In today's program I’ve got some transcendent ambient music that is off the charts beautiful — helping set the stage are my two featured artists who both have albums that are well worth adding to your ambient queue. Wayfarer artist Billy Denk has a new album that bridges the gap between classic new age music and the ambient genre, an album that will leave you basking in the glow of twilight; and Anthéne on the Home Normal label has a brand new seven-song album that brings a sort of delicacy to ambient music with its minimalist esthetic and careful attention to detail. And we’ll be taking a moment from the program to shine the spotlight on the Asheville Rising charitable compilation album. Plus new music from Morning Haze, Leafblighter, Loess, William Thomson and many, many more....
Strap in and make yourself comfortable, join us for the next two hours for global ambient music, on The Stolace Relay Station.
About the Asheville Rising compilation album
Asheville Rising is a compilation album organized by some people that care about the small community of Asheville, North Carolina, which was hit pretty hard in the wake of Hurricane Helene in 2024. Because our current administration has turned their back on the citizens of Asheville, the rebuilding effort has largely been left up to them and the surrounding communities, organizations, and charities that have stepped up to help them in their efforts.
The Relay Station community has also risen to this challenge, supporting this compilation album [which can be purchased at ashevillerising.bandcamp.com] and the non-profit charity that benefits from the proceeds — Beloved Asheville. You can donate directly to Beloved Asheville at belovedasheville.com or purchase the compilation album this Friday, March 7th on Bandcamp Friday, when 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the non-profit Beloved Asheville, whose purpose is to help the underserved and the underprivileged in Asheville. Please, dig deep and show some serious generosity!
Featured artists ///
Billy Denk https://billydenk.bandcamp.comhttps://wayfarermusicgroup.bandcamp.com
Anthéne https://anthene.bandcamp.comhttps://homenormal.bandcamp.com
“Beneath the Peaceful Sky” by Billy Denk
Following up to his beautiful 2024 release, comes the nine-song release from electronic artist Billy Denk on the Wayfarer Music Group label. “Beneath the Peaceful Sky” by Billy Denk checks off a number of my essentials when it comes to great music that falls within the shared spectrum of new age and ambient music — qualities like retro-synthesizer inspired ARP patterns, judiciously peppered ornamental accents, and melodic-driven motifs that tell a story. Billy’s new album evokes the nostalgia I feel for tuning into Hearts of Space in my much younger days, hearing the bloops and bleeps, the atmospheric ambiance, the subtle ornamental accents, and the wide spectrum of electronic synthesis — it’s all here, and it’s all peaceful. “Beneath the Peaceful Sky” by Billy Denk is available now on most streaming music services as well as at https://wayfarermusicgroup.bandcamp.com.
"Frailty" by Anthéne
New from Home Normal comes a strikingly gorgeous album from ambient guitarist Brad Deschamps under the name Anthéne. “Frailty” is a seven-song album that sets a new high bar for me in guitar-based ambient music. Deschamps cleverly blends looped guitar drones, alluring spacious atmospheres, soft textures and distortions, and minimalist melodic phrases to help lead the listener along a liminal walk on the pier, gazing into the colorless gradient across the horizon. “Frailty” by Anthéne is unlike anything I’ve ever heard in the ambient music genre, which is saying something. This marks Anthéne’s tenth release on the Home Normal record label, adding to his already amazing body of work in the ambient music genre — it’s an album that you can’t afford to miss. “Frailty” by Anthéne is available March 7th on most streaming music services as well as at https://homenormal.bandcamp.com.
Playlist
* "Freedom Dispatch" by Morning Haze from "Between Wake and Sleep"
* "Frigid" by Leafblighter from "Passed Winter"
* "Endoctamb" by Loess from "Battens"
* "Rest" by William Thomson from "Serene"
* "Kosmisk Strålning" by Marco Lucchi + Henrik Meierkord from "Lieder Ohne Worte"
* "I Remember You With Wind in Your Hair" by Ian Crawford from "Slow Pull on a Long Thread"
* "Twilight Glow" by Billy Denk from "Beneath the Peaceful Sky"
* "Shaconage Dawn" by On Idyl from "Asheville Rising: An Ambient Compilation to Benefit Hurricane Relief Efforts in Western NC"
* "Anthem" by Gabe Churray from "Asheville Rising: An Ambient Compilation to Benefit Hurricane Relief Efforts in Western NC"
* "And Then We Will Unite" by Ed Herbers from "Asheville Rising: An Ambient Compilation to Benefit Hurricane Relief Efforts in Western NC"
* "Truth in the Emptiness" by Ashot Danielyan from "Awakening"
* "Triangle Inequality" by David Cordero + Rhucle from "So Far, So Close"
* "Fleeting Light (No Nature Ambience)" by Sun Echo from "Stargazing"
* "Seven" by Sun Rain from "Imaginary North Transmission 009"
* "Linger in Moments" by Hollie Kenniff from "For Forever"
* "Consciousness Part 6" by Bruce Gall from "FRAGMENTED"
* "mapping out the memories" by anthéne from "frailty"
* "The Serenity of Dreams" by Dino Pacifici + Brannan Lane from "Imaginary Horizons"
* "Stuck Below" by Chris Cox from "Moonshowers: Vol. 2 Shadowcaster"
* "And So Goodbye For Now" by James Murray from "Landscapes of Lovers"
* "Utopian Plains" by Entheogenic Sound Explorers from "Open"
* "18" by Stolace from "Jamuary 2025"
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