Distant Thunder
December 8, 2020 3:58 PM Subscribe
Very sorry to report Harold Budd has passed away.
Harold Budd made some of the most beautiful ambient -- hesitate to use that word -- music of the past 40 years. The link above has many good examples to explore.
For some reason this song by Asher Gamedze seems like a good listen to contemplate and say farewell. A bit comforting.
2020 just keeps on fucking giving and giving.
Harold Budd made some of the most beautiful ambient -- hesitate to use that word -- music of the past 40 years. The link above has many good examples to explore.
For some reason this song by Asher Gamedze seems like a good listen to contemplate and say farewell. A bit comforting.
2020 just keeps on fucking giving and giving.
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posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:02 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:02 PM on December 8, 2020
I'm watching a, possibly unauthorised, documentary about his work with Eno right now - it's assembled from the music, pretty video clips and interview extracts. It's pretty good.
His work with Robin Guthrie was often excellent as well - An Hour, A Day, No More...
"I'm somebody who plays the piano... sometimes"
posted by thatwhichfalls at 4:10 PM on December 8, 2020 [7 favorites]
His work with Robin Guthrie was often excellent as well - An Hour, A Day, No More...
"I'm somebody who plays the piano... sometimes"
posted by thatwhichfalls at 4:10 PM on December 8, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by coolxcool=rad at 4:17 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by coolxcool=rad at 4:17 PM on December 8, 2020
"Harold Budd's intention was to make what he called 'eternally pretty music', and his way of composing was to write a piece of music, then take out all the notes you didn't like! It was essentially a kind of minimalism"
Eno
posted by thatwhichfalls at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2020 [6 favorites]
Eno
posted by thatwhichfalls at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2020 [6 favorites]
This morning I got up to pee at... I don't know, 7 AM? 6 AM? 5 AM? who knows? and I thought of an album that would be nice to listen to today and went back to bed. On waking, I forgot what it was. It's bugged me all day.
I just remembered. It was Budd's soundtrack with Robin Guthrie for Mysterious Skin. I feel devastated. His music has meant so much to me. This one feels like when Le Guin died. I don't get emotional about celebrity deaths because even when it's someone whose art I admire, I have never even met them in the majority of cases. The work that spoke so much beauty to me remains. Let those for whom they were a full human being mourn them. Every now and then, though, one breaks through and hurts my heart.
I guess I will go listen to Mysterious Skin now. Then Luxa. Then we'll see.
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posted by Lonnrot at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
I just remembered. It was Budd's soundtrack with Robin Guthrie for Mysterious Skin. I feel devastated. His music has meant so much to me. This one feels like when Le Guin died. I don't get emotional about celebrity deaths because even when it's someone whose art I admire, I have never even met them in the majority of cases. The work that spoke so much beauty to me remains. Let those for whom they were a full human being mourn them. Every now and then, though, one breaks through and hurts my heart.
I guess I will go listen to Mysterious Skin now. Then Luxa. Then we'll see.
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posted by Lonnrot at 4:21 PM on December 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
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posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 4:22 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 4:22 PM on December 8, 2020
Damn.
Harold Budd was amazing.
We played Avalon Sutra / As Long as I Can Hold My Breath at the birth of Lil Ubu.
Ouch, this hurts. So much.
RIP & thank you :(
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:38 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Harold Budd was amazing.
We played Avalon Sutra / As Long as I Can Hold My Breath at the birth of Lil Ubu.
Ouch, this hurts. So much.
RIP & thank you :(
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:38 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Avalon Sutra is my favorite album to listen to while driving through New Mexico in the dead of night, a trip I have taken more times than I can count. When I tell people this, they often say, “wouldn’t that make you sleepy?”, but actually I experience the opposite. It puts me into a state of peaceful wakefulness.
Easily in my top ten albums of All Time. He will be sorely missed.
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posted by Doleful Creature at 5:17 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Easily in my top ten albums of All Time. He will be sorely missed.
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posted by Doleful Creature at 5:17 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Maybe I'm just having trouble understanding English today (and it's my native language), but could someone explain the use of "would have been 84" in the article? (It's in the headline and first paragraph).
Wikipedia says his birthday is in May, so it's not like his birthday is tomorrow and he would have been 84 if he hadn't passed away. I see that the site is Canadian. Is this a British English thing, or am I just unaware of a common use of "would have been"?
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:34 PM on December 8, 2020
Wikipedia says his birthday is in May, so it's not like his birthday is tomorrow and he would have been 84 if he hadn't passed away. I see that the site is Canadian. Is this a British English thing, or am I just unaware of a common use of "would have been"?
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:34 PM on December 8, 2020
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posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 5:46 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 5:46 PM on December 8, 2020
I saw him perform live just on piano at the Opus 415, No. 4, New Music Marathon here in San Francisco in 1998. It was my introduction to his music. His set was a more quiet time during a nearly ten hour day of extremely varied music. Quite beautiful.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:32 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by njohnson23 at 6:32 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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I only have Through The Hill due to the Andy Partridge collaboration but it’s obvious that he was a giant. Very sad.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:34 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I only have Through The Hill due to the Andy Partridge collaboration but it’s obvious that he was a giant. Very sad.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:34 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Pearl is one of my favorite ambient albums. RIP
posted by Ber at 6:41 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Ber at 6:41 PM on December 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by chinesefood at 6:44 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by chinesefood at 6:44 PM on December 8, 2020
When I was about 16, on a blazing bright summer day, I painted the back of my parent's house white. I came down with heatstroke, and spent the next few days in bed. Too sick to move, too sick to read. All I could do was listen to music, and the only music I could really bear to listen to was the Budd/Eno collaboration, The Pearl.
About 25 years later my daughter (yes, her name is Pearl) was born. For the first year of her life, I'd play her The Pearl at bedtime. It seemed to settle her. I've listened to that album hundreds of times, and I hear something new every time. Thanks Harold.
posted by misterbee at 6:56 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
About 25 years later my daughter (yes, her name is Pearl) was born. For the first year of her life, I'd play her The Pearl at bedtime. It seemed to settle her. I've listened to that album hundreds of times, and I hear something new every time. Thanks Harold.
posted by misterbee at 6:56 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I didn't know his music at all until this link. Thanks to all for sharing, what a brightness, what a dreaming, what a loss.
posted by winesong at 7:05 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by winesong at 7:05 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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I spent a LOT of time with Budd's and Eno's music in the early months of the pandemic. It was exactly what I needed to be listening to then.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:11 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I spent a LOT of time with Budd's and Eno's music in the early months of the pandemic. It was exactly what I needed to be listening to then.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:11 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:18 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:18 PM on December 8, 2020
Last comment, I promise.
I just realized that probably not a month has gone past since 1983 that I haven't listened to Harold Budd at least once. Most often his collaborations with Eno, but a constant sprinkling of his newer stuff as well.
I have vivid memories attached to many of his pieces - A Stream With Bright Fish carries an image of giant snow flakes, lit by orange street lights, falling over Edinburgh in 1985. A few months ago I had the same track playing in our apartment in Austin, balcony door open and a breeze playing from the small lake outside. My daughter was in the room and told me she'd always associate that moment and place with that music.
So, mission accomplished yet again, Mr Budd.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:30 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
I just realized that probably not a month has gone past since 1983 that I haven't listened to Harold Budd at least once. Most often his collaborations with Eno, but a constant sprinkling of his newer stuff as well.
I have vivid memories attached to many of his pieces - A Stream With Bright Fish carries an image of giant snow flakes, lit by orange street lights, falling over Edinburgh in 1985. A few months ago I had the same track playing in our apartment in Austin, balcony door open and a breeze playing from the small lake outside. My daughter was in the room and told me she'd always associate that moment and place with that music.
So, mission accomplished yet again, Mr Budd.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:30 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
My history with his music began, I'm pretty sure, with his Cocteau Twins collaboration, but The Pearl can't have been far behind. The piece of music that's stuck with me the most, though, is "Pulse Pause Repeat." A balm to my soul that's helped me through so many darker patches in life.
I was close to arranging an interview with him in April, but the timing and/or the concept just didn't work out. I always hoped to have another chance.
posted by mykescipark at 7:39 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was close to arranging an interview with him in April, but the timing and/or the concept just didn't work out. I always hoped to have another chance.
posted by mykescipark at 7:39 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
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posted by lazaruslong at 8:30 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by lazaruslong at 8:30 PM on December 8, 2020
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if there's a heaven, and nobody's yet convinced me there isn't, you know there's a pile of Harold Budd on jukebox.
posted by philip-random at 8:49 PM on December 8, 2020
if there's a heaven, and nobody's yet convinced me there isn't, you know there's a pile of Harold Budd on jukebox.
posted by philip-random at 8:49 PM on December 8, 2020
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posted by brilliantmistake at 9:01 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by brilliantmistake at 9:01 PM on December 8, 2020
Ambient 2 : Plateaux of Mirror was the soundtrack to two milestones in my life.
The first time was my first solo apartment at Belmont & Broadway in Chicago. I moved into a newly renovated flat and the only reason I could afford it alone was the location. This was not quite 30 years ago. Hardly any parking, clubs and 7am bars and all night diners, everywhere. The weekends got so noisy, I learned to sleep with earplugs in the back bedroom. The Golden Nugget diner, the ground floor business, was right on the corner. I was so broke. I'd sit in the bay window on weekend nights, watching the slow teevee of streetwalkers, party goers, couples, drunks, cops, and club kids hanging out or heading down the street to the big Dunkin Donuts at Belmont & Clark. Plateaux was the soundtrack.
Second time: driving slowly westward from Chicago to Los Angeles a few days after the new year in the early 2000s. No job, just finished graduate school, who's going to hire a girl specialising in computer graphics from a brand new, totally not famous, program? I played Plateaux crossing New Mexico.
Thank you Harold Budd.
posted by lemon_icing at 9:15 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
The first time was my first solo apartment at Belmont & Broadway in Chicago. I moved into a newly renovated flat and the only reason I could afford it alone was the location. This was not quite 30 years ago. Hardly any parking, clubs and 7am bars and all night diners, everywhere. The weekends got so noisy, I learned to sleep with earplugs in the back bedroom. The Golden Nugget diner, the ground floor business, was right on the corner. I was so broke. I'd sit in the bay window on weekend nights, watching the slow teevee of streetwalkers, party goers, couples, drunks, cops, and club kids hanging out or heading down the street to the big Dunkin Donuts at Belmont & Clark. Plateaux was the soundtrack.
Second time: driving slowly westward from Chicago to Los Angeles a few days after the new year in the early 2000s. No job, just finished graduate school, who's going to hire a girl specialising in computer graphics from a brand new, totally not famous, program? I played Plateaux crossing New Mexico.
Thank you Harold Budd.
posted by lemon_icing at 9:15 PM on December 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
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posted by halliburtron at 9:30 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by halliburtron at 9:30 PM on December 8, 2020
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posted by Going To Maine at 11:25 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by Going To Maine at 11:25 PM on December 8, 2020
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posted by randomblondeboy at 12:17 AM on December 9, 2020
posted by randomblondeboy at 12:17 AM on December 9, 2020
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posted by Mister Bijou at 3:52 AM on December 9, 2020
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:52 AM on December 9, 2020
Came to him through my obsession with Cocteau Twins in the early 90s. I think I will revisit today.
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posted by dlugoczaj at 6:24 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by dlugoczaj at 6:24 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I still listen to The White Arcades at least once every year. Damn COVID got another one.
posted by waytoomuchcoffee at 8:07 AM on December 9, 2020
posted by waytoomuchcoffee at 8:07 AM on December 9, 2020
Like many here, I first encountered Mr. Budd through his collaborations with Eno, and my knowledge of his work idled there for years. More recently, Spotify suggested his new collaboration with Robin Guthrie, and I found that he has a deep, deep catalogue on that platform of more-recent work, both solo and in collaboration, not least among which is the compilation Budd Box. So, there I'll be for a while, as his music has always been calming, meditative, immersive.
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posted by the sobsister at 8:23 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by the sobsister at 8:23 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I probably listen to Harold Budd's music every single day. His music is an essential, must-have tool for concentrating at work, easing anxiety, and putting little ones to sleep. A huge loss.
posted by maddieD at 10:35 AM on December 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by maddieD at 10:35 AM on December 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
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posted by Philofacts at 5:21 PM on December 10, 2020
posted by Philofacts at 5:21 PM on December 10, 2020
A 60-minute Tribute Mix from NTS Radio.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:24 AM on December 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 10:24 AM on December 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
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