Music

One word. Inspiring. Ok, two. BAD ASS!

Towards the end of 2010 we invited Imogen’s fans to take part in a survey with  YouGov.co.uk.

The idea behind the survey was for Imogen to find out more about her fans and she hoped to discover how her fans first came into contact with her work, when, how and why they enjoy her music, and what it is about Heap fans as individuals that mean they connect with her.

The results are now in and you can read the report on the YouGov website.

Thanks to everyone (over 5,000 of you!) who took the time to participate in the survey, the results will help Immi plan her future releases and tours.

earman189 - [mikra] - Muraena Linnaeus One of the great pleasures of running a netlabel is meeting new artists, and today is no exception. We are very happy to welcome Pavel Rassolko and his [mikra] project to our family of artists, with his brand new album "Muraena Linnaeus"....

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In this Brian Eno news update: we forgot to do the update. But if it hadn't slipped our minds, you'd already be reading about Brian's talk in London on 24th February, Brian being interviewed by Cambridge students, and some other stuff involving artists associated with Brian.

http://www.enoweb.co.uk/enews.html

The OKTAF RECORDS label is putting out what looks to be a very promising tribute album to Harold Budd with people like Biosphere, Marsen Jules,  and several artists I’m less familiar with.

Here’s the Press Release:

With “Lost In The Humming Air – Music inspired by Harold Budd” oktaf records announces an amazing collection of thirteen exclusive tracks made by a selection of some of todays best known ambient music producers giving their tribute to the outstanding piano legend Harold Budd.

The playlists features names as: Deaf Center, Loscil, Martin Fuhs, Biosphere, Xela, Marsen Jules, Andrew Thomas, Mokira, Christopher Willits, Taylor Deupree, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Porn Sword Tobacco and bvdub feat. Criss Van Wey.

Well known for his spaceful piano playing and his early cooperations with Brian Eno, Harold Budd has inspired a whole generation of modern protagonists of ambient, jazz and especially the so called modern classical genre. With his recent releases on David Sylvians Samadhi Sound label as well as on Darla, he is still showing his outstanding musical genius to the world.

“Lost in the Humming Air (Music inspired by Harold Budd)” will be released on April 9th (March 26th digital) on oktaf records. Exclusively distributed by Kompakt.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Become a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Tagged: Ambient, electronic, Eno, Harold Budd, John Diliberto

   A 17 years old instructables member has shared his wonderful work, the help of which you can build your own remote-controlled based Vehicle. He presented his ideas and step by step guide here.  To make this crazy build, you’ll just be requiring:  standard Lego NXT kit, computer with Bluetooth and wiimote. The tutorial will [...]

I posted a couple of Valentine’s Videos on Facebook and it got me looking for other videos of music I’ll be playing tonight on Echoes of the Heart.  You can create your own images tonight, but here’s some to get you in that Echoes of the Heart frame of mind.

Air is a really good live band and here they are with a nicely produced live video of “Love.”

Lia Ices cut a very erotic/artsy/spiritual/goofy video for her gorgeous song, “Little Marriage”  from her CD, Grown Unknown.

Pat Metheny recorded a beautiful version of The Association’s “Cherish” on his Grammy winning album, What’s It All About.

Agnes Obel’s Philharmonics was the #1 Echoes album from 2011 and a CD of the Month.  Here she is covering John Cale’s “Close Watch.”

And what the hell, here’s John Cale with his rendition of “I Keep A Close Watch.”

There were only static cover shot versions of  Low Roar’s “Nobody Else” but I liked this solo version of “Help Me.”

I couldn’t find a good video for Fionnualla Sherry’s “My Lagan Love” here’s one for “Our Wedding Day” from the same album, Songs from Before, an Echoes CD of the Month.

Here’s an acoustic version of Anna Ternheim’s “My Heart Beats for You.” Check out the musical saw..

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Hear Echoes of the Heart tonight on Valentine’s Day.  Echoes On-Line Subscribers will get to hear a 3 and 1/2 hour Valentine’s day soundscape. You can create a non-stop, announcer free soundscape for your Valentine’s night by trying a week of Echoes On-Line.

A few of these albums were Echoes CDs of the Month.   You can get great music like this by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Tagged: echoes, Love, Love Videos, Valentines Day

[EL015]
Lainhart, Weinstock, Creek, Morris – Live 2010

Download Whole Directory: L.W.C.M – Live 2010

Mirror Site: Archive.org

Artist Site: Electro-Music.com
Ethereal Live returns with release number fifteen featuring the improv ensemble Lainhart, Weinstock, Creek, Morris. These four musicians meet in Huguenot, NY on September 11, 2010 to play a short set at the experimental electronic music festival, Electro-Music 2010.

This single long form track of 25 minutes and 42 seconds was performed without any rehearsals or discussions of the music and was completely improvised by the musicians, which mostly had never played together before.

As with any live scenario, not all aspects of audio can be controlled like a studio environment. In this performance, there is a ground hum that could not be eliminated before the beginning of the set. At times the hum can be noticed in the mix. This set was mastered to eliminate the hum as much as possible, without detracting considerably from the overall audio quality of the album. Ethereal Live hopes you will still find this set worthy of listening to despite the imperfections in the recording.

Live 2010 is dedicated to and in memory of our dear friend Richard Lainhart. It is only fitting that we release this set today on Richard’s birthday, which is also Valentine’s day. As one of the musicians in this ensemble, I think I can speak for all when saying it was a deep honor and thrill to share music with Richard, an experience I will always treasure in my life.

Mastering by Thomas Jackson Park and Shane Morris
Photos by Hong Waltzer

Richard Lainhart
Steve Weinstock
Jez Creek
Shane Morris

Special thanks to Caroline Meyers, Howard Moscovitz, Greg Waltzer, Hong Waltzer, and Thomas Jackson Park.

All material by Lainhart, Weinstock, Creek, Morris Copyright © 2012 released under a Creative Commons license for free non-commercial use under certain conditions. CC – BY/NC/ND

ATTENTION DEVOTEES: 

As DEVO said on their 1990 "Smooth Noodle Maps" album, "A change is gonna cum”…!

A new ClubDEVO.com Web Site will soon be launched. Over the next few days, you'll see this Warner Bros hosted site replaced with a temporary "Under Construction" notice (with links to important DEVO news)...until our full site is launched in March 2012. The new ClubDEVO.com will feature brand new merchandise, world-wide shipping to anywhere on Planet Earth, and a surprise limited edition release scheduled for April 2012.

More info coming soon, Spuds.

I admit it. I have an affinity for acoustic instruments, especially the guitar. Tonight, I was playing with the inputs of the Novation UN and had an acoustic guitar plugged in (Input 1) and this is the outcome. This track was recorded in Abe at 120bpm. Guitar audio sent to different processed channels and drums programmed over the guitar track as an after thought. This started out as a coffee house folk guitar improv that crawled away as this...

M. Peck - Mahomet by M. Peck

Hear Echoes at the Grammys, tonight February 10, 2012

In 2009 as the Grammy Awards were announced, I wrote a blog called Who is Henta and How Did She Get Nominated for A Grammy.  With just a simple name-replacement and a couple of updates, I rewrote it in 2010 as Who is Zamora and How Did He Get Nominated for a Grammy?  I didn’t do anything except replace Henta’s name with Zamora’s. 

I decided not to run it because I didn’t want to be negative again.  But I’m not going to pass this up two years in a row, so…………

WHO  IS HENTA ZAMORA AND HOW DID SHE HE GET NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY?  TWICE!!

Every year, the Recording Academy has at least one WTF moment and in this 54th year it’s again in the New Age category.  Three years ago, Jack DeJohnette inexplicably won for Peace Time, which in a post-Grammy blog I called “a generic New Age album that would’ve been cliched 30 years ago”  and likened it to Yusef Lateef for getting the New Age Grammy in 1987 for his hackneyed Little Symphony and Jethro Tull winning the Heavy Metal Grammy in 1988 for Crest of a Knave (a good album, just not heavy metal).

But all those artists had names and were brilliant in their fields, jazz and rock respectively.  But who the hell is Henta  Zamora?  You don’t know? Someone must.  She’s He’s one of 5 nominees in the New Age category, but I’ve never heard of her him.  It’s not so unusual that an artist slips by me sometimes.   I’m not all-knowing, even in my field.   But it is unusual when that artist can muster enough votes in a Grammy category to make the final five.  She He sits alongside established names like Peter Kater,  and jazz guitar icon Pat Metheny (what he’s doing in this category is another WTF Grammy Moment.) as well as much lesser known artists, Michael Brant DeMaria and Al Conti.   As Ricky Gervais as Andy Tilman as Ray Stokes might say, “Are you ‘avin’ a laugh?”

Henta’s Zamora’s nominated CD, Laserium for the Soul Instrumental Oasis, Vol. 6, is a slice of generic, hard core new age with ethereal vocals syrupy melodies, corny pan-pipe samples and overladen synthesizer pads.  How such a derivative, run-of-the-mill  work from an artist with no apparent profile makes the 5 New Age nominees is beyond me.  Perusing her his website, it’s clear that she’s he’s a working musician with previous recordings, sound library work and more, but it’s nothing that most people, Grammy voters or not,  would know about.  It’s not like New Age doesn’t have enough of a credibility problem.

He does have a Wiki page but Zamora’s Autobody is listed higher in a Google search. Sadly, small categories like New Age are easily gamed in the Grammys.  Even bigger categories like Americana can be manipulated, as it was this year by complete unknown, Linda Chorney, for her album, Emotional Jukebox.  She didn’t break any rules.  She simply optimized her social networking, including the Grammy 360 social network.  But that doesn’t make it the best album.

Hopefully, creativity, integrity and artistic bravery  will win out this year and Pat Metheny‘s What’s It All About will take the New Age Grammy.   He’s already won 18 Grammy awards, most in various jazz categories, but whenever he puts out a solo acoustic album, suddenly he’s New Age.   His presence elevates the genre, and even though it’s not a New Age album, it is the best album in the category.

Overall, this is one of the weakest years for Echoes artists at the Grammys.  You can usually find them in the fringe categories but few are found in 2009′s, 2010′s, 2011′s selection.  But we’ll run down some of our favorites on Friday, February 10 on Echoes at the Grammys.

The Grammys themselves will be broadcast Sunday night, February 12, although most categories, including New Age, are given off-screen during the day.  But you can watch the webcast. See the complete list of nominees.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Tagged: Grammys, New Age, Zamora

Have you ever wondered what Imogen’s songs would sound like played by a string quartet? Well now you can find out!

The Vitamin String Quartet have covered some of Imogen’s most popular songs and you can buy the EP from iTunes or listen to it on Spotify.

What your favourite Imogen cover?

  Nullvalu has shared his youngest son’s Crazy Wiimote Pinewood Derby Car build in 2011. The following components were used in his construct: a PCB LEDs a PIC 16F627 micro-controller, for controlling LEDs chaser sequence a +12V battery.  

This Thursday (2/09/12) evening, the new release from Miñoza and Peck will be played in its entirety during the Time Drone show on Stillstream.com. Be sure to tune in! And a very special thanks to Jack Hertz and Stillstream for their support.

Imogen will be appearing as a ‘featured speaker’ at this year’s South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas in March.

Exact dates and times are yet to be confirmed but we’ll post the information as soon as we have it!

Find out how you can attend SXSW here.

This summer Imogen will take part in ‘A Room for London’ – Artangel’s year long programme of international musicians taking up residence in a one-bedroom architectural installation.

Imogen will spend the 21st & 22nd of June in the Boat which is perched on top of Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on the River Thames. Whilst in residence she will compose a new song and perform snippets via live video blogs.

Find out more at aroomforlondon.co.uk and read the full press release here.

The debut album from Dan Miñoza and M. Peck is a masterwork of isolated kinetics, turgid textures and vast dynamics drawing the listener in with stark minimalism and dark ambient atmospheres coupled with sparse sound design.
These collected works were inspired by the novelist Charles Bukowski and photographer Sally Mann, from whom both Miñoza and Peck draw much influence.
The album was recorded from August 2011 through December 2011, then later mixed and mastered by Peck at Audio Propulsion Labs in January of 2012. The result is an intimate voyage into the abyss with two of today's most diverse independent ambient musicians.

This album can be streamed and downloaded here in various formats with the option to name your price. Thank you and enjoy.

Frankie Rose concocts a psychedelic mix of shoegaze moods, New Wave grandiosity and chorale serenity.

Frankie Rose, previously recording as Frankie Rose and the Outs,  was a singer in Dum Dum Girls and you can hear the Go-Gos-style summer of electro punk joyfulness that group had, but there is a darker more shoegazer edge on her latest album, Interstellar.   It’s not glistening electro-pop.  Rose has an ethereal but powerful voice that stacks up against her big beats.  It’s an evocative combination on songs like “Know Me,” the lead single, which is  both triumphal and yearning.  She loves 80s rhythms, like the alternating electro snare and bass drum 4/4 groove of the contemplative “Daylight Sky.”  But even with the big beats she can drop into a delicate chorale hymn on “Pair of Wings” and the meditation of “Silver Apples for the Sun.”  Could there be a touch of Enya in her listening?

But Frankie Rose always comes back to the new wave dance  sound, even when it’s couched in psychedelic 60s reverb guitar and Joy Division grooves as on “Moon in My Mind.” Interstellar is a trip into Frankie Rose’s cosmic space.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

Join us on Facebook where you’ll get all the Echoes news.

Tagged: 80s, Electro-Pop, Frankie Rose, New Wave, shoegaze

earman188 - Frore - Axis Mundi Paul Casper of Frore returns to Earth Mantra with another epic tribal ambient odyssey called "Axis Mundi". Folks, we at Earth Mantra listen to a lot of ambient music, and Frore has come to be one of our favorite ambient artists ever....

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Hello you and welcome to our home at imogenheap.com!

A plan is afoot to create a brand new (long overdue!) imogenheap.com website that will encompass all things me, Imogen. The Heap team and myself are VERY excited about it. It will be my musical ecosystem, online, reactive and interactive and I will be a lot closer to feeling organised!

As you can imagine this is going to take some time to build, also as I’ve done quite a few things (not unlikely that some of which you may have been involved in?) over these 15 years in the biz, so as a stop gap we’ve launched this temporary website that should make it easier to find things (the old site had become very fragmented) and will allow you to keep up to date with the latest news easily.

Subscribe

To receive an email whenever we post a new article here, sign up for website email alerts or alternatively you can join our regular mailing list for periodic updates.

You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, follow @heapwire on Twitter or ‘like’ Imogen’s Facebook page to receive regular website updates.