Brian Eno smells like fish.

Or I assume he does, doesn’t everyone from England? HA! Brian hurts my brain. His music is simplistic and complicated, it is unnerving and calming at the same time. Don’t ask me how that is possible. I have listened to his album “Small Craft On A Milk Sea” about a hundred times and I still can’t break it down and understand it. Certainly his minimal style is VERY admirable, the focus is appreciated. As of late I have been pondering his  “Oblique Strategies” cards. These are card with a phrase written on them designed to help an artist spark their creativity. The cards say things like “Do we need holes?” or “If a thing can be said, it can be said simply.” Some days I wonder if a trite phrase can be enough to convey any sort of truth. But it seems also true that to the correct listener a single word can be life changing.

It seems the main goal is to break out of patterns of thoughts and to explore new ground in your mind. As art should be first created in your mind, the medium is irrelevant. At one point I wrote about a few ways I stay creative, but I have to refresh the list and try new things often Its so easy to get stuck. For me its easy to make the same drum loop 20 different ways but not really do anything interesting. And if you go to far off course you don’t stand a chance in hell of connecting to anyone. So who knows. Obviously Brian is a high order genius compared to me. I heard once “Don’t follow in the footsteps of the ancient masters; seek what they sought.” So maybe those cards are the first step in seeking what Eno seeks? Or maybe I should just forget it and fire up Reason or Live and just play. Maybe I over think this entire process…