How Brian Eno expanded the possibilities of what music and sound can be.
Eno is a trailblazing musician and producer who’s worked on seminal records by U2, David Bowie, the Talking Heads and Coldplay, among others. But Eno isn’t just a great collaborator with other artists; he’s also a great collaborator with machines. Long before we started worrying about A.I. replacing human creativity, Eno was tinkering with generative systems to pioneer ambient music – a genre that has deeply influenced how we listen to music today.
We recorded this conversation in 2025, and it’s one of my favorite recent episodes of the show. So I wanted to resurface it this summer for anyone who may have missed it the first time.
This episode contains strong language.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571395514-what-art-does-an-unfinished-theory/?srsltid=AfmBOoof8KJO5BMKixtU0NGYyw8OV7o0j1t19XH5VuLJ6ovtbyD5HTzq" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What Art Does</a> by Brian Eno and Bette Adriaanse
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227917/east-west-street-by-philippe-sands/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">East West Street</a> by Philippe Sands
<a href="https://www.weslpress.org/9780819573650/silence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Silence</a> by John Cage
Book Recommendations:
Printing and the Mind of Man edited by John Carter and Percy H. Muir
<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-pattern-language-9780195019193?cc=us&lang=en&" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Pattern Language</a> by Christopher Alexander
<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/norman-lewis/naples-44/9780306835254/?lens=grand-central-publishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Naples ’44</a> by Norman Lewis
Music Recommendations:
<a href="https://folkways.si.edu/rural-blues-a-study-of-the-vocal-and-instrumental-resources/music/album/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Rural Blues</a>
<a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/6777637-The-Velvet-Underground-The-Velvet-Underground" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“The Velvet Underground” by the Velvet Underground</a>
<a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1262916-The-Consolers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Consolers</a>
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</a>.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker, Kate Sinclair and Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. Transcript editing by Sarah Murphy. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Alyssa Jane Moxley, Sophie Abramowitz, Geeta Dayal, Jack Hamilton and Victor Szabo.
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