Category: Best Of

John Diliberto’s Top Ten Songs for 2008: Alu to Gnarls Barkley

When WXPN, our Philadelphia Echoes affiliate, asked me to submit my Top Ten Albums and songs list, Program Director Bruce Warren said “send us your top ten albums and songs (if you have songs).” I knew what he meant by that parenthetical on a couple of levels. On Echoes, we usually don’t play songs, right?…

Echoes Top 25 for November: Bombay Dub Tops

World music fusions bookend the Echoes Top 25 for November as electronic artists and acoustic revisionists dominate the list.  Bombay Dub Orchestra, our November CD of the Month, tops the list, (read a full review)  followed closely by the independent release from Vic Hennegan, Aqua Vista his homage to space music.  You can find out…

John Diliberto’s Top 10 CDs for 2008

From Digitonal to the Dandy Warhols, John Diliberto’s Top Ten CDs for 2008. While you’re pondering the Echoes 2008 Listener Poll, I’ve already been solicited for a few year-end lists. I usually give a different list to different outlets. My (uncredited) Amazon.com list is pretty strictly New Age and limited to  titles that are actually on…

Echoes 2008 Listener Poll Opens: Seeking the Echoes Core

America went to the Polls in record numbers to vote for the president this year. Isn’t the Echoes 2008 Listener Poll just as important? Probably not, but I bet you spend more time listening to the sounds of musicians than politicians. So why not vote on them as well. There aren’t any smear campaigns, dirty…

Echoes Top 25 for October: Ambient continues to roll

This month’s Echoes Top 25 continues the roll of ambient music, especially in the Top 10.   Sumner McKane‘s What A Great Place to Be is number one by dint of being the Echoes CD of the Month for October, but even without that honor and extra airplay it entails, it was already #4 the previous…

Echoes Top 25 for September-Ambient Leads the Way

Digitonal tops the Echoes Top 25 for September, and will no doubt be near the top for the next several months. But right behind is Marconi Union, topping their own record as the highest placing digital download recording on Echoes. October’s CD of the Month, Sumner McKane’s nostalgia-tinged ambient americana masterpiece, What A Great Place…

Echoes Top 25 for July: Marconi Union first Download recording to crack Top 5

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080730.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSAmbient chamber music still dominates the Echoes Top 25 for August, but for the first time, a download only album cracks the the Echoes Top 5. That CD is the purely ambient A Lost Connection by Marconi Union. Their album, Distance, from 3 years ago was among our…

Ambient Chamber Music Reigns on Echoes Top 25 for June

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080528.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSAmbient Chamber music dominates top airplay at Echoes in June. We’ve been tracking ambient chamber music since the beginning of Echoes when it was mostly Tim Story, David Darling and Kevin Keller, but the subgenre has exploded, in an ambient chamber music way, that is, gently and without…