STAR'S END Update 01.31.21

[Chuck van Zyl]

Through our pandemic era Martin Sturtzer  has transformed his home studio into a sanctuary. His DYSON SPHERE ALPHA (156'10") collects six tracks worth of live streamed sets from an ambitious schedule of Sunday evening performances. Across this outsized collection the atmosphere is wordless, but not thoughtless. As meaning crystalizes in the trembling air, the clean strike of high notes makes for an easier upward reach of the mind - toward a deeper interpretation of the spirit. All these recordings of live realizations begin in a contemplative nature. A few stay in this zone throughout their duration, but from most emerge lines of ordered notes, exerting a serene, secure authority. Haunting and time bending the warmth of rapt noble toned synthesizer patches ascends like incense. As the energy level of each set rises, so does the appeal of Strutzer's selections. Clinging tightly to Berlin-School sources a melodic backbone may be located in the prevalent sequencer engine. Coming fully to life these insistent patterns provide an aural energy in the language of electricity. The structure is more spiral than linear. Circling around core chords in ever tightening loops, Sturtzer disappears into the performance. But perhaps more interesting are the dark tones at the edge of these works. The shifting shapes and expressive shades of sound portend the vast scale of an unknown expanse ahead. The prevailing mood, which is enigmatic, is yet reassuring. Here we may watch the darkness until the darkness leaves us, or we leave it. Some enjoy this kind of music as a means of wandering the cosmos in a daze, to keep the realization of existence at arm's length - while the more adventurous among us use it to better understand their deeper self. In his meditations on enchantment Martin Sturtzer inspirits us. As sure as twilight follows these fading sonic shadows, the electric night concedes the healing of fractured minds, and the knowing of wounded souls. So plug in the synths, dim the lights, and breathe deep... for when it is time for a concert, it is time to dream of a better world.

Please tune in to the 10.31.21 broadcast of STAR'S END Ambient Radio for music from DYSON SPHERE ALPHA, the live album from Martin Sturtzer

For more on DYSON SPHERE ALPHA, please access: http://www.phelios.de

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STAR'S END - Halloween 10.31.21

The 10.31.21 broadcast of STAR'S END Ambient Radio will feature a special Halloween Holiday themed soundscape. Please prepare for a playlist of the more bizarre tracks and recordings from out of the Spacemusic archive. From Sci-Fi and Horror Movie soundtracks to intensely strange realizations and electronic sonic mischief, this edition of STAR'S END will celebrate the liminal space we inhabit at this time of season. Please be brave and tune in for details. Thanks!

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STAR'S END - WXPN's Archived Stream

Beginning with the 10.07.18 edition, an archived stream of each broadcast of STAR'S END will be available through the WXPN website. To listen anytime, please access: http://tinyurl.com/starsendarchive

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STAR'S END broadcasts every Saturday Night/Sunday Morning from 1:00am til 6:00am (EDST) on:

88.5fm WXPN Philadelphia, PA
88.1fm WXPH Harrisburg, PA
90.5fm WKHS Worton/Baltimore, MD
91.9fm WXPJ Hackettstown, NJ
104.9fm Allentown, PA

and live on the world wide web at: http://www.xpn.org

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Chuck van Zyl
Host of STAR'S END Ambient Radio
http://www.starsend.org