Category: Reviews & Commentary

Brian Eno’s Poetronica

Brian Eno has a new album coming out called Drums Between the Bells cut with poet Ric Holland.  Scheduled for a July 4 release, it’s a longtime project Eno has been incubating and a little of it came out on Another Day On Earth in 2005.  Echoes listeners may also recall hearing some of this…

Marconi Union Channels Ambient Miles

Marconi Union, the ambient duo from England, has a new collaboration with trumpeter Giorgio Li Calzi. It’s part of his Organum project which features a lot of collaborations and among them is the track “Blue Lights” with MU.  They’ve got it posted up on Soundcloud.  It’s a nice drifty track with Miles Davis-inspired trumpet by…

Kate Bush Discovers Autotune

New album, Director’s Cut revamps songs from two of Kate Bush’s Albums Kate Bush joins the conga-line of musicians covering their own work, a new tradition that includes Peter Gabriel, Ray Davies and Suzanne Vega.  Bush is releasing an album called Director’s Cut which draws songs from her beautiful 1989 album, The Sensual World, and…

Instant Joy with The Instant Composers Pool Orchestra.

Instant Composers Orchestra’s Joyful Noise at Christ Church Neighborhood House 4-3-2011. When you’re talking about avant-garde jazz and free improvisation, joy is often left out of the mix.  You get aggression, exuberance, chaos and hushed, meditative space, but rarely is there simple joy.  That is, unless you attended one of the three nights that the…

Lia Ices’ Mythological Music.

Lia Ices is a singer-songwriter from New York with a singular vocal style, melodies that linger and lyrics that provoke. I saw her last night at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia and just finished a late morning Echoes session with the singer-songwriter at The Music Centre in Exton, PA.   Both were fantastic and I can’t wait…

Pete Townshend’s Ambient Dream.

Can you imagine Pete Townsend as Brian Eno? Pete Townshend Regrets Joining The Who By Live4ever Posted on 24 Mar 2011 at 5:52am The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has said if he could have his time again he would avoid joining a band, as he believes the dynamic has stifled his creativity over the years.…

Echoes in the Media

Echoes has popped up in a few places recently. Agnes Obel’s Philharmonics was our January CD of the Month, and we’re quoted in an article on the Danish singer in Time Magazine. And, back in 1984, I interviewed Malcolm Cecil, one half of the synthesizer duo, Tonto’s Expanding Headband.  Their 1972 album, Zero Time, was…

Tubular Babes-Mike Oldfield Revamped.

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells performed by Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra This is kind of a gas.  The Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra is a group of over 20 different NYC female keyboardists playing Tubular Bells on keyboards vintage and new at Joe McGinty’s Carousel Studio in Brooklyn, NY.   They vamp it up on the main themes…

Heaven is Torn Asunder by The Celestial Septet.

Two storms collided when The Celestial Septet hit the International House stage on February 22. This was a rare meeting between the Rova Saxophone Quartet and the Nels Cline Singers.  They put out a CD last year, The Celestial Septet, but this show, produced by the Ars Nova Workshop, was their first live public performance. …

ECHOES AT THE 53rd GRAMMYS

TUNE IN TO ECHOES AT THE GRAMMYS TONIGHT Tune into Echoes tonight for the Grammy Awards you wish you could see on TV. This Sunday,  February 13 the 53rd Grammy Awards take place.   Another year, another set of Grammy Awards.  Many of us become inured to these awards which purport to honor the best and…