I’ve got about six large boxes full of cassettes, which of course, I never go near anymore. But a few requests prompted me to go through them this weekend. Chuck Van Zyl, the host of Star’s End in Philadelphia on WXPN wanted to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Trans-Sonic Music Festival. This was a…
Month: May 2006
Reviews & Commentary
More Live Electronic Music
On saturday, May 20, two local electronic music groups played live in Philadelphia, as part of The Gatherings Concert Series. There were no laptops, or backing tracks at this show, although some rhythmic patterns were pre-programmed into some of the equipment, that’s part of the nature of music with sequencers in it. Both groups explored…
Reviews & Commentary
Live Electronic Music or Prefab Performance
I’ve seen something live 10 concerts in the last two weeks. Six of them were Echoes living room concerts. Besides the London shows you’ve read about in previous EchoesBlogs, we just had Don Peris in with his trio. And the week prior to our London trip I saw three phenomenal live shows, Andreas Vollenweider, Mogwai…
Reviews & Commentary
Ambient Americana
If you’ve been listening to Echoes for a while, you’ve heard me talk about Ambient Americana. It’s a sound rooted in Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western soundtracks and Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas and Southern Comfort film scores. In contemporary terms its artists like Euphoria, Sumner McKane, Lanterna and Tristeza. Some of my favorite albums in the…
Reviews & Commentary
London End of Trip from John
The final full day of the trip and we actually got somewhere 30 minutes early instead of an hour late. Ajanta Music is Robin and Paul Simon. Both were fixtures on the 1980s New Wave scene. Paul was in Cowboys International among other groups. Robin played in Ultravox and Magazine. But in the 90s they…
Reviews & Commentary
London – pt6
Our last full day in London started off with the amazing experience of NOT getting lost while driving to a session! (OK, we missed one turn, but recovered quickly… ) Thankfully, Robin and Paul Simon were gracious hosts, and Paul welcomed us into his lovely Victorian house, where the front room was filled with DJ…
Reviews & Commentary
London Pt. 5-John
LANDING IN LONDON-Day One Had a great flight to London. Flew in First Class. But don’t think Echoes is spending its money wildly. We got the upgrade as recompense for USAIR losing our luggage six times in the last year. It looked like they were going to do it again as well. After 45 minutes…
Reviews & Commentary
Echoes in London-pt4
Another productive day in London, covering a lot of ground by subway and by car. While John was interviewing John Fox, I hopped on the tube, taking the Piccadilly Line pretty near to its northeast end, to meet the guys from Sounds From the Ground. Surrounded by vintage synthesizers as well as the latest computer…
Reviews & Commentary
Echoes in London – pt3
We spent much of the day today being lost in London…. it’s a very tricky city to navigate by car! But thankfully all the time lost driving in circles was worth it in the end, because we managed to record more excellent performances and interviews. First stop was with Radio Massacre International: Sadly their guitarist…
Reviews & Commentary
Echoes in London – pt2:
Absolute Ambient Right off the plane after an all night flight, we drove south, pretty close to as far south as one can get and still be in England, and were greeted by this landscape: That’s the scenery outside the home of Matt Coldrick, who records with Matt Hillier as “Absolute Ambient”. They performed some…