FEATURED THIS WEEK:

Tuesday 12/6/05
ECHOES DECEMBER CD OF THE MONTH:
TRISTEZA: A COLORES
Tristeza is a San Diego based band that's part of the new breed of guitar instrumentalists that includes Explosions in the Sky. Their sound has echoes of surf music and minimalism with electric twang, and complex, interlocking melodies and rhythms. On their new CD, A COLORES, the band takes a slightly more atmospheric and elegiac approach to their sound, sculpting compositions with meticulously enfolded layers that seem to reveal new facets with each listening. Tristeza's A COLORES is the Echoes December CD of the Month.

Wednesday 12/7/05
LITTLE PLASTIC PILOTS: GLITCHED MEMORIES
Little Plastic Pilots is the recording persona of Sam Nelson. He's been on the LA rock scene since he was a teenager, but as a solo artist recording as Little Plastic Pilots he makes a deeply personal music, sampling and reconstituting sounds from his father's record collection and electronically orchestrating landscapes of memory on his eponymous debut album. We hear a musician reinventing a lineage that stretches back to the rock of Ricky Nelson and the swing of Ozzie Nelson.

Thursday 12/8/05
EUGENE FRIESEN'S CELLO TALES
It seems like we're surrounded by cellos in all kinds of cross-over music these days, but Eugene Friesen was at the leading edge of the cello renaissance when he signed on with the Paul Winter Consort more than a quarter century ago. Friesen shares Winter's love of musical intersections and he's been creating his own on albums like IN THE SHADE OF ANGELS and SONO MIHO (Fiddle Talk Music). We talk with Friesen about his journey.

Friday 12/9/05
SIGUR ROS: DARK INNOCENCE
Sigur Ros is the enigmatic Icelandic band that has entranced listeners inclined towards a more abstract and atmospheric sound. Heavy reverb, bowed guitars and lyrics sung in a high, wispy falsetto call to mind a fantasy world of hidden shadows and dark corners. But there's also a naivete to this music which often has childhood as a source of inspiration. Sigur Ros's latest album is TAKK (Geffen). We head into shadows of sound with Sigur Ros.

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