A compilation inspired by 70 years of Space Music styles from the 1950s to present time.

Cosmic Jazz - They Fell From The Skies
Space Exotica - The Sadness of a Dying Sun is Inside Me
Interlude - Flying Saucer
Flying Saucer Rock n Roll - Rockin’ Over Roswell
Psychedelic Space Rock - Planet Run
Cosmic Blues - Ship Malfunction Blues
Space Prog Rock- Durga Maa Does Not Care That You Don’t Believe in Flying Saucers
Ambient Space Music - Cosmosachina
Space Dub - Io Dub
Cosmic Disco Funk - Space Bass
Space Electronica - Love Is In The Stars
Electro Funk - Metal Munchers
Aquatic Space Electro- Liquid Altitude
Techno - Jupiter Mission
Deep Space House - Chasmata
Cosmic Hip-Hop - Absolute Magnitude
Trip-Hop - Astral Engine
Alien PsyTrance - Psylent Green
Sci-Fi Arcade Music - PXLMISSL
Robotic Dubstep - 3034 Invasion
Space Doom Metal - Ishtar Terra Gate Ascendence
BONUS TRACK: Afro-Electro Tribal - Ra Transmigration

124:54

THE SOUNDS OF SPACE PROJECT

Space Music, the sonic intersection of humankind’s fascination with Outer Space, Science-fiction and Popular music, has been examined by many scholars in terms of its cultural and philosophical significance. However, there has been little in the way of examination and documentation of the sonic aspects of this music.

Science Fiction film soundtrack and sound design have been exhaustively examined in academic literature. Texts that investigate the artistic exploration of outer space and related themes in popular music are currently few and far between. These existing texts tend to focus on artistic or cultural motivations, lyrical content, written texts (such as music album liner notes or interviews) and visual presentation (such as cover artwork, stage craft, costumes and music videos).


The Sounds of Space Project focuses on representations of cosmic themes in Popular Music in SOUND.

Its priority was to identify the ‘sonic language’ of space music by scrutinising existing musical texts from the 1950s to the present day. 
To that end, the term caelophone was established - a sound or musical phrase referencing a real or imagined thing or concept related to the extraterrestrial.

Out of the lack of appropriate terminology required for this study, the author invented the word caelophone, inspired by the descriptor anaphone in the work of its creator, Philip Tagg. It comes from the same etymology as celestial, the latin word cael (referring to heaven, the universe or…space), married with the suffix -phone, from the Greek phōnē (meaning ‘sound’ or ‘voice’).

The scope of the project includes many genres of space music from the Cosmic Jazz that began in the 1950s with Sun Ra, through to the Electronic dance music genres of the present age. Research was undertaken to determine the caelophones used in these genres, which are listed at the bottom of these notes.

There are limitations to this sonic language. These caelophones are the authors interpretation and they are not necessarily definitive, exclusive or complete. One may never know the motivations of a music producer and some of these sounds could have been produced subconsciously or even without a great deal of intent or thought. 
Some of the sounds can also sonically sit in more than one category at once.

Regardless, through practice-led research the identified caelophones were creatively applied to new musical works inspired by different sub-genres and eras of space music, creating a compilation of music styles echoing those that have evoked the cosmic in popular music over the last seventy years.

The study and resulting musical works exhibit musical ideas common to all space music across three tiers: (1) composition and performance; (2) instrumentation; and (3) studio production. The identification and demonstration of these caelophones contributes to both the field of musicology and to that of music production and creation.


(Due to the grammar options available on this site, caelophones appear in capital letters surrounded by * asterisks *)
 
CAELOPHONES - THE LANGUAGE OF SPACE MUSIC


*ALIEN BODIES* 
Movement sounds that are organic but alien – often insectoid clatters, flutters, buzzes.


*ALIEN CHATTER* 
Inhuman language / communication. 


 *ALIEN DISCORD*
The exaggerated use of non-diatonic melodies and intervals.  
  
*ALIEN INTERVAL*
Melodies using exaggerated disjunct.  
  
*ASCENT / DESCENT*
The sound of an object rising up/down, suggesting atmosphere exit/entry.
  
*BLEEPS & BLOOPS*
Hi tech computer sounds.  
  
*COSMIC CLOUD*
A shimmering sound (modulated) usually with high frequency content a metaphor for gaseous bodies.  
  
*COSMIC DRONE* 
Long continuation of sound as metaphor for the vastness of space.  
  
*COSMIC NOTES*
As with the Cosmic Drone but with long musical notes rather than a continuous drone.  
  
*CELESTIAL FLUTTER*
Limited patterns of high frequency notes serving a similar function as *STAR TWINKLE*
  
*COUNTDOWN*
Vocal countdown emulating Mission Control in early NASA launches.  
  
*DIMENSIONAL ACOUSTICS*
The use of unnatural sound envelopes that would not exist on Earth. Reversed sounds, cut up and rearranged, Jitter.  
  
*DIMENSIONAL DOOR*
Sounds representing portals, teleportation a la Star Trek Transporter
  
*DISEMBODIED VOICE*
Voice manipulated to appear to be removed from its source  
  
*ELECTRO-BUZZ*
Sustained electrical buzz sounds. A sonic throwback to vintage science fiction. Rich in harmonics and sometimes distorted.  
  
*ENERGY FIELD*
Like Electro-Hum but can contain hisses, hums and crackling sounds

*ETHEREAL VOICE*
A high-pitched ‘voice’ that glides between notes often highly modulated.  
  
*FEEDBACK*
Electronic or Acoustic emulation of cosmic resonance and reinforcement.  
  
*FLY-BY*
A whooshing sound that travels past the listener.  
  
*METALLIC AIR*
Resonance with a ringing quality that suggests a hard material vibration (such as metal or glass). Can sound similar or complementary to Tunnel Resonance  
  
*MUTANT BASS*
Bass sounds with an unnatural sound -either through envelope, resonance or distortion
  
*RADIO COMS*
Human voice compromised in sound quality- a sound referential to retro sci-fi.  
  
*RADIOPHONIC*

Artefacted sound and interference noise showing cosmic disruption and distance.

*REFLECTIVE VOID*
Unnaturally long reverb or echo repeat as a metaphor for the vastness of space.
  
*RETRO COMPUTER*
Synthetic sounds of compromised quality or an age past, for example sample-and-hold data, data tape, sync signals, arcade or chip tune game sound.
  
*RHYTHMIC DISPLACEMENT*
Rhythmic elements that challenge standard patterns and time signatures and unpredictable and irregular rhythms  
  
*ROBOTICS*
Electrical engine sounds and metal impacts, whirrs, buzzes, fans.  
  
*ROBOT VOICE*  
Synthetic version of human speech. Vocoder sounds are an example.
  
*SAMPLE & HOLD*
A form of Alien Intervals, where the note patterns are random (or seemingly random) sequences following the pulse of a constant timing clock.  
  
*SPINNING SAUCER* 
A modulated resonant sound, that ranges from a long gentle modulated sine pulse or whistle to a wavering spinning whoop. Based on sci-fi flying saucer sounds.  
  
*SCANNER*
The sound of sci-fi location devices. Radar and submarine sonar noise are examples.

*SPACE 'BIRD'*
A futuristic avarian call or cry almost a whooping ‘laser’ sound used to signify the presence of an alien ship or creature in science fiction (i.e. the Japanese Toho films)
  
*SPACE CLUSTER*
Chords containing three or more adjacent notes in the scale or non-diatonic notes. The term was invented by Sun Ra.
  
*SPACE MACHINERY*  
Mostly hydraulic and mechanical sounds.  
  
*SPACE PEDAL*
Repetition of the same note or phrase – A metaphor for a constant over the distance of space.  
  
*SPACE WEAPON* 
A ‘bolt’ of sound suggesting a sci-fi weapon. Lasers, Rays, Zaps – often electrical.  
  
*SOLAR WIND*
Broadband noise based-sounds. Winds with a high-frequency element as metaphor for alien terrain.
  
*STAR TWINKLE* 
Metallic and/or high frequency sounds as metaphor for the twinkle of stars.  
  
*SYNTHETIC PERCUSSION*
Inorganic or non-standard percussive sounds.  
  
*TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT*
Organic or contiguous changes in pitch and time  
  
*THRUST*
The sound of craft acceleration/deceleration. Rocket, Warp drive, Hyperspace etc.  
  
*TUNNEL RESONANCE*
The acoustic of a restricted reflective space.  
  
*UNDERWATER SOUNDS*
Bubbling sounds and sounds that are blurred, smooth, lacking high frequency. The liquid sounds of a fluid environment.  
  
*UNEARTHLY AIR*
Otherworldly sound propagation.  
  
*VAST BASS*
Using loud bass and movement of air as metaphor of immersion or extreme size.  
  
*WEIGHTLESS MUSIC*
Music that has little or no energy in the lower octaves suggesting being ‘unanchored.’