Loreena McKennitt, BT & Ludovico Einaudi Top Listener Poll
For the next two weeks on Echoes you’ll be hearing the 200 CDs that you voted for in our 20th Anniversary Poll. Surprises? Definitely at the top. We expected Loreena McKennitt to place very high in the poll, but we certainly didn’t expect her to take the top 3 slots with The Book of Secrets, An Ancient Muse, The Mask & the Mirror. Whew! It’s interesting to note that while Loreena still has a reputation as a Celtic inclined harpist, all these albums show her in her Middle Eastern mode with virtually no harp. And providing a nice contrast to Loreena’s romantically inclined moods is BT at #4 with his edgy album, This Binary Universe. Lounge jazz with solos in the key of abstract, plaintive arpeggiatted guitars, electro marches, minimalist hymns and pastoral dreamscapes drive an album that seeks out joy and redemption, but not without traveling through the dark.
The list loops back again to a more romantic sound with Ludivico Einaudi’s Divenire, his gorgeous, neo-romantic, neo-Minimalist chamber work. It’s not surprising that Bombay Dub Orchestra‘s eponymous debut or Moby‘s brilliant, introspective Wait for Me placed high, #6 and 7 respectively. California Guitar Trio‘s Echoes, released early in 2009 is stil fresh in listeners minds at number 8, but very surprising are the #9 and 10 selections. General Fuzz‘s ambient lounge music on Soulful Filling was an Echoes favorite but I didn’t get the sense he’s well known outside of our limited sphere. But even more surprising to me is Johann Johannsson‘s abstract ambient chamber work, Fordlandia.
Yet, the entire list is full of these surprises . You can see the complete 200 CDs for 20 Years of Echoes here.
You can also see my personal choices earlier in the Echoes Blog.
John Diliberto ((( echoes )))
Echoes is the reason I support public radio. Thank you so much for your amazing show!!!!!!