Half An Hour Of Eno

Some Brian Eno for Sunday, mainly focussing on his ambient and/ or soundtrack music but with a more meaty cut from his 1981 collaboration with David Byrne thrown in for good measure, the perfect relaxed start to a Sunday in May. There could easily be another three of four follow ups to this mix without even scratching the surface of Eno.

Half An Hour Of Brian Eno

• Lizard Point
• Dover Beach
• The Pearl (with Harold Budd and Daniel Lanois)
• Always Returning
• An Ending (Ascent)
• Mea Culpa (with David Byrne from My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts)
• Theme From Top Boy
• Deep Blue Day

Half An Hour Of Liz Fraser

Liz Fraser's voice, whether with The Cocteau Twins or guest appearances with other artists, is a unique, almost miraculous thing. Trying to describe it is fairly pointless. It swoops and soars and has a magical, otherworldly quality. Sometimes it's gossamer thin, distant and a part of the shimmering, hazy swirl of the Cocteau Twins records, the lyrics difficult to work out and impressionistic. Sometimes it's much bolder and in the foreground, clear and insistent. Here's this week's half hour mix (actually thirty eight minutes) of Liz Fraser's voice, variously with Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Ian McCulloch, Massive Attack, Harold Budd and Felt. 

Half An Hour Of Liz Fraser

• Cocteau Twins: Pearly Dewdrops' Drop
• Cocteau Twins: The Spangle Maker
• Ian McCulloch: Candleland
• Massive Attack: Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni Vocal Remix)
• This Mortal Coil: Song To The Siren
• This Mortal Coil: Edit To The Siren (In The Valley Re- edit)
• Cocteau Twins: Cherry- coloured Funk
• Felt: Primitive Painters
• Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Liz Fraser: Ooze Out And Away, Onehow

Distant

Back in 2007, longer ago than it seems, Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie released two albums on the same day- After The Night Falls and Before The Day Breaks. The former opened with this piece of music, four minutes of ambient electronica, sound to lose yourself in as it drifts over you- piano notes drenched in reverb, some plucked, treated guitar strings, washes of synth, a gentle drone. 

How Distant Your Heart

Ooze Out And Away

When people say/ write, 'see you on the other side' about Christmas, it feels very apt when you emerge from the fug of Christmas Day into Boxing Day, waking up to a house littered with presents and bits of wrapping paper and gift tags that didn't get put into the bin yesterday, dirty glasses and mugs, and a fridge full of leftover food. This song, a 1986 collaboration between Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd was playing on the kitchen stereo this morning when I made a cup of tea and decided all I really wanted for breakfast was some toast with Marmite.  

Ooze Out And Away, Onehow

Tiers Mix

Another Bagging Area mix for you, an hour of old and new and fairly ambient/ drone/ instrumental based but with Mark E. Smith turning at the end to add his inimitable voice to proceedings. In fact the only other voice is Andrew Weatherall's, heard briefly at the end of Prana Crafter's Starlight, Sing Us A Lullaby, a moment that got to me the first time I heard it. You can find Tiers In December on Mixcloud. 

• Kams: Hopfen (Richard Norris Remix)
• Stray Harmonix: Mountain Of One
• Harold Budd: The Pearl
• A Winged Victory For The Sullen: Keep It Dark, Deutschland
• Lol Hammond and Duncan Forbes: Angel Hill
• Dreems: Shark Attack (Abyss Mix)
• Daniel Avery: A Story In E5
• Daniel Avery: Petrol Blue
• Prana Crafter: Starlight, Sing Us A Lullaby
• Radioactive Man: Goodnight Morton
• Harmonia and Brian Eno: Atmosphere
• Neotantra: Ataxy- Hills
• Woodleigh Research Facility: The Fallen
• The Fall: Bill Is Dead

Harold Budd

Harold Budd has died aged 84,  of complications arising from Covid. He was a master of ambient music, a composer, pianist and guitarist who played an enormous role in developing what ambient music sounded like in the 1970s and 80s, often with Brian Eno (their joint albums Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror and The Pearl are incredible works, Harold's soft, atmospheric piano playing at the centre of the sound. If ambient music has a centre). Eno, Budd and Daniel Lanois made The Pearl in 1984, a highlight in the back catalogue of all three men, an album reprising the piano textures and treated electronics of Plateaux along with nature recordings. He worked with Cocteau Twins and then later with Robin Guthrie-  their 2007 Before The Day Breaks album is a beautiful blend of treated guitars, FX and piano pieces. Ambient music, by definition, is supposed to be background music. Budd's works carry emotional weight that make it much more than wallpaper to chill out to. 

The Pearl

Eno Returning

Brrrr- it's chilly out. How about some Brian Eno to start the week? In fact, how about an hour long mix of Brian Eno, originally put together by the Test Pressing website back in 2010, no longer available at their website as far as I can tell.

The Producers Series 2 Brian Eno

Many of the tracks selected here have that late 70s and early 80s sound rather than the ambient soundscapes he's as well known for. Strange syncopated rhythms, treated guitars, African influences, multitracked vocals, funk bass, oblique strategies.

Tracklist...
Brian Eno: Sky Saw
Brian Eno: No One Receiving
Brian Eno: Strong Flashes Of Light
Brian Eno: More Volts
Talking Heads: Double Groove (Demo)
Brian Eno: The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch
David Bowie/Brian Eno: Abdulmajid
Brian Eno & David Byrne: Into The Spirit Womb
Brian Eno: St Elmo's Fire
Brian Eno & Harold Budd: The Plateaux Of Mirror
Eno Mobius Roedelius: Foreign Affairs
Brian Eno: In Dark Trees
Brian Eno: Mist/Rhythm
Brian Eno: By This River
Brian Eno: Just Another Day
Brian Eno: Bone Bomb
Brian Eno: The True Wheel