The Phoenix Bird

The idea is to produce things that are as strange and mysterious to you as the first music you ever heard.
- Brian Eno

"Variously labelled over his career either as a dilettante, pseudo-intellectual meddler in other people's work, or as a visionary artist and superhuman facilitator, Brian Eno eludes capture by remaining steps ahead of the men with the labels. His position in the culture of music and art has constantly evolved to the point where he now occupies a rarified and diffuse status, which he can alter according to the needs of the moment"
- from an article in THE WIRE September 1995

Brian Eno was a founder member of Roxy Music, manipulating sounds on their debut album and on the legendary follow-up For Your Pleasure. Leaving Roxy Music in 1973, he began his solo career with the album Here Come The Warm Jets. Eno has released a string of internationally acclaimed albums, and over the years his work has been compiled onto two "Best Of" collections and three Boxed Sets. As well as his own albums, he has collaborated with the likes of John Cale, Nico, Robert Fripp and the Neville Brothers . His co-writing and playing on David Bowie's Low, Heroes and Lodger helped define the sound of this classic trilogy. Just to make things nice and symmetrical, Eno guested on Bryan Ferry 's Mamouna.

Brian Eno is one of the most significant producers of our age. His ability to steer artists into radical new areas was first made obvious on the three albums he made with Talking Heads, culminating in Remain In Light in 1980. By this time he had also produced the landmark compilation of New York's No Wave bands No New York and Devo 's Q:Are We Not Men? A:We Are Devo. In the '80s he applied his gear-changing skills to U2, helping an already great stadium rock band turn into one of the most original and creatively challenging mega-bands since The Beatles. Eno's other production credits range from Real World artist Geoffrey Oryema to the band James as well as singer Jane Siberry and performance artist Laurie Anderson.

A pioneer in tape-looping and other early forms of sonic manipulation, Eno's work with Robert Fripp in the early 1970's (No Pussyfooting and Evening Star) signalled a determination to look beyond the conventional song format. His unusual strategic approach to music making was more likely to involve drawing a diagram than writing down chord changes, as evidenced in the 1975 publication of Oblique Strategies - a set of problem solving cards for artists. 1975 also saw the release of Discreet Music, in which Eno named a new musical genre he had discovered - 'ambient'. Bringing the ideas of John Cage to a pop audience, the true significance of Eno's landmark ambient releases (including Music For Airports and Thursday Afternoon) only became apparent in the 1990's, when ambient exploded into a range of new hybrid musical forms. Eno also pioneered sampling and the use of found sounds on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, a collaboration with David Byrne released in 1981. Again it would be some years before the rest of the world fully accepted the ideas. Eno's instrumental works continue, with The Shutov Assembly in 1992 and the minimal masterpiece Neroli in 1993.

Like all good rock musicians, Eno went to art school. Unlike most of his peers he continued to work in the visual medium as well as in sound. His video installations have been exhibited at galleries around the world, including the ICA in London, the Pompidou Centre in Paris as well as a permanent exhibition at Austria's Swarovski Museum. Combining sound and vision, Eno's works create an alternative environment for the gallery-goer, just as his ambient albums create a sense of space for the listener.

One thought:
What Eno brings to all his work is an ability to take ideas from one area of life and apply them to another. Thus, his ambient music resulted from applying ideas that were floating around the classical world and applying them to new instruments and recording technology. Similarly, his production technique is more akin to the way a management consultant works than the way a conventional producer works: that is, rather than sit behind a mixing desk for months on end, Eno likes to pop in regularly, but only occasionally, enough to steer the project, but not so much that he can't hear the music with a fresh pair of ears.

Brian Eno, on having someone else produce his work:

"Spinner is a very strange record for me, because I made a decision with this record. I've been thinking a lot about the kinds of artists who don't censor their own work. Now, I can think of three conspicuous ones: Picasso is one, Miles Davis is another. Prince is another. They're all people who just put it out and I think they have almost no critical self-censorship. They say, let the market decide; let the world decide. I thought this time I would try to do that and see what happens. And I thought I'd put myself in the hands of Jah Wobble to see what that feels like. Not to fuss about; just to see what happens"

One correction:
Brian Eno has very little interest in new technology for its own sake, preferring technology that you can get a result out of now, this minute, without studying the manual.

Recently, Eno has been using some very interesting software called Koan from SSEYO Ltd to produce his generative music. He has, in fact, produced the equivalent of a "generative" album Generative Music 1. I think that it's genuinely intriguing stuff, and has the happy side effect of rather rapidly giving anyone who works with the program a feel for just how difficult it really is to manage the architectures of time.

Koan for Musicians, Artists & Users

Advanced:
The Koan Plugin and Koan authoring tools are the most advanced publishing system for generative and interactive audio, and specifically ultra-low bandwidth audio. It includes a real-time composition engine, powerful integral softsynth and much more. Two desktop authoring tools are available, Koan Pro and Koan X. An easy to use webpage publishing tool, EZKoan is also available, too, to help you publish your Koan creations.

Many applications:
With its ultra-compact vector audio format, it is developed specifically for usage in webpages and mobile devices. But, it also very suitable for use on the desktop and for public installations.

Inclusive:
The Koan system can play vector audio, Koan files and MIDI files. Koan content can include fixed melodic sequences and patterns, and utilise and apply FX to audio samples (e.g. MP3). The Koan system can also deliver complex and evolving non-looping generative audio, which can be driven by external events.

Consistent:
Because the text based Koan vector audio format can also include synth sound settings and FX, it is a "normative" or scalable solution. This means your Koan material will sound consistent on any platform on which Koan is installed, be this Windows or Mac computers, or PDAs like the Compaq iPAQ.

"Neroli"
(Gyroscope GYR 6600 - CD and Cassette)

A return to Eno's notion of 'functional' music, Neroli is a hyper-ambient work of almost an hour's duration. Specifically designed to aid relaxation and clear thinking, the title is derived from the orange blossom fragrance used in aromatherapy.