Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies" (Creative block remover)

[Cryo114]

Sometimes when I feel like I'm treading the same old ground in terms of writing music, I found that this was a great tool to use. Originally it was a deck of cards you pulled out after writing some music and/or A) finding it the same ol' shit B) Not knowing where to start so as not to make the same ol' shit.

Oblique Strategies is like a list of random and sometimes confusing challenges or experiments for you to use on your music in order for you to think and approach it differently.

Just thought you creative types might enjoy alternative trains of thought in regards to making music.

Here's a web based version of the cards.

http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html



My current faves are:

Do the washing up
Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate

 

[professorlamp]

no offence, but I don't see how a neck massage will remove my writers block

 

[Cryo114]

Washing the dishes might not either, but the break it gives you might do very well.

 

[professorlamp]

ahhh true point

 

[Cryo114]

That's where "the sometimes sometimes confusing challenges" come in.

There must be other people who get bored of the "same old, same old" here.

Hell even Andys prolly tired of it.

 

[BrettT]

Love Brian Eno and love Oblique Strategies.

 

[Charles J]

this is fucking AWESOME!!!!

 

[Kazrog]

I've been using the iPhone app version for quite a while. It's great, sometimes eery how spot-on it is about a situation, purely randomly.

I also dig Brian Eno's Ambient series of albums for chilling out after working on a metal session all day. Ambient 4 - On Land is a great place to start if you're not familiar.

 

[Cryo114]

My personal favourite of his is Music for Airports. Probably because it was the first I stumbled on.

 

[professorlamp]

music for airports
track 2-1 <3

fall asleep to that allll the time

 

[Cryo114]

There's something to be said about self evolving/non-created music.