Its Irresistible

Tune in to SoundScape on Yarra Valley FM 99.1 to catch the best ambient music, or get it streamed live from the website.

This Thursday (Nov 10) we will feature two ambient artists.... the first will be Pianist/guitarist George Winston, (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Miles City, Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.

When growing up his interest in music was listening to instrumentals in the R&B, rock, pop, and jazz genres, especially by organists. When he heard The Doors in 1967 he was inspired to start playing the organ. In 1971 he switched to solo piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s of the great stride pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller.

Winston also is known for his two tribute albums to jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, composer for the first sixteen Peanuts animated films. Outside of his own piano compositions, adaptations of other people’s songs, and performances, he plays blues harmonica (mainly Appalachian fiddle tunes) and solo acoustic guitar. He has released 15 albums so far.

Our second ambient artist is Mixmaster Morris (born Morris Gould, 1965) also known as 'The Irresistible Force' is an English ambient DJ and underground musician. Relating specifically to ambient music, Morris stated "It's exactly what you need if you have a busy and stressful life".

After leaving university, he began working as a DJ in 1985 with his "Mongolian Hip Hop Show" on pirate radio station Network 21 in London - the handle Mixmaster Morris was suggested by the station director. After a year of managing a club called "The Gift" in New Cross, Morris began releasing material as Irresistible Force in 1987, initially in collaboration with singer-songwriter Des de Moor.

In the early 1990s his key residencies were alongside the Detroit masters at Lost, Megatripolis at London's Heaven, and also the Tribal Gathering parties. He became known for wearing holographic suits. Morris has played in over fifty countries at nightclubs and parties, and particularly music festivals such as the Full Moon parties in the Mojave Desert, Glastonbury Festival, Rainbow 2000 and Mother SOS in Japan.

In 2010, he won another Ibiza DJ Award, for the third time. In October that year, he was announced as the new CEO of Apollo Records.

Our Goon Show this week is 'The Histories of Pliny the Elder'.