NEWS ROUND-UP: JUNE–December 2021

Thanks to Dario, Gideon, Rory, Chris, Samantha, Richard, Richard, Christian, Janne, Graham, Kevin, Rupert, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

The musical highlight of the second half of the year was Brian's and Roger's concert in Athens on 4th August. In spite of the continuing threat of Covid-19, plus high temperatures and wildfires outside the city, the concert took place as planned with Roger's daughter Cecily, Peter Chilvers, and Leo Abrahams also performing. A setlist posted online listed the tracks as: Wintergreen, Ultramarine, Snow, Iris, Blonde, Celeste, Gentle Oriental, Cyclos, A Place We Once Walked, There Were Bells, My Garden of Stars, By This River, Julie With..., Everything Merges With The Night, And Then So Clear, There Was a Ship, and What a World.

Elsewhere, Brian continued to busy himself with EarthPercent and the usual round of interview and discussion appearances.

WrITTEN WORD

Articles and interviews.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

After many years in exile on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, Brian is glimpsed out in the wild once again.

Music

ART

SPOKEN WORD

NEWS UPDATE: 8TH JUNE 2021

Thanks to Martina, Richard, Samantha, Dan, John, Janne, John, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

Today sees the launch of The Lighthouse, a new radio station for Sonos Radio HD which will beam out 300+ unreleased tracks from Brian Eno's archive.

"The music that will be broadcast from The Lighthouse covers a pretty broad period," Eno told an eager (though socially-distanced) young Press Release. "The earliest track we have at the moment is from 1990. We will be adding more pieces as time goes on. New pieces will be entering the mix and some of that will go back even further. You will be listening to a sequence of tracks which will be randomly generated, chosen by chance so there is the possibility of odd, I hope exciting collisions – things that are very slow next to things that are very fast next to things that have no tempo, no pulse at all."

"I have no pulse at all myself," said the Press Release, "for I am made of paper, so those tracks in particular sound right up my street. I take it that The Lighthouse will be exclusively available on the Sonos Radio HD channel, which is exclusively available through Sonos speakers on a subcription basis (€/$/£7.99 per month), exclusively available in the United States, United Kingdom, and now five new territories – namely Austria, Canada, France, Germany and The Netherlands? Oh, he's gone."

Eno will host a series of three programs related to The Lighthouse, starting with Program 1, where he discusses the unreleased material and why he’s finally decided to dig into the archive and share it with the world.
Mustard The Tortoise: That's disappointing. I would have expected him to start with Program 3 or 2. Beginning with 1 seems far too conventional.

"On Sonos Radio, we strive to provide a creative outlet for the artists we collaborate with," interrupted Joe Dawson, Director of Content and Brand Platforms at Sonos. "For months, we’ve been working with Brian Eno to bring his creative vision for The Lighthouse to life, redefining the possibilities of a radio station. With this living archive, fans can continuously immerse themselves in decades of Brian’s unheard music. This project is a testament to how we approach partnering with artists and will continue to evolve the listening experiences on Sonos Radio."

HOMINID

The Summer/Autumn 2021 issue of Arena Homme+ features a long interview with Brian conducted by Paul Stolper, eliciting some reminiscences from Eno about his Art School days, Stafford Beer, New York, Surrender, and his working practices.
Mustard The Tortoise: But it's still 99% men's fashion ads, right?
The 400+ page magazine is available in print on some newsstands that can bear its hefty weight, or alternatively as a digital subscription that you'll forget to cancel.

RETURN TO SURRENDER

From 4th June to 2nd July 2021, Paul Stolper Gallery is hosting The Surrenderer, an exhibition of Brian's latest work including new lightboxes and "Malva", a ceramic vase with an ambient soundtrack played by speaker flowers.
Mustard The Tortoise: Never mind speaker flowers, are there any dandelions involved? Otherwise there's no way I'm going to slog up to London for that.

SPOUTING FORTH

ART

Brian participated in I Love You, Moi Non Plus, an exhibition of artists' responses to the new relationship between the UK and Europe.

The London Design Biennale runs at Somerset House until 27th June. In the the courtyard of Somerset House, Forest for Change – The Global Goals Pavilion features the sound of birdsong curated by Brian and Cheryl Tipp from recordings in the British Library Sound Archive.

Brian will be the 2021 Helsinki Festival’s theme guest, with 77 Million Paintings, The Ship and more running from 19th August to 5th September at Helsinki Music Centre.

FINAL FRONTIER

Brian spoke to the i newspaper about protecting space, in the run-up to a live discussion called Losing the Sky from the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh on 15th June, 19:30-21:30 BST. Tickets are free.

 

NEWS UPDATE: 11TH MAY 2021

Thanks to Dario, Rory, Colman, Martina, Keith, Samantha, Richard, Richard, Nick, Madeline, Bruce, Mark, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.

AthensThe Eno brothers – it's clear that their career is in ruins. That's because Brian and Roger are to stage their first ever live performance together, at the Acropolis in Athens later this year. The concert will be part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival 2021 on 4th August 2021 and will take place at the Herodeion, which is at the base of the Acropolis.

GRAZIAS

The Elevate Festival in Graz has been moved to 4th-8th August. 77 Million Paintings 3D Sound Edition is on the bill, and they say Brian will be there – EnoWeb assumes not on 4th August, though. Eno music can also be heard somewhere in Meow Wolf's Omega Mart installation in Las Vegas.

IN THE PIPELINE

Brian has been collaborating with Fred Again..

EMERGENCY

Brian's a Founder and Trustee of EarthPercent, an environmental charity that aims to offer "a simple way for the music industry to support the most impactful organisations addressing the climate emergency". It's always nice to see new organisations using the ever-fashionable shove-two-words-together name format popularised in the 1990s by (for example) EnoWeb.

i.Detroit

Brian's track "City Of Life" for the i.Detroit book can now be heard online.

BRAIN WORK

On 5th July David Eagleman and Brian will discuss Eagleman's new book, Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain, at an online event.

VIDEO DAYS

Paul Stolper gallery has put Thursday Afternoon and Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan online

INTERVIEWS

Those are not the only online appearances for Brian, you will be unsurprised to read.

HAROLD BUDD

A few links for Harold Budd.

And other artists.

NEWS UPDATE: 22ND JANUARY 2021

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

A Quiet Scene – the video installation of over 100 short films accompanying Roger and Brian Eno's music from Mixing Colours and its subsequent Luminous EP – will be screened from 22nd January to 21st February 2021 at The Music Center's Jerry Moss Plaza in Los Angeles, in collaboration with non-profit radio station dublab. For the first three days of the event, it will also be live-streamed so that viewers around the world can enjoy the mix.

And following CSI and Law and Order, A Quiet Scene is getting in on the franchise action with A Quiet Scene: L.A. Residents are invited to make films of Los Angeles with a soundtrack of one of the pieces from Luminous (these also appear on the Mixing Colours Expanded Edition). The chosen films will then be displayed from 20th March to 18th April.

MUSIC FOR ELEVATORS

This year's Elevate Festival in Graz, Austria, will feature 77 Million Paintings with 3D audio. Eno is supposedly scheduled to be present at the launch on 4th March... though who knows if that'll be a physical manifestation or beamed in live from his bijou pied-à-terre, given the continuing lockdown. And – finally, after decades of people sneering at ambient music and saying "Has he done Music for Lifts yet?" – new Eno music will be played all year in the Schlossberg elevators.

RECYCLED BUT STILL RELEVANT NEWS ITEMS

A limited edition CD of Brian's soundtrack for RAMS (previously a Record Store Day exclusive vinyl LP) is now available while stocks last! Hurry!! Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!!! Etc.!!!!

During 2021 the Science Museum Group will be hosting a series of Climate Talks; the discussion on 15th February will feature Brian and James Thornton discussing the work of ClientEarth. It's a free online event though museum donations are welcome.

INTERVIEWS

Brian has favoured Rolling Stone Japan and Los Angeles Times with his considered opinions. Geeta Dayal wrote an In Memoriam of Harold Budd.

VIDEO AND AUDIO

Brian and the usual supects speculated about what might be next for Julian Assange, while far in the past Russell Mills waited for Brian, and

Very recently
Somebody breathed heavily
Near some Eno lightboxes
In Italy.

Plus some words with and without moving pictures.

 

Other news sources

 

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