by Mark Saleski
What is it about a vacation? Let’s say that there’s just the two of you, a house, no kids. Then, you go on vacation, arriving at your destination spot. So now the house has been swapped for a nice hotel room with a view (in our case, a view of the side of an old warehouse, but no matter…). Why does it feel so different? So relaxing? Is it just because the responsibilities of daily life have been put on hold? That must be it, because I have no further explanation. Seriously, I can be just as much of a slacker sitting there in my antique house as I can right here in this hotel room.
Somehow, we are in full relaxation mode. Books, music, a little scotch, etc. Heck, we even watched some tee-vee. Oh yes, all of those political ads? Amazing, you can just about feel your brain shrink. Yeesh.
Somehow, we are in full relaxation mode. Books, music, a little scotch, etc. Heck, we even watched some tee-vee. Oh yes, all of those political ads? Amazing, you can just about feel your brain shrink. Yeesh.
This morning, we’re listening to Eno’s Music For Airports. It has become a vacation tradition. There’s something about the slowly-evolving patterns of sound the seem to reveal more detail on each listen…and I’ve been listening to this for years.
That’s another one of life’s musical mysteries: that there are pieces of music that a) you never get tired of and b) seem to be a little different each time. Does the mystery need to be “solved”? Nah, I’ll just take the benefits.
Later today, after various book and record store adventures (and a food adventure too), I’ll be sitting in this chair watching the colors and shadings pass on the facade of that old warehouse across the way. What’s that line from The Big Chill? “Sometimes you just have to let art flow over you.”
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the woods of central New Hampshire. A past contributor to Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and Salon, he originated several of our weekly features including the Friday Morning Listen, (Cross the) Heartland, WTF! Wednesday, and Sparks Fly on E Street. Follow him on Twitter: @msaleski. Contact Something Else! at [email protected].
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Yep – the best of Eno's ambient series 'specially the fist track. I dunno – do vinyl pops count as part of the ambience?
hey jc, any recommendations for any of the other Eno ambient recordings? this is the only one i've ever listened to.
as for the vinyl pops, i suppose they do count. lucky for me, i don't have too many records in my collection that do that to me.
Discreet Music is very cool, and I'm also partial to Apollo, which is a little less pure-ambient and has quite a bit of Daniel Lanois guitar, actually. Beyond that, I'm also not too sure. Shutov Assembly left me cold, and that's about as far as I've gotten with his ambient. (But Nerve Net and Another Day On Earth remain consistent favorites, period, non-ambient though.)