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…
Science Fiction Music Through the Ages Today on Echoes, it’s a trip into the world of science fiction. Sci-Fi literature and movies have always had an impact on a certain breed of musicians, usually the ones who were a bit tripped out and cerebral. You’d have trouble pinning down the first Sci-Fi music. Was it…
ROBERT ASHLEY PASSES AT 83 Well, it may not have been so perfect, but Perfect Lives, Private Parts was the name of Robert Ashley’s multi-part meditation on life. It was loosely called an opera, in the way that his contemporary, Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach was an opera, but less so. Robert Ashley was…
Seems like Coldplay is really spacing out on this new song called “Midnight.” They haven’t released any info about it except the video director, Mary Wigmore. But this is definitely as ambient as pop music can get. And singer Chris Martin seems ready to join the falsetto forces of Bon Iver, et al. John Diliberto…
Hear an Homage to Tangerine Dream’s Phaedra in the Echoes Podcast On February 20th, 1974, Tangerine Dream released the album that changed electronic music for the next 40 years. It takes its name from Greek mythology and its sound from the imaginations of Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Christoph Franke, the three members of Tangerine…
On February 20th, 1974, Tangerine Dream released the album that changed electronic music for the next 40 years. It takes its name from Greek mythology and its sound from the imaginations of Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Christoph Franke, the three members of Tangerine Dream at the time. Phaedra was their fifth album, coming on…
Jimi Hendrix’s solo on “’Voodoo Child,’ was like a Harley-Davidson screaming out of the sky.” –Conny Plank. I recently posted on Facebook on the EchoesFans page about the PBS American Masters documentary, Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin’ because I found myself emotionally affected by the memories it was triggering. Someone on Facebook wondered…
Three nights of electronic music blazed forth the weekend of October 25-27 at the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit in Asheville, North Carolina. Scattered across Asheville’s compact downtown in five different venues ranging from a bar to an arena, musicians plugged in with a range of electronic dreams. One musician was 77 years old with…
In the 1960s, there was the pop music I listened to: Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, etc. Then there was the pop music my parents listened to: Wayne Newton, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jim Reeves. Tom Jones and Petula Clark stradled that line but with a decided tilt toward the latter camp. Theirs was the sound…