Radio Eclectus #69: The Sun Ra grove, then and now (Nov. 5, 2020)

Sun Ra and forests take the spotlight as we survey the Arkestra's new album, their first in two decades, and see how it compares with Sun Ra's own live performances from 50 years ago, when he was first experimenting with Moog synthesizers. Meanwhile, Steve Peters has a new album in the esoteric tradition of trees as instruments. We check that out alongside David Dunn's classic album The Sound of Light in Trees, juxtaposing the two with sympathetic new works by William Basinski and Clara Iannotta (via the JACK Quartet).

Plus we've got Alwynne Pritchard performing Globokar, Paul Hillier’s Ars Nova Copenhagen singing Julia Wolfe and Houston Grand Opera tackling Tarik O'Regan’s opera about Da Ponte (and Mozart). Add in some off-kilter fusion from the Polish band Błoto, and the latest tracks from Ge Gan-ru, Ash Fure, Steve Layton, Arrington de Dionyso, Patrick Chan, and the duo of Marilyn Crispell & Angelica Sanchez, and you'll be well caught up with the world’s most radical new music.