Sci-Pop: Latest Singles
By Neal Anthwal
If there's one thing we love (I say "we love", but I mean "I love") it's science cropping up in "the arts" and "popular culture", whatever those words actually mean. So we're (I say "we're"...) compiling a list of any sciencey things, no matter how tenuous, in any newly released UK singles.This week, we continue with:
The Salmon Dance by Chemical Brothers
Science? They're called the Chemical Brothers, but that's not all. This song is jam packed with salmon facts, all presented in a handy hip-hop format by Sammy the Salmon:
Fact 1: "All my peeps spend part of their life in fresh water and part of their life in salt water... They change round a couple of days after spawning, then we die."
Indeed, at around two years of age, young salmon leave their river habitats and migrate to the sea. They then return to the river after a year or so to spawn. However, they don't then die. Instead they go back to the sea and return to the river gain around every 18 months to spawn. I'm disappointed in that factual error Sammy the Salmon.
Fact 2: "Most of our friends find home waters by sense of smell, which is even more key than that of a dog or a bear."
Salmon can detect chemicals specific to their home river at concentrations below 0.05 parts per billion.
Fact 3: "My family also rely on ocean currents, tides, the gravitational pull of the moon."
There is also a theory that some salmon species can detect the earth's magnetic field.
Fact 4: "Polluted water can kill both baby salmon that are developing and the adult salmon that are on their way to spawn."
Factors such water pollution can affect the development of salmon, or indeed any fish; not just killing the developing fish, but also leading to malformations. This is of particular importance when you consider the economic value of farmed species such as salmon.
Is it any good? It's like a novelty record, and I suppose it is. However, the Chemical Brothers aren't about to release any old rubbish. It's novelty in Lemon Jelly style, rather than that of Mr Blobby, and unlike Mr Blobby the guest rapper, Fatlip, who used to be in the Pharcyde, is ace. Not to mention that salmon are a type of fish. Fish are still cool right?
Buy this at the Null shop. Or pay in dollars.
Extra comments from Steve Sagik:
[There's an] obvious message about ecology and species preservation. Perhaps a metaphor for the human species. It is a curious song and video. However, please note that in the video, the small fish create a DNA double helix, and that is the subtext.
Tom and Ed are creating music about genetic enlightenment. GE is what happens to the girl in "The Test" video when she has a confrontation with the humanoid at the top of a DNA track. Her 3D cartesian consciousness collapses, and she is thrust into 4D Einsteinian space-time consciousness. The stuff she slurps back into her mouth at the conclusion of the video is a metaphor for the restoration of her genetic heritage as a genetically-engineered creature.
Tom and Ed's Ur-album for this subtext is Come With Us, the greatest album ever made because of the subtext material. All of this is documented at the Chemical Brothers Underground site. Simply google: nibootoo. The Come With Us material is in the early archives, say October 2006 and on. You better be seated when you read this material because "Now, you will never be the same, now." as Tom and Ed, the geniuses, phrase it.
Come with us. We see the light.
The Kiss of Dawn by HIM
Science? The HIM proteins, or "High Incidence of Males", are a group of 19 proteins found in C. elegans (a type of worm). Interesting huh?
Is it any good? As much as I'm not into worm genetics, I would rather enjoy sitting though a five day conference on gene-protein interaction in C. elegans than waste another 3 minutes 55 seconds of my precious life listening to this again.
Buy this at the Null shop. Or pay in dollars.
Find more music reviews or more from Neal or more from the Null:
Do stuff - Add to our Sci-Pop Hall of Fame
Fear stuff - Making music with fire
Make stuff - Composing with proteins
Learn stuff - Revise to Ravel and Study with Schubert
Talk Sci-Pop at our Facebook group.
Image: Chemical Brothers
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