A General Brian Eno Thread
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@gubna Jan 2022
I think we need a Brian Eno thread here, for all things Brian Eno.
A few years ago wasn't there a whole bunch of songs related to and inspired by Brian Eno? I seem to recall one called "If Brian Eno Was My Boyfriend", which was brilliant in it's lyrical delivery.
I've been inspired by him more for his artistic sense than his music although have explored several of his albums the last couple years. Being an artist (painter) myself, along with being a musician, from listening to several interviews, I can see how he likens multi-tracking to creating art.
Have you seen his light box/turntable? -
@phlex Jan 2022
Eno is the man. His diary (A Year with Swollen Appendices) is his best work I think - what a mind! The turntable looks great - i'm looking for a video of it functioning, but no sign yet. So simple, and inspiring.
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@scottlake Jan 2022
Came across a cache of the editions EG era works on CD at a thrift shop a couple years back. Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks is in my top 5 favorite albums of all time
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@candle Jan 2022
@fuzzy was the one that came up with the Eno Boyfriend tune (still one of my favourites!). For those of you looking for some Eno to inspire your creativity, his Oblique Strategies are available as on online generator:
https://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html
I use it quite a lot in my own work.
See You In The Shadows… -
@fuzzy Jan 2022
Oh, don't get me started on Brian Eno cos I'll go on all day long.
I even have an Eno quotation on my FAWM profile.
The man is fascinating.
I enjoy reading or hearing interviews with him; he has a unique way of seeing the world and I always learn a lot from him.
His use of the studio as a musical instrument has been perhaps the biggest influence on the way I make music. That, and his approach to generative music.
And yes, that was @candle and me who did the "I Wish Brian Eno Was My Boyfriend" tune. I still make myself laugh every time I think about it. -
@fuzzy Jan 2022
"If you had a sign above every studio door saying ‘This Studio is a Musical Instrument’ it would make such a different approach to recording." - Eno
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@katestantonsings Jan 2022
When Brian Eno teams up with other musicians, whether it is Bowie or Coldplay, like alchemy he turns it into gold! Ironically, I first heard his solo work in a yoga class. I was so moved by the song that I stayed after class to bug the instructor about her playlist :) it was ‘An Ending (Ascent)’ which I think is one of the more beautiful pieces of music made. It’s otherworldly. I then bought Music for Airports. I like his perspective on composing; he calls himself a “non-musician”, which probably gives him the freedom and permission to break rules, push boundaries, and focus on being a soundscape artist.
Then there is this beautiful beautiful man/song/artist/era co-written with Eno!!
https://youtu.be/lXgkuM2NhYI
These are only some of the reasons I appreciate Eno! I’ve really enjoyed reading what others have said as well. -
@gubna Jan 2022
Last year I bought this album which I'd never heard before. Eno's collab with David Byrne. A smorgasborg of sampling!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZqsyBiYZFQ32tfj9M_bMlM1fZj0UjGSg -
@frenchcricket Jan 2022
General? I didn’t even know he was *in* the army??
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@gubna Jan 2022
Ok, there's an idea. A military 50s style USO song as done by Brian Eno!
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@phlex Jan 2022
Favourite Eno tracks? Mine is The Big Ship. A human triumph from 1975.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCCJc_V8_MQ
Used expertly in the opening credits of The Power of Nightmares.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsh6F6gMch0 -
@kiffa Jan 2022
@frenchcricket I'm laughing because I couldn't help but think the same thing every time I saw this topic in the thread list. I wonder what kind of general he would be. He'd probably employ a lot of oblique strategies. He'd work extensively with U-2s, and his adversaries would look to the horizon and cry, "Here come the war(m) jets!!!" And... and... ah, I've lost interest
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@bachelorb Jan 2022
I am just starting to get into his music this year..... We’ll see what I find.......
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@scottlake Jan 2022
Long before the days of 5.1 audio, Brian Eno published a hack to widen the sweet spot for where you could sense stereo playback in a room. Put a 3rd speaker across the room from your stereo pair. Then drive that 3rd speaker with the positives of the left and right main speaker. What ends up in the third speaker is whatever is not common to the left and right. I had that setup in my various dorm and crap rooms I rented during my undergrad years in the 80’s. It works really well. Smaller speakers than the mains preferred to avoid room mode problems. It was on the back of “On Land” vinyl I think
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@fuzzy Jan 2022
Here 'tis, @candle's and my effort from last FAWM.
"I Wish Brian Eno Was My Boyfriend"
https://files.fawmers.org/FAWM_2022/fuzzy/Candle-Fuzzy%20-%20I%20Wish%20Brian%20Eno%20Was%20My%20Boyfriend.mp3 -
@headfirstonly Jan 2022
Eno is my spirit animal. @wobbiewobbit and I included him in one of our songs from a few years back.
https://wobbiewobbit.com/a-z/uncle-ricks-music-o-tron
@gubna Are you aware of the follow-up album they did in 2008?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7Dbm2_MIU -
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@bachelorb Jan 2022
"I'd been making music that was intended to be like painting, in the sense that it's environmental, without the customary narrative and episodic quality that music normally has. "
One of his quotes that I have been taking to heart lately -
@jeustan Jan 2022
I put on Ambient 1: Music for Airports whenever I need to go into deep concentration on a coding project or something like that. That album helped me get through school. After listening to that record over and over for years I noticed I felt the ending of the songs without looking at the tracker, despite their being 20 minutes long and repetitive.
I am a fan of all of Eno's work but Ambient 1 is probably my most listened to record by any artist for this reason.
I've been experimenting with synthy guitar loops for a long time that are definitely a result Eno and Jonny Greenwood's influence. With a volume pedal for soft attack and a chain of reverb and delay I can get a sound that's almost similar to the synth's Eno used in the 70's. -
@fuzzy Jan 2022
The other day I finally picked up a copy of "A Year With Swollen Appendices". It's sitting on my "to read" shelf looking at me right now. Soon, little book, soon...
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@petemurphy Jan 2022
I love Fuzzy and Candle's Brian Eno song from last year.
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of 'How Music Works' by David Byrne, and Eno is referenced a lot in there. -
@fuzzy Jan 2022
I found that Byrne book to be really wonderful. The first half, anyway; the second half was merely excellent.
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@gubna Feb 2022
I just watch a "lost" brian eno documentary. Link is on synthtopia, but I think I've seen it before so it couldn't have been that lost, eh? I read David Byrnes book several years ago, really before I explored Eno's music.
I did read A Year With Swollen Appendices in the fall. At one point I was reading a month a night, and I said "a month per night, that's all we ask". It was interesting, and there are a few "production things" in there, but not as much as I'd hoped for. Still, was pretty cool! -
@gubna Feb 2022
As it's the last weekend, I'm bumping this with one of his Oblique Strategies for all of you to try - before you start tomorrow - on our last weekend of FAWM.
Oblique Strategy: TIDY UP! -
@edwardsmusic Feb 2022
I love the stuff that he did with Robert Fripp (No Pussyfooting) and David Bowie ("Heroes"). I tend to listen to Ambient 1: Music for Airports when I do work or attempt to go to sleep.
My favourite song of his is "Baby's on Fire", highlighted by an incendiary (haha) Fripp solo in the middle. -
@kendrakinsey Feb 2022
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nw2qKNhUgZAP9XsVD630S?si=c5TKNBfNQFi8xCXKcXFEQw
I loved this interview!! -
@heuristicsinc Feb 2022
I really like Eno's vocal work (this may put me in the minority?), things like "Backwater" and "Back in Judy's Jungle". I remember seeing an interview where he said his vocals weren't good but he had to work to figure out how to best use them, or something like that.
I had the idea to use his songs as inspiration for my own vocals but I am sorely lacking even to that benchmark, -
@pooka Feb 2022
I read his biography ("On Some Faraway Beach" by David Sheppard) a couple of years ago, He's always been fascinating to me, and my favourite band is James, who did some of their best work with him.
If I ever get around to producing an album for someone else, I am 100% using Oblique Strategies. My favourite from that set: "when faced with a choice, do both." -
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52s9qtbMJgM&list=PLL7DCiqr-NKCFO9p82TTst8kEYdp6tWLb&index=5
"JEZEBEL, YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!!" Go ahead sister. Jezebel will abandon you. One of the greats... -
@resonut123 Feb 2022
Regard a mistake as a hidden intention
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@fuzzy Feb 2022
Random Oblique Strategy;
"What mistakes did you make last time?" -
@burrsettles Feb 2022
@kendrakinsey i recently discovered the "broken record" podcast and found the brian eno and andre3000 episodes SOOO on point for me right now. looking forward to listening to more...
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOtrCYyf4cg
@burrsettles massive Andre 3000 fan--just added those to my listen pile! Thank you!
@resonut123 @fuzzy I'm writing these quotes on sticky notes above my piano. Love it. -
@fuzzy Feb 2022
@katestantonsings, there are a couple of Oblique Strategies apps you can put on your phone and they'll give you a random card whenever you want it!
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
ヽ(´ー`)人(´∇｀)人(`Д´)ノ @fuzzy just downloaded one and checking out his Bloom generative music app now. I like watching the music change color. Thank you!!
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@resonut123 Feb 2022
@katestantonsings , I make so many mistakes I take Eno's axiom: "Regard a mistake as a hidden intention" to heart!
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@fuzzy Feb 2022
Yes, I do as well, @resonut123!
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
@resonut123 @fuzzy absolutely! It seems to be the only way I learn!
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@dukongp100 Feb 2022
im not well up on him but i was told a story that when he was in a band ( im guessing rocksy music maybe ?? ) he didnt know how to play the keys so opted to improvisational techniques on the fly and seeing where it led him. it intrigued me and i wish to seek out what his actual approach to music is, but i cannot find any snippets that he talks about how he forms these ideas overall. like a manifesto of sorts.. anyone have any pointers to guide me to his 'improvisational fake it til your make it' ideal is ? apologies if i have this wrng, dont mean to offend any die hards :)
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@fuzzy Apr 2022
I know it's late days here at FAWM, but here's an interesting article about Brian Eno's approach to creativity.
https://99u.adobe.com/articles/7034/developing-your-creative-practice-tips-from-brian-eno -
@katestantonsings Apr 2022
@fuzzy I don't know about you, but I really needed to read this from the article you posted: "The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you’re apparently doing nothing, and those are very important times." Post-FAWM rest is important :) !! @headfirstonly recommended I watch/listen to Einstein on the Beach and Koyaanisqatsi. Loved the latter. I kept imagining how innovative that must have been when it came out in 1982. Now, it is fascinating to see how life was back then versus now. That's been my Brian Eno fix as of late! Wanna check out the next two in the trilogy soon...
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@gubna Apr 2022
I'm so glad this thread is still rolling!
Random sentence from Eno's diary:
"Oct 2
Had an idea this morning to invite Robert Wyatt to write lyrics/songs over my rhythmic landscapes." -
@andygetch Apr 2022
@fuzzy numbers 1-5 from that article are definitely in my FAWM/5090 playbook.
@katestantonsings life in 1982. Oh boy could I make a long list of differences. Has it really been 40 years? Keeping on topic an Eno interview from 1982 or 83 depending on the source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxDdZ3vRZwc -
@katestantonsings Apr 2022
@andygetch "Freedoms that synths allow you" he is full of nuggets of wisdom. Finding authentic sounding synths is so much easier these days for specific sounds. However, synth wave 80's retro is just as cool! I suppose it depends on what the artist is going for.
I enjoyed watching that; thank you Andy! @gubna I agree! @fuzzy the app by Eno called Bloom you told me about--meditative loveliness! -
@headfirstonly Apr 2022
Important: Don't click on the download link to Tamm's book in that article. His site has been hacked. If you want the book, it's here: https://monoskop.org/images/f/f1/Tamm_Eric_Brian_Eno_His_Music_and_the_Vertical_Color_of_Sound.pdf
The Eno article is fascinating—not least because it's from 2011, and the neuroscience bits have moved on considerably since then. It's now recognised that switching between the brain's default mode network and deliberate focus is incredibly important for creativity (so it's okay to daydream on the job). Shaking up your executive mode network and salience network can also lead to enhanced creativity (playfulness, to you and me).
I'm pretty sure that step #2, "Blank State" is a typo. Knowing Brian's background (and age), it's more likely to be "Blank Slate."
Oh, and since 2011, Jonah Lehrer's career has tanked. Twice. https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jul/13/jonah-lehrer-plagiarism-accusations-a-book-about-love -
@headfirstonly Apr 2022
Eric Tamm's book is excellent, by the way. The chapter on how Eno constructed his ambient pieces goes into exquisite detail and makes for a fine "how to do it" manual.
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@katestantonsings Apr 2022
"His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound" already intrigued @headfirstonly !!
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@fuzzy Apr 2022
Here's another good one; "Deconstructing Brian Eno's Music For Airports".
There are even nifty little interactive bits where you can make your own version of the album!
https://reverbmachine.com/blog/deconstructing-brian-eno-music-for-airports/ -
@dukongp100 Apr 2022
the article on eno's creativity is r exactly what i was after, i found out more abut his approach, so thanks! @fuzzy
two of the points I saw on his exercises are really good:
- relaxation being important to reshuffle ideas
- limitations "exactly 3 mins 19secs, events happen here, here, and here...."
great takes, cheers! -
@berni1954 May 2022
Only just stumbled on this thread now. Been a big Eno fan since seeing Roxy play at a festival in the early 70s. Stoned out of my box ten metres form the stage I genuinely wondered whether Eno was some kind of alien. ;-)
I haven't always followed everything he has done, but I especially love his "Here Come the Warm Jets" period.