I just finished an interview with Portico Quartet, the London band that’s part of a new generation of jazz ensembles that includes Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, Tord Gustavsen, Brad Mehldau, The Bad Plus and the late E.S.T. Portico is a fully collective trio, but the instrument getting a lot of attention is the Hang drum, made…
Reviews & Commentary
Two Essential Lisa Gerrard CDs (+3)
Lisa Gerrard – The Sound of the Spirit: One of 20 Icons of Echoes. Lisa Gerard was the possessed vocalist with Dead Can Dance, the enigmatic group that channeled a world of sound through their electro-ethnic arrangements and the incantatory voice of Gerrard. Gerrard sings in a hybrid supralingua that sounds like a real language,…
Reviews & Commentary
Klaus Schulze Turns 63
A Sultan of Synthesizers 63 isn’t a very significant birthday, but any time we can celebrate the music of Klaus Schulze, we should do it. Born August 4, 1947, Klaus Schulze remains the John Coltrane of electronic music. It’s been nearly four decades since his solo debut, Irrlicht, and he continues creating CD length…
CD of the Month
August CD of the Month-Matthew Schoening’s Elements
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https://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/echoes.org/podcasts/EchoesPodcast-MatthewSchoening.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSA Definitive Album of Looping Cello from Matthew Schoening We get inundated by looping cellists at Echoes. For some reason, players of the most soulful of orchestral instruments have a predilection for hearing their own sound refracted in looping mirrors and digital delays. For Matthew Schoening‘s Elements, it’s…
Best Of
Echoes July Top 25
Carmen Rizzo’s Looking Through Leaves tops Echoes July Top 25 Judging from this month’s Top 25, summer didn’t provide much of a slowdown in good music this year on Echoes. Topping the list of course was our July CD of the Month, Carmen Rizzo’s Looking Through Leaves, a perfect summer CD of dream pop. Link…
Program Highlights
The Psychedelic Mind of Gary Cobain.
Some lightness and positive vibes in a day of loss with the passing of Daniel Schorr and Willem Breuker. Amorphous Androgynous/Future Sound Of London on life, the universe and psychedelic consciousness. Gary Cobain is one half of the FSOL/Amorphous Androgynous team that brought us such hallucinatory recordings as Lifeforms and The Isness. At the Mojo…
Reviews & Commentary
Robert Rich’s Ambient Dreams for Your iPod/iPhone.
Robert Rich enters the Echoes Chamber and launches the ultimate Ambient soundscape App. There’s been a lot of Robert Rich on Echoes this year. He was one of 20 Icons of Echoes. His album Ylang was a CD of the Month. He played live on the show this year and he’ll be featured tonight, July…
Best Of
10 Great Road Songs.
Songs to send you cruising the highway with the windows down and the stereo loud. Echoes Philadelphia affiliate WXPN is seeking votes in another of their annual 885 “whatever” lists and this year it’s 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs. Not songs about the road, but songs to create that soundtrack for heading down the road,…
Reviews & Commentary
5 Best Mark Dwane CDs
A Journey through the music of #16 among 20 Icons of Echoes. While so many electronic musicians have headed off into the drone zone of sonic abstraction, Mark Dwane is an artist who still believes in the power of melody, the grandeur of a big crescendo and the stories held within a dramatic turn. His…
Reviews & Commentary
MOOGFest
MOOGfest, a festival celebrating the invention of Robert Moog will be taking place October 29-31 in Asheville, NC. It’s being produced by the same people who produce Bonnaroo and the early line-up suggests it might be a little more mainstream than I’d like. Hopefully they’ll expand their musical horizons a bit. Good opportunity to have…