New music from Eno and Karl Hyde

[aoVI]

At Warp Records, releases in May

[robojam]

That will be interesting to hear!

[Phase47]

That'll either be contender for album of the year or a major disappointment.

[aoVI]

That'll either be contender for album of the year or a major disappointment.

As with almost any Eno release. I remember Spinner with Jah Wobble or Passengers. They weren't awful, just didn't feel like I was experiencing something new and cutting edge.

Passengers was necessary though. After Zooropa I predicted U2 either had to make Eno a full member or get rid of him. Through Passengers they found another way.

[Thought Experiment]

When I first heard about Eno hooking up with Warp Records, I thought maybe he'd shaken off the complacency of his later stuff. But no, while it was markedly better, it still didn't excite me like, for instance 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts' did. And that's a long time ago...

It's a shame, but nowadays my expectations are pretty low when a new Eno release is announced - but at the back of my mind there's still a little hope that he'll make something truly great again

[GaryG]

I think he's picked up again recently.

Lux was, well, typical ambient Eno but other recent albums (Small Craft..., Drums Between...) were both pretty good imo. Small Craft... was obviously a collaboration so maybe that helped.

His last collab with David Byrne though was sadly pretty bland...

imo.

[aoVI]

Yeah, loved Small Craft on a Milk Sea and Drums Between the Bells.

I often wonder if it's just not me that is expecting too much sometimes. Discovering his earlier works was such a revelation and so different than what I was exposed to at the time. It has to be hard to deliver something 10 years ahead of it's time every time you release something.

I do like the fact that despite my feelings about a particular work, he still seems to be developing and releasing things that interest him. Perhaps he will once again come up with something that changes the way we listen and think about what we do.

[GaryG]

I often wonder if it's just not me that is expecting too much sometimes. Discovering his earlier works was such a revelation and so different than what I was exposed to at the time. It has to be hard to deliver something 10 years ahead of it's time every time you release something.

Sad, but I think that's generally the case for any artist hailed early on in their career. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of a band like REM; 'best band in the world' said Rolling Stone and I love most of their 80s output. But then they hit a plateau which resulted in stuff that was still pretty great but didn't burn with that 'newness' of their early period. Something psychological too, the excitement of discovering something new can turn your head and even if they carry on producing (subjectively) comparable work, it won't shine as bright for you.

[aoVI]

I had the same experience with REM as well as U2, Lou Reed, Radiohead, Talking Heads, among others. A few years of amazement followed by a slow decline of interest in the latest work.

Plus, we got OLD.

[Under the Net]

Except Leonard Cohen, he is still great

[Guest]

I think there is an inevitable fading of excitement from anyone's output - whether in science or art. When someone who is exciting first appears, that is the first expression of their personality to the world and so the difference they bring is really apparent. With every subsequent release we get used to the difference that excited us in the beginning. This has nothing to do with quality of the work - it may be that the mature work is the best, or that the work remains interesting throughout. Or not. But there is only so much difference a personality can bring to the world, and that gets expressed early on. And if that difference is rich enough - which it will be if they are a great artist - then the rest of their life is spent exploring and refining that with varying success at different times.

[Phase47]

Maybe it will be better once they mix it. (I kid)

I get it, but not my cup of tea. I'll take bowie/eno or bowie/reed. Still love you, Underworld! Still love too, Eno.

[aoVI]

Hmm, yeah. Not bad, but sounds more like keeping up with the times rather than being ahead of them.