Category: Reviews & Commentary

MoogFest Final Day:DJ Spooky, Hot Chip.

Echoes Lost in a World of Dance Electronics at MoogFest Expectations were low for the last day at MoogFest with a list of artists that tended more toward the Rap and DJ end of the spectrum. The first act up actually had nothing to do with the festival, even though they played more Moog instruments…

#MoogFest Day 2: A Massive Night with Massive Attack

An Echoes Take on MoogFest 2010 Day 2:  Massive Attack assaults, Thievery Corporation raps, Jon Hopkins up-dates Techno. It was Halloween Eve at MoogFest and there were many treats, no tricks, and some disappointments.   Unfortunately, an interview commitment prevented me from seeing several acts including Jonsi, Caribou and Mountain Man. But I have reports on…

MoogFest Day 1: No Devo, MGMTdoes Karaoke

Devo Cancels.  MGMT does Karaoke. King Britt travels the Spaceways. Mutemath does Back-Flips The first day of MoogFest consisted of tough choices made easy by disappointment.   The disappointment was the late-news that Devo would not be performing. They canceled their entire US tour after guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh sliced his thumb to the bone.  But disappointment…

MoogFest-Too Many Choices

Getting ready for MoogFest tonight and already faced by insurmountable choices with overlapping bands in venues separated by anywhere from 5 to 20 minute hauls. The pleasant pop of Kuroma and The Octopus Project each overlap by half an hour, so I’ll start out with TOP but Kuroma will have to depend on how good…

Brian Eno’s Stormy Seas.

Echoes’ #1 Icon, Brian Eno Holds a Dark  Tiller on Small Craft on a Milk Sea German bands like Neu!, Harmonia, and Cluster have been getting a lot of attention lately, constantly named-dropped as influences on younger bands.   Of course, almost no one knew about these artists back in the 70s when they laid down…

Keith Emerson-A Different Knife’s Edge.

Keith Emerson, founder of The Nice, the Emerson in Emerson, Lake and Palmer and destroyer of Hammond B-3’s  undergoes colon surgery. From Keith Emerson’s Facebook page: I would like to thank all those well-wishers that wrote to me during my recent hospitalisation. I would also like to thank the doctors, surgeons and nurses of The…

Philadelphia Concerts & Win Free Sakamoto Tix

Philadelphia’s Concert scene is heating up as the weather cools down.  Here’s some of the concert appearances  in the next 9 days with a lot of Echoes artists coming in.   See Ryuichi Sakamoto listing below to win a free pair of tix and his new double CD Playing the Piano/Out of Noise. RECOMMENDED THIS WEEK…

Beardyman Hyper-Kinetic Joy

There are DJ’s, beatboxers and techno-wizards and then, there is Beardyman.   For 38 minutes of pure unalloyed joy, watch him in this video and keep in mind, it’s all live.  I’ve seen some great Kaos Pad performances by Ulrich Schnauss and Jon Hopkins, but for pure kinetic energy, this one is unreal.   You have to…

Portico Quartet at World Cafe Live!

https://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/echoes.org/podcasts/EchoesPodcast-PorticoQuartet.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSImprovisations Hanging On A Hang Drum One would be forgiven for thinking that you’d come to a Sun Ra Arkestra concert by mistake at World Café Live last night.  Arrayed at the front of the stage were a trio of flying saucer-shaped objects, sitting on stands, looking ready…

R. Carlos Nakai’s 5 Best Native Winds

5 Essential CDs for an Icon of Echoes: R. Carlos Nakai There are a lot of good traditional Native American flute players out there.  R. Carlos Nakai isn’t one of them. Instead, he’s been creating hybrid musics across genres and even created a few genres of his own.  Most of them are based in improvisation…