PRX: Echoes Interview Podcast

Kitaro & Tigerforest's Gunnar Spardel in Echoes Podcast

In the Echoes Podcast Two Generations of Electronic Artists: Tigerforest’s Gunnar Spardel & Kitaro

From electronic space to ambient chamber music, we talk to Gunnar Spardel, who composes somber and serene chamber music under his own name and upbeat, progressive electronic music under the guise of Tigerforest. His latest album as Tigerforest is Discovery and his latest as Gunnar Spardel is Simplicity in a Complex World, Follow the journey of the German music composer inthe Echoes Podcast. Tigerforest’s 2014 album, The Tides of Day and Night, was an Echoes CD of the Month.

Tigerforest, Gunnar Spardel, Kitaro

In a Throwback 30, we return to the April 1990 album, Kojiki by Kitaro. It was a landmark recording for the Japanese electronic artist that brought his sound into orchestral and world music terrain.  Enter the Throwback Machine in Echoes 30th anniversary year when we go back to interviews from 1986 and 1990 in an early profile of Kitaro on Echoes.

Poppy Ackroyd's Ne0-Classical Moods in Echoes Podcast

In the Echoes Podcast, English composer Poppy Ackroyd.  Her album, Resolve was an Echoes CD of the Month two years ago. It’s finally out in the US. John Diliberto catches up with Poppy Ackroyd who talks about an approach to classical composition informed by punk rock and Radiohead.

Poppy Ackroyd: I’m classically trained, but I think when I was about 14, I became a bit of an indie kid, listened to a lot of punk.  And yeah, just anything that wasn’t classically actually,

John Diliberto brings us England’s Poppy Ackroyd in the Echoes Podcast.

Eastern Fusion Past and future with Hans Christian and Ravi Shankar in Echoes Podcast.

The Echoes Podcast explores Indian Fusion Past and Future with cellist Hans Christian and the 100th Birthday of Ravi Shankar.

Cellist Hans Christian has been a fixture on Echoes for all its 30 years, both as a solo artist and with the duo, Rasa.   His music has ranged from electronic to solo cello to Hindi chants.  His latest album, After the Fall was the Echoes CD of the Month for February. He talks about this heavily electronic album that took him back to his roots which include Pink Floyd, Space music and time in the acoustic and spiritual places of his father’s church. John Diliberto goes to church with Hans Christian in the Echoes Podcast

Then we commemorate the 100th Birthday of Indian sitar Legend, Ravi Shankar

It’s a journey with an Icon when we celebrate the 100th Birthday of Indian sitar master, Ravi Shankar.  We celebrate his career and music that spans from classical Indian ragas to films to world fusion. We’ll hear an interview with the legendary sitarist talking about an ancient sound and spirit that helped transform modern music.  Shankar passed in 2012 but his spirit lives on hear his story from dancer to musical guru.

Ukulele Giant Jake Shimabukuro Goes Beyond in the Echoes Podcast.

In the Echoes Podcast, Jake Shimabukuro, the virtuoso Hawaiian ukulele player, talks about revolutionizing an instrument often seen as a novelty into a tool of pyrotechnic fury and ambient expanses. His new album, The Jake Shimabukuro Trio is a stylistic shift into more contemplative, ambient terrain that includes a cover of a Pink Floyd song. John Diliberto talks to him and ambient guitarist Dave Preston about the Uke Evolution and their new album.. Catch Jake Shimabukuro Trio’s live Echoes Concert Streaming now.

Alex Somers and Gentle Giant in Echoes Podcast.

In the Echoes Podcast this week, Alex Somers and Gentle Giant. Alex Somers is a name you hear on the fringes. He’s produced people like singer Briana Marella and Julianna Barwick.  He worked on the last two albums from Icelandic Icons, Sigur Ros and then formed a duo with Jonsi from that band. Now he’s in Hollywood scoring major films like Captain Fantastic, Honey Boy and Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana. I caught up with him in his LA studio where we talked about ambient drama.

Gary Green-John Diliberto, Derek Shulman 2011

Then we’re going to hear from Gentle Giant. There are many progressive rock bands that still stalk the earth.  Yes, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator.  but not Gentle Giant. They made all their records during prog rock’s glory years in the 1970s and then called it quits.  But their legacy continues on as one of the most innovative and expansive bands in the genre.  All of their studio albums were reissued on CD, made available digitally and now their first four albums, Gentle Giant, Acquiring Taste, Three Friends and Octopus are being reissued on vinyl in April. Nine years ago, founding members Derek Shulman and Gary Green came by to tell the tall tales of Gentle Giant, including rejecting Elton John as a member. We’ll hear it in the Echoes Podcast,

Lane 8's Chilled EDM & Ralph Towners 80th Birthday

We talk to Daniel Goldstein, better known as the electronic artist, Lane 8. He makes a chilled brand of EDM and recently released his album, Brightest Lights with guest vocalists that include Polica and Artic Lights. He calls his sound “dreamy back-rub house music” and bands cameras, including cell-phone cameras, at his concerts.

Daniel Goldstein: No, absolutely no photographs during the show.  I mean that’s, that’s something that we’ve been clear about from the start.

But there’s more than no cameras Lane 8.

Then we celebrate guitarist Ralph Towner’s 80th Birthday. Born on March 1, 1940, Towner hasn’t just been a part of Echoes for 30 years, he and his group Oregon were injected into the original DNA of the show. Tim Hardin, The Paul Winter Consort, ECM records and Oregon are only a few of the situations we’ve heard Towner in as he influenced a few generations of acoustic guitar players. We go back to a great 2006 interview where Towner surveys his career from Woodstock to Oregon and beyond.

Agnes Obel Interview in Echoes Podcast: Myopic Beauty

In the Echoes Podcast, Danish singer Agnes Obel.  She creates a haunting ambient chamber pop music and has  been a big part of the show since her 2010 debut, Philharmonics, an Echoes CD of the Month, as was her last album, Citizen of Glass.  She puts out a great album about every 3 years and her new one follows suit. It’s called Myopia. It’s a look inside Obel’s head.

Agnes Obel:: I’ve tried to, to recreate different states of mind that I’ve experienced and my wish is that the listener is sort of stepping into that and experiencing that state of mind in my perspective.

On Myopia, she explores states of mind from insomnia to loss, all couched in her muted arrangements and whammy bar voice. John Diliberto talks with Agnes Obel in the Echoes Podcast.

Big Ears Festival 2020 Preview and Jon Christensen Remembered this Week in Echoes Podcast

In the Echoes Podcast, we talk to Ashley Capps about his Big Ears 2020 Festival.  Then we remember drummer Jon Christensen, the ECM house drummer.

The Big Ears Music Festival 2020 is upon us. We talk to founder Ashley Capps as well as Kronos and The Necks about this year’s collection of over 100 artists, which includes Terry Riley, Patti Smith, John Paul Jones, Meredith Monk, William Tyler & Mary Lattimore, and especially, artists you’ve never heard before. Below is a playlist of tracks from the Big Ears Feature.

Then we remember Jon Christensen. This past Monday, the rhythm of the world got a little less interesting with his passing. Jon Christensen was a drummer who defined the sound of Norwegian jazz through his more than 70 recordings on ECM records. He was effectively the house drummer playing with Keith Jarrett, Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Ralph Towner and so many others. Now he’s left the planet, stroking his last cymbal on February 18, 2020. We remember him in the Echoes Podcast including clips from a never-published 1996 interview.

Five Essential Jon Christensen Recordings

Terje Rypdal, Palle Mikkelborg, Jon Christensen – Descendre

Playlist of Tracks in the Feature from Artists Appearing at Big Ears Festival 2020

Bang on a Can All-Stars – Comfortable Cruising Altitude – More Field Recordings

Peter Kater's Hard Road to New Age Bliss & Lyle Mays Remembered

Peter Kater & Lyle Mays

We talk with 2020 Grammy winning pianist Peter Kater

In the Echoes Podcast, pianist Peter Kater.  When a musician wins a Grammy award, you often don’t know what they went through to get there. Take the case pianist Peter Kater, who took home this years gramophone statue in the New Age category for the second time in his 4 decade career. He’s a leading figure in the new age field now, cutting over 60 albums since 1983, including acclaimed recordings with native flutist R. Carlos Nakai. But it didn’t start out well.

Peter Kater: I grew up in New Jersey and I had not a great childhood.  My mother was kind of a drama queen.  She married a guy who was abusive, an alcoholic and it was not fun.  She died of cancer right when I turned 18.  She was sick for about two years, and when she passed it was literally on the night of my birthday.  I was sorry for her death because I did love her, but I was so aware that I was set free of her drama and the life that I had been forced to participate in for the last, you know, 14 years. I was just out of there.  I just hit the road.  I put my thumb out and I just wanted to keep going. No money, nothing.  I had a backpack.

And now he’s just won his second Grammy Award for the album, Wings.. He’s known for music that can be sweetly romantic and deeply introspective. But there’s another side to this musician. We hitch a ride to the other side of Peter Kater in the Echoes Podcast.

Then we remember another pianist, Lyle Mays, pianist with the Pat Metheny Group and solo artist in his own right. His album with Metheny, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is a classic. John Diliberto looks back at his career.

Echoes Podcast: David Helpling's Oceanic Ambience: An Interview

In the Echoes Podcast, guitarist David Helpling takes us into the runic and oceanic influences of his January CD of the Month, Rune. Helpling is a southern California musician who has been a favorite on the show for about 25 years. He’s recorded all his albums on the Spotted Peccary label, noted for their deep ambient music. His three recordings with Jon Jenkins were all CD of the Month picks. But for his latest solo album, he’s gone truly solo, creating an album with a guitar, a bass and a lot of processing. Rune was the Echoes CD of the Month in January. It’s a concept album, a tone poem based around the Nordic Rune for ocean. He talks about ambient guitar, the ocean and ancient runes.

Read the CD  of the Month review of David Helpling’s Rune