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Underground > Radio & Music >

Enon / Braniac

00:41 / 23.02.02

After forgetting about them for a long time, I've just got some songs from Enon's first record, Believo!.

Background: Enon is the child of John Schmersal, former guitarist for the ill-fated Braniac. Braniac were pretty great, getting better with each release, until their singer was killed in '97 or so. They had an electronically fractured indie/punk thing going. Awful as it sounds, it actually worked well. Hissing Prigs In Static Coture was great, as was their final ep, Electro-Shock For President.

Enon still has the electronics, but in a more nuanced way and the songs are more pop than anything else. I saw one of their first shows and thought they were terrible, which led to forgetting them despite the good reviews that came later. I wish I could say my reaction to them onstage was a contrast to Braniac, but no - I always thought Braniac were terrible live as well. It wasn't until I listened to the records that I began to dig them.

Rambling. Point is, I like this Enon material. They've got a new one coming soon and I'll buy it. Anyone seen them live, or have thoughts on the records, etc? Curious.

Matthew Fluxington

01:06 / 23.02.02

Funny, I just mentioned Enon on my blog.

I like the Enon record a lot, especially the songs "Conjugate The Verbs" and "Come Into" which in addition to being quite good, I have a specific emotional attachment to.

I've seen the band live, but in an awkward setting: the Siren Festival on Coney Island this past summer. From what my friends who've seen them elsewhere tell me, they are very energetic live, and the singer is the kinda guy who loves being in the audience, moving around a lot, and there was none of that, so I guess in some ways I was cheated.

Regardless, I was really upset to see them butcher their own songs live, especially the two I just mentioned - it was depressing, and it made me like them less, which I really didn't want to happen. They played a lot of new material in that set, but I don't particularly recall it.

I'm looking foward to the High Society LP, and I hope that it makes good on the promise of the previous record. Believo was a very solid record...

03:28 / 24.02.02

I should've expected Enon to suck on stage. The three times I saw Braniac were all bad, but that band also found itself on odd bills. First exposure was with Quicksand, and then the last show I saw was with Lungfish (!) in '95. That show had promise, but was dragged under by tech problems. Lungfish were great.

Despite how much I like the Enon material now, I doubt I'll ever see them play again, unless I hear non-stop raves. Some bands are just like that...

Matthew Fluxington

12:49 / 24.02.02

Thing of it is, everyone who has told me about how 'great' Enon is/was live were people who saw them live once or twice before ever hearing the Believo! LP.

It is certainly believable that people would be impressed by them if they hadn't heard how great they are in the studio. And I don't think it's any shame to be better in the studio than live - but like you said, I'm not eager to go see Enon live again unless they are opening for someone else I'm paying to see.