Be sure to follow KMXT FreeForm Radio on Facebook and Bandcamp and Spotify.
You
can now listen to the livestream of the show through the KMXT app; it's
available through the Mac App Store or Google Play. The stream is also
available at www.kmxt.org
Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to www.KMXT.org and pledging your support.
The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below)
We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio.
Tonight I'll also be hosting Rural Electric right after the Island Messenger at 7 pm until 9 pm.
Tonight's Rural Electric theme is songs about the Gulf of Mexico.
Gayle
Ellett & The Electromags are back with their third album: The Painted River of Light. This instrumental progressive rock offering
features four mesmerizing extended tracks flowing with the sounds of
Mellotron and Minimoog, Hammond organ and Rhodes piano. Filled with 48
minutes of rushing currents, psychedelic swirling melodies and pounding
solos, Painted River is meant to take listeners on an imaginary boat
ride through a fantastical canyon that follows an otherworldly river of
light. “While” explains Ellett, “they feel like they’re high on
mushrooms. It’s meant to sound both familiar and exotic, like you’re
seeing colors in the water that you’ve never seen before.”
Flowing from the fiery headwaters of Topanga Canyon, this glowing river of sound relies on Craig Kahn’s dynamic drumming, which helps propel the currents forward, while bassist Mark Cook, with his 14-string Warr guitar, provides powerful waterfalls of soundscapes and effects. Besides playing all the thundering keyboards, to keep the sound moving through the rapids, Gayle Ellett leans in with his trademark wailing guitar style. Using his large collection of guitars and vintage tube amps, tape-delays, and effects, Ellett mixes a 1970’s feel with more modern sensibilities. And, by including his sitar-guitar and 8-string bouzouki, he adds a silvery thread that bubbles into tranquil eddies and then rushes towards the torrent’s
edge.
“As a kid, my favorite ride at Disneyland was always the Jungle Cruise,” muses Ellett. “It was all
encompassing, huge and three-dimensional, a total environment of the Imagineers’ own making. With The Painted River of Light, I wanted to recreate that same sort of visual immersion, but through sound. And I hope we’ve succeeded!”
Come float with us as you explore the glorious sounds of The Painted River of Light!
Flowing from the fiery headwaters of Topanga Canyon, this glowing river of sound relies on Craig Kahn’s dynamic drumming, which helps propel the currents forward, while bassist Mark Cook, with his 14-string Warr guitar, provides powerful waterfalls of soundscapes and effects. Besides playing all the thundering keyboards, to keep the sound moving through the rapids, Gayle Ellett leans in with his trademark wailing guitar style. Using his large collection of guitars and vintage tube amps, tape-delays, and effects, Ellett mixes a 1970’s feel with more modern sensibilities. And, by including his sitar-guitar and 8-string bouzouki, he adds a silvery thread that bubbles into tranquil eddies and then rushes towards the torrent’s
edge.
“As a kid, my favorite ride at Disneyland was always the Jungle Cruise,” muses Ellett. “It was all
encompassing, huge and three-dimensional, a total environment of the Imagineers’ own making. With The Painted River of Light, I wanted to recreate that same sort of visual immersion, but through sound. And I hope we’ve succeeded!”
Come float with us as you explore the glorious sounds of The Painted River of Light!
credits
released February 1, 2025
Performers and what instruments they played:
Gayle Ellett: keyboards, electric & acoustic guitars, sitar guitar & soundscapes
Mark Cook: bass, 14-string Warr guitar & soundscapes
Craig Kahn: drums
Composer for each track: Gayle Ellett
Mixed mastered and produced by Gayle Ellett
Album cover art: Steven Leak
Recorded in Topanga California and Arlington Texas
Mixed mastered produced in Topanga, CA.
Published by: PeacockSunrise Records
© 2025 Gayle Ellett (BMI)
rock
instrumental rock
surf rock
CaliforniaPerformers and what instruments they played:
Gayle Ellett: keyboards, electric & acoustic guitars, sitar guitar & soundscapes
Mark Cook: bass, 14-string Warr guitar & soundscapes
Craig Kahn: drums
Composer for each track: Gayle Ellett
Mixed mastered and produced by Gayle Ellett
Album cover art: Steven Leak
Recorded in Topanga California and Arlington Texas
Mixed mastered produced in Topanga, CA.
Published by: PeacockSunrise Records
© 2025 Gayle Ellett (BMI)
Credits:
Music by Tomoyoshi Date and Bill Seaman
Mastered by Tomoyoshi Date
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with Tomoyoshi Date and Bill Seaman Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2024 all rights reserved
Music by Tomoyoshi Date and Bill Seaman
Mastered by Tomoyoshi Date
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with Tomoyoshi Date and Bill Seaman Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2024 all rights reserved
So happy to say the next album in the quiet details series is a creation born from the collaboration of two wonderful artists, Tomoyoshi Date and Bill Seaman.
Individually, both artists have extensive discographies, stretching back many years
and known for a cerebral and deeply musical approach to their work.
Tomoyoshi, solo and in collaboration (with the likes of Corey Fuller, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Federico Durand and Chihei Hatakeyama), with beautiful releases on labels such as LAAPS, 12k, Home Normal, Dauw, White Paddy Mountain and more.
Bill, also a consummate collaborator (with Craig Tattersall, Off The Sky, Stephen Vitiello, Tim Diagram, Stephen Spera. Michael Grigoni, Xu and more), releasing stunning albums on Room40, Longform Editions, LAAPS, oscarson, Fluid Audio, Eilean Recs, Cotton Goods and others.
Together they’ve made something of astounding beauty - a masterclass in electro- acoustic composition, centred around the piano and all its nuances.
Working by slowly passing ideas back and forth, and influenced by Bill’s work with Wei Ping Lin of the Austrian Symphony and James Chu (who both feature on the album), and progressing while Tomoyoshi was heavily involved with the incredible Ryuichi Sakamoto Micro Ambient Music project - over time the album gradually took shape.
Building on an innate and natural understanding of each other, piano improvisations and sonic abstractions layer with violin and clarinet to form richly detailed soundscapes, full of micro-ambience and elegant textures.
You can feel how in-tune these two instinctive and highly-skilled musicians are with every passing moment - everything so carefully and precisely constructed while feeling completely natural and perfectly formed.
Along with piano, the micro-sounds are fundamental to this music - the fragments from the recording process, deliberately and meticulously prepared to show the listener a whole world of subtlety - delicate and arising from silence, this is a graceful and vivid experience for the senses.
So pleased to share it with you, a gorgeous album of breathtaking beauty.
Huge thanks to Tomoyoshi and Bill for everything, a wonderful addition to the series.
The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from Tomoyoshi and Bill which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.
As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.
The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, representing the music in its purest form.
tomoyoshidate.bandcamp.com
billseaman.bandcamp.com
credits
released November 13, 2024
ambient
japan
united states
chill-out
downtempo
drone
electronic
field recordings
microsound
piano
United Kingdom
a record label where each release is an interpretation of the name
curation and art fieldswefound.bandcamp.com
mastering and audio services
discography
-
Feb 2025 -
Jan 2025 -
Jan 2025
contact / help
In
our vast and largely unexplored universe, it is conceivable that we are
not alone. The cosmos could be teeming with life, and within the depths
of unknown worlds, countless civilizations might thrive, each with
their own unique history, culture, and beliefs. These alien species,
potentially millennia ahead of humans in terms of evolution, could have
developed religious and spiritual systems that are incomprehensible to
our current understanding. Rather than worshipping gods bound by earthly
limitations, these beings might have a more cosmic orientation—deities
and spiritual energies connected to the stars, the fabric of space-time,
or the intricate dance of galaxies and black holes. Some may venerate
celestial bodies or cosmic phenomena, viewing stars, supernovas, or even
the void itself as manifestations of divine forces. Others might have
no concept of gods at all, finding spirituality in the patterns of the
universe, in mathematical perfection, or in the interconnectedness of
all things. It is possible that some of these civilizations may be
entirely artificial, their minds uploaded into machines or existing as
pure energy. In this case, their form of worship could be directed
toward artificial intelligences or a collective consciousness, where
rituals are carried out through data streams, and prayers are transmitted through quantum entanglements.
"Music for Alien Temples" is an ambitious and visionary project that ventures into the realm of speculative soundscapes, imagining the religious practices, spiritual rituals, and cosmic ceremonies of advanced alien civilizations. It invites listeners to journey through soundscapes that evoke this cosmic religiosity. Each track is designed to transport the listener to an alien temple, a sacred space where the divine is perceived not through human eyes but through the expanded consciousness of extraterrestrial minds. These temples could be physical or purely conceptual, existing in dimensions we cannot perceive or even understand. The atmospheres evoke the presence of alien priests, perhaps artificial intelligences or cyborg entities, leading ritualistic chants and cosmic hymns filled with meaning on a vibrational, energetic level. "Music for Alien Temples" does not attempt to define or limit these extraterrestrial belief systems but rather offers a sonic interpretation of what alien spirituality might feel like. It is a meditation on the possibility that, across the cosmos, there are civilizations whose approach to the divine is as diverse and boundless as the universe itself.
"Music for Alien Temples" is an ambitious and visionary project that ventures into the realm of speculative soundscapes, imagining the religious practices, spiritual rituals, and cosmic ceremonies of advanced alien civilizations. It invites listeners to journey through soundscapes that evoke this cosmic religiosity. Each track is designed to transport the listener to an alien temple, a sacred space where the divine is perceived not through human eyes but through the expanded consciousness of extraterrestrial minds. These temples could be physical or purely conceptual, existing in dimensions we cannot perceive or even understand. The atmospheres evoke the presence of alien priests, perhaps artificial intelligences or cyborg entities, leading ritualistic chants and cosmic hymns filled with meaning on a vibrational, energetic level. "Music for Alien Temples" does not attempt to define or limit these extraterrestrial belief systems but rather offers a sonic interpretation of what alien spirituality might feel like. It is a meditation on the possibility that, across the cosmos, there are civilizations whose approach to the divine is as diverse and boundless as the universe itself.
credits
released January 2, 2025
Previous compilations from the same series:
Music For Abandoned Monasteries
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-abandoned-monasteries
Music For Haunted Asylums
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-haunted-asylums
REVIEWS
Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2025/01/04/amn-reviews-various-artists-music-for-alien-temples-2025-eighth-tower-records/
Igloo Magazine
igloomag.com/reviews/music-for-alien-temples-eighth-tower
Luminous Dash
luminousdash.be/reviews/music-for-alien-temples-eight-tower
This Is Darkness
Described as “… an ambitious and visionary project that ventures into the realm of speculative soundscapes, imagining the religious practices, spiritual rituals, and cosmic ceremonies of advanced alien civilizations…” Music for Alien Temples is an album that totally delivers on its premise. With 14 tracks of strange, multi-layered otherworldliness, presented by a range of talented musicians, this is one of those remarkable albums that is an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish, each track offers something unique, and yet they all fit together perfectly to create a unified audio experience that is quite honestly stunning. Impressive!
FreeForm thanks Raffaele Pezzella for a complimentary copy of this release.
Artwork by David Kovacs.
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst).
Published by Eighth Tower Records (Cat. Num. ETR057).
© 2025 All rights reserved.
Previous compilations from the same series:
Music For Abandoned Monasteries
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-abandoned-monasteries
Music For Haunted Asylums
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-haunted-asylums
REVIEWS
Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2025/01/04/amn-reviews-various-artists-music-for-alien-temples-2025-eighth-tower-records/
Igloo Magazine
igloomag.com/reviews/music-for-alien-temples-eighth-tower
Luminous Dash
luminousdash.be/reviews/music-for-alien-temples-eight-tower
This Is Darkness
Described as “… an ambitious and visionary project that ventures into the realm of speculative soundscapes, imagining the religious practices, spiritual rituals, and cosmic ceremonies of advanced alien civilizations…” Music for Alien Temples is an album that totally delivers on its premise. With 14 tracks of strange, multi-layered otherworldliness, presented by a range of talented musicians, this is one of those remarkable albums that is an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish, each track offers something unique, and yet they all fit together perfectly to create a unified audio experience that is quite honestly stunning. Impressive!
FreeForm thanks Raffaele Pezzella for a complimentary copy of this release.
Artwork by David Kovacs.
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst).
Published by Eighth Tower Records (Cat. Num. ETR057).
© 2025 All rights reserved.
license
all rights reserved
First album by this rather late Krautrock band was undoubtedly their very best one.
Actually the only point of criticism one could quote is the fact that it might have
sounded already a bit dated in its year of release. Being much in the vein of early
Tull, Iron Butterfly, Cream or The Doors the tracks presented here are a wonderful
demonstration of this early Art Rock or Proto-Prog style. The title song is the one
reminding the most to Tull with a soaring flute and heavy organ. It's a very powerful
and grooving one with a sort of psychedelic blues guitar play that's bringing Cream
back to mind. "Seasons Of Life" is even in a stronger psychedelic vein, kinda The
Doors meet Cream or Iron Butterfly, very groovin' stuff as well. This record doesn't
let your foot stand still only for one second. Though it might be not considered as
that much progressive for the year of 1974 "Desert Places" was nevertheless a
brilliant album in organ driven Art Rock typical for beginning seventies.
Posts
