| STAR'S END Fundraiser - 27 February 2011 | ||||||
STAR'S END is more than an escape from the everyday. Its mission is to provide listeners with an enriching experience - one that will tap into new and different parts of the imagination. Every week for well over 30 years STAR'S END has been creating a unique sonic atmosphere carried over the radiowaves of WXPN in Philadelphia. The experience is different for each person, with each establishing their own unique narrative, yet all are connected by the continuous flow of music and mood. The hours of these broadcasts belong to you and may be the only time during the week where nothing more is asked of you than to listen... sleep... dream...
STAR'S END does want you out there listening every week, but not as part of a passive experience. During the 02.27.11 broadcast you were asked to do more than just tune in and listen; you were asked to call in and pledge! Sincere Thanks to the 53 listeners who helped out with a total of $4242.00. Your generous act funds public radio station WXPN and indicates that you are among a select few who are serious about this unique radio show and the amazing range of music it presents. Public radio relies on its listeners for its faith in the future. WXPN Membership begins at just $60. Calling in with a pledge at this level (or an amount that best reflects your feelings towards STAR'S END) helps us meet the Winter fund drive goals. The donations made during the fundraisers are so important. STAR'S END and WXPN are very grateful to hear from you! Thank you for tuning in, and then phoning in to the STAR'S END Fundraising broadcast of 02.27.11. There were special Thank You gifts available for those calling in, including the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology 2CD set. Through your contributions you are doing your part as a Public Radio listener - it's an investment that will help keep STAR'S END in your listening space every week. Thanks very much for your support! Thanks also to the phone room volunteers! Ken Anderson, Art Cohen, Chris G, Kathy Jeffries, Barry Landis, Bud Schoefer, Jeff Towne, Taffy Towne and Karissa! -Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 1 March 2011 | ||||||
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Thank You Gifts
Special premiums were available for those pledging by phone on the 02.27.11 broadcast of STAR'S END, including albums from labels Air Space Music, DiN, Northern Echo, Projekt, Ricochet Dream, Timeroom, Waiting World Records, as well as the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD from WXPN.
The premiums pictured were donated by the artist/label and available (in limited quantities) as thank-you gifts to those making a credit card pledge by phone during the 02.27.11 fundraising broadcast of STAR'S END. More traditional premiums, including the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD furnished by WXPN, will also be offered during this broadcast and throughout the Winter 2011 Fund Drive.
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| Gateway by Erik Wollo | ||||||
 
On Gateway (70'16") Erik Wøllo continues to explore his musical imagination. Through many years of experience he has gained knowledge and a refined technique - and still seems excited about creating the vivid pieces that inhabit this album. In just a few seconds of this music one is transported to another plane. Bypassing verbal thought, connecting directly with the mind, his fluid lead melodies speak, as if in a voice, directly to the listener. Although closely associated with electronic sound, Wøllo uses guitar as the primary instrument in which to convey his message. Usually played through assorted effects, his lead lines are poignant, ethereal and elegant. The synthetic harmonies and melodies that fill out this majestic work are arranged with the skill of a seasoned composer. Gateway's more active pieces develop along a wonderful arc of crisp rhythms and layers of bounding sequencer patterns - which act to vivify the progression of Wøllo's tuneful lead lines flying above. When loosening structural plans, Wøllo also realizes compositions more in an ambient mode. Gentle and bittersweet, these beautiful slow moving sections possibly contain even more emotional content than the soaring hymns and exuberant fantasies found elsewhere on this CD. From stark simplicity to prog-influenced anthems Wøllo's spirit comes out in the precision and detail of his work - as it touches the best part of us.
• Erik Wollo - Gateway single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| On the Other Side by Steve Dinsdale | ||||||
 
On the Other Side (47'46") is (among other things) a tribute to the single-mindedness of the solo artist. Although Steve Dinsdale continues to be a significant part of Radio Massacre International, his artistic vision must disappear against the immensity of the trio's dense free-form concept. With this, his second solo CD, Dinsdale probes deeper into his own ideas about music and sound. His determination to be a part of something creative every single day is Dinsdale's ideal and his audience's delight - as this CD is the result of many a day's creative encounter with music. We hear a mood of celebration in these tracks, along with a healthy dose of 1970s German Space Rock. With Dinsdale playing drums and percussives beneath cycling sequencer patterns and lilting synth melodies, the first few tracks from On the Other Side gently propels the album through the Prog era and on into the 21st century. These pieces are tightly arranged and unfold in a friendly way out into the listening space. The last four of the eight tracks make up the title work, and an interesting suite of music it is. Dinsdale does give this collage continuity, yet the music remains open and spacious. More atmospheric and textural than the previous songs, this area and its easy kinetic flow engage the listener with dancing arpeggios, breathy chorus, ethereal flutes, synth strings and a pleasing melodic confluence. On the Other Side will seem familiar, but not at all derivative. It is nothing less than a true expression of Dinsdale's being - which means that this music was not learned, it was lived.
• Steve Dinsdale - On the Other Side single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge
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| Sigh of Ages by Steve Roach | ||||||
 
Musical projects by Steve Roach have in varying degrees been very personal expressions. His CD Sigh of Ages (73'50") establishes and explores six unique atmospheres and gradually reveals this artist's interior state. Synthetic tones rush together forming a still subtle space. These restless meditations shape sound into musical textures whose qualities combine and separate in fascinating ways. Understanding the power of simplicity Roach rolls out low drones beneath modulating synth string chords. A sustaining mood arises - eventually resolving in an ambient sigh. This album features sequencer patterns as well, and these pieces move toward a restrained, poetic minimalism. In his music Roach portrays himself as the man in the labyrinth, not lost in a maze but rather on a journey of discovery - charting the inner map of knowing. The dark lessons of Sigh of Ages provide lasting reverberations. Each track is distinctively evocative - a tender sonic montage leading the listener quietly into the night.
• Steve Roach - Sigh of Ages single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| A Life Incandescent - Mahoney & Peck | ||||||
The raw material out of which music by Mark Mahoney & Michael Peck is realized is not old cosmic music LPs but the ebb and flow of life. Their CD A Life Incandescent (49'29") continues to show Mahoney & Peck as a duo living in sound. On this release they do their best to light up a dark genre that too often suffers from vapid exploration. There is more to this music than spacing-out. Treating the soundfield like a canvas their music demands imaginative interaction and asks the listener to re-align our sensitivity to sound. Through subtle gradations of tone and timbre Mahoney & Peck achieve a surreal dreamlike soundscape. From molecular whispers in the blood to an acceleration of energy, the eight pieces on A Life Incandescent move the mechanisms of the mind to embrace the enormity of which we all are a part. Drones, resonant sweeps, slow evocative solos and swirling digital chaos over thick analogue foundations all characterize the sonic components of this work. The rhythmic parts are equally original with clear arpeggiations skipping skyward or grainy percussion loops stretched and tweaked. The freedom expressed on A Life Incandescent is compelling - and Mahoney & Peck use their improvisational skills to move easily between a number of moods and atmospheres. From an inward stillness to euphoric revelations and all in between, this audio experience is not so much about their lives as it is about the labyrinthine journey of all creative lives.
• Mahoney & Peck - A Life Incandescent single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Momentium - Luminosity - Quadranteon - Sequentaria - Jeffrey Koepper | ||||||
    Renowned for his technical abilities and restorative powers, Jeffrey Koepper is distinguished for his work in maintaining and reviving vintage electronic music equipment. His music is realized through a mastery beyond the technical side of his craft - and alternates between analogue bubbles and digital ice, and bright, smooth, spacious tonal landscapes. Applying his vast technical knowledge of music making equipment towards programming evocative ethereal sounds and strong rhythmic designs, Koepper produces music of impressive depth and rare intelligence.
• Jeffrey Koepper - any single title for a $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Radiate by Jeffrey Koepper | ||||||
Radiate is a sonic document of Jeffrey Koepper's set at The Gatherings on 19 April 2008 and traverses much of the same territory as his two previous concert outings (on STAR'S END and opening for Steve Roach). With an emphasis on works from his CD Sequentaria (released at The Gatherings that night) the set began with some vintage phase shifted synth pads, heroic E-drums and dancing arpeggio scales. Drawing on the musical era that spawned such albums as Poland, Logos and White Eagle; Koepper ran through a fascinating range of sequencer based pieces - his full-throated lead lines soaring above. His stage set-up included several keyboards, among them vintage museum grade synths - right alongside the latest retro analogue technology. Between each of the rhythmic sections Koepper lulled the audience with deep drones and airy synthetic harmonies and effects. To close out the night, Jeff played lovely chord progressions on the Prophet-8 over a simple run of tones from the arpeggiator on the Jupiter-6. Looking back, this uncluttered and pure piece of music was a perfect way to wind the concert down - with a few quiet and intimate moments spent between the artist and audience. At The Gatherings Concert Series complex stories are often told with simple sounds. Radiate is full of these human details, spoken in the public luster of the live concert.
• Jeffrey Koepper - Radiate single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Keep On - Mohave 2003 by Ricochet Gathering | ||||||
 
"The story leading to the creation of Keep On goes back to 1983, when the group Tangerine Dream produced the soundtrack for Michael Mann's film "The Keep", a film taking place in Romania. The music from "The Keep" has maintained cult status and the soundtrack eluded the general public. So, 25 years later, at the 9th Ricochet Gathering EM event, the concept was presented to compose a new interpretation of this soundtrack - in celebration of its Silver Anniversary. The location selected was an old manor in a small village in Transylvania. The various musicians were provided with The Keep Cues soundtrack music to study and gain inspiration and on 11 November 2008, many live and improvised performances were recorded and a selection was chosen for the first two tracks of this release." Personnel: Daniel Bloom, Paul Nagle, Indra, Spyra, Steve Schroyder, Paul Lawler - Notes by Vic Rek
• Ricochet Gathering - Keep On single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| React by Robert Rich & Ian Boddy | ||||||
 
For Robert Rich & Ian Boddy, their third collaboration is the result of their first live meeting. React (63'52") is a document of this duo's performance at the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Celebration Concerts held in Philadelphia in June of 2007. The 11 tracks include live versions of pieces from their two earlier studio CDs Lithosphere (2005) and Outpost (2001), as well as new works conceived especially for their first outing. As with their previous releases, React does not merely occupy the middle ground between two talented musicians. It is a surreal, fanciful and at times intense work that provokes and impresses with its conceptual complexity. Rich's intoxicating glissando guitar and echoing flute melodies inhabit the ether while Boddy produces deep rumbling and neuron disabling effects across a shifting digital terrain. Ravaging his keyboards, sounds stretch inside out as intricate rhythms assemble, build and change. From space-tribe drumming and wet bassline punch, to soft moonlit chords and floating synth atmospheres, this work is panoramic yet detailed. Rich and Boddy move through an interior landscape with a unanimity that usually comes with years of experience - and ask the listener to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one.
• Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - React single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Septentrional by Radio Massacre Int'l | ||||||
Radio Massacre Int'l is a trio of English musicians (Steve Dinsdale, Duncan Goddard, Gary Houghton) known for their extended concerts of epic aural excursions. RMI proudly admits that their performances are largely improvised and often veer off into areas dictated by mood, circumstance or whim. Their recorded output reflects the diversity and complexity of this work, which is often compared to that of the Berlin School of cosmic music that emerged in Germany during the 1970s. But RMI is not simply re-creating the music of this era, but rather further exploring and contemplating the expressional mode and the instruments that made it possible - in hopes of realizing new ideas. Enter third millennial idea-man Ian Boddy and Septentrional (56'14"), his interesting collaboration with RMI. For this album, Boddy has extensively edited and arranged hours of new RMI studio recordings into five tightly orchestrated and varied pieces, adding his own percussion riffs and rolls when needed. While the tracks sound like something made by RMI, they are more condensed and agile. Gone are the sprawling and time-warping jam sessions of previous releases. On Septentrional Boddy successfully retains the essence of RMI's music as well as displays its variety. The feel of the album shifts in turns between the stark and elegiac soundscapes of "Seven Sceptres of Sephulcrave" (11'43") and "The Last Laugh" (8'20") to the athletic and brisk spirited "The First Cry" (11'06") and "Trident" (11'19") and the nimble and supple complex web of minor key melodies on "Searching Septentrional Skies" (9'20"). Here the slow early section drifts by, generating momentum for the gyratory sequencer rhythms. So goes Septentrional, a cofunction that yields abundant musical rewards - addressing the ideal of only being satisfied with not what came before but what comes next.
• Radio Massacre Int'l - Septentrional single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD | ||||||
To mark 30 years of continuous broadcast of STAR'S END, WXPN has released the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD. This double CD contains over 120 minutes of live music from 11 renowned artists. The unique performances were culled from on-air in-studio radio concerts by some of our community's greatest talents. Included on the disc are previously unreleased live selections donated by: The Ministry of Inside Things, Orbital Decay, Ian Boddy, AirSculpture, Radio Massacre International, Robert Rich, Rudy Adrian, Jonn Serrie, Jeff Pearce, Saul Stokes and Steve Roach.
The STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD is available for a $60 donation to WXPN, which includes membership and all of its benefits. Current WXPN members can receive the STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD for a $25 donation. Access the online Pledge Form to support WXPN and aquire your CD. Please indicate "STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Anthology CD" in the comments box. Call 1-800-565-WXPN or send an email to WXPN Member Services for details. CDs are currently being sent out to donors by the WXPN Membership Department - which may be reached by telephone at: 1-800-565-WXPN or via email. Thanks very much for your support!
STAR'S END 30th Anniversary Celebration
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