The Balm Valley is a place where signals are received. Some of those signals may be from very far away.

Transmission 01: Water Over Old Stones

October 26, 2023

"Have you seen the saucers?"

Jefferson Airplane opens the first transmission with the question that sets the tone for everything that follows: San Francisco psychedelic pioneers asking if we've seen the saucers. Jim Sullivan's "U.F.O." comes next: a Los Angeles psych-folk singer who vanished in the New Mexico desert in 1975, his car found abandoned with his wallet, guitar, and a box of unsold albums inside. The song and the story have become inseparable.

Parliament's "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" transforms the cosmic into the political: Black people in outer space as a radical reclamation of future narratives.

Transmission 02: High Wind Warning

November 9, 2023

Sufjan Stevens finds UFOs near Highland, Illinois, letting the cosmic intrude on the Midwestern mundane. Unknown Mortal Orchestra adds to the frequency.

The UFO theme on BVA isn't about little green men. It's about the mystery of transmission itself: who sends, who receives, and what happens in the space between. The valley is a receiver. The signals come from somewhere. Where exactly is part of what makes listening worthwhile.