STAR'S END Update 04.27.25
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Star'sEndRadio
Apr 25, 2025, 3:03:31 AMApr 25
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The "Me Decade" of music is now a world apart from our own. Back then a significant portion of the record buying public was supporting innovative music releases, and the Virgin Records label was feeding this demand with a range of titles that would eventually attain classic status among fans of Rock n' Roll as well as the aspiring genre of Spacemusic.
Throughout the early 1970s Tangerine Dream and their contemporaries in Berlin began to establish an as yet unheard musical form. The previously known trends in music would not allow these groups to properly express themselves, and what with electronic and synthesizer technologies becoming more available a groundbreaking new music manifested itself - one which used an unfamiliar futuristic instrument and was fueled by a passionate disengagement with the past.
After several early releases of surreal sound collage Tangerine Dream produced the groundbreaking "Phaedra". Art belongs to the subconscious, and this album attempted to sonically portray this enigmatic region of the mind. While Phaedra seemed like a sound structure that the listener was miraculously passing through, the following album RUBYCON feels as though it is generating its own engulfing atmosphere each time it is played. Upon first hearing the tracks on "Phaedra" we find an experimental edge to them, but by the time TD went into the studio to make RUBYCON (or even Edgar Forese's solo album Epsilon in Malaysian Pale) the randomness of their avant-garde edge had coalesced into a suite-like form and a somewhat linear compositional arc - fitted nicely into the 17 minute duration of one side of a 33 1/3 RPM long play record album.
The three separate sections of RUBYCON Part 1 and Part 2, although significantly different from one another, worked together to form a fascinating whole. Each realization begins with an eerie amorphous interlude of drones, metallic tones and wondrously modulated aural accents. The mounting tension resolves with the emergence of an ever repeating pattern of propelling bass tones, above which is played the lilting melody of a soft synthesizer lead. The minimalist sequence runs on, then gradually brightens as individual notes are transposed and repeated - minutely altering the pattern and quickening the music's pulse. Transitioning out of this energetic phase the magical beauty of the closing section solemnly brings the piece to its conclusion.
The overall effect offered a strange and novel kind of cognitive disengagement - the unusual idea of traveling while sitting in place, which has yet to be fully explained or replicated by musicians who have followed. The generations after the RUBYCON era may come close to achieving the evocative mood and otherwordly touch of this work, but never the innocence. New musical territory can only be discovered once - and RUBYCON looms as the standard ever out of reach.
Please tune in to the 04.27.25 broadcast of STAR'S END for music from RUBYCON the classic album by Tangerine Dream and more...
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STAR'S END Listening Session: Saturday 26 April 2025 7-10pm
Those making a donation during the 23 February 2025 fundraising broadcast of Star's End were among the first to receive an invitation to register and attend an exclusive Spacemusic Listening Session lead by long-time Star's End host Chuck van Zyl. Our group will be introduced to a select range of early releases significant to the establishment and elevation of this most unique form of contemporary Electronic Music, and joined briefly via the Internet for additional commentary by UK synthesist Ian Boddy - with the session culminating in the focused spinning of the 1975 classic RUBYCON by Tangerine Dream.
The WXPN/Star's End 2025 Member Listening Session will take place on Saturday 26 April 2025 from 7:00pm to 10:00pm in the intimacy of WXPN's Performance Studio, 3025 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. This event is free for XPN Members, but a reservation is required as seating is limited to just 40 attendees.
Thanks for Your Support!
http://xpn.org/membership-wxpn
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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
-
Chuck van Zyl
Host of STAR'S END Ambient Radio
http://www.starsend.org
Throughout the early 1970s Tangerine Dream and their contemporaries in Berlin began to establish an as yet unheard musical form. The previously known trends in music would not allow these groups to properly express themselves, and what with electronic and synthesizer technologies becoming more available a groundbreaking new music manifested itself - one which used an unfamiliar futuristic instrument and was fueled by a passionate disengagement with the past.
After several early releases of surreal sound collage Tangerine Dream produced the groundbreaking "Phaedra". Art belongs to the subconscious, and this album attempted to sonically portray this enigmatic region of the mind. While Phaedra seemed like a sound structure that the listener was miraculously passing through, the following album RUBYCON feels as though it is generating its own engulfing atmosphere each time it is played. Upon first hearing the tracks on "Phaedra" we find an experimental edge to them, but by the time TD went into the studio to make RUBYCON (or even Edgar Forese's solo album Epsilon in Malaysian Pale) the randomness of their avant-garde edge had coalesced into a suite-like form and a somewhat linear compositional arc - fitted nicely into the 17 minute duration of one side of a 33 1/3 RPM long play record album.
The three separate sections of RUBYCON Part 1 and Part 2, although significantly different from one another, worked together to form a fascinating whole. Each realization begins with an eerie amorphous interlude of drones, metallic tones and wondrously modulated aural accents. The mounting tension resolves with the emergence of an ever repeating pattern of propelling bass tones, above which is played the lilting melody of a soft synthesizer lead. The minimalist sequence runs on, then gradually brightens as individual notes are transposed and repeated - minutely altering the pattern and quickening the music's pulse. Transitioning out of this energetic phase the magical beauty of the closing section solemnly brings the piece to its conclusion.
The overall effect offered a strange and novel kind of cognitive disengagement - the unusual idea of traveling while sitting in place, which has yet to be fully explained or replicated by musicians who have followed. The generations after the RUBYCON era may come close to achieving the evocative mood and otherwordly touch of this work, but never the innocence. New musical territory can only be discovered once - and RUBYCON looms as the standard ever out of reach.
Please tune in to the 04.27.25 broadcast of STAR'S END for music from RUBYCON the classic album by Tangerine Dream and more...
-
STAR'S END Listening Session: Saturday 26 April 2025 7-10pm
Those making a donation during the 23 February 2025 fundraising broadcast of Star's End were among the first to receive an invitation to register and attend an exclusive Spacemusic Listening Session lead by long-time Star's End host Chuck van Zyl. Our group will be introduced to a select range of early releases significant to the establishment and elevation of this most unique form of contemporary Electronic Music, and joined briefly via the Internet for additional commentary by UK synthesist Ian Boddy - with the session culminating in the focused spinning of the 1975 classic RUBYCON by Tangerine Dream.
The WXPN/Star's End 2025 Member Listening Session will take place on Saturday 26 April 2025 from 7:00pm to 10:00pm in the intimacy of WXPN's Performance Studio, 3025 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. This event is free for XPN Members, but a reservation is required as seating is limited to just 40 attendees.
Thanks for Your Support!
http://xpn.org/membership-wxpn
-
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
-
Chuck van Zyl
Host of STAR'S END Ambient Radio
http://www.starsend.org
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