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PGM 1289 'JON HASSELL RETROSPECTIVE' : july 23-30

American avant-garde composer JON HASSELL died in June 2021 aged 84. Of all the artists that have been featured on Hearts of Space, due to his wide influence, theoretical brilliance, and open-minded innovation, no one deserves a retrospective more than JON HASSELL.

His 1978 debut album VERNAL EQUINOX set out his vision of what he called "Fourth World" music, which he defined as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." It's a vision that was influential with other musicians because it opened up new creative vistas rather than just rearranging the elements of old ones.

His embrace of exotic cultures was always respectful and creative, never casual or exploitive. He saw less developed countries as places where tradition was still alive, and spirituality was inherent in their music. His principal instrument was the trumpet — electronically softened, harmonized and spatialized into what one writer said "sounded as if it were played by a Berber on a distant sand dune, or from a minaret in a deserted city."

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a JON HASSELL RETROSPECTIVE.

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PGM 1141R 'PRANA PULSE' : july 16-23

One of the truly improbable results of 20th century cultural openness and experimentation has been the international success of yoga. From its origins as a means of physical support for Indian meditation practice, yoga came west with counterculture explorers in the 1970s, took root, and against all odds became a standard of the western fitness industry.

Today, yoga fuels burgeoning spin offs in clothing, fashion, video and accessories — as well as a hyperactive genre of India-inspired electronic music — not only for yoga practice and meditation, but for so-called "ecstatic dance" and other group activities. Over the last 20 years, the international yoga community has come together to create dozens of "transformational festivals" every summer, which provide live performance opportunities for the musicians, along with exercise and spirituality.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, groove-centric, globally percussive, tribal-electronic, Indo-Ambient sounds for transformational festivals, ecstatic dance, yoga and meditation, on a program called PRANA PULSE.

Music is by SHAMAN'S DREAM, MOLLONO.BASS, DESERT DWELLERS, AL GROMER KHAN, ANUGAMA, DEUTER, and RAJENDRA TEREDESAI.

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PGM 1288 'THE NEXT DIMENSION' : july 9-16

It's utterly without tension, reliably tonal and melodic, and wouldn't hurt a fly. Yet New Age music has been the subject of decades of casual ridicule.

Originally a grassroots phenomenon with a do-it-yourself creative ethic made possible by the home studio movement, after a period of mainstream success in the 1980s, it retreated to serving its core audience. Despite the criticism, New Age remained a popular niche, showing that a therapeutic music for relaxation, meditation, virtual travel, and alternative forms of spirituality had become something of a psychological necessity in high-intensity modern life. 

Around 2004, a critical reappraisal of the genre began, led by music blogger Douglas McGowan and by serious music collectors, Gen X'ers and Millennials who were children during the glory days of New Age. Evaluating musicians on their own merit rather than writing off the entire genre led to the conviction that some of the artists had been underappreciated, and the genre itself had been overcriticized.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, New Age music reconsidered, on a program called THE NEXT DIMENSION. Music is by DEAN EVENSON, SCOTT HUCKABAY and PHIL HEAVEN, JONNY LIPFORD, DAVE EGGAR, HIROKI OKONO, UMA SILBEY, MICHAEL BRANT DEMARIA, FORREST SMITHSON, MIKE CLAY, IASOS, and PAUL AVGERINOS.  

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PGM 1287 'PARALLEL WORLDS' : july 2-9

Of all the artists that have been featured on Hearts of Space, due to his wide influence, theoretical brilliance, and tireless innovation — no one has earned a celebratory retrospective more than JON HASSELL. An avant-garde composer and inventor of "Fourth World" music, he described it as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." Jon Hassell died this week at the age of 84.

We'll work on that retrospective, but for now we'll use one of his classics to introduce a program of the kind of globe-trotting, culture-hopping, creative ambient he inspired. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a program called PARALLEL WORLDS. Music is by JON HASSELL, TRANCE MISSION, GREEN ISAC ORCHESTRA, RICHARD BONE, DARSHAN AMBIENT, DANIEL LANOIS & ROCCO DELUCA, ALEX HAAS, and FORREST FANG.

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PGM 1286 'SUMMER STARS' : june 25-july 2

Many kinds of music are associated with one of the seasons, but ambient and environmental electronic music? — more than most. The music has to BE the season: to reflect, inhabit, and merge with the space and feeling of the seasonal environment. And when it comes to summer ambient, the pace gets slower, the harmonies get warmer, and the ethereal sounds inspire weightless floating.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we float peacefully through the star fields on the warm breezes of a summer night, on a program called SUMMER STARS. Music is by ERIK WØLLO, SUFJAN STEVENS, STEVE ROACH, RUDY ADRIAN, and AMONGST MYSELVES.

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PGM 1216 'ADVENTURES IN PSYBIENT' : june 18-25

In the fervent, prolific, always evolving field of popular electronic music, genres rise, shine, and set—often with alarming speed. So it's reassuring to know that the relatively long-running streams of Psychedelic and Trance music have embraced the cool sonorities and spatial sound images of Ambient—giving birth to the variously named hybrids Psybient, Psytrance, or just Psy. It's a realm worth exploring. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space—what happened when Psytrance Met Ambient, on a program called ADVENTURES IN PSYBIENT. It's a love story, with music by SHPONGLE, AROKEM, MASTER MARGHERITA, LAB'S CLOUD, BLUETECH, ADHAM SHAIKH, and ISHQ.

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PGM 1285 'SLACK KEY PARADISE' : june 11-18

Hawaii, ladies and gentlemen: our 50th state, a subtropical archipelago of 137 volcanic islands arising from the Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles southwest of the U.S. mainland. Unique in many ways, it's a rich multi-ethnic melting pot of indigenous Hawaiian, Polynesian, East and Southeast Asian, and North American cultures.

All this diversity gives Hawaiian music a sweetness and charm that led to popularity for the steel guitar and the ukulele in the early 20th century, and a revival of the so-called "slack key" or re-tuned finger-style guitar in the 1970s. The languid pace and tropical ambience of the music echoes the astonishing beauty of the natural setting. One visit to the Garden Island of Kauai turns a word like "paradise" from hyperbole...to description.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the languid music and lush subtropical ambience of Hawaii, on a program called SLACK KEY PARADISE. Music is by BRUCE KAPHAN & JAKE SHIMABUKURO, BOB BROZMAN & LEDWARD KAAPANA, KEOLA BEAMER & R.CARLOS NAKAI, TAIMANE, KAWIKA KAHIAPO, and WAYNE POWELL.

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PGM 1284 'FLOATING WORLDS 3' : june 4-11

The concept of a "soundscape" was defined in the 1960s as a combination of sounds that create an immersive environment. It includes sounds of the natural acoustic environment and weather—called the geophony; animals and insects—called the biophony; and sounds made by humans—the anthropophony.

In Canada, the soundscape idea was established for a whole generation of musicians by composer and educator R. MURRAY SCHAFER. Among his students were two young Canadian electronic musicians — MYCHAEL DANNA and TIM CLEMENT. In the mid 1980s they were creating what they called "environmental electronic music" like this classic track from the album SUMMERLAND.

DANNA went on to become an A-list film composer known for non-traditional scores for films like The Life of Pi, while the combination of natural acoustic environmental sounds and electronic music became one of the enduring trends in the ambient music of today. Like scores for imaginary films, they can entertain, challenge, or sooth us, sending signals to our ancient limbic alert system that tell us to be vigilant, or relax.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a collection of immersive environments and electro-acoustic soundscapes called FLOATING WORLDS 3. Music is by DANNA & CLÉMENT, SINEPEARL, TOM EATON, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, ALIO DIE & REMCO HELBERS, and STEVE ROACH.

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PGM 1215 'VERNAL FLIGHT' : may 28-june 4

Spring has long been the most unpredictable of seasons—these days, more than ever. This week we had a bit of January in May here in Northern California; next week it'll be like high summer. Everything is changing, and the wind rushes in every direction in a futile effort at equilibrium. 

The seasonal winds inspire ambient musicians to create an airy, open music with flutes and electronics, and we can ride the sound currents like birds in search of new frontiers. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an airy, windy, floating journey for spring, on a program called VERNAL FLIGHT.

Music is by PETE KUZMA, BYRON METCALF, MICHAEL BRANT DeMARIA, COYOTE OLDMAN, TOM MOORE & SHERRY FINZER, LARKIN, PAUL AVGERINOS, STEPHEN PEPPOS, and RUDY ADRIAN.

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PGM 1283 'THE SOUND of BLISS' : may 21-28

THE GROUP BLISS was a warm breeze that emerged from chilly Denmark in 2001, the project of writer/producers MARK-GEORGE ANDERSON and STEFFEN AASKOVEN. Original vocalists TCHANDO from Guinea-Bissau and ALEXANDRA HAMNEDE (hahm-NYED-eh) from Sweden, brought soulful African and refined jazz elements to the group's polished mix of pop songcraft, subtle ambient electronics, ethnic and classical elements.

Successful in Europe from the start, their music appeared on dozens of compilations and soundtracks. Four more excellent albums followed between 2003 and 2013, establishing BLISS as elite artists in the popular ambient/downtempo/chill genre. It took five years before they released an album in the U.S. and started building an international fanbase. They'd be household names in the States if not for the fact that the word "bliss" is apparently irresistible to musicians; more than a dozen other artists exploit the name or use it as a title, leaving a confusing mess for all of them.

So when it comes to "Danish Bliss" we're not talking about pastry, but as you'll hear, a superior contemporary world-ambient-downtempo experience. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an overdue retrospective called THE SOUND OF BLISS.

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