theremin

The Sounds of Outer Space by James Kelleher

I was fascinated by the aesthetic part of it, the visual beauty, the idea of playing in the air.

Today would have been Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday, and you can see her commemorated in today's Google Doodle. The electronic music pioneer and theremin virtuosa was so good at playing the notoriously difficult instrument that its inventor, Louis Theremin, proposed to her several times. She turned him down each time, presumably making an eerie, alien, sad trombone sound as she did so.

Here she is, being a badass, and below that there's an extremely useful Spotify playlist of 10 songs that feature a theremin (or a fake theremin).