ANENOMIX by Cody

I was sorta stressing out about what exactly I was going to create for my inaugural mix. I tend to overthink things (if you go back and read the first post, I'm the guy that wrote WAY too much. Seriously though, how do you pick just ONE favorite album?), and I had a hundred half-formed ideas on different themes and moods to work around. Then Mara told me about her Manchester mix, and I thought "oh, perfect, I'll just give myself incredibly rigid guidelines, easy peasy." Hence, ANENOMIX. I set out to choose twelve songs either performed, written, or produced by Brian Eno. I browsed through my iTunes, and discovered that I had a little more than two hundred songs to pick from. Yikes. Describing Brian Eno as prolific is sort of like describing Caligula as mean (great analogy, Cody. nailed it!). What I'm saying is, the man makes a lot of music.

Anyway, for those unfamiliar with him, Brian Eno has basically spent the last four decades working tirelessly to make both mainstream pop and experimental music better. He popularized Glam Rock in his band Roxy Music, and ushered in the New Wave with Devo and Talking Heads. He introduced polyrhythms and African- and Eastern-based sounds to American listeners. He worked closely with David Bowie on the seminal Berlin Trilogy, which brought minimalism and oddball artiness to mainstream rock. As an ambient composer, he's more or less defined and ruled the genre for thirty years. He's also partially responsible (or to blame) for Coldplay's Viva la Vida and every good U2 song. And next month he's releasing an album on Warp, which means he's storming the Electronica castle and showing all the kids that an old man can play their game much better than they can.

Anyway, here's twelve songs by him, with maybe a short description of why I like each one, and also YouTube links as much as possible, because I like that some of you guys have been doing that:
1. St. Elmo's Fire by Brian Eno
A really sweet and simple melody sung over a bunch of synth weirdness. Fairly calm, but with a slightly jittery quality lurking beneath the surface. Followed by...
2. Beauty and the Beast by David Bowie
...A space-age disco-funk odyssey. David Bowie, you are such a weirdo, and I love you for it.
3. I Zimbra by Talking Heads
So this is off his second album with them and their third overall, but this is the song that elevated them from Talking Heads: Fun Goofball Pop Group to TALKING HEADS: GAMECHANGERS and INNOVATORS. Dig those nonsense lyrics, bro. Taken from a poem written by a crazy person.
4. Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy) by Devo
There are more famous Devo songs, and more Eno-y Devo songs, but this may be my favorite Devo song. Remember The Life Aquatic? Pretty underrated, if you ask me.
5. Ladytron by Roxy Music
THIS is basically a four minute summary of what Eno does best. Humming ambience, slow build, slick groove, sudden crescendo, thrilling climax, and then it all falls apart.
6. The River by David Byrne and Brian Eno
Two old dudes look back on their lives, wonder what the hell they've actually done, then decide to just keep on doing it.
7. Mit Simaen by Cluster & Eno
Just a couple pianos, being really pretty for ninety seconds.
8. The Jezebel Spirit by David Byrne and Brian Eno
Oh man, this album. So weird, so completely danceable, but also kind of terrifying. One of the first albums ever to prominently use samples, so you can thank them for everything that followed, from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to The Avalanches (I know at least one of you likes them!). I hope that preacher is still out there somewhere, calling passers-by Jezebel and telling everyone that the Spirit of Destruction is within them.
9. The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch by Brian Eno
Kind of retarded, completely un-PC, but I suppose that's the point.
10. Breaking Glass by David Bowie
The funkiest two minutes you will spend today, period.
11. Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads
AND YOU MAY ASK YOURSELF, WELL, HOW DID I GET HERE? Everyone sing along! You know this one! Incidentally, when you really think about it, it's kind of surprising that such an odd little song became such a massive hit. Also, this is probably one of the weirder things to ever be inspired by Fela Kuti.
12. Melancholy Waltz by Brian Eno
(See description for Track #7)
(Also, Haley, if you bothered to listen all the way through, Congratulations! You get a Hidden Track! (I won't say what it is though (but I just accidentally dropped a hint in the above line (all these parenthesis within parenthesis make me want to make a lame Inception joke ("We have to go deeper!"))))).

OK, that's it, thanks for reading, if you actually did.