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PGM 1066R 'ICE NIGHT' : jan.27-feb.3

In the depths of winter, movement slows and time expands. Below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, flowing water becomes static crystals, locked and silent. At absolute zero, motion stops.

The sound of winter is low and slow: thick drones punctuated by dark bells and metallic overtones. The chilled air is heavy with water vapor, damping sounds and creating a hushed atmosphere. And when the storms come, the keening of the cold night wind creates an eerie wail.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, far north winter electronics, on a program called ICE NIGHT. Music is by BIOSPHERE, SIMON LOMAX. DEEP CHILL NETWORK, HAROLD BUDD, CSILLAGKOD, BRAIN LAUGHTER, ALTUS, and JANNE HANHISUANTO.

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PGM 1335 'ESSENTIAL ASHRA' : dec.20-27

BERLIN, 1970: Out of the new creative territory opened up by electronics and mind-expanding chemistry comes a modest, hardworking electric guitarist named MANUEL GÖTTSCHING. He would go on to pioneer the sound of the electronic space guitar, help define popular instrumental spacemusic, and even influence the rhythmic foundation of techno and electronic dance music.

Riding the creative ferment of the 1970s, he founded the band ASH RA TEMPEL—later just ASHRA—then continued solo as MANUEL GÖTTSCHING. He was tireless in helping define the original German Kozmik Musik scene, along with KLAUS SCHULZE and legendary groups like TANGERINE DREAM, AGITATION FREE, KRAFTWERK, and CAN. While others got bogged down in theoretical or technical complexity, he concentrated on creating enjoyable music!

MANUEL GÖTTSCHING ascended to the cosmic soundscapes he created in December 2022 at age 70. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a MANUEL GÖTTSCHING posthumous retrospective, on a program called ESSENTIAL ASHRA.

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PGM 1334 'NILS FRAHM: LONG, SLOW, & DEEP' : jan.13-20

NILS FRAHM emerged out of the third generation of post-electronic German musicians. Trained in classical piano, he moved to Berlin in his mid-20's, where he absorbed the artistic influence and technical orientation of the Berlin school of popular electronic music. He had a talent for memorable melodies, and the flexibility to shine in multiple genres—from solo piano, to electronic ambient, to film music.

With a string of solo piano albums and collaborations to his credit, in the last decade Frahm became an innovative live performer, combining several acoustic and electronic pianos with a battery of electronic instruments and processors into powerful solo performances.

When COVID-19 effectively put a temporary end to live music, Frahm expanded his personal studio and began working on a series of extended contemplative ambient pieces that reflected the atmosphere of solitude and isolation of the pandemic. Free from conventional notions of musical form or pace, Frahm compared them to watching a great waterfall that was both constantly changing and always the same.

What emerged after two years of work was a 3+ hour long triple album of immersive fractal rhythms and extended ambient tone color meditations, mysteriously titled MUSIC FOR ANIMALS. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, our selection of Frahm's elegant, ethereal, transcendent electronic and acoustic ambient from "MUSIC FOR ANIMALS," on a program called "NILS FRAHM: LONG, SLOW, and DEEP."

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PGM 001R 'FIRST FLIGHT' : jan.6-13

1983…the year before the infamous 1984. Seems lifetimes ago, doesn’t it? But that was the year that a syndicated music program called Hearts of Space began to appear on public radio stations around the U.S. And that means that 2023 is the 40th anniversary of the national program!

I'm STEPHEN HILL, producer of Hearts of Space, and I was taught that if something was worth doing, not only was it worth doing well, it was worth doing for a long time. That, and the support of my colleagues, hundreds of stations, thousands of artists, and millions of listeners like you—has kept us going all this time.

To mark our 40th year, we’re rebroadcasting program number One, 'FIRST FLIGHT' from January 1983. It’s a perfect example of the open-minded, multi-genre, multi-cultural sonic integration of contemporary Ambient, Space, and Contemplative music. On our premiere program we featured music by a group of artists who became familiar names in the Hearts of Space pantheon of composers: KITARO, VANGELIS & IRENE PAPPAS, THOMAS DE HARTMANN, MICHAEL STEARNS, DEUTER, PAUL LLOYD WARNER & STEVEN KINDLER, CHARLES LLOYD, and DAVID DARLING.

It's a journey across time...and space. FIRST FLIGHT...on this hour...of HEARTS OF SPACE.

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