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Galactic Travels Monthly Special Focus Log - 2011


Top - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - Bottom


The Special Focus for January is
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The birth of Nemesis dates back to 1987 when two Finnish schoolboys decided to form a band. There's nothing unusual about that except that they had very clear image of how good music should sound. Nobody seemed to make such music at the time, so they decided to have a go at it themselves...

They live and work in Kokkola, a rather small town on the northwest coast of Finland. It is virtually impossible to make a living by playing EM in Finland. Nevertheless, Nemesis has always had a very professional attitude towards its music making.

Ami and Jyrki had experimented with music and sounds in their childhood like almost every kid with a microphone and a cheap cassette recorder did in those days. For Ami and Jyrki, however, it was clearly a more important phase than for most.

When Ami bought his first synthesizer in 1985, it was goodbye to conventional rock music. Jyrki became interested in joining forces after he heard one of Ami's tapes. After a basic jam session on the first day of 1987, they have been making music together ever since. They aim to bring together a variety of styles: psychedelia, a dash of world music, ambient music, the progressive elements of the synth pioneers, and the feverish pulse of the 21st century. Whatever it takes to make interesting and moving music."

In the late 1990s, a retro fashion started to seep into electronic music. Names like Redshift, Radio Massacre International and NODE started to appear in the music press and on the radio. Their inspiration was very clearly derived from the mid 70's German electronic scene, with Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze as the real blueprints for this style. This inspired Nemesis to look back to their original heroes. As a result Ami and Jyrki decided to put together a retro-album instead of pondering on the frustrating experiences with a Belgian label that had been releasing thier works.

For the first time the band made an album without deriving anything from previously recorded/composed Nemesis material. Everything was made from zero to the finshed product in little more than a month's time. Material was almost totally improvised and then cut and pasted into a more concise form. Some minor overdubs and harmonies were added.

The resulting album "Cyberiad" was a huge success for the band because instead of copying the old music, they created new music using the old philosophy. After Jarkko Lahti moved from Kokkola to Helsinki, his role in Nemesis was taken up by Joni Virtanen in 2000.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.

You can visit Nemesis on MySpace and become friends.

Date Title Label
01/06 Live Archive Volume 1 self-released
01/13 Live Archive Volume 2 self-released
01/20 Gigaherz Origo Sound
01/27 Sky Archeology Freeride

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for February was
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Nattefrost is Bjorn Jeppesen of Copenhagen, Denmark. The concept of Nattefrost is to make ambient and classical atmospheric themes influenced by ancient Scandinavia.

Bjørn started his musical project in October, 1995, as "I Nattens Mørke" but soon changed the name to Nattefrost before the release of his first cassette in May, 1996. By the end of 1997, Nattefrost was releasing his music on CD.

Nattefrost has released a number of albums. Additionally, he has contributed tracks to many compilations and guested on other artists' albums. He is also a veteran of a number of concerts.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.
You can visit Nattefrost on these social networks:
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All of this month's Featured CDs are on Groove Unlimited.

Date Title
02/03 Absorbed in Dreams and Yearning
02/10 Underneath the Night Sky
02/17 Transformation
02/24 Live in Germany 2008 & 2009

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for March is
RICHARD LAINHART
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Richard Lainhart plays sublime ambient music, often using a Buchla 200e controlled by the Haken Continuum. He is an award-winning composer, author, and filmmaker - a digital artisan who works with sonic and visual data. Since childhood, he's been interested in natural processes such as waves, flames and clouds, in harmonics and harmony, and in creative interactions with machines, using them as compositional methods to present sounds and images that are as beautiful as he can make them.

Lainhart studied composition and electronic music with Joel Chadabe at the State University of New York at Albany. He has composed music for film, television, CD-ROMs, interactive applications, and the Web. His compositions have been performed in the US, England, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Recordings of his music have appeared on the Periodic Music, Vacant Lot, XI Records, Airglow Music, Tobira Records, Field Studies, Infrequency, VICMOD, and ExOvo labels. As an active performer, Lainhart has appeared in public approximately 2000 times. Besides performing his own work, he has worked and performed with John Cage, David Tudor, Steve Reich, Phill Niblock, David Berhman, and Jordan Rudess, among many others. He has composed over 150 electronic and acoustic works. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Electronic Music Foundation to contribute a work to New York Soundscape.

Lainhart's animations and short films have been shown at festivals in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, and Korea, and online at ResFest, The New Venue, The Bitscreen, and Streaming Cinema 2.0. His film "A Haiku Setting" won awards in several categories at the 2002 International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Toronto. In 2009, he was awarded a Film & Media grant by the New York State Council on the Arts for "No Other Time", a full-length intermedia performance designed for a large reverberant space, combining live analog electronics with four-channel playback, and high-definition computer-animated film projection. In 2010, his year-long timescape film "One Year" won the HDFEST Deffie award for Best Experimental Film at HDFEST 2010 in Portland, Oregon.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.
You can visit Richard Lainhart on these social networks:
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Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title
03/03 Five Nocturnes
03/10 Staring at the Moon
03/17 White Night
03/24 The Beautiful Blue Sky
03/31 The Line of the Horizon

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for April was
OMBIENT
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Ombient is the moniker under which Mike Hunter performs his ambient/drone/experimental music. Being of a live and improvisational nature, Mike's music is representative of the feeling of the moment in which it is performed and of the subtle feedback between the audience and the performer. Most of the music features six string guitar and twelve string Warr Touch Guitar which is processed and layered using digital looping equipment. Mike has lately been using analog and digital synths and sofware applications to extend his horizons.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.
You can visit the artist on these social networks:
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Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title
04/07 Ombient
04/14 The Wheel Turns
04/21 Rites of Passage
04/28 Oceans Edge

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for May was
RUDY ADRIAN
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Rudy Adrian first started making electronic music in the recording studios at Canterbury University while he was studying Forestry Science. Eventually abandoning Forestry Science, he tutored electronic music at the University of Otago while completing a degree in Botany. This was followed by several years as a freelance musician and sound effects creator for television programmes, advertisments and short films. Eventually this culminated in full-time sound design work for a television production facility and occasional freelance composition. Rudy has gone on to create albums in his unique style of atmospheric music for private release as well as for international record labels. The common thread to his music is the exploration of sonic landscapes, where melody and rhythm play a secondary role to the tones and textures created by synthesizers, wood flutes and the human voice. Always experimental and original, they are also peaceful and listenable - similar to listening to a film soundtrack without pictures. Some comparisons to the atmospheric works of Brian Eno and the soft arpeggios of Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre of the seventies are at times apt, but the music nevertheless remains uniquely that of Rudy Adrian.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.


Rudy has been a Special Focus on Galactic Travels before:
You can visit the artist on these social networks:
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Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title Label
05/05 Twilight self-released
05/12 Concerts in the USA Groove
05/19 Moonwater Lotuspike
05/26 Par Avion Groove

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for June was
RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL
Link to the artist's website
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Radio Massacre International is Steve Dinsdale (Keyboards, Electronics, Drums) Duncan Goddard (Keyboards, Electronics, Bass) and Gary Houghton (Guitar, Keyboards). Since 1993 they have been building a catalogue of epic electronic improvisations, distilled into permanent records by the wonders of digital editing.

After accumulating a library of 30 such pieces they finally released the double CD Frozen North in late 1995, and appeared live for the first time at the Emma festival in Sheffield. The band was also featured on the BBC's World Service, thus finding a truly international radio audience for the first time. RMI had a website long before it was obligatory, and this has enabled the forging of relationships with listeners, promoters and radio stations across the world.

Veterans of TV, radio, and concert performances all over the UK, Europe, and the US, RMI plan to return to the US to play more concerts.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.

RMI have been a Special Focus on Galactic Travels before:
Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title Label
06/02 Antisocial Northern Echo
06/09 Fast Forward Northern Echo
06/16 Philadelphia Air-shot Northern Echo
06/23 Rain Falls in Grey Cuneiform
06/30 Rain Falls in a Different Way Northern Echo

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for July was
JÜRGEN HAIBLE
Link to the artist's website
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Jürgen Haible is very active in the Synthesizer Do It Yourself community. He has built a number of modular synthesizers of his own design. His designs are so popular that he shares them with other DIYers. He has also modified commercial products to improve them.

As an artist, Jürgen appears to be a little shy. While his website is dedicated to synthesizer and audio design, no mention is made of his music on the main page. You have to dig around his website in order to find information about his music. This link ought to make it easier.

UPDATE: Sadly, Jürgen Haible passed away on November, 26, 2011. The above links are now broken. But someone who wanted to preserve some of Jürgen's work has made a Legacy Website.

Jürgen's passing was a shock to the EM community. At electro-music, here's the notice of his death and the outpouring of emotion at this thread.   R.I.P. Jürgen Haible.

Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title
07/07 Of Eagles and Prophets
07/14 Dark November
07/21 Holiday in Purgatory
07/28 The Secret Life of Trees

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for August was
TOMAS WEISS and MATHIAS GRASSOW
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El Hadra is one of Tomas' projects. In one incarnation, Mathias was his collaborator. One Featured CD at Midnight was created with this moniker but all the rest are under their names.

Tomas has worked as an electronic DJ in national clubs and radio stations. His record store (1997 to 2005) has morphed into a music network, el-culto, which is a portal for contemporary music, supporting record labels such as Musical Philosophy, Thar, Sound Claim, Construct, and ClassXX. These labels echo Tomas' goal of pushing artistic boundaries.

Mathias played drums and guitar in the '70s but moved on to keyboards in the early '80s to specialize in drones and overtone music. Influenced by Alan Watts (American philosopher, Harvard professor, Zen Buddhist, and psychologist), Mathias has resolved that his life would aim to learn about true spirit and that this should be reflected in his music.

Both musicians have collaborated with many others; Alio Die, Jim Cole, Rüdiger Gleisberg, Oophoi, Amir Baghiri, Klaus Wiese, Con_Sense, Thamnos, Submental, Solveil, Circulum musicum, Emotone, Nautic Depths, Rüdiger Gleisberg, Bruno Sanfilippo, Nostalgia, Amtana, and Anthony Paul Kerby, to name a few.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.

Featured CD at Midnight by Week
All labels may be accessed via the el-culto portal.
Date Title Label
08/04 Aestrata Musical Philosophy
08/11 Quiet Calling II Musical Philosophy
08/18 Farewell Musical Philosophy
08/25 Ornaments Thar

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for September was
ROBERT CARTY
Link to the artist's website
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Robert Carty has been creating beautiful deep sonic soundscapes for over twenty years using a widevariety of instruments including synthesizers, samplers, didgeridoo, flute, percussion, earthscapes and voice tones. The music reflects his passion for nature, life, and universal revealings from atoms up through the ladders of DNA into the Cosmic Dreams. This is music for the evolving mind and heart and are always peaceful explorations into emotional qualities. His music is heard on radio stations worldwide.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.


Robert has been a Special Focus on Galactic Travels before:
You can visit the artist on these social networks:
MySpace button   Youtube button   Bandcamp button   Soundclick button
Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title Label
09/01 Sonic Magic Space for Music
09/08 Oceanic Space Deep Sky Music
09/15 Sun Tales Deep Sky Music
09/22 Starlight Volume 1 Deep Sky Music
09/29 Starlight Volume 2 Deep Sky Music

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for October was
STEVE ROACH
Link to the artist's website
Click on the name, photo, or logo above to visit the artist's website.

As a pioneering cornerstone of electronic music, internationally renowned artist Steve Roach has dedicated over three decades to exploring uncharted soundworlds that connect with a timeless source of inspiration. From the expansive, time-suspending spaces reflecting his spiritual home in Arizona to the fire breathing, rhythmic-shamanic expressions woven from all things electric and organic, Roach has earned his position in the international pantheon of major new music artists through a long list of groundbreaking recordings, fueled by his prolific nature and uncompromising approach. The core of this innovative world of sound has been nourished by years of intense live concerts in many extraordinary settings worldwide, further enhancing the emotive, cinematic soul-stirring depth of his music.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.


Steve has been a Special Focus on Galactic Travels before:
You can visit the artist on these social networks:
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Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title
10/06 Live at Grace Cathedral - disk 1
10/13 Live at Grace Cathedral - disk 2
10/20 Immersion Five: Circadian Rhythms - disk 1
10/27 Immersion Five: Circadian Rhythms - disk 2

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for November was
SYNTH.NL
Click on the name, photo, or logo above to visit the artist's website.

Synth.nl is Dutchman Michel van Osenbruggen. With a background in electronics and data communications, Michel was looking for something else to do involving electronics. That's when a friend introduced him to the music of Jean-Michel Jarre. With the help of people on the synthforum.nl, Michel started to write and record his own music. His influenes include Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Kitaro, Art of Noise, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, Hanz Zimmer, Alan Parson Project, Orbital, Depeche Mode, and the Eurythmics. Despite these influences, Michel tries to follow his own muse and not copy other artists.

All of Michel's albums are on Groove Unlimited.

Click on the name or photo above to go to the artist's web site.


Featured CD at Midnight by Week
Date Title
11/03 AeroDynanamics
11/10 AtmoSphere
11/17 OceanoGraphy
11/24 Apollo

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December


The Special Focus for December is
DAN POUND
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Dan Pound is from Santa Rosa, California. Profoundly influenced by Steve Roach, Dan's music stretches beyond those parameters into a space that Dan explores with aplomb.

Dan was classically trained on piano, guitar and double bass at an early age and started writing songs soon after. He went on to be in the local honor orchestra and was soon writing pieces for the entire ensemble. Besides performing and composing, Dan has earned degrees in recording engineering and electronic music technology, and has received credits as 1st engineer and mixer for an indie jazz release, "Crusin' Some Grooves" by the Steve Wolfe Quartet.

Over several years, Dan has pieced together a home studio where he does most of his work, recording and producing his music independently. He specializes in music for film and multi-media, as well as recording and producing his own albums on his newly developed label, Pound Sounds.

Several of Dan's songs have received airplay on many ambient radio programs, including the widely syndicated NPR program, Hearts Of Space, as well as many others. In September of 2009, Dan was named Artist of the month on the on-line web radio site, Stillstream.com. Many of Dan's CD releases have been ranked in several on-air programs' monthly and yearly top release lists.

Dan has been a Special Focus on Galactic Travels before:
Click on the name, photo, or logo above to go to the artist's website.
You can also visit the artist on these social networks:
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Featured CD at Midnight by Week
All albums may be accessed via the artist's shop.
Date Title
12/01 Impressions
12/08 Esoterica
12/15 Living Planet
12/22 Aurora
12/29 Wolf Moon

Top - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - Bottom


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