Name: NASA's Curious Universe: Introducing Season Six by NASA
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: In season six, meet researchers who are using sounds from the Sun to learn unlock new details about our star, explore the “dark side” of the universe with scientists who study dark matter and dark energy, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the first NASA mission to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth. A new episode drops every Tuesday.

London-based Slowcraft continues to craft... slow, and quiet, beautiful music... the type of music that I love waking up to and observing the dark sombre sky open up to the world for another short day. For the latest release on this boutique label curated by James Murray, we are gifted with a six-piece album by a Czech composer and field recordist, Tomáš Šenkyřík, titled Hajú, which is an old Moravian word that loosely translates to “hush hush”. Today's track premiere of "Advent" is as appropriate as ever, with the seasonal preparation for the holidays, which began yesterday, November 27th. The word is a Latin adoption of "adventus" which means "arrival," and whether you are of Christian faith or not, the approach towards this time is sensed by everyone. For me, it's like a ramp down off the highway of the year, about to enter through the tunnel, where night and quietude surround a slow transition in-between, before a ramp-up into busy January, where somehow everyone exhales anew. This journey is perfectly soundtracked by Hajú, with its "subtle weaving together of acoustic elements, soft synthetic manoeuvres and evocative field recordings to spellbinding effect." These gentle, minimal, and fragile sounds are cradled further by warm strings and piano keys, concluding with a lovely lullaby, with vocals by Marie Puttnerová, "a modern-day framing of Moravian folklore guided as much by ambient minimalism as the ghosts of Dvořák and Janáček, one in which the family hearth forever glows with unmistakable warmth and generosity of spirit."

Hajú

Advent

TRACK PREMIERE : Tomáš Šenkyřík - Advent

Tour 2023

Orion I

On Episode 278, entry, descent, and landing experts at NASA unfold what it will take to accomplish a successful landing for humans visiting the Red Planet. This is the eighth episode in a reboot of our series about a human mission to Mars.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Mars Ep. 8: Sticking the Landing on Mars

With the Hollow at My Feet is the debut single from Tiny Leaves forth-coming Mynd album. The music combines field recordings with minimal instrumental sounds to create a portrait of a particular valley in Shropshire's Long Mynd.

With The Hollow At My Feet

The first single from my upcoming ambient EP, "respirate."

adrift

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DR-87 ; Andrew Heath - Fold (CS / DL)

out on June 16th, 2023‘Fold represents the continuing shift in my work towards a more open and tonal sound - warmer and more dreamlike, I seek to explore more minimal arrangements using sparse piano and guitar balanced with soft electronics and field recordings. Fold is a slow moving tone poem with delicate piano motifs and evolving e-bowed guitar notes that seem to form from nowhere and then disappear into the ether, always searching for that elusive and constantly shifting space between sleeping and waking.’

- Andrew Heath

Written and Produced - Andrew Heath
Mastered - Andrew Heath

Buy CS / DL

03 - Shelter

02 - Letters

An unusual happy track made with juno synth

Because I do

With this album, Glåsbird's 'A Sonic Expedition' draws to its close. It began at the North Pole, in the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean and it ends at the South Pole, on the world's least populated continent; the ice-capped desolate grandeur that is Antarctica. It had been suspected that this land existed long before it had been discovered and many had died in their pursuit to find it. Some may even have died as a consequence of accidentally discovering it, through detoured voyages striking into glaciers.

The music here in Antarctica returns to Modern Classical, as the artist comes full circle. Echoes of 2019's debut album set in Greenland can be felt in places, as soaring violin and cello collide. However, these 8 tracks gather up the compositional and technical learning throughout the series, as Glåsbird looks forward to the challenges of the future.

The photography in this album is from Oceanographer Neha Ramsarup, who traveled on the South African polar vessel SA Agulhas II, deploying instruments and collecting seawater samples along the voyage from Cape Town (South Africa) to South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE IV). These trips are joined by a range of marine scientists, whose keen interests lie in ocean properties such as sea ice and weather as well as mammals, birds, whales and penguins who call these polar regions home.

This series of 8 albums has been a world of discovery for this anonymous composer, as their work etches into sound the hours of inspiration drawn from vintage maps, documentaries, Google Earth explorations and countless articles. Along the way, a familiar theme threads through the work as at every turn, Glåsbird's studies led to the events of climate change. The devastating effects are real, with melting glaciers, rising seas, disintegrating ice caps, wild fires, war and warming seas unintentionally finding their way into the concepts of this series.

As a clear juxtaposition to this, the sheer beauty of our world is also uncovered, with the work of visual artists helping bring this to life through the album covers and packaging imagery. There's an enormity and poignant feel to the music too, as melancholy classical notes extend through an eerie chill, or sun-bleached tapes explore hidden islands and tropical climes. The natural beauty of our world can be felt throughout this collection alongside a sense of despair too, at its apparent demise. Humans are doing what they can to build a momentum of awareness on our tired old planet, through education and urgency. It is hoped through this series that it can add to this movement somehow even if in a small way, to build a sense of care for our planet.

releases October 14, 2023

Written and produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by nehar63 - www.instagram.com/nehar63/
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Antarctica

wlr144 glåsbird - antarctica

In season six, meet researchers who are using sounds from the Sun to learn unlock new details about our star, explore the “dark side” of the universe with scientists who study dark matter and dark energy, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the first NASA mission to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth. A new episode drops every Tuesday.

NASA's Curious Universe: Introducing Season Six

Normal matter—the kind that makes up our home planet and everything we can see—adds up to just five percent of the known universe. The other 95 percent is dark matter and dark energy, a tag team that ranks among the biggest mysteries in all of science. NASA astrophysicists Jason Rhodes and Ami Choi explain how we study this dark side and why it’s making scientists reconsider what we think we know about the universe.

NASA's Curious Universe: Welcome To The Dark Side

Hello, we’re NASA. You may have seen our astronauts, rocket launches, or Mars rovers — but have you heard our sounds? From interviews with astronauts and engineers to stories that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA’s audio offerings let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth.

NASA's Curious Universe: Introducing Season Six

NASA

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