atmospheric classical

We’re floating on a luxurious bed of pipe organ—the first thing you hear on the 2022 debut album of Bristol, England, electronic musician NICOLA “NIK” DAVIES—best known by her recording alias APPLEFISH.

By our unofficial count, she’s a member of the seventh or eighth generation of electronic musicians, starting from its formative years in the 1920s and 30s at the dawn of playable electronic instruments like the Russian Theremin and the French Ondes Martenot. From the 1930s to the 1960s, a handful of academic laboratories became the venues for the development of electronic music and electro-acoustic tape music. They had the real estate, the hardware, and the money.

The transition from academic to popular electronic music was driven by the invention of analog synthesizers in the 1970s. Relatively affordable instruments and recording tools enabled a new generation of popular electronic artists in Germany like TANGERINE DREAM, KLAUS SCHULZE, and ASHRA, who invented a cosmic sound that went viral and spread to Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

That’s where Hearts of Space began, as a Bay Area late night radio program in 1973, and then a nationally syndicated program in 1983, with a mission to expand the audience for “ambient, space, atmospheric and contemplative music.”

Disco had pioneered use of electronic instruments in dance music in the late 1960s. By the 1980’s a new generation of creative DJs and live performers attracted a worldwide audience for high-energy EDM (Electronic Dance Music). BRIAN ENO defined Ambient in 1978, while a group of serious electronic composers and recording artists like STEVE ROACH, MICHAEL STEARNS, ROBERT RICH, and thousands more around the world, made personal artistic music, and self-released it on cassette and CD. Today they upload it to free or inexpensive internet streaming services that provide effortless access to a worldwide audience.

And it is here, dear space fan, that we encounter the latest generation of electronic recording artists like the subject of this program, NICOLA “NIK” DAVIES aka APPLEFISH. She describes her music with precision as “a fusion of space ambient, downtempo, and electronica, with substantial cross-pollination from drone, psy-chill, and modern classical genres. Much of the Applefish discography explores cosmic and astronomical themes, guiding listeners through ethereal voyages and otherworldly realms. The music interlaces immersive atmospheres with subtle, yet evocative melodic lines and layered, shimmering textures, intentionally evoking a sense of deep introspection and cosmic wonder.”

Thanks, Nik. Could not have said it better. Early music by APPLEFISH… on this transmission… of Hearts of Space.

[ view playlist ]. [ view Flickr image gallery ]

Long before Spanish explorers arrived at the western edge of South America, the rugged regions of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile bordered by the Andes Mountains were home to native Inca tribes that defined traditional Andean folk music.

After the colonial period, the charango and the ronroco, small 10-string instruments derived from the early Spanish guitar called the vihuela, became popular. Today they dominate the genre, along with the quena — an end-blown reed flute, and the antara — a semi-circular panpipe with an airy tone that sounds brilliant in the high mountain air.

Andean music grew exponentially during the “World Music” trend of the 1970s and 80s, spawning hundreds of new groups, collaborations, and popular songs, while Harawi, an ancient traditional genre with slow, soulful, melodic songs played on the quena, shared an audience with New Age music. Those days are gone, but the genre has gained renewed attention in the 21st century from its use in major film scores by GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA and others.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, new Andean music by GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA, AUKAI, JORGE ALFANO, OSCAR REYNOLDS, and AL LETHBRIDGE — inspired by the folk sounds of the high Andes plateau, on a program called “ALTIPLANO 3.”

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ]