first aired: April 25 2023

the creators and fans of contemplative music have always gravitated to explorations of deep space — both in science fiction and through the efforts of astronomy and science. In my generation, many of us first came across space music through the works of Vangelis on the TV documentary Cosmos, hosted by the late great Carl Sagan

on this week’s edition of Convergence Zone, we’re putting the “space” in space music, with a show focused on space exploration, space travel, and plotting the depths of the human imagination in the great void

recent music from Seattle artists Hello Meteor, Terminus Void, and Hello Meteor transport us to Jupiter and to contacts with civilizations beyond our imagination

extended travels to distant stars with ARC, and nearby destinations with Caterina Barbieri and Public Service Broadcasting

Convergence Zone departs to the sky and the sun, the moon and Jupite, and outbound to the Tannhäuser Gate — Tuesday night at 10:30pm PDT

90.7 KSER-FM, 89.9 KXIR-FM, and streaming around the world at kser.org and on other internet radio services

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Notes
Hello Meteor	Reitoru Skyport	Earth Journos		Feb 2023 ambient cozywave
Vangelis	Heaven and Hell Part 1 (excerpt)	Heaven and Hell	RCA	Opening music to “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan
Public Service Broadcasting	Sputnik	The Race for Space	Test Card Recordings	Includes signal from Sputnik 1
Vangelis	Atlas Push	Juno to Jupiter	Decca	Includes audio from NASA’s Juno launch
Vangelis	Apo 22	Juno to Jupiter	Decca	Samples from JPL control room
Terminus Void	Inception	Origins Unknown		Brand new! Includes audio recorded by NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Ganymede
Vangelis	Albedo 0.39	Albedo 0.39	RCA	The Earth’s reflecting power is 39%, or Albedo 0.39
Pink Floyd	Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun	Saucerful of Secrets	EMI	We set the controls for the heart of the sun, one of the ways we show our age
Steve Roach	The Sky Opens	The Sky Opens	Projekt	Live in Pasadena, CA, 2019
Dreamstate Logic	First Contact	Starbound		Brand new from Seattle’s Colby Sixx
End	Segment	One	Segment	End
Public Service Broadcasting	The Other Side	The Race for Space	Test Card Recordings	Apollo 8 – first human orbit of the moon
Public Service Broadcasting	Go	The Race for Space	Test Card Recordings	Apollo 11 moon landing
Remote Vision	The Temporal Sequence	The Architecture of Time	Synphaera	Dedicated to the electronic pioneers
Vangelis	Blush Response	Blade Runner	Atlantic	Do you like our owl?
Transponder	Running Binary Nightside	Starmaps, Vol 1	Synphaera	Steve Pierce and Don Tyler
Caterina Barbieri	Closest Approach to your orbit	Ecstatic Computation		2019 LP from Italian composer
ARC	Arcturus Pt 1	Arcturus (DiN 19)	DiN	Live at the Hampshire Jam, October 2004
Vangelis	Tears in Rain	Blade Runner­­	Decca	I’ve seen things you humans wouldn’t believe

(First aired: April 18 2023)

on this week’s Convergence Zone, we evoke the turbulent mood of spring in the PNW; brand new music from Frore, and from Active Region — and a new reissue of a rare album by Steve Roach and Michael Shrieve; classics from Jean-Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Dead Can Dance, and Michael Hoenig; synthwave and synthpop from Talk Talk, FM Attack, and Japanese Breakfast; …and lots of surprises

10:30pm PDT 4/11/23 – 90.7 KSER | Independent Public Radio

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Notes
FM Attack ft. Julian Sanza	Fade Away	Deja Vu	Tonite Records	Synthwave project from Vancouver BC (Shawn Ward) – 2013 sophomore album
Talk Talk	It’s My Life	It’s My Life	EMI	1984, second LP
Japanese Breakfast	Be Sweet	Jubilee	Dead Oceans	Sold out performance at ZooTunes on August 20, 2023 with Built to Spill
Break
Steve Roach & Michael Shrieve	Theme For The Far Away	The Leaving Time	Novus	1988 collaboration re-released in October 2022
David Arkenstone	Night Wind	Valley in the Clouds	Narada Equinox	2023 tour in May; dates include Bellevue, Enumclaw, Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver BC, Victoria BC, Portland…
Richard Souther	The Long Riders	Cross Currents	Narada Equinox	1989 New Age
Break
Dead Can Dance	The Carnival Is Over	Into The Labyrinth	4AD	1993, remembrance of Brendan Perry’s visit to a circus as a pre-teen
Break
Frore	Fern Cluster	Biome	Spotted Peccary	Brand new! Releases on April 21 – label debut from Paul Casper
Pink Floyd	Signs of Life	A Momentary Lapse of Reason	EMI	1987 – First Floyd album w/o Roger Waters…
Pink Floyd	Learning to Fly	A Momentary Lapse of Reason	EMI	…some may call it a David Gilmour solo album featuring Richard Wright and Nick Mason 🙂
Break
Redshift	Shift to Blue (live)	RW Three		2008 concert, at Hampshire Jam Seven festival
End	Segment	One
Active Region	Into the Black	Horizon Dispatch	Exosphere	February 2023 release, project of Peter Brefini
Jean-Michel Jarre	Oxygène, Pt 2	Oxygène	Les Disques Motors	1976 album – perhaps most important album in the history of electronic music?
Break
Mary Lattimore	Silver Ladders	Silver Ladders	Ghostly International	2020, universal acclaim, Bandcamp Album of the day
Andreas Vollenweider	The Glass Hall (Choose the Crystal) – The Play of the Five Balls – The Five Planets Canopy Choir	White Winds	CBS	1984, fourth album with very long track titles
Keep Shelly in Athens	Me Then (B-side)	Philomeno / Me Then (single)	Athenian Aura Recordings	Greek/Australian duo, 2021 single
Break
Boards of Canada	Kid for Today	In a Beautiful Place out in the Country	Warp	2008 EP, Scottish brothers Mike Sandison + Marcus Eoin
Cool Maritime	Apex	Big Earth Energy	Western Vinyl	Seattle musician Shawn Hellfritsch; 2022 album
Kitaro	Hiten (Flying Celestial Nymphs)	Silk Road (Vol 1)	Canyon	Soundtrack for 1980 Japanese TV documentary series
Vangelis	Theme from Antarctica	Antarctica: Original Soundtrack	Polydor	Koreyoshi Kurahara drama – 1958 Japanese scientific expedition to the South Pole
Break
Michael Hoenig	Hanging Garden Transfer	Departure from the Northern Wasteland	Warner Records	German composer, collaborated with Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel; this was his debut album (1978)
End	Convergence	Zone	006	Please support KSER with your donation

(first aired April 11, 2023)

Tomorrow is Herbie Hancock’s birthday – so of course I’ll play him on Convergence Zone tonight

Tons of new music from Stellarium, style.king.of.the.week, Rudy Adrian, Siren of the Sea, and NAVVI

music for solidarity and reproductive rights with songs by Kristen Roos and Loscil from Hotham Sound’s compilation “Calliope”, raising proceeds for NARAL Pro Choice America

classics by {arsonist}, Steve Roach, Herbie Hancock, and Colin Chin — and some surprises too

10:30pm PDT 4/11/23 – 90.7 KSER | Independent Public Radio

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Show Notes
Black Belt Eagle Scout	On the River	The Land The Water The Sky	Saddle Creek	Brand new! Performing at the Timber! festival in Carnation in July
NAVVI	Love	V	Hush Hush
Kristen Roos	Musmusic TIll M	Calliope	Hotham Sound	2022 compilation to raise funds for NARAL North America
Jenn Champion	Donating Your Body to Science	Donating Your Body to Science
Tame Impala	One More Year	The Slow Rush	Modular	2020 LP, 2022 deluxe box set
Herbie Hancock	Perfect Machine	Perfect Machine	Columbia	Final album of “Rockit” triad
Wnbl_	Noto	Stange Heat	Agogo	Collective from Berlin
Rachel Therrien Quintet	Rocket Launch	Why Don’t You Try	Trust Revolution	Montreal free jazz from 2017
style.king.of.the.week	Mt. Hope Reservoir	Style King of The Week		inspired by a late night swim
Toro y Moi	Rose Quartz (instrumental)	Anything in Return (instrumentals)	Carpark	2023 instrumental versions of 2013 LP
Steve Roach	The Beauty Relentless	Bloom Ascension	Projekt	crafted specifically for LP format
end segment one
Colin Chin	The Alluvial Plains	Intruding on a Silence	Narada Equinox	1988 solo debut; featuring Mark Isham on trumpet
Mark Isham	Sympathy and Acknowledgment	Vapor Drawings	Windham Hill	1983 solo debut; first album on the label featuring electronic instruments
Stellarium	Ladder of Dust	Pillars of Light	Milan	January 2023 release
Siren and the Sea	Gravity Wave	Gravity Wave	Bathysphere	Brand new from Cristina Cano
Rudy Adrian	Hemlock Grove	A Walk in the Shadow Garden	Spotted Peccary	“a  companion piece for rest, reading, and walks down winding forest trails”
{arsonist}	Till Human Voices Wake Us	Reality Structure	Unifactor	Digital collage from Pittsburgh
IKSRE feat. Diego Villata	It’s Quiet at the Edge of the Universe	III	Hush Hush
SKRUK & Nasha Vahdat	Mad Blomster I Fang	I Vienen Spiel	Kirkelig Kulturewerksted
Julianna Barwick ft Jonsi	In Light	Healing is a Miracle	Ninja Tune
Loscil	Grey Bows	Calliope	Hotham Sound

(first aired April 4, 2023)

It’s a time of transition in the Pacific Northwest, from the season of stillness to glimpses of light and warmth.  Celebrated through the ages, whether through the revival of Osiris, the rise of the Aten, the passion of the Christ, or the Hareland Ley feasts of the goddess Ēostre

On this week’s Convergence Zone, we honor these transitions with music for death and rebirth — and we also honor the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died on March 28, 2023 at the age of 71

10:30pm PDT 4/4/23 – 90.7 KSER | Independent Public Radio

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Show Notes
Dreamstate Logic	Andromeda Terminal	Starbound		Brand new music from Seattle! project by Colby Sixx
Dennis Russell Davies dir. Stuttgart Orchestra	Act I: Prelude: Refrain, Verses 1-3	Philip Glass; Akhnaten	CBS Masterworks	1984 premiere of Philip Glass opera
David Bowie	Lazarus	Blackstar	ISO Records	Final album released two days before Bowie’s death
Lycia	A Failure	In Flickers	Projekt	Darkwave from 2018
Small Black	Tampa	Cheap Dreams	100% Electronica	wistful chillwave found-footage vibes
Future Islands	Born In a War	As Long as You Are	4AD	Synthpop from 2020
Georgia	Running Up That Hill	Seeking Thrills (The Ultimate Thrills Edition)	Domino	Covering Kate Bush
Pure Bathing Culture	Black Starling	Night Pass		Portland new agey-dream-pop
Ryuichi Sakamoto	fullmoon	async	Milan	partially recorded in Bastyr University Chapel
Ryuichi Sakamoto	20220302 sarabande	12	Milan	January 2023 release
Ryuichi Sakamoto	20220304	12	Milan	sketches for piano and electronics
end segment one
Craig Padilla & Marvin Allen	Onwards and Upwards	Weathering the Storm	Spotted Peccary	New! guitar & synth homage to Kosmiche Musik
Ryuichi Sakamoto	20220302	12	Milan	sketches for piano and electronics
Ryuichi Sakamoto	20210310	12	Milan	January 2023 release
Electric Youth	Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence	A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto – To the Moon and Back	Milan	Toronto synthpop ‘remodel’ of Ryuichi Sakamoto
Terminus Void	Discovery	Origins Unknown		Seattle synthesist J. Ronald Smith
Peter Gabriel	In Doubt A Different Drum	Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ	Real World	i/o: The Tour Seattle October 8
Arushi Jain	I Feel Incomplete Without Sound	With & Without	GHUNGHRU	Opening for Suzanne Ciani Seattle May 20
Suso Saiz	…Un Hombre Oscuro	Odisea	Music From Memory	On tour with Age of Reflections
Locsil	Equivalent 7	Equivalents	Kranky	Vancouver artist Scott Morgan, featuring samples from work created for Glenn Gould retrospective w/ Sakamoto-san

I was already contemplating death and resurrection as I produced this week’s episode of Convergence Zone – and then my friend Nick texted me the sad news that Ryuichi Sakamoto had passed away. 

Sakamoto-san’s impact — from his time in Yellow Magic Orchestra, his work in film scores and acting, and his prolific creations as an ambient and neoclassical artist — is impossible to do justice in words, at least as few as I can summon here.  But I can try and share some of his recent pieces, including one produced in part during his time recording as Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA.

His final album, “12”, dropped in January, consisting of solo sketches that Sakamoto-san recorded in his home over the past few years on piano and electronic instruments.  In several, you can hear him breathe as he begins to play.

Hearing Ryuichi Sakamoto breathe and create — on a quiet and cool early Sunday, on the day I was stunned by his death — was painful and exquisite.  I am so grateful for what he left us all.

(first aired March 28, 2023)

recent music from regional artists Terminus Void, Bart Hawkins, and Mount Maxwell

brand new music from Rudy Adrian, Cruel Diagonals, style.king.of.the.week, Altin Gün, Diane Arkenstone, and Gogo Penguin

film music by Lori Goldston and “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

modern classics from Chuck Van Zyl, ST∆ER, Sam Rosenthal, and Mildlife

and more surprises!

10:30pm 3/23/23 – 90.7 KSER | Independent Public Radio

Artist	Song	Album	Label	Show Notes
Terminus Void	Beyond Static Tolerance	Interstellar		Debut LP for Seattle’s J. Ronald Smith (2021)
Norm Chambers	Bathyal	Seaside Resonance	Hotham Sound	we miss you, Norm
Carolyn Cruso & Robert Almblade	Fahren Nach Freiburg	The Fifth Element	demo	Orcas Island singer/songwriter/teacher on hammered dulcimer
Dorothy Ashby	Windmills of Your Mind	Dorothy’s Harp	Cadet	Free-jazz harpist
Roy Ayers	Reaching the Highest Pleasure	Reaching the Highest Pleasure	BBE Music	Lost track from the “Virgin Ubiquity” sessions, released 2020
Rudy Adrian	A Walk In The Shadow Garden	a walk in the shadow garden	Spotted Peccary	Brand new from the prolific New Zealand ambient musician
Bruce Mitchell	Reflections	Hidden Pathways	Narada Equinox	Melodic New Age from Ontario artist, staple of Narada samplers in 80s
style.king.of.the.week	gasoline ashes	style king of the week		Brand new from Seattle cassette-culture duo
Cruel Diagonals	Penance	fractured whole	Beacon Sound	Portland, April 2 Seattle, April 7 Brand new dark avant-garde ambient from LA’s Megan Mitchell
Bart Hawkins	Race to Cosmos Redshift 7 Galaxy	enter the axis mundi	Spotted Peccary	modular atmospheres, prolific Oregon artist
Chuck van Zyl	The Zanti Misfits	tone science no 5: integers and quotients	Tone Science DiN	Philadelphia master of space music with famed broadcast Stars End on WXPN + on modular celebration compilation
diane arkenstone	seduction (excerpt)	world calling		Brand new from New Age legend
end segment one
Altin Gün	rakya su katamam	A​ş​k (love)	ATO	New album drops 3/31 “I can’t add water to raki” (love song – raki is a strong distilled grape liquor), traditional Turkish folk song
mildlife	rare air	automatic	Heavenly	Joyous psych-jazz-fusion from Melbourne, Australia
sam rosenthal feat. reggie watts	trip 4 feat. reggie watts	tim, where are you now?	Projekt	compilation for Timothy honoring the centenary of the birth of LSD and DMT guru Timothy Leary; includes clips of Leary as well as visionaries and authors; here Reggie Watts, poet and bandleader on CBS’ The Late Late Show
Mount Maxwell	Be Angry At The Sun	Calliope	Hotham Sound	Vancouver artist/label from compilation of global artists benefits reproductive rights group NARAL
ST∆ER	Manifold	Equilibrium		Philadelphia space music project of Ian R. Staer
Pat Metheny	Bright Size Life	Bright Size Life	ECM	1976 debut LP, fusion trio w/ jaco pastorius and bob moses
Gogo Penguin	Parasite	Everything Is Going To Be Okay	XXIM	Live at the Neptune May 2! brand new minimalist jazz from the UK trio!
Lori Goldston	Was There A Light?	film scores		Live at The Vera Project April 14! original live score for Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
Clannad feat. Bono	In a Lifetime	Macalla	RCA	later re-released on multiple Clannad albums
Son Lux feat. Mitski, David Byrne	This Is a Life	everything everywhere all at once (OSTT	A24 Music	amazing song from astounding film starring Michelle Yeoh

(first aired March 21, 2023)

For Women’s History Month, celebrating female, femme, trans, non-gender-confirming musicians

Honoring the legends Delia Derbyshire, Wendy Carlos, Suzanne Ciani

New music from Rachel Thierren and NAVVI

local music from Grouper, Chromatics, Midday Veil, Mt. Fog, and Patricia Wolf

and more!

Artist	Title	Album	Notes	Label
Chromatics	Cherry	Cherry (Deluxe)	2017 EP from Portland	Italians Do It Better
Mt. Fog	Blue Summer (Graduation Remix)	Blue Summer (Graduation Remix)	Mar 31 vinyl release party: Easy Street Records	Ghost Mountain
Caroline Polachek	Door	Pang	May 4 & 5: Showbox Sodo	Sony Music
Tune-Yards	hypnotized	sketchy.	2021 album from Merrill Garbus	4AD
Midday Veil	Babel	This Wilderness	2015; Seattle group co-founded by Emily Pothast	Beyond Records
L’Rain	Two Face	Fatigue	Experimental musician Taja Cheek	Mexican Summer
Delia Derbyshire	BBC interview (excerpt) Time on our Hands (excerpt) Doctor Who Theme	BBC Radiophonic Workshop – 21	Incidental music for program on leisure Iconic sci-fi theme	BBC Records
Lisa Bella Donna	Onward to a Dream	Moogmentum	2021 Benefit for Bob Moog Foundation	Behind The Sky Music
Stephanie Sante	Binary Cluster	Dark Matter Evolution	SF Bay composer	Sante Music
Suzanne Ciani	3-2-1 Contact interview (excerpt) Morning Spring	@0 EP	Ambient compilation…	Ninja Tune
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith	Mt Baker	@0 EP	…benefitting mental-health charities	Ninja Tune
Enya	Caribbean Blue	Shepherd Moons	Iconic 3rd LP	1991
	end first hour
Laura Groves	Infinite Wisdom	A Private Road	UK dreamy pop
Sarah McLachlan	Into the Fire	Solace	1991, 2nd LP	Nettwerk
NAVVI	Clemency	V	New LP drops May 5 pre-order on Bandcamp	Hush Hush
Wendy Carlos	BBC interview Brandenburg Conctero No. 3 in G Major: I. Allegro	Switched-on Bach 2000	1992 , 25th anniversary of Switched-On Bach	Telarc
Sign Libra	Sea of Nectar	Sea to Sea	Latvian n new age
Patricia Wolf	Pacific Coast Highway	See-Through	Touring! May 10 – Victoria BC May 11 – Vancouver May 12 – Bellingham, May 13 – Seattle May 14 – Portland
Caterina Barbieri	Pinnacles of You	Ecstatic Computation	Berin school from Berlin artist
Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project	Mojo	Mi Hogar	Quebec nu-jazz trumpeter	Outside In Music
Mary Halvorson	Amaryllis	Amaryllis	Two LP set (Amaryllis/Belladonna) from fusion guitarist
Kelly Lee Owens	Jeanette	Inner Song	Ambient techno from 2020	Smalltown Smpersound
Grouper	Heavy Water I’d Rather Be Sleeping	Dragging a Dead Deer	Slowcore/horror-core from Portland
Julianna Barwick	Oh Memory ft. Mary Lattimore	Healing is a Miracle	Ambient collabs with Nosaj Thing, Jónsi, and harpist Mary Lattimore	Ninja Tune