Category: Reviews & Commentary

Echo Location: Kaya Project’s And So It Goes

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20090107.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS Global ecstacy in a digital world from Kaya Project You can hear an audio version of this blog with music. Echo Location: Kaya Project Seb Taylor started out as a Death Metal and Thrash guitarist, but you’d never know that from his many recording personas, among them,…

Popol Vuh Video

Having just played a track from Popol Vuh’s Das Hohelied Salomos on WXPN’s Highs in the 70s: Progressive Rock show, I was thrilled to discover a new Popol Vuh video up on YouTube.  It’s a track of the “classic” PV line-up with singer Djong Yun, guitarist Daniel Filschesher, oboe player, Robert Eliscu and PV founder…

It’s Progressive Rock All Over Again

This weekend I’ll be guesting on Highs in the 70s: Progressive Rock on WXPN in Philadelphia .  It’s among a series of irregularly scheduled retro shows they run.  It’s going to be an 8-hour marathon, from 10AM til 6PM on Saturday, January 3. I’ll be in for the first half, Chuck Van Zyl from Star’s End…

New Celtic Christmas Music

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081217.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSAine Minogue, Loreena McKennitt and Enya do a  Celtic Christmas (You can hear an Audio Version of this blog with music excerpts from these albums.) Celtic music and Christmas go together as well as Handel‘s Messiah and Christmas. If you want to tap into that contemplative, fireplace, snowflakes and…

Echo Location: Nordic Ambiences

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081210.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSBjörk and Abba aren’t the only exports from Iceland and Sweden. (You can hear an audio version of this Blog, with music.) As we close out 2008 and head into the chill of winter, I bring you two albums from Nordic territories to chill you even more. Scandinavian…

Echo Location: A Synthesist turns Singer-Dean De Benedictis

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081203.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSElectronic explorer Dean De Benedictis finds Ambient music in his voice (You can hear an audio version of this blog, with music.) If you’re a fan of 80s and 90s TV crime dramas, you might recognize the theme from Matlock, the crime series starring Andy Griffith. It’s written…

Echo Location: John Gregorius “Heaven and Earth”

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081126.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS On his latest album, Heaven and Earth,  John Gregorius finds a meeting ground between Windham Hill fingerstyle guitar and ambient music. Progressive rock was known for it’s synthesizer and organ orchestrations and furious electric guitar runs, but a lot of musicians were attracted to a more pastoral…

Echo Location: The Sound of Freedom with Marcin Wasilewksi Trio

http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081119.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSPolish musicians find freedom in American Jazz You can hear an audio version of this blog with music. The Marcin Wasilewski Trio is one of those young bands like The Bad Plus that isn’t afraid to cover rock tunes in a modern jazz context. On their two ECM…

Cluster Converges and The Foundry Founders

Some bands last for the long haul, some labels struggle. Philadelphians got a surprise performance from the legendary German electronic band Cluster this past Saturday at St. Mary’s Parish Hall as part of The Gatherings series. The show was originally billed as a concert by Tim Story, Dwight Ashley and original Cluster member Hans-Joachim Roedelius…