Another Green World

 

50 years ago Brian Eno released Another Green World, another step away from what Roxy Music made famous. Legend has it that he had to go to hospital and his girlfriend at the time played him harp music, which combined with the raindrops on the window to create a sound that left a lasting impression on him.

With Another Green World, he also took his final step into ambient music, creating soundscapes that later artists still draw on today. These compositions were interrupted by John Cale's viola and Robert Fripp's superb guitar playing. 

For me it is a record that still sounds fresh after all these years and the more I listen to it I discover new fascinating ideas in these songs.

Brian Eno - Everything Merges With The Night

Brian Eno - Sky Saw

Brian Eno - I'll Come Running

Brian Eno - In Dark Trees

Shleep

 

Today Robert Wyatt will turn 80 - a day to remember him. He was the drummer of prog-/art-rock band Soft Machine. They released several critical highly acclaimed records but I have to admit that they still aren't my cup of tea. Wyatt left the band in the early seventies and formed another bands to release his eclectic sounds. Many of his releases were also recommended as one of the best recordings ever. For me he made only one record that I play from time to time is Shleep.

On this record he returned after a while of absence and new additional musicians. Most of the songs have a very slow mood and songs that shows his abilities of songwriting. Musicians like Brian Eno, Paul Weller and Phil Manzanera made most the songs more than superb. Surely not everyone's taste but a smart look into another galaxy of music.

Wrong Way Up

 

It happens that I occasionally run out of inspiration for this little blog. I usually grab my external hard drive and scroll through the individual files (which I should have reorganized a long time ago). This is how I came across an album that I haven't listened to for a long time and has never been mentioned here.

After working together on and off for years, Brian Eno and John Cale released their only album Wrong Way Up in 1990 and concentrated on songwriting. After a good decade of pushing himself musically to the limits of the esoteric, it seems to have done him good to record a semi-electronic album with Cale. 

Nothing and nobody sounded like this back then. Eno makes the synths shimmer and twitch, Cale plays a funky guitar and shows that a viola can only be beneficial to the music. Ultimately, it is a forgotten masterpiece that set the standard for pop songs.

Brian Eno & John Cale - One Word

Brian Eno & John Cale - Lay My Love

Brian Eno & John Cale - Spinning Away

Brian Eno & John Cale - Been There Done That

Monday's Long Song

 

The past years have seen Duncan Gray champion a sludgy, slow-mo take on dance music that favors chuggy bass guitars and psychedelic sound palettes and drag and drop samples. He was featured at this place several times and often with new releases that were all over the usual average of new releases in electronic music. Now he's back with a new release on London's tici taca label. Short Haul is a bassy song inspired by the sound of Bill Laswell and Eno's/Byrne's Bush of Ghosts with great guitar parts in the second half. Anyway a one of the best songs this year so far.

Monday's Long Song

Brain Eno released his first regular studio album after six years and various collaborations. FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE is a another piece of his work as a pioneer of ambient and spatial music showing that he is still relevant in these times. You can find collaborations with parts of his family and Jon Hopkins (probably today's Eno) and some songs sung by him or his sister. This one is a piece I like much because it shows how ambient and electronic music can come together in perfect harmony. 

 

Dub Housing

 

A few days ago while I looked for something other I found Dub Housing by Pere Ubu. I almost forgot that I had a CD version from their 1978 album. Formed in Cleveland in the late 70's they created their very own version of rock music. Inspired by punk as a new form of music they added elements of krautrock and free jazz to their cosmos. Seldom heard a darker and dangerous sound like on their first albums. If any music can hurt than theirs. I know this is not the cup of tea for everyone and lots of people would annoy this kind of music but if you are willing to to go to the darkest chapter in punk/new wave influenced music you have to listen to this. A tour de force of experimental sound. On the other side many bands were influenced by them. Once I read that they were the link between Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, Soft Machine, Brian Eno and This Heat and I have to say this is true.

Pere Ubu - Codex

Pere Ubu - Dub Housing

Pere Ubu - Ubu Dance Party

Monday's Long Songs

 

Another slow start to the week and with a new song by Nils Frahm a Berlin based pianist and composer. I featured him several times during the last years at this place and now again because he announced a new album for September. It is the first new album after he released collected works from the last years and what I heard so far is much better than them. Music for Animals sounds like he combined Brian Eno's Music for Airports with very own ambient works. Right Right Right shows him at a peak of his output and fusions his ambient works with krautrock elements.

Monday's Long Song

 

Stephen Mallinder was one of the founding members of Sheffield's industrial pioneers Cabaret Voltaire. The influenced many bands playing a new kind of electronic music. Mallinder released in 1982 his first and almost forgotten solo album Pow Wow where he moved away from CV's sound. Inspired by krautrock and bands like Neu! and Eno he worked on an extraordinary sound including fragments of Giorgio Moroder sounds. I rediscovered this record while I got the news of his new album and I still like the music he made. Timeless bass-driven  an motorik sounds that combined perfectly post-punk, disco and krautrock. 

Stephen Mallinder - Cool Down

And I can't resist to feature his dubby experience at this place.

Stephen Mallinder - Temperature Drop

Nightlight

 

New York based band Suss released their first album Ghost Box in 2018 and they called their sound ambient country music. I had no idea what this could sound like but I was fascinated by their songs from the first time. The closest description was Brian Eno joins Ennio Morricone for making a new soundtrack for a spaghetti western. During the last year I played this record often when I would like to come down and relax. Now Suss released their third album Promise and their sound moved more to a nocturnal journey closer to space music while also having a sort of psychedelic undercurrent. Loops and light beats are sometimes present, but the music largely feels unbound by rhythm and free to drift away in wide-open spaces. Sometimes I think this could be an alternative soundtrack to Paris, Texas and I enjoyed this record much but I fear that Suss will be a best hidden secret still.

Monday's Long Song

 

During the last weeks I was listening to ambient music a lot. I can't tell the reason why this music fits to much more than many others. Maybe it's because I am getting older or just because this music is perfect to relax after a hard working day. Anyway, this genre has a long tradition and has it's roots in German electronic music in the late 60'd/early 70's. A few rock musicians from England became aware of the possibilities of the ARP 2600 synthesizer. One of the first was Brian Eno releasing a series of ambient albums. The first one Music For Airports is inspired when he had to wait for a connection flight in 1972 at the airport in Cologne-Bonn. He wasn't satisfied the music should have a calming effect on passengers. He decided to create a better sound and he made a successful job. In studio of legendary German producer Conny Plank he made an album with only four songs and for me it is the blueprint of a sound without many today's artists wouldn't exist.

Brian Eno - 2/2

Monday's Long Song

 

Almost one year ago the first album by Autoelia was released by Demian Castellanos and Tom Relleen. I missed their debut and got aware by recommendation from a friend. Autoelia, as originally coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, describes a process by which someone has a purpose in, rather than outside of themselves. Those who are autotelic depend less on external rewards for their satisfaction, being driven instead simply by purpose or curiosity. Their project was started as an opportunity to play more freely, with less of the process, consideration and production we both associated with our main projects. And that is what you can hear on this record - a free form of kosmische music based on the floor Cluster, early Spacemen 3 and a modern Brian Eno prepared. It is a 13 minute journey into space. Seems like another overlooked band.

Visions Of You

 

30 years ago now Jah Wobble released Rising Above Bedlam, an album where he combined influences of world music with his experiences of post-punk and the collaboration with Holger Czukay. On this album he made a great step forward away from his former roots but still with a deep tempered bass and melody figures I seldom heard before. He also collaborated on this album with Brian Eno and for some songs with Sinéad O'Conner, a voice I always liked to listen to. Visions Of You was probably his biggest chart success but I almost forgot how great this song and his bass lines were. One of my finest founds in my collection during the last days.

Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart - Visions Of You

Innerland

Three years ago English musician, producer and songwriter Mark Peters released his first album Innerland his interpretation of a native or resident of Lancashire. Eight instrumentals I can't more than describe them as beautiful tracks somehow between late Talk Talk, The Durutti Column and minimal Brian Eno. I got aware of him because of his collaborations with Ulrich Schnauss and found this record on my hard drive a few days ago. It is one of those records you owe, listen, enjoy and forget until the time has come to see the beauty in the songs.

Mark Peters - May Mill

2019 he released a remix version of the album called New Routes Out Of Innerland showing that this songs work on a funky or Balearic style as well.

Mark Peters - Twenty Bridges (Andi Otto Remix)

Ardor

 

Another find during the last days was Flying Moon In Space a band based in Leipzig, Germany. Known as a live band with sprawling improvisations it seems that they squeezed their music in more strictly forms. Their references spread from Can to Neu! and from Brian Eno to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and they create a new  psychedelic and spacey sound. I am enthused about it and looking forward to the release of their album

Purchased (Not Only) By The Cover

Brian Eno and David Byrne worked together on the first albums by Talking Heads in the late 70's/early 80's. During the break between Fear Of Music and Remain In Light both worked on a project that was released in 1980 as My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. I saw that cover first and asked myself what is this? It was totally different to many covers I saw before. Not knowing if this diffuse picture is just arty or a simple mistake by pressing the cover. Later I found the answer:

The cover image was created by pasting small cutout humanoid shapes onto a monitor and pointing a camera at it to create video feedback, infinitely multiplying the shapes: "Somehow, despite it being very techie, these techniques also seemed analogous to what we were doing on the record. It was funky as well as being techie. Extremely lo-tech, actually, and not what you were supposed to do with a TV set.

Anyway, I  read the name of the artists and took the album for a listen in the record shop. What I heard was also very new to me. Not knowing if it was good or not I bought the album and gave them a listen at home. I have to admit that the sound confused me when I listened to it. It wasn't usual in these days to use samples and loops to create a new sound. So I took it as another experiment in music and forgot the album standing between many others. Years later when a lot of bands and artists started to sample music and used loops for their sounds I remembered this album. And I have to say that Eno and Byrne were miles ahead with this album that sadly didn't got the acclaim it should have.

Brian Eno & David Byrne - Regiment
Brian Eno & David Byrne - The Jezebel Spirit
Brian Eno & David Byrne - Help Me Somebody

Ghost Box

The news that New York based band SUSS is going to release a new album made to listen to their debut album released one year ago. The music is hard to describe but ambient country music comes very close to it. The quintet is led by Bob Holmes a multi-instrumentalist and member of a cowpunk band called Rubber Rodeo. All the members of the band had worked with different artists like B 52's, Lydia Lunch, David Bowie, John Cale, Burt Bacharach and many others. SUSS once asked What would it sound like if Brian Eno had produced the Western film scores of Ennio Morricone? Certainly like SUSS but I can also hear a bit of Boards of Canada in their music. The songs are quiet and slow but showing great musicians doing a fantastic job.

Wrong Way Up

It  is almost 30 years ago when Brian Eno and John Cale finished their collaboration with Wrong Way Up, an album no one expected from them. Most of the people thought that these two artists will make an ambitious record with sounds from the future. But they made a record that was more mainstream than they ever expected. It is an album that sounds very fresh after all the years and I found it in my collection a few weeks ago and it is still on rotation since then. These songs are very clever and leads us to sophisticated pop sound but listening to them you can realize the fine arrangements both built to their songs. It is worth to feature them after a long time.

Brian Eno & John Cale - Spinning Away
Brian Eno & John Cale - Lay Me Love

Roxy Music Live

Back in 1973 Roxy Music played a short live set in German television. It was in my very young days when I saw them live and I couldn't understand their music and their outfit. They were different to all the rock stars of the generation before me. No more long hairs and dirty jeans and one step ahead of glam rock they were pioneers of modern rock. I saw them and I investigated more of their music. Roxy Music, Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry faced me to another kind of music. Since I listened to them nothing was before the way I felt for music. This was the greatest gift that they gave to me. By the way one of the greatest album covers of all time.

Contort Yourself

A few days ago I met an old friend for a couple of beers and we remembered once again when we were DJ-ing in the early 80's in our local pub. Later this evening we talked about our friends who passed during the last decade. One of them who passed too early in a motorcycle accident was Peter who was addicted to Frank Zappa. He was the one who introduced us to the so called No New York sound. It was Brian Eno who was one of the first that discovered this sound. It was a sound that was very new to us all. A lot of free-jazz on a perfect and steady rhythm groove made it more than worth to listen to. In these days we listened to James Chance, Defunkt and many others funk and jazz inspired bands. Some might call it eclectic but after decades nothing of this music lost of it's fascination.

James Chance and the Contortions - Contort Yourself

Shleep

Robert Wyatt is a veteran of British progressive music and founding member of Soft Machine. During a party in 1973 he fell out of the window from the 4th floor and was paralysed from the waist down and had to use a wheelchair for mobility ever since. But he never stopped making music in the following decades. Not the normal stuff you can find in a jukebox and always searching for new sounds. Most of his recordings were experimental and filled with great ideas in arrangements. A few days ago I found his album from 1997 Shleep again in my collection. It made fun to listen to this album after a long time. Shleep is a conscious return to more melodic paths, eschewing some of the experimentation of the past in favour of a gentler sound that recalls the calmer moments of his classic album Rock Bottom, albeit in a more pastoral vein. It is the tension itself between nearly happy ones and the rather more epic songs the album makes amusing. And you can hear that Brian Eno produced the album and played on it as well as one of the most underrated guitar players of the 70's - Phil Manzanera.

Robert Wyatt - Heaps of Sheeps
Robert Wyatt - Alien