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PGM 1104 'IN A LANDSCAPE' : feb.26 - mar.4

THE AMERICAN COMPOSER JOHN CAGE built an artistic legacy that's still influential more than two decades after his death in 1992. Cage took great delight in subverting the aesthetic orthodoxies of his day and liberating himself and fellow artists to break rules and create something entirely new — the very definition of avant-garde art.

​If you've been listening to Hearts of Space for awhile, you've probably noticed that the music we bring you spans a wide range of cultural time and place, and seems to come from very different concerns: a contemplative music, as BRIAN ENO famously put it in his Ambient Manifesto of 1978, "that creates calm and a space to think."

​Yet like the so-called "Venn diagram" that visually reveals the common area where seemingly different entities overlap, avant-garde and post-classical "New Music" have long had a taste for ambient sound, and many avant-garde composers were deeply influenced by Cage and his unorthodox techniques of creating music, including his famous piece consisting of 4:33 of silence — perhaps the ultimate statement of ambient space.

​On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we explore the place where avant-garde and Ambient music overlap, on a program called IN A LANDSCAPE. Music is by JOHN CAGE, MORTON FELDMAN, THE DEEP LISTENING BAND, and DANIEL LENTZ.

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PGM 793R 'HYPERBOREA : feb.19-26

AMONG THE MYTHS WE'VE INHERITED from the ancient Greeks, there's one about a "land beyond the north wind," a kind of arctic paradise where the sun always shines and people live for a thousand years. Since the north wind was named borea, and the Greeks weren't sure where this magical land actually was, they simply called it hyper-borea: beyond...the north wind.

In the two and a half millennia since those mythy days of Greece, the term has not been forgotten: it's been used in literature by Nietzsche, James Joyce, Robert Howard, Stephen King, and H.P. Lovecraft; in films, comics and video games; by TANGERINE DREAM as an album title, BIOSPHERE as a piece title, and as the name of a Finnish folk group, and not least, a Bulgarian 'death metal' rock band.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we'll be a bit more restrained, on a journey beyond the north wind called HYPERBOREA. Music is by ERIK WOLLO, FOREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN, BRANNAN LANE, TUU, OOPHOI, AIDAN BAKER, and WENDY CARLOS.

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

PGM 1103 'INTIMACY' : feb.12-19

This week we shine some light into the depths of winter with the celebration of Valentine's Day. The legend of Saint Valentine goes back to an early Christian martyr in 3rd century Rome. We can thank Chaucer for the connection to romantic love in the 14th century, and the Hallmark Corporation for turning it into a yearly holiday with cards and gifts.

The tradition offers a natural connection to quiet musical dialogues that express the sensitive connection between lovers. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, Ambient chamber music and duets for the season... on a program called INTIMACY. Music is by JAMIE SIEBER, BOB KINDLER, RAPHAEL, PETER KATER & TINA GUO, JOSEFINE & TRINA OPSAHL, DAVID DARLING, and MONICA ROBELOTTO.

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

PGM 1102 'MOSS GARDEN: A David Bowie Ambient Retrospective' : feb.5-12

THE SINGULAR ENGLISH POP STAR DAVID BOWIE died in the early days of 2016. His 50-year career at the frontiers of popular music drew thousands of heartfelt tributes from around the world. Loved for his fearless creativity as much as his elegance and personal style, Bowie inspired generations of other musicians (and fans) to follow their muse, get outside the box, and dance on it.

One of the lesser-known chapters of the Bowie story happened in 1977, when he moved to Berlin and began collaborating with another brilliant Englishman — music producer, godfather and name-giver of modern Ambient music, BRIAN ENO.

The so-called "Berlin trilogy" of albums: LOW, HEROES, and LODGER were the result. Like everything else Bowie did, they bear his unique creative stamp: innovative, provocative and, for the time, appropriately dark, while still accessible to his fans.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space from guest producer, HOS production manager and Bowie super fan JOSEPH JACOBS, we revisit this special chapter in the Bowie story, on a program called MOSS GARDEN: A DAVID BOWIE AMBIENT RETROSPECTIVE.

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