I haven’t done one of these for a while, and although I should indeed be writing, or at least revising, I thought the Pluto fly-by was something I should commemorate in some small way. So I shall be commemorating it through the medium of Spotify, bringing you the Top Ten Pluto Songs, specially selected for you by some Grebulons on the planet Rupert:
10. Bjork – Pluto
It’s Bjork, being weird and Icelandic, singing to us while playing Space Invaders. Or something.
9. Andreas von Herzogenberg – Transneptunian Sitar in Hyperbolic Orbit
Pluto was, of course, the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered; it is a little publicised fact that the second was a sitar in hyperbolic orbit.
8. Inspiral Carpets – Plutoman
According to Spotify, ‘the third most popular band to emerge from the Madchester scene’. Bit of a back-handed compliment that.
7. R.W. Grace – Pluto
Grace Woodroofe’s ode to the ‘third most popular dwarf planet in the solar system’. Probably.
6. Brainwave Binaural Systems – Dwarf Planet
Ten minutes of pure sleep inducing deep space inspired ambience… Nice.
5. Phill McMurtry – Travelling to the Kuiper Belt
He only had the two arms and the one head and he called himself Phil, but… he could well have been in one of the more narrative-oriented 1970s glam rock bands.
4. Geoffrey Orbegoso – Pluto and its Moons
Really I could have taken any tune from Geoff’s ‘The Kuiper Belt: A Sonic Decription’, but I went with this one. You can find the rest easily enough.
3. Aesop Rock – Bring Back Pluto
The story of Pluto’s demotion in slightly sweary hip-hop form. Seriously, it’s amazing what you can find on Spotify when you should be writing.
2. Flyleaf – New Horizons
Well I couldn’t really ignore the NASA probe that prompted this musical interlude, could I? Or indeed let the chance to put some Flyleaf on the list slip by.
1. Mother’s Day – Clyde Tombaugh
This is so weird and trippy that I think I might have dreamt up this little ditty about the bloke who found Pluto.
So there you go; enjoy the playlist, or at least part of it, I think there’s something in there for most tastes… and hey, if not, you can play along too! Give me your Plutonian playlists if you like…