hearts of space | news

PGM 1189R 'DEEP DUB' : sept.11-18

The history of Jamaican Dub music is rich and fascinating. Dub grew out of reggae in the 1960s, and evolved well beyond its popular parent. It was a studio craft where producers created instrumental remixes of reggae tracks by removing the vocals, adding echo, reverb and delay, and dubbing in new ambient sounds. Essentially, Dub was an early form of popular electronic music.

If you think all this had something to do with cannabis, you'd be understating the case. In a 1982 essay, LUKE EHRLICH said: "With dub, Jamaican music spaced out completely. If reggae is Africa in the New World, then dub must be Africa on the moon; it's the psychedelic music I expected to hear in the 1960s...and didn't. The bass and drums conjure up a dark, vast musical portrait of outer space, with sounds suspended like glowing planets or the fragments of instruments careening by, leaving trails like comets and meteors."

Dub was a natural link to later electronic genres like techno, ambient, trip hop and electronic dance music. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the trancey beats of Jamaican Dub and its electronic descendants, on a program from guest producer DAVID J. EGAN called DEEP DUB. Music is by JAH WOBBLE & MARCONI UNION, ORKUS, FINGERS IN THE NOISE, ECHO GRID, PURL & DEFLEKTION, LOSCIL, and MOTIONFIELD.

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PGM 1259 'MASTERS OF SPACE' : sept.4-11

Maybe it was just a coincidence, a timely convergence, but the era of space exploration that began in the 1960s was also a formative decade for electronic music. At the time, German experimental composer KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN observed that there was a natural relationship between his electronic music and images of cosmic space. Maybe it was the drugs, but it seemed right.

In Germany, the late 1960s saw the rise of the "Kozmik Musik" genre; electronic nebulae blossomed all over Europe and the English speaking countries; SUN RA toured the world and played his own brand of Afro-cosmic funk, while JOHN COLTRANE and his wife ALICE released the album COSMIC MUSIC.

In the 1970's the COSMIC COURIERS record label was established, PROGRESSIVE ROCK went cosmic and became SPACE ROCK, BRIAN ENO invented Ambient, and PINK FLOYD became the biggest selling band in the world after Dark Side of the Moon. It was Good Times for space fans.

Today, electronic spacemusic is an established genre with a nice article in Wikipedia and a steady stream of significant new music from masters of the craft. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a classic journey in the electronic starfields, on a program called MASTERS OF SPACE.

Music is by ERIK WØLLO & MICHAEL STEARNS, DAVID HELPLING & JON JENKINS, JON DURANT & ROBERT JÜRJENDAL, PHILLIP WILKERSON, and JEFF GREINKE.

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PGM 1258 'SIX STRING UNIVERSE' : aug.28-sept.4

In stressful times, we seek the comfort of the familiar, the predictable, the tried and true. And in music, that often means returning to the joys and pleasures of the acoustic guitar. It's not just the foundation of what JOHN FAHEY memorably called "American primitive guitar;" in addition to its role accompanying singers, as a solo instrument it's a rich vehicle for personal expression, creative innovation, and contemplative immersion.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we touch all those possibilities, on a program called SIX STRING UNIVERSE. Music is by CHRIS HAUGEN, FLOW, ALEX DE GRASSI, RICHARD OSBORNE, MATTHEW MONTFORT, and CLAES NILSSON.

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PGM 1257 'VISIONS OF INFINITY' : aug. 21-28

Let's talk about electronic music. As with acoustic instruments, we have freedom of expression with the core musical variables: melody, rhythm, tempo, and harmony. But we've gained the ability to create the tone, the timbre, the character, and even the spatial dimension of the electronic sound. In fact, the space or ambience of the sound becomes a fundamental artistic choice. Electronic music can create "soundscapes"—immersive images of virtual environments.

Unlike the literal sound images of acoustic instruments, these electronic images can be deliberately amorphous...boundless...endless...unlimited. They can imply vast, fluid, diffuse, virtual spaces, whose dimensions are perceptually infinite.

We can even make this quality the subject of the music, and call it "spacemusic"—a descriptive term that arose organically in the early days of popular electronic music. Today, ambient-electronic artists are creating sonic images of infinity—endless virtual spaces we can expand into, bathe in, savor, and explore.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the quest for unlimited spaces in electronic sound, on a program called VISIONS OF INFINITY. Music is by DEEPSPACE, STEVE ROACH, KEVIN BRAHENY FORTUNE, MAX CORBACHO, and JEFF PEARCE.

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PGM 1146R 'HELIOS' : aug.14-21

Let's hear it for The Sun, ladies and gentlemen. It's impossible to think of anything more important—to our very existence, our history, our evolution, and our future as a species. So it's a big subject: the sun is responsible for super-basic stuff like day and night, the year, the weather, and the climate. It's the key to almost all life on earth, the source of all our energy (one way or another), the key ingredient in everything we eat, and the indispensable element in our vacations. I mean, who wants to vacation in the rain?

Astronomically speaking, the sun is our home star, a member of the "yellow dwarf" class. It's 4.6 billion years old, over a hundred times bigger in diameter than earth, and weighs 330,000 times as much, despite being 98% hydrogen and helium—two of the lightest materials in existence. The sun is a bright sphere of superheated plasma; at its core is a nuclear furnace, where fusion of hydrogen atoms creates temperatures of almost 30 million degrees Fahrenheit, while the surface of the sun is a relatively balmy 10,000 degrees. We're 93 million miles away, and it still feels hot! 

The sun has been central to many human cultures and religions since prehistoric times. It's been worshipped as a deity and celebrated in myth, art and literature, especially in ancient Egypt. Those days are gone, but ambient electronic artists are still inspired by it. On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a tribute to the sun and its season, on a program called HELIOS.

Music is by SOLAR FIELDS, AES DANA, STEVE ROACH, ISHQ, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, ERIC WØLLO, MAX CORBACHO, and HOLLAN HOLMES.

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PGM 1256 'TECHNO-TRIBAL' : aug 7-14

Centuries ago, a music emerged out of the world's deserts and tribal cultures. It was built on trance-like rhythms and the most primitive instruments: flutes, rattles, and drums. Against all odds, in the late 20th century elements of this ancient indigenous music were embraced by electronic musicians searching for an earthy, vital sound to balance the dematerialized tones of electronic instruments, and ground the atmospheric soundscapes of ambient.

Their quest led to a hybrid electro-acoustic genre originally called "techno-tribal" and later "tribal ambient." In retrospect, it was part of a wider movement ethno-botanist TERENCE McKENNA famously termed The Archaic Revival. Why would a sophisticated, technologically advanced culture want to revive an ancient, supposedly primitive one? In an era where our experience is increasingly mediated, artificial, and virtual — we seek authenticity, direct experience, and a deeper connection to our environment, our history, and our inner worlds.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, ambient electronics meet flutes, rattles, drums, and drones, on a journey across the desert mesas, wind-blown dunes, and rocky plains of the tribal ambient soundscape called TECHNO-TRIBAL.

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PGM 1255 'DESERT CROSSING 2' : july 31-aug 7

MENA is an acronym for the geographical region of the Middle East and North Africa, encompassing give or take 19 countries with a long, complicated history and a shared musical culture. Political conflict and anti-music fundamentalism in the region over the last 50 years led to a diaspora of MENA musicians to cities all over Europe, Canada and the U.S.

Leaving one's home and native culture is almost always difficult and unpredictable, but for music it can be a good thing, exposing musicians to new influences, new creative relationships, and unexpected cross-fertilizations. The classic example is DICK DALE, the inventor of Surf Rock—the original 1960s fusion of Middle Eastern scales and tremolo electric guitar drowned in reverb.

Today the rich traditions of Middle Eastern and North African music combine freely with jazz, rock, rap, electronic, ambient and even new age, in a brilliant diversity of sound and style.On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, the trance-inducing rhythms and deep modal melodies of the MENA diaspora, on a program called DESERT CROSSING 2.

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PGM 1254 'TERRASONIC' : july 24-31

Over the last 75 years, composers were gradually freed from creating music with notes on paper, and the limitations of acoustically generated sounds. Slowly at first, then in a rush of innovation in the 20th century, they were given the tools to create music directly from recorded and electronically generated sounds. The electronic studio itself became the master instrument, and imagination was unbound.

It's hard to overstate how revolutionary this was. It led to a much expanded palette of musical sounds, an explosion of popular electronic dance music, and immersive music with a focus on imagery, ambience, and virtual travel in sonic space. Composers became "sound designers," and listeners became sonic cosmonauts.

Environmental sounds captured by high quality portable recorders lent a new psychological dimension to music, making us more aware of the natural ambient sounds around us. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey in electro-acoustic spaces at sea and on land, on a program called TERRASONIC. Music is by ATOMIC SKUNK, ISHQ, RUDY ADRIAN, and LONEWARD.

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PGM 1220 'AMBIENT TRAVELER 2' : july 17-24

In the warm, bright days of summer, an ambient fan yearning for travel to exotic cultures will book a flight on Sequencer Airlines. With its steady pulse, it's a perfect rhythm for moving through space. 

The roots go back to 9th century Persia, but the music sequencer idea really got going in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution, with popular devices like music boxes, mechanical organs, and player pianos. By the first generation of electronic synthesizers in the 1960s and 70s, the Step Sequencer was a machine that turned equal length notes into repeating rhythm patterns. They're simple, delightfully hypnotic, and fun to work with. 

Today things are more complicated, but a lot more powerful. We have audio sample sequencers, loop-based creative music software, phrase samplers, and digital audio recording software many times more powerful than the primitive sequencers of early synths—and hey! They're still fun to work with. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a journey from kinetic sequencer patterns to exotic Southeast Asian ambient soundscapes—on a program called AMBIENT TRAVELER 2. 

Music by ATOMIC SKUNK, DAVID PARSONS, CHRISTEL VERAART, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, LOREN NERELL, ALIO DIE & LORENZO MONTANA, RICHARD BONE.

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PGM 1253 'SUMMER DRUMMER 2' : july 10-17

The seductive sound of the Hang, ladies and gentlemen, a 21st century Swiss offspring of the steel pan drum. Gentle and tuneful, the handpans, as the new percussion family are called, are the perfect thing for delighting the ear and bringing joy to the heart during this disrupted and constrained summer of 2020.

After months of enforced confinement and social distance, the warm weather brings thoughts of summers past, filled with sun, sport, and vacation pleasures, while the steel drum's Caribbean origins in Trinidad and Tobago suggest images of island adventures, white sands, and emerald waters. It's a vision that's irresistible in normal times, let alone now.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a virtual vacation in the seductive soundworlds of the Hang, on a program called SUMMER DRUMMER 2. Music is by JAMES HOOD, LAURA INSERRA, HANG MASSIVE, HANG DRUM PLAYER, and THE MANY RIVERS ENSEMBLE (featuring HANG MASSIVE).

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