By a babbling Brook

A Canadian guitarist with a low profile but a high pedigree pays a visit to Britain. Tim Goodyer finds out about the infinite guitar and the infancy of FM synthesis.

Inventor of the 'infinite guitar', this Canadian born player's haunting multi-layered guitar parts have graced the works of such luminaries as Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, U2's Edge, and Daniel Lanois, though Michael Brook's own music has yet to receive the recognition it deserves. Mark J. Prendergast reports.

Canada Dry

Michael Brook, inventor of the Infinite Guitar, is a guitarist, composer and producer with a good deal of talent and a taste for the unusual. Paul Tingen met him to talk about his forthcoming Cobalt Blue album.

Part 2: Mark Prendergast continues his in-depth look at the formation of Eno’s new record company, Land Records, and the use of electronics in his music.

The Composer's Tale

Although it's Brian Eno who springs to mind when most people think of ambient music, brother Roger's particular talents have both complemented Brian's atmospheric experiments and generated memorable solo work. Mark J. Prendergast talked to him as he completed his latest project.

U2's guitarist interrupts recording of their new album for an exclusive Making Music interview.

Mark Prendergast interviews this French-Canadian engineer/producer about his long-standing production partnership with Brian Eno and his recent involvement with Peter Gabriel and U2.

Mark Prendergast begins a two part in-depth appraisal of the thoughts, words, music and art of one of the most influential artists of the last decade: Brian Eno.

Breaking The Silence

Brian Eno, is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in electronic music, yet his creative energies have recently been directed into other people's music. Now, with the release of one solo and one collaborative album approaching, he gives a rare interview to Mark Prendergast.

Jon Hassell has been at the leading edge of new music for three decades, with major contributions to western avant garde and world music. Following the re-release of two classic albums from the early '80s, Mark J. Prendergast presents a retrospective of Hassell's work.

The Eno collaborator and leading exponent of American minimalist music, Harold Budd, discloses the fascinating background to his new solo album 'Lovely Thunder', his love of the piano and his strange union with the Cocteau Twins. Mark Prendergast attends the masterclass and takes notes.

They began the '80s as Japan, now they're starting over as Rain Tree Crow. Tim Goodyer catches synthesist Richard Barbieri and drummer Steve Jansen for a frank discussion of music and personalities ten years after Tin Drum.

Floyd, Eno, Gabriel... Grid?

New Grid on the block

In our exclusive interview, the great domed one himself waxes ambient on remixing, jazz, Sinatra, computers, the Eventide H-3000 and his own original definition of a new, environmentally sound music

Meat Beat Manifesto are to music what Andy Warhol was to art - but they've already been famous for longer than 15 minutes. Phil Ward follows them to a Peel session and to their studio in Swindon, and finds that Meat is not, in fact, necessarily murder.

The other half of the World

Real World

Real World music

What is 'New Age' music? Who plays it, and why is it apparently so popular? Our resident musicologist Mark Prendergast traces its development back to the work of 'new music' composers Arnold Schoenberg and Erik Satie.

An overview

Mark Prendergast presents a general overview of record labels, artists, and recordings that make up the exciting area of new electronic and experimental music in the late 1980s.

och aye

Been puzzled by references to just intoned or even tempered scales, or wondered exactly what the DX7II's "microtonality" is all about? Robert Rich has the answers.

Mark J. Prendergast explores the recording process that surrounded Peter Gabriel's new album 'Passion' and takes a peep inside Gabriel's Real World studio complex.