I always thought of Manuel Göttsching, who records under his own name and more famously as Ashra and Ash Ra Tempel, as the most soulful of the Berlin Trinity: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel. His compositions had a warmth the others lacked and his guitar leads flitted between dangerous micro-second precision on Inventions for…
Category: Reviews & Commentary
Reviews & Commentary
Harold Budd & Clive Wright: A Song For Lost Blossoms
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080618.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSFor a guy who supposedly retired 4 years ago, Harold Budd is sure putting out a lot of records. He’s just offered up a new slice of gauzy atmosphere, hazy keyboards and unguitar-like electric guitar with Clive Wright. It’s called A Song for Lost Blossoms . This works…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: Marconi Union’s A Lost Connection
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080813.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSI know, I just mentioned Marconi Union in a blog last week, but I decided to feature them in an Echo Location, Soundings for New Music, an Echoes feature heard on WXPN-FM, 88.5, in Philadelphia/Lancaster/Harrisburg. An audio version of this Echo Location with music can also be heard.…
Reviews & Commentary
Arrested Musical Development: The 60s are over, the 70s too.
The midsummer of 2008 has been a trip down Memory Lane for live concerts. In the last two weeks, I’ve seen, or will be seeing, Alex De Grassi, Return to Forever, King Crimson and Manuel Göttsching/Ashra , all acts who came to their greatest renown in the 1970s. It got me wondering about our penchant…
Reviews & Commentary
An Electronic Voice from the Past: Popol Vuh & Florian Fricke
I stumbled across an interesting vintage video of Popol Vuh, the German band headed up by the late Florian Fricke. The video is apparently from 1971 and in the style of music of their Affenstunde album. In the video you can see Florian playing the Modular Moog that he would eventually sell to Klaus Schulze…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: Ozric Tentacles
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080806.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThe program director of an Echoes affiliate asked, “Are those guys still around?” But Ozric Tentacles are still taking trips to the center of your mind. (You can hear an audio version of this Echo Location, with music.) Guitarist Ed Wynne was only born in 1961, but he…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: The Penguin Cafe Orchestra
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080723.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThe Penguin Cafe Orchestra along with Harold Budd, virtually created the Ambient Chamber Music genre. Their CDs have just been re-released. In this Echo Location we return to a 1988 interview with PCO founder, the late-Simon Jeffes. You can hear an audio version of this blog with music…
Reviews & Commentary
A Meeting of Icons: Klaus Schulze & Lisa Gerrard
It’s difficult when you fall out of love with an artist. We all have musicians whose work has been central to our lives, who we’ve followed from the beginning of their careers and absorbed everything they’ve released as if it were a gift from heaven. Klaus Schulze and Lisa Gerrard are like that for me.…
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Ancient Electronics from Pioneering Delia Derbyshire-Creator of Doctor Who Theme
In the days when electronic music was the province of dweeby men in white lab coats, pocket protectors and skinny ties, Delia Derbyshire was among the few woman twiddling knobs and slicing tape at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. This is so ancient it was even before the Beatles hit. Among her many works were the…
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An Echo Location: Alu’s Cosmic Cabaret
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080716.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThe latest singer to carry the torch of Kate Bush into new terrain is named Alu [You can also hear an Audio Version of this Blog, with Alu’s music] Ziggy Stardust came from Mars, Sun Ra came from Saturn. Alu isn’t from another planet, but sometimes she wants…