Monday, April 18, 2011

What Happened to This Blog?

hmmmmm, it seems this blog ended up getting rather neglected. The best way to get info about The Void: Ambient Grooves and Soundscapes is through the facebook page. I update that every week with info about the upcoming show, usually a few hours before it's set to air.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Void-Ambient-Grooves-and-Soundscapes-on-KTRM-887-The-Edge/205044612845625?ref=ts

Semester's almost over, only got a few more episodes left this spring. However, I'm planning on staying here over the summer, and hopefully will be able to continue the show then, and hopefully it will return next Fall. Maybe then I'll have enough time to maintain this blog, I just got too overwhelmed with classes this semester. Ended up having to drop one. whatevs. The future's looking a lot better.

So in summary, if you want info about The Void just use the facebook page, not here. but someday I might bring this back. So until then, goodbye!

Oh and one more thing- I finally came up with a catchy sign-off phrase last week. Been trying to come up with one all semester and then it hit me last week as I was walking over to the station. lulz. listen in to hear it! ktrm.truman.edu

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Program 2: Dynamic Planet

hello everyone. Two weeks ago I did a program on ambient music reflective of planet Earth. My favorite music played in the program was definitely Deep Forest, an electronic duo from the 90s that pioneered ethno-electronic music (and is still pretty much the only one out there). Full playlist is below:

Everything in the first hour is relatively easy to find information on, with the exception of Claviq. I'm not entirely sure, but I think this may just be an amateur musician. I found the song on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doc_mkDF6mc

As for the second hour a couple of these musicians are a bit hard to find, but I believe youtube has them all at least. David Parsons is pretty interesting. As much as I like Deep Forest, they were a bit too rhythmic for this second hour. Parsons was excellent at maintaining a real ambient feel while incorporating world sounds into the music. Dave & Steve Gordon are pretty similar, but a bit more "new age" I suppose. I mentioned Hedfunk last time. I would highly recommend their self-titled album. I think it's a real gem and virtually unknown. And then of course there's Philip Glass. I included him in this because of the way the film Koyanisqaatsi can be interpreted as an environmental activist film. Of course, as wildly experimental as it is, it could have many interpretations, but I think the environmental angle is definitely a good one to take. If you're interested, it's a film that's entirely just image and sound. No characters, no plot, no story. Sounds crazy, but it was a legit film. It played in theaters and everything when it was released. I was skeptical at first, but it managed to keep my interest for the full hour and a half. If you ever wanna see something crazy and unique, watch this film.

One more thing about this show. I tried recording it. The quality is quite terrible, and it starts about a half-hour through. I'll upload it someday. Sorry about not posting this sooner, but I doubt anyone reads this anyway. I'll put up a post for the space jazz program soon too and try to be more consistent.

tune in wednesday nights 12am-2am on 88.7 kirksville, MO for The Void. Also streaming online at ktrm.trumna.edu


12:05am
Aphex Twin “We Are the Music Makers” from Selected Ambient Works 85-92  Buy it!
12:11am
Leftfield “Phat Planet Version 2” from Rhythm and Stealth  Buy it!
12:15am
Amon Tobin “Four Ton Mantis” from Supermodified  Buy it!
12:24am
Ricardo Villalobos “Dexter” from Alcachofa (Playhouse 2003) Buy it!
12:28am
Claviq “Glitchstep” SINGLE  Buy it!
12:38am
Trentemoller “Miss You” SINGLE  Buy it!
12:57am
Gas “Mathematics and Electronics” from Gas 0095 (Microscopics 1995) Buy it!
12:58am
Tycho “PBS” from Past is Prolouge  Buy it!
12:58am
BT “The Internal Locus” from This Binary Universe (DTS Entertainment 2006) Buy it!
1:03am
Deep Forest “Sweet Lulaby” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:15am
David Parsons “Uratu to Ubud” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:15am
Dreamcatcher “Seventh Heaven” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:19am
Robert Rich “Mbira” from Rainforest (Valley Entertainment 2001) Buy it!
1:23am
Hedfunk “The Dawn” from Hedfunk  Buy it!
1:41am
David Parsons “Under the Bodhi Tree” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:42am
1:42am
Deep Forest “Deep Forest” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:50am
David Parsons “Ararat Legong” from Ngaio Gamelan  Buy it!
1:52am
Philip Glass “Prophecies” from Koyaanisqatsi  Buy it!
2:00am
Deep Forest “Sweet Lulaby (Ambient Mix)” SINGLE  Buy it!


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Program 1: Into the Unknown

Hello. I hope you enjoyed the show. Firstly, I apologize for posting this so late. In the future it is likely I'll be able to update the blog live while doing the show, but in this first episode I was still learning to use the equipment. Next week should be a lot better now that I have a better handle on how to do this stuff. There was a bit of dead air, mispronunciations, general voice awkwardness, etc, but I'll be sure to work on that next week. Still though, I think the first show went relatively well. The playlist from the KTRM website is below.

I'll say a few things about the more difficult to find tracks that aired. For the rest you can easily find information with google or wikipedia. Chris Zippel is a German electronic artist that writes various styles from more upbeat house and trance to more downtempo ambient. Hedfunk's song Inosan is difficult to track down because it only appeared on the compilation album Earthrise.Ntone.1, which is a collection of songs by various electronic artists. Hedfunk is already rather unknown, but I'd highly recommend them. Their self-titled album is quite good. You may already know Port Blue by a different name. Recording artist Adam Young uses the Port Blue pseudonym for his pop-ambient side project, but his main project is recorded under the name Owl City, and has achieved an incredible amount of mainstream success. Finally, The Tumbled Sea has not, as far as I know, signed to any recording label yet, but has achieved a decent amount of internet fame. He released his album on a post-rock forum. You can see the thread and download his album Songs from the Tumbled Sea here: http://afterthepostrock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=14221

A couple other interesting notes; if you found that Hopkins' Light Through the Veins sounded familiar, it's probably because it was used on rock megagroup Coldplay's recent album Viva la Vida on the first and last tracks: "Life in Technicolor" and "Death and All His Friends". Hopkins has also toured with and opened for Coldplay. He has also worked closely with Brian Eno, producer of Viva la Vida. You may also have found Chicane's "Poppiholla" sounding familiar if you are fan of Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Ros. It was a trance remix of their song "Hoppipolla" from the album Takk. Port Blue's album Arctic was, as far as I know, never officially released, but it nonetheless surfaced on the internet.



12:06am
Death Cab for Cutie “Brothers On a Hotel Bed (Bachelors of Science remix)” from Plans CD ALBUM(Atlantic Records 2005) Buy it!
12:08am
12:11am
Chris Zippel “Around, Arrived” from Genuine Horizon (Elektrolux 2007) Buy it!
12:20am
12:38am
Jon Hopkins “Light Through the Veins” from Insides (Domino Recording Co. LTD 2009) Buy it!
12:38am
Justice “Let There Be Light” from Cross CD ALBUM (Ed Banger/Because Music/Vice 2007) Buy it!
12:45am
Prefuse 73 “One Word Extinguisher” (Warp Records 2003) Buy it!
12:48am
Chicane “Poppiholla (Thrillseekers remix)” from Poppiholla  Buy it!
12:56am
Hedfunk “Inosan” SINGLE  Buy it!
1:02am
Port Blue “Snow Fox on Glacier Coast” from Arctic  Buy it!
1:10am
1:15am
1:22am
1:34am
1:35am
Steve Roach “The Other Side” from Dreamtime Return  Buy it!
1:46am
Jonn Serrie “Fantasy Passages” from And the Stars Go With You (New World Music2002) Buy it!
1:56am
Jonn Serrie “And the Stars Go With You” (New World Music 2002)Buy it!
1:57am
2:01am
The Tumbled Sea “We're Turning into Regular People” from Songs From the Tumbled Sea Buy it



For next week, I'm tentatively playing around with the idea of doing a more 'world-music'-like show. Of course, it will still be ambient beats and soundscapes, but reflective of our planet Earth and the different world cultures that inhabit it. We'll see how the music-collecting process goes this week, but it will probably be something like this. Last night was supposed to be kind of outer-space themed. Hopefully each week will have some sort of theme to it.

That's it for now. Hope to see you again in The Void....