Brian Eno: What Art Does
lrb.co.uk
lrb.co.uk
“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”
Eno knew what made music powerful, and created many powerful pieces himself and with others, but the article captures well how artists can lose touch with that energy:
"When I listen to that song again, I think, ‘Jesus, I would never do that now.’ I could not leave that in that condition ... It’s so badly played but actually that is the character of the piece. I just wouldn’t make it now like that."
Yeah in his art school, physical media were shunned and role playing was emphasized. So he kind of painted with sound in some ways. Also, at that time, Cagian systems and processes were the popular approach.
Yup knowing the history of it all provides much more meaning.
I had gone into such a spiral, in character, that I made my own little ambient music generator before I landed on Ambient 1: Music for Airports [0]. This has been a constant companion during long nights of sprints, helps me zone out and reach a flow state quicker than most of what I've experimented with.