The Best of Echoes... so far and Terry Riley at 90 This Weekend on Echoes.
Weekend listeners hear our tribute to Terry Riley on his 90th birthday and the Best of Echoes 2025 So Far. Every year at the mid-point we like to take a moment and reflect back on the deluge of new music we’ve played on the show. And this year has been a good one so far in that any of the Top 10 albums could’ve been number one. But we make the tough decisions here and you’ll hear the results of the Best Albums of 2025 – The Echoes Top 35. It’s 35 releases, to celebrate 35 years of incredible music on Echoes. It includes new artists, veteran performers and one artist who is a true icon. Even he couldn’t make the top 10.
See the complete list of Best of Echoes 2025 So Far
Terry Riley, along with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, is among the holy trinity of minimalism. His compositions, In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air are seminal works of that genre. He was creating tape loops works in the early 1960s, laying the foundation for over 50 years of looping artists. He has continued composing and performing, notably working with Kronos Quartet on several collaborations. We celebrate the incredible, enduring legacy of this new music icon as he turns 90. We’ll hear his music and a mini-documentary featuring interviews with Terry, Steve Reich, Robert Rich, Daevid Allen (Gong), Mike Oldfield, Jon Hassell, Kronos Quartet and La Monte Young. Terry Riley turns 90 and John Diliberto celebrates enduring and continuing legacy of his music on Echoes.