Brian Eno - C or D?

I think I would not have liked it even ten years ago; Eno’s taste for midi glock, celeste & string synths can get treacly for me. Could not do that new Apollo album, and there are definitely a few tracks on this I left off the playlist, but it saves the best for the end

I’ve probably just made the decision to like it, but it has something to do with the fact that Eno’s midi tastes are now recognizably his as a person, that when he applies them to what are unmistakably his brother’s piano lines, which I find sentimental but not manipulative, then it becomes a record that only these two could have made. having Apollo / Voices / MFF3 in the bloodstream since they came out helps. Or maybe my nervous system is just shredded this week and music like this and Mozart are all I can take, even most Monteverdi is too aggressive for me right now

There's no question this record hits the spot right now (I would recommend you give the second disc of Apollo another shot however -- if you aren't comparing it to APOLLO, it's actually quite good on its own terms).

I think a big piece of why the new record works is that Brian's MIDI tastes have also gotten more processed and shaded as he's moved from hardware to softsynths. Thinking back to Nerve Net's "Pierre in Mist," where he dinks around on an M1 ROMpler sax sound ... or the entire sound palette on The Drop 5 years later ... those records sound like what they were: MIDI presets he treated with this Eventide H3000 signal processor. No matter how many swirling pitch-shifted reverb tails he would smother them in, it was still a MIDI conga, or tamborine or a piano.

The sounds he uses today are all generated from and processed in his computer -- and while that's not everyone's cup of tea, for Eno the result is far more integrated. A track like "Wintergreen" starts off sounding like an electric piano but then shades of an acoustic piano sound joins in a few minutes in and ... well, it sounds great. (I've never been convinced, FWIW, that he was the master of the DX-7 we're told he was ... most of his sound design for that is bell sounds which are by far the easiest sounds to create).

I would also agree that Roger's melodic sensibility (like Tom Rogerson's or Harold Budd's for that matter) really jibes nicely with these sounds. None of those records are mawkish.

those are two good posts, i welcome more eno(s) process talk. i have nothing to contribute since i've been using the new record as attempted toddler-lulling music (without much success) in these trying times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k66nGplNRmQ

Haven't dug into the making of this one yet, but the Tom Rogerson album was pretty High Concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bnYGfa90dc

(xp) I've got one of those albums, maybe I should listen to it myself.

Looks like A Year With Swollen Appendices is getting a 25th anniversary (gah) reissue:

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/brian-eno-book-extract

Fun little essay in there about how things are different today.

Gah indeed... Nice though, pre-ordered!

During a recent house move, I found two copies of this. One completely knackered and held together with tape, the other pretty beat up, the binding really wasn't very good. I re-read and enjoyed it and would like to read another one, although not 2020 preferably.

I have my old copy, is there anything new here but the intro (that's reproduced in that GQ link)?

Anyway, this is a really pleasant revive because I was going to bump this about 12 hours ago. I was talking with one of my kids about something, and next thing I know I'm streaming "An Ending (Ascent)." Then I dig up a repost of that unofficial "extended" version, an hour long version of the track. But as I listened I skimmed over the (recent) comments in all their earnest, honest, ridiculous glory and almost immediately got a little weepy. It's amazing the power certain piece of music can have, and what they mean to people. Stuff like:

I wish this world was a better place. I live here in Colorado and everyone hates each other here. I never see anything good anymore. This song just reminds me everything is going to be ok

This hits differently at night under the stars😔 life seems to slow down and you sit there and think how life is taken for granted every day, I wish I could go back to my child hood 😔😔 and see all my friends and family

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsTPNMYiuU

Predictably the reactions to the original and "original" extended versions posted are just as sad and profound and appreciative and ott. One comment is simply "I miss my mum."

what happened to slocki's sad youtube thread?

thought this revive would be about the Film Music compilation set to be released.

I have his PDFs somewhere compiling them.

Roger and Brian Eno Announce New Album Mixing Colours🕸

Missed this. Roger and Brian have their first joint album out on Deutsche Grammophon, March 20. First track is up:

📹

Funny, I've been relistening to this album today and it's even lovelier and more mysterious than I recalled. Made me very proud when my daughter came downstairs, listen to a second of the music, then asked me if it was Brian Eno!

Josh, by this evidence, you are a father who’s doing it right.

This is a few years ago, and yes I know I glued Eno's synth on the wrong way, don't know how I made that mistake.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8l9lma5crnx9bp/IMG_4442.TRIM.MOV?dl=0

Opal is almost 4 now and more inclined to listen to the Frozen soundtrack, but this was a proud parenting moment for me.

Opal? Is her middle name Editions EG?

It’s Judith. The Opal is actually a Syd Barrett reference despite the different spelling.

Dan, I was thinking of your post as soon as Josh posted his. I must be doing something wrong with my girls because they mostly think I’m a dork for playing this stuff.

NTI, you are also a father who’s doing it right. Keep the faith.

Lol, to be fair, my older daughter is 16! She's learned that Eno can be good for studying.

I did not come here for “my daughter” content :-/

Just be glad Eno's not dead!

Fit as a fiddle that guy.

minute 13:22 of the Unforgettable Fire documentary, during the recording of Pride

edge: i didn't feel like we peaked, necessarily.

eno: you want to go out there and peak, then?

classic

Heard someone suggest that True Thrush by Dan Deacon was a tribute to Eno’s vocal albums and now I can’t stop hearing it

XP - Eno is gold all the way through that documentary, telling the little girl outside during the eclipse that his name is Quincy Jones.

Anyone read his new book? It's in my Amazon cart but I've yet to pull the trigger

I read it back when it first came out. Well worth your time, if only for his weird digressions (like, iirc, tasting his own urine out of curiosity, or, not unrelated, supposedly sneaking a vial of his urine to a Ducahmp exhibit to spray on his "Fountain," reasoning that Duchamp would have wanted that).

Brian Eno said WHAT?!? pic.twitter.com/5ik69poEzR

— ClickHole (@ClickHole) March 12, 2021

lol, I've been listening to the expanded reissue of Mixing Colours for a month or so now, and all this time I've been assuming it was initially recorded like 30 years ago... imagine my surprise when I looked at the liner notes and saw it's originally from 2020!

This is one of the finest examples of an ambient recording that can phase shift between inconsequential and arresting... like an optical illusion, sometimes you can compel this to happen with mysterious concentration, other times it seems beyond your grasp. I love it!

Huh:

Brian Eno is pleased to share with you the launch of his new station, The Lighthouse, out now on Sonos Radio HD, which features decades of unreleased music from his extensive archive. ⁠⁠
The Lighthouse will serve as a living collection where Eno will premiere both past and new musical projects directly to fans across the world, giving listeners rare insight into an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years of creating, producing and redefining music.

The renowned musician will premiere 300 tracks on the new station, including unreleased, old and new work

https://www.mixcloud.com/sonos/program-1-introducing-the-lighthouse-from-brian-eno/

Would prefer this as a gigantic SoundCloud dump tbh, but intriguing!

I think he said that right now the earliest track is from 1990, which is slightly less interesting, because it probably just means tons of generative stuff, but who knows.

his generative music is good

I agree, but it's generative, so he could have his own station playing a song that is constantly changing forever if he wanted to.

Brian Eno from the lighthouse
Brian Eno from the lighthouse
From the lighthouse
With Brian Eno
From the lighthouse
With Brian Arno

Yes, Arno, that is what I meant to type thx phone

I thought this revive was for the great new Eno interview on Rick Rubin's podcast.

Wow, that exists? Cool.

I thought it was for two of his best regarded collaborators—Budd and now Hassell—going inside six months.

I've never seen this, it's a good adjunct to the re-release of the '95 diary, lot's of footage in his studio while working on Force Marker (that got used in the Heat soundtrack)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wxEo9FU0w

Not sure if this is the best place to post, but we've lost another collaborator - Djivan Gasparyan died on Tuesday. I got his two All Saints released as part of Warp's AS reissue series a few years back and they are truly gorgeous. Gutting to lose so many of the All Saints / Opal set in such a short space of time :(

https://www.paulstolper.com/artists/56-brian-eno/works/143-turntable/80178-brian-eno-turntable-2021/

I’m sure I can’t afford this, but it looks like it would sound amazing.

those are gorgeous, it's kind of weird that there's no specs at all though

What is he thinking in this photo

https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/paulstolper/images/view/27bfd413a3584a09f4c4a2430ce495dej/paulstolper-brian-eno-turntable-2021.jpg

He's doing what I'd do, just stare at it spinning (away).

"edition of 50"

"enquire"

I'm pretty sure most people can't afford it. Anyway Im' sure the lights cause a hum that gets picked up by the cartridge or whatever, but it does look cool.

Anyway Im' sure the lights cause a hum that gets picked up by the cartridge or whatever

That hum is a seed tone for the generative music that the turntable plays when it's not actually playing a record.