A Visionary Sound Arts Interface

Return to Main Page Emerging in the early 70's, (his "AUM" recording is from 1972,) Deuter has released beautiful, highly spiritual music. Deuter is the prototypical new age artist and apparently is the first to include natural environmental sounds in music. Deuter has several styles: sweet & sappy, Vedic ("Hindu") musics with dulcimer and the like, and dense synthesis with flute. I prefer the synthesis. His "Wind & Mountain" is an album I never get tired of. It feels great! He also has a disc of digitally recorded Tibetan bowls which should be in the collection of anybody who enjoys bowl music. Recently, Deuter has returned to the style of "Wind and Mountain" with "Sea and Silence" and "Earth Blue." Both of these are good Deuter albums featuring extensive use of flute. info on Deuter In 1975 Iasos and Steven Halpern each released their first album, and these 2 albums began the genre now known as "New Age" music. Their music was to be the defining bedrock of what would later be considered the overall sound and tone of "New Age" music. Both of these artists continue to produce high quality new age music with regularity. Halpern's "In The Key of Healing" utilizes brainwave pulse rates associated with states of contentment. His classic "Spectrum Suite," was an initial defining recording for new age music. go to Steven Halpern's website Iasos is the preeminent composer of angelic music. His recordings convey the magnificence and expansiveness of the Divine. His music might be called "sculpted sound." The cd, "Angelic Music," is the ultimate classic of the genre! Although all of his recordings are breathtaking, you might start with "Sacred Sonic Tools," "Timeless Sound" or "Elixir." Iasos has recently offered recordings previously available on cassette on made-to-order cds. go to Iasos' website Soon after this, the Japanese artists Tomita and Vangelis became known in the west for their use of synthesis to interpret classical Japanese musical motifs. Their work set the stage for the appearance of Kitaro in the Eighties. Tomita was a hybrid of experimental and classical. I find much of his stuff rather odd and offbeat. His "Holst, The Planets" is probably his most accessible. info on Tomita I can recommend Vangelis' recording, "China" with enthusiasm. info on Vangelis Kitaro had a lot of success with the release, "Silk Road." I always found him to be a bit on the sonic velveeta side, but he has a large worldwide audience that digs him. info on Kitaro Towards the end of the Seventies, the sound of the new age was becoming further explored by artists such as Steve Hillage in the amazing "Rainbow Dome Music." Jon Anderson, of the rock band, "Yes," and Vangelis began some initial collaborating in what would become a fruitful relationship. Anderson's first solo album, "Olias of Sunhillow," is also amazing. info on Steve Hillage info on Jon Anderson Constance Demby has made some wonderful orchestral works of space music. "Novus Magnificat," "Set Free" and "Aeterna" are all very spiritual and new age classical. I have always related to her as "ascension music," clearly rooted in Western classical. Her new, "Faces of the Christ" and "Attainment" continue her work beautifully. info on Constance Demby David and Steve Gordon of Sequoia Records have produced gorgeous ambient albums which seem to fill the room with a garden paradise. "Garden of Serenity" and "Sanctuary" are both beautiful. "Oneness" is a great meditative album. The vibe is new age, but very natural and refreshing. the Gordon Bros. website Don Slepian has a career spanning decades which includes some extremely beautiful and highly creative music that has strong Aquarian energies comparable to Steve Hillage's Rainbow Dome Music. His "Sea of Bliss" cd is a must have for anyone who enjoys continuums of sheer beauty. His "Rainbow Isle" disc has lots of standout by-hand performances on synth, piano & guitar. The pieces are of shorter duration and playful. Go to Don Slepian's Website Anugama began producing solid "new age" releases in the mid-80s. of his early releases, i particularly enjoy, "Healing." He seems to have had a group of releases in 1991, which was when i first became familiar with his work because we were airing his disc, Shamanic Dream, particularly the Chakra Journey piece, on my radio station. i recently picked up "Tantra," which i thought was a worthy addition (being primarily meditative synthdrone environment with natural sounds and a santur.) I was surprised that it came out in late 80s! His "Shamanic Dream 2" was voted best meditation- healing album of 2000 by new age voice magazine, which is a pretty impressive feat in the trade of "new age" music itself. Anugama has a number of releases that i only just became aware of. I am familiar enough with his work to say that he has a playful side not unlike Deuter which may not be everyone's cup of tea. Go To Anugama website Llewellyn is another new age artist who has been quite prolific in the last ten years but i've only heard a few. I very much enjoyed his "Crystals" cd and played it a lot my final years at my last radio station. I recently acquired "Tantric Sexuality" and that's a keeper for the Tantra section of my collection indeed! while i haven't heard them, "Ghosts," "Shiatsu" and "Aromatherapy" all seem to have high positive response from other reviewers and the industry itself. Go To Llewellyn Website There are two interesting cds by the Shargung-La monks rubbing quartz crystal gongs. I have always had an ear to discovering music made with crystals. Steve Halpern did some good work, but never focused an entire album on it. Shad Diamond uses crystalline recordings but is so active as to not be meditative. These are meditation devices, using rubbed quartz to as interesting an effect as the work with metal bowls by Deuter, Karma Moffet and One Hand Clapping. The two cds are "Crystal Gong Meditation" and "Crystal Gong Chakra Meditation." You have to scroll down several pages on the site the link takes you to in order to see the "Meditation Albums" section. See info on Crystal Gong music. Astarius is a Reiki Master who records the most effective Reiki music i have ever heard. He chants the names of the Reiki powers as mantras. I highly recommend his recent, "Reiki Temple Chants," to anyone working with Reiki. "Spirit Rap" is a great ascension cd. "Vibrational Healing Ascension Current" has the kind of title i need in my collection, plus innovative didgeridoo work and fine mantric work. If i sound enthusiastic about the work of Astarius, it is because i am! He has a number of older didgeridoo albums worth checking out also. Of his older discs, i recommend "Echoes of Eternity" in particular. Check out Astarius Reiki-Om! Amoraea Dreemseed is a fantastic sound healer-artist that i've known about for some time due to an earlier release, with River Freedom, "Didgeridoo Dreamtime," which is probably my FAVORITE didge disc of all time. The 2004 disc, "Future Memories," is a growth of the previous work, very mature and probably the first unqualified success of a didgeridoo album to also be an angelic album. In fact, i just may make an entry in the angelic column for Dreamseed! Both discs strongly recommended for anyone who digs didge! Go To Dreamseed's Website! Nicole Lavoie has produced very healing sounds in her recordings. I have recently received the "Life Essence" series. It is several dozen "hums" which have an incredibly delicious low-end that only a subwoofer can do justice to. These hums are healing frequencies which Lavoie says are related to the vibratory spectra of various herbs, nutrients, amino acids and benefical molecules. They are similar to the NASA/Voyager space recordings and Bob Dratch's "Critter Cleaners." At the very least, these recordings induce healing trance states. Lavoie says that they actually are nutritious. I say they just plain feel incredibly marvelous! Click here to see Nicole Lavoie's offerings Crystal Voices is a joint project by Deborah Van Dyke and Valerie Farnsworth. I collect music produced by crystal bowls and have found their releases to be of a superior quality. These recordings are meditative devices and are more about how they feel than how intellectually interesting they are. I value "Sounds Of Light" as a very inspirational recording. Crystal Vibrations Music Ensemble is lead by Elivia Melodey and is also high-quality crystal bowl music which features additional instrumentation like chimes, flute, and various percussion. I'll be able to tell you more after i listen to the copy i have coming. Crystal Vibrations Music Ensemble It has taken me a while to get Tom Kenyon onto the website because the availability of his works has been spotty and there were no good links on the internet. Well, this has changed! Not only does Tom have his own website now, but you can obtain most of his work there! I only have two of his works: The Gandharva Experience, a very interesting recording of vocal toning (if somewhat low recording values) and Soma, his release on the Relaxation Company's label. Soma is a great recording of brainwave music in league with expert harmonic voice Tom Kenyon's website Weave has been around for some time and continues to work with Jonathan Goldman on various projects. His full professional name being Akshara Weave, he specializes in exquisite Reiki music recordings which are hour-long continuum pieces using the Cycle of Fifths and harmonic intervals based on the geometric intervals of the Reiki symbols. I can strongly recommend all of his musical offerings and, in particular, the recent, "Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen," as great vibrational supports for massage, healing work, shamanic journeying or yoga. Go To Weave's Website Return to Main Page