Brian Eno: Oblique Music

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On the back of his published diary Brian Eno describes himself variously as: a mammal, a father, an artist, a celebrity, a pragmatist, a computer-user, an interviewee, and a drifting clarifier'. To this list we might add rock star (on the first two Roxy Music albums); the creator of lastingly influential music (Another Green World; Music for Airports); a trusted producer (for Talking Heads, U2, Coldplay and a host of other artists); the maker of large-scale video and installation artworks; a maker of apps and interactive software; and so on. He is one of the most feted and influential musical figures of the past forty years, even though he has described himself on more than one occasion as a non-musician. This volume examines Eno's work as a musician, as a theoretician, as a collaborator, and as a producer. Brian Eno is one of the most influential figures in popular music; an updated examination of his work on this scale is long overdue.

Reviews

Specialists in English, media, film and television have also been invited to take part in this conversation, which feels authentic to the spirit of Eno ... The book mulls over those necessary questions that anyone thinking about Eno must eventually face. * The Wire *
Contributions include meticulous descriptions of compositions; a chapter about Enos ambient oeuvre (which quirkily compares him to Tolkien at great length) ... Albiez contributes to the best piece on precursors to Enos use of the studio to create new sounds. ... Intellectually stimulating. * Record Collector *
The collections standouts are Martin James pithy, pacy account of Enos years in New York (1978-84) and Hillegonda Rietvelds coolly attentive reading of the soundtrack to the film The Lovely Bones, in which his oblique music seems like a ghostly call from the in-between. * Times Higher Education *
For quite some time, Brian Eno has been jokingly referred to as the professor of pop. Its about time, then, that real academics caught up with a body of work that is as perplexing as it is complex. ... Essential reading for all academic listeners. * Times Higher Education ('What are you reading') *
This much needed book explores the many trajectories of Enos varied career, and it will engage and excite any music lover, regardless of your opinion of Enos work. Its a richly rewarding collection that deftly explores and unpacks the work of one of popular musics pioneering figures. ... Oblique Music does an outstanding job of critically capturing both the well-known and less familiar elements of Enos work ... [It] provides some thought-provoking material on broader issues such as collaboration, composition, creativity, experimentation, musicianship, technology and more, and as such will stimulate the interest of anyone engaged in music creation and production. This is a book that you will return to time and again like Enos best work, its rewards make themselves most evident after repeated visits. * Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture *
Meticulously written, rich in detail and factually argued ... Anyone who wants to know Eno from the beginning, to understand his experimental strategies in the studio or to study his eternal movement between pop music and free sound, will not be disappointed. * Groove (Bloomsbury translation) *
[T]he essays or chapters in this anthology are thoughtful, thought-provoking, informed and interesting ... [and] they come at their subject from an appropriately wide-ranging and inter-disciplinary number of fields ... Its a lively and varied collection, that leaves room for even more consideration of the elusive, enigmatic and influential Eno. * International Times *
[A] series of essays by academics each focussing on an aspect of Eno's work and ideas. ... There's even a chapter about Devo. A fascinating [read]. * Electronic Sound *
As producer, musician, theorist, facilitator and more, Brian Eno has left significant traces across popular culture since the 1970s and this wide-ranging volume skillfully brings to light both well-known and more obscure aspects of his work and legacy. * Alexei Monroe, Cultural theorist and author of Interrogation Machine: Laibach & NSK *
Few figures in the history of modern music stand up to the kind of wide-ranging, detailed and careful treatment meted out in this brilliant collection. Enos expansive repertoire from glam rock icon to avant-garde composer - constitutes the fertile grounds for what is a learned and lively intervention. Deigned to be a benchmark collection for anyone interested in process-oriented creativity and experimental musicianship, the collection shines a light on Enos dynamic craftsmanship. It fills a crucial gap in the field, bestowing on the reader a unique insight into Eno the polymath, singer, collaborator, composer, avant-gardiste, intellectual and self-defined non-musician. A richly-informed, lucidly written and rigorously compiled collection that provides new insights with every turn of the page. * Nick Prior, Senior Lecturer and Head of Sociology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland *

Author Bio

Sean Albiez is Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at Southampton Solent University, UK David Pattie is Professor in Drama in the Department of Performing Arts at the University of Chester, UK.