Friday, April 02, 2010

First Light by Brian Eno

This music is beautiful in the foreground, but the genius of it is the background. Make the reverberation and echo your primary listening experience, and you will understand what I mean.

12 comments:

midnight rider said...

I like this one very much. It immediately reminded me of the Canon in D (coming Sunday to an IBA near you!) not in it's composition nor tone but in it's structure or format I think.

If you start listening to the Canon in the middle you hear all this stuff going on up front and never -- unless you're really listening - notice that it is built around the same 8 notes played over and over and over. And those 8 notes hold the whole damn thing together. Without them it would crumble.

Wind was very interesting as well. WHen it first began, the wind chimes sounded, to me, like a ship's bell sounding. Possibly because of that instant impression throughout listening to the whole thing those chimes just ketp bringing the image of a ship in a very calm but not still sea.

Chill air. I don't think you've ever been in the quiet woods when it's snowing (though that is only an assumption) but this sounds very much like the quiet crystaline sound the snow makes when landing. Not as you hear it in the city, but out there in the woods when it is dead quiet. And miles to go before I sleep. . .

Lantern Marsh -- I didn't get the paranoic from it, but the thick and humid yes. Earth at the dawn of creation. Stuff crawling up from the primordial ooze.

I will have to pick up some of this stuff. Very interesting.

midnight rider said...

I tend to listen to music differently than most people I know, I think.

If I have a classical or jazz piece on and my wife is listening to it (and hasn't asked me to turn it down :) she'll say doesn't it remind you of snow or wind or walking or whatever.

No, usually it doesn't.

When I listen to it I don't usually get a mental picture of anything. Instead -- if it's something I like -- it works it's way in and wraps me up in it until it seems to be flowing in and out of me and changes my own rhythms. Want to change my mood? Put on a different piece of music. I feel music as much as hear it but I don't usually try to interpret what the composer was trying to "say" as much as feel, physically feel, what he has done. If I visualize anything it's usally the instruments being played or the actual notes on the page. Which leads to odd moments where I often find myself waiving my hands around conducting without even realizing it.

And it has been that way all my life. I am ALWAYS listening to something. It's like a heartbeat or breathing. Music has to be there.

These pieces by Eno, though, and other ambient music, usually do bring an image to mind.

None of this applies to music with lyrics because, of course, the lyrics are intended to force you to visualize something.

I read the same way. I don't usualy get a mental picture unless I force myself to do so. But I understand what I read and know what is going on.

Many years ago a friend asked me if, when I think, do I think in pictures or in words. Most people think in picutres (so he said, anyway).

I don't. I think in words. And I think that carries through to how I listen to music.

Jewel said...

I noticed this right away. What in the music is called a montuna (one chord improvisation) Lovely. Like wind chimes.

Pastorius said...

Glad you guys liked it.

I definitely get a mental picture when I listen to music, though it will not tend to be of woods, or seas, or other worldly things. My brain manifests something called Synesthesia. Apparently, it is a rare neurological phenomenon. I see music, and I hear physical images.

Therefore, imagery and music are constant in my brain, whether I am listening or not. Whether my eyes are closed or not.

It's actually very entertaining.

Anyway, when I listen to music, I get unbidden imagery, which is free form, not based in anything in the world.

It is, however, not unlike the imagery in the first two Eno videos (First Light and The Chill Air).

RT said...

Its interesting stuff ..... that I've never heard before.

What would you say is the best album to start my Brian Eno collection with?

With your neurological phenomena (visions of music), Pastorius, I can really see where this stuff would be enjoyable to you.

Pastorius said...

Yes, it does make, particularly, this kind of music very interesting/beautiful.

I think the easiest Brian Eno album to start with is The Plateaux of Mirror.

Glad you liked it.

Doesn't quite fit in the Smoke-Filled Backroom, does it?

;-)

RT said...

Well, my original intent was for you to introduce me to this kind of stuff there.

I am a victim of DFW album / classic rock radio in the 70s.

Its what I know. I basically stopped listening to most new music for years once I moved out of my parents house. I didn't even have a good home stereo again till I was in my mid 30s.

... I'm just now starting to get into the 90s music. ..... hey how bout that new band Nirvana ..... they're pretty good. :-)

..... But no, I think I might really like some stuff like this, or some kinds of modern jazz (Metheny type stuff), if I just knew what I was searching for.

I'm in the process of updating my entire home music library from MP3 to FLAC. And I have a lot of HD headroom to grow. So I guess I'm looking for other genres.

My son just turned me on to Amethystium earlier tonight. I kinda dig that too.

I assume y'all have heard of them? If not, I bet it paints a nice picture as well.

Pastorius said...

I didn't know you had invited me into the Smoke-Filled Backroom to bring in my weird-assed tastes. I thought I was there to hang out and fit in.

If you want to invite me back, I'll make an effort.

Anyway, I had never heard of Amethystium. I like them.

I'm afraid I'm falling a bit behind in my musical taste these days. Frankly, I don't like much I hear on the radio these days.

A lot of the newer bands that I do like are kind of like singer-songwriter types. So, in a way, it's like listening to older music.

RT said...

I ended up with Eno's "Another Day On Earth". I'm driftin' through it now.

That Amethystium is a Norwegian composer.

.... Yeah man, I been wantin to reinvite you, and MR, there for awhile, but I never could find your's or his e-mail addresses here.

I should still have yours back in the old blogspot dashboard somewhere ..... I'll find it and shoot one over you, and maybe you can forward MR's to him. I assume you've noticed the new site is Wordpress based, not Blogger. I had to switch once Haloscan got taken over by Echo. Cause Echo commenting system sucks.

Wordpress, if your not already familar with its interface, is a little different than Blogger's. You can't just paste an embed code with it. I can, but for some reason none of the other contributors there can. You have to push the Youtube button on the publishing interface, then paste just the URL of the video.

Its really just as easy once you get used to it.

Pastorius said...

My email address is

cuanasblog

@

yahoo.com

RT said...

Done Deal

Unknown said...

Hi RT my friend if you like this kind of music... I mean the real music! Then you should hear bark psychosis Hex album.. and harold budd of course.. look for abandoned cities album