Mark McGuire’s Prog-Rock Roots and Metaphysical Designs
in Echoes Podcast
If you thought Toto had taken over Mike Oldfield’s body on his recent album, Man on the Rocks, then you should hear Mark McGuire’sAlong the Way. Every time I put it on I feel like I’m taking a trip into the future via my past. Elements of the 70s progressive rock music I love from Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Mike Oldfield and Jade Warrior emerge in his music. But Mark McGuire isn’t recreating this sound so much as reinventing it for his own vocabulary. He was formerly in Emeralds, an electronic band with deep echoes of German space music but on his own, he’s made a statement recording that goes beyond that. It was the Echoes CD of the Month for March and you can read a review and listen to tracks from it here. He talks about it in Echoes Podcast.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Hans Christian’s Hidden Treasures, the May CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Smells Good & Sounds Good: Afro Celt’s Simon Emmerson’s Fresh Handmade Sound
Hear about it in the Echoes Podcast
Simon Emmerson smells good. Not because he’s necessarily so hygienic, but because for the last four years or so he’s been creating custom made spa soundtracks for Lush Spas. They’re mostly in the UK, but now they’ve opened in the US in New York City and Philadelphia. Spa music usually has me going more manic than serene as I plow through stacks of CDs that are generically bland at best, crass, calculated and corny at worst. But these soundtracks for Lush Spas, released under the umbrella of Fresh Handmade Sound have Simon Emmerson’s name attached. Just say Afro Celt Sound System and that’s all the authenticity and credentials I need.
Emmerson was a co-founder of the that band which brilliantly fused sounds and musicians from Africa, Asia, Ireland and England into an electronically brewed ecstasy. Now he’s joined by artists like Simon Richmond, who is another Fresh Handmade Sound composer and musicians like sitarist Sheema Mukkerjee from Transglobal Underground and singers like Jackie Oates, Eliza McCarthy, Martha Tilston and Rosie Doonan to make albums that would be considered brilliant works of lush downtempo fusions, ambient music and dream-pop if they weren’t marketed as spa music with generic covers. You can hear them talk about their music in the Echoes Podcast.
Simon Emmerson, Sheema Mukherjee, Simon Richmond on Echoes
The Fresh Handmade Sounds recordings aren’t easy to get. You’ll find them scattered in Lush Stores and even more scattered on-line.
Here are the ones I’d try to track down
Synaethesia The Nightjar Orchestra is the ad hoc group put together for this album. Besides Emmerson, it also features Richard Evans who has recorded extensively at Real World Records and worked with Peter Gabriel and Michael Brook among many others. Synaethesia is lush, folk based and string laden with expansive, acoustic based tracks like “The Great Western.”
The Sound Bath
This one approaches ambient more than most with subtle keyboard fugues under nature sounds, the plaintive sound of Afro Celt’s N’Faly Kouyate singing and playing the kora on “Hand Bells” and Enoesque themes like “Bluethroat.”
A Hard Days Night Treatment
This album shouldn’t be so good. They take Beatles tunes from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to “Golden Slumbers” and turn them into lysergic folk music. In particular the array of female vocalists, from Eliza McCarthy to Jackie Oates are entrancing. Unfortunately, this might be the hardest to get at this time.
Think of the great artists you love on Echoes. Think of the informative interviews and exclusive live performances. Then, think of a world without Echoes. You can make sure that never happens by becoming a member of the Echoes Sound Circle.
Echoes is a non-profit 501(c3) organization just like your local public radio station. And all donations are tax deductible. You can support Echoes with a monthly donation that will barely disturb your credit card.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Lyla Foy’sMirrors the Sky, the April CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Simon Emmerson, Sheema Mukherjee, Simon Richmond on Echoes
Simon Emmerson smells good. Not because he’s necessarily so hygienic, but because for the last four years or so he’s been creating custom made spa soundtracks for Lush Spas. They’re mostly in the UK, but now they’ve opened in the US in New York City and Philadelphia. Spa music usually has me going more manic than serene as I plow through stacks of CDs that are generically bland at best, crass, calculated and corny at worst. But these soundtracks for Lush Spas, released under the umbrella of Fresh Handmade Sound have Simon Emmerson’s name attached. Just say Afro Celt Sound System and that’s all the authenticity and credentials I need.
Sheema Mukherjee on Echoes
Emmerson was a co-founder of the that band which brilliantly fused sounds and musicians from Africa, Asia, Ireland and England into an electronically brewed ecstasy. Now he’s joined by artists like Simon Richmond, who is another Fresh Handmade Sound composer and musicians like sitarist Sheema Mukkerjee from Transglobal Underground and singers like Jackie Oates, Eliza McCarthy, Martha Tilston and Rosie Doonan to make albums that would be considered brilliant works of lush downtempo fusions, ambient music and dream-pop if they weren’t marketed as spa music with generic covers. You can hear them talk about their music tonight on Echoes.
The Fresh Handmade Sounds recordings aren’t easy to get. You’ll find them scattered in Lush Stores and even more scattered on-line.
Here are the ones I’d try to track down
Synaethesia The Nightjar Orchestra is the ad hoc group put together for this album. Besides Emmerson, it also features Richard Evans who has recorded extensively at Real World Records and worked with Peter Gabriel and Michael Brook among many others. Synaethesia is lush, folk based and string laden with expansive, acoustic based tracks like “The Great Western.”
The Sound Bath
This one approaches ambient more than most with subtle keyboard fugues under nature sounds, the plaintive sound of Afro Celt’s N’Faly Kouyate singing and playing the kora on “Hand Bells” and Enoesque themes like “Bluethroat.”
A Hard Days Night Treatment
This album shouldn’t be so good. They take Beatles tunes from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to “Golden Slumbers” and turn them into lysergic folk music. In particular the array of female vocalists, from Eliza McCarthy to Jackie Oates are entrancing. Unfortunately, this might be the hardest to get at this time.
Think of the great artists you love on Echoes. Think of the informative interviews and exclusive live performances. Then, think of a world without Echoes. You can make sure that never happens by becoming a member of the Echoes Sound Circle.
Echoes is a non-profit 501(c3) organization just like your local public radio station. And all donations are tax deductible. You can support Echoes with a monthly donation that will barely disturb your credit card.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Lyla Foy’sMirrors the Sky, the April CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Marissa Nadler is a singer-songwriter of delicate dimensions and deep atmospheres. Her latest album, July, is the story of one year in her life, from breakup to reunion. Today on Echoesshe plays in the original Echoes Living Room, accompanied by cellist Janel Leppin of the duo Janel & Anthony. Nadler creates a dark and intimate music with her introspective lyrics framed by reverb drenched ambiences and her finger-style guitar picking. She manage to be simultaneously simple and lush. Hear it live tonight on Echoes.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Lyla Foy’sMirrors the Sky, the April CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
On the heels of his international acclaim at the 2012 Summer Olympic opening ceremony in London and the 40th anniversary of his signature work, Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield takes a hard right into 70s era album rock. His latest CD, Man on the Rocks, features singer Luke Spiller from the little known band, the Struts in a set of anthemic rock songs that, save the electric guitar solos, wouldn’t be recognizable as Mike Oldfield. From his home in the Bahamas, I speak to Oldfield about the motivations behind his work in the Echoes Podcast.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Lyla Foy’sMirrors the Sky, the April CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Mike Oldfield talks about his homage to American Rock
On the heels of his international acclaim at the 2012 Summer Olympic opening ceremony in London and the 40th anniversary of his signature work, Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield takes a hard right into 70s era album rock. His latest CD, Man on the Rocks, features singer Luke Spiller from the little known band, the Struts in a set of anthemic rock songs that, save the electric guitar solos, wouldn’t be recognizable as Mike Oldfield. From his home in the Bahamas, I spoke to Oldfield about the motivations behind his work tonight on Echoes.
Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club. and get Lyla Foy’sMirrors the Sky, the April CD of the Month. You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time. You can do it all right here.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Every time I put on Mark McGuire’sAlong the Way I feel like I’m taking a trip into the future via my past. Elements of the 70s progressive rock music I love from Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Mike Oldfield and Jade Warrior emerge in his music. But Mark McGuire isn’t recreating this sound so much as reinventing it for his own vocabulary. He was formerly in Emeralds, an electronic band with deep echoes of German space music but on his own, he’s made a statement recording that goes beyond that. It was the Echoes CD of the Month for March and you can read a review and listen to tracks from it here. He talks about it tonight on Echoes.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Erik Wøllo’s Timelines Echoes February CD of the Month
It’s a cliché, I know, but as soon as an Erik Wøllo album starts, you know you are on a journey. It’s like the moments before take-off, only Wøllo’s ascent doesn’t throw you back in your seat with G-Force thrust. It’s a gentle rise into euphoric space. Timelines is a beautifully sculpted example of that.
Wøllo is a Norwegian musician who has been recording since 1984, releasing 18 solo albums in that span plus collaborations with musicians like Steve Roach, Ian Boddy and Kouame Sereba. From his 1988 album Traces (recently reissued on Spotted Peccary Records along with other Wøllo titles) Wøllo showed a command of detailed orchestrations and dramatic melodies. A guitarist and keyboardist, both elements come together in intricate and unexpected ways onTimelines.
Erik Wollo Live on Echoes 2010
Wøllo’s recent albums, Silent Currentsand Airborne, have taken him into the drone zone inhabited by Steve Roach, butTimelines is a return to form for this guitarist who is more at home in a world of melody. But you can hear those abstract influences in his electronic percussion palette which reflects the influence of his collaborations with Roach on Streams of Thought and Road Eternal.
The central core of this album is acoustic guitar, on which Wøllo composed all of the tracks, except I suspect, the spacey closer, “Ocean.” On “Blue Rondo,” an acoustic guitar arpeggio seems to reveal itself out of an electronic swirl, merging with glurpy water drip electronic percussion, soaring synth pads and growling electric guitar drones before evolving into a gently percussive piece with some searing ebow guitar leads.
Erik Wollo Live on Echoes 2010
“Visions” is the centerpiece of the album, a slowly building work of interlocked percussion, electronic cycles and that ebow guitar that seems to emerge like a stealth bomber out of the storm clouds. Maybe that imagery is a little foreboding, but that’s what draws me to Wøllos music. A track like “Along the Journey” could be a gentle walk through a Norwegian forest and easily devolve into New Age prettiness. But throughout the walk, Wøllo has ambient atmospheres swirling at the edges, leaving them unfocused and mysterious. There’s a darkness that balances the light, a dark undertow that serves to put his melodies in beautiful bas relief. And then of course, there’s the thudding percussion and spiraling ebow solo that reveals this is no country walk.
Erik Wøllo has had a few CD of the Month picks in the past. It’s hard not to. Time is suspended when you cross Erik Wøllo’s Timelines.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
These days in contemporary music, most musicians don’t leave much to chance when they play live. They either adhere to note-for-note recreations of their recorded work or they just have it all in a computer, hit play and have a perfect, if frozen performance. Ambient guitarist Matt Borghi and saxophonist Michael Teager don’t work that way. They create their music in the moment, improvising on mood and texture. Borghi has been at the ambient thing for years with several recordings of barely-there ambient guitar out. Teager comes from more of a jazz tradition. The two musicians talk about the genesis of their music from a lounge act and jam band into their free form excursions tonight on Echoes.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
Coming up on Echoes we have new music from Dominic Miller. He’s been the guitarist for Sting for many years, but on his own he cuts an eclectic instrumental sound. He has a new CD called Ad Hoc . We’ll also hear some dark gypsy cello by Adam Hurst and his album, “Nightfall”. It’s coming up today on Echoes. This is my favorite track from Dominic Miller’s Ad Hoc.
Join us on Facebookwhere you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind whenDead Can Danceappear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Now you can go Mobile with Echoes On-Line. Find out how you can listen to Echoes 24/7 wherever you are on your iPhone, iPad or Droid.
If you thought Toto had taken over Mike Oldfield’s body on his recent album, Man on the Rocks, then you should hear Mark McGuire’s Along the Way. Every time I put it on I feel like I’m taking a trip into the future via my past. Elements of the 70s progressive rock music I love from Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Mike Oldfield and Jade Warrior emerge in his music. But Mark McGuire isn’t recreating this sound so much as reinventing it for his own vocabulary. He was formerly in Emeralds, an electronic band with deep echoes of German space music but on his own, he’s made a statement recording that goes beyond that. It was the Echoes CD of the Month for March and you can read a review and listen to tracks from it here. He talks about it in Echoes Podcast.
Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news so you won’t be left behind when Dead Can Dance appear on the show, Tangerine Dream tours or Brian Eno drops a new iPad album. Or Follow us on Twitter@echoesradio.
Synaethesia
A Hard Days Night Treatment
Coming up on Echoes we have new music from Dominic Miller. He’s been the guitarist for Sting for many years, but on his own he cuts an eclectic instrumental sound. He has a new CD called 
The Echoes Blog 