Day: November 27, 2016

Massachusetts producer Tonio Sagan returns with another incredible installment to his “Voyager Records” series, this time drifting even deeper into outer space on the haunting “Stranger Than Fiction.” The nearly five-minute track is a hypnotizing mini-epic that, like preceding cut “Voyager Records: Greetings,” is built on sounds curated by his grandfather, Carl Sagan. The late, great astronomer created a soundbank that traveled into space with the Voyager 1 & 2 shuttles in the 1970s, just in case the starships made contact with alien life. Where “Stranger Than Fiction” differs, however, is in its more Hip-Hop-indebted sound, which pays homage to Tonio’s earlier years as a producer. There’s still an intergalactic wave to the track—those synthesizers are superbly science fiction—but it’s grounded by its Boom bap tempo and sample choices. Those include touches from “Melancholy Blues” by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven, in addition to the first movement (“Allegro Con Brio”) from Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5 in C Minor. “Voyager Records: Stranger Than Fiction” is now available through all major digital retailers and streaming platforms, and can be purchased on limited edition 7-inch gold vinyl, along with the A-Side, “Greetings” which first hit SoundCloud in late September.