Category: Reviews & Commentary

5 Essential Steve Roach CDs

The #2 Icon of Echoes and His 5 Essential CDs Steve Roach has s released nearly 50 solos albums and just as many collaborations, so narrowing his  output down to 5 CDs is daunting. So I have limited myself to pure Steve Roach solo albums, leaving behind great works with his Suspended Memories group and…

A Different Kind of Space Music: Dans Les Arbres

https://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/echoes.org/audio/Dans-Les-Arbres-L-Engourdissement.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThe Art of Listening to Silence & Playing Sound Every now and then a record stops me in my tracks and paralyzes the usual automatic  click-to-the-next-track that happens when I’m auditioning music.  The debut from Dan Les Arbres is one of those CDs. It’s not because it’s a…

New Eno & U2 Song

This in from Nervenet.com The just recently released special edition box set of the U2 concert registration ” 360 degrees at the Rose Bowl”  contains a 7 inch vinyl single which  is a new Eno produced U2 song.  It’s titled  “Soon” and runs for only about 2 minutes ( on both sides) The liner notes…

5 Essential Harold Budd CDs.

Five Essential Harold Budd CDs for Deep Listening of Pretty MusicSilence Required: The Best of Harold Budd, an Icon of Echoes. Harold Budd is a romantic with a classicist’s soul and an experimenter’s openness to chance. He’s never opted for the obvious ploys for the heartstrings.  Instead, Budd explores the geometry of passion, the calculus…

5 Best Ulrich Schnauss CDs (Minus-1)

https://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/echoes.org/podcasts/EchoesPodcast-UlrichSchnauss.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSI usually use Five Best Albums for Icons of Echoes, but Ulrich Schnauss has only three proper albums, one remix collection and EPs. So this is The Five Best Ulrich Schnauss CDs (Minus-1). The thing is, each one is nearly perfection. Ulrich Schnauss is a German electronic artist…

Rollover Eno, Justin Bieber’s Ambient Epic

In the tradition of John Oswald’s Plunderphonics and Hans Zimmer’s recent slo-mo take on Edith Piaf’s rendition of “Non, je ne Regrette Rien,” in Inception, here’s a song by pop sensation, Justin Bieber, “U Smile” slowed down 800% by an artist who records as Shamantis. Think Brian Eno‘s Music for Airports “2/1″ and “1/2″, Sigur…

MoogFest-Just Another Alt-Rock Music Festival

I was having doubts about Moogfest from the start, but now that the final line-up is solidifying, it’s clear that this is not a celebration of the Moog, its history and the music it spawned.   It’s  just another hipster alt-rock festival along the lines of the Pitchfork Music Festival, Bonaroo, Coachella, etc.  Nothing wrong…

All is Neu Again- Michael Rother & Hallogallo Live

NEU! MARCHES BACK UPDATE: Hear a live performance and the Echoes Interview with Michael Rother at end. It was a mesmerizing evening of non-stop driving groove and ecstatic electric guitar when Michael Rother brought in his Hallogallo 2010 group to Philadelphia last night at International House. Michael Rother was a founding member of the German…

Two Essential Lisa Gerrard CDs (+3)

Lisa Gerrard – The Sound of the Spirit: One of 20 Icons of Echoes. Lisa Gerard was the possessed vocalist with Dead Can Dance, the enigmatic group that channeled a world of sound through their electro-ethnic arrangements and the incantatory voice of Gerrard. Gerrard sings in a hybrid supralingua that sounds like a real language,…

Klaus Schulze Turns 63

A Sultan of Synthesizers 63 isn’t a very significant birthday,  but any time we can celebrate the music of Klaus Schulze, we should do it.   Born August 4, 1947, Klaus Schulze remains the John Coltrane of electronic music.   It’s been nearly four decades since his solo debut, Irrlicht, and he continues creating CD length…