The Moon And Back [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

I'm told I was plonked down in front of the tv to watch the moon landing on 20th July 1969, at just six months old. It must've made an impression, as 50 years later here's a compilation album telling the terrestrial to celestial and back to terrestrial tale of Neil, Buzz and Mike's little holiday (John Jervis). THE MOON AND BACK features new and exclusive tracks from (among others) the Popguns, Rocketship, Darren Hayman, the Leaf Library, Feverdream, My Favorite, Famous Problems, the Great Electric and Spaceship, as well as haikus read by Amelia Fletcher, Pam Berry, Rob Pursey and Kevin Pickering (from indie legends Saturn V!). We start off on earth with the indiepop jangles of the Popguns and Whoa Melodic, the powerpop garage leanings of Mock Rockets, Pete Weiss and Famous Problems and the epic synthpop of My Favorite (they are Americans) and Rocketship before the Nameless Book undertake a 12 minute real-time kosmische accompaniment to the Saturn V lift-off. Things get altogether more spacey, ambient, floaty and dreamy once we leave the earth’s atmosphere. Firestations sing about The Overview Effect (something that astronauts report feeling when they see the earth from space; a feeling that everything is somehow connected, fragile and precious), Deerful talks about Chronostasis (due to the nature of spacetime, a clock that is moving relative to an observer will be measured to tick slower than a clock that is at rest in the observer's own frame of reference) and Retep Folo describes a vision of a child’s sense of not belonging to earth, and instead feeling more at home in another galaxy. We are touching down on the moon at the start of disc two (or track 20), playing tribute to Margaret Hamilton (the American computer scientist who developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program), as well as Neil (and that missing syllable), Buzz (and the joy of kicking moon dust as if it were snow) and the moon itself. Mikey Collins sings about his namesake (this stuff isn’t just thrown together) circling the moon alone (and growing a moustache while he does it!) and Spaceship (this stuff isn’t... you get the gist!) celebrates Larry Baysinger (the ham radio operator who eavesdropped on the Apollo mission from Louisville, Kentucky). The Leaf Library help us say goodbye to the moon and tranquility base, The Reverend Johnny Kinkaid references the conspiracy theories (Capricorn One fans), we doff our cap to Major Tom, before breaking back into the earth’s atmosphere with Feverdream, splashing down with Papernut Cambridge, and learning Newton’s Laws of Motion with David Brand and the Popguns. Cue closing credits, acknowledgements to NASA and the women and men that made it all possible, and the swing of Keiron Phelan’s take on the classic “It’s Only a Paper Moon”.

01 the Popguns - Carrying The Fire : Prelude in F# minor & Launch 02 Mock Rockets - Small Step 03 Rob Pursey - Haiku - in the year 2525 04 Famous Problems - Hey Moon 05 Pete Weiss - Here We Go 06 Pam Berry - Haiku - Katherine Johnson 07 DJDownfall - T minus 25 08 Whoa Melodic - Come On Buzz 09 the Popguns - Are You Ready To Go? 10 My Favorite - Blues For Planet X 11 Rocketship - Our New Remix 12 Kevin Pickering - Haiku- Saturn V 13 The Nameless Book - AS-506 14 Yukka - Floating in Blackness 15 Solar Bones - Houston 16 The Great Electric – Afterburner 17 firestations - Overview Effect 18 Deerful - Chronostasis 19 Retep Folo - Galactic Star 20 Basic Design - I Am Overloaded With More Tasks Than I Should Be Doing At This Time 21 Darren Hayman - Just One Syllable 22 Pam Berry - Haiku - Margaret Hamilton 23 Tufthunter - Moon Boots 24 numün - Tranquility Base 25 Jack Hayter - Buzz #2 26 Golden Spike - The Third Man 27 Mikey Collins - Down To Earth 28 Spaceship - W4EJA 29 Amelia Fletcher - Haiku - Passing The Torch 30 The Leaf Library - Tranquility Bass 31 Cecilia Lund - one step 32 Jeanines - Tilt In Your Eye 33 The Rev. Jonny Kinkaid and the Imaginary Nowhere Band Ft The Twelve Hour Foundation - Armstrong's Lament 34 Rob Pursey - Haiku - Major Tom 35 Fever Dream - Surface 36 Papernut Cambridge - Splashdown 37 the Popguns - Laws of Motion (Narrated by David Brand) 38 Keiron Phelan and Peace Signs - It's Only A Paper Moon

• Format Detail: 2CD
• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock