Comments on: Space-y music?

Question: Space-y music?

jdroth — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:35:23 -0800

The Final Frontier: I'm looking for music with a sci-fi feel, the kind of music you might have heard at a planetarium display when you were a kid.

Stuff that has a sci-fi feel to me is generally (but not always) heavy on ethereal synth. Think Vangelis. Think Ray Lynch. Think the Cosmos soundtrack. Think "In the Space Capsule (Love Theme)" from Queen's Flash Gordon soundtrack (yes, really). I want to be able to close my eyes and imagine I'm drifting among the stars.

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:44:46 -0800

There's always the Dr. Who theme.

By: gac

gac — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:50:36 -0800

Telefon Tel Aviv (warning: ginormous flash site)

By: gac

gac — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:56:21 -0800

Oh and also Air's seminal Moon Safari, although you should skip track two as it might bring you abruptly back to earth.

By: Razzle Bathbone

Razzle Bathbone — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:05:00 -0800

Tangerine Dream, especially the earlier stuff like Stratosfear or Phaedra always make me feel that I am floating in space. Hell, pretty much any of the electronic-y krautrock fits the bill for me.

By: Tubes

Tubes — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:07:31 -0800

You want Hearts of Space - here's a couple of links: timelessmedia.net; hos.com.

There are compilations available from Amazon.

Also, download WinAmp (if you need an audio player) and check out some of the "ambient" stations at Shoutcast radio.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:12:11 -0800

Get this.

By: Fat Guy

Fat Guy — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:12:55 -0800

Your question made me think of Laserium concerts at the Fels Planetarium.

How about Brain Damage/Eclipse by Pink Floyd? Circus of Heaven or Arriving UFO by Yes?

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:31:04 -0800

Vangelis' Albedo .039 should be exactly what you are after.

By: Napierzaza

Napierzaza — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:34:15 -0800

Boards of Canada.

By: Miastar

Miastar — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:38:11 -0800

The soundtrack to the movie Solaris.

By: thatjackbuilt

thatjackbuilt — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 13:45:31 -0800

how about the band Mogwai...some of their stuff is instrumental, spacy, if not a little too indie?? Sigur Ros is also a good bet.

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:03:13 -0800

Second Tangerine Dream. The soundtrack from Wavelength, specifically.

By: iamck

iamck — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:06:56 -0800

Boards of Canada.

As spacey as it gets. Also, check out Lemon Jelly.

By: chococat

chococat — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:22:11 -0800

Dick Hyman (yes his real name), a Moog synth pioneer. The Minotaur!

By: teleskiving

teleskiving — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:39:18 -0800

Jean Michel Jarre!

By: speicus

speicus — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:58:48 -0800

T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band

By: aneel

aneel — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:59:44 -0800

"Oceania" from Mike Oldfield's Songs of Distant Earth just came up in the shuffle. Has that kind of feel.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:00:21 -0800

Space Invaders are Smoking Grass. Accept no substitutes.

Welcome to the Discotheque.

Cut the Midrange, Drop the Bass.

Power Pill Pacman and Humanoid Must Not Escape (early Aphex Twin tracks). Aphex also did a Star Wars Theme remix, but so has everyone else and their dog. Speaking of which, Mike Paradinas released some "Bantha Trax" as the Tusken Raiders until Lucas sued.

And my favourite novelty scifi album:
First Class Ticket To Telos
"Buckfunk" is the sort of music that Buck Rogers might listen to in a 25th century bar scene.
by "Buckfunk 3000" (actually Simon Begg, from the Discotheque track above).

The Orbital version of the Doctor Who theme. Mixed in with the KLF's Doctorin' the Tardis is probably A Good Idea.

Finally, there's the incomparable Mihon, by "Ongaku" (Ata Macias, Heiko Schäfer & Uwe Schmidt, recording these days as Ata, Atom Heart, M/S/O) from 1992. A sublime, classic early dark German trance record where practically every single sound is composed of samples from the original Star Trek series. You know, the doors, the teleporter, the comms, sensors, sickbay monitors, the shield, occasional phasers. Fooking brilliant. Drop this one at a party with anyone over 30 and they get this weird, baffled look on their faces until they realise what's going on.

By: jca

jca — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:02:18 -0800

Forbidden Planet soundtrack.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:05:06 -0800

Ah, I see. "Spacey". Like, ambient. I was too excited to read closely enough.

In that case, Aguirre.

By: jdroth

jdroth — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:28:28 -0800

Ah, I see. "Spacey". Like, ambient. I was too excited to read closely enough.

'sokay. I'll check out all the suggestions, even those that aren't to the point. I love discovering new music.

I think it would be great fun to construct some sort of science fiction CD mix using some of the tracks you all have suggested here. I'd love to use songs that are taken from soundtracks and actually have bits of dialogue in them, too. For example, in the Flash Gordon song I mentioned earlier, over the trippy spaceship-flying-through-the-void music there are bits of dialogue about scanning it for lifeforms, etc. Or, one of the tracks from Blade Runner has Beatty (or whatever his name is) telling Deckard about the things he's seen. Also, if I can figure out how, I'll record audio clips from some of my favorite scifi movies: "This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off."

I want eerie, spectacular, awe-inspiring.

By: rob511

rob511 — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:35:00 -0800

Squarely at the intersection of Space-Age Sounds St. and Cosmic Contraption Cres. lies the theremin. (If you're unfamiliar with this instrument, which is played without being touched, think "Good Vibrations" or the soundtrack to "The Day the Earth Stood Still.") More info in this MeFi thread, and here's a link to a CD of original theremin music.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:40:39 -0800

- Bermuda Triangle, from Isao Tomita
- Second the Jean Michel Jarre; especially recommend Equinoxe and Oxygene

Seriously. These three albums practically defined the genre you're asking about.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:51:33 -0800

Vangelis' "Albedo 0.39".

By: jdroth

jdroth — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:52:20 -0800

Isao Tomita

You know, I've been meaning to track down more Tomita. I love A Sea Named Solaris from the Cosmos soundtrack...

By: hellbient

hellbient — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:59:02 -0800

First one that came to mind for me is the Forbidden Planet soundtrack, although at times it's more drifting through the stars with a robot trying to kill you. And it's barely music. (I'd remove this after jca's mention, but i wrote it like 3 hours ago).
Along those same lines is Microstoria's "_snd" and "Init Ding". Spacey, but in a completely different way from Vangelis.

Disc 2 (Heavy Lids) from Techno Animal's "Re-Entry" is excellent spaced-out listening.

Nocturnal Emission's "Invocation of the Beast-Gods" is brilliantly unhinged.

Oval's "Systemische" and "94 Diskont" have a "someone's gonna have to put on a suit and go out there" feel. YMMV.

Datacide's (Uwe Schmidt again) "Flowerhead" has many beautiful drifting moments.

Horizon 222's "Through the Round Window" might be too housey for what you're looking for, but it's also very spacey, especially "Spirit Level (Lost in Space)".

Seefeel.

Rapoon's "Raising Earthly Spirits" is right there, if a little dark, then again, so is space.

Christoph De Babalon's beatless "Opuim" is out there.

Nonplace Urban Field's "Chilled No. 6", although I can't recommend the rest of the record.

Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" might work.

Fluxion's "Vibrant Forms".

The Fax label probably has a lot of stuff for this.

note that a lot of this leans more towards your "spacey" request over "sci-fi". I'm jealous I didn't think of meehawl's calls on Buckfunk 3000 and Mihon.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:06:42 -0800

Oh, yeah - Also 76:14, by Global Communication. Very, very sweet.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:11:10 -0800

"Wireless Fantasy, 1960" by Vladimir Ussachevsky.

"Saturday Night On Saturn," by Les Baxter And His Orchestra.

"Poppy Nogood (1968)," Terry Riley

"Funny Illustrated Book," Nobukazu Takemura

By: hardcode

hardcode — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:18:01 -0800

You might find Tomita's Mind of the Universe somewhere, recorded live at Linz, Austria 1984. The live recording adds something extra to the music, he had a speaker stack flown in under a helicopter part way through the gig, etc etc

By: greycap

greycap — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:39:10 -0800

Second the Lemon Jelly suggestion. Also try a group called Aphilas (downloadable here).

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:46:52 -0800

I'm shocked and appalled that nobody's mentioned Joe Meek & the Tornados' Telstar.

You may also want to consider Alien Sex Fiend's Inferno soundtrack, as a number of tracks ("Human Atmosphere", "Moon Toon", "Bad News", "Space 2", "Alien Atmosphere") are close to what you're looking for; The "Sas Finale" track has a nice B-Movie vibe, while the bonus remix tracks are in keeping in the spirit of the old Laserium shows that some planetariums sponsored.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:53:33 -0800

I'd love to use songs that are taken from soundtracks and actually have bits of dialogue in them

No doubt you've heard Strongbad on the subject of Techno?

By: jdroth

jdroth — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:18:13 -0800

I've gone through and listened to as many of these as possible via iTMS, Amazon, and direct-links. I've marked those that best match what I'm looking for with "best answers". I look forward to the input, and will continue to check back for future contributions.

By: scalespace

scalespace — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:33:29 -0800

Ulrich Schnauss

By: meehawl

meehawl — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:57:40 -0800

The Schnausser is good. Reminds me of lots of stuff on the old Rising High. Anything by Ralf Hildenbeutel or Oliver Lieb is class. And Air Liquide is a great group for atmospheric ambient.

By: a louis wain cat

a louis wain cat — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 18:13:07 -0800

Certain Portishead songs have a very retro sci-fi feel. The songs "Mysterons", "Wandering Star", and "Humming" exemplify it the most, especially "Mysterons".

I don't know if they're exactly what you're after, though. They evoke a pretty different sort of sci-fi feeling than what you seem to be looking for- if Tangerine Dream, for example, could be a soundtrack for a documentary on the wonders of the cosmos, Portishead is more like some dark, surreal, arty 50s sci-fi movie. Still, I thought I'd throw it out there...

By: kindall

kindall — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 18:29:26 -0800

Try some Planet P Project for some '80s synth space rock "Static" is a good place to start.

I'll also second or quadruple or whatever Tangerine Dream, and I'll add recommendations for some of their '80s stuff: the album Exit has tracks called "Kiew Mission" and "Remote Viewing" that'd be perfect; there's also Poland (a document of a live performance in Warsaw, which is four LP sides each filled with continuous music), and the one that got me into them, Tangram. The "Song of the Whale" suite from Underwater Sunlight might also work.

It's going to be hard to find, as it's been out of print forever, but Amin Bhatia's Interstellar Suite is a synthesized symphonic suite that is explicitly about space travel. And you may also enjoy Synergy's Metropolitan Suite, particularly the track "Into the Abyss." (Synergy is Larry Fast, who used to play keys in Peter Gabriel's band.) He also did a film soundtrack called The Jupiter Menace that's pretty good, though the movie's crap.

By: barjo

barjo — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:42:45 -0800

Other spacey synth artists: Michael Stearns, Steve Roach, Jon Serrie.

By: jdroth

jdroth — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:50:48 -0800

Try some Planet P Project for some '80s synth space rock?

Heh. I'm a fairly big Tony Carey fan. You can bet there'll be some Planet P on there.

By: WinnipegDragon

WinnipegDragon — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:06:25 -0800

The soundtrack to Star Control 2 remixed and available for download.

Just one of the reasons that game was so fabulous.

By: Tubes

Tubes — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:48:54 -0800

jdroth, if you do whip up a cool mix, I'd sure love to get my ears on it!

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 21:20:37 -0800

Speaking of Tomita, "Arabesque #1" is the theme music to the PBS astronomy show Star Gazer, hosted by the ever-ebullient Jack Horkheimer. Keep looking up!

Maybe you'd like some music from someone who actually came from outer space: Sun Ra. He's made so many records it can be hard to approach his stuff, but you could start with Out There a Minute (esp. "Love in Outer Space") or Concert for the Comet Kohoutek. More here (with audio clip).

By: spartacusroosevelt

spartacusroosevelt — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 22:21:46 -0800

You can find a lot of material like this on the SpaceMusic Podcast.

By: fuzz

fuzz — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 02:08:15 -0800

Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks.

By: Lockeownzj00

Lockeownzj00 — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 03:35:40 -0800

I think it would be great fun to construct some sort of science fiction CD mix using some of the tracks you all have suggested here.

Why not extrapolate that further? Say, the CD comes with a manual that is actually a story, which is 'narrated' by each track...names of songs are chapters...

Fantastic thread, MeFi.

By: heartquake

heartquake — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 09:31:12 -0800

Portishead has some pretty weird sounds.

By: scody

scody — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:56:26 -0800

Klaus Nomi was brilliantly weird -- like a Weimar cabaret alien. His song that probably comes closest to your description is "From Beyond" (available on a couple of Nomi collections), though if you like discovering new and strange stuff, you may like plenty more. I've been known to weep at his version of "Cold Song."

By: scody

scody — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:01:04 -0800

Sorry, meant to include a link to the collection of his that I have. And while I'm at it, I'll suggest checking out the Nomi documentary, too.