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HOS Android App

UPDATE: Our Android beta testers really proved themselves this week as we discovered incompatibities with certain models of Android phones like the HTC Eris. And we found one tester with a "jailbroken" phone where the app just didn't work at all. That's where we draw the line, folks: we really can't support "rooted" or jailbroken phones. Look for the finished app early next week.

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Now, y'all been very patient about this, and we appreciate that.

Turns out that even when you have a finished iPhone app to model the design, building an Android app is different enough that you wind up doing 90% of the work over again. So naturally, it takes longer than you'd like, but we wanted to get it right. Thanks to our ace programmers PAUL YAGO and JOHN ZORKO, who burned the traditional midnight oil to make it happen.

The app has been in the hands of our beta testers for a week, and we've been discovering and fixing the "device-related" bugs, where it works on one model of phone, but not another. As of today we're pretty much past this, and just waiting for the last few reports to come in to confirm that everything is working as intended. We even managed to make a few improvements here and there.

If all goes well, we'll make the app available in the Android Marketplace next week. We'll announce it here in our blog, on our home page, and via email if you contacted us about the app in the past. GO ANDROID!

762R 'INSIDE LOOKING OUT' : april 29 - may 6

The story of English singer/songwriter MARK HOLLIS is an inspiration to serious musicians and listeners everywhere — a lesson in "following the muse" to a place of true creativity.

Born in London in 1955, Hollis came of age in the 1970s and embarked on the mythic road to fame and fortune by starting a rock band. After a few false starts it worked, and the group TALK TALK began a short, brilliant pop music career that included several gold records in England and Europe in the 1980s.

But Mark Hollis' artistic yearnings drew him off the beaten track and into a subtle, moving and deeply contemplative space —  influenced by jazz, blues, ambient and chamber music, yet sounding unlike anyone else, before or since.

The two final TALK TALK albums, SPIRIT OF EDEN from 1988 and LAUGHING STOCK from 1991, plus a 1998 solo album titled simply MARK HOLLIS, are all quiet masterpieces and timeless works of art, graced by profoundly poetic lyrics and vocals from powerfully emotional...to evanescent.

INSIDE LOOKING OUT...a Mark Hollis retrospective...on this edition of Hearts of Space.

INFO: http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425 (fan site)

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

PGM 944 'BEATITUDES' : april 22-29

Each year, the return of spring brings with it the celebration of the Easter holiday in Christian communities around the world. And with that we return to a series of programs of sacred music that go back to the earliest days of Hearts of Space.  It's not all music designed specifically for the Easter service, but all of it resonates quietly with the spirit of this season.

As with most of these programs, once again we've turned to our longtime guest producer for classical and sacred music, ELLEN HOLMES. Like a musical archeologist, Ellen specializes in digging out the gems of this great repertoire.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, sacred choral and instrumental blessings, on a program called BEATITUDES. It includes works from the Russian and Eastern Orthodox sacred service; a medieval Ladymass; a faux-bourdon from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris; by Renaissance composers MANUEL CARDOSO, ESTEVAO LOPES MORAGO, TOMAS LUIS DE VICTORIA and ANTHONY HOLBORNE; from the Baroque period by JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH; and from the modern era, music for organ by LOUIS VIERNE, for chorus by JOHN TAVENER, and for brass ensemble by OLIVIER MESSIAEN and ERIC WHITACRE.

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

943 'TSUNAMI' : april 15-21

A dramatic reminder of the fragility of our human infrastructure shook, rattled and rolled over Japan last month.

First, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, followed by a classic tsunami that inundated the northern coast of Japan and obliterated everything in its path. And as if one of the largest natural disasters in history wasn't enough, the tsunami overwhelmed the defenses of a coastal nuclear power plant, and set off the second worst nuclear disaster in history.

The Japanese people responded to this triple blow with admirable discipline and cooperation. No looting, no rioting — just a collective effort to save lives, recover the dead, and restore a semblance of order to a cruelly devastated region.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...we focus on Japan in its time of trials. We feature the unique Japanese sensibility for space, rhythm and harmony. Music is by KITARO, SYNERGY, TOMOKO SUNAZAKI, HONOKA, TADAMITSU SAITO, JUTA TAKAHASHI, and F.A.B.

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

PGM 942 'CINEMOTION' : april 8-14

In the evolution of cinema, music has been a parallel language, evolving along with the visual and dramatic language of film.

In the beginning it was live accompaniment by piano, orchestra, and let's not forget The Mighty Wurlizter! Then came recorded sound, and film music flowered into dozens of subgenres, from conventional to experimental.

Whether it's a traditional score for orchestra, a vehicle for popular songs, a fusion of western and world music, a dark and twisted electronic journey, or a subtle ambient tone painting — music is there to create context, to energize, to express the internal feeling of the characters — and deepen our emotional connection to the story.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an hour of choice ambient music for contemporary film/ on a program called CINEMOTION. Music is by HANS ZIMMER, DAVID NEWMAN, GREG EDMONSON, LISA GERRARD, and RICHARD MARVIN.

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

PGM 905R 'RAINING' : april 1-7

As winter unlocks its icy grip, we enter a transition time energized by the sound of water on the move.  Melting...dripping...flowing...draining......raining.

In spring, water completes a journey that begins in the ocean, ascends to the clouds, falls back to earth, and ends, once again, in the sea. It's one of the core movements in the yearly cycle of life, and a powerful metaphor for the eternal cycles of stasis and flow, contraction and release.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, ambient hydrology for early spring on a program called RAINING. Music is by YAGYA, BIOSPHERE, DAN BARRIO, ROBERT RICH, JEFF PEARCE, and ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT.

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