hearts of space | news

PGM 1231 'FALLING' : nov.15-22

THE SUN begins its long withdrawal from the northern hemisphere after the summer solstice in June. After the autumn equinox in September, the transition seems to accelerate. The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the temperature cools, while the natural world changes color and prepares for the winter to come.

Since medieval times we've called this season "fall." The word comes from Middle English, with Old English and Old German roots. Falling implies movement downward, and in autumn, declining solar energy brings a feeling of descending or falling into the season. In music it's marked by slowing tempos, descending chord progressions, darkening timbres, and wistful, even melancholy emotions.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...we descend into the autumn soundscape, a program called FALLING. Music is by DAVID DARLING, JOEP BEVING, CHRISTOPHER TIGNOR, HAMMOCK, LUDOVICO EINAUDI, and TOM EATON.

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PGM 1230 'TRIBUTE to NOTRE-DAME de PARIS' : nov. 8-15

The fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris in April 2019 sent shock waves of distress and sadness around the world. You didn't have to be French, Catholic, or even believe in God...to feel a profound sense of cultural loss.

Since the 12th century, Notre-Dame has been both a physical monument and a metaphysical symbol of the deepest aspirations and highest artistic values of humankind, at the center of one of the greatest cities on earth. For it to be destroyed would have been an insult to the global spirit, in a world that's already burdened by unprecedented challenges.

When the fire was out, it was clear that it could have been much worse. The spire and most of the oak and lead roof were destroyed and the exterior was badly burned — while the irreplaceable relics, priceless artwork, rose windows, bell towers, and three pipe organs were not seriously damaged. Over a billion Euros have been pledged to rebuild and restore the cathedral — a job that will take twenty to forty years. Our Lady will rise again in the center of Paris, in all her Gothic magnificence.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space from longtime guest producer for sacred and classical music ELLEN HOLMES...a TRIBUTE to NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS.

Sacred music for chorus, strings and organ is by an all-star cast of French composers from the 16th to the 20th century, including MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER, FRANCOIS COUPERIN, JEAN RICHAFORT, PHILIPPE VERDELOT, JOSQUIN DES PRES, ANTOINE BRUMEL, CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS, CESAR FRANK, CHARLES GOUNOD, LILI BOULANGER, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MAURICE DURUFLÉ, and OLIVIER MESSIAEN.

We celebrate the artistic and spiritual legacy of a great cathedral: a TRIBUTE to NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS...on this transmission...of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 1229 'THE UNEXPLAINED' : oct. 25 - nov.1

Once again, dear spacefans, we arrive at the intersection of cosmos and culture we celebrate at the end of October as Halloween.

The name is a contraction of the 16th century Christian holiday of Hallows' Evening or All Hallow's Eve. In Celtic mythology it was said to be the time when the boundary between This World and the Otherworld was at its thinnest, and the souls of the dead walked the earth. Today it's a time for us to exorcise our ancient limbic emotions of fear and danger.

I'm DR. DARKO and on this transmission of Hearts of Space, a mysterious dark ambient journey for Halloween, on a program from guest producer DAVID J. EGAN called THE UNEXPLAINED.

Much of the music on this show comes to us from the Italian experimental music label UNEXPLAINED SOUNDS GROUP and its sub-label EIGHTH TOWER RECORDS. They were founded by RAFFAELE PEZZELLA to explore dark underground experimental music in regions of the world not generally known for it, like Iran, Lebanon, Portugal, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans.

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PGM 1228 'GAME SCORES' : oct.18-25

Full disclosure, spaceFans: I am not a "gamer." That is, I have never played video games. When I was growing up, they didn't exist. Then the video game world arose, prospered, and passed me by. It's a shame, because over the last 40 years a great deal of high quality ambient, electronic and environmental music has been composed for video games. Today it's a parallel media universe, four times larger than the entire music industry.

In our mission to bring you music from every corner of the ambient musicverse, we've been missing an entire galaxy. Clearly, we needed help, and it arrived recently in the form of JOHN WEDGEWORTH, an expert on video game music who's also a Hearts of Space fan.

John hails from Des Moines, Iowa, where he produces a podcast called NERD NOISE RADIO, that covers the full spectrum of video game music. From this vast repertoire, John selected tracks from the ambient side of the genre, where it overlaps Hearts of Space.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...ambient, electronic and chamber music from video games, on a program called GAME SCORES.

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PGM 1227 'ALTIPLANO 2' : oct.4-11

The folk music of the high Andes plateau called the altiplano, comes from the western edge of South America, a thousand rocky miles stretching from southern Ecuador through Peru and Bolivia, to Northern Chile. In the transparent mountain air, the brilliant overtones of native stringed instruments like the charango and the ronroco, airy native flutes and panpipes and natural skin drum rhythms, make music that runs the gamut of emotions from joyful to solemn, mystic...to achingly sad. 

It's a sound that calls to both South American expatriate musicians and northern film composers, who've enriched it with strings and electronics. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, New Andean music inspired by the brilliant folk sounds of the high Andes plateau, on a program called ALTIPLANO 2.

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PGM 1226 'TONE COLOR REVERIES' : sept. 20-27

It was ambient godfather BRIAN ENO who observed that, unlike conventional instruments with centuries of history, the synthesizer came "without any baggage." The synthesizer required the musician to consciously design the sounds they use, and thereby effectively define a new instrument, every time.

Ironically, this pointed back to a late Romantic genre of European classicism called "tone color" music, associated with German composers like WAGNER, STRAUSS and MAHLER, and French composers DEBUSSY and RAVEL, who all invented radical new kinds of orchestration. But where tone color music was a difficult stretch for conventional instruments, it's like the native language of synthesizers.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a chromatic journey in the floating worlds of electronic spacemusic, on a program called TONE COLOR REVERIES. Music is by LONEWARD, DEEP SPACE, PAUL AVGERINOS, JARGUNA, and DAVID HELPLING.

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PGM 1225 'DEVOTION' : sept. 13-20

From the world of traditional Hindu and Buddhist religion come practices focused on devotion—to god, to guru or to the divine itself. The Sanskrit word bhakti means practicing a path centered on emotional devotion as a spiritual principle and means of salvation. 

The adoption of Indian spirituality and culture by westerners after the 1960s famously led to yoga and meditation, and also to kirtan—group chanting of Indian devotional prayers — and later to new hybrids of western and Indian music. On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, the ardent sound of devotional chants and contemplative instrumentals, on a program called DEVOTION.

Music is by CRAIG PRUESS, HANS CHRISTIAN, ALAM KHAN, CONFLUENCE TRIO, WHITE SUN, MANEESH DE MOOR+SUDHA, AL GROMER KHAN, and DEVA PREMAL.

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PGM 1224 'GLOBAL FUSION' : aug. 16-23

While world politics seems to get ever more contentious these days, a quiet alternative of cooperation and collaboration has been going on in the world of music. Historically powered by travel on trade routes like the Silk Road, modern recording and communication technologies fueled a worldwide acceleration of the process during the 20th century. In the internet era, music propagates around the world instantly, and a new breed of open-minded musicians collaborate freely, cross-fertilizing their native traditions to produce new and vigorous hybrids. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, cross-cultural fusions inspired by the contemplative music of Asia and Africa, on a program called GLOBAL FUSION.

Music is by PORANGUÍ, DEAD CAN DANCE, STEPHAN MICUS, STEVEN CHESNE, TONNE/SKY/ARELLANO, MANDRELL & WERTHEIMER, and MARK DEUTSCH.

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PGM 1223 'ELECTRONIC DIMENSIONS' : aug. 9-16

The transition from 'electric' to 'electronic' was one of the great technical achievements of the 20th century. Electronic engineering emerged out of the telephone, radio, film and television industries, and military communication and weapon systems during World War II. The earliest devices for creating electronic music actually date from the end of the 19th century. By the 1920s and 30s we had compact, playable electronic instruments like the Russian Theremin, the French Ondes Martenot, and the German Trautonium. 

Development of recording technology led to experimentation with record players and tape recorders to manipulate sound and create new kinds of music. Electronic music expanded exponentially in the 1960s and 70s with the arrival of practical electronic synthesizers, fueling an era of explosive creativity. Today electronic music extends from mainstream dance music to experimental noise, with literally thousands of sub-genres, and an unlimited palette of sounds and creative possibilities. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a journey in the infinite tone-worlds of electronic space, on a program called ELECTRONIC DIMENSIONS. 

Music is by FOURTH DIMENSION, BLUETECH, ESKOSTATIC, BETWEEN INTERVAL, SCOTT LAWLOR, and ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT.

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PGM 1222 'ECSTATIC RHYTHMS' : aug.2-9

Middle Eastern music from the so-called "cradle of civilization" goes back some 5000 years. Today it spans a vast region stretching from Morocco to Iran—including the 22 Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Persian music from Iran, Hebrew music from Israel, pre-Islamic music from Assyria, music from Turkey, Armenia, and Cyprus, plus the nomadic Berbers of North Africa, Coptic Christians of Egypt, and the great Andalusian music of Muslim Spain. It's a rich mix with a colorful history. 

Common features are a system of melodic 'modes' called maqam based on quarter tones (with up to 24 notes to the octave), sinuous melodic ornamentation, and ecstatic, sophisticated rhythms. According to 11th century Persian philosopher and theologian AL-GHAZAL, "Ecstasy means the state that comes from listening to music." 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the microtonal melodies and hypnotic percussion of Middle Eastern music, on a program called ECSTATIC RHYTHMS.

Music is by MERCAN DEDE, DEAD CAN DANCE, LOGA RAMIN TORKIAN & AZAM ALI, WAHID, KRONOS QUARTET & MAHSA VAHDAT, MICHEL BANABILA, and ANOUAR BRAHEM.

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PGM 1221 'ONE SMALL STEP' : july 19-26

After centuries of talk about "the man in the moon," by 1969 humans finally had the technology to put men ON the moon. In 2019 we celebrate that epoch-making American achievement—the beginning of the age of space exploration, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, and astronaut NEIL ARMSTRONG's famous walk. It's a cultural touchstone—an event that's inspired a small sub-genre of electronic music and soundtracks from the 1980s to today. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we celebrate the spirit of space exploration and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, on a program called ONE SMALL STEP.

Music is by BRIAN ENO with ROGER ENO & DANIEL LANOIS, JONN SERRIE, MARTIN HUBA, MATT MORTON, PALANCAR, and JAJA.

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PGM 1220 'AMBIENT TRAVELER 2' : july12-19

In the warm, bright days of summer, an ambient fan yearning for travel to exotic cultures will book a flight on Sequencer Airlines. With its steady pulse, it's a perfect rhythm for moving through space. 

The roots go back to 9th century Persia, but the music sequencer idea really got going in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution, with popular devices like music boxes, mechanical organs, and player pianos. By the first generation of electronic synthesizers in the 1960s and 70s, the Step Sequencer was a machine that turned equal length notes into repeating rhythm patterns. They're simple, delightfully hypnotic, and fun to work with. 

Today things are more complicated, but a lot more powerful. We have audio sample sequencers, loop-based creative music software, phrase samplers, and digital audio recording software many times more powerful than the primitive sequencers of early synths—and hey! They're still fun to work with. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a journey from kinetic sequencer patterns to exotic Southeast Asian ambient soundscapes—on a program called AMBIENT TRAVELER 2. 

Music by ATOMIC SKUNK, DAVID PARSONS, CHRISTEL VERAART, CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, LOREN NERELL, ALIO DIE & LORENZO MONTANA, RICHARD BONE.

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PGM 1219 'BEYOND THE COOL' : june 28-july 6

The legendary trumpeter MILES DAVIS from his 1969 classic IN A SILENT WAY—the album that established laid-back, atmospheric, electrified jazz fusion — built on the acoustic Cool Jazz of the 1950s. It's been called a "proto-ambient masterpiece." 

In retrospect, 1969 was the threshold of the electronic revolution in popular music that brought us the ambient electronic music of today. [Miles] Davis added two electric pianos, organ and electric guitar to his band, slowed down the tempos, and made music history. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we feature the sound of the trumpet and the flugelhorn in a journey from cool jazz, to space jazz, to ambient — on a program called BEYOND THE COOL. Music is by MILES DAVIS, JEFF OSTER, TWILIGHT ARCHIVE, TOM LUTHER, FRANK MAUCERI & MIKE WHITEHEAD, CHAD KETTERING, NILS PETTER MOLVAER, and MEG BOWLES.

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PGM 1218 'MOONTRIBE' : june 21-28

Summer officially arrives on the 21st of June — the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. For ambient musicians, the extra light and heat inspire influences from faraway warm-weather cultures; exotic acoustic instruments, tribal rhythms, and mind-bending shamanic rituals, combined with creative electronics and native soundscapes. It breeds an evolving genre originally called "techno-tribal." Today we call it "tribal ambient" — it evokes atavistic memories of our village past for our digital tribes, and creates a space for virtual travel, even if the body has to stay at home. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space from guest producer DAVID J. EGAN, a tribal/ambient/solstice journey for summer, on a program called MOONTRIBE.

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PGM 1217 'INDO-TRONICA 3' : june 7-14

The Hindustani classical music of North India was little-known to westerners until the 1960's, when The Beatles famously introduced Indian sitar virtuoso RAVI SHANKAR to their audience and incorporated the instrument into their music. 

The long-necked lute called the sitar and it's bass version the surbahar, other unique Indian string instruments like the veena, the sarod, the sarangi and the esraj, along with the bansuri flute, have gradually become familiar to western listeners in the last hundred years. More recently, the microtonal scales of Indian music lent themselves to being combined with electronic instruments, giving rise to an ambient genre we call Indo-tronic. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the fusion of microtonal melodies, exotic ornaments, and electronic tone colors — on a program called INDO-TRONICA 3.

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PGM 1216 'ADVENTURES IN PSYBIENT' : may 31-june 7

In the fervent, prolific, always evolving field of popular electronic music, genres rise, shine, and set—often with alarming speed. So it's reassuring to know that the relatively long-running streams of Psychedelic and Trance music have embraced the cool sonorities and spatial sound images of Ambient—giving birth to the variously named hybrids Psybient, Psytrance, or just Psy. It's a realm worth exploring. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...what happened when Psytrance Met Ambient—on a program called ADVENTURES IN PSYBIENT. It's a love story.

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PGM 1215 'VERNAL FLIGHT' : may 24-31

Spring has long been the most unpredictable of seasons—these days, more than ever. This week we had a bit of January in May here in Northern California; it was back to boots and raingear. Next week it'll be like high summer. Everything is changing, and the wind rushes in every direction in a futile effort at equilibrium. 

The seasonal winds inspire ambient musicians to create an airy, open music with flutes and electronics, and we can ride the sound currents like birds in search of new frontiers. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an airy, windy, floating journey for spring, on a program called VERNAL FLIGHT.

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PGM 1214 'ANCESTRAL VOICES 2' : may 10-17

All most Americans know about Vietnam is that we fought a long and pointless war there in the 1960s and 70s. Today, if you live on the west coast, more likely than not there's a delicious Vietnamese restaurant in your community. But the ancient cultures, and the music of Southeast Asia and Vietnam in particular, is a mystery to most of us. 

A select group of Western composers and musicians have been drawn to these cultures, along with Southeast Asian musicians who've relocated to the West. They're creating a new fusion of traditional and contemporary music. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...subtle, exotic sounds from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia, on a program called ANCESTRAL VOICES 2.

Music is by GRAYHAWK, LÊ TỰ CƯỜNG, PEETER VÄHI, RICHARD HOROWITZ, PHAN KIM THÀNH, VANESSA VÕ, LÊ TUẤN HÙNG & ĐẶNG KIM HIỀN, TRÍ NGUYỄN & THE ILIOS QUARTET.

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PGM 1213 'PROGRESSIVE AMBIENT' : may 3-10

The "progressive" label is growing, and it has nothing to do with politics. 

In music, the term has a history that goes back to Progressive Folk in the 1930s. After that came Progressive Jazz from the 1940s to the 1970s, Progressive Rock, Pop, and Bluegrass in the 1960s, Progressive Country in the 1970s, Progressive Metal in the 1980s, and Progressive Electronic and Progressive House in the 1990s. Progressive is what happens when a genre has matured, and there's an abundance of highly skilled musicians who want to stay creatively challenged. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...if the progressive label means expanding stylistic and conceptual boundaries and synthesizing cultural influences—then I'm gonna say we're overdue for a genre—and a program—called PROGRESSIVE AMBIENT.

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PGM 1212 'CANTO OSTINATO' : apr.26-may 3

The contemporary classical genre called Minimalism arrived in the middle of the 20th century as a reaction against the rigid avant-garde theories of Serialism, which threw out the tonal center and harmonic systems of a thousand years of European music.

Serialism was intellectually brilliant—unfortunately, the music was ugly, tedious, and unpopular. In the 1960s, a number of American composers including LA MONTE YOUNG, TERRY RILEY, STEVE REICH, and PHILIP GLASS found their way back to tonality, with a style based on "minimal" elements: consonant harmony, static drones or a steady pulse, and slowly changing thematic motifs.

Minimalism looked back and forward at the same time. Unlike Serialism, it was appealing and popular, and was eventually adopted by a number of European composers who've been featured on Hearts of Space, including MICHAEL NYMAN, GAVIN BRYARS, JOHN TAVENER, HENRYK GÓRECKI, and ARVO PÄRT. One that we missed—who must be the best-kept secret in European minimalism—is the late Dutch composer SIMEON TEN HOLT, who died in 2012.

After experimenting with complex chromaticism and serialism early in his career, Ten Holt arrived at his own style of "humanized" minimalism: infused with traditional musical values, rhythmically rigorous, wonderfully melodic, and flexible in performance. His most famous piece, composed in 1976, is called CANTO OSTINATO, which in Italian means "obstinate song," a reference to its continuous, repeating quintuplet rhythm base. Its structure is based on 106 "cells" of a few phrases each which allow great latitude for repeats and interpretation by the performers. The piece can take from two hours to more than a day, and there are dozens of versions for 1, 2, 3, and 4 pianos, pianos plus organ, harp, or marimba, pipe organ, strings, and synthesizer.

The piece has been a phenomenon in the Netherlands for 40 years and hundreds of sold out performances. Despite that, it's hardly ever been performed or broadcast in the U.S. I'm STEPHEN HILL and we're going to help fix that on this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, with a lyrical and rhythmically mesmerizing version for two pianos, performed by the Dutch husband/wife duo JEROEN and SANDRA VAN VEEN. The recording is from one of their live "LIGCONCERT" or "Lying Concerts," where the audience stretches out on mats and blankets on the floor of the venue for two hours of serious listening.

Simeon Ten Holt's CANTO OSTINATO, for two pianos, on this spring transmission...of Hearts of Space.

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PGM 1211 'ELECTRON TRAVELER 4' : april 12-19

Flying...and Floating.

As a literal description of the experience, it goes back to the early days of popular electronic music and the early days of Hearts of Space. Over the years we've done programs called Floating Whispers, Floating Worlds, Floating Gardens, Floating Reveries, Floating Waves, Floating Winds, and yes, Flying and Floating 1, 2, and 3. 

Back then I said "flying music is rhythm-powered and moves through space, heading for worlds beyond; floating music is goal-free—ethereal, static, and timeless."

You know, I can't really add anything to that. We still enjoy expanding into unlimited virtual spaces, and yearn for the quiet pleasure of weightless suspension in time.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...another journey in our electronic touring series, on a program called ELECTRON TRAVELER 4. Music is by ASCENDANT, KEVIN KELLER, ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, DWIGHT LOOP, MASSERGY, and ERIK WØLLO.

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PGM 1210 'SENTIENT TOUCH' : mar.29-apr.6

Early electronic music had a reputation for being cold, austere, and technical. That was good if that's the feeling you were trying to express, but even in those early days some electronic musicians wanted to create something altogether warmer and more "organic"—a "humanized" electronic music if you will—inspired by the beauty and complexity of the natural world, including acoustic instruments and nature sounds, but with the new and almost limitless creative possibilities of electronic sound design. 

I met one of those artists in the early 1980s when he was a 19 year old student at CCRMA—(they called it KARMA) Stanford University's famous Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. In those days ROBERT RICH was building his own electronic instruments and studying lucid dreaming. His early work helped define and expand the scope and quality of ambient, dark-ambient, tribal and trance music. For forty years and over 40 albums, he's pursued his vision of an organic electro-acoustic music, and become a core artist for Hearts of Space. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we focus on Robert Rich's 2019 double album TACTILE GROUND. He calls it "an exploration of the synesthesia of sound on skin"—on a program called SENTIENT TOUCH.

Music is by ROBERT RICH, LORENZO MONTANA, FORREST FANG, and JEFF GREINKE.

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PGM 1209 'THE INFINITE PIANO' : mar. 22-29

For an instrument that's been around for over three hundred years, the piano continues to surprise. Ever since the arrival of popular electronic instruments, ambient musicians have been busy reinventing the sound and the setting of the piano. 

Musically, the 19th century Romantic Classical composers who perfected the piano concerto inspired VANGELIS (and thousands of new age pianists) to create personal, "high affect," emotionally-centered music—while the gentle, ironic French proto-ambient composer ERIK SATIE inspired others to create quiet, unpretentious miniatures. Still others have taken the instrument into cosmic space, where it chimes and sings across the starfields. 

In the 21st century, the piano is (almost) everywhere. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space...(with appreciation to MICHAEL BROOK, creator of the Infinite Guitar) the evolving sound of THE INFINITE PIANO. Music is by VANGELIS, CHAD LAWSON, TOM EATON, BILL DOUGLAS, BEN LUKAS BOYSEN, and NILS FRAHM.

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1207 'A FRAGILE BEAUTY' : mar. 1-8

For all the challenges that winter brings, it also offers a time for quiet, solitude, pristine stillness, rebirth, and renewal. This meditative aspect of the season has inspired contemporary post-classical composers to create sparse yet majestic soundscapes. 

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we bring together the serene melancholy of ambient chamber music, the patiently unfolding cadences of sacred minimalism, and the ethereal lightness of choral harmonies, on a program called A FRAGILE BEAUTY.

Music is by LUDOVICO EINAUDI, ELENI KARAINDROU, JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON, MAX RICHTER, and VOCES8.

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1206 'WINTERTRONIC' : feb.15-22

Winter...has a way of overstaying its welcome. After several months of sullen skies, numbing cold, and too many days of frigid rain, sleet, or snow—even the most ardent champions of the season fall silent. We've arrived...at forbearance. 

Here in California, the trees blossom in mid-February regardless of the weather. After a big rain, the ground is strewn with pink and white petals. Soon the storms will taper off and spring will arrive. For most of the country though, there's still a long time to wait. 

Ambient electronic artists find inspiration in the winter atmospheres, and create music with dark drones, virtual storms, chilled tones, and monochromatic harmonies. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, it's another wintry journey on electronic waves — on a program called WINTERTRONIC.

Music is by TRANSPONDER, HOLLAN HOLMES, SOLARIS, NETHERWORLD, BLUETECH, KIRSTY HAWKSHAW, JANNE HANHISUANTO, and ILUITEQ.

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