Brian Eno On Sex, Drugs, Art & Religion

This video features seminal ambient music artist and producer Brian Eno sharing his thoughts on art and opportunity.

It’s from a series of videos by Alfred Dunhill to promote their menswear line – of all things – but is very well done.

And Eno, as always, has thoughtful things to say, about sex, drugs, art & religion.

via Alfred Dunhill

20 thoughts on “Brian Eno On Sex, Drugs, Art & Religion

  1. I’d like to see dance-centric people take this to heart. The early complaint about synthesizers being too artificial or playing themselves has come to fruition to some extent. When you can buy a set of sounds specifically labeled “dubstep,” there’s a problem inherent in letting “the companies” lead you into what style to play and how to approach it. If you keep exploring ways to make it zag when so many are zigging, that has a greater chance of being really satisfying in the end.

    Its not just the lock-step beats that bug me; its the lack of much apparent BUILDING on it. Where is there any YOU in your music if it immediately reminds people of several big names in the style? Hand to heart, guys, play what grabs you and enjoy it. I use a few rather rigid beats at times and like ’em, but I do it so I have a base for syncopation and contrast. Its said that marriage is hard work, as if that was a bad thing. The sweat of doing a thing you love is part of your reward. Don’t discount it.

    No one, incl. me, says you have to labor to be a major composer or the next demigod producer, but Eno makes a fine point about being fluid and open to those zags. Its less about being passive and more a matter of not being so “active” that you tread on some potential gold. “Happy accidents” can be your best studio pal if you learn how to see and cultivate them. The seeds of my best works have almost always come from left field, or ended up including left-field moments. Just keep that in mind so you stay loose enough to let that magic pop up.

    1. Yes, but you have to realize who is making the most money in our modern world. Justin Beiber comes to mind. There is a hell of a lot more to the story on “artistic integrity” than idealism.

      Look at E. A. Poe, for instance. Inventor of the detective story, and gothic muse par excellence. He died penniless (and reportedly insane), entirely unrecognized for his brilliance. How about N. Tesla? Inventor of AC electricity, radio, remote controls, and power lines – like the ones running to your house at this very moment. He also died penniless and reportedly insane – and still mostly unrecognized for his contributions by the general populace.

      Do you think that appeals to people? True innovation has a steep price, my friend.

        1. Yeah, Poe could blind him with a glass of laudnum to the eyes and then Tesla could zap him back into the stygian depths with a fancy zap-gun everyone will subsequently wanna have on their bookshelves. Sweet.

      1. >> “True innovation has a steep price, my friend.”

        NO SH*T! Robert Fripp announced his departure from active music because he was tired of being screwed. The better and more sincere you are, the harder it is to fight uphill against the Visigoths after a while.

        The biggest problem will always be the audience, who often don’t BOTHER to explore and therefore, can’t even interpret a new thing, much less appreciate it.
        They want familiarity over all else and often fight like mad in defense of whatever music grabbed them in high school. Hollering about Beiber is pointless. Encouraging people to taste-test new things is not.

        Second is the democratization of music. With “everyone” owning at least 3 synths and an Electribe, the field is too crowded with dabblers. No dis intended, but not everyone can write good music. With the record companies having proven to be monstrous and to be avoided, you have to Search and dig and Follow to find the good stuff online. Music is a great, positive hobby, but the road is now steeper if you want to stand out at all, much less make any money at it. There are many respectable approaches such as teaching or library sessions for kids, but being a rock star is almost as impossible as it is stressful. You want stardom a lot less than you THINK you do, heh heh.

        Third, you MUST decide why you got into this and what your goals are. Be honest with yourself about that one. If you just like to dabble, go for it and don’t sweat either excess loftiness or derisions from others. If its for dance-fun to you, dance your ass off. Likewise, if you are “serious,” listen to your inner voice. If you do something that really wows you, the odds are good that its heartfelt in a way that will make it more meaningful to your listeners. If you try to fake something to gratify a crowd, it’ll often show and tarnish you a bit. If its genuine, a certain % of people will hear it and give it the nod. That’s where you become more productively Enoid, because your beginning ideas can really take off when you learn to let the unexpected play its part.

        A few have dismissed Eno, but its their loss. This is the guy who played in Roxy Music, produced U2’s “The Joshua Tree” & Genesis’ legendary “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” and defines a lot of what became Ambient. I don’t always agree with him, but he’s never been capital-W “Wrong.” That’s why I have an Oblique Strategies widget on my desktop. 😛

        Third,

        1. Fungo I really enjoyed your comment and I wanted to leave a reply, I see your comments on here frequently. I do enjoy the whole fight for your artistic rights(writes?). Do you play or create with the intention of an aimed audience(genre,style,etc)? OR is it something just you are creating intimately alone? If it is either, is there a chance for it to gain “some” success, whether it be an album or a show, or MAYBE something bigger(is there a such thing?).

          I laughed when I saw your electribe comment! I own an electribe and synths and I do create! I am young (21) IN the middle of harrisburg pa with not too many resources or opportunities. If someone my age would define success in music it would be “playing at the biggest music festival ever”. I laugh mostly. I know something like that would be “cool” but I am an outcast in todays modern electronic world (an older friend calls me a young dinosaur). But that does not mean there is no community. in my town we can not have a show that is all ages (21+/all ages no beer for 21+). this really does hurt the life of the city(shame of a capitol let alone city). we do house shows and really try to bring goodtimes/vibes. Our biggest achievement was throwing a show the day before thanksgiving. Historic Harrisburg Association,3$ donation(our first show that we actually “asked” for money) which was a raffle ticket. TONs of art hanging up, food, beer, all ages. Free haircuts/photo shoot!Jewelry and prints that artist made, records for sale. Great PA. This was thrown by KIDS my age, couldn’t believe I was a part of it. Crazy bands!(trio with a synth/guitar looper>8man jam band>Me doing my wonky electronic music>Orginal hiphop/ jazz dj using ableton, launchpad, synth, guitar!) Was it sucessful? I would say so, but that does not mean our voices were heard around the world, we are in the middle of NOWHERE. But in my heart it was such an achievement. Est 150-200 people came in and out. But we aren’t popular we are just no name kids, we didn’t even make money it was donated to a deceased show promoter who really brought life to harrisburg and sadly passed away earlier that week.
          To me success would be handing my best friend my first album. I do not have an album all of music is stored in my groovebox but I have somehow managed to play at LEAST one show a month since June(based on trust). I have made no money and don’t plan on it but bought over 1000$ worth of silly synths with my barista job. I do not own any music software on a computer but have seen and researched and have “dabbled” with ableton and studio1. Today is such a big “producing” competition that I have not even begun to even wrap my head around that one. I am in no rush. But it is something I would like to do. To have something in stone that I can give to the people, and my friends. I would love to have some of my music posted on synthtopia just to read thru the troll comments, and maybe even be heartfelt by some1 who did enjoy. I love this website, been reading daily for over a year (Thank you Synthhead for the headsup on Meeblip promo/Orbital at Moogfest). Until then Fungo I hope to receive a comment from you if my music does ever make its way here =D

          1. WARNING! Big speech ahead!

            >>>> Fungo I really enjoyed your comment and I wanted to leave a reply, I see your comments on here frequently. I do enjoy the whole fight for your artistic rights (writes?). Do you play or create with the intention of an aimed audience (genre,style,etc)? OR is it something just you are creating intimately alone? If it is either, is there a chance for it to gain “some” success, whether it be an album or a show, or MAYBE something bigger(is there a such thing?).

            Hard to say, since the general frenzy in the world is mounting. Its a somewhat hippie-fied idea, but you have to take some personal joy in it, unattached to others. That core will set the tone for the rest. “Success” is not just one thing, nor would many of us want the stress that goes with parts of it.

            I write for myself first, for the sheer joy of it. I write for others second, because virtually everyone likes SOME of what I do. You should share your work a bit; it has less value if freeze-dried and unheard in the outside world. Only 3 or 4 of my pals are gag-ga over it all, heh heh.

            I’ve played for years and grown through a lot of bad periods and worse instruments, but it started to resolve as the technology got better and I landed a decent workstation. I’ve heard and seen a LOT of great musicians perform, so one early thing I learned was a little humility. Someone will always best you in your arena, but its simply a challenge to woodshed more. You don’t have to ‘beat’ the stars; you just have to improve on yourSELF.

            Here are 4 different things I do. http://soundcloud.com/David-Emm-1

            I love classical; ambient; avant-weird things from artists such as Zappa, Derek Sherinian & Tom Waits; and then more beat-based pieces where I can wallow in the wild range of what a synth can do. (If you’ve ever heard the synth suite “Windblown Reeds” by TD alumnus Johannes Schmoelling, you’ve heard a great example of same.) I’ve seen everything from live opera to live Pink Floyd, so I came to understand many kinds of FEEL pretty well. It amuses me to suddenly compose a section that recalls some great concert moment I saw ages back. I’m not a big zydeco fan, but I sometimes drop in an accordion with that flavor and it works. Immerse yerself! Let things you don’t normally embrace play in the background on YouTube. Many great examples of all of the music in the world are there for the plucking.

            >>>> I laughed when I saw your electribe comment! I own an electribe and synths and I do create! I am young (21) IN the middle of harrisburg pa with not too many resources or opportunities. If someone my age would define success in music it would be “playing at the biggest music festival ever”. I laugh mostly. I know something like that would be “cool” but I am an outcast in todays modern electronic world (an older friend calls me a young dinosaur). But that does not mean there is no community.

            Very true. The Net is fraught with little traps and annoyances, but its a big part of that community now. I may appear to sneer at things like dubstep at times, but my real goal is to make people listen further outside their comfort zone. Dance usually applies synths at their lowest level of creativity, which is not bad, because the goal is honest: to party! I simply hope to hear people take more chances, as opposed to being locked into a narrow work habit. Example: I had an epiphany a long time ago when I slowed an arpeggiator way DOWN. It took on a mysterious, shuffling character that inspired me from a totally new angle. When Eno speaks of exploring the unexpected without excessive preconception, it includes those small game-changers.

            >>>> To me success would be handing my best friend my first album.

            Good attitude, as it has to start there. I have pals who are semi-brutally honest, which I ask them to be. Some pieces they love, others are MEH to them. I don’t always take their advice, but sometimes, yes. I listen, let it simmer and 12 miles down the road, I sometimes find myself applying their advice. I like the benefits of commenters whose background has been different from mine. It keeps me from being locked into a mental synth dungeon, grumbling over the teeny and often only imagined rough edges.

            >>>> I have made no money and don’t plan on it but bought over 1000$ worth of silly synths with my barista job. I do not own any music software on a computer but have seen and researched and have “dabbled” with ableton and studio1. Today is such a big “producing” competition that I have not even begun to even wrap my head around that one.

            I wish I could show people how EASY it can be. I could never go back to just a hardware workstation alone. Logic has liberated me. I can casually assign a new track internally or to outside hardware. Many of my old hassles just disappeared, praise Gawd! More than not, a synthesist has to also be a producer and programmer to some extent, but it generally WORKS. Keep your system clean and largely free of huge video files or wads of games. If you are tidy, defrag and run vigilant anti-viral suites, your system will hum for musical uses.

            If you are a wary newbie, I advise you to drop $60 on the single license and try Reaper: http://www.reaper.fm/ Its flexible and mature as a DAW and runs on PCs, LINUX (!) or Mac. It’ll run 3rd-party plugs, so you’re wide open for options. I grew into using Logic and you may prefer another DAW later, but Reaper rocks in a meaningful way. Their site is clean and fully descriptive.

            >>>> I would love to have some of my music posted on synthtopia just to read thru the troll comments, and maybe even be heartfelt by some1 who did enjoy.

            Trolls are mostly ‘holes. People who sneer to excess don’t deserve much consideration, being jealous, stoopid or mini-sociopaths. Those who CRITIQUE on just a couple of points are the ones who count, which defines most of us here. Put some pieces on Soundcloud and post the link. You might develop a few fans who find your core to be sincere and therefore, listenable. Nothing beats a failure but another try and some ‘failures’ trigger the best successes. BTW, I am a Korg loyalist of many years, so by all means, milk that Electribe!

            1. Thank you ! Listening to the soundcloud. Great movements! Thanks for the kind words, the internet needs more love(oh god thiswebsite). I very much like the openness to the tunes and loved the vocal annihilation in fevre. Girlfriend described it as alien mothers talking to us (heheh). I would love to make music that is very open like this and would see a computer being of very much help. ATM I am just making dance oriented music that is very time locked. Will have to look into some of the artists you posted but the only music that I know how to play (other than my own) is pink floyd. Love Richard he secretly controls the vibe, so subtle but true. Over the past year I have been influenced by much of Kraftwerk,Orbital, Shpongle, and tons of synthesist. (thank you synthtopia!). Some of my friends think its too ‘far out ‘(Ha they are weak!). The electronic dance movement of today is pretty wild, I understand a little bit more of it than most of the kids my age do (who would be considered a part of it). My great aunt (jeeze 80?) linked it to the jazz movement of her age. She was guessing as well as she has never witnessed lol. Its a pretty fair statement (even the whole 60’s+ music movement bridges these together). And I agree with your statement of exploring new realms and territories (oh god lets just perfect one genre). Tho it is great to have a style that is unique. (Did I just contradict myself?). Music is weird like that. Today there are many electronic artists spewing out recycled garbage (and making a pretty good living at that!). Its fun to not be considered a part of that and people really do react to my music with genuine love. Agree with your statement of dance music being simplified creativity, being based around the synthesizer itself one does have to somewhat dive into the creative realm to pull something out (most of the time). Also agree with the statement of it being party oriented. It is defiantly bridging together and connecting communities of phenomenal size. (Getting at the idea of the connection between jazz, and the rock/jam movements). Whether it be a really big event or a small no name occurrence like the one I described in previous comment. People are really coming together and music has a lot to do with it. Even just a underground community like the one we have here. I suppose we keep going, maybe try to make some people dance and have fun ! Loved sharing some thoughts and internetlove with ya !

  2. Eno’s comment about the perfect sine wave echos the sentiment of one of the great pioneers of electronic music, Oskar Sala, who had almost exactly the same to say about the use of sine wave generators for musical purposes in early electronic music studios (before the advent of synthesizers). But Sala would probably not have thought very much of Eno’s music, I guess, because it lacks virtuosity.

  3. I think there always has been and always will be a problem with artists and the notion of being sucessful and also ‘good’, plus theres a lot of inverse snobbery that go;s on. If someone sells millions of records (whats one of those i hear you ask?) then they must have automatically ‘sold out’ and are therefore artistically shit. Scott Walker (who I love BTW) brings out albums which sound not unlike nails being scapped down a chalkboard, and listening to them is like having your teeth extracted, and he probably sells about 3 albums, but he;s a GREAT ARTIST, so does it matter!? Its with all these contradisctions that musicians or any artists find themselves. Do you want to be popular and liked by lots of people whose opinion you don’t repect, or be loved by a few fellow artists?

    Questions of integrity etc are important, but conversely if no one wants to listen to your 57 minute atonal cello sonata who is to blame, the ‘ignorant’ public or the up thier own pretetious areshole composer? There is a middle way of course……..

  4. Thanks for posting this. There was some time ago a series on the BBC radio called Chain Reaction where Alan Moore was interviewing Brian Eno (and the previous episode was Stewart Lee interviewing Moore). I highly recommend it (should be on Youtube).

  5. Cool conversation. Eno’s musings about his creative process are helpful– especially as he acknowledges different ways (farmer vs. cowboy, for example) that folks work. His point about not waiting around for inspiration, but listening to the work and where it is going.

    The side-topic about commercial success vs. artistic success is also quite interesting. If making money is THE goal, a person can pay attention to formulas and follow what others do. OR, a person can take some risks, and hope that what he or she makes catches on (along with some good self-marketing). But if a person is interested in artistic expression, they might make things that are worth-while and satisfying for them, and if the art has integrity, perhaps there is a small audience for it.

    I really enjoy composing rich and interesting music. I have never made significant money at it. But I really don’t care. The work itself is satisfying enough.

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