Interviews & Press Coverage
Echoes Radio lists Rena Jones in its 25 Electronic Artists for the American Electronic Revolution!!
Electronic music has been the most creative force in American music since the 1960s. Selecting one artist for each of the 25 decades of American independence, we plug into American pioneers of electronic sound—from Morton Subotnick and Wendy Carlos through Steve Roach and Patrick O’Hearn, and into the 21st century with Derrick May, Moby and Bluetech.
When the history of American music is written, electronic music will stand as one of the defining movements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Many of its essential instruments were created here: Moog, Buchla, ARP and Oberheim. And some of its most transformative sounds emerged in America.
Bebe and Louis Barron’s score for Forbidden Planet, Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach, Terry Riley’s looping-keyboard opus A Rainbow in Curved Air, Moby’s Play, Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman,” and BT’s This Binary Universe were landmark works that influenced the course of American music.
It isn’t country, pop, rap or disco. It is something new—still evolving. We cycle through 25 works from 25 artists in The American Electronic Revolution.
This list isn’t definitive. It’s Echoes-centric leaving out most pop and avant-garde music and all funk, rap, fusion and progressive rock. All of those would be in a comprehensive list, but not a list for Echoes. They can have their own lists.
Here is the list of 25 Artists for the 250th Semiquincentennial. The links will take you to Podcast interviews, performances or reviews of many of these artists.
Echoes Podcast: The Ambience Between-Rena Jones & Kilowatts
In the Echoes Podcast, Rena Jones and KiloWatts come on to talk about their new album Caesura. It’s a more complex take on electronica, combining synthesizers with Rena’s violin, viola and cello orchestrations.
Rena Jones is a polymath musician who has been a defining voice in ambient chamber music. KiloWatts has been around just as long releasing electronic psybient dreams. They’ve gotten together, remotely for a new release, Caesura, that seems to capture our time.
Rena Jones: The name speaks for itself in a way, doesn’t it? It’s about the space in between the pause between two different forces, right? Or different aspects. And for me, what drew me to that name, was just that we’re, living in such a divided times, right? And I feel as polarity keeps happening in our world, it’s nice to remind people that you don’t have to be extreme one or the other. You can take the time to pause and have a moment to reflect and be in that space in between either or.
John Diliberto brings us Rena Jones and KiloWatts in the Echoes Podcast from PRX.
Echoes Podcast: Rena Jones's Mythology Through Music - The Echoes Interview
"Rena Jones is a polymath. She plays violin, cello and synthesizers and immerses her music in the imagery of nature and philosophy. Her new album is Allegories. We talk with Rena Jones and her accomplice on the album, world music artist Jeff Thomas Potts about the global grooves and hidden meanings on Echoes."
Echoes Podcast: Agnes Obel, the 25th Icon of Echoes and Emancipator, Rena Jones and Flowerpulse
"Rena Jones is a polymath. She plays violin, cello and synthesizers and immerses her music in the imagery of nature and philosophy. Her new album is Allegories. We talk with Rena Jones and her accomplice on the album, world music artist Jeff Thomas Potts about the global grooves and hidden meanings on Echoes."
Open Lab FM: Ask the Artist with Emancipator, Rena Jones & Flowerpulse
"Rena Jones is a polymath. She plays violin, cello and synthesizers and immerses her music in the imagery of nature and philosophy. Her new album is Allegories. We talk with Rena Jones and her accomplice on the album, world music artist Jeff Thomas Potts about the global grooves and hidden meanings on Echoes."
Echo Location: Rena Jones’ Ambient Chamber Music
"Rena Jones is a polymath. She plays violin, cello and synthesizers and immerses her music in the imagery of nature and philosophy. Her new album is Allegories. We talk with Rena Jones and her accomplice on the album, world music artist Jeff Thomas Potts about the global grooves and hidden meanings on Echoes."
