PRX: Echoes Interview Podcast

Flashback 50 with East of Eden and Hossam Ramzy Remembered in Echoes Podcast East of Eden circa 1969 In the Echoes Podcast, a Flashback 50 to East of Eden’s Mercator Projected and we remember Hossam Ramzy . We begin with a Flashback 50 with the 1969 debut by East of Eden , Mercator Projected . This seminal release was the blueprint that groups like King Crimson used at the dawn of progressiv...

Azam Ali of Vas & Niyaz in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , Iranian singer Azam Ali talks electronics and her all -English album, Phantoms.  Azam’s is a voice that launched a dozen love affairs. She was the sound of the world fusion group, Vas and then the Persian fusion band, Niyaz . Her intoxicating, sensual voice is heard in dozens of films including Thor: The Dark World , 300 , Joh...

The Cosmogony of Beacon in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , Beacon shines. Beacon is the electro-pop group who mix R&B and mysticism in their expansive electronic sound. This duo of Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gosset t  talk about the influence of religion and the writings and art of Walter Russell, a 20 th century renaissance man who created his own Cosmogony, on their album, Gravity...

Iranian singer Azam Ali is a voice that launched a dozen love affairs. She was the sound of the world fusion group, Vas and then the Persian fusion band, Niyaz . Her intoxicating, sensual voice is heard in dozens of films including Thor: The Dark World , 300 , John Carter and Priest .  She takes her love of modern electronic music to create her new album, Phantoms , her first with all-English lyri...

The Art of Electric Improvisation with John Swana, Tim Motzer & Doug Hirlinger in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , John Diliberto talks about the art of improvisation with three veteran musicians, trumpeter John Swana , guitarist Tim Motzer and percussionist Doug Hirlinger . They are denizens of the avant-garde and new music scenes in Philadelphia and New York having played with David Sylvia...

Mary Lattimore's Ambient Harp in Echoes Podcast Mary Lattimore (Pic: Jeff Towne) In the Echoes Podcast , Mary Lattimore , a diva of new music harp. She’s performed with Harold Budd , Kurt Vile , Sharon Van Etten , Thurston Moore and dozens of others with her electric harp. On her album, Hundreds of Days , she manipulates her instrument with electronics, distorting the sound and looping to create a...

Synth-Pop Artist Eve Maret Plugs into the Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , a wonderful musician named Eve Maret who is completely plugged in. She recently released her debut album, No More Running , and fans of 70s German electronic music and 80s New Wave will find a lot of resonance in there. We talk about that as well as the politics of gender and electronics because Eve thinks there aren&...

Maps' James Chapman in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast, we have Maps . James Chapman is half of the duo onDeadWaves but on his own, he records as Maps, merging electronics with Ennio Morricone grandeur and Beach Boys exultant harmonies.  His new album is Colours Reflect Time Loss . We  talk to James Chapman about childhood memories, creating an orchestra, and The Beach Boys.  Just follow the...

Heather Woods Broderick Interview in Echoes Podcast. In the Echoes Podcast , we talk to singer-songwriter Heather Woods Broderick . She’s backed up singers like Sharon Van Etten but on her own, she makes a personal and atmospheric music of peacefully contemplated turmoil articulated through the imagery of nature on the Oregon coast. Her album, Glider was a CD of the Month in 2015 and she finally h...

Echoes Podcast: The Best of Echoes 2019, So Far In the Echoes Podcast , John Diliberto dissects some of our picks in the top ten of The Best of Echoes 2019 So Far . It’s the midway point of the year which means it’s time to compile our Top 25 albums of the year to date. John Diliberto picks out a handful of those albums and talks about them in the Echoes Podcast. It’s another collection of music t...

White Noise and It's a Beautiful Day in a Double Flashback 50 in the Echoes Podcast. It’s a Double Flashback 50 when we explore two albums from June 1969 that could not be more different.  From London, It’s White Noise with their debut, An Electric Storm and from San Francisco we’ll hear It’s A Beautiful Day . In June of 1969, An Electric Storm  by White Noise was a curious artif...

Meat Beat Manifesto in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast, Meat Beat Manifesto.   The legendary British electronic artist who came of age during the industrial and trip-hop sampling days of the 1990s.  Jack Dangers , the group’s founder, is a scholar of electronic music from Stockhausen to Cabaret Voltaire and beyond. He has a new MBM album out, Opaque  Couché.   We take an electronic trip with...

Massergy's Song of Tragedy and Psychedelic Ritual in Echoes Podcast Massergy is the performance name of Eric Jensen . His story includes the loss of his brother, learning electronic music from scratch, psychedelics and recording his electronic music out in his yard. His album, Fire Opal was the Echoes CD of the Month in May.  We go behind this ambient electronic journey of an album, and the spirit...

Echoes John Diliberto Dissects 2019's ZMR Music Award Winners. by John Diliberto 5/23/2019 The ZMR AWARDS IS OUT OF THE TYPICAL AWARDS ZONE The Zone Music Reporter Awards or ZMRs , bring a gel-filtered focus on music that often isn’t included in the usual Best Of and Awards lists. The Grammys pretty much ignore these recordings, although some have slipped into the New Age, Electronic, and Contempo...

Chad Lawson's Ambient Piano Pianist Chad Lawson is reinventing the acoustic piano for the electronic age. He came up through classical and jazz and garnered some renown with his album, The Chopin Variations,   turning the Polish composer into something acoustically ambient. But now he’s creating original ambient music, treating his piano with electronic processing to give him a more atmospheric so...

William Tyler's Rural New Age in Echoes Podcast William Tyler is a guitarist who has made it through to hipster circles and records on the highly regarded Merge label. But he’s not afraid to cite Windham Hill Records , astrology, and more as influences. He’s also making the most inventive music of any post-Windham Hill guitarist. His latest album is Goes West . We talk with William Tyl...

Lamb's Secrets in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , The acclaimed English electronica band, Lamb , talks about their new album, The Secret of Letting Go . The title speaks to the duo’s sometimes contentious working relationship. Andy Barlow: I think she’s got a version of the album with all of my lyrics removed.  You didn’t like that much, did you? The whole me writing lyrics thing? LR:...

Singer Rachel Eckroth Gets Weird in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast, we discover the beautiful and edgy dream pop of  Rachel Eckroth . She started out as a jazz pianist but then came a transformation into singer-songwriter and then electronic dream pop which is where she’s at on her latest album. When It Falls .  Along the way, she’s also supported musicians like Rufus Wainwright and Ch...

Alternative Electro-rocker UNKLE Walks Down The Road Trilogy In the Echoes Podcast, UNKLE’s James Lavelle talks about a journey that started at the dawn of trip-hop. He is working on a trilogy of albums called The Road and has just released the second volume, The Road Part II: Lost Highway . It  explores dark themes of drugs, loss and rebirth, with some of his best music in years. We probe U...

Electronic Composer Kevin Keller Goes Retro-Space in Echoes Podcast In the Echoes Podcast , ambient chamber music composer Kevin Keller talks about going back to his roots to compose the retro-electronic sound of his latest album, Ice Worlds . It was the Echoes CD of the Month in March. It’s a beautiful album of effervescent electronic music with retro-futurist sound design and beautiful, ki...

Echoes' Big Hits of Big Ears Festival 2019 Comet is Coming: Betamax-Danalogue-King Shabaka-Photo: Jeff Towne Echoes’ John Diliberto spent four days in immersion of music from the edges at the Big Ears Festival 2019, taking place in Knoxville, TN the weekend of March 21-24.  He saw 24 concerts in four days, ranging from the ambient chamber music of Harold Budd, to the screaming electric guita...

Primer Travels Back in Electro-Pop Time In the Echoes Podcast , we trip in time with Primer  and we remember Gert Van Santens of Wave World . Primer is the prep coating of paint. It’s also a textbook. And it’s the name chosen by Alyssa Midcalf , a Detroit based artist for her stripped down electronic pop. It comes from an obscure but compelling movie about time travel. She explores dark terrain an...

Saul Stokes Talks Electronic Expansion in Echoes Podcast He used to make his own electronic instruments and when he plays live, he doesn’t use any computers. That’s a few of the things that make Saul Stokes a unique musician on the electronic scene. Kevin Keller , who has the March CD of the Month , said “I think he’s a total genius. I mean that guy is so amazing.” Saul Stokes co...

Yagull's Intimate Requiem in Echoes Podcast Coming up on Echoes we talk to Yagull , the husband and wife duo of guitarist Sasha Markovic from Serbia and pianist Kana Kamitsubo from Japan. Together, they’ve created a beautiful requiem album of loss called Yuna . We talk to Yagull on Echoes.

Inside Big Ears Festival 2019 in Echoes Podcast Get Big Ears in the Echoes Podcast . You need a big mind to explore the Big Ears Festival 2019 .  Big Ears celebrates its 10 th anniversary in Knoxville, TN, as one of the most wide-ranging, furthest thinking music festivals in America. We talk to founder Ashley Capps, who also founded Big Ears and revived Moogfest, about a festival that embraces ECM...