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PGM 1394 'AMBIANCE FRANÇAISE : mar.28-apr.4

The story of French electronic music over the last hundred years is one of artistic and technical innovations that changed the course of contemporary music.

The late 19th century stylistic inventions of GABRIEL FAURÉ, MAURICE RAVEL, and CLAUDE DEBUSSY led to the emergence of Impressionism and Minimalism in the 20th century—while the revolutionary innovations of ERIK SATIE laid the foundation for ambient background music and personal music for solo piano.

At the same time, the invention of playable French electronic instruments like the “Ondes Martenot” in 1928, accelerated the arrival of live electronic performance, and the French brilliance in style and design produced exceptionally refined sonic and textural quality in recordings after mid-century.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a look at French ambient and electronic music from the 1970’s to now, on a program called "AMBIANCE FRANÇAISE."  Music is by DEBUSSY via TOMITA, JEAN MICHEL JARRE, THIERRY DAVID, CHRISTIAN WITTMAN, PAUL SAUVANET, and AIR.  https://bit.ly/HOS-1394.

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PGM 1276R 'SIX STRING SPRING' : mar. 21-28

This week we transit the Spring Equinox, the official beginning of spring and a good time to check in on the ambient space guitar. Acoustic or electric, live or sampled, looped or direct, straight up or processed, folk, jazz, or classical — even in the electronic age, the venerable six string guitar continues to make itself indispensable almost everywhere music happens.

Guitarists of the Ambient persuasion take it slow, quiet, and spatially expanded, leaving the virtuosic fireworks to their rock brothers and sisters. Occasionally...a heroic rock guitarist like JEFF BECK or BUCKETHEAD will journey to the contemplative side of the instrument just to do something completely different.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a spacey, twangy, laid-back, subtle, turn-of-the-season journey for ambient guitar — on a program called SIX STRING SPRING. Music is by CHRIS HAUGEN, LISA BELLA DONNA, CLAES NILSSON, CARL WEINGARTEN, BLUE STAR, and TONY GERBER, with PHIL KEAGGY and DREAMHUB. 

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PGM 1393 'DEEP TONES — David Parsons tribute, Part 2 of 2' : mar.14-21

NEW ZEALAND MUSICIAN DAVID PARSONS—in retrospect one of the greatest (though less well-known) world-ambient-electronic musicians—passed away in February 2025 at 80. His recorded legacy is so innovative, extensive, and important, that we are doing a two-part tribute. Last week we repeated our first Parsons retrospective from 2003—"LONG TONES." This week we focus on music from the later years of his innovative musical career, on a program called "DEEP TONES."

Parsons was one of the earliest western musicians to embrace North Indian classical music, traveling to India in the late 1970s to study the sitar with female master KRISHNA CHAKRAVARTY.  Fascinated by the sound of drones and “long tones” in Indian music, Parsons was one of the first to recognize the connection between Indian classical and electronic music, and pioneered popular fusions between the genres.

In the late 1980s he went digital, incorporating samples of ethnic instruments, ambient sounds, and the chanting and ceremonial instruments of Tibetan Buddhist monks into his music. In the 1990s Parsons’ music became deeper, more abstract, and purely electronic. He released a series of albums using only synthesizers and custom electronic sounds he produced from basic oscillators and filters. He said he was trying to create "atmospheric and surrealistic landscapes into which the listener can place their own thoughts and images."

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, "DEEP TONES"— Part 2 of our 2-part tribute to David Parsons.

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PGM 675R 'LONG TONES—David Parsons tribute Part 1 of 2' : mar. 7-14

New Zealand musician DAVID PARSONS had a unique and fascinating musical career. In fact, you probably couldn't make it up if you tried.

Back in the early 1960s, he was a jazz drummer, longing for a more melodic instrument.  Years before The Beatles brought the sitar to pop music, Parsons heard a recital in New Zealand by RAVI SHANKAR. That was it. Inspired to make the sitar his new instrument, he spent three years trying to get one imported into NZ, then 8 years teaching himself to play it. At that point he was ready to get serious!…and he made several trips to India to study with one of the few female sitar masters, KRISHNA CHAKRAVARTY. 

In the late 1970s, fascinated by the sound of drones and long tones, Parsons discovered the connection between Indian music and synthesizers, and began creating electronic-Indian music fusions.  In the late 1980s, he went digital, incorporating samples of ethnic instruments and ambient sounds from his travels in Asia, including the chanting and ceremonial instruments of Tibetan monks.

His record company hired him to document ethnic music, a project that took him to exotic places like Iran, Armenia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali, and Malaysia.  Like many of these cultures, his own music is rooted in India—with the melodic construction of the raga, the rhythmic cycles of the tala, and the extended, contemplative space of the alap.  He created dozens of amazing albums, and doesn't read a note of music.

David Parsons passed away in February 2025 at 80. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, part 1 of a 2 part DAVID PARSONS RETROSPECTIVE called "LONG TONES." 

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