Wednesday, December 9, 2015

obligatory influential...

i'm just trying to figure out what the best way to document the obvious eno influence on the track is. and, while the influence is obvious, it's not obvious to source. it's a process of getting my brain around the time period, mostly.

see, i'm in that age group where eno was sort of ubiquitous, and i have a dozen paths to claim him. i was a big u2 fan when i was a young child, and it stuck with me until i was about 20 (i couldn't get into all that you can't leave behind, and have tried some of the later material a few times, but it's just void of anything). so, that string of records from unforgettable fire to zooropa (and also pop, but there was no eno on pop) is one way. then, there's not one but two swaths of bowie (late 70s and mid 90s). there's the work with fripp. plus, there's his own material. but, it's more than that. it was every time you heard a synth part on the radio. it was the massive influence he had on "intelligent" electronic music in the 90s. it was every time you turned on your computer, even.

as such, citing eno as an influence is a complicated thing because it doesn't necessarily have to sound like anything eno did, despite eno doing so many very diverse different things. in some ways, the more recognizable it is, the less valid it is. rather, it's more about an idea.

i do remember listening to this record quite a bit around the right period. there's little causal connection. but, i think it's the most relevant thing, nonetheless.

(relevant tracks: wish, symphony 0 - everything, really)