A defining figure in neo-classical and ambient chamber music is Iceland’s Olafur Arnalds. Over the last 15 years he’s sculpted a sound merging classical impressionism and ambient electronics.
The 24th Icon of Echoes is Harold Budd. We’ll remember this artist who influenced ambient and chamber music composers for half a century, right up until he passed away last year.
New music from Lanterna, one of the pioneers of Ambient Americana. He’s returned with a new album of delay-guitar melodies, ambient moods, and twang, called Hidden Drives.
NPR’s Bob Boilen is more than the host of Tiny Desk Concerts and All Songs Considered. He’s also a composer of music from ambient to punk rock. We talk about his pandemic album Hidden Smiles.
Echoes Top 25 for May 2021. London Grammar’s Californian Soil, the May CD of the Month, is at the top, followed by Mythos, Gary Numan, Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk, and 21 other great CDs.
The June CD of the Month, Eight Fragments of an Illusion by Ulrich Schnauss and Jonas Munk. Schnauss is a member of Tangerine Dream. Munk records shoegaze influenced electronics as Manual.
Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas converge on Eight Fragments of an Illusion, exploring inner universes and outer space with shoegaze guitar and synthesizer layers. It’s Echoes June CD of the Month.
Emancipator, Rena Jones, & Flowerpulse weave their electronic roots into the ambient excursion of Xylem, their debut album. John Diliberto goes to the garden with 3 electronic explorers.
We’ll hear the band AO Music’s African-inspired sound featuring singer Miriam Stockley, and we’ll hear a Bulgarian group called Trigaida that mixes traditional Bulgarian singing and EDM.
It’s just about the right time for a Mint Julep, not the drink or candy, but the dreampop duo of Keith and Hollie Kenniff. They have a new album, In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep.