hearts of space | news

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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PGM 1282 'SANCTUM SANCTORUM' : may 14-21

Composer CONSTANCE DEMBY passed peacefully in 2021 at age 81. She was an original character, a fun-loving free spirit who emerged out of the creative upheaval of the 1960s as a "sound sculptor" of resonant steel instruments, and member of an anarchic hippie musical group from Maine. After the group disbanded in the mid-1970s, she was drawn to the spiritual path, studied yoga, made the pilgrimage to India, and began to compose devotional music.

Back in the U.S., she settled in Northern California, started her own cassette label, and pursued a recording career armed with a modest musical education enhanced by great intuitive intensity. She was gifted with a profound talent for melody and a lavish gift for orchestration that served her well. From her earliest recordings she aimed to create what she called "sacred space music" — at first with acoustic instruments, later with electronic synthesizers and studio tools. She was one of the earliest adopters of electronic sampling keyboards, which gave her access to the full spectrum of orchestral instruments she employed in her choral symphonies.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a Constance Demby posthumous retrospective, on a program called SANCTUM SANCTORUM.

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PGM 1281 'ANTIPODEAN SPACE' : may 7-14

The great Southern lands known today as Australia and New Zealand were once called "the Antipodes" (an-TIP-ohdees) by the British. The word literally means 'the other side of the world.' If you tunneled straight down from the British Isles through the center of the earth, Australia is roughly where you'd emerge — upside down, of course.

Even after it was colonized by the British, for centuries Australia was seen by the rest of the Western world as remote, exotic, and inaccessible. And even in the internet age, this isolation has meant that Australian music, art and culture has often gone unnoticed. Yet since the late 1970's, Australia has seen talented composers creating rich veins of contemporary music, including space-creating instrumental music in a variety of styles.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space guest-produced by our Australian colleague MIKE G (the man behind the essential web site AmbientMusicGuide.com) a selection of ambient and atmospheric music by Australian artists from the 1980's to the present, on a program called "ANTIPODEAN SPACE."

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PGM 1193R 'FLOATING WORLDS 2' : apr. 30-may 7

One of the core experiences of ambient and electronic spacemusic is the feeling of weightless floating. These subtle sounds seem to dematerialize us, expand our personal space, and slow our sense of time. It's kind of magical — and for many of us, highly pleasurable, even addictive. 

Since the introduction of mass-produced electronic instruments in the 1970s, anyone can create floating textures, but even if you're just a listener, the experience is widely enjoyed and often described in therapeutic terms as relaxing, healing, and transformative. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another anti-gravity journey on electronic waves, on a program called FLOATING WORLDS 2.

Music is by PAUL AVGERINOS, ERIK WØLLO, HOWARD GIVENS & CRAIG PADILLA, PHILLIP WILKERSON, and MAX CORBACHO.

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PGM 1280 'DRONES and MICROTONES' : apr. 23-30

DRONES—not the ones that fly, take pictures and drop bombs, but sustained musical reference tones—have been used for thousands of years. Simple, effective, and popular, drones originated in ancient southwest Asia, and spread to Europe, India, and Africa.

For many contemporary listeners, their first encounter with a drone was in Indian classical music. It's normally produced by a dedicated instrument called the tamboura (or tanpura), which creates a sustained buzzing sound with the reference pitch and a harmonic fifth above it. Some Indian instruments like the sitar, sarod, and saranghi have drone strings built-in. Not to be outdone, western bagpipes produce multiple drones, as does the medieval hurdy-gurdy. And today, drones are common in electronic and avant-garde music.

Microtones are another basic feature of Indian music. Where western music uses just 12 equally spaced tones to the octave, Indian scales typically have 22, allowing more elaborate melodies and ornamentation. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the entrancing sounds of Indian contemplative music, on a program called DRONES & MICROTONES.

Music is by SAMIR BODHI, HANS CHRISTIAN, AL GROMER KHAN, J.J. GREGG, RAMAN & SRIKANTH, MANOSE, and AMELIA CUNI & WERNER DURAND.

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AT LAST...the all-new Hearts of Space iOS mobile app is here!

 

A WEEK AGO ON SUNDAY APRIL 11th, we finally released our all-new app for iOS devices: iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. 

 

If you're a current Hearts of Space Full or Standard service subscriber you got an email advising you of the update. If your device was set to accept updates automatically, it happened overnight and the next time you signed in you were in a shiny, happy new world.

 

 

We'll be the first to admit that it took forever. The entire development process stretched over FIVE YEARS:

 

|   Phase 1 included our first full "API" (Application Programming Interface — the protocols that allow  computers to negotiate with each other) and an all new "back end" infrastructure running in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.   

|   Phase 2 was a completely redesigned and rewritten web site and a new HTML5 Player launched in December 2019. 

|   Phase 3 is the new iOS apps and soon-to-come Android apps, which deliver "feature parity" with our main web application. Now anything you can do on the web site you can also do on the mobile apps.

 

This was by orders of magnitude the biggest and most complex software development project we've ever attempted. God Bless ALEX BURROWS and his team at BAY INTERACTIVE for their extraordinary patience and competence! 

 

We spent almost two years testing and refining the design of the user interface to make an inherently complex application as intuitive as possible. We resisted massive pressure to launch before it was ready, and conducted a rigorous six week beta test with over 200 participants. 

 

The payoff was that the rollout went off with just a few minor issues, immediately spawned dozens of rave reviews from our users in the App Store, and a solid 5 Star rating. Sweet!

 

We encourage every fan of ambient, space, and contemplative music to download the (free) app and register for a (free) basic account. 

 

This allows you to stream our new weekly programs anytime/anywhere, up to four times each week. And even without a subscription you can still explore the entire archive, play 30 second samples, view the playlists and artwork for almost 1300 programs and over 150 albums, and check out our 11 full time genre-focused "Channels." 

 

In the words of London TV producer Matt Nida:  "The shows themselves are exemplary. The opening monologues set up the week’s theme poetically and economically before letting the music do the rest of the work. The selections are well judged and the themes consistently intriguing and surprising. Specialist radio doesn’t get much more bang-on than this. If you’re looking to expand your ambient horizons, there’s no finer resource available to you." 

 

Safe streaming, spacefans, wherever you are...

 

:: Stephen Hill and Team HoS

 

 

PGM 1279 'IMAGINARY WORLDS' : apr.16-23

Music is something we literally create out of thin air. For millennia it was defined by the sound of physical instruments and the human voice. As instruments evolved and became more refined, music became more complex and sophisticated. By the late 19th century, French composers like Debussy and Ravel were creating orchestral "impressions" of imaginary places and events—an early form of what we now call Virtual Reality.

Since ancient times, literary and religious texts have described mythic fantasy worlds with magical and supernatural elements. It took music centuries to catch up, but in the 20th century, electronic instruments finally gave composers a virtually unlimited set of tools to create imaginary environments. Today we have music for fantasy films and video games, and ambient composers invent fantastic immersive environments for our traveling pleasure.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, virtual realms of fantasy and imagination, on a program called IMAGINARY WORLDS.

Music is by ISHQ, DESENSITIZED, STEVE ROACH & SERENA GABRIEL, DEBORAH MARTIN, KEVIN BRAHENY FORTUNE, and KRILL.MINIMA.

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]