Brian Eno

Drums Between the Bells is a collaboration by producer Brian Eno and poet Rick Holland. It was recorded just after Eno finished work on 2010's Small Craft on a Milk Sea, his debut for Warp, and it followed on the release schedule less than a year later. In that sense, the timing was good for such a risky project. Music and poetry are often difficult companions, and combining them is best left to experts; fortunately, Eno is just such an expert. Although Holland is an obscure poet, he first came to Eno’s notice back in the late ‘90s (through a university project), and his poetry is very good. Although his words and thoughts are impressionistic, his themes are easier to peg: urban living, science, and the intersection of philosophy and biology. The music is almost entirely Eno’s own, with only a few tracks featuring guest credits – much less so than his previous album. While scattered moments here prove that percussion is still not his strong suit, the production is inviting, innovative, and a larger contributor to the general excellence of the record than the poetry.

Brian Eno - Panic of Looking (2011) {Opal–Warp WAP322CD}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 70 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 39 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Warp Records / Opal Records | WAP322CD
Ambient / Electronic / Spoken Word / Avant-Garde / Experimental

A six-track EP, Panic of Looking continues the collaboration of producer Brian Eno and poet Rick Holland, with similarly intriguing results as on the earlier Drums Between the Bells. No collection of outtakes or castoffs, the album is just as mesmerizing as the best moments on Drums Between the Bells. As before, Holland provides all the words but very few of the vocals. Meanwhile, Eno provides all of the music and several of the vocals, including the best track (the title song, with gently cascading bells and a precisely ordered voicing of Holland's poem). The music is even more isolationist and spare than Eno/Holland's previous work. In all, it represents a beautiful set of ambience from one of the form's masters.

Brian Eno & Karl Hyde - Someday World (2014) {Opal-Warp 2CD Special Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 404 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 142 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 25 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Opal / Warp Records | CDWRP10249
Electronic / Synth Pop / Electro-Acoustic / Alternative

The possibility of Someday World arose when Brian Eno invited Underworld vocalist Karl Hyde to listen to a series of intros he'd been unable to finish. The pair share a love for African horns and rhythms as well as dance music of all stripes. Eno enlisted 22-year-old Fred Gibson as a co-producer, and numerous friends including Andy Mackay and Coldplay's Will Champion. As much as this album is a collaborative venture – Hyde's vocal and lyrics are indeed signatures – its music is impossible to separate from Eno's career. References to his first four solo records are ample, as is his work with Talking Heads, David Byrne, and even David Bowie.

Drums Between the Bells is a collaboration by producer Brian Eno and poet Rick Holland. It was recorded just after Eno finished work on 2010's Small Craft on a Milk Sea, his debut for Warp, and it followed on the release schedule less than a year later. In that sense, the timing was good for such a risky project. Music and poetry are often difficult companions, and combining them is best left to experts; fortunately, Eno is just such an expert. Although Holland is an obscure poet, he first came to Eno’s notice back in the late ‘90s (through a university project), and his poetry is very good. Although his words and thoughts are impressionistic, his themes are easier to peg: urban living, science, and the intersection of philosophy and biology. The music is almost entirely Eno’s own, with only a few tracks featuring guest credits - much less so than his previous album…

For the record, Nerve Net was not Brian Eno's first attempt at rock & roll. Not counting his time with Roxy Music, he also made several solo albums in the 1970s that were clearly intended as approaches to pop music – they were sideways approaches, of course, shaped by the intellectual distance he has always kept between himself and the music that arises from the forces that he puts into motion, and they were far from unqualified successe…