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oldnews: updated 18th dec 02001 : |
In the Oblique Midwinter -- The Fifth Edition of the Oblique
Strategies is rolling off the production lines. Boxed decks are currently
available from three outlets in London and can now be ordered from Opal.
There's full ordering information at the
EnoWeb
Annexe.
UPDATE: Rory Walsh writes: I was in Bethnal Green on business this afternoon so I took the opportunity to drop into 291 ArtMart. The Eno items they are selling are the last 5 installation CDs and the Oblique Strategies "fifth, again slightly revised edition, 2001". The 291 ArtMart tag said that it is an 'unlimited edition' so it should be easy to get hold of for sometime, so there is no need to beat your way to Hackney Road. The Oblique Strategies are 30 UKP and the CDs are 16 UKP each.
For those who cannot wait but cannot make it to Hackney Road or want to
drop a heavy hint for a X-mas present to some one in London, the information at
the gallery said that the items are also available in the West End at:
Cinch, 5 Newburg St. from 14/12/01 to 26/01/02, closed on Sundays - Tel:
+44 (0)20 7287 4941
or Global, 15 Golden Sq. from 15/12/01 to 22/12/01,
open 7 days a week - Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 2242.
Barcelona! -- So sang Freddie Mercury; now it's Brian's turn
as he and J. Peter Schwalm take the Drawn From Life roadshow to Spain.
Pepe Tarrés kindly sent us this information:
Concert of Brian Eno & J. Peter Schwalm in Barcelona. Presenting “Drawn From Life project” in the “III Festival del Mil·lenni” at L’Auditori on Thursday 20th December 2001 at 21.30h, Sala Simfònica.
Organized by: Concerts Studio
Tel. +34 93 363 25 10
L’Auditori Lepant,
150 E-08013 Barcelona – Catalunya
Tel: +34 93 247 93 00
Fax: +34 93 247 93 01
Mart-yr -- Brian is one of the artists
and designers participating in 291 ArtMart. According to an e-mail thrown
EnoWeb's way by top artist Vanilla Beer:
ArtMart is a chance to snap up artist's originals, limited
editions & multiples, as well as the finest new arrivals from the world of
product design, fashion & contemporary furniture.
ArtMart -
Gleaming supermarket aisles stacked high with top quality goods at take away
prices. Fill your stockings with a little avant-garde & check out our
lifestyle collection offering household & soon to be household names. Be
meeted & greeted by strange but cheerful cashiers, or stalked by our over
zealous store detectives & monitored by our bizarre surveillance system.
291 ArtMart exhibition + sale appears to run from 11th-20th Dec, 12pm-5pm, Tuesday-Sunday (closed Monday). It is a collaboration between 291 Gallery Director/Curator Edwina Orr & Producer/Curator Trudie Stephenson. Best to contact them for confirmation.
Contact details:
291 Gallery, 291 Hackney Road, London E2 8NA
Tel: 020 7613 5676
Fax: 020 7613 5692
email: admin@291gallery.com
Ongoing -- The "What's Going On" single / EP is now
available at your local record store. There appear to be two types, one with 9
tracks (US) and the other with 3 (UK). Both include "The London Mix", which is
the version Brian worked on. You can hear an excerpt from it at the Artists
Against AIDS site before you buy the CD for this worthy cause.
Brian "Officially Special", claims music magazine -- Brian
was honoured with the Q Special Award at the 2001 Q Awards on 29th October for
his services to the music industry. More information may be available on Q's
site in the next few days.
UPDATE 1: For UK-based viewers, The Q Awards were televised on Channel 5 on Saturday 3rd November 2001 from 22.15 to 23.15. The magazine with coverage of the event will be out on 9th November. (Thanks to Bob Pearce and Elyse Lazaruk).
UPDATE 2: Brian was presented with his award by Tim Booth of James. This is what was said.
Tim Booth: This man imposes no sound on anyone: you never know what you’re going to get with him. He’s really unusual, all the ways he works, the only consistency is that whoever he works with, he seems to bring out the best and they make their best ever records. His own music has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. He virtually founded --
[in response to heckling] Shut up back there. Does your mouth bleed every 28 days? Thought so. [cheers from rest of audience].
His own music goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. He virtually single-handedly invented ambient music and then left the country because he got lambasted by the press, when he went to America and taught David Byrne to Stop Making Sense.
All the women friends that I know say he’s also a very sexy man because they say that real sexuality, the real organ of sexuality, is in the brain. And if that doesn’t grab you he also has a really large cock.
And finally, when Saul and I are old men with no teeth in the Met Bar, bitter old drunks pissed off at watching all the young new bands get up there, plagiarism making loads of money, well at least we’ll be able to say that we worked with Brian Eno.
We’re just gonna take a look at some of his other music that he’s helped create over the years.
[compilation of video clips: Roxy, Bowie, Talking Heads, U2 (twice).]
[Clip of U2:
Bono, sporting cod accent: What can you say about the life
of Bwian? Only he has got away with an awful lot, hasn’t he? Brian is
--
U2 chanting together: always right.
Bono: Brian is
--
U2 chanting together: always right.
Bono: Brian is
--
U2 chanting together: always right.
Bono: Brian
--
U2 chanting together: is always right.
[clip of Passengers performing "Miss Sarajevo"]
Tim Booth: They couldn’t afford Bono, so it’s my great honour to present this award to Brian Eno.
Brian: I’m sort of a bit aware that everyone might be staring at my trousers now, so I’ll turn around this way [laughs].
Erhm... the piece of music you heard earlier, "Miss Sarajevo", is actually something we did for War Child. You might be interested to know that War Child is now doing something for the Afghani refugees who so far seem to be the only victims of our glorious war, since we’ve now evolved... [applause], we’ve got weapons so smart that they only hit people who can’t hit us back.
Uh, anyway, I want to say thank you very much for this. And I s’pose more than anything else, I want to thank all the people in those videos, without whom I would be a very insignificant blip on your radar screen, I’m sure. Thank you!
X
File -- Brian is to provide the score for a new film, Fear X by
Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn. Due to be filmed in January 02002,
the $6.6m movie tells the story of a security guard from a US shopping mall
(Tom Sizemore) who finds his wife murdered, and embarks on a bizarre
investigation in search of the killer which leads him to Rio de Janeiro. Hmm,
all this is sounding like a Passengers style synopsis... Anyway, the
really, really exciting bit is that this Danish/UK film is produced by Henrik
Danstrup and Refn's NWR ApS, and is backed by TV2/Denmark, the Danish Film
Institute, Nordic Film & TV Fund as well as Egmont Entertainment, who hold
Scandinavian rights, and international sales are split between Zentropa's Trust
Film Sales and Egmont's Nordisk Film International Sales, while former head of
Metrodome Distribution, Rupert Preston, holds UK rights. We've got this story
bang to rights. (Thanks to Ralf Ludemann).
Volcanic eruption -- Team EnoWeb member Bommel sent us this
ear-witness report of the Eno/Schwalm performance in Lanzarote:
It was fantastic! The whole thing took place in a volcano (extinct, at least during the concert). You had to leave your car on the nearby road, and climb into a bus which carried you a few hundred meters through deeply fissured lava fields. Through a wide gap in the crater wall you reached a plain ground covered with black gravel. In the center they had installed their gear, only separated from the audience (1700 people) by a knee-high fence. The audience space was surrounded by a number of speakers. Everybody was sitting on the ground (you were given a cushion plus a paper bag for your rubbish plus a small cardboard ashtray when entering the crater).
The whole area was very sparingly lit, just a few spotlights
illuminating the crater walls, plus a number of white cones lit from inside
that were distributed all over the audience space. The "stage" itself had no
illumination at all, except for two small reading lamps and a ufo-like
standard lamp.
Eno's workplace had his good old DX-7, another (master?) keyboard, two Kaoss Pads, and a number of FX devices. Schwalm had set up a Prophet VX, a Nord Lead synthesizer, also a Kaoss Pad, plus some smaller devices that I could not identify.
The concert consisted of 3 parts, totalling circa 75 - 80 minutes. They used a number of pre-recorded sounds / themes / tracks from CDs, to which they added sounds / themes live.
Naturally, they made extensive use of the possibilities given by the special location/setup of the speakers. Thus you were surrounded by sounds moving around, or jumping from one corner to another.
Most of the material featured the human voice extensively. For instance, the first minutes of part 1 consisted of a looped phrase whispered by a woman's voice. Copies of this loop were gradually added, thus forming a rhythmic structure that was then taken as the base for improvising.
Several times Eno added (processed) live vocals. Familiar elements during the concert included a section of a track from The Shutov Assembly (possibly "Ikebukuro"), and spoken words from Future Light Lounge Proposal ("... imagine a bowl of animal fat ...").
The concert ended with a BEAUTIFUL melodic and rhythmic theme (unfamiliar to these ears) that perfectly "resolved" all the tension that had been built up during the evening.
A unique experience - despite the fact that it got rather chilly in the volcano!
Two other items of news that I brought back from Lanzarote :
1. Peter Schwalm acted as co-producer for the What's Goin' On project. Both have added some synth sounds to the final result. (EnoWeb adds: according to Radio 4's Front Row programme, this is due for release on 5th November.)
2. It looks like there will be a concert in Barcelona in December by Eno, Schwalm, and other Drawn From Life musicians.
Wirender -- Brian talks about computer music and his
Wander release. (Thanks to Joseph Buck for the link).
What's up? -- Brian has produced a cover version of the
Marvin Gaye classic "What's Goin' On", which features Bono (U2) and Chris
Martin (Coldplay) singing together. It's part of a charity project with
proceeds to be shared 50/50 between Artists Against AIDS and the United Way
September 11th Fund. The main version also includes vocals from Britney Spears
and Christina Aguilera. There will also be an EP of different mixes including a
version by Brian! Release date currently not known, but should be reasonably
soon.
Yes New York -- As New York gets back to business, a
long-planned two-week festival called UK with NY will celebrate the
inspiration and collaboration between the UK and New York. One of over 200
performances and events taking place in the city is Amalgamate. For this
exhibition Brian has created a sound installation to complement a display of
British creative talent in such fields as fashion, graphic design, photography,
illustration and sculpture. From what EnoWeb can make out, Amalgamate is
scheduled to run from Tuesday 16 to Saturday 27 October at Asprey &
Garrard, 725 Fifth Avenue at 56th Street (Midtown New York).
Start Making Freesense -- Brian Eno: they call him the
Wanderer, the Wanderer, roundanround anroundanround anroundanround etc etc. But
why? Well, it seems he has once again disturbed the status quo with a new FREE
piece of Koan generative music called Wander, which is the first
composition by a major artist in KVA (Koan Vector Audio) format to be featured
in a Freesense Sonified Email using the Koan Softsynth built into the Koan
Plugin.
Yup, if we're not careful we'll find ourselves on a one-way trip to Planet Jargon, so allow EnoWeb to explain... as we understand it... Koan is the generative music software that allows musicians to create musical "seeds" that develop into non-identical compositions each time they play. These compositions can be played on PCs and Macs. Vector Audio is a description of the seeds in text-based format: the notes, the instrument sounds and the musical instructions they will follow. Freesense is a product name for a Koan composition that has been packaged for insertion in a web page (or, as in this case, an e-mail message in HTML format) -- so we can deduce that Freesense Sonified Email probably means e-mail containing Koan audio. The Koan Softsynth is some technical jiggery- pokery that generates instrument sounds and other audio, so musicians are no longer limited by the different sound hardware installed in users' computers. This means that unlike 01996's Generative Music 1 release, Wander can be enjoyed by everyone. Finally, the Koan Plugin is a small, free program that allows you to play Koan pieces. There's lots more information at SSEYO's web-site.
All you have to do to get your free copy of Wander is send an e-mail to SSEYO (address below). You can then forward it to anyone you want just so long as you don't exploit Wander for commercial gain.
Lay My Lava -- Brian and Peter are on the bill for this
year's Lanzarote Festival. Their performance, scheduled to take place on 13th
October at 19.30 in the Volcán del Cuervo, will apparently include a new
piece of music. Let's hope the volcano's extinct, otherwise you can guess who
will be... (Thanks to Team EnoWeb member Bommel)
UPDATE 1: The new piece by Brian & Peter is being billed as "between us and it", a performed installation of 4-D Music.
UPDATE 2: The Press Release explains: "For this appearance, Brian Eno and J Peter Schwalm will direct their focus on to what formed the basis of their working relationship - electronic musical improvisation. Over the three years that Schwalm and Eno have been working together, these improvisations have ranged over an increasingly broad musical territory. Lately, they have begun to include language and voices layered over rich and complex atmospheres. It is this latter direction that they plan to explore in this event: so perhaps it should be thought of not so much as a concert but as a live sound installation with vocals - a new form of live poetry. Some of the music will be based on material they have released on past records, but most will be new music, born and raised among the volcanoes."
Super news -- Music For Airports has been digitally
remastered for the SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc) format. According to the
Eden site, "the disc contains SACD and normal CD stereo layers". Release date
was 1st October.
Short stories -- PhilT has dug up two reviews of Drawn From
Life... Robert Fripp holds out the possibility of recording 5 albums in 2
days with Brian... Michael Engelbrecht's Klanghorizonte radio programme
broadcast extracts from three unfinished songs by Brian on 2nd July, one titled
"Forced To Choose"... the Echoes radio program, broadcast on 174 US
public radio stations, will feature Brian this week...
Repeat performance -- According to the Fuji Rock Festival Site: "Live
Streaming Repeat" is coming up for August 16 - 19!!
Tracks suit -- The performance by Brian, J. Peter and the rest of the
band appears to have been enjoyed by both the audience at the Fuji Rock
Festival and those of us watching the web-cast. Millions of Eno fans gave a
collective gasp as the Ambientmaster took a revisionist stance and changed his
"No One Receiving" lyric to "Back to zero, back to minus". Here's the
track listing, as far as EnoWeb can make out.
1. Star Gods (from Music for Onmyo-ji)
2. Warnography
3.
Intenser (from Drawn From Life)
4. Bottom Liners
5. New piece
(with samples of William Burroughs, possibly)
6. Little Lights / Six Small
Pictures (from Music for Onmyo-ji)
7. Two Voices (from Drawn From
Life)
8. Night Traffic Jam (from Drawn From Life)
9. Persis
(from Drawn From Life)
10. The Milky Way (from Music for
Onmyo-ji)
11. Like Pictures (from Drawn From Life)
12. No One
Receiving (from Before And After Science)
13. Encore: Warnography
For those wondering about Warnography, Brian explained in a 1998 radio interview that the lyrics came from a cut-up mixture of texts from an article about life in a Bosnian prison camp and a piece of gay porno; the sampled vocalist was Opal's accountant Grazyna.
Craig Peacock was involved with the White Stage production and attended a press conference for the event. He writes: "The press conference was held on the day prior to the performance in a traditional mountain restaurant close by the festival site. It was organised by Virgin Records Japan and well attended by all of the major magazines and music television programmes. Brian looked very fit and healthy in his jeans and blue shirt, answered questions about producing James, meeting J. Peter Schwalm, the use of Laurie Anderson's voice on DFL and his impressions of Japan. His longest and most interesting answer was reserved for a question about generative music and what role it played in DFL. His short answer was 'not much' but he went on to explain the concept of generative music for the clueless local press, aided by a very good interpreter who got the message across well. Obviously generative music still greatly interests Brian as a concept and he thinks it has a future.
Following the conference Brian went to watch Patti Smith on the Green Stage. He also attended Tricky's performance on the White Stage on the Friday and seemed to enjoy it. That evening following New Order's headline performance on the White Stage, Brian and band assembled for a rehearsal that took about 2 hours to set up. With all members being placed on risers, this ensured a minimum of changeover time prior to the actual performance on the Sunday. The crew and staff were then treated to an audience-less performance of 'Persis' (very dynamic live) and other snippets, delivered in a crystal clear sound mix that rung out around the mountains aided by the cool night air. Quite an experience for those watching.
I might add that I found Brian to be an extremely friendly and considerate person, very open to discussion about his work and seemingly unflustered by the organised chaos that a festival of this size entails."
Now for a couple of relevant links:
Have your Beefcake and eat it -- Jose Manuel Dominguez Roldan
writes: Just wanted to tell you that in the James official website , in the
news section you can see 8 minutes of fantastic studio footage and music with
ENO producing the song "English Beefcake", included in their last album. You
can see Eno suggesting ideas in the song as well as singing chorus through it.
Just a reminder -- that Brian and Peter will be playing their second gig
at the Fuji Rock Festival on 29th July 02001. There's a link down
here.
UPDATE 1: There are
plans for a live web-cast of this event (Thanks to Team EnoWeb member
Bommel)!
UPDATE 2: Robert Fripp mentions in
his Diary that Brian plans to play in Greece in late October (Thanks to
António Cebola).
UPDATE 3: Some
easy-to-follow instructions have been devised for accessing the web-cast and
can be found on the Astralwerks site. As the web-cast is hosted by MSN, you'll
need Windows Media Player (a Mac version is available). Japanese language
support will also avoid browser display errors. (Thanks to Nick Clift from
Astralwerks).
UPDATE 4: The web-cast of the
Rock Festival will be repeated once in August for everyone who misses it this
time around.
Pedal to the metal -- Michael Staley writes: I've just watched
(and bought the soundtrack) of recent Irish movie Accelerator - I
e-mailed you last year about it. The movie soundtrack (as opposed to the
soundtrack album) features 5 new pieces of music by Brian Eno, they are
"Corrosive Beat Treatment", "Monk Faster", "Tit For Tat", "Accelerator Drug
Beat" and "Stoned Driving". The soundtrack album, on Volta Sounds Records,
features only "Corrosive Beat Treatment". The music itself is unlike anything
Brian has done before, being overtly funky and, dare I say it, danceable. It's
a shame there is only one Eno track on the album, the rest of which is taken up
with David Holmes, Fridge, Adrian Utley, Will Gregory, Alison Goldfrapp, The
Beulah Pops (?) and Daddylonglegs (Howie B). The film itself is nothing to
write home about being an overly simple joyriding yarn. Anyway, check it out at
your local Blockbuster.
Jame on -- Santiago Calvo-Ramos writes: Just to tell you, in case
you had not noticed, that the new James album Pleased to meet you,
produced by Eno (he also adds some backing vocals and keyboards, but that is
not on the credits) is out now. For some info, you can visit jamesonline.co.uk
(while you browse through it you can hear loops of the band and Eno talking in
the studio-rather strange) and jamestheband.com (by the way, in the
messageboard area, there has been a raging debate about whether Eno has ruined
the James sound or not. A James-fan called Jack has even created a website
called "The eno effect"- dedicated solely to slander Brian!).
EnoWeb adds: There are also 2 singles of "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)" out now with exclusive tracks that have Brian producing. The album currently includes a CD-ROM element which includes a mix-it-yourself loop-based version of one of the songs so that you can pretend you are Brian; a screensaver which includes a loop of Brian & the band (just like the web-site but you can't turn the audio off); and a link to an exclusive track on a "mircosite" which isn't on the album. Oh, by the way, while we're taking about albums, David Bowie is shortly releasing All Saints, a compilation of his instrumentals including some of the stuff with Brian.
Further reading -- The new edition of Uncut (Take 51, August
2001) includes an interview with Brian by Paul Morley, rock journalist, rocky,
chop-socky mockingbirdy journalist, with all his attendant word-play,
wierd-play, Wilde-play. Paul writes: "This piece, as well as being freshly laid
out in the pages of Uncut, will take its place as the latest addition to
the 30 years' worth of archived interviews on the Brian Eno web site (enoweb
via hyperreal.com)..." Such prescience almost makes one believe in the twilight
world of astrologers, mages and Kane the Mystic Swordsman. Not yet, though, so
why not take a look at Roberto's review of the album in Italian instead.
E-witness report -- António Cebola was lucky enough to attend
the concert in Oporto and writes: I was expecting only BE and JP Schwalm
onstage, surrounded by lots of keyboards and machines. But, apart from them,
they had a band (!) consisting of a drummer, a percussionist, a guitarist, a
bassist and a violinist. They were all dressed as Wall St. executives: dark
grey suits. BE actually SANG! (he even referred to himself as Frank Sinatra,
while introducing the band members), and they played for around 100
minutes:
1 - Warnography (new, funky, instrumental)
2 - Intenser (from
Drawn from Life)
3 - Like Pictures, Part #2 (from Drawn from
Life)
4 - Can't Sing (new, slow, song)
5 - Untitled new song #1
(new, slow, song)
6 - Untitled new instrumental (new, slow)
7 - No one
receiving (from Before and After Science)
8 - Two voices (from Drawn
from Life)
9 - Persis (from Drawn from Life)
10 - Untitled new
song #2 (new, slow, song)
11 - Untitled new song #3 (new, fast, song)
Encore: 12 - Warnography (new, funky, instrumental)
Brian had a portuguese phrase book from which he read some (random) phrases in between the songs. I particularly enjoyed the live version of Like Pictures and Persis (much better than in the studio versions: the band added a lot to the chaotic climax of Persis) and all new songs; he said that apart from the other six people onstage, we were the first people to hear these songs. A great concert.
Forest takes root -- SFMOMA has acquired Brian's Compact Forest Proposal
for its permanent collection. The installation won't be be on show all the time
though, as it will be rotated with other artworks. Hmm, "Rotated Forest" sounds
like a track title from the Music For Films era... (thanks to Lynne
Kimura)
Going Public -- More news on Public Loop: Brian has donated lots of his
old equipment to the organisation so they can raise funds by selling it. The
gift includes a Yamaha DX7ii and a Chandler Tube Driver overdrive. EnoWeb isn't
sure, but believes the latter may be a device from Friends. (Thanks
to Martin Delaney.)
Definite article -- Brian's been talking to the papers again.
A driven man -- Robert Peterka writes: Ladies and Gentlemen, Did
you know that an "ENO" is an electric Post Office car of the fifties? Have a
look at this site and be convinced of this fact. There were the 2 ENOs and 5
ENOs, delivery vans at crossweight of 6 and 10 tons. We have got several of
these cars in our collection and even one of the voluminous 25 ever-built 5
ENOs is at running condition........ The best advertisement for Brian Eno must
be an ENO. Greetings from Vienna.
Pass the Oporto -- The first of Brian & J Peter Schwalm's live
performances will take place on Saturday 16th June at the Coliseu in Oporto,
Portugal, at 22.00. (Thanks to António Cebola).
Q&A -- Q Magazine's Cash For Questions interview with
Brian appears in its new issue 178 (July 2001). Asked by Andrew Burns of
Liverpool, "Can we expect another Eno 'vocal' album?", Brian replies "Yes
[punches the air triumphantly]. Soon. This year... I hope." The
questions also take in his collapsed lung, working with The Pet Shop Boys and
Scott Walker, views on Roxy Music and much more.
Board of Koanada -- Brian has been appointed to the Advisory Board of
SSEYO, the Koan Generative Music company. This is widely acknowledged as one of
the important first steps towards beatification. However, it is no excuse for
what must be EnoWeb's most contrived headline yet.
Two for the show -- Brian appeared on Jonathan Ross' programme on BBC
Radio 2 on Saturday 12th May. This is now available in RealAudio. The programme
was also mentioned in a review in The Guardian which puts the opening
comments into context.
Back in the USA -- Meanwhile, back in 1997, Brian is simultaneously
appearing on KCRW in RealAudio (thanks to Robert Phan from Team
EnoWeb).
Knowing our Onions -- PhilT dug up a review of Drawn From
Life...
Canned laughter -- The winner of the Palme d'Or for Best Film at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival, La Stanza Del Figlio (The Son's Room)
by Nanni Moretti features the Eno/ Roedelius/ Moebius song "By This River" from
Before and After Science. (Thanks to Antonio Cebola, Claudio
Gasparotto & Luca Minudel.)
Welcome Jazz -- Team EnoWeb member Bommel writes: "The new issue
of German music magazine Jazzthetik features a long double interview
with Brian Eno (in London) and J. Peter Schwalm (in Frankfurt) by Michael
Engelbrecht. The two artists will probably also be featured on the cover."
Bommel also points out that J. Peter Schwalm has a web-site.
Loop-e -- Brian is supporting Public Loop, a new organisation that makes
loop-based electronic art in unusual places (including prisons). Public Loop
runs courses that give participants the tools and opportunity to create
whatever they want using clips/loops of video, sound and text. At the end of
each course there is a live video/audio mix session in front of an audience,
and completed work will appear on its web-site.
Drawn Delay -- Bill from ab-cd.com says that the US version of Drawn
From Life is now "DELAYED until June 12th".
Old World -- Here's a review of Brian's Generative Music installation at
the World Financial Center in 1997, although the link to WFC is no longer valid
and we don't know anyone who managed to download Plexippus at the
time... (thanks to David Brighton).
Astral Projection -- Gordon Osse writes: Astralwerks Newsletter
informs me that American release date for Drawn from Life has been
pushed back to May 29th. (As well as Neu! remasters.)
Press for action -- Press coverage of Brian continues, with an interview
in The Sunday Times and contributions to an article by David Toop regarding
generative music in The Wire (Thanks to Rory Walsh).
Uncut Junket -- The June 02001 issue of Uncut magazine has a
cover-mounted CD which includes the track "More Dust" from Drawn From
Life.
Old Scratch -- BBC Radio 4 recently broadcast a programme on
experimental music; there's a transcript up on the BBC site with sound clips
from interviews, including Tom Phillips talking about the Scratch Orchestra,
Brian and Piano Tennis. (Thanks to Richard Joly).
Left them in Japan -- Brian and Peter will be playing
at the Fuji Rock Festival on 29th July 02001. Other pop stars on the bill with
E in their names include Eminem and Echo & The Bunnymen, though EnoWeb
understands a collaboration is unlikely at this stage. (Thanks to Sean
Hewitt.)
See you Later -- Brian is due to appear on BBC2's Later With Jools
Holland on Friday 4th May 02001 (23:35), though he will not be playying
music, only talking (veeeeeeeryyyyy ssssssssslooooooowlyyyyy if he takes along
his Sound Designer software).
Write to Life -- With the album now released in the UK, reviews and
interviews with Brian have been appearing. Some even on-line!
Ex-site-ing -- The official Drawn From Life web-site has just
been unveiled. It features a "webwheel" of eight tracks in RealAudio, which
gives us a chance to hear the album ahead of its official release date. Also on
the site is a 14-minute QuickTime movie of Brian and Peter jamming in the dark
(called for some obscure reason Dark Jam), a biography of Brian which
claims he is still working on an album of songs, a diagram of influences on
Brian and Peter, plus QuickTime clips of grinning rock journalists saying how
much they like the album. And there's a message board too, though how long
it'll be called Drawn From Memory, EnoWeb can't imagine. Or remember.
I heard the news Today -- The BBC's flagship radio news and current
affairs programme Today broadcast a feature on Drawn From Life on
23rd April, including an interview with Brian. If that's still the date today
for you, you may find a link to the feature on the Today page. If it is
now yesterday or earlier, then Today will have moved forward to cover
the events of what it now considers to be today, which from where I'm writing
is tomorrow or later. Uhhh... never a Clock of the Long Now around when you
want to check the time, is there? Anyway, if in the words of the Star Trek
episode, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday", you may be able to access the feature
by searching for Eno in the Today archive, and EnoWeb is not even going
into that oxymoron. Sorry, what did I just call you? (Thanks to Michael
Staley and Jeremy Grimshaw for the link).
Small wonder -- There is a tiny "micropop" picture of Brian and titchy
"minipop" picture of Roxy Music on the flip flop flyin' site. Bet you're
glad you checked this page now. (Thanks to Klaus Nolting)
Life Study -- Daniel Darch points out that Amazon now has a scan
of Drawn From Life's cover art. EnoWeb sees that there is also to be a
vinyl version of the album with one track fewer and a different track order.
Sean Hewitt writes: "Brian Eno talks to Andy Gill in the new (May)
edition of MOJO. The longest part of the interview - a double-page
spread - is part of the magazine's 100 Sonic Visionaries feature, mainly
concerned with record production. It's a general chat about BE's 'strategies'
and approach to production, as well as his dislike of computers (!). Later in
the magazine, Gill reviews Drawn From Life ('... a[n] ... organic,
played quality ... 'Night Traffic' is typical of the album's method and sound:
soft keyboard chords settle like snowfall over a gauze of strings and subtle,
shifting percussion, while electronic piano twinkles speculatively like Joe
Zawinul or Miles, minus the intrusive chops.' In a Q&A section, Brian
describes the music as not 'nailed-down' yet 'quite formal and stately in a
sense'. "
Update: Release date in the USA is 15th May 02001, on the Astralwerks label. Both Amazon.com and CDNOW.com think the album is called Drawn For Life for some reason. (Thanks to Gordon Osse).
Cash in -- Lee Horner and Iain Chambers point out that
Brian will be answering Q Magazine readers' questions in the July issue.
Use the link below to read up about this and submit your own query.
Grenade and landmine -- Ryuichi Sakamoto is acting as music producer for
Tokyo Broadcasting System's programme Aiming for Zero Landmines - The First
Prayer of the 21st Century, due to be broadcast on 30th April 02000. The
score includes contributions from David Sylvian, Kraftwerk and Brian Eno
amongst others and will be released on 25th April on the Warner Music label in
Japan. Proceeds from the CD and programme will go to landmine clearance.
Thanks to Joseph Buck.
Update: AB-CD has some information about this CD which is an EP.
Eden frenzy -- Eden, one of Virgin's web-sites, reports that Drawn from
Life features vocal contributions from Laurie Anderson and others. It also has
a picture of Brian & J. Peter Schwalm and announces plans for a Brian Eno
site which will include a web-chat. Thanks to Sean Hewitt.
(Re)Lease of Life -- Opal has announced a release date for Drawn From
Life: 1st May 02001, on Virgin Records. Gary Scott has e-mailed us
the following track listing from
amazon.co.uk (now amended
slightly with help from Hik)
1. From This Moment
2. Persis
3. Like Pictures Part # 1
4. Like Pictures Part # 2
5. Night Traffic
6. Rising Dust
7. Intenser
8. More Dust
9. Bloom
10. Two Voices
11. Bloom (Instrumental)
Update: Drawn From Life is scheduled to be released on 30th April in Germany. Thanks to Ralf Lange.
Wakey Wakey -- Massimo & Francesca Menotti write: On November
16th 2000 we read about a book by Brian Eno and Mimmo Paladino titled I
dormienti in an Italian music magazine. Today, after exactly four months of
enduring searching, we've finally got that book! These are the credits:
Brian Eno/Mimmo Paladino
I dormienti
Edited by Demetrio
Paparoni
Alberico Cetti Serbelloni Editore 2000, Milano, Italy
ISBN
88-88098-00-3
Edition of 2000
Price 130.000 Italian Lire (67,14 Euro -
70,00 US$)
EnoWeb note: It's a very heavy book too.
The book is in a boxed luxury edition, with b/w and color photographs by Peppe Avallone of the Roundhouse exhibition and some sketches by Mimmo Paladino and Brian Eno. The text is both in Italian and in English. The compact disc includes the same track as the 1999 Opal Music edition, but with a different label.
Quote from the last page: "This book is printed in an edition of 2000 by Alberico Cetti Serbelloni Editore in Milan. It contains a CD of music composed specifically by Brian Eno to accompany I dormienti, The Sleepers, an exhibition of work by Mimmo Paladino and Brian Eno shown in the Undercroft of London's Roundhouse. 100 copies of this book are in a special edition accompanied by an aquatint etching with drypoint and presented in a fired terracotta case, both designed by Mimmo Paladino."
It is hoped that that the book will be available from Opal at some stage in the future -- EnoWeb will have some scans for you too.
Space for a brief James item? -- Brian recently talked to NME.com about
the next James album, currently called Space.
Update: Team EnoWeb member Richard Joly has tracked down a report at Les Inrockuptibles with track titles.
Wood for the trees -- Brian's installation "New Urban Spaces Series No.
4, Compact Forest Proposal" is now running at SFMOMA. As with previous
installations a CD catalogue of the music is available, and as with Civic
Recovery Centre last year, the only place it's currently available is at
the gallery.
Update: Team EnoWeb member Robert Phan called the museum shop and they were happy to sell him the CD by phone.
Update: SFMOMA's on-line store now has a dedicated page for ordering the CD (thanks to Kevin Eden and Martin David Redfern).
Talking of installations (1)-- Brian donated a one-off CD to an auction
in aid of South London Arts in January. The CD, which featured preparatory
musical sketches from the otherwise unreleased 1998 Music For Prague
installation, raised £400; the lot also included a catalogue of the
installation plus an Eno-signed baggage label. Thanks to Carl A.
Wilkes.
Talking of installations (2) -- Kevin Eden e-mailed us to say
"check this out" with a URL that turned out to be his Fourth Door article on
Brian Eno's Ambient Video.
A good Vintage -- Bill from
AB-CD.com e-mailed to
say that the Pilot label has released Vintage (Live '72-'75), another
collection of Roxy Music tracks from the German television show "Musikladen",
as a follow-up from the Valentine release from last year. There are 5
audio tracks with video: "Out Of The Blue", "Psalm", "If It Takes All Night",
"Editions Of You" and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall".
Pick of the pics -- David Brighton has turned up a coupla
pictures of Brian...
Empathy and horology -- At least, EnoWeb thinks they were the lyrics of
the Paul McCartney/Stevie Wonder song, but could be mistaken. Be that as it may
not, the talks that Brian and Alexander Rose gave to the Doors Of Perception 6
conference last year regarding the Long Now, The Clock of same and the Rosetta
Disc can now be read on the DOP web-site.
Persis, foiled again -- On 17th February BBC Radio 3's eclectic music
programe Mixing It broadcast a sneak preview of "Persis", a track from
Drawn From Life. What's that, you ask? Are you sitting down, EnoWeb asks
back. This may come as a shock, but it's the new album from Brian Eno and Peter
Schwalm, due to be released "sometime in the spring", apparently. Mixing
It presenter Robert Sandall had this to say about the track: "it has some
of the moods and movement of his early ambient soundscapes, which coupled with
the live perfomance aspect - not to mention Schwalm's gentle beats - give it
the formality and structure of a through-composed piece... quite different,
anyway, from anything Eno has put his name to these past 20 years." Still
sitting down? According to the Mixing It boys, Brian has plans to go on
tour with the album! EnoWeb will bring you more information on these
developments when it becomes available.
Gate a load of this -- SFGate has a feature on Brian's installation at
SFMOMA. The name of this installation is "New Urban Spaces Series No. 4,
Compact Forest Proposal". Thanks to M. Acuff on the newsgroup.
Cut and dried -- Bob writes: "eno spent 5th feb 'jamming' with 1/2 of coldcut - full story at ninjatune.net".
Going to San Francisco? -- if so, forget sticking flowers in your hair
(obviously not an option for poor dear Brian, although a dusting of flour might
be a possibility) and toddle along to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Known by the cognoscenti and those in the know alike as SFMOMA, the Museum is
running 010101: Art in Technological Times, which it describes as an
"ambitious and thought-provoking exhibition". Running from from March 3 to July
8, 2001, the exhibition features "over two dozen installations, video works,
sound pieces and digital projects, as well as examples of more traditional
media". One of these will be an installation by Brian which currently boasts
the exciting-sounding working title "Untitled commissioned work, 2001".
Appearing in parallel with the exhibition is a series of exhibits on SFMOMA's
web-site, which will have even more information once the exhibition has opened.
Thanks to Lynne Kimura at SFMOMA.
Strand and Deliver -- yup, they're taking the lounge lizard suits out of
mothballs and polishing up those bug-eye glasses. Roxy Music is back on tour,
albeit without that long-haired layabout in the tinsel poncho and the make-up.
Whatever happened to him?
Sibilant Siberry -- PhilT writes: "In case you're in any way
interested, BE sent an email to Jane Siberry re her last cd, Hush."
War chest -- Brian was interviewed for a Channel 4 News
report on financial problems at the War Child (UK) charity on 10th January.
It's a sorry tale, but it would be a shame if the negative publicity were to
overshadow the valuable work the charity has done and continues to perform. For
the facts of the matter see our links below. For those who were wondering,
here's what Brian had to say to Channel 4 News:
"People felt that their contribution wasn't being received with any
gratitude any longer, that they were being treated as petulant celebrities who,
you know, had to be 'kept out' of things... It seemed to me close to deceitful
that our money hadn't gone where we felt it ought to have gone... What was
special about War Child as far as I was concerned, was this long view that it
was taking, and in fact the money that we had raised had really been raised on
the assumption that it was going to those kinds of projects. What started to
happen was that the money didn't end up going to those projects... That
particular 'Miss Sarajevo' record was done specifically for the Music Centre
and everybody knew that that was the basis on which it was done. And there was
quite a big argument about that, about whether we as 'contributors', if you
like, had the right to determine where our money went... The fact is, the
celebrities left War Child, you know, all the patrons resigned (all the earlier
patrons, anyway), and the trustees resigned, and people have decided not to
contribute to that."
(Regarding Bill Leeson's claim that rock stars had
only got involved to resurrect flagging careers:) "People volunteered. We
didn't really twist anybody's arm, and it's extremely rude of him to have said
that these were artists helping their flagging careers by being involved with
War Child. They had very little to gain by being involved with War Child."
100 years of solitude -- Looking for a treat to brighten up
your new year? Then music journalist Mark Prendergast has just the thing. His
new book The Ambient Century : From Mahler To Trance - Sonic Evolution in
the Electronic Age is now available in the UK and is due to be published in
the US on 21st January 02001. The book's 500 pages are preceded by a foreword
written by Brian in which he no doubt ambiently drones on about something or
other. The book also includes excerpts from Mark's many interviews with Brian
plus pictures from Brian's private collection. I'm sorry, that last phrase
sounded a bit Edwardian- gentleman- twiddling- his- moustache... let me make it
clear it's not that picture collection -- it's his photo archive. Or
does that sound worse? Umm... er... hey, what's that link down there?
