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Iasos

A trailblazer of new age music, Iasos personified the genre, and remained fully devoted to creating celestial, spiritual music for his entire career. The Greek-born artist regarded his work as an earthly reproduction of music from other dimensions, re-creating the "paradise music" he heard in his head, which he believed to be transmissions from Vista, a being on another plane. Experimenting with phase shifters and multi-track recording techniques as well as early synthesizers, Iasos created some of the strangest and most otherworldly music associated with the new age movement, as well as the most psychedelic. He was also far more whimsical than most spiritually minded musicians, with a bubbly, friendly persona and bright, colorful fantasy artwork adorning his releases. Inter-Dimensional Music was the name of his 1975 debut, as well as his record label, through which he released numerous cassettes and CDs, sold in new age shops. Along with soothing, cosmic efforts like 1981's Jeweled Space, he also produced upbeat, energetic releases like 1991's Bora Bora 2000. A revival of interest in new age music during the 2010s brought Iasos an expanded audience and the most press coverage he received during his lifetime, particularly when the anthology Celestial Soul Portrait was issued in 2013. He continued producing music for the remainder of his life, with "The Garden of Salathooslia" being his final released composition before his passing in early 2024. Born in 1947, Iasos' family moved from Greece to the United States when he was four years old. He first took piano lessons, then played flute in his school band. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in cultural anthropology in 1968. He played in rock and jazz bands, and moved to California to pursue music as a career. His life changed when he attended sessions with a spiritual teacher in Sausalito, which was how he became introduced to the spiritual being named Vista. He started working on channeling the "paradise music" he heard internally, and he released his debut LP, Inter-Dimensional Music, on Unity Records in 1975. He also played flute on fellow new age pioneer Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite, released the same year. Iasos established his own label, also called Inter-Dimensional Music, and issued his debut on cassette, followed by 1978's Angelic Music. Several more albums appeared, including 1979's Crystal Love and 1981's Jeweled Space, as well as the 1982 laserdisc Crystal Vista. In 1989, Plymouth State University professor Joel Funk reported that Iasos' "The Angels of Comfort" (from Angelic Music) was determined the closest piece of music to what several people heard during their near-death experiences. Iasos released one of his happiest, most rhythmic albums, Bora Bora 2000, in 1991. Sacred Sonic Tools, packaged with a 64-page book, appeared in 1998. Realms of Light was released as an album in 2001, then eventually as a DVD after Iasos spent several years working on the visuals. Javanese Dream Bells, a temple meditation piece repeated several times over its 72-minute duration, appeared in 2007. Celestial Soul Portrait, a compilation of Iasos pieces recorded between 1975 and 1985, was released by Numero Group in 2013, while several of his albums were given proper reissues. The truly alien-sounding Night Time Jungle Sounds on Planet Allura appeared in 2014, and Essence of Lemuria was issued in 2015. Iasos made appearances on several albums by Los Angeles-based producer and musician Carlos Niño, and he continued releasing stand-alone pieces, including "Ever Upwards" (2017) and "The Garden of Salathooslia" (2023). Iasos died on January 6, 2024, at the age of 76.
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Discography

29 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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