On Saturday, The Slightly Crazy Thing was jumping on a train to go and see the premiere of the world's first ever 'generative' documentary. So why was that crazy ?
Well, London is a fair way to travel to watch a 90-minute documentary, even in a venue like the Barbican Hall – and with tickets plus train fare the cost soon mounts up. Especially when it was such a spur-of-the-moment decision – I'd only known about the event for a couple of days. "Never mind", I thought – "it's a birthday treat, so provided I can find someone to keep me company, I'll go".
Except I couldn't. There were plenty of friends and contacts who would have liked to join me, but none were able to at such short notice. But several of them insisted I should go anyway, and eventually I decided… what the hell. And I'm so glad I did !
Partly because this was the UK premiere of the film, including a live Q&A with the film-makers and Eno himself afterwards (and famous faces like Peter Gabriel wandering around the lobby) – so it had only ever been shown a handful of times before.
But mostly because this screening of the film would be genuinely unique – as have all the others – because of that word 'generative'. So what does that mean ?
Probably the best Brian Eno interview in the history of the known universe
You know me, I'm a sucker for everything Brian Eno does - and this is quite simply the best interview he's ever done. Who would have thought Dick Flash of Pork Magazine would be so insightful ?
Eno has a new album, "Small Craft On A Milk Sea", out this week - you can hear it streaming in full on NPR Music by clicking here.
Arena: Brian Eno - Another Green World
Yes - another Brian Eno post ! But it's completely worth it. This Arena documentary about possibly my favourite music producer is simply outstanding - partly because it contains plenty of Eno snippets for the enthusiast, but also because it's beautifully made and put together - fascinating, intelligently chosen visuals and audio accompany the interviews throughout.
It's also great for me to see Eno in his Suffolk habitat, because that's where I grew up, too - and seeing the familiar serene, slightly surreal landscapes accompanied by his music and words somehow makes perfect sense in a way that hadn't registered with me before.
What makes a great music producer tick ? Brian Eno Interviewed
In this video Brian Eno talks about perfume, pornography and pissing in Duchamp's urinal.
This, from a man who has produced (amongst others) Talking Heads, U2, Coldplay, Devo, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and James - as well as being a prolific musician and artist in his own right, starting out as a member of Roxy Music in the early 70s, and inventing the genre label "Ambient" along the way.
I know what you're thinking - another post about Brian Eno ? Already ?!? Change the tune already ! Tell us something useful !
Well, tough. I only just found this, and it's fantastic, and I wanted to share it with you. I'll post something technical about using EQ or compressors or something again soon, honest.
In the meantime, if you want some genuine insight into one of the greatest producers of all time, both as a producer and as a person, this is a great place to start. (The other place would be his 1995 book - A Year With Swollen Appendices: The Diary of Brian Eno, which I strongly recommend.)
Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies - the Ultimate Music Production Tool
Forget computers and plugins, forget pop shields, forget the SwirlyGig, forget SSL desks and tantric breathing exercises - forget all that stuff, and open your mind to a real music production tool - the Oblique Strategies.
Oblique Strategies is a deck of cards, about 7x9 cm in size, supplied in a small black box labelled "OBLIQUE STRATEGIES". The cards themselves are black on one side, white on the other, and have obscure, cryptic aphorisms printed on the front in small letters.
They are intended as a creative tool for musicians and were developed by legendary producerBrian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt - the pair originally both came up with the same idea independently in 1975, and joined forces to make it a reality. Eno's own description explains the idea very well:
, which I strongly recommend.)