Artist: Noggin
Album: Where is our spaceship, and how did we get on this planet?
Release Date: 2001







The Spaceship EP was conceived of, and produced, in about a weeks time, right around September 11. I had just started a new, somewhat menial job, and it allowed me lots of time to let my mind drift. The entire time I was there, I just wanted to be making music, so I kind of pieced this album together in my head during the day, then I would go home and execute later that night.
It’s my first real ‘concept’ album in that it has an underlying theme and/or narrative that I tried to stick to, or at least fabricate to tie the music together.
Imagine, for a moment, if you will…..two explorers drifting in a small space cruiser through deep space. No particular destination, merely a ‘push the envelope’ type mission a la Planet of the Apes. Eventually though, a malfunction (computer or human?) allows a rogue asteroid to collide with the ship. It’s not violent, direct hit, but it’s enough to throw the ship off course and lose control, plummeting towards the nearest planet/moon/heavenly body. At this point, one of the astronauts starts going crazy (space madness, anyone?). The other astronaut now has the delicate task of trying to save the spacecraft from destruction, and keeping his maddening partner from turning this into a kamikaze/suicide mission. One intense struggle and a forced sedation later, and the ship crashes into a desert climate.
Bloody bodies crawl from the wreckage and, after some rest and yelling and screaming about how stupid/crazy the other one is, they take off together in search of basic resources. Not long after that, they encounter life. Think furry-insect-alien-snake-with-huge-eyes, like you would see in the sleeve of some one-off 1960’s tripper album…barely classifiable as an animal, dusty and faded, but with an obviously present sentience. Not much conflict here as the being appears friendly and takes the astronauts to his colony (think more telepathic communication, a la planet of the apes pt. 2).
The mind-blowing-ness of the encounter, coupled with the beating of the landing, and the bleakness of space madness, and our happily deranged partner flies completely off the deep end. In a very short lived attempt to attack the friendly lifeform, he fails, begins to run off, before falling dead from ………..
Human and alien (relative terms, right?) continue on somberly, and eventually encounter the alien civilisation. Awe and wonder, wonder and awe. Technology, peace, music, all that utopian BS. Astronaut starts to catch wind of the maybe less than favorable intentions of the alien race, gains unequaled power / access to alien technology (due to security and status quo not being set up for such a different outsider), yadda yadda yadda, struggle for power, nuclear explosion, black hole forms in the ‘town square’, envelops all, the end.
It aint meant to be a real ‘story’, per se, and I’ve said too much, for sure, but that’s what this project is about.
Music produced in Buzz.
Download: Noggin – 01 Drift (right click and choose ‘save as’)
Download: Noggin – 02 Crash Landing (right click and choose ‘save as’)
Download: Noggin – 03 Organiform (right click and choose ‘save as’)
Download: Noggin – 04 The Soldier (right click and choose ‘save as’)
Download: Noggin – 05 Emergence (right click and choose ‘save as’)
Download: Noggin – 06 Collapsing Vortex (right click and choose ‘save as’)