SUMMER...inspires an even more ethereal brand of Ambient electronica. Whether flying or floating on the balmy breezes, the sounds are airy and the movement is light and buoyant. The words we use to describe the moods it creates are superlative: joyous, blissful, ecstatic, delightful — even heavenly. And when it comes to heaven, for some reason we p…

IN THE LAST FOUR DECADES, the ardent world of Indian devotional music has been transformed by an international group of world and ambient musicians. Inspired by this venerable heart-centered vocal tradition called bhakti, working with both traditional and progressive Indian musicians, they've stretched the boundaries and expanded the atmosphere of …

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the combination of ambient nature sounds and electronic music was actually an innovation in the 1970s. And you may be surprised that the idea had a history in European classical music, especially in England and France. In England, it was the so-called "pastoral" composers like ARNOLD BAX and RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, who created or…

THE ARRIVAL OF PRACTICAL ELECTRONIC SYNTHESIZERS in the late 1960s and early 1970s caused a sensation around the world, but nowhere more than Germany. Postwar German artists were restless, intent on leaving behind all forms of traditional German music, as well as the Rhythm & Blues roots and song structure of popular Anglo-American rock. An innocen…

HAWAII, ladies and gentlemen: our 50th state, a subtropical archipelago of 137 volcanic islands arising from the Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles southwest of the U.S. mainland. Unique in many ways, it's a rich multi-ethnic melting pot of indigenous Hawaiian, Polynesian, East and Southeast Asian, and North American cultures. All this diversity gives Hawai…

The primal sound of prehistoric hand drums, brought to the present by space-defining ambient electronics. In the 1980s, elements of ancient indigenous music were embraced by electronic musicians searching for an earthy, vital sound to balance the dematerialized tones of electronic instruments, ground the atmospheric soundscapes of ambient, and gain…

Flying and floating: two weightless activities we associate with the airy skies and watery delights of summer. Of course, spacemusic allows you to fly and float all year 'round, but somehow it's even more enjoyable in the warm weather months. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we ride the air currents and float on blissful waves, on a program…

The yearly anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, has become a festive national holiday with food, music, and fireworks, celebrated by millions of Americans of all ages and backgrounds, in every part of the United States. It’s a good time to revisit the roots of Ambient Americana—influences from Am…

Underlying the political and religious differences that have provoked centuries of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa is the landscape—an austere region of desert and mountains, transected by great rivers: the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates. This environment, along with centuries of cultural exchange, accounts for a rough musical unity acr…

Armed with a studio full of synthesizers and powerful production software, many electronic musicians will create sonic images of vast, cold, cosmic space. Others will conjure up infectious sequencer rhythms, and attract a high energy crowd with electronic dance music. Still others, following the great European symphonic tradition, will electrify th…