New Music from Mara Katria & Modern English
This weekend it’s an Ancient Echoes when we look back on Michael Garrison. He is one of the earliest American space musicians preceded only by Tonto’s Expanding Headband and Larry Fast and Synergy. Based in Oregon, he put out 9 studio albums between 1979 and 1998. His sound was instantly engaging, distilling the influences of his European inspirations.
MICHAEL GARRISON: “The intensity of the rhythm of the music is fulfilling as far as the idea of being alive. And the mental aspect of the heavy rhythm is the idea of travel. It just happens now we’ve covered our planet earth and are now looking toward the sky. And the idea of being able to travel through that sky and space and time needs an aura around it. Music is a good way to bring out the idea of traveling through space.”
Sadly, Garrison took his last ride into space at the young age of 47 in 2004. We go back to a 1984 interview with him for the Totally Wired series and we’ll hear music off four of his albums. It’s in the Region of Sun Return this weekend on Echoes.
Remember Modern English? The band, not the dialect. Well, Mara Katria does, and she has a new collaboration with the band called Modern M. The music is moody and anthemic, a modern extrapolation of a New Wave classic sound. We’ll hear music from this weekend on Echoes from PRX.