Braheny, Kevin

Kevin Braheny Fortune is a space music pioneer, composer, healer, and Tantra teacher with eclectic musical interests: ambient, electronic, space music, space jazz, and soundtracks.
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Kevin Braheny began exploring music at age four, starting with the piano; by age seven, he began composing his own music. He discovered woodwinds, the basis for his mature works, at 11, and played in classical, jazz, and rock settings throughout high school and college.
When he moved to Los Angeles in 1971, Braheny discovered electronic music and synthesizers, and worked with electronic music pioneers like Malcom Cecil, a Moog synthesist, and Serge Tcherepnin, a modular synthesizer inventor. With Tcherepnin, Braheny built prototypes of advanced analog synths, and developed "The Mighty Serge," a modular analog system that he still uses in his music.
This inventive and creative drive led Braheny to modify or build most of his own instruments, resulting in a unique, hand-tailored effect to his musical work. Most of his music features the Steiner EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), the perfect blend of his interest in woodwinds as a child and electronics as an adult. Braheny worked as a recording engineer during the '70s and later on in his career, developed innovations in three-D binaural recording that gave his work an even more spacious, evocative feel.
In 1980, Braheny released his first album, Lullabies for the Hearts of Space. 1984 saw him become the first signing on the Hearts of Space label, who reissued Lullabies and also released 1988's Galaxies, 1991's Secret Rooms, 1995's Rain, and 1996's Spell. These last two albums included collaborations with Tim Clark, another electronic music pioneer. Clark has been a composer-in-residence at New York and Toronto planetariums, along with composing music for international radio and television, and recording his own solo electronic works.
Braheny, Kevin
Kevin Braheny + Tim Clark - Rain

Artist: Kevin Braheny  + Tim Clark
P: 1995
Rain, the first collaboration between Hearts of Space artists KEVIN BRAHENY and TIM CLARK, exemplifies the kind of rapport most musicians only dream about. "The music just seemed to pour out of us," cracks Braheny.
The idea to create an album entirely about rain preceded the beginning of work in Clark's studio in Phoenix, Arizona. "We knew we wanted to write music that would feel like rain without actually using recorded sounds of thunder and showers. We felt it would be more of an artistic challenge to depict these things purely musically."
Inspiration from nature was lacking at first. Braheny's base in Northern California had been besieged by drought for years, and Clark's Sonoran desert home was experiencing the usual August heatwave - 115 degrees with no rain in sight. The musicians had to conjure up their fondest memories of summer thunderstorms and gentle spring showers.
"After many days composing pieces about rain," says Braheny, "on the last day I was in Phoenix it actually started raining, and in California it continued for months." "It was still pouring when I went to Kevin's studio in December to complete the music," Clark continues, "and it didn't stop until the album was finished."
The nine pieces surpass their immediate value as programmatic excursions. In the opening piece, "Sunshowers," sparkling textures, rich harmonic clouds and exhilarating melodies set the tone for a lively exploration of the many moods and settings associated with rain. Braheny's unmistakable melodic style on the Steiner EWI (electronic wind instrument) enhances the expressiveness of the music with a broad palette of tone colors, sounding at various times like a glistening flute, an underwater cello, or a saxophone from outer space.
Otherwise, it's virtually impossible to tell who's playing what as the musicians fuse their individual styles to create the luxurious slow-motion sonic splashes of "Tidepool," and the electric flashes and dynamic, rhythmic storms of "Monsoon." "Falling Like Tears" is especially striking in its juxtaposition of yearning, mournful melodies and sultry Indonesian gamelan accompaniments.
From the rainy day blues of "Rainstreet" to the carefree, south-of-the-border beats of "Green Umbrella," and the misty Irish cheer of "The Hills of Home," Braheny and Clark's maiden voyage is brimming with imaginative essays on the emotions associated with one of nature's most multi-faceted expressions. It's a pleasure to immerse yourself in this music's resounding optimism and passion. With its gorgeous melodies and rhythmic grace, Rain is sure to chase away any gray clouds on your horizon.

14,90 EUR
 
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Kevin Braheny + Tim Clark - The Spell

Artist: Kevin Braheny  + Tim Clark
P: 1996
The follow up to the beautiful "Rain" CD, "The Spell" gives these two fellow space music travellers a chance to weave more of their aural magic. While a bit more orchestral in scope(compared to "Rain"), the unmistakable Braheny & Clark elements such as EWI and MIDI'ed bells are given plenty of space to stretch out and explore the many themes presented. The magic whistle mentioned in the review title refers to the lovely whistling that accompanies the polyrhythms and washes in the song "The Sail Of Argo Navis". Other standout tracks include "A Perfect Evening For Flying Carpets" and "The Sorceror's Parade". These are the more upbeat and lively tracks on the CD. "Time in The Mirror", "Palace of Dreams" and "The Spell" get a little more dark and dreamy to round out the mix.

14,90 EUR
 
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Kevin Braheny - Galaxies

Artist: Kevin Braheny
P: 1988
Galaxies, the original soundtrack to the internationally syndicated planetarium show, which is syndicated by the Hansen Planetarium, the world's foremost distributor of planetarium programming, and is produced by Timothy Ferris, author of the best-selling book, Galaxies. Building on the sonic exploration of works like The Way Home, Galaxies expresses the vast, stately atmosphere of outer space; appropriately, this collection is the original soundtrack to the internationally syndicated planetarium show.
From the liftoff of "Starflight" to the touchdown of "Going Home," Kevin Braheny explores the emotional spectrum of space travel. Jazzy elements, sometimes joyful, occasionally poignant, float through Galaxies' 17 concise pieces.
A detailed and diverse album, combining science and emotion with an artist's touch.

14,90 EUR
 
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Kevin Braheny - Secret Rooms

Artist: Kevin Braheny
P: 1991
Secret Rooms is an impressive piece of work from Kevin Braheny. Both substantial and whimsical, it traverses a variety of different moods in a distinctly tonal way. Unlike many of his previous albums which were harmonically oriented, Secret Rooms abounds with melody and more traditional chords. The main theme is most often conveyed on the soprano sax or the Steiner EWI electronic woodwind instrument, accompanied by a myriad of synthesizer sounds and percussion. Secret Rooms keeps the listener a participant. We are the recipients of a potpourri of different styles – it is quire eclectic even for a new age recording. Poignant yet light, sometimes almost circus-like, it nonetheless remains a consistently well-executed album throughout. The concept is that of music passing through different “rooms” of consciousness, “unique internal states, each expressing its individual identity and ambience.” Portions of the album were recorded using a binaural microphone system which picks up sounds in the same way the human ear does. Going beyond stereophonics, this creates a striking ”360 degree” effect which is intensified all the more by headphones. What I enjoy most about Secret Rooms are the melodic element and the rich chords sometimes reminiscent of Ravel or Debussy. There is a European sensibility here. Coupled with the kind of wholesomeness encountered in the soundtrack of a film’s happy ending or scene portraying nobility. Also, I could swear I could sometimes almost see Kevin Braheny winking at me as I listen – there is a sense of humor here, too.

14,90 EUR
 
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Kevin Braheny - The Way Home

Artist: Kevin Braheny
P: 1987
The Way Home is expressive, tender synthesizer music that communes with the deep human yearning for inner peace and contentment. Sonically sophisticated and emotionally refined, The Way Home breathes with profound serenity and heartfelt beauty.
"Perelandra," the companion piece, is inspired by C. S. Lewis's famous science fiction novel. This three-part composition for synthesizers and choral voices evokes the sensual, floating atmosphere of a lush, Venusian paradise.

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Steve Roach + Kevin Braheny - Western Spaces

Artist: Steve Roach
& Kevin Braheny

P: 1987 / 1990 
Combining Roach's ambiance with Braheny's lyrical passages on electronic woodwinds, Western Spaces was the first of two collaborations based on the landscapes of the American Southwest--in particular the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. The ambient "New Moon at Forbidden Mesa" contains hints of high winds, muted angelic voices, and echoing coyote howls, while "Desert Prayer," opening with a cathedralesque keyboard figure, introduces a synthesized vocal sound not unlike a violin or a Middle Eastern cantor. Where later Roach albums deal strictly in color and timbre, Spaces incorporates the idea of melodic text. The solo voices and arpeggiated figures become a narrative that knits together the streams of consciousness expressed through layers of drone and percussion--like a sidewinder leaving trails across the desert floor.
Western Spaces opens with The Breathing Stone, a spacious, shimmering aural excursion by Roach. Kevin Braheny's Desert Walkabout is a celebration of the sense of freedom inspired by the timeless beauty of arid vistas. The two synthesists collaborate on Desert Prayer, a lyrical reflection that conveys a reverence for the serenity of this uncompromising landscape. Roach and Brennan's In The Heat Of Venus explores the mystery and sensuality of the extreme conditions that are always at play with one's perception and personal integrity in the desert. Roach, Braheny, and Burmer join forces on the title cut, an expansive musical commentary on infinite visions of bare rock and cloudless skies.

15,40 EUR
 
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Steve Roach + M.Stearns + K.Braheny - Desert Solitaire

Artist: Steve Roach
& Michael Stearns & Kevin Braheny

P: 1989    
DESERT SOLITAIRE picks up right where WESTERN SPACES left off, but adds Michael Stearns' own synthetic gigantism to the fiery Roach/Braheny cabal.
Opening with the awesome percussive magnetic fields of "Flatlands," the combined flair of all three sound technicians is brought to the fore: haunting pastel shades of electronics intensify a barren landscape made flesh by the cricketspeak of log drums and ticking digital chronometers. The somnambulent "Specter" is nine minutes of igneous ambience, Roach's cooing drones bespecked with rainshowers of dewey, shimmering synthdrops. "Highnoon" suggests a confrontation of sorts, gusty electronics forming great vortices that threaten to sandblast the desert floor back into the stone age. DESERT SOLITAIRE, like its title, maintains a palpable presence best experienced in a dark room frozen at sunset before a yawning chasm, the trio's cavernous sound sculptures the only true accompaniment.

15,40 EUR
 
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V/A - Lunar Twilight

Artist: Stearns, Serrie, Roach, Jeff Pearce, H.Budd u.a.
P: 2001

Lunar Twilight - Ambient Visions is a collection of the some of the finest examples of the style called 'ambient' or 'space music'. Relaxing, spacious, and soothing, the perfect night music after a busy day. Lunar Twilight includes ambient pioneers Harold Budd, Steve Roach, Michael Stearns, John Serrie and Jeff Pearce. Enjoy a true journey ...

14,90 EUR
 
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V/A - Slow Music for Fast Times  (2CD)

Artist: R.Rich, M.Stearns, Alio Die u.a.
P: 2001
Best Of Hearts of Space artists from the 80s and 90s.

14,90 EUR
 
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