Guest blogger: Jeremy Messersmith
A bunch of my tunes have been popping up on My Life As Liz (Sully needs a spinoff!), and I thought you might be curious to know what I've had repeating on my iPod lately. Turns out, it's British soundmaker/producer Brian Eno. He's a little on the obscure side, so I decided to compile 5 reasons why you should care. So here goes:
1. The Windows 95 Sound
He wrote it. You might remember this sound from way back in the mid 90's. If not, simply visit your grandparents and boot up their computer (or check this out). It's only 6 seconds long, but when you take into account that it was installed on millions of computers, which were probably booted hundreds of times each, well, that's a hit song by any definition.
2. Record Producer and Collaborator
What do artists like Coldplay, U2, Talking Heads, Devo and David Bowie all have in common? They have mansions. But beyond that, they've all worked with Brian Eno, either as a record producer or as a collaborator. His innovative approach to making music makes him extremely valuable in the recording studio. Most recently he produced Coldplay's latest record, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends."
3. Oblique Strategies
Brian Eno is the Yoda of record producers. Along with Peter Schmidt, he made a deck of cards, each one with a mind altering adage meant to break the reader out of creative complacency. If you get stuck creatively, simply pull out a card and try to apply what it says. A few gems are sayings like "Honour thy error as a hidden intention" or "Don't break the silence."
Personally, I like to respond with an oblique strategy as an answer to any question. For example:
Friendly Waitstaff: "Would you like white or wheat toast?"
Me: "Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do."
See? There is no way faster way to convince everyone you are a jedi master.
4. Ambient Music
If you saw Peter Jackson's recent film "The Lovely Bones" (Remember? The Lord of the Rings guy?) then you have inadvertently listened to the first track from Brian Eno's ambient music classic "Music For Airports." Eno pioneered the ambient music movement, releasing his first ambient record well before most of us were even born. He describes it as music that "is as ignorable as it is interesting."
5. Generative iPhone Music Apps
Want to create your own ambient music? Eno has released three apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch that let you create your own ambient music: Bloom, Trope, and Air. It's easy to create your own trance-like soundscapes using these wonderfully psychadelic apps.
Jeremy Messersmith is a singer/songwriter from Minneapolis, MN. You can check out his website or follow him on twitter. Tune into the season finale of My Life As Liz on March 8th @ 10:30 EST to hear "Franklin Avenue" from his latest record "The Silver City."
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