How exciting! The re-teaming of two of my musical appetite’s most splendid suppers has landed upon my eardrums. Even better, the liner notes mention that they are actually friends and have occasional dinners together, and just stop by to see what’s going on at each other’s pads. This news changes everything… I am suddenly believing that a few of those cosmic forces mentioned in song may be more than just a plot synopsis for a new Drew Barrymore script. Could this album be destiny? I would have to wait to find out.
I went to pick up a copy of Byrne/Eno’s Everything That Happens will Happen Today when I first heard of its release while the lead single, Strange Overtones, was playing on a local radio station. I figured such a song as this serenading my dinner preparation from the kitchen stereo would undoubtedly make the dishes dry faster. Unfortunately for me, however, there was a bit of 21st century music biz bull-squat standing in my way. It seems as though our minstrels were only released digitally. I suppose it makes sense. With most music being purchased/taken digitally nowadays, and albums leaking on the web before their release, it would make sense for an artist to release their music for sale as quickly as possible, as most artists are doing, and as the albums are pressed, fans could purchase the tunes. All that is old news though with the conclusion being I would have to wait to get my hands on this album. I thought of downloading the album when I returned home, then the collector in me started thinking; “maybe if I wait, I can hold this puppy in my hands and keep it on a shelf and when my ipod battery dies and my computer breaks, and I need something to dance to in my bomb shelter, I will still own it… it’ll be out physically in a week or two anyway.” A fine thought for the most part, but then I ended up having to wait 3 months to land the physical version of this album. This is fine by me. There was plenty of music filling my eardrums and dimming the anticipation and the thought of the two musicians releasing the album themselves was a proper kick in the ass to a record industry that must have a sore ass by now. I suppose the only real downside, is this review is now a bit tardy for most.
So all the waiting and crying behind us, let’s discuss the true demeanor of this disc. Byrne and Eno split the duties in creating Everything That Happens… with Byrne writing words for Eno’s music. What results is an ethereal electro-gospel intended to blast from the top of a church tower at 12 noon every day in a faraway village built of terracotta bricks and techno-tickytac. The album is not ambient and the album doesn’t seem to contain an abundance of curse words, so there are two irrelevant checkmarks marked off.
The marriage of the two minds seems as though it was an experiment between friends.
“Let’s give this a shot… see what happens.” “we can play it by ear.” “who knows?”
The experiment seems as though it not only took shape, but paved a road straight to Candyland. When Byrne and Eno finally arrive at Candyland (on a bike built for two) they are immediately granted the key to the city and blessed with a flurry of dancing Jolly Ranchers. Hopefully, they will get a wing of the art museum named in their honor.
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today could break free of Candyland though. It could hover through windows left open by a nightclub DJ in Williamsburg or a pie-baker in Williamston. It does what my oh most favorite albums do- climbs over type-casting and just becomes pleasant sounding 4 minute molecular collisions. I like to get those molecules to collide all over, so I turn it up loud and right as the album starts to sound too much like a David Byrne album or too much like a Brian Eno album, it slaps you in the face and tells you to listen to this next bit and you realize that this is in fact a union of gleaming musical minds trying new things in new manors while sticking to their guns at the same time and, hopefully, doing what they love to do.
Let’s create a rating system for this album. Let’s give it 8 scale tippers and a smiley stamp, and following suit of my friend Scott, a “Go Bananas” sticker.
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