Hilary

Stagg unøeils an exguisite,neøl

recording. Adding the sounds of lrish

flute, electricfddle and angelic

øoices to

his uniqueþ electr'fied hørp tones,

Hilary

creates a sound

transPorts

that ffirtlessþ

!0a to an unþrgettable land

of serenity and enchantrnent.

Uùr¿ .,,¿lJ)ire '" Issue

3

On the'Wire

September/October 1997 .... page 2

What's in a name? A lot! page 2 In the Wind haPPening Brief notes on what's page 3 Correspondence go! Your chance to tell us where to Genre Definitions, Part One Page 3 Highly subjective definitions of the kinds of music featured in the magazine page 4 Concert Reviews Steve Roach andVidna Obmana Robert Fripp: Soundscapes page 5 Artist Spotlight on Jon Mark A lively discussionwith the ambient musician and his wife, Thelma Burchell Featured Label: Hearts of Space....... page 8 A surprisingþ intens e c onversation with Dr. Space himself-Stephen Hill Growing Up with Electronic Music.. page 11 Part two of Hannah Shapero's three-part series finds her performing in Europe! Interview with Robert Rich .............. page 13 From his sleep-concerts to his new vocal album, this rnusician has done it all ...... page 15 Wire Taps A new column of shorter music reviews page 77 Music Reviews AII the m.usic that's fit to printor something like that! page 27 Listening to the Past .......... Our look back at notable recordings

Cotections: Last issue's Robin Speilberg article contained an effor. The article should have read as follows: "North Star Music has sold over 2001000 units of Robin Spielberg's Heal of the Hønd, Unchained Melod.ies, Songs of the Spirit,In the Heørt of Winter and, Spirit of the Holid,ays (with LunaMoon)".

...'

The review of Felicetti's CD, Imagination,inthe last issue was not properly credited to our own Judy Markworth. Sincere apologies to you, Judy, for this oversight!

Wind and V/ire

('

Editor and Publisher .... Bill Binkelman Kathryn Heinze Copy Editor Chad Gould, David Hassell, Vy'riters

Neil Leacy, Judy Markworth, Kathy Parsons, Hannah Shapero

Layout

Bill Binkelman

Macintosh support ...... John Seaborn Kathryn Heinze Moral support EllenYarns Barbara Gottfried Staff mascots

Shadow and Piaf

Wind øndWire is published every other month by Bilt Binkelman. Subscriptions rates are $18 yearly (U.S. funds) for the U.S. and Canada, $30 overseas (U.S. funds only). All material @ Wind andWire.Wntten permission to quote from the reviews in this publication is not needed if proper credit is given at the time of printing. In all other cases, prior permission from the publisher is needed to reproduce or reprint any other material from this publication. Please direct all advertising inquiries and promotional material, including music for review to: Wind and Wire 3010 Hennepin Avenue South, #84 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408 or to userid: billb @bitstream.net. (612) 824-3819

Next month in

Wìrt¿.,,¿ tUire . . . . . . .

Interviews: A Produce, Richard Bone, Kudzu, and Spencer Brewer Featured Label: TBA (no, that's not the label!) Hannah Shapero concludes her series on her role in the early days of electronic music From the artist's perspective-a guest article by pianist Bradley Sowash Ever wonder what it's like to live your dream? Wind and l7¿r¿ subscriber Ken Pedersen takes us inside the recording of his first solo CD We give a listen to what's new in holiday music and tell you what's a "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and what's a "Bah, humbug!" As usual, lots of reviews

NOTE: If you're looking for the Barry Stramp interview in the table of contents, we regret it's not there. Due to unforseen circumstances, the interview did not take place as planned.'We'11try to make it happen in a future issue, though. 1

On The Wire

A Rose by Any Other Nøme Møy Smell a Lot,Better One of the frequently debated on-going topics in this industry is the overall label given to this music. The term used most often is "new age music." Depending on who you speak to, it's also usually the most disliked. Here at the magazine, we have used contemporary instrumental music, contemporary acoustic and electronic music, and a few other names. On the 'net recently, some people have voiced the opinion that the name shouldn't matter much. It's good music so what's the big deal? \ù/e know what we like after all. I wish it \ryas as simple as that. If you speak to many of the artists you'll hear more than a few of them state that putting their CDs in the new age music section is abandoning them to the black hole ofretail from where there is no escape. I tend to agree with this view. Unlike many other music genre labels (e.g. rock and roll, jazz,blues, classical), new age music shares its name with a social and spiritual movement which has little connection with the music marketed under the term. There are some true new age music artists, i.e musicians who embrace

new age philosophy, incorporate it into their music, and make no apology for it, However, the overwhelming majority of

artists whose work is in Borders or Tower in the new age section are there merely because there is no other place to put their recordings. Stephen Hill and I discussed this issue (see page 8) and we agree on one thing. The use of the term "new age music" hurts the industry as a whole. V/hy? Much of the mainstream public, by virtue of associating new age music with the movement, does not give it a chance as a viable alternative music for listening. Most people may view the movement as kooky, dangerous, blasphemous, or cultish. So, when music is referred to as new age music, people who don't understand the incredible variety and richness ofthe various subgenres ofthat family of music just reject it out of hand. You may say, "Oh screw 'em. It's their loss."Yes, it is. However, it's our loss, too. Many of my friends were just like these people. Then I'd play some Tim Story or Kevin Kendle or Suzanne Ciani or Al Gromer Khan or-well, you get the idea. Invariably their response would be, "You mean, that's new age music?" Suddenly, they're a fan. Why? Because the ignorance created by the wrong term has been at least partially erased. My chiropractor, who just discovered contemporary instrumental

music, said everyone he knows is in the dark about this music. He tells me that if people knew this was out there, it'd fly off the record store shelves. I agree. I believe with all my heart that much of the music in this wonderful field has a huge untapped audience just waiting to enjoy it. However, it won't be easy to get them to pay attention. We can start by looking for a new name. Yes, the term "contemporary instrumental music" is verbose and clunky. It would be nice to come up with something easy and short and catchy. But until we do, we need to start reversing the damage done by the use of a genre label that is way past its prime. In its infancy it probably was mostly new age music (well, a good deal of it, maybe), Now, however, the ambient strains of A Produce, the electronics ofJon Jenkins, the flutes of Coyote Oldman, the didgeridoo of Steve Roach, the piano of Robin Spielberg, the guitar of Billy Mclaughlin, and the oboe of Nancy Rumbel demand something better. Let's give them what they deserve.

In the Wind The normal "In the'Wind" column is on late summer vacation. In its place, I'd like to tell you a little bit about my trip to the New Age Trade Show in Denver, Colorado, at the end ofJune. Ifyou think this article will be boring, just be thankful I'm not bringing out the slides and projector! Actually, part of the trip was boring, since I drove from Minneapolis to Denver.

V/hile the scenery left a lot to be desired, the music didn't. I had stocked up on tapes before I left. Whether I was driving during the day or night, I had tunes to fit my mood and the time of day. Since Denver is almost 1,000 miles from my apartment, I drove through every possible time of day. The long trip did serve to remind me that listening to contemporary instrumental music on a good car stereo is a wonderful experience. Some of the albums I played for the first time, while others sounded brand new all over again. 2

(Ken Bonfield, Dean Evenson, Scott Huckabay, Steve McDonald) and others just to mingle and press a little flesh (Laurie 2., James Asher, Jon Mark). I was lucky enough to meet many of the artists (see the Jon Mark and Thelma Burchell was well represented, there were also interview later in this issue). I probably people who were hawking crystals, books, sound dweebish, but it's quite a thrill to incense, clothes-if it's sold in a "new age come face-to-face with people whose CDs Denver in the bookstore" someone you own, play, and love. Many of them are peddling it store to Mart was Merchandise down-to-earth, warm, and engaging. hall of very in the expo owners. The atmosphere (and his charming wife, Thelma), Ken, Jon and all but humming the show was always Laurie and were especially good-natured. tbroughout the crowds a few stalls drew I a seminar about creative ways attended one day I visited, sell music. There was lots of to use and in attenlabels who were Some of the listening stations and in-store talk about Earth, Audio BWE, New dance were however you could by artists, appearances Miramar, White Cloud, Alternatives, were looking for store owners tell that Planet, Six Degrees, the Soundings of (some of little more concrete a something and New andJazz, Polygram Classics 'World. Since their labels were there, there were also more úiân a few artists in (continued on page 7) attendance, Some werè on hand to perform Now, on to the show! The New Age Trade Show is an exposition for specialty store owners to come and see many different vendors who all want them to buy their stuff. As such, while "new age" music

Correspondence We love hearing from you. You can email us at: [email protected] or use snail mail to the following address

Wind and \Vi¡e 3010 Hennepin Ave S. #84 Minneapolis MN 55408

Wind and Wire 3010 Hennepin Avenue South, #84 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408

Dear Bill:

I receive your Magazine Issue 1. Thanks. I think that in the ocean of information

thoroughly enjoyed all three.

Some suggestions for your publications:

Wind andWire is a little pearl.

Thanks again and keep up the good work onWind andWire.

1)

Good luck.

2) 3)

For the uninitiated a description of your genre classifications would help (space-music vs ambient)

I'd

be interested

in

(

Christopher Kubat Highlands Ranch CO Excellent suggestions, Christopher See the first installment of our genre definition listing below. We'll see what we can do about the other two as well in future issues. BiTT

Mt. JulietTN

Bulgaria

an interview with

Forrest Fang I have purchased many CDs based on label sampler discs. Maybe an article on what is available and worthwhile.

Rick Jannett

Ivan Terziev ([email protected])

the kind words, Rick. And I'rn glad you have found some new music thanks to the magazine. That's our primary Thanks

Bill Thanks for the complimentary copy of the fust issue of Wind andWire magazine.I enjoyed it very much. As you know, it is diffrcult to find much in the way of periodicals devoted to discussion and review of New Age music.

I've already purchased

3 CDs from your

advertisers based on the review of Cavern of Sirens in the ApriVMay issue and I have

for

goal-to

introduce our readers to music that they either didn't previously know about or failed to'take notice of beþre.

Biu Ed.'s note: Be sure to read our first readersubmitted review in our "Wire Taps" music review section. It's from reader Syd Baumel. Want to submit a review? Great! Send it to us at the above address!

"So, what the hell is Ambient-noir, anyway?"

A Highly Subjective list of Genre Definitions

by

Bill (what makes him an expert?) Binkelman

Part I: Ambient music and its close relatives AMBIENT NOIR

AMBIENT.DUB

AMBIENT

Sometimes also referred to as "dark ambient," this relatively new subgenre is usually non-rhythmic and free floating with an emphasis on music that is somber, moody, foreboding, or disquieting. Musically, this can be manifested with minor chords/notes, mild or severe dissonance/atonality, and industriaVnoise elements. While heavily rooted in electronics, ambient-noir can also feature flutes, especially where this genre crosses over into tribal or ethno tribal. In those cases, sampled or acoustic percussion may be used extensively, along with primal instruments such as the Australian didgeridoo. Examples of ambient noir include Well of Souls (Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana), Stalker (Robert Rich and

This version of ambient music grew out of the English techno/house club scene. Club DJs, sensing the need for a slower music to be played in "chill out" rooms where exhausted dancers could relax, took techno music and slowed it down while also

The modern pioneer of ambient music is usually acknowledged to be Brian Eno. Eno was commissioned by the French to compose music which would be played through the speaker system at Charles deGaulle Airport in Paris. This music was supposed to aid travellers in reducing their stress level. What Eno developed (in his Ill;st Music For Airports release) was music that was just as easily ignored as it was listened to (if not more so). Ambient music is, by design, "sonic wállpaper," i.e its primary aim is to unconsciously/ subconsiously elevate and/or affect the mood of people in the listening environment. Examples of this music are very subjective. I consider the two releases by Liquid Mind, the work of James Owen Matthews and Coyote Oldman, as well as some of Eno's work, to be ambient.

B Lustmord), and þcho Brahe (Lightwave).

strþping away the occasional vocals. When artists caught wind of this, ambientdub as a musical format was born. Usually, ambient dub has a heavy or medium bass or rhythm presence, albeit slowed down. Sometimes, the music is more freefloating. Almost always the music is generated purely electronically, although non-electronic percussion and electric guitar can also be present. Some of this music is very spacey, i.e. far-out, while other times it is almost danceable. Some artists who record in this style are Future Sound of London, Human Mesh Dance, and Banco de Gaia.

3

Concert Reviews Roach and Vidna Obmana Shank Hall Milwaukee Wisconsin July 30, 1997 l-$teve

The interior of Shank Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resembles many other small urban folUrock clubs-a Miller Genuine Drafi neon sign, a cigarette machine by the wall between the two rest rooms, aTV on the wall. The small stage is lit by nuo red spotlights. There are about 80 to 100 people sitting on straight-backed chairs, clustered around small tables. Over the speaker system, the strains of what sounds Iike WelI of Souls can be heard. Long-haired Steve Roach and very shortcropped Vdna Obmana walk on stage. The two musicians adjust some of the multitude of gear onstage (sound processors, keyboards, mikes, and who knows what else). At 8:15, the slow but steady throb of percussion begins. It's loud-I mean really loud! And the concert begins.

The opening music sounds like the Roach/Rich CD Somq but pumped 1"II oÍ steroids. The same sensuous rhythms are there, but the percussion is thunderous and the drones are thick in the cigarette-smoþ air Industrial noises and odd rattling percussion echo ominously and continuously. Gradually, the beat becomes polyrhythmic and really takes off! This is ultra-tribal music. It's everything that these two play on CD but dialed up about 1,000 notches. Did I mention it was LOUD? Soon the rhythm slows into a smooth ambient-tribal groove andthe drones settle

4

down a bit. Steve andVidna prowl the stage intermittently looking for things: a rattle, a rainstick, something to strike. They play these into mikes that are literally drenching with echo-effect. Vidna shakes a rattle once and the sound circumnavigates the bati or maybe the whole world. Steve grabs his didgeridoo, which has a wireless mike attached to the end of it, and begins playing. The buzzing and barking of the ancient instrument is so primal that it seems out ofplace, except that the club is so damn dørk that the illusion almost works. Steve takes the didge and leaves the stage, playing all the time, and walks out into the audience. Did anyone expect this? On stage, Vdna leans into the mike now and then and utters strange vocalizings that are disturted by the myriad of gear andwind up sounding like I don't know what, except it sure is cool. Eventually, Steve puts down the didge, and the heavy tribal beats fade and are replnced by swirling layers of dark ambient synth washes and drones. This "quiet time" lasts just a short while, though, and soon both Steve andVidna qre

on their didgeridoos and the bar is once a g ain

Grand Trib al

S t atio

n.

The whole concert went this wayalternating periods of loud, intense, percussion-dominated tribal magic, interspersed by brief ambient and spacemusic rest periods, What did it sound like? Soma, Suspended Memories and Cavern of

Sirens came to mind for me. Steve and Vidna played lots of exotic percussion, including frarÍle drum, rainsticks, shakers, rattles, wood sticks and it was all heavily echoed. When ilié concert ended, the mostly male crowd, who appeared to be

between 20 and 40 years old for the most part, applauded heartily, The two weren't quite done yet, though. Their encore started off unlike the rest of the concert: deep space music-very slow, very patient, very synth-based. It was almost serene. However, this was just a set up for the big finish. When the rhythm finally emerged from this deep drifting, it came on very fast and very loud. Abruptly the beat stopped, fading out very quickly. There was some rumbling and finally, a loud thunderclap exploded from the sound system, hung in the air and eventually echoed into nothingness. By the way, some of you may know this akeady, but a thunderclap is the opening sound from Steve Roach's new CD, On This Planet. -Bill Binkelman-

Robert Fripp: Soundscapes Salisbury Cathedral Jane 5,1997 It is 2:30 p.m, and the first note of an afternoon of ambient music has just been plucked. At f,rrst I feel disappointment as the sound is coming from the foldback speakers. But, after a few moments, the main speakers set around the main seating area are brought into play and there we a¡e-in the music. For those who have not heard any of Robert's Soundscapes, very few of the sounds produced from the comprehensive looking fx rack that accompanies him are guitar-like. Single, sustained synth notes and short motifs are set to play over what sounds like a mixture of 10, 15 or 2O second intervals creating ever moving harmonic patterns of sound. As the first compositions grow, I take stock of how unusual this free performance is, Dwarfed by the massive columns at the base ofthe cathderal spire, Robert uses his guitar as a controller for the synth modules and fx units. Some people are sitting in rapt attention listening to every nuance whilst others-tourists-are simply wandering about enjoying the history of the building. As the composition changes, each piece blending into the next, some of the tourists stop and listen while some of

the audience, including myself, get up and walk about. (continued on page 10)

Jon Mark Painting inner landscapes with ambient music Interview by Bill Binkelman

Jon Mark has had two musical lives. As singer and guitarist with the Mark-Almond Band, he and his band offered up a unique blend of jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock in the '60s and '70s. The near tragic accident which ended his guitar playing also led him onto his current path of playing keyboards. I had the greatpleasure of meeting and talking with Jon and his wife, Thelma Burchell (who co-produces Jon's and all of the White Cloud label's recordings), at the New Age Trade Show in Denver in June. They are among the nicest and most downto-earth people I have ever met.

music that you can be immersed in, like getting under a shower, Thelma: I can see the progression. There's a melodic string that holds together through all of Jon's music. When he started writing for Mark-Almond, he was writing for more specific instruments like saxophones and keyboards. But even then there's this strong melodic quality that he's

Your song titles, Iike, "Pine Logs on an Open Fire" don't tell the listener what to feel eithetr so that they're free to bring their own emotions to the

music itself. Jon: I don't purposely go for ambiguity in song titles, but for more of a prose or poetic approach. I give you a possible picture like "The Stag, the Running Stream, and the Greenwood" and that's where you can go to first, But then you can take off wherever you want. I'm definitely into the

from guitar to playing keyboards. From thøt point, how did you start composing ambient music ? Jon: I think that evolution is a very natural process, whether it's physical evolution through an aging process or

musical or spiritual evolution. From

the very first moment I started playing music I see a progression, not meaning my getting better, but a progression in terms of linear time and a natural evolution in my thoughts about music. The music I do

now I see as a completely natural evolution. The same way your body structure changes over a period of time, so does your mental thought and so does your artistic vision.

Beþre your stint in the Mark-Almond Band, did you sense that this type of music was inside of you? Jon: I think it's always been there, I started off with Marianne Faithfull and then I went on to tour with the John Mayall Blues Band. Back in those days, I wasn't a lead guitar player. I had always been a folk singer. V/ithin those elements of folk and unaccompanied English folk singing those elements were potentially there. I've always preferred more passive music,

mental music, what happens is it's totally non-statement. The moment you take the verbalization out, you're left with pure music. My vision may have been an old Celtic village by a river but you might hear Boulder, Colorado, and you get the whole vision of that. So for me, instrumental music is a way of involving my listeners in a much more deeply personal sense. Do I miss singing? Not at all. I used to enjoy singing but that was because I was making a statement. I don't miss singing even vaguely.

An accident prompted you to switch

a

we'll be happy for eternity." Or, you know, "I was going down the road, feeling bad, got the blues 'cause my baby..." You're making some kind of statement, whether it's a semi-political one like in a Bob Dylan song or a statement like a Madonna song. So what you're saying to people is, "This is what I'm saying. You [the listener] have no part of this dialog." When you move into instrushe loves me,

Artist Spotlight

Jon Mark always had plus there's a spatial element and this spatial element has come right forward into his ambient contemporary instrumental work in the last twelve years. The trademarks that are recognized as Jon Mark a¡e this strong melodic quality and this spatial quality where you can feel like you can actually walk into the music. There's room in it. It actually has a space. This quality has moved right through thirty years of music.

Do you miss being a vocalist at all, as you were in the Mark-Almond Band? Jon: That's a really interesting question. When you sing or write a lyric, you actually make a statement, like "I love her,

listener taking responsibility for their own journey. Like Thelma once said, which I thought was particularly good, I "give you the landscape" but you have to actually take yourself into it.

Hølf your catalog of instrumental is Celticbased (The Standing Stones of Callanish, Land of Merlin, andA Celtic Story). Is that a reflection of an ffinity you feel for your Celtic heritøge, or is it the musical themes that intrigue you? Jon: I think it's a very big part of who I am and how I think. I have Celtic blood, there's no question about that. I definitely respond to heland and the Deepwood and the Greenwood, the way England is, the flora and the fauna, the rocky coastlines. I also relate to the modality of the music. It has an organic feel to it. Real Celtic music is almost mystical in its nature. It reminds me of misty mornings and the earth. That's 5

what Celtic does for me and I definitely have a tremendous drawing to expressing myself [through it]. Not all the time, though. Your same musical phrasings and tech-

niques are easily translatable to other cultures, as you show on CDs like Asia JournE [reviewed in issue #2 of Wind and Wire - ed.l or A Sundav in Autumn. You can tell it's Jon Mark, but it's Jon Mark in a way you haven't heard beþre. Jon: When I decide on a project, I let it just run a¡ound in my head. Then it'll come to me. It'll be a feeling, a place, a person or a

situation. Like one I just finished that won't be out for awhile, it's called Winter. It's probably my most minimalist work that

I've ever done. It describes a day in winter in Germany when Thelma and I were on

brance. Jon: That sort of feeling of slight sadness, melancholy, wistfulness, or remembrance is, I think, not part of my obvious ego personality that you see as I walk down the street, but it is how I feel inside. I can never get rid of that and I never want to because that's a reflective space that is

actually me. Thelma: The only thing that I'd add to that is simply that I think what Jon's music is doing is creating a stillness or helping to creafe a personal stillness. And you can't do that with happy rhythmic music. You actually need to create this calm still spatial

quality to actually be able to look reflectively, you know, turn inside yourself.

our own at a friend's house. I enjoy doing different projects because I think that there is a complacency and a laziness and an affogance that a musician can sometimes Is that conscious for get like "Well I'm known for doing this so you, Jon? Helping I'll keep on doing it, and you get somelisteners get to that thing like Friday the l3thpart 11lthor point? Or is that just Son of Standing Stones Number 27. Some a by-product ofyour people said I was a bit brave or adventurown composition ous doing Asia Journey because ofa lot of process? my listeners who relate to my Celtic stuff Jon: I don't sit down and actually think, "I might not [ike] that at all. I don't personwant to take my listeners to a very quiet ally believe that. I'm doing one right now tranquil place." I think, "I am going to go a which will be very unusual from what I normally do. I'm doing an African album. I quiet tranquil place" and I'm lucky enough don't work with rhythms very much, but it to be able to do this and have my listeners come with me. I get a tremendous theracame up. It wants to be done. So, instead peutic value sitting down in my studio and of saying, "No, I don't do that." if that's working for 8 hours. It's a joke to call it what going to happen, that's it.. work, because it isn't working at all. Instead of coming home tired, I come back Your music is very evocative, especially totally relaxed and fully energized and about afeeling of longing or rememvery happy. There's no way I can call it work. It's a joy and a gift.

6

designers and giving her impressions of what she wants, like A Sunday in Autumn has her cover. She plays a very vital part in the music. Without our relationship, it wouldn't be the same. Thelma: We've known each other since we were 18. That's over thirty years, so we don't have to explain to each other anything having to do with musical history or taste or feel because there's all that background. It's actually very helpful. Jon is the only person I can talk to without having to put in a sort of introductory paragraph. I don't have to explain anything. We can

just talk immediately about the style, where it's going. And we understand each other completely. It's great. It's very

helptul, So you hqve the

two new projects going, the Winter album and the African music album. Now, is the inspiration for the African album also based on a

trip there or time spent there? Jon: I've always had a tremendous pull towards Zulus and Africa. Thelma has always envisioned herself, ever since she was a child, being with missionaries, which is really bizarre. I feel like aZalu and she feels like a missionary. Now, that's a most odd thing to say, but I've always been attracted to that culture. And consequently, I love African music. I love the rhythms of it. Because that was the Ma¡kAlmond band, too, that was based on that.

Thelma, what role do you play in producing Jon's music?

Tim Story also said he wanted to do a rhythmic album and he, like you, works

Jon: I'll answer that because she'll be too modest. Thelma is invaluable because when I'm starting projects I take my ideas to her and she's my sounding board. She's totally part of the whole landscape. She also works with me when I'm trying to write something for the inside lliner notes, ed.l. She's my editor. She'll say, "No, you're gÞtting too carried away." She keeps me in control there. She's also very involiod in designing the artwork, you know, working with the

almost totally non-rhythmical righî now. Jon: He's one of the few artists that I really have a deep abiding respect for in terms of how I relate to the space he's coming from, What's your overall assessment of the health of your kind of music today? Chuck WiId (see issue #2) believes that the stress level in our world is such that this kind of relaxing music has to become more popular since we need it so much. What do the two ofyou have to say about this? Thelma: I think you're talking about the

music business, right? So, you have to recognize that the music business is separate from the music. You're always going to have this aspect of massive marketing of individual products, limited pieces ofproduct. So, ifit's going to be Enya, or Yanni, or John Tesh, the major music business industry can see that that's more marketable and that they can sell many units of it. I don't think that's ever going to change. It's an aspect ofselling music that you're never going to get way from. The pleasure with the music that we're putting out is that it is positive so not only are we doing something creative but we feel that we are doing something that's helpful as well. But we still can't forget the fact that we're part of the music industry. Jon: There's two kinds of hell. One hell is extreme heat, living in the desert. The other kind ofhell is living in freezing cold, hostile cold, A temperate climate is really what's very healthy. Some "new age music" is unhealthy because it's too cold, it's so contrived, so syrupy. It's not healthgiving. On the other hand, some rock, some rap, and some other kinds of music is like living in the desert because it's too

loud, too destructive; it's physically destructive. The frequency of the bass response is actually physically harmful. Temperate is where it's at. Take the worst of what I call syrupy new age music, and allow it some intelligence, allow it some subconscious motivations. Take the very aggressive music and bring it back to the middle, My sort of music really sits in the middle between two extremes: very old classical music and some types of new age music that are just insulting to the intelligence, and on the other end ofthe scale is heavy metal and rap, I think that this music that we do, and a lot of other labels like us, literally sits in a comfortable temperate middle. I think it can only expand and attract more people because it has within the element of peace and balance. .Ton

In the Wind

from page

3

the comments made by panel members were so blatantly self-serving that they evenjoked about the obviousness ofit). Toward the end, one of the store owners I had met walked up to the open mike, held an issue of Wind andWire up to the panel and the audience and said, "This is what we need!" Hear, hear! Of course, I was

blushing.

Now that it's almost autumn, and the time to hibernate is fast approaching, you'll need some good reading material.

Seriously, I went to Denver to network and let people know about the magazine. Everyone in the industry who saw it

Subscribe to

seemed impressed. But I still think that the magazine is, as someone once referred to it on the 'net, "the best kept secret in the

Wind und Wire.

industry." As I left Denver on Saturday night, a violent thunderstorm lit up the distant horizon. I hope thatWind andWire can also flash now and then and help more people discover what you readers already know-there's lots of great music out there. You just gotta find it and give it a listen!

The magazine of contemporary

instrumental music

I

See page 28 of

ì ñ9n 9R\lnRRY

tU

this issue

n\E Kv9l\

it

Mark Discography

The Standing Stones of Callanish (1988)

Innd of Merlin (1992) Alhambra (1992) A Celtic Story Q994) A Sunday InAutumn (1995) Asia Journey (1996) All the Best From Jon Mark (1991)

I 7

-1 Featured Label

Hearts of Space A Very Candid Conversation with Stephen Hill Interview by Bill Binkelman If ever someone needed no introduction, it's Stephen Hill. Dubbed "Dr. Space" by

a

legion of fans, the owner of the ultramellow voice on public radio (host of "Music from the Hearts of Space") took a few minutes to chat with me via phone from the West Coast. He proved to be almost the opposite of his on-air persona, as he spoke candidly and sometimes very heatedly about a variety oftopics. This was one intense interview!

How didyou getfrom hosting the Hearts of Space radio show to starting the record Iabel?

It was 1984. We had just gone to a national program the year before and our main business at that time was a retail mail order

business. I didn't think that we would start a record label for some time. It was in the back of my mind but I just thought it was way too early for that. But, certain people would come to me with masters and say, "Do you know somebody who will put this out for me?" Some very very good people like Steve Roach and Richa¡d Burmer and people like that. I would send them on to various people that I knew that were running independent labels, Sometimes it was successful and sometimes it wasn't. Kevin Braheny, a friend of mine, had put out one album of his own previously. And he never had enough money to make copies and, you know, he wasn't really doing it very well. In 1984 he did this new music, which was clearly the best he'd ever done. And I said to him, "Look, why don't you let us handle this, because no matter how bad we do it, we can't screw it up any worse than you already are."

(laughing) And he agreed. It was the beginning and that was our first record we released on Hearts of Space. It's now called The Way Home.

Did the label grow out of your desire to help these øfüsts actually make records that could be bought? [As] an independent producer and engineer for over ten years I had worked with a lot of record companies and a lot of artists. And I also saw that most of these record companies went out of

business-very quickly

¡ometimes-even the ones

Stephen

Hill

lphoto courtesy of Hearts of Space)

that had some money behind them. So I wasn't in any big rush to get into the record

business. It's difficult. Over 957o of all the independent labels that start up a.re gone within 5 years. With odds like that, it was not a matter of idealistic conviction for me to start a record label. I saw that it was a business that required that you have a very organized situation. It was very much the third ring of a th¡ee ring circus with the radio show and the mail order business. rWe were doing it, but we were doing it carefully, We only put out three or four records in the first three or four years. It was in the third or fourth year that we started really working with it, putting out six records a year after that. Would you say that the kind of music you were, and still are, releasing was the same type that was featured on the show? Yeah, at the time it definitely was. New age was just getting started then as a visible genre. It had been an underground

thing, or an alternative market thing for several years. It wasn't until maybe 1986 that new age made it and had a chart in Billboard.I just wanted to put out the best music that we could find and I wanted to do a good job on it. And I only had access to certain people, because of who I was and what my taste was and what I was doing. So we just let it grow very naturally. It's interesting that at the beginning of, as you call it, new age music, or whatever you call it, in the mid '80s... Iùy'ell, I never wanted to call it that but that's what it got called. I always said it should be called contemporary instrumen-

tal. I agree. The tenn new age music is detrimental to the industry. I've said that over and over again. I've said that many many times. It was arguably a good name for a kind of broad diffuse psycho-social movement which in itself is very badly defined. It was a terrible name

for music. It never had anything to do with

marketed, promoted, and handled slightly

what the sound and the quality of the music was all about.

differently in retail.

It

seems like it's ø marketing convention. Well, for marketing purposes there has to

be some kind of shorthand or nomenclature. That's not a problem as far as I'm concerned. You want to have arecogniz' able and simple title, You know, ambient is a good example. It doesn't really mean anything specific, but it's memorable and it's one word and it's easy to say and when you have a section in a record store called ambient, then you have a general idea of

what you're going to find there,

I simply meant that they latched onto the wrong term. Yeah.

And now, for some reason, they're reluctant to change. Oh, it's too late. The fact is that there are a few artists who deserve to be called new age because they do have those kind of belief systems. But, in general, we have always used the term "space music" to promote the radio program. Always. We never used the term new age music, Not once,

I thought it [calling it new age music] was pretentious and embarrassing and not very informative. What prompted the start of Fathom as an amb i ent - no

ir

s

ub - lab

e

I?

Lots ofthings influenced that decision but there are two main ones with Fathom. One, the artists started asking us for it, People like Steve Roach and Robert Rich and

Lightwave didn't feel comfortable lumped into the same marketing category with artists like Raphael. It's not a comment about quality; it's a comment about a¡tistic direction. Secondly, in the record industry itself, it's traditional to organize sublabels around defined marketing genres and categories. What happened was that the rise of dark ambient in the underground became big enough, in the same way that new age had become big enough, so that it could establish itselfas a sub category.

It

seems like more labels are doing what HOS has done, that is spinning off sub-

labels. Real Music has Cocoon and Higher Octave has Cyber Octave. The industry drives you to do that, in terms of marketing. Because every genre is

Has the success of Hearts O' Space been a surprise to you? It was something of a surprise the degree to which it has become successful for us. 'When we released the first Celtic Twilight compilation, which was in 1994 we found that more than half of that record we could get from our label catalog, We just had never focused on it. I've said this in other places. It lCeltic music] was ideally positioned to become popular, because of

its history and its quality, its musical syntax and structure. You know, it's one of the root musics of American music, whether people know that or not. It goes back to Appalachian music, bluegrass, and the roots ofcountry and therefore the roots of rock and roll. It's part of our heritage. What's next on the agenda for you? This year we're doing another Klezmer record. It's going to be called Klezmer Soøl. Basically, we're doing something very similar to what we did with Celtic Twilight. On Celtic Twilight we focused on the more ethereal side of the Celtic genre. Klezmer is a music of extreme contrasts from very, very wild dance music to very quiet, very melancholy pieces. 'We're going to focus on the quiet side of the Klezmer genre and do a record that is tied to that. Also, we signed Oystein Sevag, who left V/indham Hill after three records. We're real excited about that. This record, as far as I can see, is the best thing that he's done. Other things? Hmmm. You know, we get a lot of offers now to work with people who are already established, So we have to sift through those things. Sometimes they make sense, but most of the time they don't. Some people

I've interviewed recently

think the future for instrumental music is

actually looking pretty bright. WiIl times get tougher? It's already gotten tougher in that the record business is going through one ofits periodic contractive phases. Right now. This isn't just us. It's the pop music industry and everybody else. As far as contemporary instrumental music is concerned it really is a question ofhow thoughtful you are and how well organized you are and how good your products are. There are people out there who appreciate

quality instrumental music. [But] you must

have a top quality product. You have to have organized and consistent marketing. You have to have some way of spreading the word about what you're doing through your promotion activities, be it on the web, on radio, you know, through advertising in the industry, whatever. That's very important because people, in general, are overwhelmed by choice.

that there's an almost numbing amount ofproduct out there for the listener to sift through. Yeah, and there has been for a while. And this is why we sell a good deal of music now outside ofthe traditional record stores, non-traditional retail, like The Nature Company. All these kind of new tie-in campaigns you see where a jazzlabel Some people say

will get together with Starbucks and do

a

promotion. It takes a little more time and effort to set it up, but basically they've decided to sell music wherever they can find a compatible audience. Do you ever regret starting the label and not just staying with the radio show?

No, quite the opposite. We could never have continued the radio program without having a business to sustain it because public radio is a terrible place to try and make a living. That's just because the economics of public broadcasting are what they are. But I don't have any doubts that I made the right decisions, at least for me. I did not want to be in a situation where my creative and every other financial option would be so terribly limited, This is one of the biggest problems with public broadcasting as it's practiced in this country compared to other countries where the money for public broadcasting is taxed and given to the system. You andyour show and label have a had huge impact on many people, some of whom say that Hearts of Space introduced them to contemporary instrumental music. That's very gratifying because I always saw this as a kind oflong term project. You have to rcalize that I did a local program as a volunteer for over ten years before we decided to nationally syndicate the program. So, this has always been more than just a half-assed hobby for me. You know, I got something out of it personally and then I got something out of it by sharing it with people. And I think the

(continued on page 14) 9

¡Robert Fripp

frompage 4

Moving around it strikes me that I'm hearing music being created unique to this moment and to the area I am stood in. The cavernous wings give space for the angelic sounds to move around. Close my eyes and I can not pinpoint the source. At the far altar end the music becomes a background to the sounds ofvisitors questioning guides or comparing notes amongst each other. I'm listening to all the sounds around me, notjust focusing on the any one; a very odd experience. Eventually I notice the addition of percussion instruments to the music. Wondering how Robert is managing to produce this effect I walk back to catch the latter part of an improvised music and movement production by a group of adults with learning diffrculties from the Sarum Adult Resource Centre. Using a mixture of household utensils to create percussive sounds, the obvious enjoyment in their performance and the enhancement they

add to the minimalist pattern that Robert has composed is very moving. A ripple of applause as they finish and

I

continue to explore the acoustics, walking behind a vaguely familiar figure... who I'd just seen in front ofhis fx rack and whose latest composition is still playing! How often can an artist walk away from a performance to hear himself play? Returning to his seat, Robert seems to have fun creating a Stockhausen effect of sounds zipping from left to right, rising, falling, fast and slow as if to clear his head before the next piece. Which, as it began to build in gentle complexity, I follow around the walls noticing details in the architecture I'd never seen before, while feeling a great sense of well being. The penultimate composition is very sparse, using bell like sounds to float amongst the eaves and columns. Again I notice Robert - this time sat amongst the audience. How, I ask myself, is he going to end 2 hours of continuous music making? Simple(sic), he goes back to his guitar and

starts to build the most amazing wall of sound. Organ sounds, appropriately, well up, filling every corner of the building. More notes are added as the whole composition becomes louder, thicker, denser. Overwhelming in its power, you

can feel it filling your body, your fingers tingle, your heart thumps hard, the

phsyicallity of it all is quite uplifting. And then it stops.,. the reverberation dying down for a few seconds as I take a breath beforejoining the applause the retreating

figure of a unique musician. Postscript: Still full of the power of the last piece and the experience of the whole afternoon I walked towards where Robert had been playing and was quite promptly brought down to earth overhearing a father saying to his son as they headed for the exit... "Christ that was boring!" Ah well, one man's pleasure in music is another man's sour fruit to the eat. The whole afternoon made me smile for hours afterwa¡ds. -Neil Leacy-

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Growing Up With Electronic Music Part Two: The electronic music studios of Europe By Hannah M.G. Shapero In the summer of 1969, the summer of 'Woodstock, my father, mother, and I toured Europe. rùy'e didn't have the actual Buchla synthesizer with us, but we did have the tapes of our "Improvisations" series, and my artist mother had a suitcase full of small works of art to show. Our first stop was at a\ art center near Copenhagen, Denmark, where longtime friends of our family had remodeled a country estate into a complex of art studios, exhibition space, and residences. This idyllic spot was called "Decenterl' a name that suggested "eccentric" or "decentralized." My mother set up her show in their whitewashed rustic art gallery, and a simple tape recorder and speakers was our concert sound system. Our hosts invited dozens of their friends, the a¡t elite of Denmark along with many American and other expatriate visitors. The sounds of Brandeis' Buchla and my father's piano riffs filled the old farmhouse with modern noise. The guests appreciated

it, and our "opening" was a melTy

occa-

sion.

Within a week, we were again on the road, heading toward London. Mutual musical friends had put us in touch with an electronic musician in that city, and his studio would be one of our destinations. The London-based musician was named Peter Zinovieff, of Russian descent, who was lucky enough to be independently wealthy and had financed his own elec-

tronic music setup. Zinovieff's studio was located in back of his home in an "artsy" section of London named Putney, on the moist bank of the Thames river. Originally, Zinovieff had been a geologist, and his house was still filled with rock samples. But he had become interested in not only electronic music but computers, and so his studio was more than state-of-the-a¡t, it was ahead of its time. It was what was then known as a "third-generation" studio - because it used computers. At that time, when electronic music was still "primitive," we used to classify studios as "first," "second," or "third" generation. The first generation was like

Brandeis' old electronic studio: it used oscillators and old sound testing equipment, along with sound modifiers and tape manipulation devices, all cobbled together in a custom-built array. The second generation was

like

Brandeis' current studio:

it

used pre-made synthesizers such as the Buchla and Moog, along with more sophisticated tape and sound preparation. But it was still " analogi' with no computers. The "third generation" music studio had what was just coming into use as the most modern equipment: not only synthesizers, but computers, In 1969, the desktop and laptop machines which we now take almost for granted existed only in fantasies. Computers were

big, bulky, wall-covering monsters with banks of mysterious lights and blank grey faces and tiny, blackand-white screens. We were impressed; Peter

Zinovieff had TWO comput-

Hannah Shapero editing tape in 1969

ers. He used these avantgarde machines to generate and shape sounds, and he played us some of his own music. He was also involved in the generation of musical and verbal patterns with his computers, in a kind of "wordplay" program. There in London, we of the second generation were looking at the first wave of the third. Another week of touring, and we were again in an electronic music studio, this time at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Again, my father and I were impressed at their computers - another "third generation" in continental Europe. Utrecht had been an electronic music center since the '50s, where Dutch composers like Henk Badings had produced pieces that still hold up today. Now the Nederlanders were still on the crest of

the wave. They also had a piece of equipment which made this Buchla-user envious: a 100-note sequencer. I had to make do with sequences of only 16 notes, but these musicians could come up with a sequence that seemed like real music with its long melodies, rather than the short mechanical rows I had to work with. Another feature of this big sequencer was that it could be run so fast that the 100 notes blended into one single note, which could be "programmed" into any tone color by changing the settings on those 100 steps.

Our family continued south through the continent, traveling like Deadheads in our Volkswagen camping bus, staying each night in a different suburban campground along with hippies, Germans, Australians, 11

and other international travelers. By midJuly we were in Rome, where we relinquished our muddy campgrounds for a borrowed penthouse apartment belonging to a musician friend of ours. We spent the rest of the hot, dry summer in Rome, and there were plenty of musicians to visit, along with a well-established electronic music studio. Rome was filled with expatriate Americans, including many artists of all media. Our musical contacts were connected with the American Academy in Rome, where for 100 years worthy Americans had come after receiving fellowships to study or create a¡t there. Our electronic musicians, including American composers Johnny Eaton and Jimmy Leong, had set up their studio in an old apartment building in downtown Rome. Their sound system was big and powerful, able to send forth thunderous bass tones. We played our "Improvisations" for them, and we hea¡d their music as well. The centuries-old building shook ominously each time the music got loud; the Italian stucco walls had never heard sounds such as these. The synthesizer this group used was the work of another man of Russian origin named Paul Ketoff. Ketoff was a Russian expatriate who had created a small synthesizer, somewhat along the lines of the Moog, which he called the SynKet (after SYNthesizer and KEToff). This machine, which could fit on a desktop, had a tuned keyboard and was adapted for live playing, unlike the Buchla. It produced less of a variety of sounds than the Buchla, but it was more manageable, without the annoying tangle of patchcords to lose or drop. I was quite taken by the SynKet and attempted to learn to play it, in the short time I had with it. In fact, my diary entry for the 20th ofJuly 1969 contained a series of notes about the features of the SynKet. That was at the top of the page....but a bit of other news also made that page, namely the first human landing on the moon. One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind; but first, the SynKet. Reluctantly we left the avant-garde musical expatriates of Europe, and sailed back to America on an ocean liner, our Volkswagen bus in the ship's hold. And yet after my senior year in high school was done, in 1970, our family again returned to

(continued onpage26)

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A Conversation with Robert Rich The Inner Mind of an Ambient Artist Someone once told me that Robert Rich takes his music very seriously. When I spoke with Robert via phone in his house in Silicon Valley, I had no idea I was about to have a conversation with someone who would leave me in the dust, from an intellectual standpoint. I tried to keep up as best I could. However, despite his intense intellect, Robert is also friendly and has a disarming laugh. This interview is just a portion of the myriad musings he sha¡ed with me Whqt are your musical roots?

I'm self-taught, although I came from

a

Interview by Bill Binkelman

England named Rick Davies, who became my best friend and is still is and he's my cunent partner in the band Amoeba' Rick and I formed a band playing experimental, improvised noise music, essentially. I suppose the reference point

that until I was about 18. I was already working on

Who were you listening to back then?

you're discovering music

as a

kid

you just fish around on the radio and listen to what you like. I think when I was 10 or 12 I started with Led Zeppelin and Yes and Gensis and that kind of thing. Probably by the time I was 13 or 14 I was into-well, I had hea¡d Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. This was 1916 or so. Around that time, I decided that I wanted to make music and to play synthesizers. Being a 73 year old kid I didn't really have that kind of money, so I started building them using money from my paper route among other things. I put together a modular synthesizer that was fully functional about a year later.

But you have no formal music training? I did take about six weeks of viola in school, but I didn't have the patience to play beginner's songs. I wanted to play the music I liked and I didn't want to play all this stupid, you know, starter music. I had music in my head and that's what I wanted to play. The fust band I was in, I was about 15 years old, and I joined up with a fellow I had just met who had come here from

industrial noise to European space music and also Indonesian and Indian classical music. The end result was kind of a hybrid of expermental and atonal and spacey and acoustic and elec-

tronic. Everybody has their own recipe that builds their own voice.

I did

sounded like.

father is a jazz guitanst-not professionally, but it was always a strong avocation for him. He played a little bit with Vince Guaraldi back in the '60s. So there was always music around, especially jazz and classical music. I started getting into progressive and experimental and strange rock music when I was about in seventh

Vy'hen

Your musical influences then were who?

My musical influences were pretty broad They went from

might be Throbbing Gristle. Imagine a hybrid of Fripp and Eno and Throbbing Gristle and you get a sense of what we

family where there was always music. My

grade.

making up weird stuff in their homes.

TelI me øbout the sleep concerts, The first sleep concert was in my freshman

my own experimental long-form music.

dorm at Stanford. It was a way to try to get Didyou realize Robert Rich people to listen to this back then that (photo courtesy of the artist) deep long-form very music was very I kind of music. serious to you? wanted to create a performance environOh yeah, I was already quite serious about ment that was conducive to deep trance, I it, to my parents' consternation, think that had a ritual quality, that would cteate a (laughing). I would stay up all night change of setting so that people might creating patches on the synthesizer it with fewer expectations and come into especially focusing on things that would something more maybe experience I modify themselves over time and would just profound more unique. About 40 and let these sounds run for days on end, it went a1l night people up and showed absorbing myself in the sound environment.

long.

This phase tookyou throughyour high

object of the concert to be lulled into a deep sleep? Basically, the music was not intended to put you to sleep. The music was intended to be a trance-inducing environment that would surround you, throughout the night, during sleep and waking. And the music was aimed primarily at insinuating itself into your consciousness and subconscious, so that it might become part of an internal environment, becoming psycho-active or part of your environment sonically.

school years? Yeah. The first space-music, shall we say, I was probably about 18 when I was doing that. Always, though, it was part of my vocabularly. I wanted to find a way of extending the mode of listening into a deep trance state and create music that was more psycho-active. I recorded my first album in my freshman dorm room, actually, which I released myself, and disüibuted through Fortuna. This was before the whole new age distribution channel started up and I was coming from an experimental music context. There was no ambient music and no new age music. There were just people

Was the

vehicle to induce an altered state of consciousness.

So the music was intended as a

t3

Right, right. It was basically meant to be a psychoactive acoustic chemical. What's the source of your music?

I would say it comes from

a desire

to feed

a certain feedback loop. I want to create music that contains within it the kind of energy that I want music to have. Let's put

it this way: When I listen to my favorite music, it causes something to change inside of me. It does something physiologically, it does someting psychologically. And I feel energized internally from that music, often, not in a simple way like a mood change or something that I can even put a name on. But often, just a sensation of experiencing truth or experiencing a very human communication. And I purposely experience that level of communication as a kind of energy. And I simply want to create music that contains within it the sort of energy that I seek. Is your music is like a lens through which your energy shines andthen disperses to a muchwider audience? Perhaps it's a lens or perhaps it's a mirror,

Or a filter. You know, these metaphors only I don't view art as being a carrier of information. I don't view it as being a vehicle. I think that when you change people with art or music or whatever, you're not doing it because you're giving them new information. You're doing it because you're excersing a faculty within them. In this sense, you're not providing go so far.

answers, you're asking questions. And I think that our aesthetic capacities are more like muscles than they are like senses. And when we have an aesthetic experience what we're doing is exercising our muscles, rather than obtaining information. And so when I'm talking about the music being a feedback loop for me, what I'm saying is that I'm trying to create music that asks questions that cause me to work out in my own being not the answers so much as the work itsslf. Your goal is not to answer the questions that the music asks, but rather to experience the process of asking them. Does that make any sense?

Let's shifi gears and talk about your new Amoeba CD. Back in the eaþ days, in yourfirst bands, didyou also sing? I did in a band called Urdu, which was in the early '80s and it was very strange music (laughing). People probably would've worried about my sanity but I was young enough to get away with it. If I 14

was doing the same stuffnow people would definitely be concerned, Singing has always been important to me. My voice ends up on a lot of my albums but usually people don't notice.

The lyrics onWatchÍul can be very d.fficult to decipher Is that intentional? I want the lyrics to be an instrument on an equal footing with the other instruments. Other times, the lyrics are pure sound. On

"Inside" certain lyrics are flipped backwards. On other pieces, like "Water Vapor," there a¡e layers and layers of voice. The piece is constructed almost entirely of voice and the words are obscured into a texture.

Did you really enjoy doing this CD? It's a very important work for me, actually.

It's

a very different direction from what

people know me for and in that sense it might surprise people. But it's some of the most personal music I've made in a long time, and I think it's very special music for me. I really really like this album, actually. You don't agree with labeling music, like your current stuff, ambient noir or dark

ambient.

Only in that what does dark mean?

If

something is going be meaningful it must contain the range ofhuman experience, both light and dark, both intro- and extroverted, both birth and death. I'm interested in reflecting the full range of human experience. The difficulty is in coming up with names for what I'm doing.

And the names come and go. It's spacemusic one year, ambient the next, new age. It's dark ambient, it's world music, it's whatever. There's a wonderful quote, and I can't attibute it correctly, but it's "Tialking about music is like dancing about architecture." What I'm trying to accomplish musically is bringing people to a place beyond language. To a place beyond emotion. To a place where you experience a kind of unity of the life energy moving through you. People trying to describe it always have to limit it back to the confines of language. And then you have to just live with what's convenient or what's less embarrassing, you know (laughing). I would rather dark ambient than new age. The problem is that I create some music that is quite r-rptimistic and quite light and melodic. And the term dark ambient doesn't cover tliat territory.

What's coming up for Robert Rich? The upcoming solo album has the working title of Flux.It's a very rhythmic album, For anybody who saw my concerts last year, several ofthe pieces that I performed in concert will be on the album. It's a hybrid acoustic and electronic album. I think the the initial impression people will get is puzzlement of what's making the sounds because it sounds very acoustic but there's a certain squelchiness and a technological quality to it that belies the acoustic nature of all the tambors. It's probably more like Propagøtion than any of my other albums. Flux wiTl be coming out in February on Fathom. In late '98 there will be some more re-releases,

including avery rare live album from 1985 on Projekt, hopefully, called Inner Landscapes. This is a continuous live concert from a transitional period of mine when I was moving from sleep concerts into the more active music. I remastered that and did some digital processing to it. The other release will probably be on Lustmord's label, Side Effects, and it will be a sequel to ATroubled Resting Place ,pieces recorded for compilation albums and limited release albums, This album, Below Zero,is going to be some of my most experimental music to date. It's intense, atonal-it's very, very cosmic in that it leaves you in a place far removed from this reality.

final words about your music that you want to add? rühat I'm trying to deal with in the music is a sort of balanced multi-layered approach where there is intellectual content, there is musicianship, there is beauty, there is death, and there is ecstasy. And hopefully, through multiple listenings people can experience the range of what's there

Any

and it can

Stephen

unfold.

Hill

I from page 9

reason that I got this job is simply that I have a kind of a obsessive personality and I was willing to do it for a long long period of time and not worry about whether it was paying off in conventional terms. Becauss I've gotten a satisfaction out ofit every day, just by being able to work with this music, which I consider to be a privilege. I'm very happy to know that it has been influential to people.

Wire Tâps - A column of short music reviews

I

DANCES FOR THE NEW

OXYGENE 7-13

MILLENIUM

Jean Michel-Jarre

Ancient Brotherhood Astromusic This CD is an attempt to mix East and \Vest and ancient and modern which doesn't quite hit the mark. Track titles like "A Navajo in India" and"Aztec Harpist in Asia" show you where the crossing of cultures is meant to come from. However, a more sympathetic ear would have highlighted the focal points of the music-the evocative sounds of Asian chants, Native American flutes and Inca pipes. Instead, the accompanying contemporary music and rhythms are allowed to overpower the overall sound of the album; and, on one or two tracks, it's quite

Epic Listening to Jarre's Oxygene 7-13 is tike returning to the place you were born. His debut album, Oxygene, released in 1976, is considered a landma¡k in early electronic music. He distinguished himself with a smooth, breezy pop style.

relentless.

Disappointing. N.L.

TRANCE IN SPACE Nik Tyndall New Earth Records I often wondered where keyboa¡dist Nik Tyndall went to after his 1990 release, Lagoon. Well, he's back in a big way. Trance in Space is a magnificent work, combining elements of space-music, trance, and meditative music in one long (64 minutes !) piece that just keeps stretching out and morphing while enveloping the listener is soothing waves of characteristic Tyndall synth work. The "song" opens with some pronounced uptempo trance beats (vaguely East Indian or Middle Eastern), but soon enough the synthesizers float in with long washes ofbeautiful chords, notes, and strings and a relaxed drifting pace is established. I don't know a lot about true trance music, but the trance elements here are subdued, occasionally resurfacing throughout the 64 minutes. However, the overall pace is very peaceful. This is wonderful space-music and is ideal for massage or body work. I was overjoyed to learn that more of this German musician's work was going to become available. After hearing Trance in Space I wasn't disappointed. I doubt you will be either. B.B.

Jarre's latest release has the same breezy style of the original, but instead of placing new sounds over the original composition (as Mike Oldfield did with his sequel to Tubular Bells),Iarre places sounds from the original album into brand new music. The main difference between this and the original is that the music on this latest album has a stronger pop rhythm which is more similar fo Equinoxe than Orygene. Those who enjoy Jane's early material will love this and he will probaþly win over new fans' D.H.

CATALOGUE OF DESIRES, VOL. 3 (THE CLEAR WHrTE VARIATTON) Loop Guru World Domination After the extremely kinetic global fusion of Duniya and Amrita, Loop Guru's third release is quite a jolt. Catalogue of Desires, Vol. 3 conrains mildly rhythmic tunes held together by ambient transitional pieces, The main problem with this CD is that the more active songs are so engaging that the ambient tracks seem lifeless by comparison, leaving the listener waiting for the quiet pieces to "hurry up" in order to get to the good stuff. It reminds me of driving down a street with a lot of stop signs.

D.H.

A TOUCH OF MAGIC Coen Bais

Miramar Dutch keyboard player Coen Bais has released a mostly pleasing mix of smooth jazz, pop instrumental, and gentle hooks that shows the new di¡ection many labels seem headed in these days. While some of the music on A Touch of Magic may be a bit too close to MOR radio, there is a lot of good stuff here, too. I like the swaying sensuality of 'A Touch of Magic" with its sultry percussion and nice synth work.

Coen gets some nice assistance from fellow countryman Jan Akkerman on guitar on the aptly-named "Blue Age." It has some nice sax work too, although again, this strays close to smoove-jazz (yes, you're reading it right), But overall, on songs like "The Harder I Try, the Faster You Run," 'Axe, and "Zen and ttre Art of Driving" the artist finds a nice mellow

rhythm. I found obtrusive spoken-word vocal cuts a bit pretentious. Ifyou entertain a lot for dinner, this is a solid bet for pleasant background music. B.B.

BACK TO THE GARDEN Dean Evenson and Tom Barabas Soundings of the Planet On this collaboration between keyboardist Tom Barabas and label-mate Dean Evenson, the two play off each other in satisf,ing fashion. Tom has a tendency on some of his solo albums to lack focus. Playing with the "dean" of silver flute (sorry about that-couldn't resist!), he sounds great. While nothing special, these gently rolling songs make for enjoyable listening. Richard Hardy lends his sax playing to a number of cuts-a hit and miss proposition. Listen for the quasiworld fusion feel to "Gypsy Behind the Shrubbery," the soothing title track, and the wonderful flute work on "Harpin' on the Sunlight." Yes, Dean, you've done it

again-another album of calming but not boring music from a master of the genre. B.B.

VIRIDIAN SUN Viridian Sun Hypnos Records Since emerging, Hypnos Records is

slowly becoming an excellent contributor to the ambient musical scene. Their latest release, the eponymously-titled Viridian Sun, is a dark ambient album nicely suited for fans ofthe noir genre.

Viridian Sun's album focuses on dark swirly synths, sample loops and sequences, processed guitar, and a wide variety

of

instrument tones and noises. These textures fade in and out nicely, changing from one texture to the next in a way that is not too boring, but at the same time is not too rapid. As a result, the album has an excellent flow to it, except for an intentionally jolting fade-out that immediately goes to full-volume in the first piece. Stylistically, the way Viridian Sun uses the guitar (frequently focusing on abstract 15

plucking sounds) and the atonal sample loops used reminded me of what Lightwave often does in their pieces. But the way Viridian Sun uses synth textures is different. Some of the textures are dark, spooky, and foreboding. However, others are reminiscent ofdeep space and are breathy. The wide variety of textures used is pleasing, and helps keep the album interesting, Overall, this is an excellent example of the ambient noir genre. I found the jolting fade-out the only minor problem in this album. The rest of the album is quite excellent, and a recommended buy for fans of Lustmord, Lightwave, and the like. c.G.

DRAMATIC\ryORLD OF AMBIENTMUSIC Michael Thomas Berkley self-released

This isn't The Orb style ambient music. In this demo of his current project, Michael has taken shades of the many different cultures visited in his travels and used them to create a palette of sound from which to paint four cinematic visions. Any electronics are left very much to the rear of the arrangements. Violin and massively reverbed piano take centre stage, providing the subtle tension and film noir atmosphere of Dark Antarctica. Brooding Indian flute surfs over a throne of drone background in "Desert Apparition." The use of a short piece of Native American chanting in the rhythmic "Emergence of Man" is an enhancement, not a cheap take of current fads. But my favourite is the simple,

melodic interplay of flute and Virginia Astley-like piano featured over the swaying percussion of "Liquid Canopy." Don't let the word demo put you off. This is very much in the Narada/Windham Hill league for quality of sound, production and arrangement. It's a mesmerising recording. I hope Michael and his music

find an appreciative home soon would like to hear much more.

as

I for

one

For further information contact

MTB Productions 1920 Franklin St. #6' San Francisco, CA 94109 or visit his web site at

http ://users.aol.com/berkleym/ homepage.htm N.L.

T6

(ifyou have a pulse, that is)'

ALL THE BEST FROM JON MARK

toes a tapping

Jon Mark

Other songs, like "Sleepless Nights,"

White Cloud

"summer Rain," and "Nightfall" are

AII the Bestfrom Jon Mark is a wonderful collection of songs culled from the recordings of one of today's premier

slower and more introspective pieces. Ken receives some great help throughout the album from other musicians on flute, cello, percussion, other guitars, and a few

ambient musicians. If you have not heard Jon's music, I can't thlnk of a better introduction, short ofyou buying one of Jon's CDs, The songs selected (and in some cases, re-recorded for this collection) are all excellent choices, giving you a sample of Jon's long slow patient washes of music that envelope you in peaceful sonic landscapes. AII the B¿sl... serves as an excellent introduction to Jon's style. Songs are taken from the CDs The Standing Stones of Callanish (a classic ifthere ever was one), Land of Merlin, Alhambra, A Sundøy in Autumn, A Celtic Story, and his latest, Asiø Journey. The pieces from the first three CDs have been re-recorded since they were originally released on Kuckuck. 'Whether the gentle sadness of "Thinking of You," the mystery and myth of "The Eye of the Hawk," the almost visual floating qualities of 'Asia Journey," or the quiet stateliness of "The Court of the

other instruments. You know, sometimes I just need to put on some good music-nothing flashy, nothing ponderous, nothing too ambient or too slick. Mystic Morning has been one of my CDs of choice for those times ever since I got it. Pick it up and see if it doesn't become a staple of your Saturday after-

noons'

too' B.B.

The following is a guest review by reader Syd Baumel. We encourage our readers to submit their own reviews for

publication in future issues. HAND WOVEN Lorin Grean

Silver rily'ave Records There's something about the honeY warm tinklings of the Celtic harp that just right to weary fin de millenium Kings," you'll know you're listening to an sounds matter how you serve it. In Hand ears, no artist who stands unique among ambient Lorin Grean-an elfin maiden with Woven, musicians. I don't think anyone writes with hair-serves it flowing long suitably the same sense of beauty, melancholy, and jazz and world beat. mostly à lalight grace in music today. Graen also chants-a languorous new age B.B. scat that rides nicely atop the breezy ambience of her hand-woven ensemble of MYSTIC MORNING bowed, blown, plucked and struck instruKen Bonfield ments. You can picture yourself soaking up B\WE Music This CD is as pleasant an acoustic music this nouveau chamber music in some rustically stylish restaurant with your experience as you're likely to have this capuccino and sun-dried tomato pizza. And year. Ken doesn't play guitar in the same while most of the t¡acks could blend right style of a Billy Mclaughlin or a Rob into the hand-hewn woodwork, there are Eberhard Young. Which is not say that the moments where Grean, et al., make a man can't strum or pick with the best of bolder statement. In "The Grey Cat's them (there are some def,rnite fireworks Night Prowl" they all join in for some very here-they're just the low-key variety). However, the songs on Mystic Morning are colourful meowing, vocally and inst¡umenin a more traditional (read:accessible) pop/ tally. In "Cat Tales" (the final section of the title track), Grean and a couple of other folk structure. This is real sunny day chanting fools belt out staccato hollers and music. The fust cut, "Dreamin',"is a good stretch out silky vocal threads to abig, example. It's uptempo, but relaxed in that beefy and bouncy spoons and bodhran the pace ofthe song is balanced out by the beat. Hey, this band can really trveave. softness of both Ken's playing and the melody itself. Some of the s-ongs ("Homage," "O1' No. 9," "Copraphaþic Smile") have an almost rural, down-home,feel to them. They are also real toe-tappérs. Yeah, that's a strange term to use, but damuilt, they will get your

VTUSIC

RE\/IE\ryS

És¡ns¡n{rersd

It's-well, it's funky. Not as in funk, but as in "this is pretty funky !" "Mercurial Wave" has less of a rhythm presence, as it floats along with a nice blend of some chime-like notes, very low variety.

A SURVEY OF'

REMEMBERED THINGS Richard Bone and John Orsi Quirkworks Laboratory Genre: Electronc/Ambient with elements of dub

bass synth notes, and gentle washes

of

sound. A light graceful melody begins, played by a quasi-piano sound. This song may be my favorite on'the CD.

ambient musicians "share" the CD, each taking his turn to produce some very interesting and (almost) uniformly excellent music. Richard Bone's "suite" is named 'The

"Komarov's Fire" brings a mid to fast tempo rhythm to the forefront immediately. Again, there is a piano-like melody, this time joined by a nicelyJayered synth chorus. The rhythm really kicks in after a while with synth drums. If you can resist moving your body (take your pick which part) while sitting down, you have more confrol than I do. The song is infectious as

Seashore of Other Worlds' and it's a great

hell andjust begs to be cranked up.

This recording is a uniquejoint venture. It's not a collaboration. The two electronic/

collection of songs that shows off how Things really quiet down with electronic music doesn't always have to be "Evaporata" as Richa¡d brings his "suite" somber and foreboding. While not "happy" to a close. Despite the overwhelming music, Richard uses his keyboards and preponderance ofelectronics, there is a lot electronics in a way that may surprise you. of warmth to these songs. It's also more On"Chango" a midtempo beat is estabhuman sounding than you'd expect from lished with electronic percussion while low an electronic music album, It doesn't have key synths arise in the background. A the "spaciness" that some dub has. It's a melody line appears played by a muted great collection of songs. calliope-like sound. Some of Richard's John Orsi's set offour songs, called songs remind me of a lighter version of the "Shiftworkers Confused By Rain" (you rhythmic stuff that Aphex Twin did on gotta love that title!) is a more ambitious, Selected AmbientWorks Volume IL but slightly less successful, series of However, Richard Bone is defi.nitely an works. On the opener, 'Ai de Li," mid original. tempo percussion is joined by a simple "The Paradigm Pool" removes some of repeating melody line on a synth piano. the lightness from the previous track. Once What mars the song for me is the presence again the song starts out floating, only to of a voice-over beneath the music. Actuhave a polyrhythmic series of beats ally, it's not very beneath. It's kinda right emerge, balanced out with spacey and there. Maybe some of you will not find this mysterious synth washes. It's kind of like a as distracting as I did. I'd bet that whatever 21st century dance exotica from Mars, This is being said is important to John (hell, it is some of the most infectious ambient/ may be John at times, for all I know), but it electronic music to grace my player in really puts up a wall for me that keeps me quite a while. from getting into the music. It may be a reach calling this music "In A Toy Room" starts off in a jazzy ambient-dub, but I don't know what else to vein, especially when compared to the rest call the presence ofrhythm here since it's of the CD. Again, sampled sound effects not of the sequencer heavy-duty German detract from the music, in my opinion, I'm

sure this all means something to John, but

it's a mystery to me. The music is nice enough without it, although I think this is the weakest track on the CD. Have no fear, though, since the song is less than 3 minutes long. John closes out the CD with two solid efforts. "Broken Ballet" is spacey electronic heaven, counterpointed by minimalist piano. After the frentic nature of the previous song, this one really hits the spot. It's somewhat sad and melancholy and all too short for how beautiful it is. John brings in some very tasty synth strings, used in a creative way, later in the song.

John's last song is "Rain Delay" and it's another solid effort. There is a strong rþthm presence developed in this song, quasi-jazzy at times, but also dubby at others, When the synth strings come in, the song just blossoms. What was just "okay" or "good" becomes "pretty damn cool." For me, I wish John had done four songs closer in nature to the last two of his "set." Richard's part of the CD clocks in at about"26 minutgs (excluding a bonus track at the end of the CD) while John's segment is about 14 minutes. Yeah, it's not the longest CD in the world. So what! These

two guys have released a quality piece of work. While not everything was to my liking, what is there is so damn good that I recommend it without reservation to fans of electronic music. As for the two songs by John that I didn't much care for-well, maybe you'll like them better than I did. And if not, that's what the old remote cont¡ol is for, isn't it? This is true independent artist music, and as such, I'm behind it one hundred percent. I hope you will be too.

-Bill Binkelman

-

t7

ROOTS

LaafieZ Zebra Productions Genre: New Acoustic (piano)

it is the first of many solo piano recordings from this dynamic composer and artist. It should be available at many Tower Records, Sam Goody, and Borders Books and Music, as well as and real, and I hope

through Laurie Z's website athttpzll For awhile, it seemed that many of the solo piano albums being released were safe and predictable, and it was becoming increasingly more diffrcult to tell one artist from ànother. This past year has brought forth some excellent surprises, but some of these outstanding albums might be difficult to find. One that is especially deserving of the search is Laurie Z's newest release, Roots.Ilove this album! This is Laurie's third recording, after Window to the World (which was recorded on electronic instruments) and Life Between the Lines which was made with her band. Roots is an autobiography set to music and clearly demonstrates Laurie's diverse and deeply personal composing styles as well as her mastery of the piano. A classically-trained pianist since the age of four, her touch is warm and expressive. The album opens with "Stranger in a Familiar Land," which is one of my favorites. It is full ofpassion and perhaps a sense of questioning or wonder. "Michael's Song" is more subdued, but has its own wonderful flow. "In the Monterey Mist" feels just like the title-cool and soft with no hard edges. "For the Love of a Child" conveys areal sense ofjoyfulness and fun in its uptempo melodic swirls. "The Mysterious Painter" is another piece I love. It is a little darker, but is also passionate and somewhat questioning. "From the Ashes" is a study in optimism and is again much more uptempo. "Dream Come True" returns to a quiet mood, but a happy and peaceful one. The title tune has a classical touch and lots of colorful minor chords. The feelings expressed a¡e almost unsettling at times because they are so clear and real. A great surprise is "Too Blue," which fits in perfectly, but which is different from the other cuts with its bluesyigospel style. It hints that Laurie Z can get "down and dirty" at the piano with the best of them! The last cut, "Good Night, My Friend," is like a warm and personal conversation with a close friend at the conclusion of an evening you wish didn't have to end. The other three pieces on the album continue to intrigue the ea¡s and emotions with their blend ofpassion and peace, as well as their flowing melodies. Everything about this album rings true 18

homel.gte.netllatriezl. All three albums can also be ordered through CMC at (800) 882-4CMC and Backroads Music at (800) 767-4748. - Kathy Parsons

-

sax in "Friends" is quite breathtaking. Anyone who's seen the sky full of colour and patterns darting to and fro can imagine the light and sprightly feel of a track like

"The Kites." The play between sitar, flute and violin is just like swooping and diving of the real things-though it's the picture of a one remaining kite flying in the evening sky that is with me as the track fades on a solo flute. A nice touch of continuity is the use of short ambient recordings of Indian life between each track. This strengthens the Eastern seam that runs through the recording, particularly when there follows "Bairagi Desert" which is so intense you can almost taste the sweat. The only oddity is the solo blues sax of "Purvi." Recorded using the natural reverb of a cistern in Italy, it immediately brings to mind the classic image of a lonely figure caught under the light of an aging street lamp.

SECRET OF THE WIND Prem Joshua New Earth Genre: Jazz/World fusion Right from the opening track, "New

Kafi," I'm captivated by the fine balance between the sounds of contemporary jazz and the melodies and rhythms of the continent of India. Put this in your CD player and the first few tracks alone will have you walking around with a lift in your step. Even the semi-whispered vocals of "Now is the Time" make for interesting listening and don't intemrpt the flow while the gentle funk of "Eastwind" gives just a little more lift-the intro on jaw-harp is a little gem. Throughout the album I can hear reminders of great jazz artists from the west such as Andy Sheppard, Courtney Pine, Jean Luc Ponty and John Maclaughlin, But these are easily countered by such uniquely Indian sounds as the vocal acrobatics of Manish Vyas and his mimicry of tabla drums on "Bol." This track is so smooth and refreshing that Coca-Cola should be selling it! Not all the tracks are purely aural pleasure though. The slight melancholy of "Monsoon Journey" gives the impression oflooking out o¡ arainy Sunday afternoon reminiscing tolmyself-only this time with an Eastern view. The beauty of the conversation betiveen Deepak Patekar's vocal chanting and Prêm Joshua's bamboo

But all good things come to an end and, like the happy partings of friends who've just spent a pleasant afternoon together, "From Across the Water" plays out an album that is a must for all jazzlworld fusion fans and anyone who's the slightest bit interested in contemporary Indian music. - Neil Leacy -

DISTANCE Stan O'Daffer High Desert Records Genre: New Acoustic Stan O'Daffer's Distance is a promising debut from a keyboardist in my home town of Minneapolis. It's an album of varied textures and melodies, spanning more than a few styles and moods and is a treat for those of you who enjoy your recordings musically diverse and yet cohesive in

technical proficiency. "Origins," the album opener, is an uptempo song, played mostly on piano

what misleading, in my opinion. Yes, Robert sings and he and his close friend, Rick Davies, play electric and acoustic guitar, bass and drums. But within that ?? framework, this music is actually pretty close to some of the same territory that If A Dffirent Mozart is any indication of Robert explores on his own. Unless you just loathe vocals (and Robert's voice is the quality of recordings we can expect not too bad-in fact, it kind of grew on from Dawn Atkinson and Will Ackerman's me), if you like Robert's instrumental (the team that founded Windham Hill) work, give this one a try. recently-formed Imaginary Road label, For comparisons sake, I think this audiophiles are in for a real treat! This is workout. "Distance," with piano and sounds like it could be a release on the various synthesizers working together, is a the most recent of Dawn Atkinson's series of albums of classical music interpreted by Projekt label (although when I told Robert ballad that's tender but never sappy, Stan this he disagreed-he believed that the blends his various keyboards well, only contemporary instrumental artists. The sound was closer to the progressive rock previous recordings were The Bach slightly erring in this song with a solo group Talk Talk). His vocals have that softviolin sound that seems a bit loud in the Variations, The Impressionists, and The spoken and slight echo-y sound to them of mix. When solo strings are synthesized, I Romantics. Some of lhe same artists groups like Love Spirals Downward and like them kept in the background, while a appeil on all four recordings. Soul Whirling Somewhere. The lyrics can real violin has a natural warmth that plays WhileA Dffirent Mozart aaî be found be pretty damn hard to decipher, but the better in the forefront. Still, the beautiful in the "New Age" section of record stores, "feel" of the songs is that of a whole, i.e. melody is enough to carry this song to a it is also in the classical racks. I'm sure music and singing combined to be more nice finish. this is because the music is so true to the than their sum. Lots of the songs have "Northshore" has a quasi-funky rhythm, original even though the instrumentation kind of loping I suppose, that may take might be different. This is certainly true of extended instrumental periods in them and some have no vocals at all. some getting used to, but I get a kick out of Bela Fleck's banjo arrangement of "Rondo Standout cuts include the opener, it. One of the things I admire about Alla Turca," (which was composed as a "Inside," with its nice tribal rhythms and piano solo), Val Gardena's piano and Distance is that Stan takes some musical lead guitar intro, the instrumental risks throughout the recording. By the way, electronic keyboards on "Adagio from this song also features the expert acoustic Concerto in A for Piano," and Chris Botti's "Origami," with a haunting strummed guitar and eerie background sounds, the guitar playing of Billy Mclaughlin. trumpet work on "Adagio from Concerto mournful cello accompaniment on "FootOn some songs, the elecfionics take in E for Violin." The Modern Mandolin less," the Stalker-llke opening to "Desolacenter stage, like on the sprightly tune, Quartet takes on part of the symphony tion," and the blend of Gaudi-like sounds "Fragile," again counterpointed by Billy "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and Eugene and flute with exotic percussion on the Mclaughlin's guitar, or the has-to-beFriesen adapts some of the opera "Cosi instrumental song "Saragossa." heard-to-be-believed "Snowfl akes." Fan Tutte" to cello and synth. True to his I don't care for everything on the album, Despite its name, this song could be from classical roots, Philip Aaberg plays it though. I could do without the very odd a yet-to-be-released Tim Burton movie straight on "Rondo in Am," and is, as sounding vocal FX on "Big Clouds," and (maybe a sequel to that great comedy, always, magnificent! Paul McCandless' "Ignoring Gravity" seems a bit nondeBeetlejuice).It's scary, funny, weird, and take on "Andante from Serenade #I2 in script. On balance though, this is as close happy all at once. "Autumn" is another Cm" is superb as we have come to expect to a sure bet as it can be (given that it's a from this incredible master. Other artists somber piano ballad, and a good one at vocal album) for fans of Robert's previous include Steve Erquiaga, Tim Story, and that, with just the right amount of wistfulness in the music to remind me of barren Richard Schonherz. There isn't a weak cut work. For myself, I wouldn't mind hearing trees and walks alone through the fallen on this album. If you like classical music more of Amoeba in the future. leaves. The album closes with "Goodwith a contemporary touch, this in an - Bill Binkelman Bye," a nice piano and synth song, excellent choice! - Kathy Parsons wonderfully uptempo with a mixture of joy and sadness that is indicative of what (once you get past the synth chorus opening). Stan also plays assorted percussion on the album and there are some subtle percussive effects here. This song displays Stan's passionate intensity and his softer side, too. "Freeway," another uptempo number, is a gteat tune. It definitely conveys the mood ofdriving at fast speeds. Stan's background is in jazz and this song certainly mirrors that fact. The ivories get areal

good-byes are,

I

suppose.

Distance reminds me a little of Wayne Gratz's FoIIow me Home in its great balancing of very polished piano playing with imaginative and proficient synthesizer work. Stan is a gifted pianist and also someone with a quirþ compositional style, and I mean that in the best possible way. He has made a highly individualistic recording, and one of very high merit, too. -

Bill Binkelman

-

A DIFFERENT MOZART Various Artists Imaginary Road Genre: Classical with a twist?

WATCHFUL Amoeba Lektronik Soundscapes Genre: ummmm-read the review

SUZANNE CIANI AND THE WAVE: LM! Suzanne Ciani and The \ù/ave Seventh Wave

Genre: Contemporary Classical A vocal rock album from Robert Rich, the master of ambient noir and long flowing instrumental music? Believe it, my children and it's a good rock album to boot although using the term "rock" is some-

Suzanne Ciani is one of my all-time favorite composers and musicians. I was

very excited to learn that she was going to do two concerts in San Francisco this past

t9

March with a hand-picked super-group called The Wave (Paul McCandless, Teja Bell, Matt Eakle, Michael Manring, Kalani, Jeremy Cohen, and Doug Harman). These concerts were the setting for Suzanne's first-ever live album and DVD. At the concert itself, I was surprised that such phenomenal musicians were using sheet music, and commented in my review of the concert (in the first issue of Mnd andWire) that it seemed too controlled. Suzanne told me later that she was following the classical tradition of keeping the music as written, and feels that too much improvisation in her music takes the backbone out of it. Her vision was certainly clear and absolutely correct when it came to the recorded version of the concerts. This album is gorgeous!

between pieces keeps it from being an album to doze off to, but the quality of the music should more than make up for that, I really like the way the album is laid out, with the quiet and flowing pieces alternated with the more upbeat, lively, or abstract songs. Longtime Suzanne Ciani fans will be thrilled with this collection, and for those not familiar with Suzanne's work, it is a great introduction. - Kathy Parsons -

Content-wise, this is a wonderful overview of Suzanne's many composing styles, and the live performance gives each song a fresh take, There are electronic elements in several of the pieces, most especially "Samukee" and "Mosaic," which keep them true to their original form, but the live instrumentation makes them much warmer. Old favorites such as

"Neverland," "Eaglel' "The Velocity of Love," "Hotel Luna," and "Anthem" all take on a new life with Matt Eakle's soaring flute and Paul McCandless' variety of wind instruments, as well as the other artists' strings and percussion. The three new songs on the album, "Butterflies," "Stream," and "Folk Danca" indicate that Suzanne is continuing to evolve in new directions. Her more recent

work seems to me to be somewhat more complex and classical, but still continues in her own melodic and soothing style. "Butterflies" is my favorite of the new pieces, and it is easy to visualize the fluttering of tiny wings while listening to

it. Each of the band members also has a short solo here. "Folk Dance" has a very unusual rhythm, and is great fun (composerþianist ka Stein arranged this piece as well as "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Eagle"). "Sailing to Byzantium," "Go

Gently," "Drifting," "Stream" and "Invsrness" are all smooth as silk, and Matt Eakle's and Paul McCandless' playing is again outstanding in their tenderness and insight into the music, "Time Stops" and'Anthem" are the two encore pieces, and both provide a gentle but stirring conclusion to this excellent album.

As with any live album, the applause 20

tolerance for ambiguity Carin Lyn Alchemy Records Genre: Progressive (that's an understatement) Do you remember the ad campaign tag

line, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile"? V/ell, Carin Lin's tolerance

for ambiguity is NOT your father's violin album. Wow! This is what independent music is all about. Exciting new directions in music that absolutely defy genre and classification. Of course, that never stops your intrepid reviewer. This release on the very progressive Alchemy Records label is grounded in Ca¡in's incredible S-string electric violin playing. However, throw out any previous notions you have about violin instrumentalists (e.g. Jean Luc-Ponty). The first song, "the call" has a terrific tribal undenhythm over which Carin's violin positively soa¡s. The song is only midtempo, but it really gets me going. David Torn, who accompanies Carin on every song, plays so many instruments on this cut I can't list them all, but start with guitars, piano, organ, and assorted percussion and drums. The song is a real pull-outthe-stops display of virtuosity as Carin weaves her circqlar melodies over, atound, and below thishrray of other instruments. The very next qong, "in the abbey of scartaglen," slows'hnd quiets things down, with Carin hitting somè delicious high

notes in an echo-effect manner. The song is not sad, but rather pensive. Compared to the "big" sound of the previous piece, this is comparatively minimalist. Later in the song, the melody takes on a bit of an kish sound, with very subtle percussion. This album (like most of what I have heard on Alchemy Records) is an engineer's showcase. The recording FX on

this release are pretty unbelievable, and ifI read the liner notes correctly, there are no synthesizers here. It's all studio magic with violins, guitars, percussion and loops. Note that this is not an acoustic album though (in fact, far from it). Carin has two songs where she sings, "no lines drawn" and the closer, "in cold blood." Her singing is breathy and is more a vehicle to communicate her lyrics which are well-written in a poetic fashion. The rockish rhythms of "no lines drawn" are pretty cool, especially counterpointed with what sounds like an upright bass played with a bow (which, according to the credits, it isn't),

It's not easy to describe Carin's music,

I said earlier. This is not the most accessible record, for whatever that's worth. "the little king" is very experimental in structure to my ears, while the electric guitar in "atthe risk of the sun" is as

certainly'seriously dee-tuned' as Carin writes in the liner notes. But I love the three-movement suite, "tolerance for ambiguity." It has moments of menace, beauty, rage, and mystery. It's a toss-up between this and "the call" as my favorites on the album, I want to acknowledge both the graphic design and the liner notes. The CD has some interesting photographic FX with the photos of Carin. Her self-written liner notes are also a high point, as she reveals quite a lot about what each song's genesis is. Her writing is friendly yet very erudite, without being pretentious. Look, I can't say that everyone will like

"tolerance for ambiguity" because it isn't that accessible to mainstream tastes, I suppose. But, even if I didn't like it as much as I do, I'd still be knocked out by the brave and personal nature of the music. With artists like Carin and labels like Alchemy, there will always be music for those of us who desire something out of the ordinary. -

Bill Binkelman

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"Treasure Bay"). Throughout the CD, though, Govi's guitar playing is a joy to listen to as he plays with equal parts of restraint and wild abandon, always seeming to know when to let loose and when to hold back.

GUITAR ODYSSEY Govi Real Music Genre: Worldfusion Ot Guitar Odyssey, guitarist and multiinstrumentalist Govi creates a Ereat blending of world fusion music highlighted by some very tasty guitar playing and graced with some very infectious rhythms. Like the map on the cover on the CD showing the western hemisphere, the release is heavy on South American influences, mixing it with North American pop sensibilities. It's a nice combination. The CD starts off at a rollicking good pace on "Sails of Joy" with South American inflections courtesy of some pan pipes and wonderful guitar work, including some lead work that really brings a smile to my face. The second cut, "Magellan's Beat," starts off slower, with a synth flute soaring high over a mellow strummed guitar. Here the South American sound is blended with a tropical element. The acoustic leads are upbeat but even when the various percussion comes in, the tempo is still slowed down from the fireworks of the album opener.

Sometimes the pace starts off languid and relaxed, and the music has a warm

sensuality to it, like on "Turquoise Galleon" with its sultry lead guitar lines that stretch out over mid tempo percussion. As the song progresses, the pace increases and the sensuality becomes rather fi.ery. You can almost picture yourselflate at night at a village night club on a Caribbean island, dancing into the small hours of the

morning. The blues licks of "Lovers Moon" bring the CD back to an urban sensibility that may seem out of place on a world fusion release, but that depends on your openmindedness I suppose. Overall, though, the CD stays on track with its South American percussion and guitar workouts ("Beach

Fire Dancers"), intermixed with more relaxed numbers ("Dolphin Escort" and

Guitar Odyssey, filled with accessible melodies, varied rhythms, and expert musicianship, is a tropical feast for your ears. At times highly danceable, at other times like a soft evening breeze, it's an enjoyable way to pass the time when you're not on the beach or at the cantina. Living in Minnesota, I'll have to remember this CD when the mercury hits 20 below! - Bill Binkelman -

what makes this music very unlike Braheny's more spacey work. This is not urban music and it's not space-music either. It's heartland music. The electric horn doesn't always sound like it does on "Glide." The threepart "Pampas" illustrates the ambition that I addressed earlier in the review. Part one, 'Dream,' is a'þiano" spectacle, almost classical in its sound. This is followed by 'Dancing with the Moon' with Phillip Glass-like chorale rumblings over which guitar notes peal wistfully (if not even mournfully). The guitar work by Mitch is impassioned, The final moyement, 'Is This a Tango?' is, well, it's a tango-of sorts. Yeah, it sounds odd, And what it's doing here is anyone's guess, but damn, it's fine

music!

"Spirit Dance" brings the more typical Braheny-like sound back for a sedate and haunting song that is again evocative of the hea¡tland and huge expanses ofland. The rest of the album continues with songs that hint at other elements, such as the lrishtinged "The Green," or "Ohio" with it's synth-strings mixed with wailing (but

PRAIRIES Paul Micich and Mitch Espe self-released Genre: Electronic/Ac oustic This is a most ambitious and refreshing release that succeeds in painting a diverse musical portrait of the American midwest, while still unifying the songs with a sameness that holds the CD together well. Prairies' musical innovation excited me literally the first time I hea¡d it. Paul Micich plays the "electric horn" and Mitch Espe plays guitars (both electric and acoustic). The "horn" is similar to the Steinway EWI (electronic woodwind instrument) that Kevin Braheny plays. Like Kevin, Paul plays the instrument with equal parts emotion and technique, resulting in music that is warm and steeped in longing. Paired with guitar, the music is incredibly evocative and emotive. Prairies starts off with what may well be the best song, "Glide" in which Paul's electric horn immediately soars to the forefront, conveying the mood of gliding over the vast fields and prairies ofthe farmland. The song is open and spacious and yet very melodic. The backing guitar work by Mitch anchors us and the blend is

tastefully subdued) electric guitar lines. Maybe this song should be subtitled "Blues from the Heartland?" Another high point comes on the vaguely Copland-esque "Horizon Home."

A solo horn line opens the song, followed by a fuller sound. Again, the overwhelming feeling (at least for me) is one of wistfullness, longing and remembrance. It's just a beautiful song. The guitar comes in halfway tlrough, and my heart just melts.

I could describe the whole album, but I want you discover some of it the way I

did-as

a surprise. Music as bold and adventurous, yet personal and reflective, as this is rare. The liner notes, by Paul Micich, are great reading. You really can tell how much this music means to him and Mitch. The packaging of the CD may be viewed as sparse, even spartan, by some. I found it as starkly beautiful as both the music and the prairies that inspired the album title. What an incredible debut! -

Bill Binkelman

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2l

BITTERSWEET Bradley Sowash self-released Genre: New Acoustic (solo piano) This fine release from the very talented pianist and composer, Bradley Sowash, is a great example of a CD's title fitting the music. Like memories that are both sad and happy at the same time, Bittersweel' evokes wistfullness and joy, sometimes within the same song. It's a satisfying collection of pieces that took me to a bittersweet place in my mind as I recalled moments of my youth. The recording is a collection ofboth uptempo songs and more relaxed, slower pieces that capture the essence offeeling opposing emotions at the same time. The CD is filled with an elegant nostalgia that beckons repeated listenings. "First Light" sets the tone for the CD with a nice blend of both quiet and more intense passages mixing an impressionistic tone poem style with more accessible melodic playing. Immediately, one can hear that the recording quality is excellent. As I write this review, I'm listening to it on a micro-sized stereo system and even with those inherent limitations, the clarity and warmth of the recording shines through. On the title track, an achingly beautiful wistfulness is very apparent. For me, this whole album has an "autumn" sound to it, meaning it is introspective and reflective in nature. It sounds like it's a perfect fit for clear crisp days and frosty nights in front of the fire. The song "Bittersweet" is another good example of Bradley's command of composition and playing. However, not every song is tinged with melancholy (and even those that are seem to have more going on then just a single emotion). For example, "Red Ball Jets" is a great jazz number, with a slight blues riff in it that makes me smile. "summer's Last Song," despite its title, is uptempo and light-hearted. How's that

22

for not judging a song by its title? "Cleat Air," while at times sounding like many other solo piano pieces in this field, still has a certain unique flavor to it. It's friendly and warm. "Bijou" is a slowerpaced number with soft jazz phrasings and a nice flowing style. Bittersweet is obviously a very personal statement from Bradley Sowash. I recommend that fans of emotional yet accessible piano music check this one out. Like bittersweet memories, this CD will bring a smile to your face even while you remember those moments of sadness that dot your life like clouds on a sunny day. -

Bill Binkelman

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CALEDON \ryOOD Al Petteway Maggie's Music Genre: New Acoustic What a delightful album! This release by guitarist Al Petteway is a wonderful collection of acoustic magic from the much under-appreciated label, Maggie's Music. For lovers ofacoustic guitar played in a

mostly ensemble setting, it's

a treat and is out. seeking definitely worth On the album opener, "Sundog," Al duets with his wife, Amy White, who plays piano. Al's playing is spirited and yet not to much so. The uptempo (till the end) song is quite jaunty with the addition of some light percussion and the music itself

is a blend of contemporary instrumental folk with elements of modern Celtic also in the mix. The track segues into "Sligo Creek" in which the Celtic sounds (really more Irish thantänything else to my ears) become more prominent. Exotic percussion adds a uniqu'e;element as the song

maintains a mid tempdrhythm that sounds

like it could've come from the medieval period. While the song is neither quiet nor subdued, there is a hint of mystery to it. It's not all sweetness and light. If your taste runs toward the more traditional Celtic sound, that's here too on songs like "Eirigh Suas A Stoirin" in which Al's more contemporary guitar playing is married with Uilleann pipes. There is a characteristic Celtic tinge of sadness or melancholy to the song, despite its more moderate tempo. While I was listening to the album, I kept realizing just how great acoustic music can sound in the right hands. Not only are production and engineering excellent on this recording, but the arrangements are such that I can't even imagine where you'd stick electronics if you wanted to. For those who think that life without synthesizers is meaningless, you should give this a try. Kudos also go to the CD cover designer, Peg Udall. While the cover is nothing "special," there is a beauty to the close-up of Al's guitar that adds another element to the release. Call it understated grace, if you will. From the appropriately named "Funþ C, Funky Do," to "Faire.rüind" with its cello and violin accompaniment, Al and the ensemble players cover a lot of ground. This music is not monochromatic and you can't easily pigeon-hole it, either. It is, however, always heartfelt and evocative. In the liner notes, Al talks about the multitude of influences on his music. The title track reflects the myriad of shadings, as elements of Afücan. Latin, and Celtic all combine to create something special. A long song (nearly 8 minutes long), the piece goes through several rhythm and melody changes as the various elements flow together and produce something Erealü than their respective parts. The album concludes with two traditional Scottish songs. It's a good ending to this extremely varied and enjoyable release. In these days ofubiquitous electronics (of which I am usually a fan), it's refreshing to know that artists like Al and labels like Maggie's Music are committed to showing us the beauty that can be produced without a lot of

technology. Bravo! -

Bill Binkelman

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SUTRA SPIN Tom Vedvik Cyber Octave (a sub-label of Higher Octave)

conventional harmonies and changes for his melodic lines, rather than the less tonal, more "out" harmonies of the other groups. This conservatism has the advantage of making Sutra Spin easy to listen to, but it

Genre: Ethno-ambient

also has the disadvantage of sounding somewhat unoriginal. I have heard this material before in various new age, jazz, or ambient pieces. Nevertheless, Tom Vçdvik has put together a professional and neatly done album, with the Indian and oriental elements lifted out of the smoky nostalgia of the '60s lnd integrated with the electronic soundscaPe of the late

For anyone who grew up in the EuroAmerican world in the 1960's, the sound of the Indian sitar and drone has a special

nostalgic meaning. These instruments were used by the Beatles, and other pop musicians of the time, to add exotic coloring to their new musical experiments. The twanging sound of the sitar still makes me think of Nehru jackets, psychedelic graphics in bright colors, and perfumed incense in da¡kened rooms. So it takes a lot of musical skill to bring this sound up to date for the 1990s. Tom Vedvik, inhis Suytø Spin, has tried to do just that. Not only does he use Indian sitar, drone, and tabla percussion in this "ethno-ambient" recording, he also uses another sound characteristic of '60's pop music, the "mellotron," or glsg a modern synthesizer which sounds a lot like one. With these tone colors, along with the more contemporary ¿uray of synthesizers, percussion, sound samples, and tape loops, Vedvik produces quite a listenable album. The first piece, "Overture," is one of the best, with a nice flowing rhythm and a minimum of melody. The second, "Screen Gem," opens with what might be called "glitter bells" and then powers up into a "techno" -style beat, led by Indian percussion. As the music unfolds in the following pieces, there is a good variety ofwhat might be called "techno lite." Though Vedvik does drive every piece with a regular rhythm, it is not too loud or crashing-these pieces are not "in your flaçe."

Towards the middle of the album I hnd the pieces becoming repetitive; the rhythms of the middle pieces seem to be too similar. But he does liven up the duller cuts by clever use of sampled sounds, whether of birds, Indian or Muslim voices chanting, or even a wry little "splash," which ends the fourth cut, "Oasis." The later pieces mix more samples of Near Eastern or Indian chant with tape loops and tabla rhythms. The sixth cut, "High Frontier," clearly shows the influence of other "techno" sound-entities like The Orb and Muslimgauze. What sets Vedvik's work apart from these is that Vedvik is more tonally conservative, using

ïïi.n"."

PEACE DANCE Scott Huckabay Soundings of the Planet Genre: New Acoustic The last thing I would ever have expected from the Soundings ofthe Planet label is a release that makes me want to get up and MOVE! I don't know if it means the apocalypse is on its way, but guitarist Scott Huckabay's debut on the aforementioned label is as tasty and fiery a guitar album as I've heard in a while. If you are a guitar music fan, don't even wait to finish reading this review. Just go buy the damn

Heaven on cello. The tabla sometimes propels Scott's guitar at some break-neck speeds,

Not everything is uptempo, though.

"Into the Spirit" is a wonderfully soft, gently rocking tune with Scott coaxing a variety of sounds, all pleasant, out ofhis instrument."A New Sunrise" is not particularly fast, but it is vibrant and spirited with an assortment of riffs, picking, and slaps on the guitar body. Again, there is some bluesy influence to the song, Sometimes Scott gets a little "out there," though ("Children of the Sea"). Still, it's a minor misstep for such a Ereatalbum. Don't look for anything very peaceful or soothing here, though. This is as far from a Soundings ofthe Planetrelease as you're ever likely to hear. Not that this is anything like Neal Schon's Beyond the Thunder. This is not rock or even remotely like it. I'm not sure what it is, except to say it's great guitar playing that is meant to be actively listened to, notjust played in the background. -

Bill Binkelman

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thing! Okay, you need more incentive. Fair enough. Listen to the first song, "Labyrinth," which starts off in low gear and

suddenly shifts into high. Scott's wonderful circular playing just spirals and spirals in tighter and tighter orbits. This is just a taste of what the CD offers. When I hear music like this I wish I knew more about the instrument so I could describe what exactly I am hearing. Oh hell, I'll just tell you that it's ju$t some of the most flat out bad-ass picking and sfrumming with some sneaky blues riffs I've heard this year,And he's just getting started. "Sister Ritual" has some sparkling note playing and again the pace is fast. But this is not the polished pop sheen of Craig Chaquico or the impressionistic tone-poem work of Rob Eberhard Young. This is something different, something not as "accessible" as the former and not as introspective as the latter. This CD is, however, full of life and movement and hooks-my feet are moving even as I write this review since I'm listening to the CD right now. Sc.ott gets some nice help on the CD from Daniel Paul on tabla and Jeremy

\ryIND RIVER Vasquez

Makoché Genre: Native American Evaluating Native American muslc

as

authentic takes more knowledge or skil1 than I have. And I'm not someone who judges whether autheticity is just a matter

of bloodlines either, i.e. only Native American music can be played by Native Americans (although I will admit that many parts of Native American culture are being co-opted by "anglos,"). However, this is a record review, and I'll just do my best to tell you whether or not I liked this release. And, yes, I did. OnWind River Andrew Vasquez plays flutes, keyboa¡ds, and percussion and is assisted on various tracks by other person23

nel on keyboards, percussion and bass, By now you might realize that this is not a "traditional" recording since electronic keyboards are not a usual instrument of this type of music. However, much of this recording is steeped in Andrew's skillful and heartfelt flute playing, along with very gentle (and mixed just right) drumming and rattling. Without the contemporary wrinkles, this release should please fans of artists like R. Carlos Nakai. With the addition of synthesizer and more contemporary leanings, Wind Rivermay find a broader audience in more mainstream circles. The title track starts things off with spoken word narration by Rodney Grant while the song itself is a slow flute, drum, and rattle piece with the sound of a thunderstorm sometimes echoing in the background. On the second song ("Through My Eyes"), though, we go into some new territory. There is exotic percussion and a distinct world-beat or even world-fusion feel to this uptempo number with subtle synthesizer work, Maybe lovers of the traditional will think this is either selling out or blasphemous. I think it's great. The Native American elements blend well with the contemporary rhythms and it's a wonderful change of pace.

There are songs more in the "usual" vein ("Warrior" with its drumming and chanting, the hauntingly beautiful flute work of "Blaze Aleeah") and more cross-cultural attempts ("Across the River" using assorted percussion, more uptempo rhythms and almost jazzy synthriffs; the wonderful "Until I Return" with some very nice quasi-blues keyboard playing very well against Andrew's flute). Wind River has a fair amount of Native American chanting and singing on some tracks, and again, while I am certainly no judge of this, it sounds very authentic and fits in well with the music. The album has a very personal feel to it, and this is mirrored by the liner notes written by Andrew, which offer his thoughts on each song. The last cut on the album, a reprise of the title song, has a poem written by Amanda Sue Proctor and read by Rodney Grant over the same flute, drum, and thunderstorm of the album opener. The poem is titled "When the Earth Had Four Cornsrs," and Grant's reading of it is dramatic yet understated. Wind River is a well-done recording of both relaxing and uptempo flute and 24

percussion songs. The occasional synths

meditative piece featuring natural sounds

and cross-cultural inlfuences are an

and piano.

addition that I personally think makes the recording something very special. If you are a purist, you may not like all the elements here. I, for one, applaud this effort by Andrew Vasquez. I hope it falls on open ears and open minds. -

Bill Binkelman

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However, with this wide variety of styles, the flow is very jagged. Om's piece was nice, but out of place on a meditative ambient album. Witchcraft's song is the only one with lyrics, and as a result also feels quite out of place. Although the rest of the songs fit the mission, the wide variety of styles creates a lack of a consistent feeling. But it is recommended as an introduction to some excellent ártists, Most of the individual pieces are well done, from artists that are not as well known. It is a great way to get exposed to several artist's ambient styles. - Chad Gould -

SLUMBERLAND Various Artists Waveform Records Genre: Ambient

BEF'ORE AFRICA David Antony Clark White Cloud Genre : Ambient/lV'orld fusion

Slumberland is a compilation of dreamy, atmospheric pieces from Waveform. The back cover describes the mission of the compilation: To produce a collection that has no "boring wallpaper resonance" and no "annoying abrasiveness". This album accomplishes this mission well. Most of the pieces are quiet and dream-like, without being very boring or annoying. The compilation chooses not to flow between consistent sounding songs, like many ambient compilations do. Instead, it focuses on a variety ofartists and captures their styles. Many of the individual songs in the compilation stand out, making this an excellent sampler of artists.

David Antony Cla¡k's Beþre Africais easily one ofthe best releases on the stellar White Cloud label, and that's really saying something. The label is earning a reputation for quality music that may be unmatched. On this release, the keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist has produced a work so full of life and joy and rhythm that when I first actively listened to it (in the car during a trip back from Milwaukee, Wisconsin) it completely blew me away. This is an outstanding "driving" recording, so if you don't have a car CD player, record this album and set out for your favorite winding country road. You will not

There's David Brunn's "Crater Lakel' a pleasing, straightforward chorus-synth song. A Produce contributes with some magnificent ambient guitar on "The Golden Needle." An old Private Music release from Lucia Hwong is brought back with "Generic Actress #3," with very good Oriental textures. From Sanjiva there is an excellent trance-inducing ambient-techno piece, with a sound more typical of what 'Waveform puts out. Hemisphere's "Samadhi" is a soft, flowing atmospheric piece. Om appears with a piece that reminded me of Melrose-era Tangerine Dream; Witchcfuft contributes a slowsynth piece ("We f.est") with a slow beat and vocoder lyrics;'and there is Sky's "On the Shores of the High Priestess," a slow,

disappointed. The album opener, 'A Land Before Eden," starts the release off on a high note with its gentle but playful loping rhythm, its floating background synths, its synth

flute melody line and itls cheerful yet worldly sense of optimism. This song is simply one of the best pieces of music I've heard in the past year. I never want to stop playing it. But, when I did, I found "The Stone Children" with its kalimba-like melody over some background vocalsamplings. The synth kalimba is a wonderful instrumental sound and I flat out fell in love with it. The rhythm on this song is mid tempo, again in a sort of lopingbeaÍ, and that's the key to this album's success as driving music.

Scattered throughout the CD are ambient life in Africa, some wildlife, some nature, and they are welldone (listen to the sounds of animals at a watering hole at the beginning of "The Gathering Place"). It adds to the feel of the CD as it helps to transport you into the other-world that exists on only the very best recordings. By turns haunting ("Flamingo Lake"), gently rhythmic ("The Gathering Place"), sound recordings of

mysterious ('Ancestral Voices"), and quasi-tribal/primal ("The Inner Hunt"), all of the music on Beþre Afrlca is a joy to hear. As a reviewer and someone who gets lots of music to listen to, when something makes it into my "keep playing it way past the review" group, it's a very special recording. David Antony Clark's latest is defrnitely one of those. -

Bill Binkelman

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NAKED IN EUREKA William Eaton Ensemble Canyon Records Genre: New Acoustic with Native American andWorld beat elements William Eaton and his Ensemble can always be counted to bring us some great music. It's very difficult to classify their sound, since so many diverse elements seem to coalesce within it. But, whatever you call it, it's interesting, varied, and always lots of fun to listen to. The fact that sometimes it is haunting and beautiful is even more reason for you to check out this acoustic feast, The ensemble includes rWill Clipman on percussion, Claudia Tulip on flutes, Allen Ames on violin, Mary Redhouse on vocal and bass and Keith Johnson on drums and percussion. However, the lineup is extremely fluid as people come and go depending on the song. The music centers around William's playing of his hand-made and selfdesigned stringed instrument, the lyraharp guitar (seen on the CD's cover), an instrument that has a guitar sound unlike anything you've heard before. Many of the songs are uptempo with exotic and lively percussion. The music is a hybrid of Native American, new acoustic, world beat, and contemporary Vy'estern U.S. folk. There's the rollicking album opening title track, which starts out languid and

ends up really smoking! The flute and hand Kathryn (who has over2O years experience as an orchestral violist), she could not tell drums just sort of take off in the middle of the difference. It's that close to the real this number and the violin is right behind. It's guaranteed to get you moving! "Pollen thing. The sound is full and warm. You will distinctly hear synthesizers on Nomadbut Dance" also starts off slow but builds only when intended as such. quickly, again anchored by the triumvirate The album is a true mood setting piece offlute, percussion, and violin. It also has of work. On the back, the liner notes read, some nice floating passages for balance. "Far East Mid West" has a melancholy "Like the score of a great travel film,.." but I think using the words "travel film" is beginning to it, with some nice cello work selling this CD short. There's a lot of by Rachel Harris. But, as usual on Naked in Eureka, no song stays the same for long. drama and mystery in this stunning music. Listen to the opening of the title track, in Soon the song is more uptempo-almost joyous. The various instruments dance and which the string section has a hint of menance. The song builds with Moorishflit among each other like ecstatic birds. flavored guitar and swelling percussion Maybe that's the key to describing that rises to a fever pitch of intensity V/illiam Eaton's music. It's light, not in before gradually subsiding, only to substance, but as in the opposite of dark. It's not simple. In fact, it's best enjoyed by resurface at a sustained gallop-paced rhythm. This is extremely lush romantic active listening, as opposed to passively space-music. The various ethnic stylings using it as background music. One of the weave delicate spells within the framework things that impresses me abouf Naked in ofa very visual soundtrack. Eurekq is the way that all the musicians play together. This is not a rililliam Eaton On "Madurai Temple" Paul veers over into eerie ambient soundscape territory. album with guest musicians. The words This is what I mean by being able to tell "Ensemble" really mean something here. when it's synths being used. The very If you're a fan of William Eaton's previous releases, Naked in Eurekø is mysterious drones that open this song are beautiful but also a little eerie. The song another wonderful recording in an already maintains that edge as it plunges deeper stellar body of work. Ifyou haven't heard into dark ambient stylings, with strange his music before, this CD may be the best chimes, quasi-tribal percussion, noises, and introduction to him and the Ensemble. I think it's their best work. If you are a lover even deeper drones, This particular track would not be out of place on a Robert Rich of acoustic music or world/native music, CD; it's that noir-ish and that good. Nomad especially with a strong rhythm presence, just oozes atmosphere. If you like your you deserve to check this one out. music to transport you away from your - Bill Binkelman life, this should do it (unless you live the

life of

NOMAD Paul Sauvanet Hearts of Space Genre : N e o - clas s ic al/Ambient/ Space-music The mournful strains of Paul Sauvanet's incredible synthesized orchestra come swirling out of your speakers at the start of his new release, Nomad.It's an auspicious sta¡t and itjust gets better. The album opener, "Oasis," gradually builds with some North African/desert rhythms and

melodies. You can almost feel the heat and see the horizon glimmering in the distance. On his previous Hearts of Space release, Tristesse, the resemblence of Sauvanet's digital orchestra to a real orchestra was so remarkable that when I played it for

a Bedouin!),

"Bolero Exclesis" and the album closer, "Land of the Angel," bring us back into more orchestral music. There is that feeling again ofthis being the soundtrack to a grand epic movie due to the incredible lushness ofthe sound. Ifyou don't like orchestral music, "Land of the Angel" may not be to your lfüng. It's very symphonic in sound and structure. At times, it's also achingly beautiful, as is the rest of this CD. Those of you who didn't care for Paul's last CD because of it's resemblence to traditional classical music should enjoy this a lot more (except for that last song). Since I like classical music, I enjoyed

everything on Nomad. I just wish I could go to the desert and see even a little ofthe sights that can inspire music this haunting. Now, where did I park my camel? -

Bill Binkelman 25

WATER SPIRITS Honoka Celestial Harmonies Genre: Traditional ethnic (Japanese)/Ambient

sitting in the garden ofa Japanese house, watching the play of light on the reflecting pool and studying ripples on the water's surface. It's a patient, subtly different, and serene experience. -

This recording by the duo of James Ashley Franklin (shakuhachi and synthesizers) and Satsuki Adamura (koto), who record under the name Honoka, is a real gem. The four pieces, only one of which is under ten minutes (and that one only by a few seconds) are mostly slow and serene Japanese music meditations. But this is much closer to true Japanese music than some Far Eastern-flavored new age music.

It's much deeper than that, in that it strikes arealZen-like chord of complex minimalism. Their exquisite use of the silence between notes and the music itself is untainted by superfluous production touches or unnecessary f,rlls. In fact, two of the songs ("Mountain Stream" and "Lonely Headlands") were recorded totally as improvisations. The very subtle use of synthesizer and sampler (on two cuts) does not diminish the authentic appeal of this wonderful music. Water Spirits (the album title is indicative of both the song titles and the music itself) is very much space-music in that it helps to create a space for your mind to inhabit. It is not relaxing in the fraditional sense (for example, it's not like a Dean Evenson release). It is much more organic than that. The music ebbs and flows with a natural ease. The music itself is difficult to describe, except to say it is played on a shakuhachi flute and the Japanese stringed-

instrument, the koto. The packaging is as unique as the music. Celestial Harmonies uses the slim-pack CD jewel case (an idea I personally like) and the CD graphics/liner notes are printed on rice paper. It would be easy to say this is kitschy or overdone, but I think it adds to the total experience of the CD. Ifyou need ordinary accessibility in your music, steer clear ofthis release because Vy'estern song structure is totally absent. Those who are open to beauty of a different style should be delighted by this recording. I think it's perfect for massage, body work, and especially as an aid to concentration. The gentle strumming and plucking of the koto is matched by the etheral notes from the shakuhachi. ListeningfoWater Spirits is like spending time 26

Shapero

Bill Binkelman

from page

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12

Europe. This time it was for a whole year, in between my high school and college years. My father was Composer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome, where he served as mentor to the composers living and working there. \Ve found the SynKet, now set up in a cluttered music studio in the basement of the

Academy's main building. Mr. Ketoffand his men had abandoned it, and my notes recall tersely that "it didn't work too well."

My year in Rome was one of cultural and religious awakening. My interests diverged from electronic music as I fell under the ancient, rich spell of the Eternal City. By the time I returned home to the United States in 1971, my attention had swerved far away from electronic music. To no one's surprise, I entered Brandeis University as a student. Though I visited my old territory at the Buchla studio, it was now filled with music students, and I no longer had the time, or the inclination, to continue making electronic music, But my career in electronic music was not over. Two years later, I would enter the world of the other major synthesizer, at Moog Music, Inc., not in romantic Rome but in prosaic Buffalo, New York. Next and last installment: Minnies and Pollies: My V/ork at Moog Music T

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will get your blood pumping. It's like a relaxing walk through the woods. Later in this song, a synth carries a nice melody line on top of the same repeating gamelan-style music, This is very fluid music. By that I mean the rþthms aré. very loose and sensuous, But the music is very light, so the sensuality is closer to that of life itself. The sound of waves begins "On the Shores of Panthalassa" (all the titles are explained in the liner notes) and a koto brings a decided Far Eastern mood to the piece, counterpointed by gently rising and falling synths (matching the rhythm of the ocean waves). This is an excellent song for relaxation as the waves and gentle synths just make your worries float away. The rest of Pangaea has other pleasures as well (including a slightly uptempo, East Indian feel to "Gondwandaland"). CD number. Nothing on this CD

PANGAEA Stephen Bacchus Oasis Productions

By Bill Binkelman This wonderful recording by Stephen Bacchus (ably assisted by a great crew of other musicians) is one of my all time favorites. If you are interested in music that combines elements of "new age," Far Eastern, East Indian, and ambient soundscapes, call your music dealer of choice and order this disc, But bewarethere is a totally different disc out there by the same name. Make sure you get the Pansaea bv Sl.eohen Bacchus. Per the album's well-written liner notes, the CD is a quasi-concept album about the super-continent, Pangaea, from which the other continents eventually emerged. Pangaea starts out with the title track. A soft harp-like synth plays a light yet gently lilting melody. Some soothing synth strings come in and the music begins to feel alive as it sways and moves in a slow but steady dance of life. With guest musicians on instruments like flute, sarod, oboe, shakuhachi, koto, and tabla, this is a deeply textured release. Pangaea is one of the most flowing and lyrical CDs in my collection. rühen I need to destress with something more organic and life-affirming than normal meditative or relaxing music, it never fails to refresh

my aching spirit. The sounds of birds singing signal the start of "Music for the Morning of the 'World" and chimes, bells, and flutes eventually join the bird chorus in an Indonesian-flavored mildly uptempo

engineering is impeccable. The nature sounds are among the best I've ever heard. While this music is relaxing, it's not music to fall asleep to (which, in and ofitself, is not a bad thing), It's music for taking an inner vacation. In particular, ifyou like Japanese, Indonesian, or East Indian music, it's a strong bet you'll find some-

thing in this CD to

like-a lot.

THE HIDDEN RIFT Jeff Pearce Ancient Sun Music By Bill Binkelman From the opening strains of "The Hidden

Sky" to the closing moments of the title cut, Jeff Pearce's undiscovered spacemusic classic, is a rare pleasure. Filled with a blend of drifting ambient soundscapes and lush electric guitar musings, this CD is a must have for anyone who purports to like ambient music. Unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool anti-guitar fanatic, I strongly recommend this recording. When I first heard The Hidden Rift,I thought, "He must be using a midi-guitar, like Mark Dwayne." But it's just plain old electric guitar, folks. Although, in Jeff's hands, it's not plai4 and it's not old. The

studio magic that Jeff infuses his playing with has to be heard to be believed. The only comparison I can make is to Coyote Oldman, who are to flute what Jeff is to guitar. Your ears just won't believe that there aren't some synths prowling around in this music! However, on the beautiful "Shadow of Surrender," there is no mistaking the lead instrument for anything but a mournful guitar, sounding out notes over a softly melancholic, almost choral-

like sound. I interviewed Jefffor issue one oT Wind andWire and I still have a hard time, despite his assertions, that this is only

him on his guitar. Actually, this sounds a lot like Tim Story's music. It has the same gentle sadness and minimalist approach. There are the same repeating notes, layered over washes of sound that are achingly beautiful. You must leave all notions of what guitars can do when you listen to this album. Even though this music works very

well

as background

coloring, I find it such

in a darkened room that I urge you to try it that way too. On the more spacey, ambient cuts, you may a treat on headphonês

feel yourself floating away-I know I did. The album is divided into extremely patient and calming ambience ("On Silent Paths," "Rain Clouds," and the masterpiece title track) and more guitar-like pieces ("Last Light," "Parting Words"). There is even a cut that falls somewhere between ('Aftermath") where Jeff's guitar notes echo out endlessly over a strangely alien sounding wash of sound. Yes, this is space-music-and it's ambient music. But, more than anything else, it's great music. There are a select few recordings that make it into my "late night" hall of fame. This section of my collection is for CDs that never fail to weave their spell on me. Jeff Pearce's The Hidden R/r is in that select company. Sadly beautiful, hypnotic, and warmly inviting, this is space-music to be enjoyed again and again.

27

Website or contaclordering information on artists featured in this issue of Wind andWíre.

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Explodng the Bound¡rie¡ of Ræk Exposé is America's premier quarterly publication specializing in the music the record and radio industries stubbornly choose to ignore. Our focus is outside the mainstream, in the progressive and experimental hinterlands where rock meetsia?z, classical meets folk, electronic meets avant-garde, and so on. Our philosophical approach to mus¡c is critical... Exposé is not a fanzine; both our readers and the artists we cover are better

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