hearts of space | news

PGM 1186 'TRIBAL AMBIENT' : june 29-july 6

It's not all that often that a new strain of popular electronic music arrives in the culture fully formed, but it happened in 1988 in the wake of STEVE ROACH's ground-breaking album DREAMTIME RETURN. Like Stravinsky 75 years earlier with The Rite of Spring, Roach realized that electronic music needed a dose of primitive energy and physicality — and he found it in the trance-inducing music of the aboriginal tribes of Australia.

The new genre was called "Techno-Tribal" and it combined electronic atmospheres with primitive rattles, drums, rocks, and the aboriginal didgeridoo. If our current political tribalism is an index of popularity, tribal music should be all the rage. But most electronic artists are urban, and have been influenced by Electronic Dance Music.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, electronic atmospheres meet trance percussion, on a program called TRIBAL AMBIENT. Music is by STEVE ROACH, BYRON METCALF & JENNIFER GRAIS, INLAKESH, FRORE & SHANE MORRIS, JOHN VORUS, D LOOP and KEVIN BRAHENY [FORTUNE].

[ view program page ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

 

PGM 1185 'COSMIC TRAVELER 2' : june 22-29

Since the earliest days of popular electronic music, artists have created sonic images of cosmic space. Where traditional instruments failed, synthesizers seemed right at home in the endless vacuum of the interstellar void. Exploring this vast environment led to a kind of traveling music of slowly changing rhythmic loops — originally made on hardware "sequencers," later on dedicated "loopers," and now with software. Invented in Berlin in the 1970s by German artists like KLAUS SCHULZE and TANGERINE DREAM, the "Berlin school" style was widely influential and still has descendants today.

Extending the metaphor of cosmic travel...once you arrived at your destination, it was time to power down the propulsive rhythms and experience the awesome cosmic panorama. This led to a slower, quieter, beatless electronic music for floating in space — static and contemplative, the progenitor of Chill.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, electronic meditations on space and motion, on a program called COSMIC TRAVELER 2.

Music is by STEVE ROACH, BROEKHUIS KELLER & SCHÖNWÄLDER, MICHAEL BRÜCKNER, JACK HERTZ, RICHARD BONE, CHRISTOPHER WILLITS & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, and SVERRE KNUT JOHANSEN.

 [ view program page ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

 

PGM 1184 'BEYOND THE RAGASPHERE : june 15-22

Slow and gentle, the harmonic drone and the ancient bansuri flute invite us to another journey in the contemplative music of India. Half a world and centuries away from European practice, Indian classical music developed in its own unique way. It focused on melody and rhythm rather than harmony, evolved a sophisticated framework for improvisation in live performance called raga, and a set of rhythm rules called tala.

The goal of raga is to create mood, atmosphere and feeling for the listener. And though Indian music once sounded impossibly strange and exotic to European ears, as a result of the tireless touring of Indian virtuosi like RAVI SHANKAR and ALI AKBAR KHAN, it was embraced in the 20th century by Western avant garde and experimental musicians, and later by others exploring the new frontiers of electronic music. Building on the sounds, instruments and strategies of Indian raga, they created new hybrids of Eastern and Western music which are still being explored today.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey in the creative world of Indian fusion, on a program called BEYOND THE RAGASPHERE. Music is by JOHN WUBBENHORST, AL GROMER KHAN, ALAM KHAN, MARK DEUTSCH, HANS CHRISTIAN, CRAIG PRUESS & ANURADHA PAUDWAL, and ALIO DIE.

 [ view program page ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 1148R 'INNER RHYTHMS' : june 8-15

The trance rhythms of the Middle East, Asia and Africa are steady, continuous, and slowly changing. Rather than driving you forward like the ubiquitous military march beats of western rock, they patiently insinuate themselves on your nervous system, steady the breath, slow the pulse, and ultimately...transform your awareness. Psychologists call it "entrainment" or "dissociation." The rest of us call it enchantment, rapture, ecstasy, or euphoria. It's all part of the wide world of trance.

Trance rhythms have been used by priests and shamans in non-western cultures for centuries. More recently they've been rediscovered by western musicians seeking an alternative to conventional beats, used by so-called "minimalist" classical composers, and adopted by experimental musicians around the world for their psychoactive power and popular appeal. Trance is also a major genre of Electronic Dance Music, with mind-altering beats heard on dance floors around the world.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...we're going to insinuate ourselves on your nervous system — in a good way — with soft summer trance music, on a program called INNER RHYTHMS.

Music is by JAMES HOOD, BYRON METCALF, LOREN NERELL, DREAM JUNGLE, and DON LI.

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

PGM 1183 'HYPERTRONIC' : june 1-8

In the fair days of late spring, electronic winds blow warm and steady, while sequencers spin creative rhythms, propelling us into the active days and balmy nights of summer. DJs prepare their sets for the summer festivals, while ambient composers create expansive soundscapes for virtual travel. Attention Spacefans: it's party time.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an hour of technotronic rhythms and ambient atmospheres, on a program called HYPERTRONIC.

Music is by S1GNS OF L1FE, MARC HARTMAN, MEES DIERDORP, MARTIN NONSTATIC, ASC, CRYSTAL MOON, LEMONGRASS, ISHQ, and ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT.

[ view program page ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]