Friday, May 7, 2010

Brian Eno Presentation

Eno started out as a minimalist painter growing up and going to art school Britain. The first band that he was involved him that gain attention was Roxy Music. After a couple of big releases Eno wasn’t getting along with the front man and he left the band. Though Eno has produced a lot of famous, great sounding records, his contribution to music is mostly through his philosophical ideas toward the art. When growing up, he was really interested in the echo in Elvis's song ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ and was always curious as to how the effect was achieved. While attending school, he was interested in the production of art and the process, rather than participating directly in it. One Eno’s thoughts is that you don’t have to play the music if you understand how its done and can appreciate it. One of Eno’s unique contributions is his ‘Music for Airports’ project. For the project, Eno took many aspects of an Airport into consideration. He wrote the music on the record based on public spaces, sounds that fit in the frequency spectrum that were above and below the human range as to not interrupt human speech, the songs should last a long time and they don’t interfere with public spaces and can still be considered art. He worked with David Bowie on three albums between 77 and 79: Low, Heroes, Lodger. He is quoted as saying the song Heroes saying ‘it was like a game,’ in that he was trying to find a really unique sound and then bettering what he would find. He also worked with Robert Fripp and Talking Heads to develop creative sounds. Another influential idea that is created to Eno, as well as partner in the idea John Zorn, is ‘Oblique Strategy Cards.’ These cards ‘take the chance out of chance,’ and allow an idea to be made by choosing a card and deciding fate. When working with the popular band, Coldplay, Eno made the band create music by listening only to the lead singer’s demo tapes. From here they decided the best approach to record the songs. Another famous songwriter, Joni Mitchelle, uses a similar approach in that a guitar part will be recorded, then it will be muted and then recorded again. When listening back, different parts can be put together to create a unique sound where the instruments are more spontaneous in nature. ‘Eno wants to be inspired by something and then go for it... He hopes to provide counterpoint to todays faster/cheaper thinking mind set and promote slower/better thinking.