| STAR'S END Fundraiser - 30 September 2012 | ||||||
In our daily modern lives it's all too easy for us to believe that our actions have little meaning. After all, what can just one person do to effect change or make their opinions known in the complex, ephemeral, commerce driven pace of the 21st century? Politicians on TV, pundits on radio, celebreties with millions of followers on Facebook or Twitter, even cat videos on Youtube all seem to have much more influence in the world than any one of us average citizens ever will. What can just one person do to make a difference? Well, if you succumb to feelings of uselessness, then the answer is truly, "Nothing".
Those who support Public Radio are not among this depressed group. You would not give money to public radio if you were under the impression that your actions didn't matter. STAR'S END is an interesting case. The audience understands that of all the music fans there are in the world, only a fraction comprehend the idea behind STAR'S END - and of those who do "get" the music, only a small number actually pledge during the fundraisers. To those who call in, thanks for holding up your end of the public radio "deal". Your support is felt and sincerely appreciated, and matters - as without you this music would not be coming into your listening space, and the listening space of every other Spacemusic fan each Saturday night/Sunday morning. The mission of STAR'S END is to provide listeners with an experience that is enriching to the human spirit. Every week for over 35 years STAR'S END creates a unique sonic atmosphere. The experience is different for each person, yet all are somehow 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... We're not asking for a few people to do a lot, we're asking for a lot of people to do a little. Thank You for calling in with a pledge! The donations that come in during the fundraisers are so important. Thank You to the 49 listeners who tuned in, and then phoned in with donations totaling $4527 to the STAR'S END Fundraising broadcast of 09.30.12. There were special Thank You gifts available for those calling in with a donation. On Public Radio we are doing things found no where else in broadcasting. With a contribution you are doing your part to keep this wonderful thing going - and in your listening space every week. Thank You! -Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 30 September 2012 | ||||||
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Thank You Gifts
Special premiums are available for those pledging by phone on the 09.30.12 broadcast of STAR'S END, including albums from labels DiN, Manikin, Northern Echo and Projekt.
The CD 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 09.30.12 fundraising broadcast of STAR'S END. More traditional premiums furnished by WXPN will also be offered during this broadcast and throughout the Fall 2012 Fund Drive.
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| City 21 by Radio Massacre International | ||||||
Radio Massacre International is a trio of English musicians (Duncan Goddard, Steve Dinsdale, and Gary Houghton) known for their extended concerts of epic aural excursions. Over the course of their career they have developed a distinctive style set on transcending individual consciousness. Their performances are largely improvised and often veer off into areas dictated by mood, circumstance or whim. RMI's 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, they are further exploring and contemplating the expressional mode and the instruments that made it possible - in hopes of realizing new ideas. Their album City 21 is for the most part a studio realization and used as the soundtrack to the film of the same name.
• Radio Massacre International - City 21 single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge
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| Time & Motion by Radio Massacre International | ||||||
For Radio Massacre International playing concerts is about being seen, about projecting themselves to an audience. Their studio album Time & Motion re-imagines this chemistry, with it flowing in just one direction - outward. Taking the freedom to do what they please, RMI uses the finite time limits of this double disc set to fine tune their cosmic excursions down to more earthly proportions. While the band continues to conjure atmosphere and create mood, here RMI gives each piece a slightly tighter arrangement and a deep dramatic sweep. With sequencers chugging along beneath liquid guitar solos and percussion bumping and popping between electronic glitter, RMI manages to transfer a few degrees of their fever to the listener. The varied use of Mellotron brings an ethereal texture to their sound just as easily as it may add well-defined lead melodies. They also continue experiments in reducing the music down to its most basic forms. There are sections on Time & Motion where tonality recedes and narrative diminishes to a dream state level - one where the surreal ideas of the sub-conscious dominate. The only aspect of music that cannot be taught is intuition and the dark spaces that RMI explore are created in this pristine spirit. The members of this group share an exuberance for discovery. The intimacy of making their work and imagining its potential in the world is exhilarating. Randomness breads addiction - in that something reliable will be taken for granted. For RMI their music making is a ritual that is new every time - and it is the possibility of repeating an amazing sonic experience that keeps them coming back for more.
• Radio Massacre International - Time & Motion single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge
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| Red + Blue + Level Four by Broekhuis, Keller & Schonwalder | ||||||
   
Something of a super-group, Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder has the ability to morph into any number of musical contexts while retaining the signatures of their own unique sound. Responsible for producing a great number of albums and concerts, both solo and in various collaborative combinations, works by
• Broekhuis, Keller & Schonwalder - Red single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Long Distances by Keller & Schonwalder + Liquid Session by Kagerman, Keller & Schonwalder | ||||||
 
Rather than be intimidated by the spirits of Spacemusic master's past, Detlef Keller and Mario Schonwalder are encouraged by their ghosts. Derived from the same structure as the classics their live CD Long Distances (74'55") indeed may be just simple melodic improvisations atop a composed repeating bassline - or could it be a metaphor for the inner workings of the Universe? Either way, it is obvious by this duo's vast musical output that they are playing something out of their own lives - filling the vast emptiness of space with their active imaginations. Whether it is a warm lead line swirling back and forth along the keyboard or icy chords slowly changing and holding, the open structure of Long Distances works well due to a casual intimacy between each musician. The music ramps up and winds down in wonderfully dramatic cycles. With its harmonic waves of pastoral synth strings and celestial choirs drifting along at the pace of the cosmos, to expressive keyboard solos hovering above mechanized sequencer patterns, the three tracks on Long Distances whirl in a pool of rhythm and sound. With a constantly shifting interplay between the parts Keller and Schonwalder have found that there is no predetermined way for this kind of live music to play. The process may best be described as devising a dream, then asking the listener to step inside.
• Keller & Schonwalder - Long Distances single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Silent Currents - Erik Wøllo | ||||||
Over the years STAR'S END has hosted many live to air concerts, usually with artists fresh from The Gatherings Concert Series stage. The act of playing a second more intimate concert after a public event provides a sense of summation to a powerful experience. But the unique radio venue also offers musicians a space for discovery, as they turn from focused music for The Gatherings community to atmospheres for an audience each in their own dream space. Erik Wøllo enthusiastically embraces this idea, using his on-air concerts to explore moods and zones only found in the late hour and unconventional situation. With each amazing performance in Philadelphia his art advances. Every outing seems to raise the music to a new plateau. There is an interesting energy arcing through Silent Currents. During his STAR'S END sessions Erik descends into himself, realizing music completely in the moment. The resulting new works are wonderful expressions of ambience, texture and this artist's potent sense of drama - as Erik Wøllo creates space, then fills it with ever evolving sound.
• Erik Wollo - Silent Currents double CD $100.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Journey of One - Steve Roach | ||||||
A pioneer in contemporary electronic music, Steve Roach is a leading innovator in the atmospheric/tribal/ambient music world. Drawing on the beauty and power of the earth's landscapes, Roach creates lush, meditative soundscapes. His music exists outside conventional boundaries and is restless in its search for new sounds that connect with an ancient source. Over the past 20 years, Roach has been a rare constant as live performer on the international electronic music scene. With over 50 albums to his credit he continues to set the standards by which this evolving genre is measured. In spite of his music having been borrowed from so many times, Roach still has the power to inspire and move. Journey of One is a live album from Roach's tribal ambient era circa 1996.
• Steve Roach - Journey of One double CD $100.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| The Passage by Sam Rosenthal | ||||||
The Passage is a foray into the realms of pure ambient from Black Tape for a Blue Girl founder/songwriter Sam Rosenthal. The two pieces submerge the listener in a sustaining environment of warm electronics, minimalist proceedings and a yearning string theme. The vast field of harmonious resonance moves gradually and languidly, time stretching and evolving, rolling back in on itself. The Passage also features violinist Vicki Richards.
• Sam Rosenthal - The Passage single CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Conundrum by Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock & Berhnard Wöstheinrich | ||||||
Good collaborations can bring out latent voices. On Conundrum (56'43") the duo of Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock and Bernhard Wöstheinrich speak in a language of unexpected affinities and easily traced influences. For Hoffmann-Hoock it is Eastern thought and 60s psychedelia while technology and abstract expressionism inform Wöstheinrich's contributions. Working together on Conundrum the duo manages to combine their individual musical traits into a cohesive sonic statement. Electronic beats, pops and squeaks drop in hard, then relax beneath ethereal guitar leads. The cerebral energy of the rhythms activates the mind as languid melodies play to the heart. Prog-Rock influences inundate Hoffmann-Hoock's guitar riffs. Drifting glissando clouds, slow E-bow solos, breathing chords and straight-ahead liquid leads flow amidst Wöstheinrich's electronica flare. With their hot beats and cool guitar this duo conjures up multi-faceted inventions both cosmically abstract and molecularly detailed.
• Conundrum - one CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge | ||||||
| Moire by Ian Boddy & Berhnard Wostheinrich + Praposition by Subsonic Experience | ||||||
 
Bernhard Wostheinrich and Thorsten Niestrath are the duo of Subsonic Experience. Their CD Praposition - a rough snapshot of intuitive improvisation at work - is the result of a weekend recording session in late 2000. The music was all played live on mostly cheap synths and abandoned floor effects pedals. Most notably is Niestrath's amazing synth organ work. His wonderful lead lines and colourful organ clusters are found on all tracks of the album. Wostheinrich's duties on the other hand levitated toward keeping the sequencers running, generating endless variations of tones and textures in real time. Recorded with very basic means, but mixed and mastered using state-of-the-art technology, Moire is the perfect amalgamation of musicianship with a traditionalists feel for early EM, all overseen by modern production techniques.
Moire is DiN label founder Ian Boddy interacting and collaborating in a creative partnership with electronic improvisationalist Bernhard Wostheinrich. The gestation of Moire has been a multifacted process and the resulting music spread over 10 tracks captures both the detail and complexity of arrangement possible with modern music technology as well as the spontaneous nature of the original improvisations. Sonically it effortlessly ranges from classic analogue sequencer lines to deep, metallic atmospheres through to full on drum & synth work-outs. The majority of the tracks employ organic analogue arpeggiations together with unusual percussive loops which forms the backbone of the music. Ethereal ambient textures provide a suitably surreal counter-balance to the solidity of the rhythmic structure which creates a constant sense of flow and change within the compositions.
• Moire & Praposition two CDs $120.00 Credit Card Pledge - one CD $75.00 Credit Card Pledge
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STAR'S END broadcasts every Saturday Night/Sunday Morning from 1:00am til 6:00am (ET) on:
and live on the world wide web at: http://xpn.org/stream.shtml | 
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