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PGM 980 'MELLOTRONIC' : june 27-july 4

Ahhh, the sweetness of early summer, the balm of warm breezes, the pollen, the allergies. It's a good time for electro-acoustic music with gentle rhythms, soft harmonies and seductive melodies. In a word, something "mellotronic."

Now, historians of electronic instruments will tell you that the Mellotron was a tape-based, polyphonic, sample-playback keyboard, developed in England in the early 1960s. The instrument achieved classic status for its key role in popular albums by the Moody Blues and the Beatles, and brought violin, cello, brass, flute and choir sounds to innumerable albums from the Progressive Rock era.

These days, every laptop can be a sampler, the original Mellotron sound is a menu choice, and the orchestration of electronic music is open to all. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we revisit the romantic/contemplative side of ambient electronica, on a program called MELLOTRONIC. Music is by PATRICK O'HEARN, LUDOVICO EINAUDI, THIERRY DAVID, CRAIG PADILLA, MICHELE IPPOLITO, and FRANK STEINER, JR.

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PGM 881 'SUMMERTRONICA 4' : june 20-27

It's probably a reaction to our increasingly safe, predictable, scheduled lives, but a longing for the ecstatic, the primitive, and the archaic has been sweeping through Western music for almost a hundred years.

IGOR STRAVINSKY's "Rite of Spring" — a fertility ritual — with its intense dissonances and pagan polyrhythms, took an opening shot across the bow of civilized European art in 1913. Its premiere, famously, caused a riot.

From the polite 19th century Romantic fascination with the "noble savage," through R&B and the rock 'n' roll stance of "Elvis the Pelvis," to the trancey ethnic rhythms of today's techno-tribal dance and ambient music — we continue to seek the energy and the release...of the ecstatic.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another techno-triba-delic journey called SUMMERTRONICA 4. Music is by DREAM JUNGLE, TUU, JORGE REYES & PIET JAN BLAUW, TONY GERBER, RESONANT DRIFT, DAN POUND, and KEVIN BRAHENY.

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PGM 1047 'ANDALUSIA 2' : june 13-20

The unmistakable sound of flamenco...or rather, Flamenco Fusion: a mix of traditional Flamenco and electronics from the German/Spanish group B-Tribe.

From its medieval roots in 8th century Al-Andalus, after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula, the music of the Spanish region of Andalusia has been a cultural melting pot, joining Moorish influences from North Africa, Sephardic Jewish songs and European music. With the addition of Romani gypsy influences in the 18th and 19th centuries, the music we now call Flamenco. with its fiery rhythms, dark harmonies and passionate emotions, was born. It's a genre with a signature ambience and feeling that's attracted devoted fans all over the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we return to the sound of Flamenco, on a program called ANDALUSIA 2. Music is by B-TRIBE, JESSE COOK, PRIYO, ARMIK, MURIEL ANDERSON, ADAM HURST, JOSÉ LUIS MONTÓN, ZSOFIA BOROS, and the AL-ANDALUS ENSEMBLE.

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PGM 1046 'INVISIBLE LANDSCAPES' : june 6-13

If you head southwest out of London by train or automobile, five or six hours and some 350 miles later you'll reach the southwestern edge of Great Britain, and the seaside region known as West Cornwall. There, on a peninsula extending into the Celtic Sea halfway between Ireland and Brittany, in the picturesque village of St. Ives, lives musician MATT HILLIER and his wife and vocal muse JACQUELINE KERSLEY.

It's an unlikely place for one of the most sophisticated Ambient musicians anywhere. Since 1995 under a variety of aliases and since 2002 as ISHQ, Matt Hillier has been releasing his sensitive and harmonious brand of Ambient electronica, inspired by the natural beauty of the Cornish landscape.

As a body of work it has certain qualities in common with the best new age artists of days gone by, combining sounds from nature, ethereal electronic textures, and Middle and Far Eastern influences. Matt describes it as "slow gentle drifting harmonic timeless ambience meditations" and "triptamine astral sound paintings and visionary sonic art." As you'll hear, he's not exaggerating in the slightest.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an ISHQ retrospective inspired by our colleague MIKE G of AMBIENTMUSICGUIDE.com in Brisbane, Australia, on a program called INVISIBLE LANDSCAPES.

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