Books 355 Items

Although rap music is famous for its ingenuity, double entendres and clever turns of phrase, until now no one has attempted to collect rap lyrics into an organised compendium. Enter UNDERSTAND RAP, a very funny pop-cultural reference book based on the website of the same name, which precisely explains all the confusing terms and lyrics used in rap songs in a language even the most un-hip person can understand. The result is a book with breakout potential that's both entertaining and highly informative. The juxtaposition of dry, academic manner with Hip Hop terminology in UNDERSTAND RAP frequently lends itself to ironic comedy gold. For example: Lyric: "been servin' since you was doin' the runnin' man" Explanation: My experience selling drugs began long ago, while you were still concerning yourself with immature things like doing goofy dances where you look like you're running in place. (From Song: Rubberband Man on Album: Trap Muzik by Artist: T.I.) Understand Rap features hip hop artists of all names, colours, and creeds and organise their lyrics into the following categories: Cars, Money, Drugs/Alcohol, People, Places, Fashion, Crime/Weapons, Insults, Skills/Pride and Sex/Relationships.

Will Sheff of Okkervil River has long been recognized for his writing: a contributor to McSweeney's, Sheff was nominated for a GRAMMY for his liner notes for Roky Erickson's 2010 album True Love Cast Out All Evil, and The New York Times declared that "Sheff writes like a novelist". It is with great pleasure that Jagjaguwar presents I Am Very Far: The Lyrics, a hard bound lyric book containing the full scope of Sheff 's vision for his latest and most refined album to date, Okkervil River's I Am Very Far. Meant to function as a distinct entrance point into the content of the music, "I Am Very Far: The Lyrics" is set for release in advance of the album. Functioning as much more than a complement to the albums themselves, Sheff 's prose weaves tales both subtle and dynamic, and enriches the content of his songs. Including the lyrics for the single "Mermaid" and other songs recorded during the "I Am Very Far" sessions, "I AmVery Far: The Lyrics" is a complete work in its own right.

The first monograph on the Japanese streetwear brand Whiz Limited, this book showcases the last 20 years of the brand’s design and collaborations with streetwear’s most iconic players.

Whiz Limited is a Japanese streetwear brand estab-lished in 2000 by Hiroaki Shitano. With a following in Japan as well as Hong Kong and mainland China, Shitano has become something of a cult figure, as one of the new generation of streetwear designers influ-enced by Hiroshi Fujiwara. Consisting originally of handmade, printed tees, the label has since expanded to include a complete range of streetwear infused with an eccentric Japanese flair. Shitano was raised in the entertainment district of Shinjuku, and this is reflected in the clothing’s distinctly downtown urban vibe and predominantly dark color palette. Chronicling the history of the brand, alongside some of Whiz’s most prolific projects to date, this book features beautiful, newly shot photographs of a long list of collaborations with streetwear icons, including Hiroshi Fujiwara/Fragment, Mastermind, Stüssy, A Bathing Ape®, Bristol, Bountyhunter, M&M, Kappa, New Era, Disney, Hello Kitty, G-Shock, Peanuts, Porter, The North Face, Marmot, First Down, and the estate of Keith Haring. This book also features an impressive archive of the brand’s iconic sneaker designs, boasting collabora-tions with heavy hitters like mita sneakers, Adidas, New Balance, Asics, Puma, Reebok, Mizuno, Converse, and Ugg, making it a must-have for sneak-erheads and lovers of streetwear style alike.

After ten years, Deathbeds is finally available again as a paperback with the original cover. Deathbeds was first released in 2007, compiling the lyrical content of Wesley EISOLD’s work in renowned bands American Nightmare, Some Girls and the beginning of his current moniker, Cold Cave. Along with tour journals, poems and prose of early fanzines, Deathbeds is the comprehensive work of an artist in their twenties trying to connect with the outside world and their discontent, confusion and the existential within. The book celebrates the beauty that is the struggle of depression and growth in a poignant and foreword way that is rarely written down or documented coherently. These words came from a place of desperation and isolation but ended up inspiring others with how relatable not being able to relate is. First published in 2007, Heartworm has sold over 10,000 copies of this cult collection between three paperback and three hardcover editions. 3rd edition paperback.

Various & Gould: - 15 Years of Urban Print Collage

From multi-colored patchwork identities composed of collaged faces, via halftone murals painted dot by dot, or vivid paper castings of monuments, through to smashed smartphones used as intaglio plates – the duo finds ever new and specific forms of expression in each of their series. Throughout it all, their love for paper is obvious, and this first book is long overdue.
Just in time for Various & Gould’s 15th anniversary, this monograph presents the full range of their work, enriched by essays by selected author.


About the artists:
The artist duo Various & Gould is an integral part of Berlin's Urban Art scene. In a playful and unconventional way, the two artists tackle major social issues such as diversity, migration and work.

The pearls of the Gulf have stoked the imagination and desire of people around the world for centuries their magnificence matched only by the courage of the divers who found them. This project aims to honor the memory of these valiant free-divers, their culture and their music by the means of a transmedia object including: A 240 pages art book (Arabic – English) featuring the contributions from artist, writers and experts in this tremendously rich theme such as Monira al Qadiri, Toufik Kerbage and Talal Mattar.

Hidden Notes Records are proud to announce that in February next year we will be releasing a smorgasbord of new music; creative collaborations born out of the award winning music podcast excuse the mess. Two compilation albums featuring 17 unique voices from contemporary music worlds and beyond…

How does a podcast = two albums worth of music? excuse the mess is a music podcast with a twist - alongside your bread and butter artist interviews each guest takes on the challenge of writing a brand new piece of music on the fly, in the room and with excuse the mess host, Ben Corrigan. They follow three rules (limitations are liberating!): 1. There can be no preplanning, it is spontaneous music making. 2. The track must be finished the same day. 3. Only one instrument can be used as a sound source but there can be electronic manipulations of it.

Our upcoming release is the end result of each of those heart palpating writing sessions featuring Hannah Peel, Gold Panda, Anna Meredith, Galya Bisengalieva, Manu Delago, Robert Ames, Emily Hall, Oliver Coates, Mira Calix, Matt Calvert, Douglas Dare, Laura Jurd, Mark Lockheart, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Anne Nikitin, Alev Lenz and Elliot Galvin. Released as two albums, to mirror the two series of excuse the mess in which they were made.

All the music fizzes with an energy that only fast paced work can invoke and the compositional fingerprint of each guest artist is embedded into the core of each track, whilst intermingling with Ben's own artistic voice. For anyone interested in a further delve they can go back to the podcast episode and witness the composition unfolding bit-by-bit, from the blank page to the finished piece, you are invited on that compositional journey.

In The Graffiti Coloring Book, sixty of Scandinavia’s best graffiti writers have provided the outlines. You choose the colors. The graffiti sketch can be used as a pattern for a graffiti piece, but is equally a work of art in its own right. The book features drawings by legends such as Skil, Nug, Egs and Bates. The Graffiti Coloring Book is as fun for children as adults. Get out your markers and walk the path of the kings of graffiti.

Sneakers: The Complete Collectors' Guide was a phenomenal success and a key influence in the transformation of sneaker collecting from an underground subculture into a mainstream, multi-billion dollar business. Following publication of that book, sneaker brands began reissuing classic designs and creating shoes that would spur the second wave of collecting: limited editions and collaborations between the brands, invited artists, designers, musicians and cultural icons.

This sequel showcases the very best of this new sneaker culture, featuring more than 300 designs arranged by brand. Each sneaker is accompanied by informative text and a ‘data’ box listing Edition, Pack, Year Released, Original Purpose, Technology and Extras.

Essential for both the hardcore sneaker freak and the first time collector, this book will also attract and seduce fashion and design aficionados.

In the summer of 1989, when Trip City was first released with a five-track cassette EP by A Guy Called Gerald, there had been no other British novel like it. This was the down and dirty side of London nightclubs, dance music and the kind of hallucinogenic drug sub-culture that hadn't really been explored since Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Maybe this is why Trip City is still known as "the acid house novel" and an underground literary landmark. Over the decades, Trip City became shrouded in scandal and mystery. The original London book launch literally descended into a riot - shut-down by the Metropolitan Police. Everyone from the makers of Raiders Of The Lost Ark through the director of Candyman tried to adapt the book into a movie - but imploded in the process. And the galleys of the 25th-anniversary edition were destroyed in a fire before they could even be proofed or printed. Perhaps Trip City is uniquely summed-up by the original publisher, sci-fi legend Brian Aldiss, who wrote of the novel: "In the vintage of Thomas De Quincey's Confessions Of An English Opium Eater - but smack up to date. It's about a young man's descent into hell - a hell that looks very much like London."

This official tie-in book to Marilyn Agrelo’s (Mad Hot Ballroom) documentary Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street supplements the film’s exploration of the origins and legacy of Sesame Street with exclusive interviews and unseen photographs from first two seasons of this globally beloved series. Author Trevor Crafts, who was given unprecedented access to archival footage and photography, presents 150 of photographer David Attie’s behind-the-scenes images of Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Matt Robinson, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, and dozens of other pioneering puppeteers, animators, actors, and Muppets. Crafts uses Attie’s photos to expand upon the film’s story of how show creator Joan Ganz Cooney, along with Sesame Workshop cofounder Lloyd Morrisett and director Jon Stone, took the values and goals of the civil rights movement and revolutionized children’s television. The Unseen Photos of Street Gang is a tribute to the enduring achievements of a rebellious group of artists, educators, and freethinkers who believed that the values of equality, education, and inclusion should not just be championed but also made available to all—a dream that Sesame Street has carried forward for more than fifty years. Contributors include: Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney, head writer Norman Stiles, lyricist and composer Christopher Cerf, cast members Roscoe Orman (Gordon), Sonia Manzano (Maria), Emilio Delgado (Luis), Bob McGrath (Bob), Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar), Brian Henson, and Sesame Street's first female puppeteer Fran Brill

Tresor: True Stories is the first printed excavation of Tresor’s legendary history. Digging deeply into its rich archives, the venerable institution has unearthed countless treasures from its over three-decade old history. Over 400 never before seen photographs, flyers, faxes and other artefacts illustrate a story that intersects with the most important social and musical trend in the modern history of Berlin.

The story is told with the voices of those that were there - over 40 protagonists share their first-hand reminiscences of the ‘big bang’ that launched techno into the world. Through the story of Tresor, the book charts the heady days of 80s West Berlin through to the explosion of new energy that midwifed in the new social reality of reunified Germany. This is a unique and essential printed monument to the institution that changed electronic music forever, and the city that allowed it to exist.

»Queen Of Nowhere« is the result of the photographic works by Kourtney Roy and the musician Dayve Samek (Trance Farmers). Samek has recorded his first album in 2014 on Leaving Records (Stones Throw Records). His music ranges between sweaty, garage-born ballads brush shoulders with drifter anthems and gasoline drenched doo wop with at some points some beats close from the past Anticon works. The Canadian photographer Kourtney Roy was born in Northern Ontario in 1981. She conjures an intimate universe pervaded by both wonder and mystery. Her photographer’s eye is drawn to places and settings whose lyrical qualities underscore the sublime banality of everyday life.

- 400 page hardcover large format book - Includes CD with 10 Japanese Jazz tracks - Compiled by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden - Only 2000 copies printed - Largest picture book on Japanese Jazz ever printed - First and only picture book devoted to Japanese Jazz covers to be produced outside Japan - Extra sections on non-Japanese artists and Blue Note albums produced exclusively for the Japanese market - Includes intro by Terumasa Hino plus articles by Yusuke Ogawa, Mats Gustafsson, Tony Higgins and interview with Tohru Aizawa - DJ J Jazz Top Tens from around the world BBE Music is thrilled to present J Jazz: Free and Modern Jazz From Japan 1954-1988, a remarkable large-format book covering some of the deepest, rarest, and most innovative jazz music released anywhere in the post-war era. Compiled by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, co-curators of BBE Music's acclaimed J Jazz Masterclass Series, the book also features a foreword by Japanese jazz icon, Terumasa Hino.

This is the first time a book of this type has been published outside of Japan and the first anywhere of this size and scale. It is a unique collection of over 500 albums of free and modern jazz released in Japan during a period of radical transformation and constant reinvention. An era that saw Japan return from the ravages of World War Two to become a global economic power and emerge as both a technological leader and an international cultural force.

Through a unique gallery of albums, J Jazz charts the development of jazz in Japan from the first stirrings of the modern jazz scene in the mid to late 1950s and on through the hard bop and modal jazz of the 1960s. It steers the reader into the radical directions of the 1970s when free jazz, fusion, post-bop, and jazz-funk opened up a growing number of Japanese jazz artists to a new global audience before consolidating in the mid to late 1980s with a musical scene that laid the path for the contemporary jazz generation to follow.

Over 500 full-colour sleeves from many of the leading names in Japanese jazz sit alongside rare and private pressings that tell a story of constant change and musical exploration. J Jazz includes profiles of several leading record labels such as East Wind, Frasco, King Records, and Nippon Columbia as well as critical independents such as Three Blind Mice, ALM, and Aketa’s Disk. J Jazz includes interviews with celebrated jazz photographer Tadayuki Naito, and pianist Tohru Aizawa, bandleader on the totemic spiritual jazz album, Tachibana Vol 1, as well as free-jazz record collector and jazz musician Mats Gustafsson.

The book also features a chapter on albums by non-Japanese artists that only received a Japanese release, with collectible, rare, and obscure releases by figures such as Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, and Art Blakey. J Jazz includes Japanese jazz charts from some of the world's leading jazz DJs including Gilles Peterson, Toshio Matsuura, Paul Murphy, and Shuya and Yoshihiro Okino. Among the specialist content is a feature on obi strips by record dealer and Japanese jazz expert, Yusuke Ogawa, plus a special article on Japanese Blue Note albums.

Across its 300-plus pages, J Jazz includes a detailed introduction contextualising the music, tracing the story of Japan's fascination with jazz back before the war. It also features biographical information on many of the key artists involved in shaping the post- war Japanese jazz scene including Sadao Watanabe, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Masabumi Kikuchi, Masahiko Togashi, Terumasa Hino, Yosuke Yamashita, Fumio Itabashi, Masayuki Takayanagi, Takeo Moriyama, Isao Suzuki, and many more.

"For A Fleeting Moment" is the result of the dialogue between the Swiss photographer Simone Kappeler and the Japanese musician Tomotsugu Nakamura initiated by Iikki, between March 2023 and May 2024.

Tomotsugu Nakamura is a musician and graphic designer residing in Tokyo, Japan. His primary artistic practice is to compose music with some fragments of minimal acoustic and electronic tones and some field recordings. In Concert, he he has played with various genre of musicians and his works have been released by Kaico, Audiobulb Records, and more recently by the French label Laaps.

Born in 1952 in Frauenfeld (Switzerland) where she lives and works, Simone Kappeler started taking pictures at the age of 11. After studying German literature and art history, she studied photography at the Zurich University of the Arts. During a three-month trip to the United States in 1981, she took her first pictures using cheap cameras, especially the Diana camera. Hasselblad, Leica, Diana, Brownie, Polaroid, disposable camera, expired or infrared films, since 1970, Simone Kappeler has explored all types of photographic techniques. Her work, experimental and poetic, reveals to us the curiously foreign world that surrounds us. Since 1982, ongoing projects in southern France and the Grisons.1982/83, studio in New York, conceptual photography and Super 8 films. 1983/84, theater photographer, Schauspielhaus Zürich. 2009, six-week photographic study of Japan, 2015 studio in New York. Her work was the subject of a first monograph: "Seile. Fluss. Nacht. Fotografien 1964–2011", edited by Hatje Cantz and is regularly exhibited in Galleries and Museum in Europe and United States. For A Fleeting Moment is her first book gathered exclusively a part of her wide polaroid works from 2011 to 2023.

Fine Art Book, Ltd. to 700 copies: Hardcover book printed on Glossy Modern Paper 170g/m2 // 104 pages, 19cm x 22.5cm, 66 photos // Front cover points and back cover logo embossed // Selective UV varnish // Hand-numbered.

Why is it that thousands of clubbing tourists land at Berlin Schönefeld airport every weekend? Why have clubs like Berghain become the stuff of legend the world over? Why have some of the best-known producers and techno DJs like Richie Hawtin and DJ Hell moved with their labels to this city? These are the kind of questions explored in Lost and Sound by Tobias Rapp, a German music journalist who has been living, working and partying in Berlin since the beginning of the nineties. He has spoken with DJs, clubbers, label bosses, hostel managers and urban planners; he has looked and listened carefully; and most important of all, he has been part of the dance floor himself. Every day of the week – from Wednesday night (in Watergate) right through to Wednesday night (back in Watergate).

Lost and Sound is not one of those books that try to grasp techno from a desk-bound position. Rapp zooms in to relate intimate moments in front of the DJ booth and at the bar, and then cuts to historical tangents and theoretical reflections. Detailed research is interspersed with accounts from a first-person perspective. An excellent portrait of Ricardo Villalobos, the biggest star of the Berlin minimal techno and after-party scene, stands alongside a precise sociological portrayal of the queue for Berghain. Through this interplay of music, architecture, infrastructure and drug-induced explorations of personal limits, Rapp is able to capture what makes Berlin such a unique place for electronic music and how this music is experienced.

Following its publication in Germany in February 2009, Lost and Sound made an impact not
seen from a book about popular music for a long time. This was undoubtedly due in part to the
term coined for its subtitle: the ‘Easyjet set’ is a new group of music fans who – thanks to the
deregulation of the European air travel market – now regard the aeroplane as a taxi service for
parties, effectively making Barcelona, London and Paris suburbs of Berlin.

When Tim from Dagger Zine approached us about his book idea covering long-loved "spaces" held sacred for countless music fans, we knew it was a great project to get behind, Similar in its community effort to our last book release (The White Label Promo Preservation Society), Hinely organized an incredible list of contributors from all stripes of the underground music spectrum, each waxing their own warm recollections of wild nights seeing life-changing bands and/or terrible bathroom experiences. Chock full of photos, original newspaper ads, flyers, and long-lost monthly calendars of the pre-Internet age, Where The Wild Gigs Were illustrates how important these sacred spaces really are, and how much it's noticeable when we can't actually be AT these homes-away-from-home, spread all across the USA. From Stache's in Columbus, OH to Flynn's Ocean 71 in Miami, FL (the 'CBGB's on the beach'), back to The Brewery in Lansing MI (complete with previously unpublished Stooges photos!), to City Gardens in Trenton, NJ (staffed by Comedy Dentral's Jon Stewart) to Peter Aaron's sordid details on the mob-run Jockey Club in Newport, KY, you won't find many dull moments as each page bleeds into the next, oozing with recollections of blurry good times and endless excitement before the world changed, as we know it. Includes a foreword by Byron Coley and an afterword by Tesco VEE. 235 pages, paperback. First edition of 500 copies.

Thomas Sweertvaegher’s photographs celebrate the unbreakable family of skaters and the thrills, spills and freedom of skating life.

At the age of twenty-nine, Sweertvaegher has spent most of his life on the road with friends, indulging his dual passions of photography and skating. Years of travelling the world – always on the move and often carrying nothing more than a camera and a skateboard – have yielded the photographs collected in this volume, where the skateboard remains a constant symbol of freedom, an extension of one’s identity and an enduring bond between friends.

Rolling on the margins of society, exploring the limits of life and his own young adulthood, Sweertvaegher captures whatever is happening around him during his travels. His shots take the reader on a journey, showing the highs and lows, bruises and stitches of skating and street life, and ultimately celebrating the beauty such a life can bring. While it captures Sweertvaegher’s odyssey from a highly personal perspective, The Journal of a Skateboarder is also a visual documentary of the skating world, and features key figures such as Axel Cruysberghs, Arto Saari, Dylan Rieder and Rodney Mullen.

The first book from the French band Phoenix, who helped define the sound of an era.

With one foot in the French electronic music sound of the late 1990s and the other in the world of indie Rock, Phoenix have evolved from an edgy French band to one of the most influential and beloved indie acts of the last twenty years.

The book draws on the band's personal archives, including photography of everything from their instruments to the notebooks in which every lyric and chord change were carefully notated. Accompanying this is an oral history of the Phoenix's journey in their own words. The book is a superfan's chronicle of the evolution of a band.

Published to coincide with a series of anniversaries for the band -- thirty years since their formation as teenagers in 1989; twenty since the release of their debut record in 1999; and ten since Grammy Award-winning Best Alternative Album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, in 2009 -- and with original interviews conducted with the band throughout, this book is an intimate celebration of a group whose particular brand of indie rock has struck a chord on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Shadow Ring (1992-2002) presents a comprehensive overview of the work produced by British musiciansGraham Lambkin, Darren Harris, and later Tim Goss over the course of a decade. Throughout theirlegendary ten-year run, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of teenagers in the port townFolkestone, were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. The group have leftbehind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7-inches, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zineappearances on both sides of the Atlantic. In aggregate, this significant collection not only plums the depths of theband and its attendant lore, but reveals a vivid minor history of mail-order networks, bedroom recordingsessions, cross-USA couch-surfing, and encounters with fellow travelers such The Dead C, Harry Pussy,Charalambides, Richard Youngs and the No-Neck Blues Band. Where is the connecting thread between RalfWehowsky and Squirrel Nut Zippers? Inquire within.The roughly 200 songs in this set trace the band from its earliest days recording in Lambkin's parents' house(SHP Studios), through its brooding mid-period, garnering word-of-mouth notoriety that peaked with the trioturning down an invitation to tour with Pavement, to a string of increasingly uncompromising experimentswith electronics, voice, and tape. Although the band's sound morphs considerably during this time period,from spartan beginnings using pots and pans as a drum set to their ultra-deconstructed latter-day approach,certain core sensibilities are apparent throughout: brash youthful rawness, wry and m...

Credited as one of the pioneers of ‘harsh noise wall’; influential artist Sam McKinlay (b. 1974, CA) has been operating under the alias The Rita for over 25 years. Having performed extensively and credited with over 200 releases, the project has grown into a laser focused multidisciplinary venture and is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of ‘harsh noise’.

Accompanying The Rita’s singular and often unpredictable sonic output is an inseparable and distinct visual language. By combining McKinlay’s fine arts education, research, experimentation, and collaboration; the project visually and texturally unites the artist’s interests in minimalist design, noise, ballet, sharks, choreography, and film.

‘Correlations’ presents some of the images and documents McKinlay finds most definitive in his practice The monograph is designed to provide a cohesive understanding of the artist’s creative trajectory, as well as illuminate The Rita’s uncanny process that visually, conceptually, and historically ‘connects’ seemingly unrelated subjects.

Published by Amaya Productions; the monograph includes essays by the author and Centre Pompidou art historian Nicolas Ballet (‘Shock Factory: The Visual Culture of Industrial Music’), associate Professor and harsh noise artist Lexi Turner (Cornell University), and author, writer, producer Kier-La Janisse (‘House of Psychotic Women’).

For fans, Boxer is a profound personal meditation. Life decisions have been based on it. Relationships have been created and dissolved by it. For the band that recorded it, Boxer symbolizes a do-or-die moment; a final, give-it-everything-you've-got effort to make it work.

Released in May 2007, The National's fourth full-length is the album that saved them. It's where the Ohio-via-Brooklyn five-piece found the sound, success, and spiritual growth to become one of the most critically acclaimed bands of their time. Obsessively researched and featuring intimate interviews with the fighters who were there in the ring, Ryan Pinkard captures a transformative chapter in The National's story, revealing how their breakthrough album is deeply intertwined with their personal lives, the New York indie rock renaissance of the early aughts, and a generational experience in America.

From New York pioneers who helped create the art form in the 70s, to freight train kings in Florida and hall of fame spray can wizards in California. In the American Graffiti Coloring Book, more than 45 of America’s most prominent graffiti writers have provided the initial outlines – now it is up to you to give them color! With full pages devoted to the artwork, each spread becomes its own unique full color piece of art as you go along filling out the pages, and there is plenty of room for the small details. American Graffiti Coloring Book is printed on marker friendly paper. Use your markers and color-in on both sides of the page with no risk of the ink bleeding through. The content is carefully curated by the influential artist and Museum of Graffiti co-founder Alan KET, and the striking cover and

If you're interested in the Microphones box set but maybe you don't actually enjoy music (or maybe you have the records, or maybe it's sold out), here you can buy just the book.

It's pretty fancy on its own. 12.5" x 12.5", 107 pages, perfect bound with huge french flaps, packed with beautiful photos and artwork, notebook spreads, studio track sheets, show posters, etc. These were made at the sustainability-award-winning Hemlock Printers in Burnaby, B.C., a splurge.

It works as either a semi-abstract aesthetic art thing or as an abundantly packed collection of background materials that should satisfy even the most curious Microphones music listener.

The Jesus and Mary Chain's swooning debut Psychocandy seared through the underground and through the pop charts, shifting the role of noise within pop music forever. Post-punk and pro-confusion, Psychocandy became the sound of a generation poised on the brink of revolution, establishing Creation Records as a tastemaking entity in the process. The Scottish band's notorious live performances were both punishingly loud and riot-spurring, inevitably acting as socio-political commentary on tensions emergent in mid-1980s Britain. Through caustic clangs and feedback channeling the rage of the working-class who'd had enough, Psychocandy gestures toward the perverse pleasure in having your eardrums exploded and loudness as a politics within itself.

Yet Psychocandy's blackened candy heart center – calling out to phantoms Candy and Honey with an unsettling charm – makes it a pop album to the core, and not unlike the sugarcoated sounds the Ronettes became famous for in the 1960s. The Jesus and Mary Chain expertly carved out a place where depravity and sweetness entwined, emerging from the isolating underground of suburban Scotland grasping the distinct sound of a generation, apathetic and uncertain. The irresistible Psychocandy emerged as a clairvoyant account of struggle and sweetness that still causes us to grapple with pop music's relation to ourselves.

A celebration of the visual artistry behind the evolution of sound recording with specially commissioned photography of iconic, rarely-seen artefacts from the collections of the EMI Archive Trust.

Charting the truly global story of the evolution of sound recording and playback, from Scott de Martinville’s invention of the phonautograph in 1857 to popular streaming services of today, this serendipitous volume details the four distinct ages of recorded sound – acoustic, electrical, magnetic and digital – documenting prototypes, rare examples of classic technology and other iconic artefacts from the vaults of the EMI Archives and beyond.

The Art of Sound showcases the hardware that changed the way we listened to music: from wax cylinder to stereophonic gramophone, acoustic horn to magnetic loudspeaker, valve radio to solid-state transistor, wire recorder to magnetic tape, Walkman to iPod, and compact disc to digital download. Facsimile blueprints splice the chapters: quirky, innovative and handsome patents from yesterday’s tomorrows. Archival catalogues, covers and industry ephemera, along with press shots of long forgotten stars, exemplify the sophisticated graphic and marketing approach of each era and every continent.

Music and audio expert Terry Burrows guides you through the evolution of every technological age in informative and engaging text punctuated with concise biographies of the great innovators, from Emile Berliner to Thomas Stockham.

An Electronic Sound Book of the Year 2017

'An essential read' Electronic Sound

'Lavishly illustrated ... strikes a good balance between the scientific and anecdotal' Classical Music

About the Author: Terry Burrows is an author, musician and producer. Best known as a cult performer under the alias Yukio Yung, Burrows has recorded with The Chrysanthemums, Asmus Tietchens and the duo Push-Button Pleasure. He is also a prolific author of more than 80 books relating to music history, tuition and technology, popular psychology and history.

Format:PLC (no jacket) Size:24.6 x 21.0 cm Extent:350 pp Publication date:1 June 2017 ISBN:9780500519288

Daniel Miller created Mute Records to release his debut single (‘Warm Leatherette’/’T.V.O.D’), a pioneering electronic sound with a defiantly DIY attitude. Mute quickly established a reputation for releasing cutting-edge, chart-topping music and through the music of its community of artists – ranging from Fad Gadget, Moby, Can, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and Einstürzende Neubauten to Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, Laibach, Goldfrapp, Liars and Ben Frost – it has had an incalculable impact on popular music for four decades.

Mute: A Visual Document is packed with stunning artwork and photography – much of it previously unseen – from the Mute Archives and Daniel Miller’s personal archives, including photography and video stills from legendary photographers, conceptual artworks, rare ephemera and equipment.

Comprehensive discographies, a family tree of Mute artists, an extensive introduction and commentary by Daniel Miller, who has curated the materials for the book, plus anecdotal and photographic contributions from key figures in the label’s story, including Moby, Alison Goldfrapp, Anton Corbijn, Bleddyn Butcher, Brian Griffin, Jon Spencer, Barry Adamson, Ivan Novak, Angus Andrew, Adrian Shaughnessy, Tom Hingston, make this book the definitive chronicle of the label.

'The Book of the Year has arrived. Quite the treat … If there’s one book you need on the old Christmas list this year, make it this one'
Electronic Sound

'A beautifully crafted celebration of “the accidental label”'
Uncut

'Packed with artwork and photography – much of it previously unseen'
M magazine

'Visually stunning'
Buzz magazine

'Beautifully bound, this book is as iconic and dynamic as Mute’s musical past'
Rough Trade

'Highlights the unsung heroes – the artists, designers and photographers whose talent is often overlooked – and places them firmly in the spotlight'
Classic Pop

'Packed full of great imagery'
Sonicstate.com

About the Author:
Terry Burrows is an author, musician and producer. Best known as a cult performer under the alias Yukio Yung, Burrows has recorded with The Chrysanthemums, Asmus Tietchens and the duo Push-Button Pleasure. He is also a prolific author of more than 80 books relating to music history, tuition and technology, popular psychology and history.

A unique visual reinterpretation of Stuart Murdoch’s favourite Belle and Sebastian songs.

Belle and Sebastian frontman and lyricist Stuart Murdoch invites Black Isle artist Pamela Tait to reinterpret twenty songs visually. Tait’s gentle and dreamlike characters evolve from the worlds of Murdoch’s songwriting, coming to life on the page in a creative exchange between two curious minds.

Track Listing If You’re Feeling Sinister The Boy Done Wrong Again The Rollercoaster Ride Simple Things Slow Graffiti You Made Me Forget My Dreams Beautiful Piazza, New York Catcher I’m a Cuckoo Another Sunny Day The Ghost Of Rockschool God Help the Girl Nobody’s Empire The Cat with the Cream Ever Had a Little Faith? Today (This Army’s for Peace) I’ll Be Your Pilot There Is an Everlasting Song This Letter Do It for Your Country

About the Author: Stuart Murdoch is a Scottish musician, writer and filmmaker. He is the founding member, lead singer and songwriter for Belle and Sebastian. Pamela Tait is a Scottish artist who lives on the Black Isle. She expresses her own folklore through illustration, seeing patterns and faces in her surroundings.

Format:PLC Size:22.0 x 15.0 cm Extent:128 pp Publication date:25 August 2022 ISBN:9780500296851

Let the Music Play: How R&B Fell in Love with 80s Synths is the overlooked story of how R&B, disco and funk were transformed by the explosion of music tech in the era of ghetto blasters and Ronald Reagan. It traces how pioneers like Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock inspired a new generation of black musicians and producers to reinvent music with a whole new set of rules.

From superstars like Prince and Sade to production geniuses like Kashif and Jam & Lewis, it tells the fascinating stories of the artists involved and how they made some of the best-loved records of the era – creating a blueprint for music today.

A Field Guide to ... delves into music’s most influential genres to uncover the innovators and agitators who changed music history forever. In A Field Guide to Britpop, Steve Wide explores a scene fueled by north–south rivalries, tribal fashion and a good cup of tea. Uncover the artists and albums, the who’s who and hangabouts that defined the era. From Blur’s jaunty pop, Pulp’s working-class poetry and Suede’s dark tales of the elegantly wasted, to the pub sing-alongs of Oasis.

The largest presentation of works by Banksy, the world’s most enigmatic yet highly sought-after artist, including iconic works, installation objects, ephemera, and memorabilia all in one volume.

Banksy is the world’s most discussed artist of recent decades, and this seminal collection features hundreds of works including Girl with Balloon, Pulp Fiction, Love Is in the Air, Barcode, and Monkey Queen. It also includes scores of paintings, serigraphs, stencils, and installation objects as well as a selection of memorabilia—many of which have never been published previously. Created with the cooperation of Pest Control, the group that manages all things Banksy, this is as official and authorized as any Banksy publication could be. Banksy is the world’s greatest practitioner of street art. His work has always been political, involving pointed critiques of inequality, injustice, consumerism, and the establishment, yet no one knows his identity. He is an exemplary case of fame and notoriety built upon absence and anonymity. His relationship with the art market is also complex: marked by mocking hostility while being one of the most marketable and most collected contemporary artists.

This book collects the best artwork from the first five years of “Bad Dads,” an annual exhibition of art inspired by the films of Wes Anderson. Curated by Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco, “Bad Dads” has continued to grow and progress and has featured work from more than four hundred artists. From paintings to sculptures to limited-edition screen prints, the artworks vary greatly in style, but share the imagery and beloved characters from the mind of one of Hollywood’s most noteworthy and imaginative filmmakers. The book features an original cover by graphic artist Max Dalton, a foreword by writer and director Wes Anderson himself, and an introduction by TV and movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz, author of the bestselling Wes Anderson Collection books.

Brand new edition of Soul Jazz Records" massive deluxe 400-page Punk 45s cover art book edited and compiled by Jon Savage (author of the seminal book on punk, England"s Dreaming) and Stuart Baker (founder of Soul Jazz Records). This new edition comes with a new introduction from Bobbie Gillespie, founder of Primal Scream (who has recently also published his memoirs Tenement Kid). Contributors include Peter Saville, Richard Hell, Richard H Kirk, Seymour Stein, Geoff Travis, Martin Moscrop, Glenn Branca, Jamie Reid, Dave Robinson, Roger Armstrong, Martin Mills, Gee Vaucher, Savage Pencil, Dennis Morris and more. This book is a revelatory guide to hundreds and hundreds of original 7" record cover sleeve designs - visual artefacts found at the heart of the most radical and anarchistic musical movement of the 20th century.

Yo! The Early Days of Hip-Hop 1982-84 is a new book published by Soul Jazz Books/Records that features 300+ pages of stunning photographs documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly.

Featuring: Fab Five Freddy Futura Afrika Bambaataa Grand Mixer D.ST Beastie Boys Kool Herc Run DMC Cold Crush Brothers Rocksteady Crew Grandmaster Flash and many more!

Introduction BY: Bill Adler

With Additional Text BY: Fab Fab Freddy Grand Mixer D. St Rahiem of The Furious Five Arthur Baker Zephyr Muhamad of The Magnificent Force Lady Pink Mister Freeze of The Rock Steady Crew Patti Astor & Slick Rick

“All these photos speak for a time that is so special, is never coming back and changed the world. It’s pretty much this experience that changed everything for ever. What makes it amazing, is that you hear stories about superheroes that changed the world, and that was us.” Grand Mixer D. St

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sophie Bramly lived in New York in the early 1980s and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency.

These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, the Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and many more.

Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers.

Aside from the musical stars of hip-hop you will also see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sophie Bramly is a French photographer born in 1959. In 1982, she moved from France to New York at age 22 and for two years documented the burgeoning hip-hop scene, taking pictures of everyone from graffiti artists and breakdancers to rappers such as the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. She returned to France in 1984, bringing a number of US hip-hop artists to Europe and then in 1987 moved to London to host and produce MTV’s first ever hip-hop show, Yo! MTV Raps.

She currently lives in Paris and her work is featured extensively at Hip-Hop 360 a six month long exhibition showing at the prestigious Philarmonie de Paris, France (Dec 21–Aug 22)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“One of the curious facts about hip-hop’s history is how little photographic documentation exists of the culture’s early years. Come the dawn of the Eighties, a handful of talented photographers finally began to pay attention, most notably Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, and Joe Conzo. In retrospect, it’s clear that each of them focused on a particular element or two of the multiform explosion of creativity that came to be called hip-hop. Henry zeroed in on graffiti. Martha devoted herself to graffiti and breakdancing. And the heart of Joe’s work documents the career of the Cold Crush Brothers. Uniquely Sophie Bramly, unlike the others, managed between 1982 and 1984 to put her arms around all four of the hip-hop elements: the emcees, deejays, graffiti artists, and breakdancers.” Bill Adler from the introduction.

Isbn: 978-1-9163598-2-6

Flexibound, 304 pages, Dimensions 224 X 284 mm, Weight 1.75Kg

Snoop rolls out 50 recipes, organized by meals and occasions, with epic
stories and archival photos and ephemera. This is a sincere, funny,
delicious collection of (cannabis-free) recipes and entertaining ideas from
one of the most beloved rappers of our generation. Get ready for Snoop
Dogg’s first ever cookbook! Complete with epic stories and photography
that brings this masterpiece to life and packed with 50 recipes straight
from his own collection, including:
• Baked Mac & Cheese
• Fried Bologna Sandwiches with Chips
• Soft Flour Tacos
• Easy Orange Chicken
• Lobster Thermidor
• Filet Mignon
Also included are Snoop's favorite munchies; chewy Starbursts, Frito
BBQ Twists, and of course, no party is complete without that Gin and
Juice.

Soled Out is an epic compilation of nearly 900 vintage print advertisements sourced from the golden age of sneakers. Featuring sporting and cultural icons such as Andre Agassi, Paula Abdul, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, MC Hammer, and Shaquille O’Neal, every page is packed with unforgettable imagery, bold graphics, and outrageous trash talk devised by the footwear industry’s biggest players. Sit back and enjoy the spectacular scenery ahead as Soled Out powers through a 720-page marathon celebration of the rubber, leather, and mesh we wear on our feet! - Sneaker Freaker was established in 2002 by Simon ‘Woody’ Wood as the first and only international footwear magazine. With a monthly audience reach of 10 million, it documents every collab, custom design, limited edition, and retro reissue in exacting detail. Based in Melbourne, Woody is recognized worldwide for his encyclopedic knowledge, inimitable writing style, and steadfast role as an authentic ambassador for all things sneakers.

Every Sneaker Story Worth Telling!

An anthology of cult magazine Sneaker Freaker

Back in 2002, Simon “Woody” Wood was dreaming up schemes to get free sneakers. Two weeks later, he was the proud owner of Sneaker Freaker and his life was never the same.

From its early roots as a punk-style fanzine to today’s super-slick print and online operations, the fiercely independent publication has documented every collab, custom, limited edition, retro reissue, Quickstrike, Hyperstrike, and Tier Zero sneaker released over the last 20 years.

Woody’s original premise that Sneaker Freaker would be “funny and serious, meaningful and pointless at the same time” has certainly been vindicated in The Ultimate Sneaker Book. With more than 500 pages jam-packed with insider knowledge and his own irreverent observations, the insane historical detail and otaku-level minutiae is beyond obsessive.

Traversing 100 years of history, each chapter paints a rollicking picture of the sneaker industry’s evolution. Air Max, Air Force, Adi Dassler, Converse, Dapper Dan, Dee Brown, and Michael Jordan—along with obscure treasures like Troop, Airwalk, and Vision Street Wear—are all exhaustively documented.

This is a definitive source of knowledge. This is… The Ultimate Sneaker Book!

Sneaker Freaker has been at the forefront of the global sneaker scene for over two decades. With over 500 redesigned pages, fresh photography, immense historical detail, and otaku-level minutiae, this anthology combines the magazine's finest and content created exclusively for this book into one big celebration of sneakers.

“The most definitive sneaker culture magazine on the planet!”
MTV

The editor and author
Simon “Woody” Wood established Sneaker Freaker in 2002 as the first and only international magazine dedicated to footwear. Today, Sneaker Freaker documents every colab, custom, limited-edition, and retro reissue in exacting detail across multiple digital channels and print projects. Based in Melbourne, Woody is recognized worldwide for his encyclopedic knowledge, inimitable writing style, and steadfast role as an authentic ambassador. His TASCHEN titles include the best-selling Ultimate Sneaker Book and The World's Greatest Sneaker Collectors.

Hardcover, 15.6 x 21.7 cm, 1.11 kg, 512 pages

The perfect guide for those who want to explore a different, trendy side of Berlin. Photographer Silvie Bonne presents 100 scenic, impressive and 'Instagrammable' spots in Berlin. Some are classics but most are hidden gems only locals know about. Every hotspot is accompanied by a fascinating background story, some fun facts, and practical information. The true eyecatchers are of course the original Instagram images, along with some expert tips and trips on how to shoot them.

Words like "inspiring," "expansive," and "moving" are
regularly used to describe Sigur Rós's ( ), and yet the
only words heard on the record itself are a handful of
meaningless nonsense syllables. The album has no
title—or rather, its title is no title: just an empty pair
of parentheses. The intention being that listeners will
fill in the parentheses with their own title, their own
interpretation of the sounds on the record. The CD
sleeve consists of twelve pages that are essentially blank, lacking song
titles, liner notes or production credits. Instead, it contains only semitranslucent
frosted images of abstract natural scenes (tree branches,
clouds, etc.), on which the listener is free to inscribe their own notes—
or no notes at all. And then there are the lyrics, sung in a deliberately
unintelligible tongue called "Hopelandic" which the band invites listeners
to interpret freely.
Ethan Hayden's book doesn't try to fill in the gaps between the album's
parentheses, but instead explores the ways in which listeners might
attempt to do so. Examining the communicative powers of asemantic
language, the book asks whether music can bring sense to nonsense.
What happens to the voice when it stops singing conventional
language: does it simply become another musical instrument, or is it
somehow more "human"? What role does space play on ( )? And how do
we interpret music that we cannot possibly understand, but feel very
deeply that we do?

168 pages, paperback.

apper Bun B lends his street cred and occasionally his face to the creative, hilarious, and just flat-out fun imaginings of Shea Serrano in Bun B's Rap Coloring and Activity Book. Described by the Washington Post as "what every hip-hop head wishes they had as a child," this imaginative work started as a series of printable rap-related coloring and activity images. The 48-page, fully interactive book of coloring pages, unbelievably clever activities, and smart plays on rap culture brings these stars and their music right into your living room.Featured rappers include:
Bun B
Queen Latifah
Drake
Talib Kweli
Ice-T
Common
Wiz Khalifa
Ludacris
LL COOL J
Big Boi
Childish Gambino
Questlove
B.o.B
Mac Miller

And many, many more!