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PGM 1349R 'OCEANIC REALMS 2' : aug 30-sept 6

It's been over 50 years since electronic music emerged from academic laboratories and embarked on the road to mainstream popularity. One of the most influential early artists was Greek musician EVANGELOS PAPATHANASSIOU—mercifully shortened to VANGELIS—who began as the keyboard player of the biggest rock band ever in Greece (APHRODITE'S CHILD), then quit and moved to London, where he began scoring films and documentaries.

While the Germans focused on technology, Vangelis adapted the Romantic Classical genre to electronic keyboards, created lush, melodic, emotionally expressive music, and became an A-list film composer. It's a style that still reverberates today.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, inspired by a classic Vangelis album celebrating the world's oceans, a deep blue journey called OCEANIC REALMS 2. Music is by VANGELIS, THE AMNIS INITIATIVE, APOCLIPTIC & ROMERIUM, LOSCIL, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, RUDY ADRIAN, and LIQUID MIND.

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PGM 1379 'VISIONS of PARADISE : A Iasos Retrospective' - aug.23-30

IASOS—one of the inventors of New Age music, passed away in January, 2024, three days before his 78th birthday. Born in Greece, raised in upstate New York, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1968, adopted the stage name Iasos, and began a nearly 50 year solo career as an independent musician. Brilliant, exuberant, and completely original, he advocated for what he called “paradise music,” and claimed that what he heard in his head was sent to him by a being from a “distant dimension” named VISTA.

His debut album from 1975 was called "Inter-Dimensional Music."  Where other New Age composers promoted music that was relaxing or healing, Iasos’s mission was nothing less than raising the “vibratory frequency” of all humanity!!  And though he often made claims that were impossible to substantiate, there could be no doubt of his absolute conviction and utter sincerity. Because of his metaphysical beliefs, and his ability to invent new methods of music production to realize them, he was able to create a body of work that was widely influential yet virtually unequaled.

His music ranged from languid technicolor tropical to intensely dramatic, with lush textures and cosmic chords; from heavenly harmonies and angelic realms, to ethereal meditations with shimmering translucent curtains of sound. The overall impression is optimistic and positive, with a sense of unbounded potential.

In addition to his music, Iasos was a tireless advocate for Visionary Art. His web site featured an online gallery of paintings and videos by kindred visual artists. He also published two DVDs of his own video art and original music—"Crystal Vista" and "Realms of Light."

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a Iasos retrospective called VISIONS OF PARADISE.

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PGM 1048R 'CLOUD NINE' : aug.16-23

SUMMER...inspires an even more ethereal brand of Ambient electronica. Whether flying or floating on the balmy breezes, the sounds are airy and the movement is light and buoyant. The words we use to describe the moods it creates are superlative: joyous, blissful, ecstatic, delightful — even heavenly. And when it comes to heaven, for some reason we prefer the seventh.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an ambient-electronic-summer-journey called CLOUD NINE. Yes, we also number the clouds.

Music is by CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, FANGER & SCHONWALDER, JOHN LYELL, ARIEL KALMA, and DAVE LUXTON.

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PGM 1378 'DEVOTION 3' : aug 9-16

IN THE LAST FOUR DECADES, the ardent world of Indian devotional music has been transformed by an international group of world and ambient musicians. Inspired by this venerable heart-centered vocal tradition called bhakti, working with both traditional and progressive Indian musicians, they've stretched the boundaries and expanded the atmosphere of the genre with electronics, echoes, reverberations, overdubs, and studio magic. Slow, deep, and meditative, with vocals in classical Sanskrit, you don't have to know anything about Indian music or religion to enjoy it.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, devotional chants and contemplative instrumentals inspired by the bhakti religious tradition of India, on a program called DEVOTION 3. Music is by WHITE SUN, RUSSILL PAUL, SHANTALA, SERENA GABRIEL, DAPHNE TSE & MIKE PSZONAK, SIVAKUMAR, and MANISH VYAS.

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PGM 1188R 'SUMMERTONES 3' : aug.2-9

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the combination of ambient nature sounds and electronic music was actually an innovation in the 1970s. And you may be surprised that the idea had a history in European classical music, especially in England and France.

In England, it was the so-called "pastoral" composers like ARNOLD BAX and RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, who created orchestral images of nature. In France, it was the Impressionists, from CLAUDE DEBUSSY to OLIVIER MESSIAEN. They didn't have recordings, so they created new instruments and playing techniques to imitate natural sounds like wind and birdsongs.

By the mid-20th century, we could record the sounds of nature, edit them and play them back at will. In the 1950s, avant-garde composers like JOHN CAGE were promoting an awareness of ambient sound as equal to music. Music...was how you listened. Incorporating nature sounds into music was the next step; beside, film soundtracks had been doing it for years.

The psychology is foundational: humans evolved listening to natural sounds, and they send a message we respond to instinctively. For example, birdsong on a gentle summer morning is delightful and calming. Blend in some subtle synthesizers, season with gourmet reverberation and you have what two young Canadians named MYCHAEL DANNA and TIM CLÉMENT called "environmental electronic music."

It's an idea that was embraced by New Age musicians and in time became a bit of a cliché. But it led to an electronic genre of extended tone-color journeys in virtual space, which is still alive and well. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the fluid, airy sound of summer spacemusic, on a program called SUMMERTONES 3.

Music is by MEG BOWLES, DANNA & CLÉMENT, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, ALTUS, and STELLIA.

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