Digitonal Tops the 25 Essential Echoes CDs of 2008 Here are the CDs we thought were essential for the year as judged by me (John Diliberto) and the Echoes staff. It’s not based on the most played CD, CDs of the month or any other “objective” criteria. These are the CDs, out of the 2000+…
Tag: electronica
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John Diliberto’s Top Ten Songs for 2008: Alu to Gnarls Barkley
When WXPN, our Philadelphia Echoes affiliate, asked me to submit my Top Ten Albums and songs list, Program Director Bruce Warren said “send us your top ten albums and songs (if you have songs).” I knew what he meant by that parenthetical on a couple of levels. On Echoes, we usually don’t play songs, right?…
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Echoes Top 25 for November: Bombay Dub Tops
World music fusions bookend the Echoes Top 25 for November as electronic artists and acoustic revisionists dominate the list. Bombay Dub Orchestra, our November CD of the Month, tops the list, (read a full review) followed closely by the independent release from Vic Hennegan, Aqua Vista his homage to space music. You can find out…
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John Diliberto’s Top 10 CDs for 2008
From Digitonal to the Dandy Warhols, John Diliberto’s Top Ten CDs for 2008. While you’re pondering the Echoes 2008 Listener Poll, I’ve already been solicited for a few year-end lists. I usually give a different list to different outlets. My (uncredited) Amazon.com list is pretty strictly New Age and limited to titles that are actually on…
Reviews & Commentary
Echo Location: Saul Stokes
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http://media.blubrry.com/echoespodcast/www.xpn.org/podcasts/echoes/echoes20081112.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSIn another time, say the 1950s or 60s, Saul Stokes might have been considered an experimental composer, constructing his own instruments, creating random events, bypassing conventional musical form. But rarely has an experimental composer made music as haunting and soulful as that heard on his new CD, Villa…
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Echoes Top 25 for October: Ambient continues to roll
This month’s Echoes Top 25 continues the roll of ambient music, especially in the Top 10. Sumner McKane‘s What A Great Place to Be is number one by dint of being the Echoes CD of the Month for October, but even without that honor and extra airplay it entails, it was already #4 the previous…
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
Blow Your Mind Music Video in Advanced Beauty
If you’re looking for some delirious eye-candy to take your mind somewhere else, check out a site called cololourlovers.com Right now they’ve got a series of 18 computer paintings with original, mostly electronica music in a series called Advanced Beauty.
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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
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…