Last night Echoes listeners got to hear cellist Yoed Nir performing live in the Echoes Living Room. He was creating looping orchestrations with his cello, all of it played and much of it improvised in the moment. Greg Pelican, a subscriber to Echoes On-Line was so charged up, he picked up his drum sticks and…
There was never any doubt of Charlie Haden’s commitment to the bass and to jazz. From the iconoclastic Ornette Coleman Quartet in the late 50s to his Quartet West ensemble, Haden has remained a steadfast force in jazz, constantly changing, but always remaining true to himself and his art. Charlie Haden died, on July 11,…
To understand the importance of Paul Horn you have to cast back to a time, 1969, when there was no New Age music. Few artists in the west were thinking about a contemplative musical sound. There were no important albums outside of classical music that were pure solo flute and certainly none that plied the…
We Pick the Best Echoes CDs of the Year at the Halfway Point. Hear them tonight on Echoes. See A Spotify Playlist Below It seems like it’s been such a long year, and it’s only half over. That’s what usually what happens when so much good music has come out. There are albums I feel…
The Grammy Awards have announced what could be a significant change in the Pop Instrumental Album Category. They’ve reconstituted it as the Contemporary Instrumental Album. The ramifications could be interesting since “contemporary instrumental” is a much more generic designation that could bring in all kinds of music that isn’t rock, pop, jazz or folk, potentially…
Some of you may remember the album, Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds by Randy California, the guitarist from the underrated psychedelic band Spirit. Well, somebody must’ve really liked the cover of that album, because they replicated it for a forthcoming DJ Harvey album called Wildest Dreams. If you hear the album, you’ll know…
Austra has been one of my favorite electronica bands of the last few years, fronted by singer Katie Stelmanis with a powerful voice that goes against the trend of fragile, ethereal-girl pop singers. They have a new EP called Habitat with the title track as their new video. It’s both bittersweet and creepy.
From his days with with a psychedelic pop band called The Ones to the first Tangerine Dream recording, Electronic Meditation in 1969, Edgar Froese has been a force of musical change. In fact, I can’t imagine music today without the groundbreaking work he recorded in the 1970s with Tangerine Dream and on brilliant recordings like…
Calling Planet Earth: Sun Ra, the Original Space Musician: Upon hearing Sun Ra’s “Constellation” in a Downbeat Magazine blindfold test Brian Eno said, “I wish I had done it myself. I’m extremely envious that somebody else did it. I’d give that five [stars] actually.” Guitarist Syd Barrett reputedly blew his mind to The Heliocentric Worlds…
An Echoes Celtic Soundscape for St. Patrick’s Day As I put together our Celtic Soundscape for St. Patrick’s Day, I recalled an article I wrote seven years ago called “Whither Celtic Music.” At the time I was struck by the dearth of new Celtic music coming out. In 2014, that still remains true. Now, let…