Hector Zazou was a quirky French composer who worked quietly in the background, creating music that sent subtle ripples across the music firmament. He died this past Monday, September 8 at the age of 60. Most of the hipster community discovered him in the mid-1990s when he released the albums, Sahara Blue and Songs from…
Tag: Ambient
Reviews & Commentary
Lights Out Asia and Near the Parenthesis
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080910.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSLights Out Asia and Near the Parenthesis create an ambient rock You can hear an audio version of this review, with music. The n5MD record label began with a suspect business plan. They were going to release their music only on mini-disc. Although commercially that format went the way of…
Reviews & Commentary
Thoughts in Sound: Cage, Eno, Jarrett, Riley
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080820.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSThoughts in Sound from musicians at the bleeding edges of music including John Cage, Brian Eno, Terry Riley and Keith Jarrett. You can also hear an Audio Version of this blog, with music. Every musician plays notes, but some of them think about the nature of sound a…
Reviews & Commentary
Genuflections and Reflections at Ash Ra Tempel
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…
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…
Best Of
Echoes Top 25 for July: Marconi Union first Download recording to crack Top 5
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080730.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSAmbient chamber music still dominates the Echoes Top 25 for August, but for the first time, a download only album cracks the the Echoes Top 5. That CD is the purely ambient A Lost Connection by Marconi Union. Their album, Distance, from 3 years ago was among our…
Reviews & Commentary
Deep Space Electronica from Ultimae label: Aes Dana & Solar Fields
The French Ultimae label produces high gloss electronic music and high gloss packaging, with sounds that head into deep ambient space. Echoes listeners will hear an interview with Aes Dana and Solar Fields a.k.a. Vincent Villuis and Magnus Birgesson on Monday, July 14. They produce a brand of ambient music that has its roots in…
Best Of
Ambient Chamber Music Reigns on Echoes Top 25 for June
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20080528.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSAmbient Chamber music dominates top airplay at Echoes in June. We’ve been tracking ambient chamber music since the beginning of Echoes when it was mostly Tim Story, David Darling and Kevin Keller, but the subgenre has exploded, in an ambient chamber music way, that is, gently and without…
Reviews & Commentary
The First Lady of Electronic Music Passes: Bebe Barron
Bebe Barron was the godmother of electronic music. With her husband Louis Barron they created the innovative score to Forbidden Planet in 1955.
Reviews & Commentary
STEVE REICH PUSH-STARTED MY VW BUG AND MINIMALISM
We celebrate Steve Reich on his 70th birthday with this anecdote that goes back to the days of drumming and something Reich probably won’t remember.