Ian Brennan searches for authenticity in a stagnant musical world

"The best thing that Bono can do for Africa is shut up."

Don't get Ian Brennan wrong; he is admittedly a fan of the world-famous band. That said, the Grammy-winning music producer thinks it's time for Bono to step aside and make room for the billions of other people in the world. "There's this cultural space that is occupied by artists long, long, long past their prime," Brennan says. "There's so much incredible music out there that is ignored and have never been given the chance to flourish."

That is all part of Brennan's latest project, a book entitled How Music Dies (or Lives): Field Recordings (out now). In it, Brennan argues for the art of field recording, capturing the improvisational nature of artists around the world (which has been a goal of his for quite some time now). 

"Music will never die, but certainly, it can stagnate," he notes. "Art should disrupt, art should disorient, art should confuse [...] in an age when we could have the greatest diversity of content, it's actually narrowing by the day. Not to be too apocalyptic but its just something that, I think, we need to be watchful of." 

— Produced by Ben Edwards