon have a kind of industrial/jazz/noise cyberpunk feel to them. Throbbing Gristle had the goal of making "industrial music for industrial people", and their version of industrial is much more futuristic and alienating than most of the rest of the genre.

Personally I like to imagine that a couple of hundred years from now, people will chill out while listening to Iannis Xenakis.
posted by idiopath at 1:25 PM on August 16

Luke Vibert's Big Soup
posted by Emanuel at 1:26 PM on August 16

Telstar by the Tornadoes is the original space age pop record.
posted by caek at 1:38 PM on August 16

Tokyo Police Club, Citizens of Tomorrow (Space Ballad).

Amazing song.
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:44 PM on August 16

Early Pink Floyd on the psychedelic end of fantasy... see Relics, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and Saucerful of Secrets.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 1:45 PM on August 16

Ultravox: Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
Rush: Red Barchetta
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery (majority of tracks on album)
The Tubes: Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman
posted by buzzv at 1:47 PM on August 16

And also Sonic Boom/ Spectrum.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 1:49 PM on August 16

Donald Fagen's I. G. Y., Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult...
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 1:49 PM on August 16

S.P.O.C.K. and Fr/action are both science fiction-themed synthpop projects.

Voltaire, who is probably best known for campy horror-themed gothic folk, also did an EP called Banned on Vulcan that features "Star Trek" parody songs.
posted by infinitywaltz at 1:53 PM on August 16

Also, The Cassandra Complex have done a lot of science fiction-oriented material, including "VALIS" (from the Wetware album) and the albums Cyberpunx and The War Against Sleep, both of which contain tracks that were originally supposed to comprise a cyberpunk rock opera. The latter also features songs inspired by K.W. Jeter and Thomas Disch.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:01 PM on August 16

The first two Human League albums, which sound almost nothing like their "hits," would fit the bill perfectly - "The Black Hit Of Space," "Circus Of Death," and so on. Heavily sci-fi, and definitely new wave with a prog sensibility. Their pre-Human League recordings as "The Future" even more so. Most of the songs are little sci-fi parables.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 2:08 PM on August 16

weezer's Songs From the Black Hole. Never completed or fully released, but many of the songs have made it out in various forms. A lot of them are real gems, too.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:11 PM on August 16

Propaganda, P-Machinery.
posted by iviken at 2:13 PM on August 16

Possibly the granddaddy of space-based concept albums is 'I Hear a New World - an Outer Space Musical Fantasy' (1960) by legendary record producer Joe Meek. Fifty years on it is still an extraordinary collection of music.

Obscure, hard-to-find, intelligent, funny, eerily prophetic, defunct since the late 80s and brilliant: Sudden Sway did a series of singles and albums from a near-future where everything is commodified, yet without falling into the easy cliches of cyberpunk. It seems the Sway actually has a number of Myspace pages, one for each of the band's releases. If the idea of a band that did a John Peel session track that included a complete recipe for spinach gnocchi tickles your sense of humour, welcome to your new favourite band nobody else has ever heard of.
posted by Hogshead at 2:47 PM on August 16

Filk (Wikipedia).

To Touch the Stars is a compilation of songs about space.

There are various albums of songs related to Mercedes Lackey's fantasy books.
posted by paduasoy at 2:57 PM on August 16

Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (also Christmas on Mars, and some other tracks)

The Postal Service: We Will Become Silhouettes (based on a Ray Bradbury short story).

Primal Scream have a couple of songs that reference Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly on their Evil Heat album.
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:58 PM on August 16

Well, not sure if this is of interest, but Charles de Lint the fantasy author is also a musician.
posted by gudrun at 3:50 PM on August 16

what a great thread - thanks for asking this question!

you might be interested in the Space Station and Mission Control channels at Soma FM

Space Race - Luke Vibert
UFO over Trenchtown - Eat Static
Daiquiri Astronaut (preview only) - E.D. Swankz
High Roller - Crystal Method
2Wicky - Hooverphonic
Space Walk - Lemon Jelly
Pluto - Clare & the Reasons
Timestretch-Earthloop (preview only) - Gas
The Sighting - Cujo
Starman - Starseeds
First Came the Stars - Shulman
Also Sprach Zarathustra - Eumir Deodato
Come Sail Away - Styx
Descender - The Verbrilli Sound (can't find it online - memail me if interested)

last but certainly not least: The Radio Gnome Trilogy by Gong
posted by jammy at 3:56 PM on August 16

You want Clawjob! The plot of their space rock opera Space Crackers is as follows:

"In the future, the world is at peace, and two of Space School's most promising young scientists are to be sent into orbit to discover a solution to global hunger. When one of the scientists can't go, his replacement sees the mission as an opportunity to woo his unsuspecting female spacemate. Things get a little awkward when 50 million ravenous aliens land on Earth, hoping to feed on human flesh!"
posted by clockwork at 4:02 PM on August 16

2000 Light Years From Home - The Rolling Stones
posted by Chairboy at 4:05 PM on August 16

Front Line Assembly's Tactical Neural Implant was always my favorite record to listen too when I was in a sci-fi/cyberpunk mood.
posted by ryaninoakland at 4:22 PM on August 16

This is what you want:

http://www.ayreon.com/starone/so_index.html

Arjen Anthony Lucassen (the man behind Ayreon), wrote an entire album of songs based on scifi films and books, and the album is called Star One. Star Trek, Alien, Star Wars, Dune, etc. are all represented. Space Metal!
posted by markblasco at 4:34 PM on August 16

Queen - Flash (about Flash Gordon)
posted by namewithoutwords at 4:53 PM on August 16

Flaming Lips: Yoshi Battles the Pink Robots (wasn't that a concept album?)

Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me With Science

Frank Zappa: something off Joe Garage's where the lead character has sex with an appliance named Sy Borg....

.... in the same vein of appliance fetish, David Bowie shtups a television in TVC 15

Moloko: FUN FOR ME.... certain remixes are better than others.... lead singer Roisin Murphy sings about hallucinatory sci-fi-esque scenarios like being on a spaceman's ship, the bogeyman going down on Mr. Spock, speaking with the devil, and cow's jumping over the moon... FUN STUFF!

awesome question.
posted by jbenben at 5:21 PM on August 16

Hattifattener - thank you for introducing me to Bloodhag. I haven't listened to any of their music yet but i've been amusing myself trying to pronounce the double umlaut. If you can find me a triple umlaut I can die happy.
posted by Fiery Jack at 5:27 PM on August 16

I am amazed that no one has yet mentioned the proto-Jefferson Starship album, Blows Against the Empire.
posted by megatherium at 5:37 PM on August 16

Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
Rush - The Body Electric (the 1001001 song)
posted by troll on a pony at 6:39 PM on August 16

For sci fi themed country..."It came out of the sky" by Creedence Clearwater Revival!

curse you, troll on a pony...well, here's another by Joe Satriani

A bassist with Hawkwind, Dave Anderson, also played with Amon Düül II.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 6:47 PM on August 16

One of my favorite recent-ish Sci-Fi albums is Clutch's "Robot Hive / Exodus" - an entire blues-rock album about the rise of the robots. Check out 'Burning Beard' - I had a 'oh no shit!' moment when I heard the reference to VALIS. Lots of sci-fi/fantasy and conspiracy stuff in their earlier works too - see 'Escape from the Prison Planet' off of their eponymous album, or 'Guild of Mute Assassins' from "Slow Hole to China".

For more electro-metal type stuff, check out early Hanzel Und Gretyl - specifically "Ausgeflippt", "Transmissions from Uranus" and "Uber Alles". The first two are general paeans to the awesomeness of space, especially Transmissions - see songs like '9-D Galactic Center' and 'Pleiadian Agenda' The last one gets a lot of flack, as it's supposed to be a spoofy Space Opera ode to the concept of Nazis in Space, but a lot of people thought they were serious Nazis. The lovesong at the end, "Mein Kommandant", is great.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:05 PM on August 17

If you like metal, you must get Slough Feg's Traveller, a concept album based on the sci-fi roleplaying game.

Any album which starts with "I am a space pirate, you know my name" has to be great, and this one is... you can buy it direct from the band at their site.
posted by vorfeed at 2:49 PM on August 17

I loved this post, but everything I thought to add had already been said.. then I remembered a few small things:

- Three songs by the Rezillos (though there are others that might fit): 'Destination Venus' (which was covered by the aforementioned Man...Or Astroman? Here is live M...OAM? at Archive.org. The first couple links definitely have live versions of their take on 'DV'), 'Flying Saucer Attack,' and their version of the 'Thunderbirds Are Go!' theme. 'Destination Venus' is one of the most perfect sci-fi love songs.
- I've also been crazy about the original 'Fireball XL-5' theme song ever since I heard it on a cassette of children's tv show themes. There is a version done by Sean Pertwee, but it's just not as good as the original.
posted by Mael Oui at 10:33 PM on August 17

Swedish synth-pop band Vacuum does it a lot with songs such as "I Breathe" and "Big Ideas, Grand Vision".
posted by Matt Arnold at 10:45 PM on August 17

gudrun: Along those lines: Author Steven Brust has played in the bands Cats Laughing, Albany Free Traders, and Boiled in Lead. (The only one of those bands I've listened to is BiL.) Several Minneapolis SF writers were involved in The Flash Girls, too. Lots of good music in the folk/punk spectrum in those bands, but I don't remember any of their tracks being SFnal in themselves.
posted by hattifattener at 10:59 PM on August 17

Trompe Le Monde by the Pixies has the most sci-fi references on it of their albums, since Frank Black wrote most of it himself.
posted by harriet vane at 8:16 AM on August 18

Glen Phillips (former Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman) has an EP called Secrets of the New Explorers, a bunch of songs with the theme of personal space travel.
posted by anthom at 10:23 AM on August 18