hearts of space | news

PGM 967R 'INTERLUDE' : dec.27-jan.3

Consider, dear listeners, the unresolved interval between Christmas and the New Year. 
Some of us work, some don't. Some socialize with friends and family, some enjoy a good book. A fortunate minority take vacations in warm places; the rest of us return unwanted gifts, make resolutions for the new year, clean out closets, take in a movie, and keep busy to disguise the lack of normal purpose.

In general, it's an ill-defined and unsettled week in our national calendar until New Year's eve parties and a massive day of football bring some all-American clarity back to the picture. In the week to come, we start the new year and whatever the 'new normal' is.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE we wish you a stellar new year, and bring you a soundtrack for this phantom period on a program called INTERLUDE. Music is by JEFF OSTER, MARK ISHAM, KATHRYN KAYE, TIM STORY, LUDOVICO EINAUDI, BOB HOLROYD, DARSHAN AMBIENT, and introducing JONATHAN HUGH.

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

PGM 1031 'GLORIA' : dec. 20-27

The eternally innocent sound of the boy soprano: whether you're Christian or not, it's a sound that floats high and pure, far above our worldly cares.

The boy soprano or "treble" voice has been used in Christian religious music for centuries, especially in England. True fact: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones sang for Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey as a boy soprano!

Since Medieval times, some of the Western world's greatest composers have written music for sacred services. The immersive ambience of great stone churches and cathedrals, the majestic tones of the pipe organ, and the massed voices of the choir and the worship community created the context; from it came a genre of sacred space music, including vocal and instrumental pieces, great liturgical works, and hymns and psalms of sublime beauty. It's a repertoire we come back to every year during the holiday season.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another offering from our longtime guest producer for classical and sacred space music ELLEN HOLMES.

Sacred choral and instrumental classics for the holiday season...on a program called GLORIA.

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

HOS Mobile Apps Update

Lost in the blur of end-of-the-year holiday activity, our app developers have been busy updating our mobile apps, and our beta testers have been busy checking them out and reporting back on any issues. If there are no big surprises, they should be available before the end of the year.

For ANDROID users, we have Exceptionally Good News!  With this update, the Android app will have full feature parity with iOS (Apple) at last. Y'all have been very patient and we appreciate it. The updated app also will support Android tablets — more about that below.

For iOS devices, this will be a less dramatic but satisfying update. We've installed a whole new streaming engine with far superior performance. We've added a "5 button" player control; now you can skip forward and back between tracks within a program, and also skip forward and back between programs in a channel or on a personal playlist.

The operation of the "voiceover on/off" control is now immediate and intuitive — the stream pauses, the voiceover appears or disappears, the stream continues. Nice. Finally, we've added support for the larger iPhone 5 and 5S Retina displays.

TABLET SUPPORT

We've "ported" the app to the larger screen of tablets, which turned out to be a bigger project than it sounds. We always supported "2X" mode on the iPad, but it only worked in Portrait orientation, which was inconvenient as many apps are designed for Landscape operation, or adapt to both views.

Now we will introduce the initial release of a true tablet version of the HOS app, which we are calling Version 2.5. The first release will still look a lot like a scaled up version of the existing iPhone app, but it will have improved functionality and full feature parity with the smart phone apps; it will support both portrait and landscape orientation; and it will show up when you search for "Hearts of Space” from a tablet in the App Store and Google Play store.

As soon as this initial  tablet version of the HOS app is released we will immediately begin work on Version 3 of the mobile apps for both phones and tablets. The goal of this version is full feature parity with our web site. That means 100% archive access to all programs and albums, display of all supporting content, the ability to make and edit personal playlists and favorites, and full account management features. Squeezing all that functionality into an app (vs. a browser) is a big challenge, but we are committed to doing it.

As always, we invite and appreciate your comments right here (please note that they are moderated due to comment spam, so they don't show up immediately), or by email to help(at)hos.com.

PGM 1030 'COLD and BRIGHT' : dec. 13-20

Winter settles in to the Northern hemisphere bringing powerful storms, but also radiant clear days with azure skies and deep vistas. Unlike most sensible animals, human activity seems to increase as the temperature drops, and we fill the brief days leading up to the new year with all manner of hustle and bustle.

Holiday lights twinkle in the crisp air, and while the traditional sounds of the season are warm, rich and harmonious, it's also a perfect time for intricate electronic rhythms that echo the activity, and crystalline tones that ring in the chilled atmosphere.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...an Ambient/Electronic journey for early winter, on a program called COLD AND BRIGHT. Music is by BRYAN CARRIGAN, BLUETECH, FORREST SMITHSON, NATURAL FREQUENCIES, PHILLIP WILKERSON, and JUSTIN VANDERBERG.

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

PGM 996R 'ILLUMINATION': dec.6-13

After the Thanksgiving holiday the chilled months of the winter season begin in earnest, and with them the celebration of light itself, conjoined with the year-end religious celebrations. From the pre-Christian and Pagan festivals of the sun, to Christian, Jewish and Hindu celebrations of light, we chase away the gloom of the season with a special radiance.

The music of midwinter embodies this transition from the dark harmonies of late autumn to the festive atmosphere of the year-end solstice and religious celebrations: lyrical, optimistic, and heartwarming. On this encore transmission of Hearts of Space, ambient chamber music for the transition to the season of light, on a program called ILLUMINATION. Featured artists are KEVIN KELLER, JENNIFER ZULLI, TIM STORY, and RUSSEL WALDER.

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