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PGM 1087 'NOMAD SONGS' : aug 28 - sept 4

These days we're so immersed in electronic music, media and devices, it's almost strange to recall that until roughly a hundred years ago, all musical instruments were acoustic. Yet despite the sonic limitations of acoustic instruments, musicians in traditional cultures around the world were able to create ambient and contemplative music.

​Even today, longtime Hearts of Space favorite STEPHAN MICUS and others remain committed to the earthy, vital sounds of acoustic instruments played in new ways and fresh combinations. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we take our theme and title from STEPHAN MICUS's 21st album for the German ECM label, NOMAD SONGS.

​A nomad lived a life of constant travel, and traveled with a purpose. Nomadic cultures have all but disappeared today, but for centuries they were a key part of the cultural landscape, extending their music and instruments wherever they traveled.

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877R 'SUSTAINABLE WAVES' : aug.21-28

Well, spacefans, we started out doing a summer acoustic show, but it morphed into a western style slide guitar and pedal steel show, and then into a "western landscape" show. Think canyons...

But wait, it wasn't done. It took a head fake toward the Native American flute, but on the way it shapeshifted into something more ethereal: call it "pedal steel atmospherica."

Whatever...time for a title to tie it all together: I'm STEVIE RAY HILL and on this transmission of Hearts of Space, a sultry journey in western spaces called SUSTAINABLE WAVES. Actually, we borrowed that title from SUSTAINABLEWAVES.COM of Austin, Texas. They build them very cool, new, green, solar powered stages and location sound. These dudes don't just abide: they sustain.

Music is by DANIEL LANOIS, BLUE STAR, JAPANCAKES, BUCKETHEAD, MARJORIE DE MUYNCK, and PATRICK O'HEARN. It's a western-style electron-guitar journey for summer: SUSTAINABLE WAVES...on this transmission...of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 1086 'SUMMERFLIGHT' : aug 14-21

One of the most successful innovations of the early days of popular electronic music was the "sequencer" — an easy way to make repeating electronic patterns. Beginning in the 1940s as a crude electro-mechanical device, it was refined in the 1960s by DON BUCHLA as part of his modular analog synthesizer. The sequencer was so musically useful that it was quickly adopted by ROBERT MOOG and soon became a standard feature of analog synthesizers.

Moog's legendary instruments were snapped up in the 1970s by cutting edge European musicians. In Berlin the artist behind (the music you're hearing), a young drummer named KLAUS SCHULZE, was a founding member of several early electronic bands before going solo.

The rest is electronic music history. The hypnotic rhythms that Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and others created with their sequencers were so influential that the "Berlin School" style lives on today and enjoys periodic revivals. It's addictive, enjoyable music: for some, a descendant of Baroque counterpoint; for others, an infinite playground of music for virtual flight across electronic soundscapes; and for listeners, an appealing rhythmic music...without drums.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...flying and floating on electronic rhythms, on a program called SUMMERFLIGHT. Music is by KLAUS SCHULZE, ASCENDANT, DITHMAR, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, NATURAL FREQUENCIES, PETE NAMLOOK & DR. ATMO, ISHQ, and ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT.

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PGM 1085 'SHAKTI' : aug 7-14

The unmistakable sounds of the sitar, made famous by the late RAVI SHANKAR, and played here by his daughter ANOUSHKA SHANKAR. The feminine touch makes this sensitive instrument even more delicate, as she explores the sinuous microtones of the slow alap movement of the classical raga.

In the Hindu religion, Shakti is the personification of the divine feminine, the Cosmic Mother, the expression of the principle of creativity and fertility, and no less than the agent of all change. It's a concept that gives a larger perspective to the ongoing struggles for women's rights and equality around the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we celebrate the feminine principle in Indian music: slow, patient, and full feeling — on a program called SHAKTI. Music is by ANOUSHKA SHANKAR, RUSSILL PAUL, HANS CHRISTIAN, DEVA PREMAL, BEN LEINBACH, and MIRABAI CEIBA.

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