Brian Eno: ambiant music
I became aware of setting each piece within its own particular landscape, and allowing the mood of the landscape to determine the kinds of activities that occur. In using the term landscape, I am thinking of places, times, climates, and the moods they evoke. The music I created was subtle enough to fade into the background of the listener’s environment, but at times it also had the power to subsume that environment by subtly coloring it with its own tonal palette. Immersion was really the point. We were making music to swim in, to float in, to get lost in. BRIAN ENO
Excerpted from an Amazon Review
Eno described in his original concept a piece to underscore life, without calling attention to itself. Imagine sitting on a beachside deck some warm evening with a microphone capturing all the noise of the environment: waves washing up, crickets chirping, gulls singing, the neighbors maybe becoming audible when their talking gets loud enough. Maybe some kid is driving down the next block with his stereo rattling the pavement. Maybe somebody's dog is barking far enough away that if you weren't listening closely you wouldn't even notice it. On Land is an exploration of this kind of idea in sound, but intended to re-create places far away or only imagined.
Released in 1982, On Land is Eno's most mature, perfect ambient work. Combining low, rumbling synths with eerie banging and clanking and the occasional wild-animal chirp or grumble, this recording places the listener alone, in the midst of a massive piece of sonic landscaping. And Eno has left no detail to chance. In fact, the work is so complete that when Eno suggests a windswept plain, the listener gets a chill. When trumpeter Jon Hassell bays with a softly disturbing imitation of a wounded beast, the first instinct is to scan the horizon for its glinting eyes. So subtle, intuitive, and well paced is this recording that as it slips quietly from the speakers and into every corner of the listening room, it transforms the space into a gently pulsing sound environment that seems strangely out of time and away from everything. It's a place you'll be drawn to time and time again.
Basically it's an album exploring the idea of music or sound that gives a feeling of a certain place. It also perfectly accomplishes his objective with ambient music, which is that it should be "as ignorable as it is interesting." Turn it up and it can bring all kinds of alien landscapes to life in your mind; turn it down and it colors the room subliminally, barely noticeably. Where the previous three in the Ambient series were subdued and trancelike through repetition, this one is evolving all the time and never repeats itself.
And with that, On Land is probably the hardest of all Eno discs to describe. It would be one thing if it was simply made with treated notes or tape loops, as with Discreet Music or the previous Ambient albums. It would be one thing if he was using minimal melodies meant to be ignored. On Land is all and none of those. It uses musical elements but isn't music; it's minimalist but not simple or repetitive. It's pure atmosphere. Forms don't exist. If you're wondering what moods you may find here, just look at the titles. "Tal Coat" is somehow electronic-sounding but purely organic. "Shadow" is a vague lurking moment of doubt. "A Clearing" is a four-minute synth haze radiating pure tranquility. It's not all soothing, but if it's left at a low audible level the dark moments won't really be disturbing.
Comparing this disc to any other ambient music is always an apples/oranges prospect, but I think the difference makes this the most pure and timeless Eno album out there. At the very least it sounds like nothing else I've ever heard, except maybe the sounds of nature itself. The complexity of the music is presented in a beautiful, relaxing setting that isn't demanding. which is what makes it absolutely brilliant ambient music.
Brian Eno's Music For Airports is a further realization of his ambient concept, first realized on Discreet Music. The concept again is similar, simple lines of varying lengths are played in loops, allowing them to interact in various ways. The results are often times remarkable. For music intended to be background material, this work can grab your attention.
The opening movement, and probably the best on the release, is a good example of Eno's idiom-- two or three extended loops of simple piano and electric piano intertwine. The results are absolutely stunning as the music has a delicate and gentle quality to it. While the rest of the record isn't nearly as good as this piece (one piece is a vocal-only loop piece, one is vocal-and-piano, and the closer is pure synthesizer), it is all quite good.
Excerpted from an Amazon Review
Eno described in his original concept a piece to underscore life, without calling attention to itself. Imagine sitting on a beachside deck some warm evening with a microphone capturing all the noise of the environment: waves washing up, crickets chirping, gulls singing, the neighbors maybe becoming audible when their talking gets loud enough. Maybe some kid is driving down the next block with his stereo rattling the pavement. Maybe somebody's dog is barking far enough away that if you weren't listening closely you wouldn't even notice it. On Land is an exploration of this kind of idea in sound, but intended to re-create places far away or only imagined.
Released in 1982, On Land is Eno's most mature, perfect ambient work. Combining low, rumbling synths with eerie banging and clanking and the occasional wild-animal chirp or grumble, this recording places the listener alone, in the midst of a massive piece of sonic landscaping. And Eno has left no detail to chance. In fact, the work is so complete that when Eno suggests a windswept plain, the listener gets a chill. When trumpeter Jon Hassell bays with a softly disturbing imitation of a wounded beast, the first instinct is to scan the horizon for its glinting eyes. So subtle, intuitive, and well paced is this recording that as it slips quietly from the speakers and into every corner of the listening room, it transforms the space into a gently pulsing sound environment that seems strangely out of time and away from everything. It's a place you'll be drawn to time and time again.
Basically it's an album exploring the idea of music or sound that gives a feeling of a certain place. It also perfectly accomplishes his objective with ambient music, which is that it should be "as ignorable as it is interesting." Turn it up and it can bring all kinds of alien landscapes to life in your mind; turn it down and it colors the room subliminally, barely noticeably. Where the previous three in the Ambient series were subdued and trancelike through repetition, this one is evolving all the time and never repeats itself.
And with that, On Land is probably the hardest of all Eno discs to describe. It would be one thing if it was simply made with treated notes or tape loops, as with Discreet Music or the previous Ambient albums. It would be one thing if he was using minimal melodies meant to be ignored. On Land is all and none of those. It uses musical elements but isn't music; it's minimalist but not simple or repetitive. It's pure atmosphere. Forms don't exist. If you're wondering what moods you may find here, just look at the titles. "Tal Coat" is somehow electronic-sounding but purely organic. "Shadow" is a vague lurking moment of doubt. "A Clearing" is a four-minute synth haze radiating pure tranquility. It's not all soothing, but if it's left at a low audible level the dark moments won't really be disturbing.
Comparing this disc to any other ambient music is always an apples/oranges prospect, but I think the difference makes this the most pure and timeless Eno album out there. At the very least it sounds like nothing else I've ever heard, except maybe the sounds of nature itself. The complexity of the music is presented in a beautiful, relaxing setting that isn't demanding. which is what makes it absolutely brilliant ambient music.
Brian Eno's Music For Airports is a further realization of his ambient concept, first realized on Discreet Music. The concept again is similar, simple lines of varying lengths are played in loops, allowing them to interact in various ways. The results are often times remarkable. For music intended to be background material, this work can grab your attention.
The opening movement, and probably the best on the release, is a good example of Eno's idiom-- two or three extended loops of simple piano and electric piano intertwine. The results are absolutely stunning as the music has a delicate and gentle quality to it. While the rest of the record isn't nearly as good as this piece (one piece is a vocal-only loop piece, one is vocal-and-piano, and the closer is pure synthesizer), it is all quite good.
posted by agnes at 7:17 PM
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