enoweb

news

: updated 23rd december 02005 :

Any Questions is once agin visiting Oxfordshire, and famous celebrity resident of that parish Brian Eno is once again on the team. The live show hits the airwaves on Friday 23rd December 2005, BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 GMT. It will be streamed at the time and also available on the BBC site for a week afterwards (maybe longer as there's no programme the following week). There's usually a transcript posted a bit later on too. (Thanks to Dominic Norman-Taylor)

Brian lurks elsewhere on the BBC site, but only until 25th December. Kevin Dunnill points out: "Brian Eno in conversation with Chris Coco - everything from producing people like U2 and Bowie to making music that is 10 years in duration to the role of DJs."

Bill Janowski shows the way to this article on Brian possibly working with Underworld.

Radiocitizen says: Just found a whole heap of pics from the Astoria gig at the link below. And Rory Walsh points out that the Stop The War page says a recording of the concert is coming soon.

Nenad Georgievski e-mails: I'm sending you a link to an interview with Russell Mills where he also talks about work with Eno.

Apparently some pre-release info for the 2006 Coachella Festival claims that Brian is going to be on the line-up with Roxy Music. This is incorrect and Brian will not be rejoining Roxy. Just thought we should make that clear.

Matthias Muth writes:

On Nov. 16, while staying in Beijing, we - my Chinese wife and myself - took the chance to visit Brian's installation in Ritan Park (Sound and the City).

At the entrance of Ritan Park we got a flyer about the installation (in Chinese). After entering Ritan Park, we asked some locals (mostly older people), where the installation would be, but nobody seemed to know anything. Shortly after, a young Chinese came around and said, in the temple ground there would be some ominous black boxes, which would make peculiar sounds, maybe we're looking for that.

After entering the temple ground we found about 15 black boxes, which were positioned around the outer circle of the ground, each carrying different layers of sound. Two young Chinese men sat beneath one of the black boxes, it seemed to us, that they were guarding the installation. Another younger Chinese man was busy walking constantly from one box to another (i.e. was walking around the outer circle of the temple ground continously). Some older locals stayed inside the temple ground, talking and laughing, two were even flying kites in the ground, obviously taking no notice of the sounds. Local Chinese women with children came, listened surprised for a minute or two, then went by. It was very interesting to observe the behaviour of the locals.

We stayed for half an hour, walking around the temple ground and took the whole scenery in. For me the sounds and the location went perfectly together to evoke a very special strange atmosphere, which is hard to describe in words.

Crazy glam rock star Brian Eno believes the world should be saved! Whatever will he think of next?

John Heery says: my take on the Astoria gig...

Richard Joly has sent through this article on Brian's Lyon installation from Le Monde.

Prior to the gig at the Astoria gig, Brian wrote an article for The Independent about the event and why he was playing live. He also mentions that his collaboration with Herbie Hancock won't see the light of day.

Here are eyewitness accounts from 3 audience members...

Tony Marshall:

Thought I'd let you know about last night's concert at the Astoria in London Sunday 27 November 2005.

It started not with a bang but with a whimper in the shape of Imogen Heap, then a spokesman from the Stop The War Coalition came on and gave us a good hector about the war in Iraq, don't get me wrong I am in agreement, I just wish someone would mention that life in Iraq under Saddam wasn't all that wonderful actually, just ask the Kurds how good it was. At least there's one less cruel tyrant in power and don't forget Saddam's two 'Unpleasant' son's what would the Iraqi's have had to suffer when those two assumed control?

Then our Brian spoke, quite sensibly I thought "not as a politician, but as a humanitarian" as he said of himself.

"You should be a politician!" someone shouted from the crowd, "No thanks" quipped Brian "I might have to spend time with Geoff Hoon!"

A very very short set from Nitin Sawhney and then onto the main event The Rachid Taha Band.

The crowd loved it, I defy anyone to keep their feet still when they listen to Rachid Taha's blend of world music meets rock 'n' roll.

Brian who'd started off the evening wearing that strange black jacket of his, the one that looks like a Beatle jacket that, you remember Beatle jackets don't you, they didn't have collars, the sort of thing Chairman Mao would've worn, you know the one I mean. Well before long not only did he remove the jacket but he even untucked his white shirt from his trousers, it was great to see the domed one singing backing vocals, playing occasional keyboards, and it had to be said dancing, yes Brian Eno was dancing! he was grinning from ear to ear and obviously enjoying himself immensely, who knows, perhaps it was playing with a band again.

I think the track the crowd seemed to like the best was when the Rachid Taha Band, with Brian on Keyboards and Mick Jones on Guitar did a cracking version of "Rock the Casbah".

Richard Mills:

It was great (if tickets were a little undersold)! Brian played with BOTH Rachid Taha AND Nitin Sawhney line-ups (so I think we can kiss goodbye to the lie that he does not enjoy playing live with bands) AND gave a humanitarian speech.

Nitin Sawhney played three pieces with Brian, Leo Abrahams and [indistinct] Robinson. Nitin introduced them all and said he had met them all for the first time the day before. The set was quite incomparable considering the few hours they had known each other.

Rachid Taha's set was just short of two hours with Brian looking magisterial at the back (next to a re-appearing Leo Abrahams) with a keyboard plus other toys, singing backing vocals and either playing a theremin we couldn't see or...he really was cutting a rug with some smooth dance moves. He was truly in his element. A bit like watching your dad do the disco at your birthday party, but he's one of the coolest dads around. Not so cool but just as welcome was Mick Jones of the Clash and BAD who joined on guitar for the last 30 minutes and co-lead vocals on Rock The Cazbah.

Brian claimed that the war effort in Iraq has so far cost $200 bn, a sum which could have ensured clean water for every citizen on the planet or could have been spent on retro-viral vaccines for all known HIV patients (see UN and WHO sites for corroboration). Instead it's been spent shoring up the invasion and destruction of a country that did not have the weapons of mass destruction Bush and Blair claimed.

He also thanked the first of the three acts, Imogen Heap, who opened the set with a solo set. Brian said he feels Imogen is "close to being a genius". High praise indeed.

Rory Walsh:

Eno seemed really comfortable on stage and appeared to enjoy being part of the Rachid Taha band. There is a review from the Independent. However it misses out Nitin Sawhney's set with Eno, Crispen Robinson and Leo Abrahams. Sawhney started by saying something about his feelings on the war and said that he had only met the other three the previous day. Eno, he told the crowd had devised the set, which had Sawhney on keyboard first then guitar, Eno treating Leo Abraham's guitar and Crispin Robertson on percussions. Sawhney seemed uncomfortable with playing it but there is no doubt he is a fine musician.

The gig was filmed by a large film crew - but it may not see the light of day when Eno sees himself doing the "middle-aged dad dance" on stage !!

I spoke the someone from the Stop the War Coalition who was taking pictures and he said that they wanted to get the pictures onto their website as soon as possible.

Eno's talk at the start of the concert was quite emotional. He made it clear that his objection was not political but humanitarian grounds. Someone shouted from the crowd "you should go into politics" adding that he had made short work of Geoff Hoon and Andrew Marr. "No" came Eno's reply adding that it was easy to make a fool of Hoon. "I have enjoyed a reasonably happy life up until now... I would hate to have to face Hoon every day," Eno mused which pleased the crowd except the girl behind me who said, "Thanks a lot Dad, just reasonably happy!" Kids -- can't please them.

Andrew Nicholas writes: The December 2005 issue of Mix magazine includes a Paul Tingen interview with Mr. Eno himself, complete with a front cover picture insert. Topics for discussion include early influences; recording techniques and procedures for Another Day On Earth, including vocal treatments; and the current state of recording music with the use of computers, as opposed to working within the analog domain. [EnoWeb quibbles: We're not sure Brian actually worked with Toto. Just had a track on an album that was mostly made up of their music, after all.]

Bill Janowski e-mails: Another article for the EnoWeb site - Roxy Music To Release New Album. [EnoWeb adds: Although Brian's name is mentioned, any involvement is just speculation... and although he is quoted as having been "highly critical" of the Roxy reunion his actual view expressed to Q Magazine at the time was was "It's fine by me. I wouldn't want to do it myself." We seem to recall Rolling Stone carried other comments which were denied by Brian at the time.]

Finn says: There was a book-signing for David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace's The New Book of Lists here in LA on 1st December. The articles about it mentioned that Eno wrote a list for them. I'm curious to see what he chose to enumerate.

Brian's old mate André Heller has roped him & Peter Gabriel in to provide music for the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 World Cup. Along with visitor Kevin Dunnill, EnoWeb confidently predicts a live performance of Neroli in its entirety -- that should get them rocking in the stadium. [Thanks to Brian Parkin, Kevin Dunnill, Bill Janowski, Rory Walsh & Martin David Redfern]. UPDATE: Tim Church says the two-hour show will take place on 07 June 2006 at Berlin's Olympiastadion.

Once again Bill Janowski writes: I don't know if you've seen this article about Eno & Jane Siberry on the site, but it's an interesting one.

Brian appeared on the BBC1 programme Sunday AM on 20th November to talk about the situation in Iraq, discuss his 27th Nov concert, and get up close and personal with Bonnie Greer off-camera. You can see a stream of the broadcast on the BBC's site. (Thanks to Kevin Eden and Richard Mills)

Rich writes: there was an interview with Brian Eno on the BBC World Service program The Music Biz last week. Some quotes appear on the BBC site.

Rory Walsh e-mails: Did you see Paul Morley's piece about the use of Eno's 1/1 in the Orange ad? Agitated bloggers whoever could he mean !! EnoWeb adds: dunno; we just wish Brian would get around to releasing the music he did for the BMW commercials in the mid-1980s.

Brian has an installation on in Munich at the moment -- it's on at the Museum für Abgüsse Klassischer Bildwerke München until 13th December.

Dara Connell says: I was only introduced to Before And After Science last week and have not been able to switch it off. After a few add keyword searches I found a site relevant to "Kurt's Rejoinder". Not sure if it will help to translate the German, or maybe it might be an interesting film to watch.

Kevin Dunnill writes: Brian was on BBC Radio 1 on Monday 7th November. The site says: "This week on One World we take you to The Edge of Reason as your One World posse delve into the world of experimental music."

Brian performs live! Yup, Brian is going on stage and playing live with Rachid Taha at a one-off benefit concert in aid of the Stop The War Coalition. Date is Sunday 27 November, venue is The Astoria, London (on Charing Cross Road, nearest Tube station Tottenham Court Road), doors open at 7pm and tickets are available at £20 each from See Tickets (phone 0870 0603 777, 24 hours), Mean Fiddler and STARGREEN. There is no booking fee for cash purchases from Astoria and Jazz Cafe box offices. Here's some more information...

BRIAN ENO and STOP THE WAR COALITION
present:
THE RACHID TAHA BAND
With BRIAN ENO
&
NITIN SAWHNEY
&
IMOGEN HEAP

Rachid Taha is a new phenomenon in Arabic music. With his band, he brilliantly marries the driving rhythms and elaborate melodies of contemporary Arabic popular music with the forceful sound of post-punk guitar rock, creating what The Times described as 'a dirty, raucous, greasy rock n' roll'. The raw sweat of his music and a well-known stance against racism and hypocrisy have earned him a high standing throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Brian Eno, opponent of the invasion of Iraq and long-time supporter of Stop the War Coalition, is making a guest appearance with Rachid Taha. He worked with Rachid on his album Tékitoi and has performed with him in Paris, St Petersburg and Moscow. In an interview for the South Bank show, he said: "Rachid's music is intrinsically political and topical, and very much the music of the Arab Street. I think he himself is a person who feels his role is to make both a cultural and political statement: he doesn't separate the two things."

Nitin Sawhney is a world-class producer, songwriter, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, composer and cultural pioneer, creatively active in the worlds of music, dance, theatre and film. Nitin has scored over 25 films and Clubland saw his return in 2004 with the release of All Mixed Up and Fabric Live. He has sold out the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, and with a major DJ performance, the Lincoln Center in New York.

Imogen Heap has been growing on the radar of indie, rock, pop and electronica fans alike. It may have something to do with her immaculate production, but it most likely rests in the pale, haunting pallor of her voice. The 2005 release of Speak For Yourself sees Heap burgeoning with flavour and inspiration. What brings Imogen Heap her well-deserved acclaim is an uncompromising style and a unique understanding of sound.

It's taken a while for Brian to brush the cobwebs off his DX-7 but the auction description is now up. You can see a picture too.

Keep reading down the list, because there are several other Eno items on auction, one of which drew the following apoplectic response from sometime EnoWeb correspondent feline1:

/splutters/! The Swine! the Cad! The sneaky wee bism!

What, Dear EnoWeb, has gotten Feline1 so flabberghasted??

Well, we all know (YAWWWWWWWWN), that yes, just like he did with his trusty VCS3 several years ago, Brian Eno is now selling his Yamaha DX7 at this Nov's http://www.vemia.co.uk auction.

However, rather more revealing is lot number 4626 for it is Brian Eno's Jellinghaus DX Programmer. "His what?!" you may ask. Well it is a big blue box, nearly as big as the DX7 itself, with nearly 200 knobs on it, one for every parameter inside the DX7.

Suddenly it becomes apparent how Eno managed to become such an expert at programming the notoriously obtuse DX7!! (An experience famously described as "like trying to wallpaper your house through the letterbox")

For using one of these rare programmer boxes (less than 50 ever made), DX7-programming becomes a doddle! A joy! As tactile an experience as any lovely old analogue synth.

Flippin' eck, he kept THAT a bit quiet, though!!!!!! All those dozens of interviews I've read of his affinity for the DX7, of the amazing sounds he could coax from it in mere minutes...

Quite content, was Eno, to let us think he'd mastered the DX7 through baldness and genius alone. But no. The crafty begger had a DX Programmer all along.

/speechless/

Magdalena Daly writes: We are delighted to announce that EP1 in the Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent series, Bloom by Fovea Hex [which includes contributions from Brian] is now available by mail order from Die Stadt Records in Germany. This is a limited edition release, and comes packaged in a very attractive embossed sleeve. Customers will be able to purchase Bloom from Road Records in Fade Street, Dublin. There is an even more limited edition of Bloom (300 copies) by mail order only from Die Stadt, which includes a bonus cd, The Explanation, featuring material from Bloom remixed by Andrew Mckenzie of the Hafler Trio.

An extract from the EP1 track "Don't These Windows Open", which features Brian's voice more prominently than in the mix on the ep, is on the Janet Records website. He also
played fretless bass, and helped to create the vocal loops. By the way, the forthcoming EPs 2 and 3 also feature Brian, particularly the title track of EP2, "Huge", with three very beautiful keyboard tracks.

Leo Abrahams' blog mentions that Brian has provided vocals for a track on a forthcoming album.

There was an interview with Brian in The Independent on Tuesday 1 November.

Brian contributed to the Panorama discussion Troops Out? on Sunday 30 October, BBC1 at 22:15 (repeated early morning at 00.25 on Friday 4 November with sign language). This is what he said:

"Both sides of this argument are arguing on the assumption that the intention was to occupy Iraq for a while and then leave, but I've always questioned that idea. I think that the Americans, certainly, were planning a long-term or even permanent occupation of Iraq, and that this is the first encampment of a Western force in the Middle East -- and it's intended to stay there for a long time. This would explain why they're building four very large bases there in Iraq at the moment ... I think we should get out tomorrow."

Michael Madden writes: Brian is releasing "How Many Worlds" as a downloadable single week commencing Monday 31 October. This is a new 4-minute edit of the track.

Richard Mills e-mails: Brian's sound installation is currently running at Ritan Park, Beijing, China, as part of the British Council's "Sound And The City" project. It's on from 21 October – 20 November and the times are 14:00-20:00 each day. On 17 October Brian also gave a lecture at the Lai Jin Yu Xuan Tea House in Zhongshan Park.

Richard Joly says: Brian is quoted as having bought several Buddha Machines.

Brian's ambient videos, Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan and Thursday Afternoon, are coming to DVD for the first time (unless you count the dodgy ones being sold on eBay). Fourteen Video Paintings will be released shortly as a Region 1 NTSC DVD in the USA and a little later on as a Region 2 PAL DVD in the UK. The DVD will include the films in both portrait and landscape formats so you won't have to turn your television on its side to watch them unless you actually want to. In place of a spoken Director's Commentary with Brian reminiscing about the crazy antics on-set and his serious falling-out with the cameraman, there is a booklet with extensive extracts from Brian's interviews and lectures on his videos. (Thanks to Jim Rainwater and Joel S. Bachar).

Jonathan writes: I saw the news piece on the myspace group for eno. However, there is one that’s been around a lot longer and is a lot more active with a lot more members haha. I don’t know why the other one got chosen, but this is where its at haha. [Which is all very well, but why does he sound like Terry Pratchett's character Carcer from Night Watch?]

"Brian selling his studio? What the heck's going on?" cried many Eno fans. Brian held his ear-trumpet in a quivering hand and looked at them doubtfully. "What's that you say, you young whippersnappers: 'DX going on'? Brilliant idea!" he said. "Run along now, Grandpa's tired." And so it happened that Brian's (t)rusty Yamaha DX-7, star of Apollo and many other albums, does indeed go on auction through VEMIA from 5 to 12 November 2005. Brian is leaving it full of his own sounds, he'll add a cartridge containing more of his sounds and it will have proper written provenance [possibly the message ENO WOZ ERE scratched on the side or something?]. (Thanks to VEMIA's Peter Forrest).

Dave Fisher writes: There is a photo of Brian in GQ Magazine's Brit Rock Style story. He is #13 of 14 musicians featured.

Talking of Haut Couture, we notice that Enoshop is now offering T-Shirts that sport the covers of the Curiosities albums, or for 2 quid more, an Oblique Strategy.

The official site for Another Day on Earth has some new material up -- two short video clips in the "Media section" with Brian talking about Voices & Songs.

Mark Harrop e-mails: The November issue of Sound On Sound includes a DVD which has a few audio extracts from last month's interview with Brian.

Mij Munyum says: Finally there is a CD re-issue of the Brian Eno produced NO NEW YORK collection. Yeah, I know, it's also out there as a high priced Japanese import, but on November 15th it's going to be made more available. (I see Amazon is now taking pre-orders for it). The package is a trifold digipack (paper case) complete with lyric sheet. For those unfamiliar with this 1978 release, it's a collection of 4 New York based "Punk" bands. ( Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars, DNA )... Each band has 4 tracks. The release is probably responsible for the term "No Wave" as it's sometimes called. what you might describe as artfully done punk? Art for Art's sake! The wait is over !

NTDWEAFBHB: Roger Eno has a new CD out on the Burning Shed label, Fragile (Music). Frequent EnoWeb news-monger Richard Mills has set up an official site for him, too, with Peter Chilvers.

NTDWE: Metamatic, the John Foxx site, suggests that rumours of Harold Budd's retirement have been greatly exaggerated.

Roger Chaplin e-mails: I just wanted to let you know there's an Oblique Strategies software program for PalmPilot. You can find it at PalmGear, among other places.

Steven Prindiville-Kirby writes: Eno was one of the contributors to Radio 1's Keeping It Peel broadcasts to mark the first anniversary of John Peel's death. He commented briefly over "The Big Ship": "When I first started making music, it was John Peel's shows that inspired me. And then when I did make music, it was John Peel who played it first on the radio. So I have to thank him for my career. I also have to thank him for playing a whole album of mine backwards on the air once... it was pretty abstract music, but all the same, John, I can't understand how anybody could make that kind of mistake! Anyway it's all forgiven now and we still love you and we still miss you."

An extract from Music For Airports is currently being used in an advertisement for Orange, in which a couple dance through a house that must require a lot of dusting. Thanks to Alan Knight, James Beard and David Brighton.

Phil Manzanera's new album 50 Minutes Later, which includes appearances by Brian and variant spellings of Kaoss in the booklet, is now available.

Radiocitizen broadcasts: The October 2005 (#42) issue of AudioTechnology has a lengthy interview/article with Brian, some nice pics included too.

NTDWE: Ard van der Horst writes: Not really Eno-related perhaps but I immediately thought of him and his music-software (SSEYO’s Koan) that he loves so much. Seems this is the same thing but different; kind of.

Mike Feeney e-mails: The folks at MySpace give subscribers the ability to create discussion groups. At this time, there is a small discussion group for Mr. Eno here.

Brian contributed to Soup Songs: The Robert Wyatt Story on BBC Radio 2 on 24th September. He was also one of the subjects covered on The Blagger's Guide earlier in the day on the same channel. Both programmes should be available until 1st October for streaming. (Thanks to Rory Walsh and Phil Leader).

Brian was one of the speakers at a demonstration by the Stop The War Coalition on 24th September. Rupert Loydell says there was an interview with Brian on the television news and Pavi points out that if you scroll down to "In Pictures" on the linked page and click on image 11 you can see a pic of Brian.

Rich Lindsay e-mails: This may be very old, and perhaps you've seen it, but the famous Italian illustrator Tanino Liberatore did a lovely portrait of early seventies era Eno.

Mark Harrop writes: There is an interview with Eno about the making of Another Day On Earth in the Oct 05 issue of Sound on Sound by Paul Tingen. EnoWeb adds: as with the article in Le Monde, Brian is said to be selling his studio and moving to computer composition: "I'm fed up with having a studio. I want to get rid of everything. It gives me the wrong idea about what my job is. I don't want to get up in the morning any more thinking 'Oh, I'd better do some music today,' because all this equipment is sitting around looking at me and expecting me to use it. I'd like to get up and think 'What shall I do today?' And this could be music, but also something else." Paul Tingen also has an interview with Brian in the September issue of the German magazine Keyboards (thanks to Bommel) and there is some crossover -- as Brian reveals: "Ich bin es leid, ein Studio zu haben. Ich möchte alles loswerden..." [etc, usw, you get the picture.]

Michael Flaherty writes: Robert Fripp's diary at DGM mentioned attending a "Garden Party" at Eno's home on 3 September. (This has scrolled off now).

Renzo says: Brian collaborates on the DVD+CD Quadri+Cromie by Hector Zazou - the album will be out in October (I had the info from Materiali Sonori). There is a magazine called Experience (see the link) with a DVD related to Quadri+Cromie with an unreleased track by Brian and Hector called "Ellipses". The DVD is produced by Pier Luigi Andreoni and guests David Sylvian, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Peter Buck and Bill Rieflin.

Richard Mills points out that Amazon has 3 downloadable tracks from Brian's Bell Studies album.

Meanwhile, over at Nereve Net, guyd2 has tracked down a 1979 interview with Brian and jb found more recent quotes in The Independent.

Brian is one of the artists exhibiting at the Lyon Biennale, which runs from 14 September to 31 December 2005, closed Mondays and Christmas Day, in Lyon, France. He has created a new sound and light sculpture for the 3rd floor of the Lyon Contemporary Art Museum. Dunno anything else about it yet.

A message from David Honigmann tells us: The September issue of Prospect magazine includes a 73-minute CD of The Fahrenheit Twins, a story written and read by Michel Faber with a soundtrack by Brian Eno.

This sent EnoWeb off on a ramble around the Net. Although we found Prospect with the CD in a few newsagents, we couldn't find any reference to the CD on Prospect's site. For those unable to get hold of the magazine, The Scotsman reckons that the CD will also be included with a new edition of Brian's Diary in January; there is some information about that on the publisher Canongate's site, and at Amazon -- neither of them refers to a CD though.

Paolo Lanzoni says: There was an interview with Brian in the Italian women's magazine Donna (out Saturday 3rd February). He dicussed his collaboration on next Paul Simon album and says Paul Simon recently recorded some vocals for a Herbie Hancock song. Hancock was impressed by the sound of some demos that Paul brought from sessions for the album and said "Who did this? I want him to play on my own recordings". This could be the way a new collaboration on H.H. stuff is born!

Also, I've just been looking at the Talking Heads' fan web site and I found some informations about remastered versions of Eno driven Talking Heads albums: Rhino Records is said to have confirmed the upcoming reissue of 8 remastered Talking Heads masterpieces (beginning of October). They all will be released in DualDisc format (cd + dvd 5.1 surround remix). The Talking Heads have expanded their eight studio albums with previously unreleased content for their release as DualDiscs: it's likely to have Eno giving some contribution or co-writing in Remain in Light or Fear of Music bonus material...

Karl Hyde from Underworld sat in for Rob Da Bank on BBC Radio 1 on Thursday 8th September. Included in his set was an as yet unreleased track by Brian called "These Small Noises" with vocals by Fovea Hex's Clodagh Simonds and Brian (ELO-type vocoder & Drawn From Life-type vocal jiggery-pokery) plus keyboards by Jon Hopkins. Thanks to Magdalena Daly.

Goran Vejvoda writes: The French daily Le Monde dated 15 08 2005 has an interview with Brian by Stéphane Davet.

EnoWeb adds: Among other things, the article says, "Sur son agenda mural, le mot 'book' (livre) barre les mois de juillet et août. Brian Eno a décidé de consacrer son été à l'écriture ­- manuscrite -­ d'un ouvrage condensant ses réflexions de trente années de conférences sur l'art et la culture". It also quotes Brian as saying "Ce matin, j'étais assis dans mon studio bourré d'équipements, je me suis dit que j'allais vendre tout ça et supprimer cette pièce. J'ai maintenant un petit ordinateur portable, je veux l'utiliser plus souvent. L'autre jour, en revenant de Saint-Pétersbourg, je pouvais, grâce à lui, travailler ma musique dans l'avion. C'est un peu un retour aux sources. Au tout début de ma carrière musicale, je travaillais à la maison avec un magnétophone Revox. C'est ainsi que j'ai enregistré mon premier album, No Pussyfooting, en 1973, avec Robert Fripp, en précurseur du home studio."

Kevin Murray e-mails: Just a note to tell you that we at IP1 Magazine have a feature on Brian Eno in our latest issue. There is also a competition to win his latest album.

Quoth Rory Walsh: Tom Phillips' web site is running the following story: "As Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford 2005-6, Tom Phillips will give a series of lectures commencing 18th January 2006 at the University/Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. Admission is free. The fourth lecture of the series takes the form of an exhibition, Tom Phillips: A Microretrospective, at the Ashmolean Museum which is open to the public from Thursday 9th February 2006. The eighth and final event of the Slade Lecture Series is a concert at the historic Holywell Music Rooms on 8th March 2006. This concert features a number of world premieres based on texts by Tom Phillips by composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Michael Nyman, Julian Anderson, Tarik O'Regan, John Woolrich, Robert Saxton, Howard Skempton, Joby Talbot, Brian Eno, Robin Holloway and Gerard McBurney." Will he appear, who knows.

Tiherlily informs us: Here you can find a bunch of articles about Brian Eno & Rachid Taha concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow May 24-25, 2005. If you can't read Russian you may look at the pictures taken by Russian photographers.

Steve Xerri sings: In case you don't know, Marc Almond and T Total have released a version of Baby's On Fire.

Brett says: Happy news -- Music for Films III (Rykodisc) popped up in the iTunes Music Store (U.S.). EnoWeb adds: it's in the UK store as well. This is the US version of the album, with the bonus track "Shark 12" rather than the European version's "Shark 15" (low-res audio sample of that at HMV if you want to make a comparison). Both have the same Roger Eno bonus track "Slower and Slower" as well.

We turned up a link to the Whole Earth Review's Unthinkable Futures article, which has a few small differences from the version printed in Brian's Diary.

Stephen Iliffe types: For your information, the Cluster & Eno album (1977) has just been re-released on the Water label. Later this year, the same label will also make available the Eno, Moebius and Roedelius follow up called After the Heat (1979). Both albums will feature fresh extended sleeve notes plus archive photos.

It is worth taking a look at the new interviews Radiocitizen has added to his More Dark Than Shark site recently (see link below). Brian lists some of the projects in the pipeline: installations in Lyon, Munich, St Petersburg and China, writing a new book on culture and working on an orchestral version of The Shutov Assembly (at last!).

Radiocitizen writes: In case you didn’t know, Paul Simon’s forthcoming collaboration with Brian Eno is tentatively titled Musical Palette. Furthermore, Eno is working on the music for the opening ceremony of the next soccer World Cup, Germany 2006... All this and more is in an interview Eno gave in Italy in June, 2005. You can find my English translation of the original Italian article at my site ... Go to the *UPDATES* section of the site and then click on the link for August 26. I have also transcribed the Eno articles from Word magazine’s August 2005 issue.

Kevin Eden e-mails: From the Spin Records website: Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Pearl: "In the final stage of the Brian Eno reissues series, Virgin Records reissues the wonderfully sublime collaboration album with the talented ambient classical composer Harold Budd. The Pearl includes 11 ambient soundscape poems using treated keyboard sounds (both electronic and acoustic) and floats in a fluid and dreamy manner throughout with touches of light colour."

Rory Walsh reads: This month's Record Collector includes a Q&A with Eno and news on the forthcoming MLITBOG which is due out the same day as The Pearl and apparently includes seven bonus cuts. The mag also says Phil Manzanera's album 50 Minutes Later is out in October and features a track "Enotonik Bible Black (Mainstream Version)" with Brian, Andy MacKay and Robert Wyatt.

EnoWeb founder Mal Humes says: Jon Hassell's new web site is now up. He includes notes from diaries from years gone past intermingled with reflections on the context of those notes then and now. If you want to know what makes Jon tick and to see him open his life to share then here's your opportunity. It feels a bit like a tour through someone's desk and scrap books with a narrative explanation from an old friend telling you about each photo and piece of music and how it all fits together as a gestalt in his evolution and cosmology. There's a naked intimacy that's quite personal and open about it. I've never seen a site like this by an artist giving so much, so freely.

Julian Lewis surfs: EnoWebbers may like to know that the subscription service eMusic is now carrying The Drop, Nerve Net & The Shutov Assembly. That's in addition to Another Day On Earth, which you passed along before. I'm still nothing to do with eMusic, apart from being a subscriber. Their Nerve Net includes a 'Doo Gap' mix of Ali Click & a 'Separate Time' edit of Fractal Zoom - could be wrong, but I don't think either was on the original album. [EnoWeb Explains: No indeed, they were on maxi-singles]. Roger Eno's Between Tides & Djivan Gasparyan's Moon Shines At Night have also just appeared there. Though not Brian's Neroli, for some reason.

Magdalena Daly of Janet Records promotes: I'm delighted to say that you can now listen to a specially mixed extract from 'That River' (being the third and final track on the BLOOM ep) on our website.

Bernd Kretzschmar says: In the August 2005 issue of the free German music magazine 'INTRO' (available in many German record stores) you can find a 2 page ENO special 'Zu viel Musik' (Too much music).

Brian was spotted backstage at WOMAD in Reading in July and appeared for a brief two minutes on Andy Kershaw's radio programme from the event. Thanks to David Honigmann and Iain Chambers.

Stephen Leech writes: Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle was voted Coolest Album of all time by GQ magazine and number two in the list of one hundred was Here Come The Warm Jets. [EnoWeb adds: we think this was the August issue].

NTDWE: Here's a site for John Foxx's Cathedral Oceans.

Michael Madden says: Believe it or not, yet another BBC interview, this time on the World Service... I guess it'll be up until Thursday 28th July.

Brian is continuing his bid to take over BBC Radio with two appearances on Radio London. On Saturday 16th July he played musical ping-pong with Charlie Gillett and on Saturday 23rd July he'll be Gary Crowley's guest sometime between 18:00 and 20:00 BST (GMT+1).

The Japanese release of Another Day On Earth (on the Beat Records label) includes a bonus track, "The Demon of the Mines". EnoWeb has tracked down a site with a RealAudio extract.

Eoin Vincent writes: They have posted the transcript to Any Questions, that Mr Eno was on.

Another lot of interviews and reviews:

Issue 3 of Lid Magazine features interviews with legendary rock and roll photographers Leee Black Childers, Stephanie Chernikowski and Jon Levicke along with amazing photographs of some of the greatest icons in music including never before seen vintage photos of David Bowie, Brian Eno, Alice Cooper, The Who, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Joni Mitchell. (Thanks to Dagon James and Richard Joly)

NTDWE: Leo Abrahams, guitarist for Drawn From Life, the Eno/Schwalm concerts and Another Day On Earth, has a new album out on 25th July.

Brent Kirkham e-mails: I've created a basic (free) Eno forum, just so folks can have a chinwag when something exciting happens. If you think it'll be of any interest, here's the link.

Gary Scott says: All Saints are at it again. The website has detail of the next reissues etc. The extra tracks are different for USA & ROW releases. The cads!!!

NTDWE: Albert opines: Thought you might like to see a creativity enhancer inspired by Eno's Oblique Strategies cards.

Oliver Hanselmann says: Brian Eno's just an invention! Definite proof can be found here.

Friday 8th July is apparently due to be Brian Eno Day on BBC radio. Not only is there that Mixing It interview with him EnoWeb mentioned about a month ago, but he is also due to be a panellist on Any Questions? earlier in the evening (thanks to David Evans). Note that as a live programme, Any Questions? can get pre-empted by news coverage. Both programmes should be available to hear for a week after broadcast. Times are British Summer Time (GMT+1). Listings magazine Radio Times makes Mixing It one of its two radio choices of the day: Jane Anderson says -- "There really can't be many artists who can get away with saying 'I began to think about the shape of songs and whether they could come in other shapes and sizes' without sounding pretentious. But, in this fabulously entertaining interview for the experimental music series, Brian Eno mixes sentences like this with guffaws of laughter at his abject failure to recognise a hit song, plus surprising insights into his life - he has an a cappella group who sing once a week, just for fun." According to the Mixing It playlist page, the programme will close with the unreleased track "Warnography", an extract from which was played on Front Row back in 1998.

The Mark Radcliffe show with Brian will be available for streaming until the evening of Thursday 30 June BST. In this bruising encounter, Brian almost forgets to turn up, answers probing questions about his Romantic Novelist Name and reveals his anarchist past. There's a pic of him too.

Bernd Kretzschmar types: I found some useful links for the ENOWEB:

Daniel Land e-mails: I don't know if this has been pointed out before, but on the Manzanera/Roxy Music site there's a really old interview with Eno (from the Roxy days) with some pics of interesting hair and make-up that I've not seen before... EnoWeb adds: Seasoned Enologists will be familiar with Brian's whinge about synthesizers/ computers only using a small part of your body (one finger), and its recent generative mutation into the whinge that anybody can make an ambient record by holding down a single key. But it still comes as a shock to find he was making similar complaints about his first synth back in 1972!

Julian Lewis writes: Besides Enoshop & iTunes, Another Day on Earth can be downloaded from the subscription service emusic.com. EnoWeb adds: And Napster too.

"These are a few of my favourite things," trills Brian. (Thanks to Richard Joly)

The Echoes feature on Brian's return to singing is now available as a podcast, probably until Thur 23rd / Fri 24th June. Podcast link is: http://echoes.org/podcasts/echoespodcast.xml

PN.Ance points out that in addition to the Mark Radcliffe (23rd June) & Mixing It (8th July) interviews coming up (see story a few paragraphs below), on Tuesday 21 June Radio 3's Late Junction will include some songs from Another Day On Earth. The fun begins at 10:15pm.

The Daily Telegraph has an interview with Brian by Robert Sandall.

Despite Brian's protestations to the contary, Bryan Ferry is apparently still hopeful that he can be enticed into the studio for some contribution to Roxy's next album.

Adam Leier writes: This page on metacritic dot com about Another Day on Earth
compiles some reviews.

Dan Winckler e-mails: I noticed a small Eno mention in this Bjork interview.

Yves Deplasse airmails: On 9/9/02005 @ 15:00 and 20:00, Bang on a Can are to present Music for Airports as a curtain-raiser to the KlaraFestival 2005 in the (glorious) Belgian national airport (Zaventem near Brussels). After the live concert, the airport loudspeakers will continue to play the work throughout the KlaraFestival fortnight. BoaC are due to play again later (sept. 16th and/or 17th : minimal weekend, w/ Gavin Bryars, installation by La Monte Young/Marian zazeela, and so on. Most of this remains not confirmed as yet)

Richard Joly polishes up this article mentioning Brian & Pledge.

A few more reviews of Another Day On Earth. Some may require registration.

Rupert Loydell writes: Just got a review copy of Jonathan Lethem's The Disappointment Artist [Faber, £8.99, published 7 July 2005]. It's a collection of autobiographical essays, the last of which, 'The Beards [a coda]' starts with a two pages subtitled 'The Heavenly Music Corporation', which discusses No Pussyfooting and Taking Tiger Mountain. The same essay also covers music by Bowie, Pink Floyd and Talking Heads, along with some art and books.

Filter magazine offers US residents a chance to win Another Day On Earth and other albums.

Dieter e-mails: Wire Magazine is including a Fovea Hex track "Don't These Windows Open" on the Wire Tapper 13 compilation CD, distributed with the June issue of the magazine. Brian sings and plays fretless bass and it's a different mix from the version on the forthcoming Fovea Hex EP Bloom.

Greg Bastug says: Not sure why the Enoshop is listing the "This" download as exclusive - the US iTunes music store also has it available for sale. [EnoWeb responds: fair point. The link works for the UK store too. The album doesn't seem to be posted on the UK iTunes shop at time of this news page update, but probably only a matter of time. So now customers have a choice, iTunes format from iTunes or MP3 from Enoshop.]

John Diliberto writes: BRIAN ENO: A SONG EMERGES. Although Brian Eno is esteemed as the Godfather of ambient music, he began by crafting witty, knotty and idiosyncratic songs, first with Roxy Music and then on solo albums like HERE COME THE WARM JETS and TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN BY STRATEGY. Those CDs have been recently re-issued, but Eno also has a brand new recording of songs, his first in over 25 years. It's called ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH (Rykodisc) and it's an excursion into profound melancholy, tinged with Eno's whimsy. When we visited Eno in 2003, ADOE was a work in progress. We talk to Eno about his return to singing as we know it. That's on Echoes, Tuesday 06/14*, Saturday 06/18**, Sunday 06/19* [* denotes Echoes’ principal weekday & Sunday feeds. ** denotes stations’ tape delay dates. *** Echoes on XM Satellite Radio Channel 133, Sunday 3-5 pm ET. And you can subscribe to hear it online. And maybe they'll podcast it.]

Gordon Osse, Jay Babcock and Stephen Wilson say there's an interview with Brian by Kristine McKenna (plus a "salute" by Alan Moore) in the new issue of Arthur magazine.

Richard Joly points out this interview with Devo's Jerry Casale -- brief mention of Brian.

The Enoshop is selling "This", the downloadable single (and first track) for Another Day On Earth, along with downloadable versions of the other Opal albums. (Thanks to Recordstore's Christine Kellogg)

The Guardian has an interview with Brian on politics and stuff.

Karen Mills e-mails: I run the Brian Eno fanlisting, which has been approved by thefanlistings.org. This large group of enthusiasts seeks to list fans of many topics, including musicians. I felt Eno should have a place within the network, and created these pages.

Brian gets a few mentions in this article about the influence of Roxy Music. (Thanks to Tim Boon & Adam Leier).

Doug Hilsinger says: This Weds, June 8th, SF's ENORCHESTRA plays the early twisted pop music of Brian Eno for your listening party pleasure! Tell all your Eno-friends in the San Francisco bay area to check it out... it's a blast to have a room full of Eno fans. We go on last (11:30 / midnight), so there's even time to go catch Robert Fripp opening at the Fillmore (9pm), then come on down to the Eno party! Where: 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission St, San Francisco (btw 21st & 22nd).

Slobodan Trbojevic writes: There is a new interview with Eno on Scotsman.com.

Here's a pic of Brian at the press launch for Another Day On Earth.

Radio 3 programme Mixing It played "Bone Bomb", the final track from Another Day On Earth, on 3rd June. You can hear it online until 10th June.

Top Eno expert Sid Smith has a review of ADOE (June 1st entry)

Brian's new label Ryko has a page about him.

Kevin Brown writes: Just been looking at the SpinCDs web site and they have information on a series of Brian Eno/Cluster related collaborations to be reissued by Water Records in 2005. Released August 23rd.

NTDWE: Jon Hassell has a web-site on the way, plus one for his new album.

Michael Staley points out that the web-site for Another Day On Earth is now live. Listen to streams of some of the tracks, download an MP3 of Danny Hillis quizzing Brian about the album, see Brian's holiday snaps from China, and more... no mention of the premiere release in Russia on 6 June though.

Goran Vejvoda has unearthed some coverage of Rachid Taha performing with Brian.

Guy Drieghe D has made an Oblique Strategies Widget for MacOS 10.4 Dashboard (thanks to Phil Franks).

NTDWE: A review of the Harold Budd concert.

Daniel Kalder writes:

I saw Eno and Taha perform last night (25 May) and thought you might be interested to hear an account of the gig.

They played in DK Gorbunova, a crumbling Stalinist Palace of Culture which is a popular venue for black metal and industrial bands. It's also located very close to Moscow's main pirate CD market. Did Eno realise his just- about- complete works were available on two MP3 discs for about £4.50 nearby?

The show started off with Eno producing weird stuttering percussion noises by waving his hands in the air over a long box with lots of wires coming out of it. He did this for a few minutes, then Rachid Taha shambled on in gold pyjamas and shades. Eno introduced him in Russian; not very hard- 'Eto Rachid Taha' and the band launched into their fusion of rai and rock. Every now and then Eno would press a key and a strange noise would emerge. Most of the time, however, he was just singing backing vocals, but enjoying himself enormously as he was visibly 'getting down'.

Rachid Taha's producer and guitarist Steve Hillage was also in the band, and periodically his guitar was fed into Eno’s bank of keyboards for 'treatments', cue weird stuttering/squealing effects. The bass and the cymbals also received this treatment and it was fascinating to watch and listen, as suddenly the music transcended ‘Rai’ and became something I’d literally never heard before.

Eno's other activities involved drying his baldness with a towel (there was a heatwave in Moscow and no air conditioning in the ancient venue) and crowd banter. Can't say too much for his Russian grammar, but at least he tried. The only time I’ve seen a western rock act with better Russian was a Duran Duran concert on TV, but Simon Le Bon cheated: he was reading his words off a piece of paper.

Most of the crowd was in their 30s/40s, and had no idea who Rachid Taha was. The promotion for the concert gave Eno equal billing, and all the articles in the 'Time Out' style mags over here focussed on Eno. However they still got into it. Taha pulled people up on stage to dance, so at one time there was about 20 folk up there, slim girls, fat girls, nerdy geeks and an enormous jumping bearded man that Taha really got into. He put his arms around him and started jumping up and down himself. Eno was also getting down relatively furiously at this point, albeit behind the keyboards and in a dignified manner, pausing for frequent headtowelling.

All in all a good gig. It’s striking how fit and healthy Eno is for a man of his age. Steve Hillage on the other hand, looked old and faintly embarrassed to be on stage. But there y’go.

The BBC is gearing up for the national celebrations to mark the release of Brian's new album.

Sergey Chernov has an article on Brian's presentation of his new album to the press in Russia (thanks to Nor S. Trboyevic on the Nerve Net list).

Brian gets mentioned in connection with Coldplay's latest.

John Diliberto has a review of Another Day On Earth here.

Gary Scott points out that All Saints Records is re-releasing several albums, some with bonus tracks and/or enhanced artwork, with Hannibal/Ryko numbers. Another outing for Nerve Net...

EnoWeb has received 2 e-mails (one from the US and one from the UK) from people who have been able to buy correct pressings of More Music For Films. So maybe it's safe to order now.

NTDWE: Anti has a 1+ minute mp3 of one of the tracks from Danel Lanois' new album Belladonna.

Christine Kellogg writes: Recordstore has taken over the running of the Brian Eno shop - it has a new URL although the enoshop.co.uk address will point there soon. As well as the existing albums we are going to run a competition for people who buy Another Day On Earth - one person will receive a box of Oblique Strategies, signed by Brian Eno. We will also have a full set of downloads, hopefully with new tracks added monthly.

MzDe says: I thought you might be interested in this entry in Music Thing on The Microsoft Sound.

Gary Scott e-mails: Andy Kershaw played "This", the first track from Eno's new album, last night - second track in! You should be able to hear it till next Sunday, 29 May.

The Observer has a review of Another Day on Earth. (Thanks to Richard Walker on Nerve Net)

Michael Staley says: Have you seen this interview? Sergey Chernov talks to Brian about performing with Rachid Taha, Brian's response to the UK election on the previous day, working with Paul Simon and Robert Fripp, and more.

Michael Mathis points out: Benjamin Secher records a week in the life of Laurie Anderson and she mentions meeting Brian.

Just a reminder that Radio 4 is repeating the Chain Reaction encounter between Brian and Alan Moore on 24th May at 11.00pm BST.

NTDWE: Some more coverage of the concert tribute to Harold Budd.

More NTDWE: Anthony Kneeshaw writes: I am organizing a Guitar Craft UK NST Weekend in Yorkshire on 2-3 July 2005. As you will probably know GC related events are rare if nonexistent in the UK, so this is a rare event. [EnoWeb: are you saying, in effect, that this is rare or something?] Add to this the fact that the events will not take place in London but 200 miles away in the beautiful historic Victorian Village of Saltaire in Yorkshire and it can be seen that this event is unique!

Subliminal Vision Pro spams EnoWeb with the message "Brainwash Yourself for Ultimate Success ow"... well if it's going to hurt that much, we aren't interested...

Enoshop has a quotation from Brian on lyric-writing from the press release for Another Day on Earth. (Thanks to Marlon Weyeneth)

James Topham writes: From 17 May for a month Warchildmusic.com is making Moby's "Up River" mix of "Fractal Zoom" available again as a download. This mix was available on the US maxi-single back in the day but is difficult, nay impossible, to find these days. We're releasing it because of the re-release of Nerve Net and Brian's forthcoming new album. The download is 99p with approx. 70p going to War Child.

Microbunny e-mails: While watching the cleverly written American TV show called Gilmore Girls (May 10th - Episode title Blame Booze and Melville), the Rory character played by Alexis Bledel is working as an intern at a newspaper. She tells her current boyfriend visiting that she has decided to personalize her workspace and displays a small headshot of a man on her cubicle wall. The boyfriend asks "An eccentric uncle ?" She replies ... "Brian Eno". Moments later in the conversation the photo is shown closer up and yes...it is our hero in a photo from 1997, from the Corbis photography library (Photo 0000326734-001). I guess someone over there is a fan ! I recently just attended the Eno lecture at the AGO in Toronto. Ironically one of the things he mentioned is how he hates television (specifically the television news media) and doesn't even own one.

NTDWE: You might be able to catch Echoes' feature on Jon Hassell as a free podcast.

Michael Engelbrecht from Deutschlandfunk was blessed with an early promo version of Another Day on Earth and has kindly sent us the first review. So what's the verdict?

"When you've waited so long for a pure (nearly pure) song album by one of your favourite singers, you can easily end up disappointed. Not in this case. Another Day On Earth doesn't have even a weak or average second. It is full of wonder, mystery, melodies, textures (rich, surprising), it has great lyrics (playful, profound, touching), a kind of non-linear plot and a thrilling ending (with one of the most shocking final pieces in the history of rock music).

"There are nine songs and two pieces with spoken (female) voices. The album has a perfect sequence; Brian's old song 'Under' (which is, by the way, one of his greatest ever-recorded songs, and was a bit 'buried' in his vocal box, and thus only known to the happy few) finds a perfect place near the end of Another Day On Earth. Some of Brian's occupations with time (and bells) have a subtle influence on this masterpiece as well. And if some people are now thinking, this might be a bit too much praise - well, dear readers, let me tell you, this was an exercise in understatement!"

Pavel Borodin writes: Have you heard about forthcoming concerts of Eno with Rachid Taha in St. Petersburg and Moscow on May 24 & 25?

The Guardian visited the Liberal Democrats' election party and talked to Brian.

Richard Joly has picked up more coverage of Brian & Paul Simon working together.

In our now-traditional Nothing To Do With Eno slot, here's a feature on Harold Budd ahead of his final concert in Brighton on 21 May.

David Firmin writes: The track listing for Another Day On Earth has been released:

1. This
2. And Then So Clear
3. A Long Way Down
4. Going Unconscious
5. Caught Between
6. Passing Over
7. How Many Worlds
8. Bottomliners
9. Just Another Day
10. Under
11. Bone Bomb

EnoWeb comments: Tracks from 2003 (And Then So Clear), 1999 (Bottom Liners) and 1991 (Under, originally part of My Squelchy Life unless it's another piece of the same name) -- almost a retrospective of old unreleased work...

Gary Scott says: More nothing to do with Eno -- Roger Eno has a new album out on May 23, Live at Lincoln Cathedral. Daniel Lanois's album Acadie (which did have some Eno involvement) is now available from his site, with a new instrumental record, Belladonna, available soon on the Anti label.

Andy Flynn & David Firmin e-mail: New album press release from Rykodisc!

Daniel Land points out: Brian was on Radio Four's Today programme on 3rd May, as part of the daily 'Election Panel' with Frederick Forsyth and David Hare. He spoke about his LibDemThisTime site and voting in Thursday's election.

Nothing to do with Brian, but John Diliberto says: ECHOES FEATURES AND HIGHLIGHTS
for May 2005 -- Thursday 05/12*, Saturday 05/14**, Sunday 05/15*, XM Sunday 05/15***
JON HASSELL: IMPROVISATIONS IN INTUITION. Jon Hassell is a seminal figure in contemporary music. A student of Karlheinz Stockhausen and a musician in LaMonte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, he has roots in mid-20th century experimentalism and minimalism. On his own, he's crafted a fourth world music that has embraced rhythms from Africa to Bali, all sliced through with modern technology, dub grooves, ambient atmospheres and his own vapor trail trumpet lines. He's been an influence on Brian Eno, Steve Roach, Robert Rich and hundreds of other musicians. In an LA studio where he's mixing his latest album, Jon Hassell talks about his hallucinatory swirl of seductive rhythms and soul-searing trumpet called MAARIFA STREET (Nyen).* denotes Echoes principal weekday & Sunday feeds, ** denotes stations’ tape delay dates, *** Echoes on XM Satellite Radio Channel 133, Sunday 3-5 pm ET. (EnoWeb adds: and you can listen online for a fee at the Echoes site, or maybe free if you find a public station broadcasting it).

Tom Lynton writes: I design a left-wing political magazine called Red Pepper. We featured Eno's support for Reg Keys -- who's standing as a candidate in the General Election against Tony Blair in Sedgefield -- in a brief news round-up last issue, and this issue Eno has written an article for our Election 2005 feature.

Simon Oxton has turned up a Yahoo! LAUNCH interview with Brian from 2001 (probably requires Yahoo! membership!!!)

A new album of Eno covers has been released.

Some reports of Brian's recent talks in Canada & LA are surfacing on ye Inter-nette.

Tim Webber e-mails: This may be old news to you but Read Yourself Raw has a transcript of the Chain Reaction interview the comic writer Alan Moore conducted with Brian Eno earlier this year. [EnoWeb adds: the series is being repeated and the Moore/Eno programme is due for re-broadcast on May 24th at 23:00 BST]

Nothing To Do With Brian, But... Part 1: Rothko (Roger Eno and Mark Beazley) are performing a session of two tracks on Mixing It on BBC Radio 3 on Friday 29th April at 22.15 BST. The broadcast will be available on the site for a week afterwards. (Thanks to Rory Walsh & David Whittaker)

Nothing To Do With Brian, But... Part 2: Harold Budd, who you'll recall recently retired from making albums, has two albums out shortly. (Thanks to David Beardsley on the Nerve Net list)

Finn Brunton writes: Just wanted to pass on a tidbit related to Eno's forthcoming album. On April 8th, I attended Stewart Brand's Long Now talk on "Cities and Time" in San Francisco. It's great talk, full of interesting material on urban design and culture; Brand concluded by a showing an image of the Earth at night, steadily panning away, while an Eno song excerpt I've never heard before played - given that the lyrics revolved around "another day on Earth," I presume it's from the forthcoming album. There's an mp3 of Brand's talk up at the Long Now site; the sound quality is surprisingly good, considering that it's going by way of a PowerBook built-in speaker, through a mic, and into a 23kbps mono mp3. If you want a summary of the talk itself, I've got a rough transcript up on my blog.

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Pilon has spotted a report on one of Brian's talks in Canada; he's unwilling to talk about his new album until it's released (Just like Spock refusing to discuss being dead with McCoy because they didn't have a shared frame of reference. Uh, what are you looking at your browser like that for?)

It is a well-known fact that Jungle is massive. But what about the Blackboard Jungle? Is that massive too? A new exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, Oxenfordshire, sets out to discover the truth. When Einstein lectured in Oxford in 1931, a blackboard he used was preserved and is still kept in the Museum. "The exhibition marks the centenary of the Special Theory of Relativity by inviting a number of well-known people in Britain today to chalk on blackboards the same size as Einstein’s. All these guest blackboards have been prepared in the early months of 2005. The result is an exhibition about science, art, celebrity and nostalgia."

Michael Staley e-mails: From Damien Dempsey's website -- "Damien's next single will be 'Patience' and will contain 4 versions of the track: radio version, a mix by the legendary Brian Eno, The Desert Mix and the album version. The single is released on May 13th."

Shock evidence has come to light that shows Brian once sported a pony-tail.

And while we're aimlessly trawling Google...

Election Diary in The Independent on 16th April reported "Irony of the Day: Every time Tony Blair plays his election theme, U2's 'Beautiful Day', he is giving support (and probably royalities as well) to the Roxy Music star Brian Eno, who produced the song. The same Brian Eno is the main financial backer of Reg Keys, the anti-war candidate who is standing against Mr Blair in his Sedgefield constituency." Regarding financial backing, The Guardian previously reported that wasn't so. And of course Brian is active in other ways too...

Brian has set up a site encouraging UK voters to choose the Liberal Democrats in the forthcoming election.

Michael Savage e-mails: I just ran across this wonderful site with lots of photos of Brian Eno's Quiet Club from last year, thought you might want to post the address for others.

Gary Scott writes: Following a link at Enoshop I came to Fovea Hex at Janet Records. Check it out for Brian & Roger involvement in the forthcoming release.

Gary Scott continues: There's a detailed site for The Jacket too.

PE.com reports that Brian was among around 20 artists who "filed a legal brief with the high court in support of Grokster and StreamCast" because they reckon sharing files "has the immediate potential to develop into a significantly more prevalent alternative distribution and promotion system." Hmm, Brian on the same bill as Chuck D and Heart...

There are changes afoot at the sites of All Saints Records, which now has sales handled by Farfield Records' Sharpsonic site, and Enoshop, which warns of possible delays while it relocates.

Michael Staley points us to the news on the Metisse Music page, which says Brian's vocal album is due for UK release on June 13th 2005 on the Hannibal Records/Ryko label. The title is now Another Day on Earth. Or according to another site, Another Day on Planet Earth. A Google search turns up a Brad Laner who lists Another Day on Earth as an album he played on, so that's looking the most likely title at the moment.
UPDATE: Sometime towards the end of April an EnoWebber tried visiting the Metisse Music site and found that the reference to the album had disappeared; Showcd's label reference has changed to Hannibal/All Saints. Mysterious.

Michael continues: By the way, I got Bronagh Gallagher's album. Just to clarify, Eno does Male Backing Vocals and Vibe Organ on the song 'He Don't Love You' and composed the strings (played by Nell Catchpole, of course) on the song 'Hooks'. The album is actually very good - simple and quite lovely soul songs. Eno does a lot of lovely 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' (mainly ooohing) on that one song and the string part on the other is very nice indeed.

Daniel Land writes: Brian is quoted on tactical voting in the forthcoming election on the BBC site.

Michael Ricci says: This message is to let you know that the following article has been published at AllAboutJazz.com -- Brian Eno: The Soundtracks Reissues by John Kelman.

Jon Hassell's new album Maarifa Street is available direct from the Label Bleu site (thanks to Kevin Eden).

Thinking of buying More Music For Films? EnoWeb advises caution. Two people have e-mailed us to say that on their CDs, track 18 -- which should be "Climate Study" -- is in fact "Approaching Taidu"; track 20 is again "Approaching Taidu": you get two of those rather than any "Climate Study"s. This is the case on EnoWeb's copy too. It might be worth delaying your purchase until we have some information on how widespread this situation is (probably after Easter), so you don't have to put up with the kind of problems that beset purchasers of the defective Another Green World last year. Meantime, check out Astralwerks' site, which has Paul Morley's new essay on these 4 reissues.

UPDATE 1: EnoWeb has now received several more e-mails from people in the UK and the US who have bought the album. All the CDs exhibit the problem, and it was apparently present on the promo version as well... odd that Virgin/EMI didn't pick it up at that stage. Perhaps they were too busy trying to understand the essay notes: "the cumulative resonance of More Music For Films is effortlessly secure within its timeless contemporaneity." Indeed. If you haven't bought it, do yourself a favour and don't.

UPDATE 2: Okay, we now have information for the UK and US.

UK: Virgin say they have recalled all More Music For Films stock; new stock should be available in two weeks or so. Returns will be honoured and replaced.

US: This information from Ashley at Astralwerks --

'A new master is being prepared and corrected stocks of More Music For Films should be in US shops hopefully by the third week of April.

We are making three options available to US consumers.
1.) You may return your copy immediately to the store where you purchased it for a refund and then wait until the third week of April to repurchase More Music For Films by which time new stocks should be in stores.
2.) You can hold onto your copy until the third week of April and then check with your retailer to see if they are participating in a replacement disc program. We will be making replacement discs available to retailers whereby your defective disc can be exchanged for a corrected disc.
3.) If your retailer is not participating in this replacement plan, or if for any other reason you are unable to use these first two options, you may e-mail astralwerks (making "More Music For Films" the subject line of your e-mail) to receive instructions regarding getting a replacement disc.

We regret that this error has occurred and in the interest of Brian Eno's fans we want to correct this situation as quickly as possible.'

Meanwhile, over on Planet Nervenet (just north of Skaro), some Eno fans have been expressing concern that even the names of some of the tracks may be incorrect.

The Times Higher Education Supplement carries a report on a recent lecture by Brian; he was the second speaker on the bill after Professor Roger Wilson, with Andrew Graham-Dixon as Chairman. Better still, the RSA Univerity of the Arts (RSA = Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce), whose lecture this was, has posted a transcript (PDF format -- you can get Adobe Reader free here). In Andrew's opening comments we learn that Brian's "been working on a new album, tersely entitled This." Long-term Eno watchers may recall that one of Brian's many, many prospective titles for The Drop was This is Hup!, so he's either shortening old ideas or been following the Peter Gabriel Correspondence Course for One-Word Album Titles.

Markus Huber writes: Listen to the track called Enoference on this site. There is a long sample from an Eno interview used as a background voice.

Contrary to reports in The Times and on contactmusic.com on 21 March, Brian has not re-joined Roxy Music and isn't in the studio with them/appearing at the Isle of Wight Festival.

The Times reports that Brian is to finance the campaign of Reg Keys who will be standing for election in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency. Reg Keys' son Tom, a Royal Military Policeman, was killed by a mob in Iraq in 2003. But The Guardian reports that Brian is not financing the campaign.

Dr Peter Smith writes with information on Brian's other lecture date in Canada -- it's on 19th April at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline St. N., Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5. Tickets still available at time of posting...

Julian Lewis says: Mondomix has a link to a very warm & eclectic game of radio ping-pong between Charlie Gillett and Brian Eno from 2002.

Roel Van Puyvelde points out: Radiocitizen's More Dark Than Shark site has the complete versions of the Tokion and Index interviews.

Gary Scott e-mails: Coming up this Saturday (19th March) is an Arena documentary on Francis Bacon, with "original music by Brian Eno". It's on BBC2 from 9:10pm-10:50pm.

We don't normally point out bargains at online stores, but for UK customers play.com is currently offering the terrific Harold Budd & John Foxx double album Translucence/Drift Music for £6.99. They have More Music for Films for pre-order at £10.99 too. Both prices include postage. On the other hand if you're ordering 2 or more of the next batch of remasters then Amazon.co.uk's a better bet as it has them at £9.99 and that'll get you free slow delivery too.

During April Brian is lecturing in Canada (two dates including one at Anne Tanenbaum Gallery School, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 21st April) and LA (one date, Skirball Cultural Center, 25th April, with Danny Hillis). All places are sold out but we'll give you links anyway.

Gary Scott points out that there is now more information on the Brighton Harold Budd event on Saturday 21 May 2005. Kind of suggests Harold will be there.

Bruce Carleton writes: Hello, I'm the guy that drew the comic Eno in Mad City [EnoWeb adds: currently in EnoWeb's gallery but we'll be replacing it with a link to Bruce's site]. You might want to note that this piece originally appeared in EG Newsletter #4. By the way, as noted in the comic, the rap spoken by Eno at the end was actually written by him. Also in that section, the interview from Punk Magazine that you have under "1976" actually appeared in 1977... summer, I think. The illustration for that interview is also on my Website.

Nothing to do with Brian, but Jon Hassell has a new album out titled Maarifa Street, and he's playing live at the 24th Amiens Jazz Festival on March 30th (Thanks to Kevin Eden).

Adam Leier points out a wordy interview with Brian; he appears to be cut off in his prime unless it's a censorship gag.

Meanwhile, Tokion magazine has published the text of Brian's chat at the Creativity Now Conference 2004, cleverly re-branding it Creativity Now 2005. You can see an extract at the Tokion site in special Difficult-To-Read™ Flash-O-Vision® and they have an efficient mail order department. EnoWeb felt a bit jaded reading it as we knew all the answers. Obviously time to get out more. (Thanks to Adam Leier, Richard Joly & Joe Moreau).

David Firmin tunes in to Critic Milo Miles' review of the first 8 Original Masters.

The Jacket is gaining some reviews (containing spoilers). There are currently no plans for a soundtrack release although Roger Eno's track "Fleeting Smile" from Music for Films III appears at the start of the film. (Thanks to Richard Joly).

When he's not talking about having completed his album, Brian amuses himself by once again fomenting dissent against ye Prime Ministere, who was, ifaith, appointed by Heaven Itselfe (Thanks to David Whittaker, Richard Joly and Steve Duffy).

Michael Staley e-mails: More Eno-related news from Ireland! Eno contributes to two new albums by Irish acts. The first is Precious Soul by Bronagh Gallagher (she was in The Commitments and The Phantom Menace, don't ya know). Various Internet reports indicate that Eno produced the album - he did not - John Reynolds did although I think Eno offered a lot of advice, suggestions, arrangement ideas etc. (He just can't help himself). I haven't heard it yet but a very quick glance over the sleevenotes indicates that Brian contributed a string arrangement to one song and backing vocals and maybe bass to another. There may be more contributions from Eno but the guy in the record shop didn't seem to appreciate me 'fingering' the booklet so I'm not sure. Oh, I think this record may only be available in Ireland. It's been in the shops for a month or two (I think). The other record is Shots by Damien Dempsey. Ol' Bri contributed to his last album (as you know) and is listed on Damien's website as being on the new one. Not sure what he does on it (it was released today, March 14th). [EnoWeb adds: contributes to the track "Sing All Our Cares Away" apparently]. Both these albums were produced by Sinead O'Connor's former squeeze, John Reynolds. Dieter adds: Eno's involvement in 'seize the day' is celtic tiger + 'shots' is cursed with a brain - information from john reynolds.

Fancy some downloadable production notes for Fear X including a short interview with Brian? Look no further.

Gabriel Gilder writes: Hi Enoweb, I just posted a cover of Eno's classic "I'll Come Running", and thought you & your readers might find it entertaining. Here it is:

Brian appeared on BBC Radio 4's programme Chain Reaction on Thursday 3rd February at 18.30 GMT. Recorded in December last year, the entertaining interview covered many topics and Brian told interviewer Alan Moore (who is not to be confused with comic-book writing lion Aslan Moore): "I've actually just finished a new album which is all songs, funnily enough -- first one I've done like that for a very long time, twenty-five years or so." Let's hope it won't take just as long to release it. The programme will be available on the Radio 4 site for a week afterwards. Thanks to Stuart Corrin and Mark Harrop.

Sebastian Böcking writes: Genesis is planning to release a completely remastered 5.1-Multi-Channel version of their famous album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, on which Brian Eno did "Enossification", whatever it is. Every member of former Genesis was more or less involved in the remixing process. It will be released on SACD in April 2005.

Fear X, the film scored by Brian Eno and J. Peter Schwalm, finally gets released in the USA on 28th January, in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Spoiler Alert: the links below reveal plot and structure points (as does EnoWeb's own write-up).

Empire has a trailer for The Jacket and reckons it'll be released in the UK on 3rd November. The trailer music doesn't sound particularly Enoesque, but the credits do say "Original Music by Brian Eno" so maybe EnoWeb is just being picky.

A visitor to EnoWeb writes regarding our description of the All Saints re-releases as 'remastered': "The artwork is reworked, for sure, but the 'remastered' Shutov Assembly sounded no different to my ears, so I extracted 'Lanzarote' from the new and the original releases using EAC. Carefully trimmed excess material (the actual start and end times were marginally different) and compared the resulting two 92Mb files in binary mode. They are exactly the same. There's definitely no remastering in this recording, it's IDENTICAL to the original release. I have also compared the original and new CD releases of Neroli and can confirm that, aside from trailing silences, the material content is bit-for-bit identical. I thought I smelled a rat when there were no remastering credits on the liner notes. EnoWeb replies: Apologies if we have inadvertently misled anyone -- we always post information in good faith, though we were a bit puzzled by the way the remastering engineer had not sorted out the sound glitch at the start of the first track of The Shutov Assembly. If this is so perhaps All Saints Records will be able to get a refund from the remasterers. Until this issue is sorted out, our best advice will have to be: only buy these re-releases if you want the new artwork or you don't already own them on CD. Incidentally All Saints has a carefully-hidden news page where back on 10th September 2004 they were asking for people's views on the audio quality.

Lnelson2 writes: a new film called The Jacket apparently features music by Brian Eno.

Steve e-mails: On 8th May the Brighton Dome is planning to host a tribute to Harold Budd. EnoWeb adds: nothing on the Brighton Dome site yet but some info on those invited to attend here:

Robert Phan directs us to the BBC's review of Rachid Taha's Tékitoi?, which has a snippet of "Dima" on which Brian plays.

Here's one we missed last year: back in September 2004 Brian contributed to a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring acoustics.

Gary Scott writes: I've come across the following info on the next set of re-issues. EnoWeb adds: this batch appears to be being marketed as 'Soundtrack Works', and contrary to our unwarranted speculation last year, More Music For Films is called just that and consists of the otherwise unreleased tracks from the Music For Films Directors' Edition and Music For Films Volume 2 (first time on CD for both). Release date is now 21st March. By the way, Keith Cahoon points out that HMV Japan's site says that their stocks will be imported from the UK, so their availability may be delayed from the previously reported date. Mark Finney says: I am pleased that this material is getting a new release, however EnoWeb's term "first time on CD" does not apply to nearly half the tracks here. The songs: 2. Untitled 4. Chemin De Fer 11. Empty Landscape 12. Reactor 13. The Secret 14. Don’t Look Back 15. Marseilles were all released on CD as part of the Eno Box I (Instrumentals) back in 1993. These were all tracks originally released on Music for Films (The Director’s Edition). [So that's us told.]

Chris Millar e-mailed: thought you would be interested in this story... NPR: Brian Eno Albums Remastered for Compact Disc -- Mikel Jollett reviews Brian's first four re-issues. A straightforward review of the newly reissued first four albums; but on NPR's afternoon news program All Things Considered. Actually a very big deal as far as I am concerned.

Howard Shih conducts: Apologies if you've already covered this but I didn't see any links to it on your links page and didn't find any reference to the 30th Anniversary of the Portsmouth Sinfonia's Royal Albert Hall concert...

Richard Joly has spotted a report of Alan Moore's chat with Brian (due to be broadcast 3rd February 2005, and available for a week after that on the BBC site)

PhilT writes: just read about a cover of fat lady of limbourgh here. Thought you might be interested.


02004's Enews


02003's Enews


02002's Enews


02001's Enews


02000's Enews


01999's Enews


01998's Enews


Other news sources

ENOWORLD. Wunce Weekly World Eno, this site sees out its retirement quietly in a backwater of the Web, much like its creator Malcolm.

The Nerve Net e-mail newsletter. Subscribe to this, and you'll get all the news and views from Eno enthusiasts across the globe, delivered free to your e-mail inbox. Operated by Alex Rubli, Nerve Net is a lot more focused than the alt.music.brian-eno newsgroup and you don't have to put up with any spam. Subscribe today!

iMusic has a Brian Eno Bulletin Board, though since they changed its layout usage seems to have plummetted somewhat.

The alt.music.brian-eno newsgroup. You can subscribe using many e-mail / newsreader packages, or visit from web-sites like groups.google.com.


EnoWeb's Newsbot is Tom Boon.


home