ReverbNation

I got a ReverbNation account! The finished songs are up now - check it out heeya.

The triumphant return

I've been away a while. Now it's late and I'm feeling self-aggrandizing. New songs!

Passer

Yawp (finished)

Tabula Rasa (finished)

And finally...

The Internet Song

New demo! A song of longing, set on the internet.

Internet gleanings/current events

Some cool stuff in recent news:

First, this. Astronomers have discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a red dwarf, Gliese 581, about 20 light-years away. It's in the habitable zone, meaning that water could exist in liquid form on the surface. Life, Unbounded explains:

With a 37 day orbit (putting it about 0.15 AU from the 1/3rd solar mass star) there's a good chance that GL 581 g is tidally locked - with a permanent day and night side, although it's by no means clear that tidal locking is inevitable. This poses significant questions about any climate on the planetary surface - something astronomers and planetary scientists have been worrying about for a while for this kind of scenario. A thick enough atmosphere and thermal transport could help even out the drastic day/night temperature difference and keep things stable.

 And then this: two dolphin species, the Guyana dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin, have been observed to alter the structure of their calls during interspecific interactions. This is cool for several reasons: first, it adds to our evidence that dolphins are skilled mimics. Secondly, it opens the possibility that these two different species could be capable of communicating with each other in some way. From the Beeb:

When bottlenose dolphins swim together, they emit longer, lower frequency calls, that are modulated.

In contrast, Guyana dolphins usually communicate using higher frequency whistles that have their own particular structure.

But often, the two species swim together in one group. These interactions are usually antagonistic, as the larger bottlenose dolphins harass the smaller Guyana dolphins.

When the two dolphins gather, they produce quite different calls, Dr May-Collado has discovered.

Crucially, calls emitted during these multi-species encounters are of an intermediate frequency and duration.

In other words, the dolphins start communicating in a style that is somewhere between those of the two separate species

In sadder news, Shiloh, one of the bottlenose dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, has died after a long illness. She was the mother of Chesapeake, the first calf born in captivity at the Aquarium, and the grandmother of Bayley, who is now about two years old. Shiloh was estimated to be about 31 years old, which isn't bad for a dolphin, but the news still came as a shock. I studied Shiloh's whistles for more than a year. Her contact call was a pretty, modulated upsweep with which I became very familiar. I'm going to miss her. So long, Shiloh, and thanks for all the fish.

And finally, I went to hear Richard Dawkins and Neil DeGrasse Tyson speak at Howard University the other day. The talk was an unscripted chat about the "poetry of science". Tyson spent a little too much time showboating - I would have like to hear more from Dawkins, devoted little fangirl that I am - but overall it was most enjoyable. I have to say, though...  Tyson was voted World's Sexiest Astrophysicist by People Magazine in 2000, but that Richard Dawkins is foxy. That hyperliterate Oxford-honed diction, that silver hair, that sultry voice... sigh.

Oh, and there are lots of new songs in the works: the Gargle Blasters are working on a cover of Pink Floyd's Young Lust... ooh, I need a dirty woman.



Coming attractions:

• The finished version of Homeopathy (in both censored and uncensored form... because this is a family blog)
• The finished version of Uncertainty (now with 100% more awesome due to sax solo by my dad)
•  More Young Lust
• Tabula Rasa (too full of angst for immediate release)
• The Night You Can't Remember (Magnetic Fields cover!)
• The Internet Song (work in progress)

Man, we almost have a setlist! Watch out, open mic night - the Gargle Blasters are coming.

Homeopathy + MySpace

Another demo from the Gargle Blasters! This one's about homeopathy (from thoughtbunny to mp3 in under 24 hours, aw yeah)...



Our gallant triumvirate of sexy has only had a name for about a day, but wow it's all over the internet. Feed the collective ego here and here!

Uncertainty

I wrote half a love song about physics. Have a listen!



I’m uncertain as to whether I should trust you
I’ve never been all that good at romance
You always seem to know just what I’m thinking
And that thought makes me happy in my pants

You’re photon-like in your acceleration
Stick with me baby, surely we’ll go far
I’ve calculated just how fast you’re moving
I just can’t be quite certain where you are

And curled up, cat-like, in my bed
The thought keeps turning in my head
It fills me with both joy and dread
I think I’m both alive and dead

*UPDATE*

New verses! Now with increased GarageBand sexiness!



I’ll pull you in past my event horizon
To terraform my lonely little moon
My heart is beating faster than a pulsar
And burning like the Lyrids do in June

Oh darling, won’t you tell me that you love me?
You light up the dark matter in my soul
I find my lust for you is supermassive
And growing like Andromeda’s black hole

Just because I like it

Danny Elfman, the mastermind behind the soundtrack of every Tim Burton movie you can name, rocks out with his band Oingo Boingo. The song is Insanity, and it is delectably creepy.




I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep
I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with a knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.

Adventures + Tim Minchin

Fellow internet and IRL adventurer Wowbagger is now the official Baltimore Outdoor Adventure Examiner! Check out his column for reviews, ratings, and pictures of some of the hoopy outdoor adventures to be had in the DC/Baltimore area.

He is also responsible for my new obsession with Tim Minchin, singer/songwriter/comedian extraordinaire. Embedded for your viewing pleasure is one of his videos. This one's fun, and will tickle the skeptically inclined. Safe for work.





If you want more (you know you do), this one is hilarious and actually rather virtuosic. Decidedly NOT safe for work. Enjoy!

The birds and the B's

Jarbas Agnelli saw a picture of some birds sitting on some telephone wires. Another person might have just seen birds. He saw notes.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.