NEWS UPDATE: 30TH DECEMBER 2019

Thanks to Dario, Alex, Rory, Richard, Samantha, Russ, Peter, Mikkel, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

Interviews AND DISCUSSIONS:

In December Brian Eno, Brian Cox and Shaun Keaveny met at the top of the Post Office Tower, home of WOTAN, to shoot the breeze. The broadcast can be streamed until late January, by which time you may feel like skipping the Christmassy music – the chit-chat starts about an hour in.

Zipping back in time to the release of the extended Apollo... Brian, Roger and Dan contributed to Grant Armour's Noisey/Vice documentary about the album.

Brian appeared on Teodor Currentzis' Midnight Lounge show on SWR2 at the end of June, spinning discs in a smiliar approach to the Radio Ping-Pong programmes with Charlie Gillett back in the day. SWR2's stream had disappeared by the time we found out about the show, but someone had kindly archived it. Of greatest interest to those of us who Already Know All And See All are the cut from Eno's Empty Formalism installation and Jojo Mayer's interpretation of one of Brian's robot drummers.

Brian appeared on the Andrew Marr show in July.

In October, Brian talked to James Thornton about Client Earth, and Amanda Palmer bootlegged it.

In November, Yanis Varoufakis and Brian discussed Money, Power and a Call for Radical Change for Intelligence Squared. This was one of many appearances during the year to discuss various weighty matters, but recordings for the rest of those don't appear to be available.

Hot Press spoke to Brian for its 1000th issue.

In November Brian appeared on Italian channel RAI's TV7 as he was at the DECODE 2019 Symposium on Our Data, Our Future. Most of his words are obscured by an Italian voiceover.

A 1985 SPIN interview. Great typo where it is claimed Brian said "It was like having a pain box with a limited range of colors".

A 2001 Echoes interview with Brian and J. Peter Schwalm.

MUSIC:

Apart from Apollo, there wasn't much in the way of new music from Brian this year. He did contribute to a few other artists' output though, and provided some of the soundtrack for Netflix's new series of Top Boy (which they called Season 1, having renamed the first two Channel 4 seasons Top Boy: Summerhouse). And a limited-edition vinyl record is on the way, with a launch at Kunsthal Charlottenberg, Copenhagen that will include a filmed documentary.

ACTIVISM:

Brian staged an eleventh-hour intervention in Britain's General Election but really cannot be held responsible in any way for the Labour Party's subsequent pulverisation. He also campaigned on behalf of Julian Assange and provided a voiceover for the start of a docudrama.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:

Curious Music will publish the English version of The Book, Achim Roedelius’ autobiography in February; Brian has written the foreword. Roedelius is now on Patreon with jolly rewards for deep-pocketed supporters.

Brian commented on some Internet items that had been drawn to his attention.

If you want to license some of Brian's music for a creative project, you can do so here – including some track names that aren't immediately familiar.

Rupert Loydell's Eno/Cybernetics Musings

David Power, Kate Ledger and Lynette Quek arranged six of the pieces from The Plateaux of Mirror for piano and live electronics, with a premiere in York on Saturday 3rd August.

Peter Chilvers news:

Simon Bray has created a book of photos taken at the locations that inspired On Land.

That wraps it up for this year!

NEWS BITE: 23RD DECEMBER 2019

There are a few news items to be rounded up, but today is not the day. We just popped by to mention that Brians Eno and Cox will be talking to Shaun Keaveny for their traditional annual pre-recorded programme on Christmas Day for BBC 6 Music, available for a month afterwards for streaming.       

NEWS UPDATE: 14TH JULY 2019

Thanks to Dario, Alex, Rory, Martina, Richard, Gary, Samantha, Tony, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

With the imminent launch of Apollo/For All Mankind on 19th July, there's a bit of publicity flying around.

Film buffs may be interested to know that the new track "The End of a Thin Cord" on For All Mankind is a version of the much requested love theme from The Jacket.

Brian will also be appearing on the wireless on BBC 6 Music; broadcasts will be streamable for a month afterwards. Apollo is the station's Album Of The Day on 19th July.

Before we move onto other news, Gary informed us a long while back that one of the many versions of For All Mankind included an otherwise unreleased track by Brian called "Black Sedan". We were never able to find out why it got cut.

Continuining the Apollo/coloured vehicular manifestations theme, it's also worth pointing out that Daniel Lanois' film Here Is What Is has a track called "Blue Bus" which turns out to be a variant of "Deep Blue Day".

Icebreaker and B.J. Cole performed "An Ending (Ascent)" in Prague.

That just about wraps it up for Space in this news update.

In late June, Brian was a guest at the Starmus V Festival in Zürich, the annual event celebrating everything to do with Space exploration. He was awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, and also got an asteroid named after him thanks to astronomer Marc Buie. Brian has a spider named after him, too, but footling Customs regulations meant that it was unable to accompany him to Starmus.

Audio of 14th May Brian's chat with Srećko Horvat on 14th May.

Apparently Brian provided a soundtrack for this 1987 public information film on AIDS.

Moving swiftly on from one apocalyptic vision to another, Warp Records celebrated its 30 year anniversary with a selection of special broadcasts, including one that featured members of Extinction Rebellion backed by music from Apollo.

Brian took the time to contradict President Trump.

Brian has created an audio/video composition called Philadelphia Dorian for the rooms at the new Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. It could be a bit loud, as the report concludes with the sentence "Data shows Philadelphia will be able to support the boom in hotel rooms."

Michael Benson's Otherworlds is now showing at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottowa; the music by Brian for the show now has a title, Deep Space. An old report from the beginning of the Natural History Museum run of Otherworlds appears to have an earlier version of the soundtrack.

Reverb Machine (Dan Carr) has an article deconstructing Music for Airports.

Brian now possesses an official Twitter account, operated by his record label.

Cybernetics fans! A new illustrated guide to the solutions of Stafford Beer has just been published: Stafford Beer The Father of Management Cybernetics: Big Data Analysis including Cybernetic Glossary. There's a picture of Brian in it.

Miscellaneous clips and snippets

Finally, a look at the postbag. A disgruntled acupuncturist writes:

"Why does every commentary concerning Brian Eno always end up an endless diatribe of idiotic attempts at wit.
You are not Brian Eno, so stop trying so damn hard to talk and act like him, it is repulsive. He doesn't talk like that anyway.
You do not have to make desperate attempts to sound 'cerebral' in EVERY SINGLE FREAKING SENTENCE on your website. 
hope this helps"

Naturally this message was passed over to me by EnoWeb's Customer Care Team as quickly as possible, partly because we place such great emphasis on client satisfaction, and partly because he wanted to get back to lounging in the sunshine and fulminating about the dearth of dandelions in the garden at this time of year. What you appear to be referring to is EnoWeb's House Style. Right from the site's inception in 1993, Malcolm Humes adopted an irreverent attitude towards its subject, and when I took over in 1996 I continued that. It's an expression of the belief that while you may be serious about an artist and their work, you don't have to take your fandom entirely seriously. In no way is this "trying so damn hard to talk and act like" Brian Eno; as you've so cleverly spotted, "He doesn't talk like that anyway". Nor is it "desperate attempts to sound 'cerebral'". The horrifying truth is that this is how I write, and in no way is it 'cerebral' – it's just a few Category Error gags harnessed to a not-particularly-extensive vocabulary. Humour is subjective, and what you find "idiotic attempts at wit" and "repulsive" may well be interpreted by others as merely an amiable way of passing a few minutes. It is a matter of great personal regret that I cannot please all my site visitors all of the time, and that you got so needled, but in the words of the late Rabbi Lionel Blue, "Don't take it too heavy, dearie, don't take it too heavy".

 

NEWS UPDATE: 8TH MAY 2019

Thanks to Dario, Rory, Martina, Richard, Samantha, Tony, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

Fly me to the Moon! And let me eat lots of Mars Bars! Thus sang Brian Eno in 1983 when he released his record Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, secure in the knowledge that the album would prove to be one of the most popular of his career. Unfortunately EnoWeb can't prove that's true, but it definitely is a record that is close to EnoWeb's heart, as we bought it as consolation after failing our A Level exams rather catastrophically. Fast-forward 36 years, and Brian has decided to take the old jalopy out for another spin among the stars. He'll take the path to Jupiter, and maybe very soon, he'll cruise along the Milky Way, and land upon the Moon.

On 19th July an expanded version of Apollo will be released to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landings. Alongside the original Apollo album remastered by Abbey Road's Miles Showell will be a new vinyl disc/CD/assemblage of audio data called For All Mankind – not the film, but eleven new instrumental compositions by Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno and Brian Eno, with Brian producing, co-writing and contributing to all the tracks:
‘The End Of A Thin Cord’ (4:08) – Brian Eno
‘Capsule’ (3:13) – Daniel Lanois
‘At The Foot Of A Ladder’ (3:35) – Brian Eno
‘Waking Up’ (2:29) – Roger Eno
‘Clear Desert Night’ (3:11) – Brian Eno
‘Over The Canaries’ (4:41) – Brian Eno
‘Last Step From The Surface’ (3:58) – Daniel Lanois
‘Fine-grained’ (3:34) – Daniel Lanois
‘Under The Moon’ (3:10) – Roger Eno
‘Strange Quiet’ (4:09) – Roger Eno
‘Like I Was A Spectator’ (4:23) – Brian Eno

As was fashionable in the era known by the Tortoises as the last days of the Human Race, the album would be released in a variety of delivery formats – some of which may still be found in the fossil layer:

  • 2LP 180gram vinyl in a gatefold sleeve
  • Limited numbered 2CD edition with 24-page full colour hardcover book (note: the first 250 orders of vinyl and limited edition 2CD from EnoShop and uDiscover will include an A2 Apollo poster)
  • Standard 2CD edition
  • Special digital edition with exclusive cover art
  • Standard digital edition

We're so sorry, readers, we're not sure why Mustard The Tortoise wrote that last bit, though we know that he is a bit narked by the cold weather at the moment so that might account for his dark mood.
Mustard: Tortoises got to the Moon first.

Other than that, newsworthy Eno items over these past few months have been pretty thin gruel. Let's see...

On 14th May Brian will be in conversation with Srećko Horvat in London.

At the end of March, Juliet Jaques interviewed Brian for Suite 212 on Resonance FM.

Also at the end of March, Roxy Music was duly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Brian couldn't attend because he's given up flying for a year, which for no apparent reason reminded EnoWeb of Hotblack Desiato's decision to spend a year dead for tax purposes (© Douglas Adams).

Brian has written the introduction for a monograph of Beezy Bailey's art.

Brian has made some kind of contribution to the first Wavepaths space in London, though its website isn't exactly forthcoming with information about exactly what... and with a minimum price of £40 for an hour's introductory "journey", EnoWeb is unlikely to be forthcoming either.
Mustard: Well, that's just typical negativity. No wonder your lot died out.

Paul Stolper has some new lenticular artworks by Brian.

Brian has been working on the soundtrack for series 3 of Top Boy, revived by Drake for Netflix.

Look and Learn.

A 1979 portrait of Brian by Shigeo Anzai.
Mustard: He always did like a kimono.

Old stuff: Dublab is running some archive interviews conducted by Carl Stone, and NPR's Fresh Air dug out an archive interview to tie in with Roxy's RARHOF induction.

 

PREVIOUS update: 1ST February 2019

Thanks to Dario, Rory, Paul, Samantha, David, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

77 Million Paintings is on show until February 24th in Dublin, Ireland, at the Gallagher Gallery in the RHA.

Two etchings by Brian appear in the Paul Stolper + ICA Editions exhibition: 'Helica Cadmium Red (Heads)' and 'Helica Cadmium Red (Tails)', both made in 2018 in editions of 25. The exhibition runs at Paul Stolper Gallery (31 Museum Street, London, UK) until 16th February.

The art project DAU is now running in Paris after yet another last-minute hitch, with "bespoke acoustic architecture" provided by Brian. This has given rise to many articles. It will visit London soon.

DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025) is having an online auction, and one of the lots is Brian's 'Rose'. Bidding starts on 5th February.

Brian is a guest on The Leisure Society's forthcoming double album Arrivals & Departures, and a sample of him talking about Surrender appears on the title track of Set Mo’s new album Surrender.

Brian is on the list of guests for Starmus V in Zürich, which runs from 24th to 29th June.

Roxy Music will be inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall o'Fame on Friday 29th March.

Gary Hustwit's film RAMS, which has original music by Brian, is now available to buy digitally via Vimeo.

Associated artists:

  • Neuroscientist Mendel Kaelen's Wavepaths site is now running, with music by Jon Hopkins
  • Bill Nelson has a journal entry with some recent reminiscences about Harold Budd

YouTube's Search function still appears to be working less well than it should. At least the University of Ambience is trying hard to restore some quality to the "Brian Eno" results, with the release of new material for its Candlemas Term.

Other news sources

 

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