Archive for the ‘General New Age’ Category

Paul Winter Consort‘s new album Miho: Journey to the Mountain has the following tagline: A celebration of I. M. Pei’s Miho Museum and the Shigaraki Mountains in Japan. Given this I think it would be wise to let Paul Winter give a small presentation his relationship with this museum and what made him dedicate this album to it before commenting the actual music. The story is very interesting:

During the many times I have visited and performed in Japan since the Consort’s first tour in 1987, I dreamed of making an album inspired by the culture and natural beauty of Japan. On each visit I made a trip to a different natural site among the many islands of the archipelago: from Hokkaido in the north, where I saw the tanchos (red-crowned cranes) in Kushiro; to the blue-coral reefs of Ishigaki in the south; the giant Yaku Sugi trees on the island of Yakushima; and the forests of the southernmost island, Iriomote, home to the rare and fabled Iriomote wildcat. I could not have imagined that it would be a museum that enabled me to realize this dream.

Paul Winter

Paul Winter tells about how he in 2000 on a trip to Japan got to visit Miho Museum. It was a visit he would never forget. He writes:

The Miho is like no other museum on the planet. It is an extraordinary marriage of architecture and nature, totally integrated with the landscape. In every corner of it, every cell of the architecture, and every view from its windows out to the surrounding valleys and mountains, there is sublime beauty. I have never before fallen in love with a building. The antiquities of the museum’s collection come from ancient cultures throughout Asia and represent a kind of chronicle of the human journey of the past several thousand years.

Paul Winter

Miho: Journey to the Mountain contains a massie 22 tracks. Some of them are very short though, from 43 seconds to just about 2 minutes. Here we get to hear interesting instruments (like the bendir, the Heckelphone and many others) combined with the sounds of nature. The songs all have the trademark of Paul Winter Consort, which shifts from lonely sounding saxophones to the warmest, most passionate vocals. The album contains one song that hit me immediately ; Arto (Before It´s Too Late). Arto Tuncboyaciyan´s vocal and Jordan Rudess´ keyboard sound totally divine. And there is more, songs like Yangjin (Words Of Wish Fulfillment) and Remembering are carefully crafted masterworks.

Miho: Journey to the Mountain is simply an amazing album. It is interesting, melodic and very creative. It makes you want to visit this special Japanese museum. Paul Winter ends the cover notes with this comment:

No record album production in history has ever had more support than that we received from the staff of the Miho Museum and from the members of the Shumei community. On behalf of all my musical colleagues, I want to convey our great thanks to all of you.

Paul Winter

We here at .nu give our thanks too; you made this wonderful album possible!

Sample the album at Bandcamp. Also take a look at the homepage of the Miho Museum.

Picture Copyright Paul Winter

Before the release of Yanni’s new album Truth Of Touch on February 8th there is a free Listening Party going on at AOL Music.

So what are you waiting for – head over to AOL to stream the full album. And while listening, check out our world exclusive review of the album. NewAgeMusicWorld.com / NewAgeMusic.nu were the first to publish a review of this album.

Enjoy!

In the end of December the result of the Enigma Social song project, called MMX (The Social Song), was completed. Here Enigma fans showed their talent in singing, designing covers, and creating a song together, but one thing has so far been missing; the music video.

One of Enigma´s trademarks for 20 years has been the amazing music videos. And this is what Michael Cretu and the Enigma management now want help with: They encourage everyone to submit their music videos made for the “Social Song”.

The submission deadline will be February 11, 2010 at 4pm GMT+1. After closing date Michael will select his Top10 videos, which then you can select your favorite from. The winner of the overall voting will be announced on February 28, 2010. For more details on the procedure and requirements, click here.

Below are the two first videos that have been submitted. I must say I´m impressed with the quality so far.

I am certain the recent article by B.T. Fasmer informing you about The original Truth Of Touch release from Yanni has created some excitement for our visitors. It certainly has for us ! After going to the official Yanni truthoftouch.com website for pre – release samples, then reading the fan comments at his YouTube videos section and their excitement, I can say in all honesty the anticipation level is exceptionally high and this original composition from Yanni is creating quite a sensation.

It’s easy to see why people are excited since even the Truth Of Touch samples are magnificent !

You are invited to find out why this epic release from Yanni coming February 8, 2011 will be a must have release for a multitude of people worldwide. Voyage from Truth Of Touch is featured in the video below, plus everything you need to know is available at yanni.com with info and song samples from the album for your listening pleasure at truthoftouch.com.

Yanni tells us his thoughts about Truth Of Touch, then sample the related videos after the song below.

Your friends here at NewAgeMusic.nu and NewAgeMusicWorld.com wish you and your family a peaceful and joyous Christmas celebration!

We have recently reviewed a selection of fine new age music Christmas albums, which you can find here. On January 1 we will publish our annual best album award – so happy celebration, and remember to visit us when the new year is here.

Tangerine Dream has music for every occation – even Christmas. Or at least, they can rock and do other material from other artists to create the perfect holiday atmosphere. See the video here - brought us by the friendly folks at JibJab.

The result of the three month long Enigma Social Song Project is now ready. The song is a collaboration between Michael Cretu of Enigma and loyal fans online. The song is called MMX The Social Song.

In 3 steps users online participated in the creation of the song. They sent in original vocal tracks, decided on musical styles, created covers, voted and commented. Along the process mastermind Michael Cretu allowed people to look behind the curtain recording several video messages from his studio.

“The Social Song idea started as an experiment and it turned out to become a great and successful journey, which brought so many Enigma fans and music lovers together. There hasn’t been anything comparable in the music industry – namely being so social to the core. I really enjoyed this experience,” Cretu says according to EnigmaSocialSong.com.

“This was just the beginning…” Michael sums up, “there will be more collaboration projects coming in the near future.” Updates will be published on Enigma’s official website www.EnigmaSpace.com and on different social networks channels.

We here at .nu are amazed of the result. The song is catchy, fresh & modern sounding, and most importantly, very enigmatic. Excellent work, everybody! We must also thank Michael for doing this. It is truly a one-of-a-kind project, and a nice Christmas present to all his fans.

The song will be available as a digital download through major music outlets soon, but if you want it now you can get it by telling your friends about the project through Facebook and Twitter. Read more about this here.

Here you can listen to the final song.

MMX (The Social Song) by EnigmaSpace

And here are Michael’s final words:

The above cover artwork was created by Lars Doerwald.

The new year has lots in store for Yanni fans! On February 8th the first album of all new material composed by Yanni himself since 2003  will be released (last album was Ethnicity). The title is Truth Of Touch. The album will contain 13 songs, and a complete track listing can be found here. 

By clicking here you can sample the new album:

We are promised “The Return of Yanni As We Know Him” And WOW, what a feast this is turning out to become! These first clips shows truly that Yanni is back in shape, and ready to give us breathtakingly beautiful, larger-than-live music for those special moments.

And in connection with the release, a lot of products have been made available at the Yanni Store. Here you can buy t-shirts, umbrellas and posters.

Truth Of Touch will for sure be one of next year’s major titles, and we can – from what we have heard so far – say that it will be a worthy return from Yanni.

Enya’s album And Winter Came… has since its release in November 2008 been on the top of the new age music sales charts worldwide. It lost the first place for a short while when her Best of album was released last year, but quickly was back on top. It has even been on the top of national iTunes charts when the respective country has been in the middle of summer.

And Winter Came… has so far sold over 3 million copies. For Enya this actually not that much (given the fact that she has sold over 70 million records) – but in today’s market it is a lot. This December the album is also to be found on the very top of many national iTunes charts. As of writing it is on top in Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Finland and many other (see below). It is interestingly not to be found on the top 10 list in the US at the moment, where Christmas Carols by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is on top. As you can see, it is not on top in Canada either – where Ultimate Spa Relaxation by Relaxing Music Ensemble.

So what makes And Winter Came… into such a hit? It would be too easy to say that it has to do with the strong Enya trademark. To me And Winter Came… is far from Enya’s best work, not even her best Christmas album (I like Sounds of the Season (2006) better). But And Winter Came… has a very consistent sound, with a nice mix of holiday favorites (like O Come o Come Emmanuel) and new material (like the playful One Toy Soldier). The album also contains Trains and Winter Rains, which is true Enya hit material.

And Winter Came… is all in all a fine album that appeals to almost everyone – which makes it into a perfect Christmas gift! If you want it as a MP3-album, Amazon has a special $ 5 sale now.

When visiting the MG Music website we get this message:

So it looks like all MG Music fans will get an early Christmas present this year

It was a big disappointment to many when Stephen Hill’s legendary radio show Hearts of Space was removed from Sirius/XM Radio this summer. No radio show has had a larger impact on the NA music genre, and they have been around since 1973. But luckily the station’s web service, which can be found on www.hos.com, has a lot to offer. And now, with the release of a dedicated iPhone app, the Hearts of Space fan has everything she or he needs to get a “slow music for fast times” fix. A version for Android will follow.

The app costs the normal 99 cent, which according to Stephen Hill will “buy some beer and pizza for our programmers.”. As an introductory special, they have opened up access to this week’s show without a subscription. If you don’t already have an account, just register for free (you can do it within the app). Once you’ve entered you email and password once, the app will remember it and sign you in automatically.You can use the same email address and password for free service on the main web site using the built in Flash player.

To use all the features of the app, you need either the Hearts of Space “AAA” All Archive Access Plan (from 10 to 14 dollars a month), OR, the “Radio Channel + This Week’s Show” combo plan (5 to 7 dollars a month).

I think the app has a very nice lay out (designed by Stephen Hill himself), and when opening it you see an introduction of this week’s show. It has nice features both for the Hearts of Space newbie or someone who has been listening to the show for 30 years or more.

This service has our warmest recommendation.

Here is a link to the app on iTunes music store – or check out hos.com

The Enigma Social Song project is getting more and more interesting for each day!

Michael Cretu has now created three different musical versions of a song based on vocals submitted by fans (Fox Lima won).

Below you can hear the three versions, and here you can give your vote.

But don’t wait too long; the voting stops at November 23rd!

New Age Music superstars David & Steve Gordon have a very nice blog. Their most recent topic is The Law of Attraction. They give a great presentation of this very interesting topic, and also tell a bit about the role of music in this.  The post begins with:

If there are things about your current situation that you would like to change, there are many actions you will need to take. But while you are taking those actions, consider the power of your thoughts.

The Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. So if your thoughts are focused on the problems you are facing and how difficult it is for you then you could be creating more of the same.

Read the whole post here.

I know for a fact many people who visit NewAgeMusic.nu & NewAgeMusicWorld.Com are presently, or have been a musician in an orchestra or choir at some point in their lives like myself and while the majority of us chose a direction other than the life of a musician, many of us can recall the days when we pursued music with true passion.

Kelly Andrew ( Kaveny ) from Denver Colorado may have begun his early career performing orchestra music like a lot of us but this is where the similarities end, and after you listen to the classic symphony music Kelly Andrew has created the comparison will become even more noticeable.   Kelly Andrew has made a successful impression by release of Olympus, an exciting debut complete with full orchestrations that boldly recreate a music symphony the majority of us had only dreamed of producing.

Olympus is his New Age, Contemporary Instrumental, Symphonic release expertly joined with electronica and digital effects well suited for the Cinematic & Soundtrack fields of music.  In addition, this Epic release is so perfectly aligned for movie scores by the full symphony sound it may even inspire those with prior orchestra experience to snap open their instrument cases, prepare by tuning and begin practicing warm-up scales!

Kelly Andrew is a classically trained composing pianist and may have released Olympus as his official first album but in fact he is also known for creating a wider array of music with over 15 years of producing his signature series of music, having composed, arranged, and produced over 35 original singles of which some songs were performed by the University of Colorado choir and more is planned for release in the near future.

Olympus has some of the finest orchestrations I have heard recently and since the 12 tracks of classic symphonic music has contemporary instrumentals from every section backed by full percussion, I believe Olympus is a classic symphony that will stand the test of time over the years.  Those who have in the past or currently sing in a choir will admire the lighter chorales in Aphrodite which together build momentum and crescendo with a full arrangement of brass and strings.

Percussionist will recognize the full symphony complexity of Apollo, and like many songs the resounding rhythms by timpani drum with cymbal crashes on cue are the outline for a full brass section of French horns, trumpets and trombones evoking a majestic theme.  Hera is comparable by this vibrant transfer of stateliness except woodwinds take center stage by a warm melodic theme among brass refrains, and likewise with song Athena.

Demeter has a comprehensive orchestra setting with woodblock claves and many enhancements that inscribe bold accents to the entire symphonic atmosphere, so again those who have played percussion in the past should notice the chimes, triangles, and assortment of drums like timbales and congas do create much of the excitement in this piece.

Artemis begins with complete strings section of violins and cellos before woodwinds join in a nicely united countermelody.  Soprano and tenor vocals impart a large amount of theatrics by chorus refrains which fashion an interesting contrast, especially when a full brass section of Flugelhorns, trumpets and trombones enter with rich solid tones.   Hephaestus begins with a light strings segment before flutes, clarinet and additional woodwinds of oboe and piccolo supplement the song structure with breeziness while an elaborate choir enters during later measures.

Poseidon is dramatic by the intensity and depth beginning with a prominent choir during the early measures.  Electric guitar runs are a clear distinction apart from the rest and although it may appear less customary in a symphonic atmosphere, the electric guitar lead create a grand opus with every carefully assembled instrumental note blending together decisively.

Olympus is a symphony of exceptional quality and true excitement many will recognize and it really won’t matter whether you have prior experience for you to fully appreciate this release from Kelly Andrew, but for those who have played a musical instrument in an orchestra or sang in a choir expect to be reminded of an earlier time in life when playing music was your one true passion.

Visit kelly-andrew.com website to sample / purchase Olympus or visit his CDBaby.com page or Amazon.com page.

Picture Copyright BigStockPhoto – yuyang

The first stage of the Enigma Social Song project is now officially over and Michael Cretu, the mastermind behind Enigma, has started working on the song. It is a collaboration between the band and loyal Enigma fans, who can conribute with song elements. Fox Lima’s vocal was recently selected to be in the song. 

Here is Michael’s presentation of how he is working with the vocal and start adding drums and synth pads.

This weekend Michael will finish three versions of the musical track, and Stage two – the selection of melody - will start 16th November.

On the Enigma Social Song project homepage an interview with the vocal winner, Alise Ketnere, has been posted.

Enigma: What prompt you to take part in Enigma’s “Social Song”?
Alise Ketnere: I suppose that it was written in the stars, that I accidentaly noticed your competition. Actually I was praying for something interesting in my life. And it happened. But I didn’t expect that I could win.

Read the complete interview here.

Michael Cretu and Enigma fans have selected the vocal track Fei mea of the Latvian singer Fox Lima to be the winner of the Enigma Social Song Contest. Here the creative genius of Enigma has invited the singers of the world to contribute with a vocal – and he will later do some magic with the winner in his studio – named Merlin. This has truly been a one-of-a-kind thing for us Enigma fans – and a statement of Michael’s 20+ year long dedication to the project and his millions of fans. And WOW, what a winner!

Below is Michael announcing the final result:

And, without further ado, here is the MAGNIFICENT winner!!!

Amongst hundreds of submissions  Fox Lima got most of the user’s votes closely followed by Set U Free from Mark Joshua (Brazil), Time Machine from J. Spring (Spain) and Oi giria giria from Rasa Serra (Lithuania).

Go to EnigmaSocialSong.com for more information – and we here at .nu feel confident that the result will be MAGICAL. Thank you, Michael, for starting this.

When you are a radio host there are but a few albums you can really trust, albums you could play back-to-back and the audience would be totally happy with it. One such album is Patrick Kelly’s Window on the Soul. It has such a warm sound and delicate melodies that it simply blows all your stress and worries away.

If you are a listener to New Age Stars radio, you will already know some of the songs on the album. Track no. 9, Crest of a Wave, has received several thousand “thumbs up” votes over the last half year. The song has a very satisfying build-up, and the strings part in the end has that nice larger-than-life feel. But I very much enjoy the opening track, Breath of Life, as well. The heart like pluck synth instantly creates a relaxing atmosphere.

There is an ambient masterpiece hiding here as well; track 8, A Distant Land. The melody, the arrangement and the light drums are examples of new age music perfection.

New World Records call the Window in the Soul-album for “pure escapism”, and I couldn’t agree more. Its magnificently calming sound takes the listener to a warm, far-away place. Just take one glance at the nice cover and you’ll know that the soul’s window can be opened by pressing play.

Sample the album at Amazon. Also see the presentation on NewWorldMusic.com.

In celebration of Enigma’s 20 year anniversary, the man behind it all – Michael Cretu – is inviting his loyal fans to participate in the creation of a song. A webpage has been set up for this purpose called EnigmaSocialSong.com.

On the page you can hear how Michael goes from having a bit of vocal to creating a enigmatic song segment. The result is truly beautiful. This is a very rare insight into the creative mind behind Enigma – and a statement that Michael is very dedicated to his fans.

Introduction:

The EnigmaSocialSong.com project has been online for quite some time – and about 60 vocal submissions are so far available on Youtube. It will be exciting to hear what Mikael can make of them.

Song update:

One of the more uplifting aspects of being a review publicist is getting to know many of the great artists producing music today on a personal level.  In a recent interview with a musician from the U.K. everyone had a chance to learn he had a recording audition during his interview at the record label music icons The Beatles had founded in 1968 called Apple Records.

Steve Orchard is the musician traveling that long and winding road to 54 St. James Street, London to Apple Records and this story is just one of many he shared during our interview together.  Everything has come together for Steve Orchard since today he is an MG Music Label artist and representative member of the Medwyn Goodall circle of friends highly revered for their outstanding music and integral voice each artist on the label is known for producing.

Steve Orchard is a multi instrumentalist composing and performing original music for many years on guitar, mandolin, harmonica, keyboards, piano and various skin drums.  His prior albums Voyages Beyond Midnight, Salt Water Café & The Consequences of Kisses are great albums too and some earlier songs reveal the fact that Steve is also a fine vocalist.

Sundancer is an emblematic second album in his Trilogy Series and just like first in series Raindancer, nicely reflects the rare qualities of relaxing yet energetic melodies that I felt achieve universal appeal.  Moondancer is the third album in the Trilogy Series, which makes this trio a well timed release during the 25 year anniversary events now taking place with Medwyn Goodall and the artists comprising the United Kingdom based MG Music Label.

Sundancer is a glowing accent to the Trilogy Series and where first in series Raindancer, with deeper tones and synthesized rhythms set the mood, Sundancer has a fun energetic symmetry and feel of Island music by a well placed illuminating atmosphere.  One element greatly uniting the two is their relaxing yet energetic qualities and multiphase array of percussion rhythms.

The first bold impression of beaming radiance appears in energy driven song Soar.  Percussion inscribes an upper tempo outline while keyboards and acoustic guitar imprint pleasing colors by their light but nicely melodic tempering while becoming your first indication the lively sun dancing theme is going to be fun and exciting.

 While Sundancer is centered by a primarily upper tempo and is full of energy set in motion by an array of percussion and instrumentals, there are plenty of laid back relaxing moments too and none more apparent in than what you will hear in Lagoon & Tethered.  This coequal ambiance with deeper rhythms during refrains are likewise found in the sultry oasis song Heat ! 

Many songs are layered midst more moderately timed tempos like Rainman, Unrepentant & Deadly Arrow, where an ensemble of percussion and steel drum accents prepare the harmonic profile for acoustic guitar, flute and keyboard contrasting melodies, with brighter phrasing infiltrating the deeper passages with full solid clarity.

Playing in the Sun & Borboletas are upper tempo songs with wood flute becoming the essential melody producer, and  where single or long drawn out notes are often heard from others playing either the woodwind instrument or by effect, here a free flowing multiple note melody backed by accordion, keyboards and percussion nicely balance the full of energy attribute.

Pacifica is the positive upbeat song rounding out the 11 total on Sundancer.  Knowing Steve Orchard is a bright and serious composer today as he was yesteryear, I’ve got a feeling he had composed Sundancer with a fun and energetic theme in mind all along which is like some of our other all time fun favorites, so for me this is what makes Steve Orchard’s releases memorable eight days a week.

Visit steveorchardmusic.co.uk to sample / purchase the album.  The Trilogy Series is also available in the brand new MG Music USB Format.  You can learn more about the USB Format at MG Music and then sample / purchase the entire Trilogy Series at mgmusic.ltd.uk.  Read our recent interview together on our pages dedicated to Steve Orchard.

Sundancer cover design copyright David Orchard. Picture copyright BigStockPhoto – Albo