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…
Category: Reviews & Commentary
Reviews & Commentary
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…
Reviews & Commentary
New Celtic Christmas Music
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
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…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: Nordic Ambiences
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
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…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: A Synthesist turns Singer-Dean De Benedictis
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
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…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: John Gregorius “Heaven and Earth”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
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…
Reviews & Commentary
Ludovico Einaudi-New Age Fodder or Classical Elegance
Ludovico Einaudi is in the midst of a short US tour. Echoes and WFUV will be presenting him in concert in New York City on Tuesday November 25th. He just played Los Angeles in Largo at the Coronet Theater and two reviews from that show point up the dichotomies in Einaudi’s music. Writing in the…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: The Sound of Freedom with Marcin Wasilewksi Trio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
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…
Reviews & Commentary
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…
Reviews & Commentary
Another Beat Drops: Mitch Mitchell Dead at 61
Mitch Mitchell, the drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, passed away Wednesday, November 13 in Portland, Oregon. Mitchell, along with The Who’s Keith Moon and Cream‘s Ginger Baker changed the role of the rock and roll drummer from a four on the floor dance beat keeper, to a polyrhythmic dervish that pushed the music into…