The Big Ears Festival is a monstrous affair of cutting edge music. This year saw some 150 artists performing including Patti Smith, John Zorn, Jason Moran and more. Here’s a random account.
It’s the 40th Anniversary of Laurie Anderson’s Big Science, her debut album and the one that contained her signature song, “O Superman.” It still sounds resonant 40 years later.
Planetary Unfolding by Michael Stearns is a seminal ambient album from 1981 by Michael Stearns. A new reissue reveals this electronic epic was indeed the music of the future.
We visit the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project, EMEAPP. It’s a museum of electronic instruments from the earliest devices through Keith Emerson’s keyboard rig and beyond.
In honor of Black History Month, we turn the Echoes prism onto the African and black influences in ambient music. They come from many sources: jazz, R&B, Hip-hop and Africa itself.
We visit the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project, EMEAPP. It’s a museum of electronic instruments from the earliest devices, through Keith Emerson’s keyboard rig, and beyond.
Peter Gregson is a classically-trained cellist, but he goes into ambient chamber music on his recording Patina. It mixes synthesizers and electronic processing along with orchestral strings.
We have a preview of the Big Ears Festival 2022. Founder Ashley Capps tells us about some highlights of the line-up that includes Patti Smith, John Zorn and Meredith Monk.