MusicDVDs

The latest releases reviewed

BRIAN ENO
77 Million Paintings All Saints/Hannibal/Ryko ***

He's at it again. Brian Eno has been at the forefront of generative music from as far back as Music for Airports (1978) and Neroli (1993). It's a novel idea: computer software that endlessly generates a series of nonrepetitive patterns. Eno has had an equally invigorating and interesting career as a visual artist through his installation work, and 77 Million Paintings continues that in the comfort of your own home - indeed, from the comfort of your desk or sitting room. Essentially, this is an audiovisual chill-out zone, an exploration into light as an artist's medium which, says Eno, will change that dead hole in your living room wall (ie a blank TV screen, the bigger the better) into a constantly evolving image. There's an interview with Eno lucidly explaining his work, as well as a generative software disc that allows you access to the shifting, random artwork. It's the future, you know; embrace it. www.allsaintsrecords.com  Tony Clayton-Lea

A-TRAK
Sunglasses Is a Must Audio Research ***

Thirteen-year-old Alain Macklovitc already had his eye on the big time when he turned the cash presents he received for his bar mitzvah into a pair of turntables and a mixer. What you'll see on the hugely enjoyable Sunglasses Is a Must documentary is how the Montreal boy wonder turned into DJ A-Trak, the turntablism champ with various DMC, ITF and Vestax world titles to his credit, and who most recently became Kanye West's trusted onstage DJ. As Macklovitc makes himself at home in a world of private jets and sold-out stadium shows, the fact that the geeky kid of old is never far from the surface is what makes this so watchable. Even in the midst of highly detailed discussions about DJ battles or instructions on how to perfect scratch routines, Macklovitc never loses his likeable self-deprecating sense of humour about what's going on around him. www.djatrak.com  Jim Carroll