Air Rises to Top of Echoes Top 25

Le Voyage Dans La Lune Lands in the Echoes Top 25

It was a trippy month in March in more ways than one, but none more so than Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune, their retro-psychedelic electronica soundtrack for the 1902 French silent film that was also the focal point of the movie Hugo.  It was the Echoes CD of the Month for March and it landed them at #1 for Echoes Top 25 for March

Electronics made a big return last month with the Greenosophy collection from Ultimae Records,  Ian Boddy and Erik Wollo collaboration on Frontiers (DiN),  Signal’s recording of Philip Glass’ Glassworks: Live at Le Poisson Rouge and Thierry David’s celestial Stellar Connection (Real Music).  And you could make the argument that  Coyote Oldman’s Time Travelers is just as electronic, sending Native flutes into deep space reverb and processing.

But acoustic music still held its own with the number 2 and three slots taken by International Guitar Night VI, even though Adrian Legg slipped in an electric guitar, and One Alternative’s Air Sculpture making a surprising leap to #2.

Look for Thierry David’s Stellar Connection to top the list in April as our CD of the Month.

You can see the complete Echoes Top 25 for March.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Hear the Echoes Interview with Air:

You get great CDs like Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.  We broke the news of Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune  weeks before it was released.

Slack-Key & Tapping Guitar Lead Echoes Top 25

Acoustic Guitars Dominate Echoes February Soundscape

It’s been an electronic year so far, but for February, an acoustic guitar album by Pino Forastiere and a soundtrack dominated by Hawaiian Slack-Key guitar were all over Echoes Top 25 for February .

Forastiere’s From 1-8 was the Echoes CD of the Month for February and it remains one of the highlights among many acoustic guitar albums in the last year.   Following right behind him is the soundtrack for The Descendants which features music from Hawaii, most of it slack-key guitarists from Gabby Pahanui to Keola Beamer.  In fact, acoustic guitar dominates the Top Ten.  There’s One Alternative’s acoustic fusion on Air Sculpture which has two acoustic guitars. And then there is Sergio Altamura.  He plays with Forastiere in the trio, Guitar Republic and he’s joined by Will Ackerman on the album, Blu.    Toss in the acoustic guitar ambiences of Low Roar and the acoustic based ambient Americana of Eric Tingstad’s Badlands and it’s a guitar strummin’, finger-picking Echoes for February.

But watch out! Tucked in there is Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune and it will be the CD of the Month in March.

The unexpected highlight on the list is Geigertek.  His album, Soundtrack for City Living is a CD of post-Berlin school electronics, but tucked in there is an unexpected cover of John Foxx’s “Underpass.”  He takes this electro-pop anthem from the late 1970s and slows it down into a gorgeous ambient hymn.

You can go here to see the complete Echoes Top 25 for February.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

You get great CDs like Forastiere’s  From 1 to 8 or Airs Le Voyage Dans La Lune (with a DVD of the George Melies film) by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Echoes Top 25 for January

Tino Izzo’s Morning Scapes Heads Up the Echoes Top 25 CDs for January.

Tino Izzo’s Morning Scapes was an Echoes Top 25 CD even before it became the Echoes CD of the Month (read review and hear trax).  It leads our January list as Echoes returned to a more normal mode after December’s holiday programming.  It heads up a top 25 that has no particular rhyme, reason or trend, except there’s some pretty great music there that fits into the chilled mode of Echoes.

Of the new pleasures for this month the best came from a new band and an old friend.  Hans Christian is the old friend.  We played his music when he was recording under his own name in the early 1990s and then followed his beautiful chant-fusion duo, Rasa with singer Kim Waters.  Lately, Hans has been going the solo looping cello route, of which he is a master, but on a new CD called Rumi Symphony he went into electro-global-orchestral mode.  It’s a double CD.  Disc one has Andrew Harvey reciting the poetry of the Persian mystic,  Rumi over Christian’s music.  He takes an authoritative approach to Rumi’s oft-romantic works.  Poetry with music collaborations generally leave me cold.  If you want to merge poetry and song, then sing.  But  the second disc is the music on its own and that would’ve made a brilliant CD.   With beds of electro-Persian percussion loops and orchestral strings, Christian plays cello, sarangi and other stringed instruments in a global dreamscape of four, long epic journeys.

The new group is Liftoff and I’ve been enchanted by this Washington DC quartet that takes some of it’s cues from Thievery Corporation.  Rob Myers has played guitar and sitar with Thievery for years so that makes sense.   The other members play in the dance oriented bands, Fort Knox 5 and Thunderball.  But as Liftoff, they create lysergic dreams dappled in 60s pop pastels with new millennium grooves.  Echoes of Pink Floyd, Lee Hazelwood and the Strawberry Alarm Clock abound in the intricately crafted songs of their impressive and joyful debut, Sunday Morning Airplay.

Look at #12 for next months likely number one album, Pino Forastiere’s From 1 to 8.  We’ll be featuring that on our Monday, February 6 show and you can read a review and hear tracks now right here.

Go here to see the complete Echoes Top 25 for January  list with links.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Hear Forastiere’s  From 1 to 8  featured on Echoes Monday February 6

You get great CDs like Forastiere’s   From 1 to 8 by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Echoes Top 25 Goes to Another Dimension

Akara’s  Extradimensional Ethnography tops Echoes November Top 25

The Echoes Top 25 is a bit wild this month.  Akara, of course heads it up with their Extradimensional Ethnography, an album that gets deeper with each listen.  That’s an Indi release from Joshua Pullman, but our second album on the list isn’t even a CD, it’s a digital download from General Fuzz.  I’ve been waiting for James Kirsch to follow up his album, Soulful Filling and it was worth it.  As it’s title Miles Tones, suggests, it has echoes of Miles Davis as well as 70s CTI jazz mixed in with General Fuzzes own glitch moods and ambient backbeats.  You can get this CD for free form the General Fuzz website, but it’s an album worth paying for.

That’s followed up by another little known release by Low Roar.  Headed up by Ryan Karazija, it’s in the mode of Thurston Moore’s Demolished Thoughts with its folky modes and Pink Floyd echoes.   Little wonder since this American artist lives in Iceland where the zeitgeist of mood currently resides.  He’s followed up trumpeter Jeff Oster’s Surrender, an Echoes CD of the Month from September.  Between Oster, General Fuzz and Darshan Ambient’s Dream in Blue, (December’s CD of the Month) the spirit of Miles Davis seems alive and ambient these days.

Rounding out the top 5 is another digital only release, The Singularity, another ecstatically melodic excursion in synth-guitar orchestrations from Mark Dwane.  It probably would’ve been a CD of the Month if it had been a physical release.

You can see the rest of the Echoes Top 25 for November right here.

John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Patrick O’Hearn leads Echoes Top 25

Patrick O’Hearn’s Transitions, our Echoes CD of the Month, leads Echoes Top 25 for October.

This month’s list is definitely plugged in, especially the Top 10 with Patrick O’Hearn (read review), Jeff Oster, Bryan Carrigan, Jon Durant, David and Steve Gordon, Steve Hackett and Falling You all being heavily electronic.  Even when acoustic instruments are played as on trumpeter Jeff Oster, guitarist Jon Durant and guitarist Steve Hackett, things are pretty heavily processed.  There’s no fewer than six vocal recordings on the list, although calling Akara’s wordless vocals with lyrics written by the “luminous beings” might be pushing it.   Akara’s Extradimensional Ethnography will top this month’s list as our CD of the Month for November.  One musician is on the list twice.  Keyboardist/programmer Bryan Carrigan has his own CD, but he’s also all over Jeff Oster’s Surrender, nearly all of which he co-composed.  That was the September CD of the Month.

Here’s the Top Ten.  You can see the entire Echoes Top 25 for October.

1. Patrick O’Hearn – Transitions (Patrick O’Hearn Music)
2. Johanna and the Dusty Floor – Northern Lights (Johanna and the Dusty Floor)
3. Jeff Oster – Surrender (Retso Records)
4. Bryan Carrigan – Passing Lights (Peonies Music)
5. Keith Medley – Ride (Keith Medley)
6. Bill Frisell – All We Are Saying (Savoy Jazz)
7. Jon Durant – Dance of the Shadow Planets (Alchemy Records)
8. David and Steve Gordon – Groove Tribe (Sequoia Records)
9. Steve Hackett – Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (InsideOut Music)
10. Falling You – Adore (Falling You)

John Diliberto ((( echoes ))) 

Hear Patrick O’Hearn’s Transitions featured on Echoes Monday October 3

You get great CDs like Patrick O’Hearn’s Transitions by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Electric Violin Ragas Bow at the Top of Echoes

Vicki Richards’ She Vanishes Appears at the Head of Echoes Top 25 for April.

The Echoes Top 25 for April is up and as usual, our CD of the Month’s tops the list and justifiably so.  Vicki Richards’ She Vanishes is an impressive album that brings the early fusion sound into a new stage. In case you have possibly missed this release, check out a review and listen to complete tracks.

It’s great to see Lia Ices at the top.  It’s rare that a singer-songwriter gets that high on the list, but we’ve had a couple this year including Agnes Obel who clocks in right behind at #3, three months after she was number 1 with her January CD of the Month, Philharmonics.  If you were a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club, you’d have these great albums in your collection already and would be awaiting our May CD of the Month, Moby‘s Destroyed, 2 weeks before official release date.

Check out the rest of the Echoes Top 25 to see what music filled our airwaves & web-waves in April.

John Diliberto ((( echoes ))) 

Icelandic Chamber Music Heads Echoes Top 25

Skuli Sverrisson’s Lush Ambiences Lead Echoes Top 25 for March.

Skuli Sverrisson’s Seria II was our Echoes CD of the Month in March and it leads the Echoes Top 25 for March, bringing in a lot of other ambient chamber music on its coattails including Meg Bowles’ A Quiet Light, Dustin O’Halloran’s Lumiere and Olafur Arnalds .…And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness.

There’s also a bit of an eastern tinge to this month’s selections.  Michel Banabila’s Migrations has Middle Eastern players on it, Wonderland‘s Kundalini is a trancey electro-eastern journey  and Vicki Richards’ She Vanishes is charged with Indian tabla grooves.  Look for that last album as our Echoes CD of the Month for April.

You can see the complete Echoes Top 25 for March.

John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club and you won’t miss out on great CDs like  She Vanishes by Vicki Richards, Skuli Sverrison’s Seria II and David Arkenstone’s Ambient World.

Echoes Top 25 for February

David Arkenstone’s Ambient World tops the Echoes Charts.

It’s no surprise that David Arkenstone’s February CD of the Month, Ambient World leads the Echoes Top 25 for February.    (Read review and hear complete tracks.) David Arkenstone will be featured with an Echoes interview on Monday, March 21. That heads a list that goes from ambient to acoustic guitars and quite a few Scandinavians including Olafur Arnalds from Iceland, Erik Wollo from Norway as well as Sweden’s Johan Agebjorn and Solar Fields.

You can see the complete Echoes Top 25 for February here.

Hear Echoes 24/7 & on demand with Echoes On-Line.  Try the $2.99 one week introductory level.

Get the best Echoes CDs each month with the Echoes CD of the Month club.

John Diliberto (((echoes))

Echoes November Top 25

Mark Preston’s Nature and Design Tops the Echoes Top 25 for November.

Two electronic works top the Echoes Top 25 for November.  Mark Preston’s melodic downtempo electronica disc,  Nature & Design, our CD of the Month for November, and veteran English electronica act, Sounds from the Ground with their latest release, The Maze.   But acoustics take over with Peppino D’Agostino’s Nine White Kites.  Peppino was featured on the show in an Echoes Acoustic Thanksgiving performance with Eric Johnson and Andy McKee.  Rob Martino makes his album debut, Echoes debut and Top 25 with his CD of solo Chapman Stick, One Cloud.   The minimalist jazz of Nik Bartsch’s Ronin centers the list followed by two electronica collections, 2000 and Space and The Reconstruction of Fives, the later a remix project from the n5md label.   All India Radio tuned us in with their latest album of dreamy, americana tinged electronica, The Silent Surf and rounding out the top ten, Brian Eno’s Small Craft on a Milk Sea, an album that finds Eno in an improvisational mood.

You can see the complete Echoes Top 25 for November.  And while you’re hear, maybe you’ll find some of the CDs to vote for in the Best of Echoes 2010 Poll.  It’s open now and closed December 9.

Best of Echoes 2010 Poll
Vote and enter to
win prizes!

Hear the results
on Dec 13th
See last year’s poll results

John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

 

1. Mark Preston – Nature & Design (Mark Preston Music)
2. Sounds From the Ground – The Maze (Waveform Records)
3. Peppino D’Agostino - Nine White Kites (Peppino D’Agostino Music)
4. Brian Keane and Omar Faruk Tekbilek – Kelebek/The Butterfly OST (Celestial Harmonies)
5. Rob Martino – One Cloud (Modalyric Music)
6. Nik Bartsch’s Ronin – Llyria (ECM)
7. Various Artists – 2000 and Space: The Mission Continues, Vol. 1
   (Elux Records)
8. Various Artists – The Reconstruction of Fives (n5MD)
9. All India Radio – The Silent Surf (Self Released)
10. Brian Eno – Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp Records)

Echoes August Top 25

Matthew Schoening leads the looping cellists to head of Echoes August Top 25

Summer closes with another strong Echoes Top 25 headed up by our August CD of the Month, Matthew Schoening’s Elements.  Not far behind it is our CD of the Month from July, Carmen Rizzo’s Looking Through Leaves, something we’ll be doing in the forthcoming months.    I don’t know that I detect any trends here.  You’ve got your looping cellists, Schoening and Zoe Keating, your looping guitarists, Dave Preston, even your looping Chapman Stick player, Rob Martino, who played a great living room concert this past week.  You have retro-space music with Arc, and contemporary space music with Carbon Based Lifeforms.  Their Interloper CD is sure to be in my top ten this year.   And let’s take a moment to welcome back Hiroko Okano to Echoes.  The Japanese composer was a favorite in the 1990s, mixing traditional Japanese instruments with electronics in finely tuned compositions that always hung in perfect balance.  His Wind Travelin’ Band collaboration with R. Carlos Nakai was one of our favorite projects of the 1990s.  We haven’t heard much from him lately, but he’s been busy and he sent us a bunch of CDs a few weeks ago.  My favorite has been Orbit, an album that recalls the sound of his albums on Innovative Communications.  You can see the entire Echoes Top 25 for August.

John Diliberto ((( echoes )))