Voice of Eye (and more...)

This Thursday (Sept 1) on SoundScape we can enjoy some more wonderful ambient music. Tune in to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 or get it streamed live from the website.

First up we will have Voice of Eye, an experimental ambient music duo whose members are Bonnie McNaim and Jim Wilson. Formed in 1991 in Houston, Texas, their sound is one that blends electronic soundscapes, drones, and world music, particularly with Middle Eastern overtones, and tends to evoke an atmospheric or shamanistic quality. Many of the instruments used are home-made or heavily modified. Using this "odd palette of instrumentation," their music has been described as "largely indescribable, but totally inviting."

A local ambient/electronic artist, Mike Baum, once gave me a cd of his computer composed music. Untitled and unreleased, we will hear a couple of his numbers.

We will also be playing some music by KK Null, who was born Kazuyuki Kishino in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of ZENI GEVA and electronic wizard. One of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early 80's. In 1981 KK NULL studied at Butoh dancer, Min Tanaka's "Mai-Juku" workshop and started his career by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs in Tokyo. Null joined the noise/progressive rock band Ybo2 in 1984, issuing several albums and EPs throughout the remainder of the decade. Later he founded more bands, such as Absolute Null Punkt (aka ANP) and his most well known one, the self-described "progressive hardcore trio" Zeni Geva. Altogether Null has released more than 100 albums.

The Goon Show this week will be "The Rent Collectors" at 10 pm.

Tim Burton

This Thursday (August 25) on SoundScape we will celebrate Tim Burton's birthday with some great soundtracks from variety of his films.

Tune in to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 from 9 pm or get it streamed live from the website.

Music (and songs) from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', 'Corpse Bride', 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Edward Scissorhand', 'Batman' and 'Sweeny Todd'. 

Tim Burton was raised in Burbank, California. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons and watching old movies (he was especially fond of films with Vincent Price). Tim Burton's early film career was fuelled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. 

Tim Burton began drawing at an early age, going on to attend the California Institute of the Arts, studying animation after being awarded a fellowship from Disney, for whom he went on to work. Although he found that the mainstream Disney films he worked on (The Fox and the Hound (1981)) were far removed from his own sensibility, Disney let him have the freedom to work on his own personal projects, the six-minute animated black-and-white Gothic Vincent Price tribute Vincent (1982), and the 27-minute live-action Frankenweenie (1984), which was judged unsuitable for children and never released. However, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw it and decided that Burton, still only in his mid-twenties, would be the ideal person to direct his feature debut, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). 

An enormous (and surprise) box-office hit, it led to the supernatural comedy Beetlejuice (1988), which in turn led to Burton being entrusted with the reins on the hugely expensive Batman (1989). Although his least personal film, it was one of the most successful films of all time, and gave him unprecedented power in Hollywood considering the originality and adventurousness of his work thus far. 

Edward Scissorhands (1990), another hit, saw him at the peak of his creative powers and established a fruitful working relationship with actor Johnny Depp. Batman Returns (1992) was a far darker and quirkier film than the original, a reflection of how much creative freedom Burton had won (though Warner Bros were reputedly unhappy with the final result).

This week's Goon Show will be "Wings Over Dagenham" at 10 pm.

Cool Man.....

Last week, I played one track by Pete Namlook (Bedouin Love). This week (August 18) we will be able to hear some more of his ambient music. You can tune in from 9 pm on Thursday to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 or get it streamed live from the website.

Pete Namlook (born 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann in Frankfurt, Germany) is an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464 .

He is inspired by the music of Eberhard Weber, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chopin, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd, he also composes his own albums.

Pete Namlook has released many solo albums, as well as collaboration albums with notable artists such as Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Geir Jenssen (alias Biosphere), Atom Heart, Richie Hawtin, Tetsu Inoue, Dr Atmo and Tying Tiffany. (“Namlook” is “Koolman” spelled backwards, which is the German pronunciation of his real name.)

Pete is one of the pioneers of electronic music, and focused on the untapped potential of analogue synthesizers, often developed or extended in his laboratory.

We will be playing 'In Heaven', 'State of Mind', 'A million mile to Earth', and 'Silent Intelligence pt's V & VIII (with Richie Hawtin).

 This week's Goon Show will be 'Emperor of the Universe'.

More Delay

Karl Verkade is from Southern California, and describes his music as Ambient / Soundscape / Post-Rock / Instrumental spiritual, or 'dystopian guitar noise originating from an obsession with '80's post-apocalyptic cyberpunk movies' - take your pick.

All compositions are created with guitars, and recorded without any post-effects. The sound you hear, is the sound coming out of the amps. Karl says "Life is not how we would have it. But it is all we have. This is the basis and nature of the spiritual. A beautiful and repetitive tune meant to bring hope to our tired and wearisome lives. The spiritual isn’t afraid to be honest or raw about the dystopian things of life, or its honest questioning of God. Though the advent of spirituals is thousands of years old, the angst, pain, and joy of life has remained exactly how it has always been. Using modern instruments and vintage recording techniques, I attempt to bring a rebirth to the spiritual". Karl loves using the delay pedal with his guitar!

We will hear 'Things We Lost', 'Awake', 'Before Summer Had An End', 'Through Broken Clouds', 'But Not To Last' and 'Homeland'.

You can check out Karl at www.karlverkade.com

The Goon Show this week will be 'Six Charlies In Search Of An Author'.