Pieces of Gold! Ten hours of uninterrupted sounds featuring "pieces" of the Golden Record, a floating time capsule carrying evidence that Earth existed. Included in this episode are Greetings from Earth (sans Waldheim), Sounds of Earth, Ann Druyan’s brain waves, and space-age drifts and notes. Whether you're studying, working, reading, sleeping, or unwinding after a long day, this immersive ambient soundscape provides the perfect background soundtrack. No talking, no interruptions—just pure interstellar relaxation. Ignore the World. (And subscribe to uncommon ambience!)
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Ok, so I’m not a St. Patrick’s guy. I lived in Boston and once got talked into doing it “the Boston way”—actually, I’m sure I imposed myself, whatever. “The Boston Way” was billed to me as “Christmas for adults.” So I took the day off with a bunch of other marginally Irish folks and wound up in a line at 9 a.m. That’s the majority of what I remember, as I awoke the next afternoon on a wood-paneled floor, my shoe as a pillow. Apparently I tapped out earlier than everyone else. Some had capped the night at a Chinese restaurant that served tea that wasn’t actually tea—it was just more beer.
All of which is to say, now that I drink NA stuff, I’m no longer wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day. (I still think the Irish are cool.)
It's the same with our most recent holiday. There are things I love about my home on this planet, but I’m not going to make a big deal about them because a holiday insists. I wore a RZA T-shirt to watch the fireworks.
Look, maybe we had an episode last week that didn’t properly revere America... That doesn’t mean we don’t love any Americana. The hot dog, maple syrup, Waffle House, South Carolina hash and rice (obviously writing this while hungry), the #2 pencil, baseball caps, and the Wu-Tang Clan, to name a few.
And one of my favorite pieces of Americana is an obscure record produced by Timothy Ferris (and team). A record that is not on our planet and is only getting farther and farther away: the Golden Records affixed to the Voyager satellites.
(Just ordered a pizza, if anyone is wondering... And I plan to dip that **** in ranch...)
I’ve wanted to do a Golden Record episode for a while. My hope was to loop the beach moments and create a nice intergalactic day at the beach, because summer (HUZZAH). Yet the Sounds of Earth follow a brisk pace of interweaving—I think the beach scene is only 5–10 seconds. (A loop like that could earn me a one-star—Btw, 5 us!)
So I decided to extend the brainwave portion as a base and weave in the entire run length of Greetings from Earth and Sounds of Earth.
I left out the music stuff so as not to get into any terrestrial copyright trouble. I mean, they gave the universe free access...
Shout out to Chuck Berry—I know he was a guitar god, but his voice was one of my favorite attributes. And I think his inclusion as an emissary of our planet (on the Golden Record) is deserved.
And as usual with me there’s a hip-hop origin to this week's episode, which was inspired by the podcast Pieces of Sound Pieces from Stones Throw Records.
