SONG: “Aeronaut, Come” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Charles A. A. Dellschau Dreams of Flying: The Amazing Story of an Airship Club That Might Never Have Existed,” The Atlantic, 21 March 2013, as used in the post “Science Art: Plate 2527 Guarda (a mechanism for protecting airships), by Charles [...]

SONG: “So Heavy” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Super-dense celestial bodies could be a new kind of planet,” Nature, 13 March 2013, as used in the post “Super-dense… *things*… are a new kind of planet.”

ABSTRACT: How could one resist wandering ice giants? Bodies that have been through something so [...]

SONG: “Spirit of the Words” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on Computer program roots out ancestors of modern tongues”, Nature, 11 Feb 2013, as used in the post “’Bituqen’ is Proto-Polynesian for ‘star.’ A computer figured that out.”

ABSTRACT: I kinda knew I wanted to write a song about this story [...]

SONG: “In the Light” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Zoologger: The first solar-powered vertebrate”, New Scientist, 18 January 2013, as used in the post “Solar powered animal.”

ABSTRACT: This started with a drum beat, then moved up to a super simple guitar figure (Young Marble Giants-style). Then, a contrapunctal bass [...]

SONG: “Mesopotamia” (penitential cover) (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: This is a cover (a late one) making up for a late song in November. There’s no original research here, and some pretty sketchy anthropology. But still. It’s the B52s. It’s hard for me to say which version is really the original – there’s [...]

SONG: “Starts Beating” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Scientists build a biological pacemaker by injecting a modified virus into the heart”, io9.com, 17 December 2012, as used in the post “Virus rebuilds unhealthy hearts.”

ABSTRACT: I like thinking about the metaphor of hearts being broken, because what everyone thinks of [...]

SONG: “Complicated Man.” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “New carnivorous harp sponge discovered in deep sea”, Nature, 9 November 2012, as used in the post “Carnivorous sponges found. (As if you didn’t have enough to worry about.)”

ABSTRACT: I’m not sure I really want to explain this one, but I [...]

SONG: “Cloudbusting” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: This is a penitential cover. I was late with the last song. This is a song about Wilhelm Reich’s tragic life (through the eyes of his son), written by Kate Bush, although I kinda favor Gemma Hayes’ version.

ABSTRACT: I was never that big [...]

SONG: “Is There A Light?” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “New Planet Is Closest Yet: Earth-Size Lava World a Space ‘Landmark’”, National Geographic, 17 October 2012, as used in the post “We’ve got a neighbor (in Alpha Centauri).”

ABSTRACT: I’ve been spending a lot of time lately trying to make [...]