Archive for the ‘General New Age’ Category

The title of the new Karunesh compilation is Path Of Compassion. It will be released on 20 April on the Real Music label, and contains 11 songs – including two new tracks (see the track listing here).

The new songs are Oasis Moon and Inner Journey.  

And while we are talking about Karunesh;

make sure to visit his great website for samples from all his many albums.

Steve Roach’s new, massive album Live at Grace Cathedral has now been released. This double CD contains over 110 minutes of music. The album as, as the title implies, recorded live at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. Steve says:

Because this recording utilizes microphones in the space, along with a small blend of the sound board mix, the audience is sometimes heard, as it’s all a part of the living breathing space created that evening. I made the choice to not include any audience response or applause at the conclusion of the concert, since outside the live context, ending the recording into the deeper silence felt more appropriate.

Disc one is called Embracing the Space and disc two Merging with Grace. This is truly epic music that transforms a gray day into something larger-than-life; listening to it feels a bit like embracing space and eternity.  

If you buy the album from Steve’s shop, he will autograph his CD’ by request at no extra charge – and they are sent you from Steve’s house in the Sonoran desert!

Sample it on steveroach.com

Now this is something quite different; Mike Oldfield fan page Tubular.net has something remarkable to share:

On board the Oldfield’s boat Sea Dragon, moored off St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, Fanny Oldfield has been exploring her husband’s music and writing a diary about her experiences.

The diary contains Fanny Oldfield’s personal view of her husband’s music. One thing is certain though; she has not been his biggest fan in the past. In fact, she hasn’t heard that much of his music at all. Only a few albums and some selected tracks. So the diary of her voyage through his music starts with his most recent album Music of the Spheres. She writes:

Music of the Spheres is an album that I do know and have listened to many times. I heard Michael working on it. One of my pleasures was to make dinner and if Michael left the studio door open I could hear, from the kitchen, what he was working on in the studio. That is how I heard the sounds of this beautiful album for the first time. The actual first time I heard it properly was in a mastering studio in London. Wow, it was just fantastic… The music took me on a journey away from London, England, Earth!

Read it on Tubular.net - where it has got a lot of attention from MO’s fans. 

What an interesting project! Also be sure to check out Fanny Oldfield’s nice photo art.

Peter Buffet’s book Life Is What You Make It, with the sub title: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment will be released on April 27th. An audiobook version will also be released, read by the author himself!

Members of Peter Buffet’s Ning forum can now see an exclusive interview with Peter while he is recording the book. About the recording process he says:

Recording the audio book was very different from writing it! It was a lot more strenuous than I anticipated and a very interesting process to attempt to bring the words on the page to life.

MG Music has a lot of exciting titles this spring. Simon Lovelock is back, and so is Clifford White, Runestone and Midori!

Read all about the titles here.

One of this year’s most anticipated albums, Clifford White’s ASCENSION II – The Healing Touch has now been released!

Here is a description from MG Music:

Clifford brings us ASCENSION II – The Healing Touch, the sequel to the huge hit that launched his career. Quite possibly his best album ever, Cliff surpasses himself and leaves us mesmerised. Whereas Gods of Olympus had great themes and historic power. A beautiful and sublime release and sequel to the hit ‘Ascension’ which started Clifford’s career 25 years ago. The music has a grace, divinity, subtle, gentle, and perfect for anyone in need of refreshment, healing and cleansing. The production is superb with shimmering sounds and themes that build and flow together as effortlessly as ripples on a pond.

Sample it here. What beautiful music!!!

Now you have the chance to visit the members of 2002 (Pamela and Randy Copus) at the Wellness Expo in Fort Worth, Texas – today and tomorrow – February 27-28.

On The Wellness Expo  you can buy essential oils, candles, chimes and unique jewelry and then top it all off with reflexology treatment for your feet. Featuring 70 wellness/metaphysical vendors and 24 lectures. If you have any CDs you’d like autographed by 2002, please bring them along. There will also be CDs available for purchase.

One of the best new age music albums of the recent years is Jillian Aversa’s Origins. Songs like Hajime and The Winds of Change have almost become modern classics on online channels like New Age Stars. And now Jillian has this exciting news to all her fans:

My next solo album – yessss!  I have kept this under wraps for a while because the concept was still in development, but I have happily (and enthusiastically) settled now.  What is the big inspiration, you ask?  Atlantis.  An ancient civilization lost under the sea in a single day… it is a legend that has captivated so many cultures for centuries, and I can’t wait to explore it. 

And more:

I am really psyched about this project, and hope to have it finished this coming Winter, if all goes well.

We here at .nu are BIG Jillian fans – and are psyched about this project too! Atlantis is as always a nice theme for a new age music album – atlantis music it is like a sub genre of its own. I’m thinking of albums such as Andrew Brel’s Golden Atlantis and William Zeitler’s Elegy for Atlantis.

Follow the project on Jillian’s homepage – where you can subscribe to her newsletter.

Peter Buffet has teamed up with UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Grammy award-winning musician Angélique Kidjo, to release “A Song For Everyone” single. 100% of proceeds from the sale of the song will benefit the Batonga Foundation, an organization founded by Angelique to advance education for girls in Africa. Here is a discription of the song:

Fans of Peter’s pop/rock and new age-influenced music can expect to be pleasantly surprised by the new dimension that Angelique’s signature worldly sound brings to the single. Writing in their respective native tongues, the uplifting, vibrant song has lyrics in both English and Yoruba.

You can sample and buy it here.

As a music fan I simply adore artists that are just there, producing the best music imaginable – year out and year in – and not making any fuss about it. Artists that are simply doing their thing. The best example is of course Tangerine Dream, who has been around since 1967 and still is the most creative and active group out there. Another artist that can be mentioned in the same breath as TD (I am sure Edgar Froese would agree), is Davol. His brand new album is called Good Sign. And yes, it is a very good sign indeed!

Davol (pronounced duh-VOL) was born in Hollywood, CA in 1961, and currently lives in Denver. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1989 in Microbiology. In the same year he debuted as a new age music artist with the album Mystic Waves. His songs Appaloosa and Hand in mine are among the most popular and highest rated songs on New Age Stars radio. Now in February he has released his sixth album Good Sign. So this is not an artist that releases albums every second month; no, every synth note is carefully placed.

Good Sign is a 8 track long album. One of the songs, the surprisingly political Truth 2010, has been released before as a single (but this is a new mix, hence the 2010 in the name). The ingredients that made Davol’s previous releases so great are all here; the carefully crafted synth melodies and the positive, upbeat atmosphere. This is Davol’s trademark, no one out there does it better. My favorite track is track 3, Going there. But also Stay and Goodnight are new Davol classics.

The only bad thing I can point at is the cover. Davol has in the past had some magnificent covers, like the Open Book cover, but the one to the left is not nice. That was not a good sign… But hey, don’t judge a book by its cover, right? Open it!

Sample the album on CDBaby.

Andru Donalds, the Enigma vocalist, has been invited to give an exclusive concert in Estonia (Pärnu) on 6th March, dedicated to the International Women’s Day.

Andru Donalds with the band will perform his solo worldwide hits; “Mishale”, “All Out of Love” & the others LIVE, as well as the brand new songs from his upcoming new album to be released in the summer of 2010. And Andru is also preparing a special surprise to Enigma fans!

See more on Andru’s Facebook page. Source: Enigmamusic.com

It’s pretty easy to get sidetracked from doing what we really want to do everyday, and a 25 year departure from songwriting was longer than what this musician had in mind, but his migration back to composing have many people moving to new heights. 

Bill Wren is often referred to as the Rare Texas Songbird, in a declaration I thought appropriate having the surname Wren, yet it uniquely describes his musical aspirations and return flight to perfection.  First playing bass in a Rock band, Bill realized after one stellar show in front of a crowd gone wild audience, music was his final destination. 

One day in a Life is his release already gathering attention, having many songs winding up #1 or in the Top 10 at SoundClick.com & Broadjam.com, with songwriting awards in Indie & International Song Writing Contests. Reading everything I could on Bill Wren, I also learned that lifelong friends played a major role leading to an early formation of his musical biography that endures even to this day.

One day in a Life is like a beautiful bird of paradise and where Bill Wren excels the most, in heartfelt compositions that exhibit the very essence for each characteristic style given by every performing musician on the album he calls a friend. 

Wren states the album’s success is due in part to the arrangement and production work of Frank Ralls, along with musical assistance of Terry Winch & Ike Strum, with a host of vocalists and instrumentalists who together, have assembled a refined album with a right at home presence. 

One day in a Life answers the call to  11  songs in New Age, Orchestration, Neo Classical, along with structured blends of Jazz, Blues, and Rock, building a comfortable resting place to display his versatile compositions.  The calm acoustic guitar strides heard in the title song characterize the overall attraction given to the entire album, giving a hint of the harmonious novelty waiting within each well rounded song.

Daybreak shows the smooth artistry of this album sporting a fragrant touch and vibrant flare, where rich orchestration plays the intermingled leading role while supporting soloist and softer vocals.  Much like En Mai, lavish cello entries appear to drift and sway in time to gentle winds and deep sentimental overtones, with an emphasis on instrumental soloists as the chosen method to hallmark every occasion in this album of versatility.

Ocean Breeze features acoustic guitar giving the arrangement a moderate tempo and under closer examination, exhibits a form of poetry in motion while gently transitioning to a more complex guitar rendition, making the move during nice orchestral balance and light percussion effects.

I Will Waltz For You, with it’s descriptive title, glides right into motion filled pirouettes in time to dance rhythms, while Lovers Rendezvous has a moderate tempo with saxophone and piano adding an impassioned rendition, contributing to a pleasing sense of atmosphere. 

Setting the ambiance again is Heart to Heart, in singular key piano melody and Night Fall, where piano, saxophone, and soft vocals maintain the beautiful colors perceived in this albums theme.

The song Old Friend provides the forethought in this lighter flute melody backed by a full symphony of warmth and sincerity, and since everyone is great as an individual soloist on the album, it does help me summarize with certainty. 

The qualities I discovered in One Day in a Life, do facilitate a level of relaxation one person can easily enjoy alone, morning, noon or night, but with such an engaging album like this one, is always best experienced in the company of good friends.

The musicians and credits on this album are, Frank Ralls, Terry Winch, Ike Strum, Sandy Williams, Nick Curry, Janet Planet, John Gibson, Jim Farrelly, Kyle Wehner, Michael Houston, Kelly Willard, Tom Washatka, Patrick Harshbarger, and Chris Lieber.

Visit the Rare Texas Songbird at billwrenmusic.com to sample or CDBaby.com to purchase.

Picture copyright Bigstockphoto.com – Ardith

We should all put a ring around the date March 5 on our calendars, because this is when The Best of David and Diane Arkenstone will be released! This collection contains the very best of two extraordinary careers with combined worldwide CD sales of over two million.

The “best of” compilation features pieces from their sixteen best-selling albums, such as “Jewel In The Sun”, “Aquaria, A Liquid Blue Trancescape” and “The Healing Spirit”.

While most “Best of” albums are, well, not that interesting – this release is much more promising. David and Diane Arkenstone are without a doubt two of the most talented musicians of the New Age genre - and they deserve a ”best of album”. I think we all can agree to that

You can sample all of the 16 tracks on the Eversound homepage.

Members of Peter Buffet’s Ning forum now has the chance to download his new song Bought and Sold – for free! Watching Obama address the nation moved Peter to write a song that conveys his candid feelings on the state of our union. Bought and Sold, the politically-driven single, speaks to our values as a nation, our moral bankruptcy, and our precarious moment in history.

He was “inspired by” the trend of exploitation in our corporations, banks, and government, asking “how much is enough?”

And, while we are talking about Peter Buffett, he will in April release a book called Life Is What You Make It. If you are a member of his Ning Community and pre-order the book, you will get a personalized bookplate! Once you have pre-ordered the book, email a copy of your receipt to info@peterbuffett.com, the URL to your Ning profile page and mailing address and they will send you the sticker to slap in your book when you get it. And voila, you will have a signed first edition of Life Is What You Make It!

So do become a member of Peter Buffett’s great Ning forum!

Fionnuala Sherry, the female part of the Secret Garden duo, will release a new solo album very soon. She says:

This CD has been in an embryonic state for many years and I was just waiting for the right moment to record it. There are many songs from my childhood featured in this CD as well as new previously unreleased material.

On this CD, Fionnuala has worked with the well known Norwegian composer/arranger Kjetil Bjerkestrand. Mr. Bjerkestrand says: “We are so looking forward to its release and very happy with where the magical journey of making this CD has taken us!”

More updates coming soon. See pictures from the studio here.

Have you ever wondered why people like new age music  - and what artists they like? Well, by doing a simple “I like new age music” search on Google you will get lots of nice replies – like this one:

I like new age music because it tends to be more melody-driven, relaxing, and simpler than classical music. With classical music, I find that I need to be able to devote my attention fully to it while listening to appreciate it. New age I can have playing all day at work in the background. (source)

Now that’s music to my ears!!!

American fans of Enigma must mark the date February 9 on their calendar; this is when Platinum Collection finally will be released in the US. This upcoming event was very visible on NYC Time Square lately, where large commercials told about the February 9 release. It is nice to see that the label is doing an effort for Enigma in a time where their sales are falling.

It is of course a shame that Platinum Collection didn’t get an international release at the same date. European Enigma fans have been enjoying the album since November last year…

The picture is borrowed from the great Enigmamusic Forums. You can sample the album here.

For our German speaking friends – this commercial is currently on Channel 24. The presentation is, well, a bit cheesy.

A “not that popular” part of Mike Oldfield’s creative works, the computer game Music VR (which also includes the Tres Lunas (2002) album music), was recently removed from Mikeoldfield.org – but has now found new life on fan page Tubular.net. They are the new official source for everything Music VR. The game is now free to use – and can be downloaded from this page. According to Wikipedia, Mike Oldfield spent £25 million developing the game.

I have never been a big fan of the game itself – but I enjoy the Tres Lunas soundtrack very much. I think To Be Free is a marvelous song!

Web magazine Ambient Visions  is now up again - with a new link:  http://www.twpt.com/avindex.htm  (it comes and goes a bit at the moment). Great news that it is online again.

The Hungarian singer, Andrea Gerak, has started a fundraising project to aid volunteers helping Haitians, effected by the recent earthquake, and is inviting other musicians to join. A cross-genre compilation download album is being made, with international artists. Top new age music artists such as Ancient Future and Joel Kanning are participating.  

From each album purchase, 100% of the amount paid goes directly to volunteers working on the disaster sites and at the Haitian Embassy in Washington, delivering pain relief to the injured, easing stress for individuals of the population and rescue workers, and are stable points in the chaotic situation.

You’ll find the album here.

Also be sure to see this article on NewAgeMusicWorld about 9 Muses’ Haiti Aid.

It is a well known problem; when two bands have the same name, misunderstandings occur. You might think that your favorite band have just released a new album, while it is some other band with the same name that has released it! That sure is a disappointment.

From new age music the best know example is of course Gandalf – which also is a well-known Finish death-metal band…

Previously, back in the days of physical CDs and real record shops, this was not a big problems since Gandalf the death metal band would be duly filed under “Death Metal” while “our” Gandalf would be in the new age music/adult contemporary/easy listening department. But in the world of mp3 shops, there’s not much filing and indexing. When you make an unspecified search, like most people do, you get all artists with that name. In many digital music outlets, if you search for “Gandalf” you get a sweet mix of both death metal and new age music – often in the same sample playlist.

This is now also the case with Michael Holm and Kristian Schultze’s group Cusco – one of the finest new age music groups ever. When I searched for Cusco recently I was happy to see that a new album, or EP, was available. Wohoo!

But, on second thoughts, wasn’t Hang Loose a strange Cusco title? And My Balls My World was also a somewhat bizarre song name by this group – which usually are more like Ariadne, White Buffalo or The Nine Muses. So I started listening to the EP, just not knowing what to expect. But the first deep synth pad on the title track got me wondering – this just might be the real thing, a new Cusco release! But after some time I realized that this was not my Cusco – this was some other band with the same name!

Hang Loose is a chill out EP released on Firebird records. Here is a presentation of the new Cusco (the EP as released in May last year).

Hang Loose is Mike Smile’s first album in a new era of party tunes. Anyone who knows Mike knows that he is musically diverse. It is not only house and techno… So he developed his newly launched chillout-project where he is under the name of „Cusco“ and makes with his debut on Firebird Rec. named “Hang Loose EP” the first great step! Seven beautiful tracks, don’t miss it. Check out www.myspace.com/firebirdrecords or http://www.myspace.com/djmikesmile 

And yes, don’t get me wrong; Hang loose is great album, with a chilled rhythm, a nice club atmosphere and deep bass. I very much like the second track, the dreamy Peace for the world and the jazz elements on the last track Two Mexicanos.

But it is not Cusco! Or is it?

Sample Hang Loose here – and the “real” Cusco here.

Rocky Fretz has won the Independent Music Award for new age music with the album Path Ahead…And Steps Then Taken. Congratulations!

Sample this awesome album on CDBaby.

Also enjoy the nice video below, which shows Rocky in his right element.

Mike Oldfield fans that use the popular web browser Firefox now can download a free exclusive Tubular Bells skin – which will take your everyday browsing into a Tubular world! I learned about the cool feature from my good friend, the talented new age artist Tubular Tos. Merci!

You can download it here.

The devastating earthquake on Haiti has made people all over the world collect money and do what they can to help in this desperate situation. Also new age music superstar Michael Cretu of Enigma is reaching out a helping hand to the people of Haiti. In cooperation with EMI Germany and the German division of Red Cross, he is doing what he can to create awareness of the earthquake – see the video below.

Our translation from German:
Many of you have in the recent days seen the horrific pictures from Haiti. Over 100.000 have died in this tragedy, over 100.000 have become homeless. Diseases are spreading, and there is no medical help available. This nation is now totally dependent on foreign help. I urge you all to give a donation to Haiti via the provided bank account number. Please give, and tell your friends to do the same. Even a small donation will make a big difference.

Source: The Enigma Forum

In 2010 Medwyn Goodall will be celebrating his 25th year as a professional artist. His music has touched millions of listeners, and he has done so much for the new age music genre – especially through his MG Music label. And this anniversary of course needs to be celebrated with a very special “best of” collection. According to MG Music homepage:

There have been a few Best of collections of Medwyn’s work, but none oddly enough had his personal input, and none of them gathered tracks from across the labels he has featured on. For the first time working with New World Music and Oreade Music, Medwyn is creating a very personalised 25th anniversary 2 Disc collection of the very cream of his work from 1985 to 2010.  

And more:

Medwyn Goodall is also building a new studio with many upgrades which will be finished in January. The first album to be recorded in the studio will be the long awaited CLAN III which will be the highlight of the celebrations. The 25th Collection will be released around March and Clan III is expected to be released during Summer.

This year, MG Music also will release new titles by Runestone, Paul Sills, Clifford White, Simon Lovelock and MG’s very own Midori.

See a presentation of the titles here.

… and rest assure, it is NOT another version of Tubular Bells… We got enough of them by now. According to Universal Music, new editions of Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn will be out in April. These albums are, together with Amarok, easily Mike Oldfield’s best. This is great news!

Source: Tubular.net

We recently published our best album of 2009 list.

Also be sure to see Michael Debbage’s best of NA Music list for 2009 on our friends’ page Mainlypiano.

Well, this it is not 1973 and it is not the BBC UK Top 40 Albums Chart either, but Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells is currently no. 1 on UK’s New Age Music chart on iTunes!

That has to mean something … Yes? YES!

See the complete chart here – and see how many no. 1 spots Enya has. But is it her new “best of” album that are on top of 14 NA music charts?

We here at .nu are big fans of legendary new age music reviewer mr.  Bill Binkelman. He is the best reviewer our genre has. Still, when reviewing we cannot always be of the same opinion. That is the case with his recent review of the album Light Returning by Acoustic Ocean on Zonemusicreporter.com.

Mr.  Binkelman writes:

What derails my enjoyment of this album (Light Returning), and undercuts the CD’s potential overall success, is that the “whole” simply doesn’t work. It’s odd, but this is the rare album where the WHOLE is LESS than the sum of the parts (the opposite is usually true). I can’t pinpoint why this is the case, although a large part of this failure must reside with the engineering mix itself. It’s muddy to the point of being indistinct and haphazard.

And more:

Each track is great for the first minute or so, but then each one devolves into a miasma of overlapping sounds that, well, basically get in each other’s way. I have to think the mixing and engineering is at fault here, because the music itself, if one digests it through headphones by isolating it, is not just pretty but VERY pretty.

First I would like to say that I think Light Returning by Acoustic Ocean is not only a good album – but very good album. Not merely as background music, but also for active listening on headphones (I’m listening to it on headphones as I write this). Included are 8 long songs with beautiful melodies, a wonderful carefree atmosphere and lots of nature sounds. It is one of those few albums I will return to again and again, because of its positivity. It’s all happy, like a day at the beach.

What I like the most is the mix. I like the way the piano and harp melodies, the nature sounds and “everything else” just flows naturally. It has its own rhythm, own logic – just like the ocean itself.

Mr.  Binkelman is right about one thing though; the somewhat strange hissing noise in the background – easily heard in the beginning of  the first track. But, in a world where all other albums are digitally processed to perfection, I thought it was a bit refreshing to hear some acoustic hissing.

So please go ahead, listen to the album and tell us what you think.

Is it all darkness – or is the light returning?

Check it out here.

Great news for Terry Oldfield’s many fans; New Earth Records is continuing to release his back catalog. The latest is Reiki Healing Energy, which we previously knew as Cascade.

All of the Terry Oldfield Classic Collection albums are remastered, given a redesign, and sometimes a new title too. With Reiki Healing Energy there are now 12 albums in New Earth’s Terry Oldfield Classic Collection.

You can see them all here – and sample them too

We have posted our top ten album list of 2009. Now it is time to see which song you, our dear listeners, have rated highest in this past year. You have rated songs by either clicking the thumbs  “up/down” in the Live365 player or simply by NOT logging off while a song is playing. 

2009’s top song is taken from an album also released in this year – it is the opening track to Guy Sween’s The Legend of Ganesha album – Worship – where Medwyn Goodall also is a guest artist!

Worship has been on our top list for many months, and was first now in December moved down to second place on the New Age Stars chart – only beaten by Jan Hammer’s classic Crockett’s Theme. Not a bad way to lose the top spot!

Worship is a long track, over 7 minutes long, but almost no listeners have ever turned off the radio stream while this song is playing. It has a very nice Indian atmosphere, with a catchy rhythm and great melody. Medwyn’s guitar sounds simply awesome!

So this radio host says yes, yes, yes!  This is just what we want to give you, our dear listener.

On behalf of  all the New Age Stars listeners; thank you, Guy Sweens, for a simply wonderful track!!!

The album is released on MG Music. You can sample the song here.

Keep listening to New Age Stars – and remember to vote!

In connection with the release Enigma’s ”Best of” and ”Lost Tracks” Album, the group’s official English homepage has received a major facelift and many new features have been added (the official homepage, Enigma.de, has received the same treatment). The most important features are perhaps the media players, which naturally are filled with music and videos from Enigma’s 20 year long history. The selection of music is actually very generous, so here the fan will find both new and old favorites.

Another new feature on Enigmaspace.com is the social aspect. Over the last year, official Enigma pages have been made on MySpace, Youtube and Bebo. On Enigmaspace.com you are also welcome to leave comments, and you can download exclusive graphics made by the designers who have created “the Enigma look” on the band’s covers and videos.

But most interesting is without a doubt the exclusive view into Michael Cretu’s ALCHEMIST studio, or the All In One Computed Mobile Studio. You can read all about it here, and see pictures too!

Kitaro is a major artist indeed, and not only in new age music. He has been Grammy nominated 13 times – included here is the nomination of his latest release, Impressions Of The West Lake.

Kitaro’s label, Domo Records, presents a very special gift box for this holiday season for the most eager Kitaro fan. This CD package, signed by Kitaro, includes 13 albums with booklets from each album (please note that the album does not come with jewel cases).

Albums:
Impressions Of The West Lake
Sacred Journey of Kukai Volume 3
Sacred Journey of Kukai Volume 2
Sacred Journey of Kukai Volume 1
An Ancient Journey
Ancient
Thinking of You (Winner)
Gaia Onbashira
An Enchanted Evening
Mandala
Dream
Kojiki
Light of the Spirit

See here for information – and enjoy the video below.

NewAgeMusic.nu will soon be featuring a review of Skala’s album Tundra. But before the review, I just wanted to show you how the cover looks like the out-Of-Control Russian Rocket that filled the sky over Norway with a similar light yesterday. The cover photographers’ name is Yuichi Takasaka. Read about the incident here.

Check out the homepage of Craig Skala. Picture copyright vg.no

On his homepage Andreas Vollenweider has posted a simply amazing video showing the many talents of  his Deep Breath Orcestra. The video is a live recording of the first public performance of the band done in Switzerland in February of this year. Members of the The Deep Breath Orcestra are Andreas Vollenweider Daniel Küffer und Stefanie Peter.

The video is a true feast for Vollenweider fans and a statement of his musical talent on many instruments – not only the harp. You will also be impressed by the other artists as well.

You’ll find the video here.

I think that some of the most interesting new age music is to be found in the crossing point between ambient and soundscapes, in the vast borderland referred to as space music. This music is without a doubt the most artistic music in our genre, and not even the most serious music critic can label it as “easy listening”. One such album is Harlan Mark Vale’s Eternus Conscientia. It is space music of the most distant form, with never ending soundscapes and lush ambient melodies.

When talking about space music one cannot help thinking about the sound of analogue synths of the 70s and 80s, masterly done by Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis.

This is not such an album. Eternus Conscientia rather has the high pitched glass/ice sound of modern VST synths – which is also nice, but more sterile (but so is space, one can argue). Like Vale’s previous albums, this one is also heavily improvised.

In this setting improvisation is a very nice effect, making it more alive, in a contrast to most sequenced space music albums that have the precision of modern computers.   

The album has six tracks with beautiful, otherworldly sounding names – like Ingressus Counstituo Prodigium and Valens Laetor; unique titles for sure. There are no real melodies here, but plenty of melodic segments that come and go. The key word here is atmosphere. Most of the tracks have a pleasant, warm sound – while other are more icy. My favorite track is Appareo Ex Informis, which has that larger-than-life feel of Vangelis’ music.

The only thing that is missing, is that you don’t get a feel of just how great a pianist and keyboardist mr. Vale is (like you get on his piano albums). But the arrangement is tasteful and professional in all respects. The sound quality is, as expected, very good.

Eternus Conscientia is a must-have album for the space music enthusiast – or anyone who is tired of waiting for space tourism. This is your ticket while here on Earth! Eternus Conscientia is as beautiful as it is vast, and offers almost endless replay possibilities.

Sample the album on Amazon.

The following albums have received nominations for best album in the Grammy New Age Music category.

This is as always a very nice collection of albums. Peter Kater is of course here, he has received 6 Grammy nominations in the last 7 years. And the question is; will Kitaro get his second Grammy (this being his third nomination)? Or will Jim Brickman finally get his Grammy? Henta’s album was the surprise – and we love surprises here at .nu.

Faith
Jim Brickman

Prayer For Compassion
David Darling

Laserium For The Soul
Henta

In A Dream

Peter Kater, Dominic Miller, Kenny Loggins & Jaques Morelenbaum

Impressions Of The West Lake
Kitaro

This is perhaps something more artists should do? The official Ancient Future app for the iPhone or iPod Touch is now available.

This app helps Ancient Future fans keep up with the world fusion music ensemble’s activities while on the go. The rich features and unique content in this app include the ability to sample the latest Ancient Future music, access links to free downloads not available on iTunes, check out the latest Ancient Future videos and photos (including iPhone app exclusives), read blog posts, and get regular bulletin updates including progress reports on the band’s ambitious new fan supported recording project, A.F.A.R. – the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings.

You can check it out here.

NewAgeMusic.Nu  consistently receives a large number of CDs sent directly from artists, promoters, and producers, delivering a wide range of music to choose from, so we may present the best of what we can find for our readers wide variety of musical tastes.

9  Muses is a recent artist title to send a modern mix for those who like New Age Alternative, with melodic female vocals and a lively rhythmic beat.  While listening to the CD, my foot began to tap, and it occurred to me that a lively Pop influence could be added on the album description too, since mainstream audiences will like the modern day direction this album projects.

Feel to Heal  is the title from  9  Muses and first in their Elements Series, that predicts more releases to follow from the artist, with this first  10  lyrical love songs belonging in the theme of  9  Greek mythological muses, whose purpose if to liberate the listeners artistic creations related to song, literature, and the arts.

Cool Water  is a decorative ornamental song, with percussion and keyboard backing trendy vocals that are displayed as light and pleasant,  along with a faster tempo snare drum and groove based instrumentation, giving a nice arrangement from this first muse.

The Moon Told Me  is much like the first song by the alluring vocals, rhythmic pace, and lighter melody, but the Rock style guitar runs make a noticeable distinction between this first group of songs.

The middle tempo is maintained with  In My Arms,  carrying much of the modern day vocals and keyboard instrumentation patterned with a similar mindset.  There are also some chic percussion enhancements like heard in  The Man That Never Was,  which vocalises lyrical connotations of a lost love and everything that embodies.

Master Mind  starts out with a memorable beginning while posturing in slower, more anticipated vocals  like heard in  Not Love  &  Just to Dance With You.  Bruised Tears  is also among this song formation that changes the collective mood while also sustaining the engaging sensual theme.  The intriguing lyrics behind compelling female vocals are joined with moderate percussion rhythms and synthesizer backgrounds to exhibit more casual surroundings.

The  9  Muses album title song  Feel to Heal  rebounds boldly by a brisk tempo and set in stone  (  Dun  da  Dun  da  Dunt  ) energy driven Groove rhythm,  having a tantalizing pronunciation in keyboard delivery that generates attention right from the start.  Percussion maintains this articulated faster tempo, while the elaborate xylophone runs intermingled with the vocals effectively add an interesting angle, becoming a nice touch to a vogue song having more of a Pop resemblance. 

While this album may not be a classic New Age presentation, there certainly is an audience that will appreciate this Contemporary Vocal blend, and you can rest assured that NewAgeMusic.Nu can easily find music to fit a wide variety of musical tastes.

9  Muses does not have a website at present, so CD Baby.com is the place to sample the  Heal to Feel  album.  Visit CD Baby.com here.

FL Studio is one of the most popular music software available, and version 9 of the program has just been released. This program is used by professionals (like Mike Oldfield) and hobbyists alike. And, lo and behold, new age music’s very own Jillian Aversa (Goldin) is featured in the program’s demo song!

Sample the song below (it is not really new age music but more like electronica), where you also can see how the program looks like.

We here at .nu simply adore Jillian – and her debut album was awarded our “Best new age music album of 2008” price.

It is always interesting when an artist does something new, something quite different and original. The music of The Nexion Project is usually close to the style of Enigma or Mike Oldfield, but the album entitled Far Away is in most respects closer to smooth jazz in style. Or perhaps we should say lounge? But whatever we choose to call the style, the music speaks for itself. It is a downtempo collection of melodic and atmospheric tracks that will take the listener on a magnificent journey far away.

The Nexion Project is run by Hungarian artist Török Zoltán. We have previously reviewed some of his albums (see the reviews here) – and they have all become personal favorites (his Isle of Freedom is on this reviwer’s top 10 album list of all time). Bottom line: The Nexion Project has NewAgeMusic.nu’s seal of approval. It is quality music, pure and simple.

Before we move on, I would like to quote what the artist is saying about this album:

Over the last ten years I was trying to get my own musical style, but several albums has some a characteristic feeling, recognizable motives, harmonies, instrumentation from the performers, composers, bands what I like to listen. The idea of this revise process was born by my 2008 album, ‘Far Away’. Mostly it is a slow, melancholic, “smooth” music, where main instruments are classical guitar, cello and viola, and piano combined with light acoustic drums and other orchestral instruments with minimal electronic sounds. The purpose was to compose natural sounding as far as possible.

Torok Zoltan

This is the very essence of Far Away. I am amazed of the live sound of songs such as The Field (especially the violin part in the end) and Landscape(the sax). It reminds me of Mars Lasar’s more jazzy tracks, which also have a nice live sound (even though it is synth based music). A comparison to Mars Lasar here is actually very in place, since both artists have a solid grasp on the melodic construction. I might be tempted to use the word perfection.

But I must stress that this is not a smooth jazz album. Not at all.  Fans of The Nexion Project will be glad to hear that some of the songs here have the “good old” style that Torok Zoltan mentions above (I am thinking of the songs Daylight and Sidestreet).

Far Away is in all respects a great album; it offers something new to the project, while staying true to the original artistic expression. We all want to go far away sometimes, and this album might be your ticket.

Sample the album on CDBaby.

Enigma: The Platinum Collection is now released in Europe. It is a three disc “Best of” collection, with one disc with hits, one with favorite remixes and one with so called “Lost tracks” – or demo tapes if you will. American Enigma fans sadly have to wait until January 26, 2010. Such a delay should really be a thing of the past, but hey, that’s still the nature of major label music…

Both the selection of hits and remixes are, needless to say, great. There are some true classics among the remixes, like Sadness Part I – Violent US Mix – which truly takes the original song’s Gregorian chants samples to a new dimension. Another favorite of mine is the last one, Dreaming of Andromeda – Jean F. Cochois Remix. There are interestingly enough no Seven Lives remixes on this disc (even though there was a very good remix competition recently – but it must be said that the “Lost track” 10 is a Je T’aime Till My Dying Day remix).

So what is there to say about The lost tracks? As a Michael Cretu fan for over 20 years – and a fan of all his most recent material too – I was surprised to learn that he, the perfectionist, was to release a demo collection. It is very much out of character. But, when listening to it, I think that it gives a nice view into his studio, showing the master at work.

The lost tracks is a collection of selected demos that probably were created for Seven Lives – but didn’t make the cut. The disc does not have an overall sound design (with an intro and ending), like his “normal” albums. The songs does not have names, only numbers. I especially like track 2, which has that enigmatic melancholy that we know so well from the past. Track nine also has a nice feel. Track four could have been included in a “normal” Enigma album, it is that good.

The lost tracks would have been a much better release if there was older “lost tracks” too – like demos from the first three-four Enigma albums. This one is very close to the “synth VST” sound. But it is not like it is meant as a complete album.

It is what it is; a collection of songs that was left over when Seven Lives was mixed.  Not a top Enigma release, true, but still a welcome gift to any Enigma fan since the first disc is a superb “best of” collection.

Sample it on Amazon.de.

The Very Best Of Enya is now out in most places (December 1 is the release date in some regions). There are three versions available;

The standard CD album The Very Best Of Enya containig 18 tracks spanning her 20 year career including Orinoco Flow, Caribbean Blue, Anywhere Is as well as a previously unreleased version of Aniron as featured in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Rings. Available on all major digital music outlets and record stores throughout the world.

The Deluxe CD/DVD edition with 22 tracks plus a collection of 13 videos and rare interview footage on DVD – among them the Making Of Caribbean Blue and Making Of Only Time. Available in record stores throughout the world.

The Very Best Of – the Limited Edition Boxset Collector’s Edition (see picture). Within this exclusive boxset – only available in the uk from www.enyastore.co.uk – you will find the deluxe CD/DVD featuring 22 tracks plus a DVD collection of 13 videos and rare interview footage, and a 12″ Picture Disc vinyl of landmark single Orinoco Flow complimented by a 24 page exclusive 12″ hard-back book containing hand written lyrics, linear notes, a detailed blog and photos, PLUS the 22 track deluxe album delivered as high quality MP3s. Note the £ 74.99 pricetag and the fact that there is only 1000 copies available.

So yes, this is a great day for all Enya fans! A Best Of album is not like a new album, that’s true – and there is really nothing new here – still it gives a new perspective on Enya’s best and most beloved songs.

To celebrate both the upcoming album and the 20 year anniversary, Engima’s official homepage – Enigmaspace.com – will receive a major update. But already now you can get a small sneak peek of the design, and watch the awesome official video trailer that features clips from Enigma’s finest music videos.

Or, to quote the page; the world of Enigma evolves.

Andru Donalds, lead singer in Enigma, has posted a 10 minute long sample of the upcoming “Lost Tracks” album – which is disc three on the new Enigma “Best of” album.

You can sample it on Facebook. Scroll down to the music player on the left (the first track is the “lost” ones).

Source: Enigmamusic.com Forum