STAR'S END Update: 04.06.25

[Star'sEndRadio]

We cannot deny the ambition or the steady hand Oskar Arngrimsson brings to his music. Recording under the name Ótal his EP HEYR (33:21) feels more measured than most modular synth realizations. At the heart of its brief beauty are four smoothly engaging tracks - each blurring the borders between collage, sculpture, abstraction and tonal representation. Once our psyches have sufficiently slowed we will be able to appreciate its enchanting low-wattage character. Original, restlessly changing and charging sounds float free of context or lineage, with meaning pointing in multiple possible directions. While rising electronic forms enthrall in a slowly revealing timbral bloom oscillators take their turn advancing, stacking and receding. Even so, this artist's hidden advantage may relate more to the transformation of environmental field recordings than any meticulously calibrated module and its convoluted patch cable routing. As enigmatic as the realm it is trying to depict HEYR does not merely hang in the air, inert. It sparkles, shines and gleams - moving as easily out through the cosmos as it does inward to the recesses of the human spirit. From anxious mosaic, to weeping in the ruins, but then on to a whisper of ease from the bitter awareness of time's passage, this stirring work helps how we listen to the world. Our minds, trained from birth to calculate may rest while HEYR in running. We might encounter something different and unknown, or dwell quietly in a place to think, rather than just rearrange thoughts - to come away with a better connection to our own life, and the questions, light and longings that are circulating there.

Please tune in to the 04.06.25 broadcast of STAR'S END for music from HEYR by Otal and more.

For information on HEYR, please access: http://www.otal.is

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Modular Church 2: Saturday 5 April 2025

Modular Synthesizers were the first commercially available synthesizers. Eventually supplanted by portable, internally hardwired models and digital devices, in recent times they have made a big come-back. Their essential feature is that each module is a discrete part chosen and arranged according to the taste and direction of the individual. Providing an unprecedented flexibility in sound design and music making this manner of synthesis attracts an intriguing mix of musicians and engineers.

Modular Church 2 will feature six innovative musicians from out of our burgeoning scene, including: Atograph, Chaka Benson, Stefano Daddi, June Lopez, MANNA, Danielle Nia. Please make plans to attend this unique presentation for an encounter with a most unique form of expression, within the sanctuary space of St Mary's Hamilton Village on Saturday 5 April 2025 at 8:00PM. Free Admission/Donations Requested.

For more on Modular Church 2, please access: http://www.thegatherings.org

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STAR'S END Listening Session: Saturday 26 April 2025 7-10pm

Invitations to this Member Event were sent out to those making a donation during the 1-6am 02.23.25 broadcast of STAR'S END via email on 31 March 2025. WXPN Membership may be contacted for further details. 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

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