Brian Eno once remarked that given the choice between bitter and sweet, he’d prefer to have both. If anyone is looking for an elemental sentiment that informs his 50 year production of ambient music, that may be it. Ambient music is meant to be ignored until you can ignore it no more. What draws you into a piece of ambient music is an emotional charge conjured somewhere in the mirage of notes, a sudden snatch of melody, imagined perhaps yet there. At its best, Eno’s music thrives on your constant inability to stay with what you are losing. You don’t know what has escaped but you long for it all the same. You’re in the woods and catch a glimpse of a figure in the corner of your eye. When you turn, the figure often has dashed off. …
The Prayer of “Lady”: A Midlife Boost That Isn’t A Blue Pill
These days the only money to be made in the music business is from touring. Streaming has killed songwriting and the royalties that go with it. Hitting the bricks with your hits is the way to go. I used to live in a town with a casino and you were bombarded with ceaseless pitches beckoning you to the Caesar’s auditorium to enjoy the greatest hits of the greatest dinosaurs, all the songs you already heard all day on the radio. …
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