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JJ's Bizarre Blog #19 - Somewhere Beyond a Space full of Stars
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Hello everyone and happy new year! 2024 is upon us and another breadth of opportunities lie ahead! I hope the next planetary rotation around the Sun is even more pleasant, fulfilling and eventful than the previous. The Bizarre One has awoken from his holiday slumber and is here to bring you another dose of exquisite experiences. The coming of the new year is an event devoid of astronomical significance (according to some at least), but perhaps we can make it one. We humans like imparting our own meaning on to things after all. So, to start off 2024, let’s move out of the coldness of winter and into something even colder – let’s talk about music inspired by space!
Space – the final frontier. Where no man has gone before. For almost as long as humanity has existed, we have been gazing up at the stars in awe, fascination and bewilderment. Since the dawn of civilization, our ancestors have sought to use all of the power of their knowledge and tools to understand the cosmos and peek into its mysteries. Space is often compared to the sea and it’s no surprise that in so many sci-fi stories, the similarities between space exploration and naval exploration are quite obvious. After all, space’s seemingly endless vastness, boundless opportunities and hazardous nature are quite comparable to the oceans of our planet. And after the age of exploration was complete, after man had sufficiently conquered the waters, it seemed fitting we would look elsewhere to continue our discoveries. Somewhere farther.
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Music has always been a reflection of our culture and imagination so it’s only logical that humanity’s fascination with the stars would translate into musical form as well. In classical compositions from the Renaissance onward, composers have taken inspiration from space and sought to convey its suffocating vastness and awe-inspiring potential through the bombastic roar of symphony orchestra. Perhaps no other medium is rich, powerful and dynamic enough to encompass the conflicting emotions of hope, fear, curiosity and dread that one feels when faced with the true might of outer space.
Well, there is perhaps one medium – electronic music. Since the middle of the XX century, rapid technological advancements had allowed for many new things previously thought impossible. It allowed for man to visit space and later walk on the Moon for the first time, but it also allowed for electronically produced music to be made for the first time. One of the pioneers of this and to this day one of the most influential music groups in history, not just in the electronic sphere but in all of contemporary music, would be the brilliant German enigma known as Kraftwerk. They would go on to spearhead the aptly titled German “kosmische” movement. A combination of technological innovation that they brought on themselves and boundlessly creative songwriting that draws heavily from the symphonic masters of yore, Kraftwerk created sounds that had never reached human ears until then. Electronic music was not bound by instruments or the human voice and could produce sounds that are just as alien, otherworldly, indescribable and yet captivating as the cosmos that often inspired them. With their unique soundscaping, even the songs about mundane everyday things sound astronomical.
Another contemporary audio-astronaut is Kraftwerk’s Westward neighbour – France’s exquisite electronic virtuoso Jean-Michel Jarre. The undisputed king of synthesizers, JMJ took these then novel devices and through them produced ethereal melodies that sounded absolutely inhuman, while at the same time being full of heart and soul and being deceptively danceable. Hs compositions sound absolutely otherworldly, like some telescope’s recording of waves from the depths of the cosmos. It’s amazing that despite being made in the mid 1970s, these tracks sound just as futuristic and advanced to this day, putting decades more modern songs to shame.
While these forefathers became the primordial nebula from which all the big stars of the electronic scene were born, space has remained a major inspiration for them to this very day. From the bright supernova parties of EDM and trance, the beating pulsar of techno and industrial, the comet-like speed of drum and bass, the accretion disc of chaos in dubstep, every genre strives to go beyond the constraints of regular music and beyond the boundaries of our familiar planet. When you immerse yourself in them, you truly feel on a voyage to distant galaxies.
But you don’t need NASA computers, synthesizers or fruity loops to make cosmic classics. Rock music has been a pillar of culture for more than half a century and just like any other genre, they haven’t strayed away from astral exploration. They don’t call them rock stars for nothing. Since the early 70s, rock has slowly been shedding its limitations of upbeat songs about love and partying and delving into broader and more esoteric concepts, with Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie, captaining this mission.
This stylistic evolution truly came into its own when the shining star of rock supernova’d and gave birth to a new dark giant, a whole new galaxy of heaviness – heavy metal of course. Born and bread in the dark recesses of man’s inner space, it’s very fitting that metal too would enjoy exploring the darkest corners of outer space as well. Dark and yet intriguing, baffling and bewildering, extreme and exciting, both apply to metal and the cosmos as well, so both truly fit together fantastically.
Since metal truly launched and achieved its escape velocity from the rock sphere, a variety of genres have cropped up and all of them aren’t afraid to strap in and reach for the stars and even explore the possibilities of alien life. Faster-than-light travel like aggressive thrash metal, extra-terrestrial experiences from doom or stoner metal, philosophical contemplations about our place in the cosmos from progressive metal, light-devouring darkness courtesy of black metal, even playful space battles courtesy of power metal, the possibilities are as limitless and ever expanding as the universe itself.
Surely though, a special section has to be devoted to death metal. It seems that among all metal disciples, it’s this one that is most fascinated with the stars. From space battles, to cosmic deities, to alien invasions, death metal is a breeding ground for sublime sci-fi action, a ruthless maelstrom of astral chaos.
This leads us to the next destination on our voyage (or is it maybe something that reached us instead?). Here within extreme metal is where music first intersected with another part of cosmic exploration. The attentive among you may already have noticed its presence from almost the very start. Namely, cosmic horror. Inspired by the works of horror icon H.P. Lovecraft, these explore the idea that there exist things far beyond us out there and they possess knowledge and power that we can never hope to comprehend, lest we go mad in the process. The perfect representation of the innate human fear of the unknown. For space is one colossal mystery that we will likely never comprehend. Just like our ancestors, who knew not what lurks deep in the oceans, who can say what lurks in the farthest reaches of galaxies.
From these mysterious dark reaches, we find the many artists that have devoted most or all of their careers to odes to space and the stars. Chief among them have to be the German technical masters Obscura, who combine astronomical concepts and Lovecraftian horror to explore Nietzschean philosophies and the true nature of humanity. Their lyrical concepts are almost as advanced as their instrumentation, which itself is like some cosmic entity beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. I am very close to accusing these guys of being straight up aliens.
Of course, space doesn’t need to be terrifying, it can absolutely be fun as well. And there’s probably no better fun than the Scottish power metal party crew that is GloryHammer. I’ve talked about them many times by now, but the sentiment remains – fun, energetic, well-made power metal about ridiculously epic space battles, jetpacks, space submarines, cosmic wizards, interdimensional travel and much more. In the darkness of outer space, GloryHammer bring light of hope and enjoyment.
Or if you prefer your astral metal more mathematical and genre-fluid, try the side-project of many of the same guys, the eclectic posse known as Wizardthrone. A nexus point of magic and science, with an epic tail of interdimensional warfare against evil space wizards, their only album is a fantastically thrilling experience that is a true cosmic voyage through many unseen worlds.
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Probably the greatest theory yet to be (dis)proven about space is of course the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Countless works of media deal with this and music is no exception, you’ve seen plenty of probe samples of that thus far. By far the most iconic band to deal with this are the Swedish elder gods of melodeath, Hypocrisy! Captained by the metal icon Peter Tägtgren, this crew are on a mission to explore every possible conspiracy theory and scientific hypothesis about aliens. They know the truth is out there and they will find it!
All of these acts present a very cinematic experience and this is by no coincidence. Artforms often intersect and like the astral bodies, their mutual gravitational fields influence their orbital trajectories. Film has been a cornerstone of our culture since the dawn of the last century and there are an uncountable number of space-themed flicks to choose from. Even the classics from the very start of our journey gained popularity and association with the cosmos from their use in film. These astral epics have inspired countless artists and the soundtracks from these eternal masterpieces remain forever, journeying on like lost photons from distant stars.
Of course, it would be remiss of me to not take any opportunity to talk about video game music too. After all, what is better than simply film or music about space? Why, getting to explore it yourself of course. In a realistic sense, there is no sound in space, but realism is often boring, so filling the void between galaxies with exciting tunes is what we will go for. After all, if you must cover lightyears and gigaparsecs to your destination, it only makes sense to bring some quality songs along for the ride.
Speaking of things that definitely should be made into movies and video games, a tale about space music would be incomplete without the sympho-industrial masters from Mechina. Their endlessly epic tracks about space exploration, interplanetary warfare and futuristic society is truly unmatched by anything. But I’m not gonna say anything more about them here. Why? Well, tune in to the next broadcast to find out.
Alright, after a lot of distance and a lot of dodging asteroids and cosmic rays, we can dock our ship safely here, life support was running a bit low anyway. I hope you enjoyed our voyage through the cosmos and can now find it as fascinating as I do. Music can be truly immersive and can enhance any experience, space is no exception. Like they say, in space no one can hear you scream, but no one can also hear you jamming out to some banger tunes. So don’t be shy, enjoy yourself, embrace adventure and go wherever your heart takes you. You’re welcome to use my playlist to fuel your curiosity. See you all again soon! Live long and prosper!
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