"We have a tropical situation where there are thousands of 'species' of music around and they're all constantly cross-breeding and hybridizing. It's very exciting, but you can't keep up with it easily." -- Brian Eno
Ecotones are zones of transition between different habitats and often have a vibrant diversity of species. The Audio Ecotone explores the rich species diversity, cross-breeding, and hybridizing of music of the past 100 years: rock, jazz, pop, r&b, soul, country, ska, electronica, J-Pop/C-Pop/K-Pop, afrobeat, and many more from the 1920s to the 2020s.
Podcast
Love Your Mother! (Apr 18th, 2025)Fri, 04/18/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy OwtThe first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. Initially devised as a national teach-in on the effects of 150 years of unfettered industrial development, Earth Day helped to galvanize the nascient environmental movement and was a catalyst for a decade of progress in regulating pollution that included the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. As we face the nihilistic rollback of the 55 years of environmental progress made since the first Earth Day and the darkening spectre of human-induced accelerated climate change, our Earth Day 2025 themed playlist includes music from Common, Justin Townes Earle, Stevie Wonder and John Legend, Vermillion Lies, Bo Diddley, Anthony da Rosa and more! |
The Audio Ecotone for 3:00pm on Apr 11th, 2025Fri, 04/11/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy Owt |
The Audio Ecotone for 3:00pm on Apr 4th, 2025Fri, 04/04/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy Owt |
The Audio Ecotone for 3:00pm on Mar 28th, 2025Fri, 03/28/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy Owt |
Spring! (Mar 21st, 2025)Fri, 03/21/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy OwtAt 2:01 a.m. Pacific Time on March 20, the sun crossed the plane of the equator, marking the vernal equinox and the start of spring! Across the centuries and cultures, the vernal equinox and coming of spring has not only had practical meaning (time to start sowing seeds, coming of hay fever season, etc.), but has also naturally been imbued with including meaning and symbolism -- Rebirth, Rejuvenation, Renewal, Love, Youth and the Passing of Darkness. Couldn't we all use a little bit of that right now? On today's Audio Ecotone, we celebrate those themes and the coming of spring with music old and new from Elvis Presley, The Flaming Lips, Blossom Dearie, Cibo Matto, Caroline Polarchek and a few other surprises. |
The Audio Ecotone for 3:00pm on Mar 14th, 2025Fri, 03/14/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy Owt |
The Audio Ecotone for 3:00pm on Mar 7th, 2025Fri, 03/07/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy Owt |
Nicole Laurenne interview extrasSun, 03/02/2025 - 10:41pm | Eddy OwtSince our interview with Nicole Laurenne included far more great topics of discussion than could be contained in a single hour, we're posting some of the exerpts from the interview that didn't make it to air. In these selections, Nicole discusses touring and maintaining a 50-year-old Farfisa Fast 3 organ, visiting the Farfisa in Italy, the differences in artist support between Europe and the US, how she manages her downtime, catching a surprise Mystery Lights show in the UK and the visual aspects of her performance. We hope you enjoy them as much as we loved hearing them. |
Nicole Laurenne of The Darts (U.S.) and Black Viiolet! (Feb. 28, 2024)Fri, 02/28/2025 - 3:00pm | NedThis week's Audio Ecotone features Nicole Laurenne of The Darts (US) and Black Viiolet. Nicole sat down with KDRT DJs Eddy Owt and Jess Goddesse to discuss touring, musical parenting, her Davis connections, balancing legal and music careers, Journey, the pitfalls of dating a musician, the Michigan Marching Band and her mom's punk rock BFFs! Additional exerpts from the interview are available at https://kdrt.org/audio/nicole-laurenne-interview-extras. |
Combo Organ-mania! (Feb 21st, 2025)Fri, 02/21/2025 - 4:10pm | Eddy OwtIt may have lacked the jazzy groove of the Hammond B3 or the soulful sophistication of the electric piano, but the raspy, wheezy, oh-so-slightly out-of-tune electronic whine of the combo organ was in integral part of the garage and psychedelic sounds of the 1960s and beyond. While the name of one of the largest manufacturers -- Farfisa -- is often used to refer to them, a number of manufacturers produced these instruments during their heyday in the 1960s and 1970s: Vox, Yamaha, Gibson, Fender, Acetone, Elka, Cordovox, Rheem (yes, the water heater folks) and a bunch more. Though they were supplanted by digital synthesizers in the 1980s, their distinctive sound can still be heard today not only in rock, but also in jazz, international, alternative and even contemporary classical music. On this week's Audio Ecotone, we explore some of these sounds with selections from The Sir Douglas Quintet, Stereolab, Elvis Costello, The Darts, Dengue Fever, Steve Reich and more. |
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