Hardcover Books 5 Items

For millennia, “nirvana” has been a term associated with belief systems of the Indian subcontinent. But in 1988, a band from a small coastal town in Washington state decided to create some new associations with this word . . . through their music.

Active for just six years, Nirvana left an indelible mark on the late twentieth century that remains visible today. Photographer and self-described “music fanatic” Charles Peterson, a fellow twenty-something from the suburbs of Seattle, was present with his camera as a genre took form, and his images have become synonymous with the sounds, styles, movement and attitude known as grunge.

Charles Peterson’s Nirvana, in the tradition of many great documentary photobooks, expands beyond Peterson’s iconic images of the band seen repeatedly over the last thirty years (on album covers, in magazines, and in dozens of compilation books and exhibitions focused on this music and its birth era) to highlight gems never before published. Over a five-year photo edit, Peterson looked at each one of thousands of frames, considering what drew him to Nirvana in the first place—their songs. He honed in on the compositions that stimulated visceral memories of their live performances.

The resulting selection of photographs and their carefully constructed sequence mash up venues and years, suffering and the sublime, to arrive at a visual experience that one cannot help but also feel, and hear.

Book design by Jeff Kleinsmith.

9 x 12.25 inches vertical; ~90 black and white photographs; 168 pages;. Hardcover. Foreword by Krist Novoselic.

Charles Peterson (b.1964, Longview, Washington) is internationally known for his photographs of the Seattle music scene of the late eighties and nineties. He began making photographs while a student at Bothell High School, and then went on to study photography at the University Washington, where he first met as friends many of his future subjects.

Peterson’s distinct visual style and early work for Sub Pop Records became an important signifier of the phenomenon known as grunge.

His photographs have been featured in numerous publications, as well exhibited in group and solo exhibitions around the world. They are included in many private collections, and the permanent collections of the Seattle Art Museum and MoPOP.

Krist Novoselic (b. 1965, Compton, California) is co-founder of Nirvana.

Nirvana originated in Aberdeen, Washington in the late 1980s through the energies of Novoselic and Kurt Cobain. They were joined by drummers including Chad Channing (1988–1990) and David Grohl (1990–1994). Nirvana’s live performances, music videos, and albums Bleach (1989), Nevermind (1991), Incesticide (1992), In Utero (1993) and MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) made their music a defining component of the late twentieth century internationally.

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.

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