Interview Podcast – Echoes

Echoes Podcast – Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore

Antique, Vintage and Transcendent: The Sound of Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore in the Echoes PodcastThe harp is often thought of as a heavenly instrument plucked by angels. And gothic voices have certainly called to the heavens. Those are attributes that harpist Mary Lattimore and singer and electronic musician Julianna Barwick attain on their album, Tragic Magic. Mary Lattimore isn’t your typical classical harpist. She channels her instrument though a looping device and can be heard in numerous, often avant-garde situations where hell is right next to heaven. Julianna Barwick has been creating looping choirs and ambient synth sounds for years now. The two have been playing together for a while now and it all comes together on their debut album as a duo. Tragic Magic was recorded at the Musée de la musique of the Philharmonie de Paris using antique harps dating to the 18th century and synthesizers dating back to the 1970s along with the voice of Barwick, dating to transcendent. We talk to them in the Echoes Podcast.

Echoes Podcast – Gentle Giant’s Derek Shulman

Flipping the Script-Gentle Giant's Derek Shulman's Journey from Prog Singer to Pop Executive There are many progressive rock bands that still stalk the earth. Yes, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator. But not Gentle Giant. They made all their records during Prog Rock’s glory years in the 1970s and then called it quits. While their legacy continues on as one of the most innovative and expansive bands in the genre, their co-founding member and lead singer, Derek Shulman, went from the stage to the record executive suites working for Polygram, Atco and Roadrunner records and signing acts like Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Dream Theater and Pantera. His journey is chronicled in his new autobiography, Giant Steps: My Improbable Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights. John Diliberto takes that journey with Derek Shulman in an extended version of the broadcast feature which includes his encounter with London’s mob. Hear it in the Echoes Podcast from PRX.

Echoes Podcast: Big Ears Festival Interview

A Blitz of Sounds from the Edge - Big Ears Festival 2026: the Echoes Interview with Ashley CappsIn the Echoes Podcast it’s our annual interview with Ashley Capps, the founder of Big Ears Festival. He also created Bonaroo and resurrected Moogfest. We cover Big Ears because they often have a lot of Echoes artists and they are just the best, most civilized and most surprising festival in America. Ashley: what we’re trying to avoid is the bland and the innocuous, know, are just things that, know, you know, just nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, you know. That doesn’t really interest me. Big Ears is anything but bland. It will take place in Knoxville, TN March 26-29, 2026. There will be over 200 acts including Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, SUSS, Pat Metheny, multiples of John Zorn, Hania Rani, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin and Nels Cline. The first hour of Echoes will be all music from the forthcoming Big Ears Festival 2026 and our interview with Ashley Capps who talks about putting the festival together. Ears are wide open on Echoes.

Echoes Podcast: Deepspace Interview

Head into Deepspace with Deepspace: The Echoes PodcastWhen you name yourself deepspace you better live up to it. Mirko Ruckels, who is deepspace, has been doing that since 2007. His album, Neon Blue Utopia was a CD of the Month this past January and he has a new one called Water Planets. You might tell from those titles that Ruckels is influenced by science fiction. Mirko Ruckels: “I’ve always loved science fiction and I’ve always loved, I’ve always been searching for that perfect kind of ambient science fiction scenario, you know, you know, exploring, exploring a planet by yourself, it speaks to that inner world.” We talk to deepspace’s Mirko Ruckels about autism, Water Planets and of course, deepspace, on Echoes. Read our review of Neon Blue Utopia, deepspace’s January 2025 Echoes CD of the Month Sign up for the CD of the Month Club

Echoes Podcast: Hania Rani’s Non-Fiction

Hania Rani Storms the World: The Echoes Podcast Polish composer and pianist Hania Rani has been quickly rising to the surface in a see of ambient chamber music and neo-classical composers going mellow. But her new album breaks from that movement even though she initially saw as rebellious to her own classical background. Hania Rani This music was so simple and but also different and also intriguing from different reasons that I wanted to try it out myself. very soon after I understood it’s a little bit not boring, but a little bit, again, limited. And I really like to feel free in music. The album is a tribute to Polish composer Josima Feldshuh, who died at 13 during the holocaust.  It’s also evoking the current political and global climate. Hania Rani sets herself free when we talk to her about Non-Fiction, Piano Concerto in Four Movements on Echoes.