Galactic Travels Monthly Special Focus Log for 2000

January's special focus was the HYPNOS label. HYPNOS Recordings is a private, independent recording label based in Portland, Oregon. Though HYPNOS does not wish to restrict itself to a narrow view of the infinite possibilities of sound, for the sake of simplicity, let it be said that HYPNOS is most interested in the general areas of electronics, space/trance music, ambient minimalism, sound poetry, and sonic experimentalism. This fits in perfectly with the type of music heard on Galactic Travels.

Date	Title	Artist
01/06	Inner Landscapes	Robert Rich
01/13	Weightless, Effortless	Various Artists
01/20	Altara	A Produce & M Griffin
01/27	Lost Terrain	Jeff Greinke

March's special focus was the

featuring the music of Robert Rich, Radio Massacre International, Wave World, Patrick Kosmos, Mind-Flux, and Pyramid Peak. The concert will take place on March 25 in the Theatre 3-in-1 in Huizen (pronounced: How-zen), The Netherlands. Eric Snelders of Quantum Productions organizes this yearly festival which has proven to be one of the most popular and largest electronic music events in the world.

Date	Artist	Title	Label
03/02	Wave World	Species	Quantum
03/09	Robert Rich	Humidity (Disc 3)	Hypnos
03/16	Patrick Kosmos	Trance Neutral Zone	Quantum
03/23	Pyramid Peak	Ocean Drive	Invisible Shadows
03/30	Mind-Flux	Kontinuum	IC/Digit Music GmbH

April's special focus was NEARfest 2000, the second annual North East Art Rock Festival featuring the music of NEARfest artists Happy the Man, Transatlantic, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Anekdoten, Par Lindh Project, Thinking Plague, Iluvitar, Nexus, D.F.A., North Star, Echolyn, and Priam.

Date	Artist	Title	Label
04/06	Iluvatar	Sideshow	Kinesis
04/13	Various Artists	Compilation CD	NEARfest
04/20	Echolyn	As the World	SONY 550 Music / Epic
04/27	Various Artists	Compilation CD	NEARfest

June's special focus was Dutch synthesist

Ron Boots

The Boots 80's Box contains Ron's cassette releases from the 1980s along with some rare and hard to find tracks from the 1990s. Each week's Feature CD at Midnight was one of the CDs from this fine collection on the Groove label.

Date	Title	Label
06/01	Odds & Ends	Groove Unlimited
06/08	New Dream	Groove Unlimited
06/15	Wind in the Trees	Groove Unlimited
06/22	Moments	Groove Unlimited
06/29	Bookworks	Groove Unlimited

July's special focus was California musician

Craig Padilla

Craig Padilla's first encounter with electronic music was in 1986 while visiting the Schreder planetarium. During a lecture about stars, Craig noticed some of the music which turned out to be Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygene 4. Craig had never heard this kind of electronic music before. This was the beginning of Craig Padilla's adventure into the sonic universe created by synthesizers.

Date	Title	Label
07/06	Music for the Mind - LIVE Volume One	MP3.COM
07/13	Music for the Mind - LIVE Volume Two	MP3.COM
07/20	Beyond Volume One	MP3.COM
07/27	The Eye of the Storm	See Peace Records

August's special focus was space music pioneer

Michael Stearns

Michael Stearns is one of the originators of a new genre of music that emerged in the 1970s. This music has been described as space music, contemporary instrumental music, new age music, and electronic music, just in case you're into labels. This music's primary instrument is the synthesizer. Or, the human as synthesizer. Into his music, Michael weaves instruments and sounds from other cultures, newly developed instruments, the human voice, and the sounds of nature.

Date	Title	Label
08/03	Ancient Leaves	Groove Unlimited
08/10	Planetary Unfolding	Sonic Atmospheres
08/17	Lyra	Groove
08/24	Within the Nine Dimensions	Earth Turtle
08/31	Spirits of the Voyage	Earth Turtle

September's special focus was

The Netherlands is home to wonderful electronic music festivals. E-Live is one of the major festivals and presents a wonderfully varied program. This year, the Stichting Crew invited these artists: Elektronische Maschine Ian Boddy with Nigel Mullaney and Markus Reuter Cosmic Hoffmann and Stephen Parsick Steve Roach Free System Projekt and Ruud Heij Lambert (Ringlage) and Hardy E-Live 2000 took place in the Theater de Schalm in Veldhoven, the Netherlands on Sunday, September 10. Since there are only four Thursdays in September, not all of the artists will be featured at midnight (see below). But their music was played during the first hour of the program to complete the coverage of E-Live artists.

Date	Artist	Title	Label
09/07	Cosmic Hoffmann	Beyond the Galaxy	Heart and Mind
09/14	Elektronische Maschine	Energy	none
09/21	Free System Projekt	Pointless Reminder	Quantum
09/28	Steve Roach and Jorge Reyes	Vine, Bark & Spore	Timeroom Editions

October's special focus is

Every October, Galactic Travels celebrates Oktoberfest by featuring a German band. What better band to feature than the one that created the Berlin School of electronic music? Tangerine Dream was founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese to make experimental music inspired by the work of the Surrealist painters. Tangerine Dream, in turn, has been cited as inspiration to many of the artists and bands heard on Galactic Travels.

Date	Title	Label
10/05	Phaedra	Virgin
10/12	Rubycon	Virgin
10/19	Poland	Jive Electro
10/26	Stratosphere	Virgin

November's special focus is on compilation CDs from

Groove Unlimited is a record label that is well represented in Galactic Travels playlists due to their fine releases. Normally, the CDs I feature are by a group or artist. But that precludes the possibility of playing compilation discs. This is the first month where I will correct this inequity. And the first four weeks comprise the group of compilations that was inspired by the X Files television series.

Date	Title
11/02	Out There Lies the Truth
11/09	The Truth is Twisted
11/16	Truth or Dare
11/23	Four the Truth
11/30	World Wide Kind

December's special focus was on compilation CDs from

Sequences Magazine is published in the UK by electronic music fan Mick Garlick (Mick the Ed) about four times per year. Coverage includes cosmic, experimental, synth rock, space rock, and ambient electronic music and is an essential resource for keeping up with music heard on Galactic Travels.

Date	Issue Number
12/07	21
12/14	22
12/21	23
12/28	24