It never stops; the I Am the Center compilation has gotten more reviews than a new Enya album. Who ever thought that a page like Audiophile Audition would do a review of a New Age music release?
Many years ago I reviewed audiocassettes for a now-defunct audio publication, and some of them were New Age music from local artists of Marin County, California. I knew or reviewed music from several of the above artists, and since I have been out of the New Age area for some years, it is pleasurable to have this first major anthology of the so-called golden age of New Age, and also the fact that it was done in a handmade manner, locally and with limited means and little commercial potential. These creators were in a way the forerunners of today’s many jazz and classical artists who record, produce and distribute their own recordings since the major labels won’t even speak to them. (And of the small alternate rock and hip-hop labels who are distributing their music only on audiocassette again, although most of these also offered CDs when that format became popular.
Read it here.
And it is not just US publications that have a focus on this compilation – this from Bankok Post:
Clocking in at more than two hours, the slow-moving, ambient expanse of this collection makes for a refreshing change from the constant beating and banging of what’s currently dominating the charts and radio stations. What also makes it great is that it manages to avoid falling into the same one-dimensional hole most ambient music tends to.
Read it here.