Feb 2022 electronica proggy aliens occams-razor
I'll admit it: one of my guilty pleasures is trawling charity shops and second-hand book stores for books about flying saucers and I've amassed quite a collection over the years. Some of the theories they contain are very entertaining; some, particularly those of Jacques Vallée or John Keel, are thought-provoking, focusing deeply on human psychology and motivation rather than on any nuts-and-bolts spacecraft.
And while some UFO books are just blatant, cynical attempts to cash in on public interest after the latest flap, others are quite simply jaw-droppingly terrible. The latest addition to my collection, written by someone called Dylan Clearfield, who describes himself as a 'trained archaeologist' (trained by whom, and in what, exactly?) very definitely falls into that final category. Apparently some mountain ranges on the moon were sculpted in to the shape of a mushroom cloud or broccoli to warn us about something.
Quite why we need to be warned about broccoli isn't elucidated.
You say you're trained and I don't mean to grouse
Your thesis just makes me annoyed
I see a pixel where you see a house
You're finding structure where all I can see is noise
Where your interpretations tend to fail
(and sorry, but this cannot be denied)
is that you're lacking any sense of scale
that house has doors that are two kilometres wide
You think that it's threatening;
I think that I've heard enough
A photo can be anything
Provided that it's blurred enough
Your reasoning is quite absurd
leads me to think you're a buffoon
How come your UFOs aren't observed
by everyone who sees the Moon?
Please understand I'd help you if I could
but you're not really finding clues
Your scanner's only going to be as good
as the old photographs that you decide to use
And when it comes to quoting conversations
between the astronauts and ground
long since debunked as complete fabrication
then I conclude that all you've written is unsound
@ryako Mar 2022
I really like that synth moving through this. It reminds me of the one used in Massive Attack's "Protection".
@nahlej381 Mar 2022
I watch mystery science theater 3000 a lot and the title made me think of some of there classic space riffs. Very cool sonic blanket to wrap myself in. Vocal is aces on this. As always you’re a legend.
@gardeningangel1 Feb 2022
Beware the broccoli! What a fun topic to collect. This is a really fun song, quirky yet thought-provoking. The difference of perspective reminds me of Micromegas. The trip-pop music and the effect on the vocals are perfect.
@ineloquentsd Feb 2022
As someone who spends a fair bit of time in skeptic/rationalist circles, I must confess a fair bit of pleasure in your lyrics here - my own bit of confirmation bias at play. A very solid set of lyrics well-supported by your instrumentation choices. Well done, as usual!
@chroes Feb 2022
Ohh, electroprog, how nice to find you here!
Love the premise of the song and the lyrics, very contemporary. The vocals are delivered with honesty and conviction. The arps, especially the pulsing bass and the tonal darkness give me strong late Depeche-Mode-vibes. Loved the song!
@wobbiewobbit Feb 2022
yeah a bit war of the worlds i reckon... i like how it made me think of headspace as the scene for the space battle with that kind of thinking
@sph Feb 2022
A blurred photo can be anything. Fine observation in a time where the borders of perception are constantly shifting and people looking for easy answers are willingly believing the absurd
@sailingmagpie Feb 2022
I've also always enjoyed the ridiculous conspiracy theories that people believe (well, until the last few years, when they've started literally getting people killed!).
Love the witty, dismissive lyrics and the overall spacey, proggy delightfulness.
@heliosonorous Feb 2022
Really like this one, great lyrics, those bubbly synths underneath are very cool, and the swirls give off a spacey feel.
@spazsquatch Feb 2022
As someone who has a long fascination with the psudoscience of cryptozoology, I love this subject. I lament the pre-Q days when conspiracies were a fun little subculture and this certainly put a little fun back into it.
@frey Feb 2022
So 90s! With that throbbing beat. The sound changes after the 3:30 mark, really good blend of instrumentation
@tseaver Feb 2022
Fun write: I'm sure that our current "post-factual" culture would be shocked and offended to see you treat somebody's "alternate facts" with such disdain.
@timfatchen Feb 2022
Enjoyable cruelty to the fabrication/gullibles. Really impressed by the progrock backing and the voice is superb, especially the reasoning absurd chorus harmonies (harmonies? whatever, vocals). The modulations ratchet this up really well, make quite a long song seem quite short! Download! (Broccoli Warning? now THERE's a song title! Broccoli is a green staple for us but I loathed it, and sprouts, when I had a juvenile palate. Here ya go, juvenile palate, UFO, Broccoli Warning. Write it! commands the alien-in-diguise, scrachting his lizard scales beneath his wrinkled skin)
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Ah its all about perspective! Love this lyric and that incessant back drop. The second verse is a stand out. Really good one this!
@fuzzy Feb 2022
One of my favourites in my collection is "UFOs; Satanic Menace" a "Christian perspective" on the UFO phenomenon.
And yeah, Jacques Vallee is pretty interesting.
Lovely bubbly synths there.
Hilarious and tragic lyrics in this age of "alternative facts".
Great vocals, as usual.
And we should all be afraid of broccoli, quite honestly.
And mushroom clouds, too.
@acousticmaddie Feb 2022
Great song, very well produced. Lovely 80s wibe
@berni1954 Feb 2022
There is a Bowie in Berlin feel about this, musically.
Lyrically, I like your debunking of these sensationalist "They're Here!" books.
I was young when Von Daniken's "Chariot of the Gods" was released and I was enthralled by his arguments and "evidence". Years later I saw a documentary totally debunking his "evidence" one of these was scale. A photo VD had proposed as a UFO landing site was shown to be about the size of a frisbee in reality, etc.
There is so much nonsense around today that needs debunking. We invented the Net as a communication tool and it seems to be 80% dedicated to spreading misinformation and hate speech... Sigh...
If you're out there , oh Aliens "Take me back to my home planet, please. I can't really be from this one! I don't understand the "locals". :-)