The Guardian has an article called: “New age of new age music: ‘It used to just be for hippies and unassuming types'”
Geeta Dayal asks:
When did new age music become cool? The mellow tones of new age were once the province of spas, wellness centers, yoga studios and hippie bookstores. These days, new age records – particularly the more rare LPs and cassettes released in the 1970s and 1980s – are a touchstone of cool. Younger record collectors have been rediscovering vintage new age records by musicians such as Iasos, Laraaji, Steven Halpern, Constance Demby, Michael Stearns and Suzanne Ciani. A wave of recent well-received reissues, coupled with a wave of younger musicians releasing brand new records in the genre, are keeping the flames of new age music alive.
I have a tape that’s like subliminal sounds to erase someone from your mind, which is ludicrous, but I love it
Douglas MacGowan
Some record stores are finding it hard to keep new age albums in stock. At Amoeba Records in Berkeley, California, a new generation of listeners are cleaning out the dusty new age bins. “It used to just be old Berkeley hippies and quiet, unassuming, middle-age types, but now I see lots of millennials and folks in their 20s and 30s shopping it, especially the LPs,” says Michael Henning, who has been in charge of Amoeba Berkeley’s new age section for the past eight years. “The stigma that it is ‘uncool’ music has disappeared, and it is now even seen by many younger folks as very cool.”
Read the article here. Highly recommended!
