The second day of NEARfest 2006 was nearly perfect, beginning and ending with two utterly different bands trafficking in radically different brands of virtuosity. KBB is a relatively young Japanese quartet who crafted a melodic brand of Pontyesque fusion. Their set was a kinetic ride from beginning to end, driven by a synchronized rhythm section…
Reviews & Commentary
Nearfest-Night One Hatfield & the North and Tony Levin Band
Technically, this isn’t the first night of NEARfest, but the Progressive Legends Concert. Tony Levin opened. The brilliant bass & Chapman Stick player is well known for his work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson and he makes the most of that, covering tunes from both. Levin’s latest album is Resonator and he takes a…
Reviews & Commentary
NEARfest arrives with Hatfield and the North and Ozric Tentacles
This weekend is the 8th running of NEARfest, the North East Art Rock Festival in Bethlehem, PA. It sold out instantly again this year. I attended my first festival last year and had to admit some trepidation about it. Progressive Rock or Art Rock was the music of my youth. I spent the 70s and…
Reviews & Commentary
Michael Brook Returns
Well, he never left. Although it’s been 14 years since he’s put out a proper album, Cobalt Blue, he’s been recording up a storm, producing and performing with people like the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Djivan Gasparyan, Hans Zimmmer and a host of others. But finally Brook has a new album of his own,…
Program Highlights
Lanterna Layers Ambient Guitar
Today on Echoes, we’ll be hearing Lanterna playing live (Tomorrow for Philly listeners on WXPN). Lanterna is essentially one guy, Henry Frayne and he’s been around for about two decades, playing in Cocteau Twins influenced groups like The Moon Seven Times and Area out of the midwest. Henry has a new CD called Desert Ocean.…
Program Highlights
Mysteria and Digital Samsara-Sample Aesthetics
There are no special features on Echoes tonight, but listen for two interesting new CDs operating towards opposite ends of electronica. One is Tempting the Muse by Mysteria. Mysteria is a studio project headed up by Mark Allison who has also records as Phobos and The Spirit Level. Mark makes a slick brand of electronica,…
Reviews & Commentary
Guitarists Keep Coming: Don Peris, California Guitar Trio and Tommy Emmanuel
Following on the previous Blog entry, I forgot to note two other fine guitarists on the show, Don Peris and The California Guitar Trio. Many of you heard Don Peris playing live last night on Echoes. Philadelphia will get him tonight and others on weekend Echoes broadcasts, (including XM). Don played the perfect parlor music…
Reviews & Commentary
An Assault of Guitarists
Who says you need banks of effects, racks of synthesizers or the complexities of a laptop computer to make incredible music. Certainly not the wave of guitarists who’ll be pouring through the Echoes Living Room in the next two weeks. These are musicians who create symphonies on 6 strings. On June 16, Tommy Emmanuel comes…
Reviews & Commentary
Gyorgy Ligeti Remembered
Let’s all take a moment to remember Gyorgy Ligeti, the influential Romanian composer who passed away at the age of 83. It’s hard to forget his composition, “Atmospheres” which Stanley Kubrick used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He composed dramatic orchestral works full of blasts of color and sonic exuberance, but his main influence was…
Reviews & Commentary
Brian Eno in NY Times from John D.
I got this from the Space Music List [email protected] An amusing article appears in the New York Times about unsuspecting patrons subjected to Brian Eno’s CD length opus, Thursday Afternoon This link might work as well. I also enjoyed this comment relayed by JC Shanahan on the same list: A friend of mine used to…