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PGM 1260 'CALM ABIDING' : sept.25 - oct.2

The theory and practice of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist meditation seem ideally suited to confronting the stressful challenges we're now living through in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through a form of meditation called śamatha or "single-pointed attention," the meditator achieves vipaśyanā — in English vipassana or insight — "seeing into the nature of things." In Sanskrit, śamatha means "tranquility of mind," often called "calm abiding." Śamatha has five progressive stages: stable attention, powerful mindfulness, joy, tranquility, and finally, equanimity. The practice of calm abiding leads to insight.

Without any formal connection to Buddhist meditation but because of common goals, we can find śamatha in the deeper, quieter, more contemplative forms of ambient music. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a Buddhist-inspired ambient meditation, on a program called CALM ABIDING. Music is by ROBERT RICH, SPUNTIC, SAM ROSENTHAL & JARGUNA, NUMINA & ZERO OHMS, and KEITH BERRY.

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PGM 1158R 'EQUILUX' : sept.19-26

Twice a year, we pass a point of balance and equilibrium in the progression of the seasons. Our planet reaches the place in its celestial journey where the center of the sun rises and sets directly over the equator, and day and night are of approximately equal length everywhere on earth. We call these times the equinox from the Latin for "equal night." A less common but possibly more correct name is equilux or "equal light." 

The September equinox marks the beginning of the new season: autumn, and the time of harvest festivals in the northern hemisphere. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, calm and balanced acoustic ambient for the seasonal transition, on a program called EQUILUX.

Music is by PETER BRODERICK, LUDOVICO EINAUDI, FEDERICO ALBANESE, TOM EATON, FLOW, CARL WEINGARTEN & CATHERINE MARIE CHARLTON, GREG HAINES, A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN, and ENZO.

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PGM 1189R 'DEEP DUB' : sept.11-18

The history of Jamaican Dub music is rich and fascinating. Dub grew out of reggae in the 1960s, and evolved well beyond its popular parent. It was a studio craft where producers created instrumental remixes of reggae tracks by removing the vocals, adding echo, reverb and delay, and dubbing in new ambient sounds. Essentially, Dub was an early form of popular electronic music.

If you think all this had something to do with cannabis, you'd be understating the case. In a 1982 essay, LUKE EHRLICH said: "With dub, Jamaican music spaced out completely. If reggae is Africa in the New World, then dub must be Africa on the moon; it's the psychedelic music I expected to hear in the 1960s...and didn't. The bass and drums conjure up a dark, vast musical portrait of outer space, with sounds suspended like glowing planets or the fragments of instruments careening by, leaving trails like comets and meteors."

Dub was a natural link to later electronic genres like techno, ambient, trip hop and electronic dance music. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the trancey beats of Jamaican Dub and its electronic descendants, on a program from guest producer DAVID J. EGAN called DEEP DUB. Music is by JAH WOBBLE & MARCONI UNION, ORKUS, FINGERS IN THE NOISE, ECHO GRID, PURL & DEFLEKTION, LOSCIL, and MOTIONFIELD.

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PGM 1259 'MASTERS OF SPACE' : sept.4-11

Maybe it was just a coincidence, a timely convergence, but the era of space exploration that began in the 1960s was also a formative decade for electronic music. At the time, German experimental composer KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN observed that there was a natural relationship between his electronic music and images of cosmic space. Maybe it was the drugs, but it seemed right.

In Germany, the late 1960s saw the rise of the "Kozmik Musik" genre; electronic nebulae blossomed all over Europe and the English speaking countries; SUN RA toured the world and played his own brand of Afro-cosmic funk, while JOHN COLTRANE and his wife ALICE released the album COSMIC MUSIC.

In the 1970's the COSMIC COURIERS record label was established, PROGRESSIVE ROCK went cosmic and became SPACE ROCK, BRIAN ENO invented Ambient, and PINK FLOYD became the biggest selling band in the world after Dark Side of the Moon. It was Good Times for space fans.

Today, electronic spacemusic is an established genre with a nice article in Wikipedia and a steady stream of significant new music from masters of the craft. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a classic journey in the electronic starfields, on a program called MASTERS OF SPACE.

Music is by ERIK WØLLO & MICHAEL STEARNS, DAVID HELPLING & JON JENKINS, JON DURANT & ROBERT JÜRJENDAL, PHILLIP WILKERSON, and JEFF GREINKE.

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