I recently found out about a project that is right up my alley from my friend and The Last Dance bandmate Jeff Diehm. Much to my surprise and delight, I had a piece of music chosen to be a part of this project! Read on and then visit my new Music Page to hear it:

Seems there is a museum in Switzerland called Maison d’Ailleurs that is the world’s only museum dedicated exclusively to Science Fiction in all of its many manifestations. Literature, film, etc. They are going to be doing an exhibit called, appropriately enough, Music & Science Fiction that will run from March to August of this year 2010. The exhibit will explore the role that music has played in the sci-fi genre, whether it’s the soundtrack music to sci-fi films or music and instruments that have come to be associated in some way with science fiction, such as the Theremin etc.

Anyway, as part of this exhibit, the museum is going to releasing a CD of sci-fi themed music and I submitted a piece for it and it was accepted! I have always been a fan of the cheesy, yet oh so fun lounge music of the 50′s and beyond, particularly a sub-genre that has come to be known as space-age pop or space-age bachelor pad music. Check out luxuriamusic.com or the Secret Agent channel of somafm.com to hear some of what I’m talking about.

So, I wrote a tune that was meant to be my semi-modern re-interpretation and homage to that glorious and campy era when stereophonic sound, space travel and “modern” sounds were all brought together by people such as Juan Garcia Esquivel and Les Baxter and later re-invigorated by groups like Combustible Edison and Stereolab.

I have named the tune “The Launch Pad” and it features some groovy 60′s style tremolo guitar, a touch of theremin and some “spacy” sounds bouncing around the stereo spectrum. I had so much fun writing this that I am planning an entire album of this kind of stuff. I may even try to do some live performances with funky lighting, lava lamps and go-go girls if all goes well, but that will come much later if at all.

In the meantime, check out the tune and check out the museum’s website. I am supposed to receive copies of the CD sometime this year and might even be able to make some of them available to anyone who is interested. And of course, if you live in or near Switzerland, or happen to be going there on vacation, drop by the museum and check out the exhibit for yourself.

One last note: Thanks again to my good friend Jeff Diehm for telling me about this project. In addition to his role as singer of The Last Dance, Jeff has his own project called Autumn Cannibals and it is very cool. Check it out!