Electronic Musicians

Moog Music has published a nice interview with Chris Kilmore, of Incubus.

In the interview, Kilmore discusses how he uses his Moog gear: Read more…

In a Trouser Press interview from 1982, Brian Eno shared his thoughts on ambient music:

Brian Eno On Ambient Music

I like it as an ambiguous term. It gives me a certain latitude.

It has two major meanings. One is the idea of music that allows you any listening position in relation to it. This has widely been misinterpreted by the press (in their infinite unsubtlety) as background music. I mean music that can be background or foreground or anywhere, which is rather a different idea.

Most music chooses its own position in terms of your listening to it. Muzak wants to be back there. Punk wants to be up front. Classical wants to be another place. I wanted to make something you could slip in and out of. You could pay attention or you could choose not to be distracted by it if you wanted to do something while it was on. I can’t read with a pop record playing, or with most classical records. They’re not intended to leave that part of the mind free – my mind, anyway. Ambient music allows many different types of attention.

The other meaning is more pronounced on On Land: creating an ambience, a sense of place that complements and alters your environment. Both meanings are contained in the word ambient. Read more…

In a Trouser Press interview from 1982, Brian Eno shared his thoughts on composing:

Brian Eno On Composing

I’m always starting pieces of work. It’s the only thing I do, really; these pieces don’t go anywhere. For some reason, one of them will touch something in me. I never understand why at the time. As soon as I’ve got that, I recognize it as being the seed for something. There follows a period of looking at it in different ways, putting things with it, seeing how it reacts with other things – as you might do with a chemical. Read more…

Here’s something cheery for all the Moby-haters out there – news it’s Moby’s birthday – and that Moby’s birthday is going to be way better than yours.

First off, there’s the presents:

• a poem about tacos
• some pleasant quasi-soft-core porn
• a book about tea production
• a vegan cassoulet (a french dish normally made from sausages and pig fat)
• Reading through loads of  ‘happy birthday!’ emails

Not sure about the taco poem – but it’s probably by Beck or something.

Then he’s off to have lunch with Jean Michel Jarre, to chat about how to deal with piles of cash and what to do with all those promotional synths that companies give them.

Next up, it’s time to hang out in Paris with Scarlett Johansson.

Not bad for a “weird bald guy“, eh?

via Moby

Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co., the world’s first all-synthesizer musical ensemble, will celebrate its 40th anniversary season with a free concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca.

The concert will feature two compositions by David Borden, the group’s leader who taught at Cornell University for 37 years.

For Sunday’s concert, Borden will be joined by keyboardists and frequent collaborators David Yearsley, Blaise Bryski and Josh Oxford.

Details are available at the Mother Mallard site.

via stargazette