Tag Archives: brian eno

Music, Pop Culture

Warp Records Previews New Eno CD, Lux, In Midtown Church

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Lux Brian Eno Cover Art

The Church for All Nations on West 57th Street was the super secret location for  today’s premiere US listening event for Brian Eno’s upcoming new album, entitled Lux. Lux is Eno’s first solo album on Warp Records and his first solo album since 2005’s Another Day On Earth. If you are familiar with Eno’s classic ambient works, such as Music For Films, Music For Airports and Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks then the themes and sonic textures of Lux will sound very familiar to you. It certainly reminded me a lot of Music for Airports crossed with a denser ambient work such as Jeff Pierce’s The Hidden Rift, which is one of my favorite atmospheric albums.

According to Warp Record’s website, Eno sees the album as a continuation of his Music for Thinking project that includes Discreet Music (1975) and Neroli (1993).

The album is broken down into four sections as follows:

Track Listing
1. LUX 1 (19:22)
2. LUX 2 (18:14)
3. LUX 3 (19:19)
4. LUX 4 (18:28)

Lux will be released in the US on CD and as a Download on November 13th, 2012, and on Vinyl LP on December 10th, 2012.

Eno Lux NYC Listening

Music, Pop Culture

Top Ten Random Observances from Last Night’s MGMT Show at Radio City

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    1. Hurray for the Mr. Softee truck parked right across the street!
    2. From the third mezzanine (thanks, Ticketmaster!) the band really did look like ants. It could have been anyone on that stage.
    3. They charge $5 – Five Bucks – for a bottle of Coke in this place. Geez. At least they let you take it to your seat.
    4. All female MGMT fans are between the ages of 18 and 23 and have straight, light to medium brown long hair. All of them. They are like Stepford fans, or something.
    5. As stupid as I know I look when I dance in my seat because I am too lazy to stand up, the woman next to me, who resembled a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to do the Robot (note new fake band name: Tyrannosaurus Robot) as she danced to “Electric Feel” wins the prize for most retarded dance moves ever! Ever!
    6. Estimated percentage of MGMT fans in attendance who actually know who Brian Eno is and can name one of his albums: 3%.
    7. Attention, all people with ants in their pants: If you have an assigned seat number, please stay in it. Please do not move seats every time someone with a seat one row closer to the stage gets up to go to the can. You are annoying and I get pleasure from making fun of you.
    8. What is it with these dip-shits who compulsively need to text and send emails all throughout the show like they can’t even possibly continue to live if they aren’t in continuous contact with their friends on FaceBook and Twitter? Guys, get with the vibe of the music and pretend it’s the Seventies, when this techy shit didn’t even exist. And get a life while you’re at it
    9. If you light a match in the Ladies Room behind closed stall doors, the Radio City Toilet Police will come storming into the john and loudly threaten anyone with ears that, “If you are smoking in here, you will be kicked out!” Jesus lady, it was just a courtesy match. If you knew better, you would be glad I lit it.
    10. As we battled our way back out onto the sidewalk after the show, a random MGMT fan tapped me on the shoulder and asked if she could take a picture with me, because she likes “Pink People” and not because she recognized me as a world-famous blogger. Just being serious. I enjoyed the attention, but am unsure if she was able to get my pink Chuck Taylor’s in the frame, because honestly, they would have made  the shot.
Music, Pop Culture

Album of the Year: MGMT’s Congratulations!

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OK, I realize it’s not even April yet, but I’m predicting now that there will be no better album released in the year 2010 than MGMT’s sophomore release, Congratulations; due to drop officially on April 13th. Downloads of Congratulations first leaked all over the Internet weeks ago, so of course this work of sheer aural bliss found its way to me, as things of great genius tend to do. Being blessed with a pair of old-school rock and roll ears, these nine heavily 60s and 70s influenced tracks appealed to me on first listen. Yes, this album is a massive departure from the dense electro-pop of Oracular Spectacular – which was my favorite album of 2008. And in this case, change is good.

According to the band, the songs on Congratulations were primarily inspired by surfing. That much is obvious from the opening track, “It’s Working” which draws heavily from classic surf instrumentals by The Ventures and Dick Dale. Ah, simply sublime. There’s a pervading sense of psychedelia throughout the CD as well, which reminded me early on of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, The Lovin’ Spoonful and, to name a more contemporary influence, Israeli rockers Rock Four (recommended: check out their 2007 release Memories of The Never Happened, which is just amazing). There is even an homage to Brian Eno. Brian Fucking Eno, I shit you not. Track Listing for Congratulations is as follows:

1. “It’s Working”
2. “Song for Dan Treacy”
3. “Someone’s Missing”
4. “Flash Delirium”
5. “I Found a Whistle”
6. “Siberian Breaks”
7. “Brian Eno”
8. “Lady Dada’s Nightmare”
9. “Congratulations”

A lot of people whose taste is all in their mouths are whining about how this album sucks because it doesn’t sound like nine different versions of “Kids,” but they can all go fuck themselves because MGMT’s Congratulations is the best album of the year!

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On This Date In 1973: Brian Eno Leaves Roxy Music

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Eno Roxy
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On July 2nd in 1973: Brian Eno, synthesizer player for British art rock band Roxy Music, announced he was leaving the group after disagreements with singer Brian Ferry. For die-hard Roxy fans interested in an analytical peak into the the groups early (pre-first album) creative history, check out the book Re-make/Re-model: Art, Pop, Fashion and the Making of Roxy Music, 1952-1972 by Michael Bracewell available from Amazon.com at this link.

Remake Remodel

Music, Pop Culture

Happy Birthday, Brian Eno!

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Eno, Back In The Day

Brian Eno, keyboardist for Roxy Music, Producer and general, all-around musical genius, was born on this day, May 15th in 1948. I swear, Music for Airports just never gets old.

And Today, Still Quite Handsome