Books 491 Items

The history of India’s first electronic music studio founded in 1969 at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad by David Tudor.

A book companion to the compilation album The NID Tapes: Electronic Music in India 1969-1972 released by State51.

Subcontinental Synthesis explores the history of India’s first electronic music studio, founded in 1969 at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad with the support of the composer David Tudor. The essays and writings unravel the narrative and context surrounding the studio as well as the work of the Indian composers who created groundbreaking recordings during its four years of activity.

The texts reflect on the role of electronic music within a post-independence India, considering its interconnections with experimental design, radical pedagogies, and the international avant-garde, as well as the encircling conditions of Western ideological soft power within the global expansion of Modernism.

Biz Markie, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Cypress Hill, Da Brat, DJ Kool Herc, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Nas, Sean “Pu!y” Combs, Wu-Tang Clan The Notorious B.I.G., and many more...

Foreword by Ice-T
An inside look at the making of Hip-Hop documentary Rhyme & Reason, over 25 years
since its ground-breaking release. The ultimate back-stage pass. Over 130 photographs from 1994 to 1997. Released to mark 50th anniverary of Hip-Hop.

THE BOOK: In the mid-nineties, documentarian Peter Spirer embarked on a three-year odyssey to o!er a realistic view of Hip-Hop and the people and culture it encompassed, interviewing over 80 artists involved in the art form. Spirer managed to capture a seminal moment as the culture balanced on the cusp of the mainstream. As Ice-T comments in his foreword to the book, “Rhyme & Reason is one of the few films that was there to document us before Hip-Hop truly exploded.”

While filming, Spirer took accompanying stills using a medium format Rolleiflex camera. It is these photographs that form THE BOOK OF RHYME & REASON. “The Rollei allowed me to capture some amazing moments: Pu!y getting a trim in his o"ce while doing three tasks at once, Biggie opening record plaques on his couch, Ice-T and Mack 10 hanging
with their homies, Heavy D at the barber, playing pool. There was the Jack The Rapper convention with Death Row making a statement, at a Disney World Hotel, that ended in chaos. There were magical moments such as Redman and Erick Sermon freestyling on the mic to amazed onlookers at a block party in Newark and watching Wu-Tang Clan chop it up on the block in Staten Island on a cold winter’s day before they exploded.”

This co!ee table volume features over 130 of Spirer’s photographs from 1994 to 1997. As Hip-Hop commemorates its fiftieth anniversary in 2023, it is particularly fitting that many of these images from this formative period are being seen and published for the first time.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter Spirer is an Academy Award and Emmy Award nominated director and producer, particularly renowned for documenting Hip-Hop culture.

Trip-hop described some of the 1990s' best music, and it was one of the decade's most revealing bad ideas.

The music itself was an intoxication of beats, bass, and voice. It emerged amid the social tensions of the late 1980s, and as part of hip-hop's rise to global dominance. It carried the innovations of Jamaican soundsystem culture, the sweet refuge of Lovers Rock, the bliss of club jazz dancefloors and post-rave chill-out rooms. It went mainstream with Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, DJ Shadow, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and Björk; and with record labels like Ninja Tune and Mo' Wax. To the artists' despair, the music was tagged with a silly label and packaged as music for the boutique and the lounge; made respectable with awards and acclaim.

But the music at its best still sounds experimental and dramatic; and its influence lingers through artists like FKA twigs, Sevdaliza, James Blake, Billie Eilish, and Lana Del Rey. This short book is a guide to 'trip-hop' in its context of the weird 1990s: nostalgia and consumerism; pre-millenium angst and lo-fi technology; casual exoticism amid accelerating globalization and gentrification. This book presents a survey of the music and its leading artists, packed with recommended listening, essential tracks, great remixes, and under-recognized albums.

ESG were one of the first bands to sign to British indie label Factory Records, working with famed producer Martin Hannett on their early EPs. The band's signature guitar sound from iconic single 'ufo' has been sampled in hundreds of hip hop records, and everyone from Karen O to Kathleen Hanna lists the South Bronx group as a direct influence. So why do the Scroggins sisters appear as nothing more than a footnote in the 1980s music scene?

Through interviews with founding member Renee Scroggins, alongside cult-figures from 1980s New York and North England, this book follows the story of a group of sisters who made it out of the New York projects and into the heart of the dancefloor. Come Away With ESG repositions ESG in their rightful place as punk pioneers and explains how their primal beats have paved the way for modern dance music today.

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.

Kraftwerk's most concise and focused conceptual statement, Computer World, was also their most influential album, paving the way for a range of new musical styles and genres. This book explores the band's revolutionary sonic template, and their lyrical obsessions in detail.

An analysis of the bands work reveals a unifying theme, overlooked by other writers, of movement and transition. While many remarked on the prevalence of travel within Kraftwerk's art: Autobahn (1974) – cars, Trans-Europe Express (1977) – trains, The Man- Machine (1978) – space, and Tour De France (1982) – bicycles, Francis contends that this is a surface manifestation of a deeper theoretical subtext in their work. Movement is really a reflection of the concept of transition, through time and space, from one physical, emotional, or existential state of being to another. The book explores transition, as expressed on Computer World, via theories of post-humanism, cybernetics and the anthropology of transnationalism.

Breaking the global record for streams in a single day, nearly 10 million people around the world tuned in to hear Kendrick Lamar's sophomore album in the hours after its release. To Pimp a Butterfly was widely hailed as an instant classic, garnering plauditory albums reviews, many awards, and even a canonized place in Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois archive. Why did this strangely compelling and masterful record stimulate the emotions and imaginations of listeners?

This book takes a deep dive into the sounds, images, and lyrics of To Pimp a Butterfly to suggest that Kendrick appeals to the psyche of a nation in crisis and embraces the development of a radical political conscience. Kendrick breathes fresh life into the black musical protest tradition and cultivates a platform for loving resistance. Combining funk, jazz, and spoken word, To Pimp a Butterfly's expansive sonic and lyrical geography brings a level of innovation to a field dominated by the predictability of trap music. More importantly, Kendrick's introspective and philosophical songs compel us to believe in a future where we gon' be alright!

When LCD Soundsystem broke up in 2011, they left behind a small but remarkable catalog of music. On top of the genius singles and a longform composition for Nike, there was a trilogy of full-length albums. During that initial run, LCD Soundsystem-and the project's mastermind, James Murphy-were at the center of several 21st century developments in pop culture: indie music's growing mainstream clout, Brooklyn surpassing Manhattan as an epicenter of creativity in America, the collision and eventual erosion of genre perceptions, and the rapid and profound growth and impact of digital culture. Amidst this storm, Murphy crafted Sound Of Silver, the centerpiece of LCD's work.

At the time of Sound Of Silver's creation and release, Murphy was a man closing in on 40 while fronting a critically-adored band still on the ascent. This album was the first place where he earnestly grappled with questions of aging, of being an artist, and the decisions we make with the time we have left. Anchored by a series of colossal, intense dance-rock songs, Sound Of Silver called upon the rhythms of New York City in order to draw out, dissect, and ultimately rip open these meditations. By the time LCD Soundsystem reunited in 2016, Sound Of Silver had already proven to be a generational touchstone, living on as a document of what it's like to be alive in the 21st century.

When Twin Peaks debuted on the ABC network on the night of April 8, 1990, thirty-five million viewers tuned in to some of the most unusual television of their lives. Centered on an eccentric, coffee-loving FBI agent's investigation into the murder of a small town teen queen, Twin Peaks brought the aesthetic of arthouse cinema to a prime time television audience and became a cult sensation in the process.

Part of Twin Peaks' charm was its unforgettable soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti, a longtime musical collaborator of film director and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch. Badalamenti's evocative music, with its haunting themes and jazzy moodscapes, served as a constant in a narrative that was often unhinged and went on to become one of the most popular and influential television soundtracks of all time. How did a unique collaborative process between a director and composer result in a perfectly postmodern soundtrack that ran the gamut of musical styles from jazz to dreamy pop to synthesizer doom and beyond? And how did Badalamenti's musical cues work with Twin Peaks' visuals, constantly evolving and playing off viewers' expectations and associations? Under the guidance of Angelo Badalamenti's beautifully dark sonic palette, Clare Nina Norelli delves deep into the world of Twin Peaks to answer all this and more.

Two and a half decades on, Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (1993-94) is the rare album to have lost none of its original loyalty, affection, and reverence. If anything, today, the cult of Jawbreaker-in their own words, "the little band that could but would probably rather not"-is now many times greater than it was when they broke up in 1996. Like the best work of Fugazi, The Clash, and Operation Ivy, the album is now is a rite of passage and a beloved classic among partisans of intelligent, committed, literary punk music and poetry.

Why, when a thousand other artists came and went in that confounding decade of the 90s, did Jawbreaker somehow come to seem like more than just another band? Why do they persist, today, in meaning so much to so many people? And how did it happen that, two years after releasing their masterpiece, the band that was somehow more than just a band to its fans-closer to equipment for living-was no longer?

Ronen Givony's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy is an extended tribute in the spirit of Nicholson Baker's U & I: a passionate, highly personal, and occasionally obsessive study of one of the great confessional rock albums of the 90s. At the same time, it offers a quizzical look back to the toxic authenticity battles of the decade, ponders what happened to the question of "selling out," and asks whether we today are enriched or impoverished by that debate becoming obsolete.

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.

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.

160 Pages Book (Boodk/Auduio Combination sold as "Merch Item"), containing 13 QR codes to download 13 songs.

Aho Ssan debuts on Other People with second solo album and book 'Rhizomes' featuring Nicolás Jaar, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid, clipping., Blackhaine and more

Aho Ssan debuts on Other People with second solo album and book 'Rhizomes' featuring Nicolás Jaar, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid, clipping., Blackhaine and more

Paris based composer Aho Ssan, the artist moniker of Niamké Désiré, presents his new full-length 'Rhizomes' on the Other People label following his debut LP 'Simulacrum' (2020) and collaborative record 'Limen' (2022) with fellow musician Kmru.

'Rhizomes' draws inspiration from a concept coined and developed between Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri. The idea of an ever evolving structural model, constantly in motion and spreading out in all directions at once. It has no beginning and no end, but always remains in a middle, through which it grows and overflows.

"The root thought is the one that kills everything around itself while the rhizome is the root that stretches out to meet other roots," Désiré explains considering the works of French writer Édouard Glissant who addresses questions of identity, crossbreeding of cultures and its evolution.

Much like the name it borrows, Aho Ssan's 'Rhizomes' is a multimedia project that embarks on a myriad of disparate, unique musical and artistic partnerships. This piece adapts this concept to explore the influence of sound materials on creation, the appropriation of a sound object, and the collaborative nature of a composition that responds to modernity.

"Rhizome represents an underground stem system that fosters connections between various organisms and allows them to flourish collectively. It's an album that celebrates collaboration and brings together a diverse group of talented artists," Désiré continues.

Aho Ssan collaborated with a comprehensive cast of artists to create a musical rhizome including Nyokabi Kariuki, Josefa Ntjam, Blackhaine, Nicolás Jaar, Resina, R?n C?p ?uôi, Richie Culver, clipping., Lafawndah, 9T Antiope, James Ginzburg, Exzald S, Valentina Magaletti, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid and Mondkopf. Cooperation and community are at the root of this project and the lens through which all the compositions can be understood through.

Aho Ssan will present 'Rhizomes' AV show together with visual artist Sevi Iko Dømochevsky at Berlin Atonal 2023. 'Rhizomes' received a Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2023 Digital Music

In conjunction with the album, 'Rhizomes' comes complete with a set of illustrations by Kim Grano in a book release. The drawings become a hybrid language, each an emotional response to the musical half. The book contains an extended version of the album with 3 additional songs and 2 longer versions of the album songs. It also includes a sample pack by Aho Ssan and a collection of solo tracks by Elliot Blaise, Kmru, Lamin Fofana, Brodinski & Se?bastien Forrester, Valence Drake, 9T Antiope, Exzald S and Valentina Magaletti. The extended version package is only accessible through the QR codes in the book.

»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.

"Volta No Vento" is the result of a dialog between the French photographer Gilles Roudière and the French musician and composer Toàn initiated by Iikki, between November 2019 and November 2020.

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.

By the mid 1970s the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new country found itself under his self-imposed autocratic rule. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty. This is the environment in which the 70s rock revolution known as Zamrock flourished. Fuzz guitars were common, as were rhythms influenced by James Brown’s funk. Songs, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak. In present day Zambia, Zamrock makers were few. It was not a likely scene to survive — but it did. Welcome To Zamrock! Vols. 1 and 2 are an overview of the movement’s most beloved groups, and trace its ascension, fall, and finally, resurgence. Each volume chronicles the the history of the Zamrock scene with never before seen photographs and ephemera. Volume 2 Includes 18 track CD.

56 pages, 5,75 x 8,75 inches, paperback.

Multidisciplinary artist Kaws was first known for his work as a graffiti artist and his subversive approach to popular imagery on bus shelter and phone booth advertisements. This is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s body of work.

Contributions By Agnès B., Carlo McCormick, Barry McGee, And Ryan Mcginness, among others.

A visual autobiography by counterculture/street artist OG KR, renowned for creating the signature “dripping” KRINK paint markers beloved by creatives all over the world.
KRINK is a brand name of iconic inks and paint markers created by graffiti/street artist Craig Costello, aka KR. This visual memoir is a deep dive into KR and KRINK markers: from his early street-art/graffiti days of the ’80s and ’90s to his evolution into graffiti- artist royalty and his high-fashion collaborations and art exhibitions.
From making his own markers in the early ’90s and selling his product at hip New York City retail store Alife, Costello now has an internationally recognized brand creating markers and pens that are distributed and sold worldwide.
KR’s work is the epitome of street-culture aesthetic crossed with high fashion, a more “street” version of Stephen Sprouse. The book showcases KR and his seminal style in its dripping glory. It also chronicles his myriad collaborations with Alife, Nike, Coach, Moncler, Modernica, Marc Jacobs, Levi Strauss & Co., Mini (BMW), Casio, Smith Optics, Carhartt, Incase, Kidrobot, Monument Snowboards, Married to the Mob, Juxtapoz, and Colette, among many others. KRINK the book is both stylish and informative, capturing the ethos of punk and hip-hop culture, and is sure to appeal to the fans of high/low cultural crossovers, as well as die-hard fans of street art.
KR, aka Craig Costello, is a visual and street artist who created the popular KRINK paint markers. Agnès B. is a famous French clothing designer. Carlo McCormick is a culture critic and curator. Barry McGee is a painter and street artist. Ryan McGinness is a contemporary artist.

The first book by professional BMX athlete, entrepreneur, content creator, and cultural icon Nigel Sylvester; photographed by director, cinematographer, and graphic designer Harrison Boyce.

Inspired by his globally acclaimed digital series GO, which documents the Queens, NY native’s ambitious desire to ride his bicycle around the world, the two hundred-plus page coffee table book (out this October with Rizzoli) transports audiences to marquee cities worldwide, placing them in the front seat to various thrill-seeking moments documented through dynamic photos and short stories including sumo wrestling in Tokyo, fencing at Somerset House in London, racing Ferraris along the Malibu coast, and jumping out of a plane with his BMX bike in hand into the Dubai desert, just to name a few. Unprecedented moments like this make it easy to understand how the BMX icon's ubiquitous influence has redefined the sport on his terms and become one of the most recognizable faces in the sports world.

Sylvester's cultural relevance is also embedded throughout the book, with cameos from Nigo, Super Bowl champion wide receiver Victor Cruz, rapper Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, celebrity jeweler Greg Yuna, Jamie Chung, Asap Ferg, Steve Aoki, and NBA champion Nick Young.

Pete Townshend was once asked how he prepared himself for The Who’s violent live performances. His answer? ‘Pretend you’re in a war.’ For a band as prone to furious infighting as it was notorious for acts of ‘auto-destructive art’ this could have served as a motto.
Between 1964 and 1969 The Who released some of the most dramatic and confrontational music of the decade, including ‘I Can’t Explain’, ‘My Generation’ and ‘I Can See For Miles’. This was a body of work driven by bitter rivalry, black humour and dark childhood secrets, but it also held up a mirror to a society in transition. Now, acclaimed rock biographer Mark Blake goes in search of its inspiration to present a unique perspective on both The Who and the sixties.
From their breakthrough as Mod figureheads to the rise and fall of psychedelia, he reveals how The Who, in their explorations of sex, drugs, spirituality and class, refracted the growing turbulence of the time. He also lays bare the colourful but crucial role played by their managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. And – in the uneasy alliance between art-school experimentation and working-class ambition – he locates the motor of the Swinging Sixties.
As the decade closed, with The Who performing Tommy in front of 500,000 people at the Woodstock Festival, the ‘rock opera’ was born. In retrospect, it was the crowning achievement of a band who had already embraced pop art and the concept album; who had pioneered the power chord and the guitar smash; and who had embodied – more so than any of their peers – the guiding spirit of the age: war.

"People always get caught up in what these two iconic groups stood for, but can we just step back for a moment and say, who gives a fuck? They were good! They made amazing records!...Rap parallels punk rock: Destroy everything that came before it and borrow little bits to help you get there. Bring it full circle: it helps us understand how and why these two groups did what they did, and why Glen E. brings us into the picture deeper than anyone and brings it all together. Forever. These photographs inspire and excite us to this day." -- Chris Rock

"Run-DMC were outsiders from mainstream culture. The Beasties were outsiders from hip-hop culture. Being accepted by Run-DMC and touring with Run-DMC was a mark of authenticity for Beastie Boys. There was a feeling of family between the two groups." -- Rick Rubin

In the early 1980s iconic skate and punk photographer Glen E. Friedman had a front row seat to the rise of hip-hop music and culture. He was able to get with both Run-DMC and Beastie Boys on their meteoric rise to fame. Befriending both groups, Friedman's eye composed the photos that have become synonymous with how we remember both groups when they first came into our collective consciousness. And then the moment when it all came together: the seminal, popular, and highly publicized 1987 joint concert tour, Raising Hell.
TOGETHER FOREVER is not only a visual time capsule of hip-hop on the cusp of becoming mainstream, but a record of the strong bond of friendship between these two groups and how they significantly influenced each other, all while having a massive impact on music history and the industry. Including scores of never-before-published photos made by Friedman--the bands in concert, goofing around with celebrities, portraits, and, of course, hanging out together--TOGETHER FOREVER includes a foreword by Chris Rock, plus text contributions by the surviving members of both groups and others who were there, proving that the originals still reign.

About The Author
Glen E. Friedman is a celebrated photographer of rebellious skateboarding, punk, and hip-hop cultures. Chris Rock is a comedian and actor. Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons are members of RUN-DMC. Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz are members of the Beastie Boys.

Recent winners of Royal Photographic Society Award for Photographic Publishing. All books 36 pages, printed in England, staple bound, 14cm x 20cm. Goldie exposes NYC to jungle.

“It is viral, like a meme of misbehavior that infects status, semiotics, and social decorum with Dada aesthetics, postmodern irony, cheeky disobedience, and savvy subterfuge everywhere it goes.” —Carlo McCormick

Over the past 25 years, Supreme has transformed itself from a downtown New York skate shop into an influential global company with 11 stores worldwide in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and six locations in Japan. This winter, Phaidon is excited to publish Supreme, a new book celebrating the iconic brand.

Known as much for its irreverent and iconoclastic spirit as it is for its commitment to design and quality, Supreme’s products have become as recognizable and coveted as those from the world’s top luxury brands, and this new book is no exception. Featuring more than 800 stunning images from photographers including Larry Clark, Sandy Kim, and David Sims, Supreme offers unparalleled access to readers: behind-the-scenes content from the company’s early years; highly limited product releases from t-shirts and MetroCards to suitcases and bicycles; and artist and brand collaborations with the likes of Nan Goldin, Raymond Pettibon, Takashi Murakami, Cindy Sherman, Comme des Garçons, Nike, and Louis Vuitton, to name a few.

Beautifully produced, Supreme is the epitome of the brand’s dedication to quality and design. The book’s jacket is not only reversible—featuring the signature red Supreme logo on one side, but also acts as a removable poster. With written contributions from pop-culture critic Carlo McCormick and film director Harmony Korine, this new book offers exclusive insight into Supreme’s core ethos from two lifelong devotees, and beautifully brings together the history, the creations, and the convention-defying spirit that are uniquely Supreme.

About the author:
James Jebbia founded Supreme in 1994. He lives and works in New York City.

Specifications:
Format: Hardback
Size: 286 × 224 mm (11 1/4 × 8 7/8 in)
Pages: 352 pp
Illustrations: 800 illustrations
ISBN: 9781838660314

Second edition of the long-out-of-print book which Bun B declared ".... defines Houston hip-hop." Includes 32 new pages of never before seen photos and text, Northside/Southside Houston maps, and a complete index of the timeline and oral history of the scene. Houston Rap is an immersion into the everyday life of the Houston hip hop community. The second edition, hardcover 304 page book features the photography of Peter Beste, who spent 9 years documenting the culture alongside writer Lance Scott Walker. Houston Rap profiles noted artists such as Bun B of UGK, Z-Ro, Big Mike, K-Rino, Willie D of the Geto Boys, Lil’ Troy, and Paul Wall, alongside reflections on the lives of departed legends such as DJ Screw, Pimp C, and Big Hawk. The book also features community leaders, rappers, producers, businessmen, and family members, all providing important insight into a great American cultural narrative, and the second edition features even more details into this astonishing and influential scene.

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Album Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90 ’ is a stunning new deluxe 250-page large format hardback book compiled and edited by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that features many 100s of stunning and unique Cuban record sleeve designs made since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959. These album covers have rarely been seen (nor heard) outside of Cuba and show a rich previously hidden history of both music and design.

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution’ is the first ever book about Cuban record sleeve design and has been five years in the making, made in full co-operation with the Cuban government. The record sleeve designs reflect both the rich cultural Latin musical legacy of Cuba, as well as the political and aesthetic influence of revolutionary Communism, which manifests itself both in the music created on the island and the artwork of the designs included here.

Cuban music is the source of much Latin music in the 20th century. Salsa, the all-encompassing Latin music that came out of New York in the 1970s, and soon spread across Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, owes all of its success to the Cuban music on which it is fundamentally based.

These record sleeves help document the dramatic change in Cuba’s identity from that of 1950s tourist paradise to socialist state. Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States imposed a trade embargo which exists to this day, and as a consequence the many 100s of Cuban records featured here have rarely been seen outside of Cuba.

The book is edited and compiled by Gilles Peterson, BBC broadcaster, record label owner, DJ, record collector, founder of Worldwide FM and Stuart Baker, founder of Soul Jazz Records. Together they have edited two earlier critically-acclaimed music and design books ‘Freedom, Rhythm and Sound – Revolutionary Jazz Cover Art 1965-83’ and ‘Bossa Nova and The Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s’.

In conjunction with the deluxe book, Soul Jazz Records will be releasing an album also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, charting the rise of Cuban music in the 1970s and featuring many of the artists who appear in this book.

No need for rap.

Around 2008, a generation of producers in Germany and all over Europe realized that their hip-hop beats could stand alone. Without any vocals but with a new-found confidence in instrumental music. Among those producers were now household names like Suff Daddy, Dexter, Brenk Sinatra, Twit One, Shuko, Hulk Hodn, Hubert Daviz, Bluestaeb, S. Fidelity, Flako, Flofilz and many more…

They went from beat tapes to full vinyl releases that attracted more and more attention and connected the local scene with a worldwide movement. Suddenly, those beatheads stepped out of the shadows and found themselves in the center of attention – on stage and with their faces on the record cover.

(Prod. by) is a photo book that captures the essence of this beatmaker decade by compiling its most iconic record covers, private snapshots and never-before-seen material from the vaults of photographer Robert Winter.

The final layout of the book can vary from the shown previews!

This is the sequel to In The Pit, published in 2020 and sold in 3 editions and 1,300 copies so far. This time Alison focuses on Metal/Thrash and Crossover bands she captured in the 80s and early 90. You can find everyone here, from Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, to bands like Motley Crue, Dio, Motorhead, or Kiss, to acts like Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, Corrosion Of Conformity, Die Kreuzen, The Accüsed,... to everything else between Kreator, Testament and Overkill on one side and Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Danzig on the other. There are so many bands to mention. Make sure not to miss this!

The question of control for Black women is a costly one. From 1986 onwards, the trajectory of Janet Jackson's career can be summed up in her desire for control. Control for Janet was never simply just about her desire for economic and creative control over her career but was, rather, an existential question about the desire to control and be in control over her bodily integrity as a Black woman.

This book examines Janet's continuation of her quest for control as heard in her sixth album, The Velvet Rope. Engaging with the album, the promotion, the tour, and its accompanying music videos, this study unpacks how Janet uses Black cultural production as an emancipatory act of self-creation that allows her to reconcile with and, potentially, heal from trauma, pain, and feelings of alienation. The Velvet Rope's arc moves audiences to imagine the possibility of what emancipation from oppression--from sexual, to internal, to societal--could look like for the singer and for others. The sexually charged content and themes of abuse, including self-harm and domestic violence, were dismissed as “selling points” for Janet at the time of its release. The album stands out as a revelatory expression of emotional vulnerability by the singer, one that many other artists have followed in the 20-plus years since its release.

At the outset of summer in 1990, a Houston gangsta rap group called the Geto Boys was poised to debut its self-titled third album under the guidance of hip-hop guru Rick Rubin. What might have been a low-profile remix release from a little-known corner of the rap universe began to make headlines when the album's distributor refused to work with the group, citing its violent and depraved lyrics. When The Geto Boys was finally released, chain stores refused to stock it, concert promoters canceled the group's performances, and veteran rock critic Robert Christgau declared the group "sick motherfuckers."
One quarter of a century later the album is considered a hardcore classic, having left an immutable influence on gangsta rap, horrorcore, and the rise of Southern hip-hop.
Charting the rise of the Geto Boys from the earliest days of Houston's rap scene, Rolf Potts documents a moment in music history when hip-hop was beginning to replace rock as the transgressive sound of American youth. In creating an album that was both sonically innovative and unprecedentedly vulgar, the Geto Boys were accomplishing something that went beyond music. To paraphrase a sentiment from Don DeLillo, this group of young men from Houston's Fifth Ward ghetto had figured out the "language of being noticed" - which is, in the end, the only language America understands.

By June 1993, when Washington, D.C.'s Fugazi released their third full-length album In on the Kill Taker, the quartet was reaching a thunderous peak in popularity and influence. With two EPs (combined into the classic CD 13 songs) and two albums (1990's genre-defining Repeater and 1991's impressionistic follow-up Steady Diet of Nothing) inside of five years, Fugazi was on creative roll, astounding increasingly large audiences as they toured, blasting fist-pumping anthems and jammy noise-workouts that roared into every open underground heart. When the album debuted on the now-SoundScan-driven charts, Fugazi had never been more in the public eye.

Few knew how difficult it had been to make this popular breakthrough. Disappointed with the sound of the self-produced Steady Diet, the band recorded with legendary engineer Steve Albini, only to scrap the sessions and record at home in D.C. with Ted Niceley, their brilliant, under-known producer. Inadvertently, Fugazi chose an unsure moment to make In on the Kill Taker: as Nirvana and Sonic Youth were yanking the American rock underground into the media glare, and “breaking” punk in every possible meaning of the word. Despite all of this, Kill Taker became an alt-rock classic in spite of itself, even as its defiant, muscular sound stood in stark contrast to everything represented by the mainstreaming of a culture and worldview they held dear.

This book features new interviews with all four members of Fugazi and members of their creative community.

In 1991, a loose-knit collective released a record called Blue Lines under the name Massive Attack, splicing together American hip-hop and soul with the sounds of the British underground. With its marauding bass lines, angular guitars, and psychedelic effects, Blue Lines built on the Caribbean soundsystems and nascent rave scene of the 1980s while also looking ahead to the group's signature blend of epic cinematics and lush downtempo. In the process, Blue Lines invented an entirely new genre called trip hop and launched the career of a rapper named Tricky.

Ultimately, Blue Lines created the sonic playbook for an emerging future: hybrid, digital, cosmopolitan, and rooted in the black and immigrant communities who animated the urban wreckage of the postindustrial city. Massive Attack envisioned an alternate future in sharp counterpoint to the glossy triumphalism of Brit Pop. And while the group would go on to bigger things, this record was both a warning shot and a definitive statement that sounds as otherworldy today as on the day of its release. As Blue Lines's iconic flame logo spun on turntables the world over, Massive Attack and their spaced-out urban blues reimagined music for the 1990s and beyond.