12 Echoes CDs of the Month Tonight

WE LOOK BACK AT ECHOES CD OF THE MONTH PICKS FROM 2013

November: Moby – Innocents

Every month on Echoes we pick out the CD of the Month. It’s the album we think best represents the sound of Echoes and simply, the best album in that sound.  This year has been a great one for CD of the Month  selections, so I thought we’d do an entire show looking back at those albums. We’ll be going from our current December pick, David Helpling & Jon Jenkins’ Found, all the way back to our January pick, The Ambient Zone-Just Music Café Volume 4.

January: The Ambient Zone – Just Music Cafe Volume 4

They aren’t necessarily the best albums of the year, but they were all the best album of their respective months and I would be surprised if they all weren’t in our year end top 25.  It can be hard picking the albums. The selections are either slim or abundant.  This year fell on the abundant side as we had our best stretch of Echoes CD of the Month picks in a while.  As we head toward the end of the year and best of lists, I thought I’d look back at our twelve picks.  Maybe these are albums you voted for in the Best of Echoes 2013 poll going on right now at echoes.org.

Prepare for the show with reviews and tracks from all the CDs

March: Ludovico Einaudi – In A Time Lapse

January: The Ambient Zone – Just Music Café Volume 4
February: Ulrich Schnauss – A Long Way to Fall
March: Ludovico Einaudi – In A Time Lapse
April: Òlafur Arnalds – For Now I Am Winter
May: Rhian Sheehan – Stories from Elsewhere
June: Rachel Zeffira – The Deserters
July: Olivier Libaux – Uncovered Queens of the Stone Age
August: Melorman – Waves
September: Darshan Ambient – Little Things
October: Akara – The World Beyond
November: Moby – Innocents
December: David Helpling & Jon Jenkins – Found

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

GIVE THE GIFT OF THE ECHOES CD OF THE MONTH CLUB

Join the Echoes CD of the Month Club now and you can put David Helping and Jon Jenkins’ Found under somebodies Christmas tree.  It’s our December  CD of the Month.  You’ll get great CDs and help support Echoes at the same time.   You can do it all right here.

OR

GIVE THEM THE GIFT OF TRANSMISSIONS:
THE ECHOES LIVING ROOM CONCERTS VOLUME 19

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.

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.

Interview: Rachel Zeffira

Hear an interview with Rachel Zeffira tonight on Echoes

Rachel Zeffira is a former operatic soprano who now vocalizes in caressing whispers. She makes an enchanting and haunting dream pop, telling tales of suicide and lost love, placing it all in a chamber music setting. She doesn’t like to reveal the meanings of the songs on her album, CD of the Month The Deserters, but she does, on Echoes.

Highlights:

On her hushed singing style:  I’m singing in a completely opposite way to what I did in opera.  I couldn’t be doing things more differently and I was quite loud as an opera singer.

Rachel Zefirra – The Deserters

On her honesty: It’s so embarrassing telling you all these lies.  I mean, you’re, you’re not gonna believe a thing that I tell you after.

One the lie that got her group, Cat’s Eyes, into the Vatican Church:  I wrote to the Vatican and I said we were a visiting choir.

Something true about “Letters from Tokyo”: And then they got detectives onto it and stuff and eventually they found that the mom had, had jumped off a cruise ship and died.

Something more true:   If I can’t be honest in my music then I’m really screwed, so this album had to be honest.

Hear Rachel Zeffira’s full interview tonight on Echoes.

Read a review of Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters and hear several tracks.

Below, watch Rachel Zeffira’s video for The Deserters.

Rachel Zeffira’s group Cat’s Eyes, at the Vatican:

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Find your local Echoes station or streaming options here.

Support Echoes by becoming a member of the Echoes Sound Circle.

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 Sound Circle and keep the soundscapes of Echoes flowing!

Echoes Podcast: Rachel Zeffira’s Dissembling & Suicides

Hear the Echoes Podcast of our interview with Rachel Zeffira.

Rachel Zeffira is a former operatic soprano who now vocalizes in caressing whispers. She makes an enchanting and haunting dream pop, telling tales of suicide and lost love, placing it all in a chamber music setting. She doesn’t like to reveal the meanings of the songs on her album, CD of the Month The Deserters, but she does, on Echoes.

Highlights:

On her hushed singing style:  I’m singing in a completely opposite way to what I did in opera.  I couldn’t be doing things more differently and I was quite loud as an opera singer.

Rachel Zefirra – The Deserters

On her honesty: It’s so embarrassing telling you all these lies.  I mean, you’re, you’re not gonna believe a thing that I tell you after.

One the lie that got her group, Cat’s Eyes, into the Vatican Church:  I wrote to the Vatican and I said we were a visiting choir.

Something true about “Letters from Tokyo”: And then they got detectives onto it and eventually they found that the mom had jumped off a cruise ship and died.

Something more true:   If I can’t be honest in my music then I’m really screwed, so this album had to be honest.

Hear Rachel Zeffira’s Interview in the Echoes Podcast.

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Read a review of Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters and hear several tracks.

Below, watch Rachel Zeffira’s video for The Deserters.

Rachel Zeffira’s group Cat’s Eyes, at the Vatican:

Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters was an Echoes CD of the month. This month’s pick is Melorman’s Waves.  Sign up for Echoes CD of the Month Club. With the Echoes CD of the Month Club, Follow the link to the Echoes CD of the Month Club and see what you’ve been missing.

Support Echoes by becoming a member of the Echoes Sound Circle.

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 Sound Circle and keep the soundscapes of Echoes flowing!

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

Interview: Rachel Zeffira

Hear an interview with Rachel Zeffira tonight on Echoes

Rachel Zeffira is a former operatic soprano who now vocalizes in caressing whispers. She makes an enchanting and haunting dream pop, telling tales of suicide and lost love, placing it all in a chamber music setting. She doesn’t like to reveal the meanings of the songs on her album, CD of the Month The Deserters, but she does, on Echoes.

Highlights:

On her hushed singing style:  I’m singing in a completely opposite way to what I did in opera.  I couldn’t be doing things more differently and I was quite loud as an opera singer.

Rachel Zefirra – The Deserters

On her honesty: It’s so embarrassing telling you all these lies.  I mean, you’re, you’re not gonna believe a thing that I tell you after.

One the lie that got her group, Cat’s Eyes, into the Vatican Church:  I wrote to the Vatican and I said we were a visiting choir.

Something true about “Letters from Tokyo”: And then they got detectives onto it and stuff and eventually they found that the mom had, had jumped off a cruise ship and died.

Something more true:   If I can’t be honest in my music then I’m really screwed, so this album had to be honest.

Hear Rachel Zeffira’s full interview tonight on Echoes.

Read a review of Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters and hear several tracks.

Below, watch Rachel Zeffira’s video for The Deserters.

Rachel Zeffira’s group Cat’s Eyes, at the Vatican:

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Find your local Echoes station or streaming options here.

Support Echoes by becoming a member of the Echoes Sound Circle.

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 Sound Circle and keep the soundscapes of Echoes flowing!

Echoes Top 25-Rachel Zeffira Shines in June.

Echoes Top 25 for June features Dream-Pop, Ambient Chamber Music and Space Music.

Rachel Zefirra – The Deserters

The Echoes Top 25 is led by singer-songwriter Rachel Zeffira whose album, The Deserters was the Echoes CD of the Month.  This chamber pop singer is joined by several other vocal ensembles in the Top 25 including Karl Hyde, Olivier Libaux, Seven Saturdays and Still Corners.  In fact, eleven of the Top 25 are vocal groups marking a bit of a sea change in where Echoes music is going.  But there’s still plenty of ambient and space music out there including the number two album, Exploration and Ascent by Northcape and Jah Wobble & Marconi Union’s deep space dub album, Anomic.  Here’s the complete list of The Echoes Top 25 for June.

ECHOES TOP 25 FOR JUNE

1. Rachel Zeffira – The Deserters (Paper Bag)
2. Northcape – Exploration and Ascent (SunSeaSky)
3. Ólafur Arnalds – For Now I Am Winter (Mercury Classics)
4. Karl Hyde – Edgeland (UMe)
5. Ludovico Einaudi – In a Time Lapse (Ponderosa Music & Art)
6. Olivier Libaux – Uncovered Queens of the Stone Age (Music for Music Lovers)
7. Peals – Walking Field (Thrill Jockey)
8. Seven Saturdays – Seven Saturdays (Lunada)
9. Still Corners – Strange Pleasures (Sub Pop)
10. William Tyler – Impossible Truth (Merge Records)
11. Wall – Shoestring (Big Picnic)
12. Jah Wobble & Marconi Union – Anomic (30 Hertz)
13. Axess – Aviator (Spheric)
14. Amatorski – Same Stars we Shared (Munic)
15. Stephen DeRuby – Awakening
16. Rena Jones – Echoes (Cartesian Binary Recordings)
17. Dido – Girl Who Got Away (RCA)
18. Allison Moyet – The Minutes (Metropolis)
19. Hooverphonic – The Night Before (Columbia Europe)
20. Rhian Sheehan – Stories from Elsewhere (Darla Records)
21. Syriana – The Road to Damascus (Real World)
22. Shaman’s Dream – Prana Pulse (Sounds True)
23. Sigur Ros – Kveikur (XL Recordings)
24. Ian Boddy – Liverdelphia (DiN)
25. John Parish – Screenplay (Thrill Jockey)

See the Best of Echoes 2013….So Far

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Sign up for Echoes CD of the Month Club. With the Echoes CD of the Month Club, you get great CDs like Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters.  Follow the link to the Echoes CD of the Month Club and see what you’ve been missing.

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.

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

Rachel Zeffira – Chamber Pop Live on Echoes

Hear Rachel Zeffira play live tonight on Echoes.

Rachel Zeffira Live on Echoes

She turns her opera-trained soprano into a caressing hush;  mixes circus organ with a song about suicide; and uses oboe arrangements that sound like the The Left Banke’s “Pretty Ballerina.” That’s only part of the allure in Rachel Zeffira’s debut album, The Deserters.  Tonight you can hear her do it live on Echoes.

Zeffira was born and raised in Canada but comes to us via England where she moved to study classical opera singing. There,  she fell-in with Faris Badwan, front man for the post-punk band The Horrors.  He turned her on to modern rock and psychedelic music.  They formed an aggressive duo called Cat’s Eyes, but on her own, Zeffira takes a more contemplative approach with songs that yearn like gothic angels in tears.

Most of The Deserters hovers in that melancholy zone.  The title track’s classical piano motif and chorus of oboes frame  Zeffira’s lyrics of lost connections sung in a breathy voice that belies her operatic training; more lullaby than aria.  Even on a relatively buoyant song like “Here On In,” Zeffira’s voice hangs suspended like a ghostly projection.

Zeffira is not afraid of the darkness.  “Letters from Tokyo (Sayonara)” is a song about suicide whose heartbreaking lyrics reveal a tortured mind waffling between anguish and cruel spite.

You won’t hear from me anymore
I told many lies and hid many more
And now you’ll never know what they were for

She intones those words in distant, dispassionate voice, layered  over a circus organ, before dropping into a swooning chorus that shudders on the shoals of heartbreak.  For all its sorrow, “Letters from Tokyo” is the most devastating and beautiful song on an album full of them.

Zeffira ups the rhythm on “Break the Spell,” starting out as another classically-themed piece with a string quartet, before launching the driving drum loops and sequencers.  But even here, melancholy reigns because:

She always knows the sad songs best
So she’ll think of things she’d rather forget

Sixties references abound on The Deserters like a viewing of “Hullabaloo – a 60’s Flashback” on PBS.  On “Front Door,” she evokes “Johnny Angel,” a 1962 hit song for Shelley Fabares from The Donna Reed Show.  While her other lyrics are draped in hidden meanings and shaded nuance, this is an unabashed love song without a trace of irony, except possibly that it exudes the pre-Beatles naiveté of the early sixties. It serves as a bas-relief for her cover of My Bloody Valentine’s “To Here Knows When.” In a song that was originally a cacophony of distorted guitars, she locates the one pretty element buried in the noise: a minimalist fugue that she brings to the fore in her restrained and nuanced rendition of this shoegaze haiku.

Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters is an album that Brian Wilson might have played “In My Room.” It’s a CD for when it’s dark and you’re alone, but you won’t be afraid because Rachel Zeffira is there to soothe you, in your room.

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Sign up for Echoes CD of the Month Club. With the Echoes CD of the Month Club, you get great CDs like Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters.  Follow the link to the Echoes CD of the Month Club and see what you’ve been missing.

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.

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

Rachel Zeffira – The Deserters – Echoes CD of the Month

Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters Echoes June CD of the Month

Hear Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters tonight on Echoes.

She turns her opera-trained soprano into a caressing hush;  mixes circus organ with a song about suicide; and uses oboe arrangements that sound like the The Left Banke’s “Pretty Ballerina.” That’s only part of the allure in Rachel Zeffira’s debut album, The Deserters.

Zeffira was born and raised in Canada but comes to us via England where she moved to study classical opera singing. There,  she fell-in with Faris Badwan, front man for the post-punk band The Horrors.  He turned her on to modern rock and psychedelic music.  They formed an aggressive duo called Cat’s Eyes, but on her own, Zeffira takes a more contemplative approach with songs that yearn like gothic angels in tears.

Most of The Deserters hovers in that melancholy zone.  The title track’s classical piano motif and chorus of oboes frame  Zeffira’s lyrics of lost connections sung in a breathy voice that belies her operatic training; more lullaby than aria.  Even on a relatively buoyant song like “Here On In,” Zeffira’s voice hangs suspended like a ghostly projection.

Zeffira is not afraid of the darkness.  “Letters from Tokyo (Sayonara)” is a song about suicide whose heartbreaking lyrics reveal a tortured mind waffling between anguish and cruel spite.

You won’t hear from me anymore
I told many lies and hid many more
And now you’ll never know what they were for

She intones those words in distant, dispassionate voice, layered  over a circus organ, before dropping into a swooning chorus that shudders on the shoals of heartbreak.  For all its sorrow, “Letters from Tokyo” is the most devastating and beautiful song on an album full of them.

Zeffira ups the rhythm on “Break the Spell,” starting out as another classically-themed piece with a string quartet, before launching the driving drum loops and sequencers.  But even here, melancholy reigns because:

She always knows the sad songs best
So she’ll think of things she’d rather forget

Sixties references abound on The Deserters like a viewing of “Hullabaloo – a 60’s Flashback” on PBS.  On “Front Door,” she evokes “Johnny Angel,” a 1962 hit song for Shelley Fabares from The Donna Reed Show.  While her other lyrics are draped in hidden meanings and shaded nuance, this is an unabashed love song without a trace of irony, except possibly that it exudes the pre-Beatles naiveté of the early sixties. It serves as a bas-relief for her cover of My Bloody Valentine’s “To Here Knows When.” In a song that was originally a cacophony of distorted guitars, she locates the one pretty element buried in the noise: a minimalist fugue that she brings to the fore in her restrained and nuanced rendition of this shoegaze haiku.

Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters is an album that Brian Wilson might have played “In My Room.” It’s a CD for when it’s dark and you’re alone, but you won’t be afraid because Rachel Zeffira is there to soothe you, in your room.

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

Sign up for Echoes CD of the Month Club. With the Echoes CD of the Month Club, you get great CDs like Rachel Zeffira’s The Deserters.  Follow the link to the Echoes CD of the Month Club and see what you’ve been missing.

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.

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