I’ve been following electronic music since the early 1970s and have explored its growth and breadth going back to the musique concrete of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henryto the latest ambient/techno/electronica/glitch extrapolations. More than almost any other music form, electronic music embodies the spirit of creation. Every generation births new forms, technologies and sounds. But…
Reviews & Commentary
Prog Heaven Past & Future coming to Philly.
Philadelphia, where Echoes is based, will be experiencing a wave of progressive music past and present in the coming months. From the past, Tangerine Dream, UK and Van Der Graaf Generator. Reflecting the past, Broekhuis, Keller & Schonwalder. From the present, Sigur Ros, Dead Can Dance (well, kind between past & present), Radiohead and Iona. …
Program Highlights
Coyote Jump-Global Native Chamber Music.
Hear Coyote Jump interviewed tonight on Echoes (8/9/2012) Coyote Jump’s debut album, Waking from the Roots, is slightly deceiving. The cover, with its neo-primitive rendering of a coyote, looks like a typical Canyon Records sleeve for a Pow-Wow or Peyote song album. However, the first notes of a Middle Eastern frame drum and buzz stick…
Best Of
Stellar Space and Western Space in Echoes Top 25.
Thierry David’s Stellar Connection Leads Echoes Top 25 for April. But right behind it is Eric Tingstad’s Badlands, his second foray into ambient Americana. That’s the kind of contrast you’ll find in the Echoes Top 25 for April, which this month includes a collaboration in cathedral reverb between Eraldo Bernocchi, Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd;…
Reviews & Commentary
Beach Boys Return via Middle of the Road
The Beach Boys reunited for the Grammys and are currently readying a new album and tour. I was a Beach Boys fan. The first single I ever bought was “Help Me, Rhonda.” Actually, my grandmother bought it for me while we shopped at Grants Department store in Wilmington, Mass. Although I think Pet Sounds…
Reviews & Commentary
Lefsetz claims electronic music Next Big Thing.
For those who don’t know, Bob Lefsetz is a music crank who has gotten a voluminous amount of attention lately for his blogged rants on music and the music industry. He’s even a speaker at the NON-Commvention this year in Philadelphia. I subscribe to his newsletter and got this one today with the subject line:…
Reviews & Commentary
Space Music on YouTube
I got a notice from Chuck Van Zyl, the producer and host of WXPN‘s Star’s End and one half of The Ministry of Inside Things about a live solo performance this Sunday, April 15 at 7:00 PM at the AxD Gallery, 265 S. 10th Street in Philadelphia. (It’s a static site and there’s no info…
Reviews & Commentary
A Treasure Trove of Electronic Music Journalism
Those of you who are old enough might remember Synapse magazine. When electronic music represented the brave new frontier of sound, Synapse was the leading source documenting this movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Zappa, Eno, Fripp, Stockhausen, Devo and other artists famous enough to be referred to only by their surnames, adorned…
Program Highlights
Ozric Tentacles-Still Psychedelic After All These Years.
While retrofitting an interview with Ozric Tentacles to run on Echoes this Wednesday, April 4, I stumbled across this video interview and live performance from the band. The interview is pretty fluffy, but about half way in they go into their Colorado studio and play live in a great sounds and nicely produced segment. Ozric…
Program Highlights
Thierrry David’s Space Music Opus.
A Veteran French Synthesist Launches the Echoes April CD of the Month Hear an interview with Thierry David tonight July 18, on Echoes. It takes a lot of discipline for a skilled, classically trained keyboardist to put his technique on hold and instead, give in to the mood and atmosphere the music requires. On his…