Music Books 335 Items

Created BY Eilon PAZ Edited BY David MA | Foreword BY Prince Paul

A stunning 650-page hardcover illustrated book, featuring over 150 record collectors including A-Trak, Colleen Murphy, DāM FunK, Peanut Butter Wolf, Quantic, DJ Spinna, Kid Koala, Don Letts, Andy Votel, Shawn Lee, Mayer Hawthorne, and bass maestro Ron Carter.

Renowned photographer and publisher Eilon Paz returns with Dust & Grooves: Further Adventures In Record Collecting, a sequel to his 2014 best-selling Dust & Grooves, highlighting over one hundred fifty of the world’s most fascinating and accomplished vinyl collectors, bridging stunning images with extensive interviews, and revealing the motives and backstories behind the global record-collecting community. Ten years after the first book release, with vinyl’s consistent surge in popularity, Further Adventures, spanning over 650 pages, digs deeper than its predecessor, underscoring gorgeous collections from astute, everyday enthusiasts to venerated DJs, musicians and producers. Veteran journalist and editor David Ma (Wax Poetics, NPR, Rolling Stone) handles the editorial end of this sequel, making Further Adventures a cultural leader in the field, expertly accentuating the world’s unifying devotion to vinyl. Tailor-made for lovers of world-class photography, novice to expert collectors, and music obsessives alike.

Created BY Eilon PAZ Text AND Research BY DAN Epstein

A 470-page hardcover book featuring highly detailed photos and comprehensive research on 222 portable vinyl record players.

Once considered little more than a children’s plaything or a grade school accessory, the portable record player has gained newfound respect in recent years. Whatever they may lack in high-end audio fidelity, battery-powered turntables more than make up for it with their convenience and ease of use. Just ask any crate digger: a cult favorite portable like the Columbia Gp-3 or the Audio-Technica Sound Burger (or even the Fisher-Price Big Bird model) can be an absolutely essential companion on an all-day vinyl hunt. Portables features lavish, detailed photos of 222 portable turntables from around the world, including rare record players from Japan, the UK, Germany and the Soviet Union as well as the USA, and ranging in vintage from the 1920s to the early twenty-first century. They’re all gorgeously captured here by photographer Eilon Paz, with accompanying commentary from music historian Dan Epstein. Whether you’re a hardcore turntable collector, an aficionado of cool vintage audio gear, a student of industrial design, or a vinyl lover curious about the wild world of portable record players, Portables will make your head spin—and will soon have you scouring thrift stores, antique malls, and even your grandma’s attic for the portable record player of your dreams.

A limited deluxe box set of Dust & Grooves Volume 1 (10th Anniversary Edition) and Dust & Grooves Volume 2. Over 1000 full color pages, featuring over 270 of the world’s greatest vinyl collectors, including: Questlove, A-Trak, Gilles Peterson, DāM FunK, Floating Points, Four Tet, Peanut Butter Wolf, Quantic, DJ Spinna, Kid Koala, Don Letts, Rich Medina, King Britt, Andy Votel, Colleen Murphy, Shawn Lee, Mayer Hawthorne, The Gaslamp Killer and bass maestro Ron Carter. Included in the box set: 1. Hardcover 4 mm thick slipcase with foil stamping. 2. 18x24 inch “Sleeve Face” Poster by Dust & Grooves. 3. Dust & Grooves Volume 1 (10th Anniversary Edition). Isbn: 979-8-9907265-2-9 4. Dust & Grooves Volume 2. Isbn: 979-8-9907265-0-5 5. Custom made shipping box to ensure safe shipping.

Over the course of several long conversations with Josh Davis (DJ Shadow), we learn about his early years in California, the friends and mentors who helped him along the way, his relationship with Mo’Wax and James Lavelle, and the genesis and creation of his widely acknowledged masterpiece, Endtroducing.

Every letter a legend: The Rap ABC is a board book with stylized art of 26 iconic hip-hop artists for each letter of the alphabet.

Made in Europe with 100% non-toxic inks
158 x 158 mm x 26 mm
56 pages of premium card stock.

As Torch describes it:

In 2015, I decided to fly to NYC again. When I told Robert about it, he responded briefly: „I’m flying with you. I’ve never been to New York. Just book me the same flight as you.“ To my surprise, that’s exactly what happened. Our trip was from April 9th to the 21st, 2015, flying from Zurich to Newark. I had the contacts and knew my way around. He had the camera and captured everything. I was his guide on the ground, and he became my eyes.


Photography: Rob Hak
Texts: Frederik Hahn aka Torch
Authors: Robert Hak & Frederik Hahn


Written in 2024 / 1st Edition 2024
Editing: Adam Silverstein &
Bernd Kammerer / textonaut.de
Cover Design: Rob Hak / www.studiohak.de
Layout: studio hak, Rottweil
Printing: Otto Druck, Oberndorf a.N.
Bookbinding: Spinner, Ottersweier
Paper: Munken Print Cream

Extravagantly opaque, willfully vaporous — Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II, released by the estimable British label Warp Records in 1994, rejuvenated ambient music for the Internet Age that was just dawning. In the United States, it was Richard D. James's first full length on Sire Records (home to Madonna and Depeche Mode) under the moniker Aphex Twin; Sire helped usher him in as a major force in music, electronic or otherwise.

Faithful to Brian Eno’s definition of ambient music, Selected Ambient Works Volume II was intentionally functional: it furnished chill out rooms, the sanctuaries amid intense raves. Choreographers and film directors began to employ it to their own ends, and in the intervening decades this background music came to the fore, adapted by classical composers who reverse-engineered its fragile textures for performance on acoustic instruments. Simultaneously, “ambient” has moved from esoteric sound art to central tenet of online culture. This book contends that despite a reputation for being beatless, the album exudes percussive curiosity, providing a sonic metaphor for our technologically mediated era of countless synchronized nanosecond metronomes.

144 pages.

HoZac Books is proud to present The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know, written and compiled by Sal Maida and Mitchell Cohen, who have recruited for their “society” a gang of esteemed music obsessives: musicians, label executives, and journalists who chose favorite albums from the 1960s and 1970s to rave about and expound upon. The only criterion was that the albums never made the top 100 on Billboard’s LP Top 200 (although in a few cases, they did quite well on the R&B or country chart). The selection ranges from east coast vocal-group harmony to punk and metal, from superstars like The Who and the Beach Boys to virtual unknowns. As Sal and Mitchell write in the book’s introduction, “These are the albums you might not read about, except here. No one needs to tell you why Pet Sounds, Revolver or Blonde On Blonde are essential parts of any decent record collection, or guide you towards classics – or even somewhat lesser efforts – by the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Or which Pink Floyd album is indispensable (hint: the debut; you can stop right there). Although we have strong opinions about pantheon artists like Led Zeppelin and Marvin Gaye, and are happy to share those views with anyone in earshot, that isn’t what this book is about. We aren’t here to challenge or endorse rock orthodoxy. Neither is the mission to, once again, assert the brilliance of Skip Spence’s Oar, of such artists as Nick Drake, Big Star, and the Velvet Underground, whose influence, despite the lack of any commercial success in their time, has been thoroughly – one might even say exhaustively – documented elsewhere.” To tell help this story, Sal and Mitchell called on an impressive team of guest essayists: Lenny Kaye, Russ Titelman, Amy Rigby, Brian Koppelman, Dennis Diken, Bebe Buell, Jim Farber, Susan Whitall, Steve Shelley, Phil King, Ira Robbins, Billy Altman, Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Holsapple, Wreckless Eric, Peter Keepnews, Miriam Linna, Joe McEwen, and a cast of dozens.

The extended play recording. Not quite an album. More than a single. And not only an artifact of the vinyl era—the EP has survived and even thrived at every turn of the music industry’s evolution, from vinyl to tape to CD to stream. This definitive book unearths the EP’s origins, history and cultural impact and enlists nearly 50 music-industry veterans (musicians, scribes, producers, executives, superfans) to create a list of the 200 Best EPs ever recorded and shapes these opinions into a book that seeks to trace the arc of the EP’s development and, in so doing, chart the history of the music industry writ large. From Dangerhouse to Touch & Go to Sub Pop to Flying Nun, and all roads in between, savvy labels have used the EP to great effect and its been the way to introduce bands in a less risky mid-sized format for decades. This super-interesting guide shows how the format developed and how it took on a life of its own, from early jazz & rock’n roll through the beat & psychedelic rock era, right on through punk, new wave, and post-punk, and into the alternative/indie rock era, right up to the modern age. This rousing guide through the mid-sized mindset features a huge swath of guest writers galore, each offering up their enthusiastic opinions on which EPs deserve your attention, divided by decade, along with all of their details on long-forgotten B-sides and extras that couldn’t fit on the 7” version, yet easily pad out a 12”. 202 pages, softcover. First edition of 600 copies.

Marty Perez is a Chicago-based photographer who has been documenting the parallels between the worlds of underground rock as well as some of the biggest stars of pop music, from 1976 to the present. This is the first collection of his images from the last five decades of rock’n roll decadence, from the wild, unhinged crowds of unruly and footloose teenagers to the incredible juxtaposition of both house-hold names with the sub-obscure underground bands that didn’t see the bright lights as close, yet still hold that certain magic of the era."—Jim De Rogatis

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.

R.I.P. MF DOOM

Unpacks the complex layers of Madvillainy, the 2004 classic collaborative LP between producer Madlib and rapper MF Doom, whose success both relied on and rejected the tendencies of the social media age

This book celebrates Madvillainy as a representation of two genius musical minds melding to form one revered supervillain. A product of circumstance, the album came together soon after MF Doom's resurgence and Madlib's reluctant return from avantgarde jazz to hip-hop. Written from the alternating perspectives of three fake music journalist superheroes— featuring interviews with Wildchild, M.E.D., Walasia, Daedalus, Stones Throw execs, and many other real individuals involved with the album's creation—this book blends fiction and non-fiction to celebrate Madvillainy not just as an album, but as a folkloric artifact. It is one specific retelling of a story which, like Madvillain’s music, continues to spawn infinite legends.

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.

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.

Bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove offers a thrilling, music-driven ride through the last fifty years of American history​.

In Music Is History, bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past fifty years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.

Music Is History focuses on the years 1971 to the present, not only the country’s most complex and rewarding half-century when it comes to the ways that pop culture and culturally diverse history intersect and interact, but also the years that overlap with Questlove’s own life. Music Is History moves fluidly from the personal to the political, examining events closely and critically, to unpeel and uncover previously unseen dimensions, and encouraging readers to do the same. Whether he is exploring how Black identity reshaped itself during the blaxploitation era, analyzing the assembly-line nature of disco and its hostility to Black genius, or remembering his own youth as a pop fan and what it taught him about America, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry.

Complete with playlists organized around personal, playful themes that touch on everything from the relationship of hip-hop to music’s past to the secret ingredient in all funk songs, Music Is History is filled with and informed by Questlove’s preferences, perspectives, and particularities. It feels like both a popular history of contemporary America and a conversation with one of music's most influential and unique voices.

Brand NEW & Expanded Edition! Packed with dozens of additional horror titles and containing limited edition enhanced packaging (foil cover elements + guilded foil page edges).

The expanded second printing of Blood on Black Wax: Horror Soundtracks on Vinyl profiles several additional soundtrack titles, reflecting the consistently strong trend of horror soundtracks being committed to vinyl. The full-color, 272-page book spotlights the intricate (and often rare) artwork on the LP sleeves, as well as album reviews, release details, and backstories. New titles include mainstream entries such as Child's Play, The Silence of the Lambs, Children of the Corn, Silver Bullet, and Cujo, alongside cult hits such as Troll / Troll 2, Bad Taste, Spookies, Ghoulies, and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Co-author Aaron Lupton: ''I'll never stop being proud of Blood on Black Wax, a passion project conceived by Jeff and I and brought to life by 1984 Publishing about my life's obsession: horror soundtracks on vinyl. I'm so proud to see the book get this deluxe second printing with even more cool records to add to your shelf.''

Co-author Jeff Szpirglas: ''It was a thrill to go back and revisit Blood on Black Wax with Aaron, and not just as an excuse to re-listen to the Maniac Cop soundtrack. With the new edition, we redoubled our efforts to speak directly to a bunch of composers such as Jay Chattaway, Joe Renzetti, and Jonathan Elias about their work on classic horror film scores. Plus, I love it when I have to watch films like The Kindred for 'work-related purposes.'''

Are you obsessed with John Carpenter's iconic music for the Halloween series? Do you thrill to the unforgettable stabs of the Psycho score, or the pounding synth of Goblin's soundtrack to Suspiria? Do you find yourself being pulled into the hair-raising modern scores for the likes of Get Out, Hereditary, and The Witch?

You're not alone.

Blood on Black Wax is a defining horror soundtrack volume that spotlights iconic franchises such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Jaws, The Exorcist , and George A. Romero's Dead films, highlighting both the music and the amazing - often rare - artwork that graces the record sleeves. It also tells the stories behind the soundtrack, from the mouths of the musicians who made them, including John Carpenter, Fabio Frizzi, Christopher Young, Harry Manfredini, Charles Bernstein, Pino Donaggio, John Harrison, and more.

Aaron Lupton and Jeff Szpirglas, both of Rue Morgue magazine, have curated Blood on Black Wax to reflect their own passion for the darkest slabs of soundtrack music. Their journey into the fascinating history of horror movie scores contains reviews, release details, and wild stories about both renown and unusual releases - everything from the orchestral sounds of Hammer and Universal horror, to the truly experimental albums for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eraserhead, to the outlandish punk and metal songs of '80s soundtrack albums like The Return of the Living Dead and Shocker.

Go back to your favorite horror films one more time, through the jaw-dropping, spine-tingling music that helped solidify their place in cinematic history!

''Blood On Black Wax takes a deep dive into the history of horror movie soundtracks and the cool AF artwork that cloaks them.'' - Alternative Press

Mick Garris (director / The Stand, Sleepwalkers; writer / Hocus Pocus) wrote a foreword for Blood on Black Wax, while composer Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Pet Sematary) penned the afterword.

Blood on Black Wax will contain limited edition enhanced packaging (foil cover elements + guilded foil page edges).

Dimensions : 8.5 x 1.5 x 11 inches

After the overwhelmingly popular Hip Hop Coloring Book, Hip Hop Journal and Hip Hop Coloring Book: East Coast Edition, Mark 563 is back with Hip Hop Coloring Book: West Coast Edition. It’s a fun activity book for kids and adults. The book features a selection of Mark 563’s own illustrative takes on some of Hip Hop’s most important figures – from early electro pioneers like Egyptian Lover, to Gfunk and mega stars like Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube and newer rappers like Tyler, the Creator. The 50 pages are packed with legendary West Coast rappers, spanning from the Golden Era through to today’s rap superstars. A perfect gift for anyone interested in Hip Hop and popular culture. Hip Hop Coloring Book: West Coast Edition is marker friendly! Use your favorite markers without the risk of ruining the illustration on the other side of the paper. Hip Hop Coloring Book: West Coast Edition is the latest in Dokument Press popular coloring book series, with themes such as graffiti, sneakers and lowriders. ”When you are coloring my picture I hope the Music is Boomin’ and you get up and dance every time you change colors.” – Egyptian Lover ”Str8 outta the CPT, long live hip hop Thugsta Eazy E, a Real Compton City G! Salute the inclusion in your art form. From the Original Baby Gangsta Knocc Out.” – B.G. Knocc Out ”The Hip Hop Coloring Book. Now that’s Gangsta homie!!!” – Prodeje – South Central Cartel

A daily planner with facts on what happened on this day in hip hop history! The Hip Hop Journal: A Daily Planner provides you with a notebook as well as a daily update on the most important historical events that took place in hip hop culture on each date. Simply turn to today’s page to and find out what classic records were released on this day in the past, and next to it note your schedule, ideas, grocery list, or even your rhymes. Get inspired by what has happened in hip hop’s past and make the most of your day! The journal offers ers a variety of facts, from record releases and movies to important cultural events relating to the development of hip hop culture over the last 45+ years. The Hip Hop Journal is a loving celebration of the rich body of work that builds one of the most influential cultures of our times, and an invaluable help in planning your day-to-day activities. In the Hip Hop Journal you plan your year accompanied by the many events in hip hop history, visualized by hip hop illustrator Mark 563’s illustrations, depicting the most iconic rappers and hip hop personalities from the ‘70s until today. You may not know them all, but if you spend a little time every day, listening and catching up on the classic record releases listed in this book, you will be close to a PhD in hip hop by the end of the year. The Hip Hop Journal is the latest title in Dokument Press’ publications related to hip hop, graffiti and street art, and it is the third release with illustrator Mark 563, following the tremendously popular Hip Hop Coloring Book and Hip Hop Coloring Book: East Coast Edition.

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!

Mechanical Fantasy Box is Cowley’s homoerotic journal, or as he called it, “graphic accounts of one man’s sex life.” The journal begins in 1974 and ends in 1980 on his 30th birthday. It chronicles his slow rise to fame from lighting technician at The City Disco to crafting a ground-breaking 16-minute remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” to performing with Sylvester at the SF Opera House. Vivid descriptions are told of cruising in ‘70s SoMA sex venues to primal highs in Buena Vista Park and composing pornophonics in his Castro apartment. The entries are introspective and show a very out-front, alive person going through the throes of gay liberation post-Stonewall.

French-born artist and Berlin resident Gwenaël Rattke works in collage, silkscreen, photography and Xerox graphics. Rattke's collage works borrow from the visual codes of the 60s and 70s. Intricate, ornamental and excessive, they present "an imagined past fired with beauty and sexual freedom." For this book Rattke created 25 original illustrations inspired by selected entries, 3 street maps documenting locations mentioned herein and 4 collages of photos, ephemera and notes Patrick stuffed inside the journal. We’ve included Patrick’s doodles too, as well as introductory essays by Josh Cheon, Theresa McGinley and Jorge Socarrás.

The ultimate love letter to the world's most magical plant: Weed. Best-selling author, rapper, chef, and television star Action Bronson is a marijuana superhero, and Stoned Beyond Belief is his masterpiece.

This is an exploration of every corner of the pot galaxy, from highly scientific botanical analyses and the study of pot’s medicinal benefits to a guide to the wild world of weed paraphernalia. It's also a very personal tribute to a substance Bronson refers to as life changing, horizon-expanding, a conduit for happiness, a connector. Weed is to Action Bronson what the madeleine was to Proust: the door to true consciousness.

Organized loosely as 100 entries, including 35 recipes, and packed with illustrations and photos, Stoned Beyond Belief is a trippy and munchie-filled experience as well as an entertainingly valuable resource for weed enthusiasts and scholars. Stoned Beyond Belief will delight Action Bronson fans and pot aficionados all across the universe.

Rapper’s Delight: The Hip Hop Cookbook features thirty recipes inspired by your favourite hip hop artists of today and yesteryear. Split into three categories of Starters, Mains and Desserts, the book includes a wide range of delights such as Wu-Tang Clam Chowder, Public Enemi-so Soup, Run DM Sea Bass and Busta Key Lime Pie.

Each of the recipes is accompanied by a bespoke piece of artwork, created by one of thirty of the best upcoming illustrators. Rapper’s Delight celebrates the many humorous parallels between food and hip hop, making it a must-have for anyone with a love for cooking, music or illustration, or indeed all three.

From Alice Cooper to ZZ Top, the Rock ABC is a fun way to teach the next generation of rockers about the legends that paved the way.

The Rock ABC is dedicated to the future of rock, that is why a portion of each sale will be donated to youth music programs.

Made in Europe with 100% non-toxic inks, 158 mm x 158 mm x 26 mm, 56 pages of premium glossy card stock.

Contradiction, the yin and the yang, the simultaneous existence of two competing realities, and the larger than life persona that depicts populist realism are at the core of Nas's debut album, Illmatic. Yet Nas's identity -as an inner-city youth, a child of hip-hop, and a Black American - predicts those philosophical quandaries as much as it does its brazen ambition. Partly because of that recklessly broad scope, the artistic impact of Illmatic was massive. The record finds its place in the greatest transition in hip hop up to that point, the spot where the streets and the charts collided.

128 pages.

One of the finest hip-hop albums ever made, A Tribe Called Quest's debut record (featuring stone-cold classics like "Can I Kick It?" and "Bonita Applebum") took the idea of the boasting hip-hop male and turned it on its head. For many listeners, when this non-traditional, surprisingly feminine album was released, it was like hearing an entirely new form of music.

In this book, Shawn Taylor explores the creation of the album as well as the impact it had on him at the time - a 17-year-old high-school geek who was equally into hip-hop, punk, new wave, skateboarding, and Dungeons & Dragons: all of a sudden, with this one album, the world made more sense. He has spent many years investigating this album, from the packaging to the song placement to each and every sample - Shawn Taylor knows this record like he knows his tattoos, and he's finally been able to write a fascinating and highly entertaining book about it.

128 pages.
• See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-tribe-called-quests-peoples-instinctive-travels-and-the-paths-of-rhythm-9780826419231/#sthash.cFZ9YfTa.dpuf

Houston Rap Tapes is the companion to Houston Rap, Peter Beste's intimate photo book on this important hip hop culture. Houston Rap Tapes complements Beste's photography with a series of oral histories conducted by writer Lance Scott Walker. The book features exclusive interviews with legendary producers and MCs such as Bun B,
Willie D, Paul Wall, Z-Ro, Big Mike, DJ DMD, K-Rino, Salih Williams and Lil' Troy, alongside stories from old school masters like MC Wickett Crickett and Rick Royal.

The life stories of the Houston rap scene are also represented by an assortment of radio and club personalities, impresarios, ex-pimps, former drug dealers and members of the
community. Lance Scott Walker and Peter Beste spent nine years documenting the
most influential style in twenty-first-century hip hop and the vibrant inner-city culture from which it stems.

At long last, we’re got the massive biography on THE Bangles and it is nothing short of a whopper. This monumental project, started by author and unofficial band historian Eric Shade back in the 1990s has had quite a journey from start to finish. This insane overview of the early days of the members’ obscure early groups, as well as an amazing snapshot of the sorely-undocumented Paisley Underground scene of early 80s LA, all the way up through the core band members’ current projects, is a feat we never though we’d see fulfilled. For a band as huge and omnipresent as The Bangles still in are 2023, the revelation of their earlier efforts, such as the mind-blowing story of Micki Steele in the first lineup of the fledgling Runaways, while the Peterson sisters were rocking out in bands such as THE Muze, Hollywood Girls, and THE Fans right around the same period is the legendary stuff mostly outside of public knowledge. The intertwining stories of Susanna Hoffs meeting David Roback (later of The Rain Parade) and getting inspired by The Last, with Vicki & DEBBI’s growing interest in garage bands like The Unclaimed around town, All Over The Place shows how many moving parts were swirling around, generating a indescribable electricity around Los Angeles as the hardcore scene raged on the other side of the coin. As the Paisley Underground scene evolved during its short window, bands such as Salvation Army/the Three O’clock, Long Ryders, and Dream Syndicate are given their long-overdue historical appreciation here. 438 page softcover book. First edition of 600 copies.

A retrospective of Third Earth Visual Arts and the career of AbuQadim Haqq who as many of you know created art for Transmat, Drexciya and Underground Resistance.
The book covers his early life in Detroit to his last project for Third Earth Visual Arts in 2023.

Over 100 pages of art.
Over 100 pages of photos.
258 pages

Jim Ottewill’s exploration of UK club culture and the urban landscapes that have housed it returns in a newly remixed form. This extended version features a new chapter exploring hidden histories and untold stories within Birmingham’s nocturnal scene to provide more insights into the past, present and future of electronic music culture.

“We don’t want more unaffordable flats. We want somewhere to dance…”

Since the dawn of time, humans have had the urge to come together and move to music. It may have started in caves but these days it happens in clubs often found in the shady corners of our towns and cities.

Or at least it did until these places succumbed to the beat of property developers rather than DJs. In London in the five years to 2016, half of the clubs were lost while a further quarter have disappeared in the devastation of Covid. So what now?

At this critical moment, Out of Space plots a course through the different towns and cities club culture has found a home. From Glasgow to Margate via Manchester, Sheffield and unlikely dance music meccas such as Coalville and Todmorden, this book maps where electronic music has thrived, and where it might be headed to next while exploring other shades of club culture too, such as pirate radio, dance music festivals, and sound system culture.

As our lives become increasingly digitised and real estate more valuable, we’ll look at the new clubbing models emerging in the 21st century. Rather than an epitaph, this is a rallying cry and celebration of the club’s resilience based on a lifetime of getting wide-eyed inside them.

Quotes:

“As gentrification, lack of funding, stifling politics and the pandemic continue to pummel nightlife, it feels all the more poignant to chart the past and present of raving, while questioning what’s next. With lively and forensic research, clarity of thought and a passion for keeping clubbing’s resilient spirit alive, Out of Space is less of a commemoration and more of a rallying cry.” – The Face

“Ottewill’s book is tireless in its seeking out of new buzzes in grassroots clubland, LGBT collectives and local scenes, all of them ensuring euphoric highs for future generations of ravers.” – The Wire

“Jim Ottewill lands in Glasgow, South Yorkshire and beyond to write this comprehensive rave chronicle ‘Out of Space’. In an era where nightlife spaces are increasingly endangered, Ottewill posits his record of the past as a pugilistic rallying cry.” – Resident Advisor

“Most importantly, the book goes beyond the four walls of each club to the urban sprawl that surrounds it as we’re taken on a local history tour. The author reminds us that clubs and parties, despite operating on the fringes of society, are an integral part of our culture, and many of us have gone through our own rights of passage, often travelling miles to experience our favourite clubs. Clubs and their supporting infrastructure not only have a heritage worth saving but also one worthy of capturing for posterity in a book – something which Ottewill has done justice to.” – Now Then

“Jim Ottewill’s look into urban rave culture defies expectations.” – The National

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 visual storytelling celebration of American roots music in its rich variety, through unseen and newly scanned photographs by the founder of the legendary Arhoolie records. Founded in 1960 by Chris Strachwitz, the one-man operation of Arhoolie Records eventually produced more than 400 albums during more than forty years in operation, exploring the far corners of American vernacular music - blues, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, hillbilly, Texas-Mexican norteno music, and more. From the very beginning, Strachwitz brought his camera along with recording equipment as he met and recorded now-legendary artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Clifton Chenier, and Big Joe Williams. This book collects more than 150 of his best, most intimate and exciting images - many never-before seen - each with rich captions by Strachwitz and awardwinning music journalist Joel Selvin, along with a substantial 20,000 word essay about Arhoolie, Strachwitz, and the music by Selvin.

The growth of the Jamaican recording industry…

Records have played an integral part in the history of Jamaican music and the importance of making records, as opposed to making music, can never be overstated. These are the stories, told through first-hand accounts wherever possible, of the men and women… manufacturers, musicians, singers, deejays, arrangers and record producers… who made the records and who made the sound of reggae available worldwide.

“This volume of what promises to become a crucial series covers in comprehensive fashion Jamaican music’s pivotal phase, when the music absorbed its US influences from soul and moved on from rock steady and progressed to the uniquely Jamaican sound of reggae and rockers.

It was a period in which old and new rhythms became the cornerstone of the music and thus the true foundation of reggae. This second volume in the trilogy, amply illustrated, contains a wealth of interview testimony from the creators of the music and is both utterly authentic and essential reading.” Steve Barrow Co-author of ‘Reggae The Rough Guide’

“Noel Hawks takes another deep dive into the history of Jamaica’s recording studios, the businessmen who owned them and the record producers who worked in them. While the previous volume, ‘The Birth Of Ska’, dealt with Jamaica’s nascent music business and the journey, from its mento and folk roots to rhythm & blues and then ska, ‘Rock Steady To Rockers’ picks up the story as ska is about to transform into the smoother rock steady style and carries us through to reggae and the sonically sophisticated dub of the Seventies.

The book contains a stunning collection of hard facts about the business of making records, as well as personal recollections from many of the leading lights of Jamaica’s music scene, and is a fascinating read for record collectors, reggae fans and anyone who loves music. Chris Lane Fashion Records

“The second part of this important trilogy is no less informative and engrossing than the first volume. The author’s blending of his own authoritative narrative and entertaining quotes from people who watched everything that’s chronicled here unfold… artists, producers and early collectors… makes for a seamlessly entertaining read from start to finish.

If you couldn’t be there, or even thereabouts, at the time consider this book your very own literary Tardis to help you to relive the evolution of Jamaican music at (almost) first hand. I’m very proud to have had even the smallest involvement with this essential read. Roll on Volume Three…” Tony Rounce Author & Music Historian

Bill Direen is a legend of the New Zealand underground. He has given us poetry, novels and a catalog of important and challenging underground music. Weaned on a garage band youth in the late '60s, Direen started producing 7" records in the early '80s, all of them total stunners. These releases—Six Impossible Things, Die Bilder, Soloman's Ball and High Thirties Piano—were self-financed and distributed through Flying Nun. 100 Years Of Darkness, his latest book, is a homage to a century of films and film music. The front cover boxes represent film aspect ratios (1.17:1 up to 2.35:1) as used worldwide between 1888 and the present. The films are drawn from many countries, such as Japan, U.S.A., France, Germany, Russia/Ukraine, Vietnam, Sweden, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Lebanon. Since some of the films may not have been commercially distributed in all countries, the chosen films are carefully listed in a detailed index of sources at the close, which corresponds to the order of the poems as listed in the contents. This makes it easy for film and music lovers to find the films' directors and years of first appearance, and eventually see them for themselves. It is very limited in an edition of 200 and beautifully printed with textured jackets in the spirit of vintage Black Sparrow Press books.

With a preface by Johan Kugelberg and additional interviews by Emil Karlsson. This lavish coffee table book takes an in-depth visual look back at the amazing art and graphics of the so-called Swedish Gramophone Mission. The book presents the largest collection of Swedish Christian records from the 1960s -1980s ever amassed featuring 777 record covers, many of them extraordinary and surreal private/custom pressings. Jam packed with lots of interviews, liner-notes and previously unpublished photos describing both the success and tribulations of the mission in vivid detail. This collection documents and celebrates the Swedish Jesus Pop movement and is a striking record of its execution, art, and music. “...Praise the lord with blues and jazz and symphony orchestras, with negro spirituals and with Beethoven’s Fifth, with guitars and xylophones, praise him with gramophones and tape recorders...”

The previously untold story of British dance music’s first sub-bass revolution, tracing the origins, development, impact and influence of bleep techno, and the subsequent musical styles it inspired, on UK club culture.

Originally published in 2019, it has now been revised, updated and expanded. Errors have been corrected, some chapters have been expanded, analysis has been added and further footnotes have been included to include even more information and citations.

There’s also now an additional ‘Afterword’ chapter that reflects on the story, the author’s journey as a researcher, and changing perspectives around UK dance music history.

"Since the dawn of the 1990s, British dance music has been in thrall to the seductive power of weighty sub-bass. It is a key ingredient in a string of British-pioneered genres, including hardcore, jungle, drum & bass, dubstep, UK garage and grime.

In the Join The Future book, dance music journalist Matt Anniss (Resident Advisor, DJ Magazine, Red Bull Music Academy) traces the roots, origins, development and legacy of the sound that started it all: the first distinctively British form of electronic dance music, bleep techno.

A mixture of social, cultural, musical and oral history, Join The Future reveals the untold stories of bleep’s Yorkshire pioneers and those that came in their wake, moving from electro all-dayers and dub soundsystem clashes of the mid-1980s to the birth of hardcore and jungle in London and the South East.

Along the way, you’ll find first-hand accounts of key clubs and raves, biographies of forgotten and overlooked production pioneers, stories of bleep outposts in Canada and the United States, and the inside story of the early years of one of electronic music’s most iconic labels, Warp Records.

Based on five years of research and hundreds of hours of new interviews, the book is a radical alternative history of the rise of British dance music during the late 80s and early 90s.

Join The Future is also available as a compilation album.

Quotes

“This was a vital creative era in British electronic music that deserved deeper exploration, so Matt Anniss’ history of ‘bleep and bass’, which sets the sound in the socio-political environment of its time, is a significant addition to the literature of dance culture.”
Matthew Collin, author of ‘Altered State’ and ‘Rave On’

“You wouldn’t have had hardcore had it not been for bleep. If you took bleep out of the equation, Britsh dance music would be completely different.”
Mark Archer, Altern8

“Bleep provided the building blocks of the UK sound that followed – the emotions, the edge, the darkness and the sub-bass. Later generations have taken these elements and done something new, but the fundamentals are still there.”
Neil Landstrumm"

Dan LeRoy uncovers the story of this outrageous era in Beastie Boys history ... 129 pages

Jeff Drake has led an extraordinary life... and believe me, that’s a vast understatement. I say this with confidence, because we’ve known each other for four decades. His band the Joneses, co-founded with skateboard champion Steve Olson, was the shining light of the 1980’s Southern California underground rock scene, ages before the term ‘alternative music’ was bandied about by MTV and rock critics. The Joneses were the damn bomb. A louche, sloppy, outlaw amalgam of punk, pop and Don’t Give A Fuck attitude, they played thrashy, trashy rock’n roll that owed as much to The New York Dolls as it did to the Rolling Stones. Jeff’s songwriting was pure, catchy pop, even though the lyrics were riddled with sex and drug references. It was as though he mixed up a potion from the blood and brain cells of Little Richard and The Ramones, came up with a perfect formula, ingested it, and made his own unique creation. The Joneses’ live shows were off the hook, as were their off-stage antics. Though neither of us can remember the exact moment we met, we became fast friends in 1983. We hung out constantly back then and he was a regular at my infamous punk rock crash pad, Disgraceland. Hollywood in the 1980’s was an ungentrified wasteland; the streets were ruled by delinquent twenty-somethings, most of whom were in bands. My own band The Screaming Sirens played numerous times with the Joneses. During the time, the Joneses were being courted by a number of major labels, though the record execs were absolutely clueless and cautious back then. If one of them would’ve taken a gamble, Jeff would’ve become a huge star. Instead, living out his own song ‘Criminals,’ he robbed a bank to feed his heroin habit. On a personal note: in the course of my life I’ve somehow known seven bank robbers, but hands down, Jeff is my favorite.There’s so much more to his story though, as you’ll see in the following pages. It’s a confessional told in a direct, honest, engaging way, in his own words with a touch of dark humor; it’s exactly the way he speaks in real life. You, dear reader, will be extremely happy that Jeff didn’t join the 27 Club, the coterie of rock stars who passed away at that young age. Luckily, he’s still with us to tell his own personal story of sin and redemption. After all, what could possibly be more subversively rock’n roll than living to tell all the salacious details?”—Pleasant Gehman, March, 2022.

Between 1978 and 1983, Great Britain spawned a DIY uprising of over 500 heavy metal bands. Many soon became the household names of the 1980s metal invasion…many others did not. For the first time, author Michael Hann captures the whole nose-to-tail story of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in all its power and glory, exploring the bands, clubs, radio, magazines, festivals, and the majesty and misfires of the Nwobhm in over 100 interviews with members of Venom, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Samson, UFO, Tygers of Pan Tang, Vardis, Judas Priest, Saxon, Whitesnake, Girlschool, Witchfynde, Demon, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Gillan, Led Zeppelin, and more. 432 lavishly illustrated pages plus 16pp glossy color section.

A collection of Guided BY Voices frontman Robert POLLARD’s fantastic collage art in a perfect bound book. 235 pages. The man never stops creating.

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.

Moon Pix was conceived during a hallucinatory waking nightmare in the South Carolina home of Chan Marshall one fateful day in 1997. Spirits violently swam up around her house, looming at the windows, beckoning her to join them. Her and her acoustic guitar warded them off song after song, nearly the entire album rushed forth onto a tape recorder that night. Facts, fictions and visions ripple throughout the accounts of Moon Pix from every angle- memories of screaming at an audience, spirals of drunkenness, swimming with sharks in Australia, intense, resonant lyrics and thunderstorms ringing through speakers. Like all legends, the aura surrounding them is an impression, a sensory feeling of unreliable memories: layers of stories become histories.

Through interviews with key players, audience member accounts, fictional narrative imaginings, a collection of record reviews and other explorations of truth, this book, like Moon Pix itself, is an ode to the myth within the music and the music within the myth.

Come to My Garden (1970) introduced the world to Minnie Riperton, the solo artist. Minnie captivated listeners with her earth-shattering voice's uncanny ability to evoke melancholy and exultance. Born out of Charles Stepney's masterful composition and Richard Rudolph's attentive songwriting, the album fused a plethora of music genres. A blip in the universe of fusion music that would come to dominate the 1970s, Come to My Garden also featured the work of young bandleaders like Ramsey Lewis and Maurice White, thus bridging the divide between jazz and R&B.

Despite fairly positive reviews of the album, even in its many re-releases, it never garnered critical attention. Minnie Riperton's Come to My Garden by Brittnay L. Proctor uses rare archival ephemera, the multiple re-issues of the album, interviews, cultural history, and personal narrative to outline how the revolutionary album came to be and its lasting impact on popular music of the post-soul era (the late 20th to the early 21st century).

Mit den Büchern von Christiane Rösinger, Bernd íBegemann und Carsten Friedrichs starten wir eine Reihe, in der die Texte deutscher Musiker:innen erstmals in Buchform zugänglich gemacht werden. Texte von Musiker:innen, die die hiesige (Sub-)Kultur mit ihren íSongtexten in der Retrospektive ebenso geprägt haben wie die ausschließlich schreibende Zunft. Eine längst íüberfällige Würdigung außergewöhnlicher Songwriter:innen, deren Texte nicht bloße Anhängsel ígroßartiger Musik sind, sondern ebenso auch für sich stehen. Christiane Rösinger, geboren 1961, zog 1985 aus dem íBadischen nach West-Berlin, wo sie mit Almut Klotz und Funny van Dannen die Lassie Singers gründete. Nach deren Auflösung war sie Kopf der Band Britta. Rösinger war zudem eine der Betreiberinnen der legendären Flittchen Bar und betrieb das Label Flittchen Records. Sie veröffentlichte zwei Soloalben, mehrere Bücher und schrieb zahlreiche Theatermusiken. 2019 hatte ihr erstes Musical "Stadt unter Einfluss" Premiere im Hebbel am Ufer. "Was jetzt kommt" ist die Würdigung einer außergewöhnlichen Songwriterin. Ob Lassie Singers, Britta, Solo: das Buch enthält Lyrics aus allen Schaffensphasen, Geschichten und ein exklusives Christiane-Rösinger-Glossar.

I've encountered a lot of people who assume touring is chaotic, or worse, glamorous. Most of the time it's neither. Being on tour means being suspended between two worlds, between different versions of home. Like color, people can see the same tour differently.

—Rachel Demy, from Between, Everywhere



Photographer Rachel Demy knows every detail of what it takes to move instruments, cases and crews across the country and around the world to bring musicians and audiences together for a few precious hours. After a decade on the logistics side of managing tours, she laid down her spreadsheets and 16-channel Motorola radio to spend more time with her camera, capturing the liminal moments she had long been observing.

The photographs comprising Between, Everywhere were made over a five-year period touring with Death Cab for Cutie, a band she met first as a fan, and eventually joined as family. Demy’s wry and poignant photographs take viewers behind the scenes and on a journey full of the quiet, the beauty, the monotony and the exhilaration of a veteran band on tour.

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.

Pünktlich zu seinem 60. Geburtstag erscheint in der Ventil-Verlag-Reihe "Ausgewählte Songtexte" eine Ausgabe mit 100 Songtexten von Bernd Begemann: "Gib mir eine zwölfte Chance". "Ich bin besessen davon, ein Beobachter zu sein" sagte er einmal über sich selbst und so sind seine Texte präzise Beobachtungen des bundesdeutschen Alltags. Begemann schafft es in den wenigen für einen Liedtext zur Verfügung stehenden Zeilen ein ebenso präzises wie mitfühlendes, erklärendes und vor allem unterhaltsames Bild der Gesellschaft zu erschaffen. Seine Songs könnten und sollten Hits und/oder Volkslieder sein, sie sind es aber nicht. "Meine Aufgabe ist es Literatur zu schaffen, nicht meine Kundschaft zu maximieren" so Begemann einmal gegenüber dem Spiegel. Höchste Zeit also für vorliegende Textsammlung und eine eventuelle Maximierung der Kundschaft. Zusätzlich zu den Songtexten enthält das Buch Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen des Autors zu jedem Liedtext und eine Einführung. Bernd Begemann, geboren am 1.11.1962, war der erste Punk in Bad Salzuflen. Er gilt vielen als Erfinder der Hamburger Schule und schrieb deutschsprachige Lieder, als es noch beziehungsweise schon wieder uncool war. Mitte der 80er zog er nach Hamburg und veröffentlichte mit Die Antwort sein erstes Album. Sein späteres Solodebüt nahm er in der Küche seiner Wohnung im Hamburger Arbeiterstadtteil Rothenburgsort auf. Ein urbanes Folk-Album mit Elektronik namens "Rezession, Baby!". Also das, was alle machen, bevor man das machte. Er war nämlich oft als Erster auf dem Minenfeld. Er inspirierte eine Menge Leute, von Tocotronic bis Olli Schulz. Begemann hat über 20 Alben und über 400 Songs veröffentlicht. Er trägt gern smarte Anzüge und spielt, wenn es die Umstände zulassen, Hunderte Konzerte im Jahr.

Family: THE Source Family Scrapbook provides an immersive view into the public and private world of the Southern California occult commune The Brotherhood of the Source. Edited by Isis Aquarian, Charlie Kitchings, and Jodi Wille, this lavishly illustrated book reproduces 200 original scrapbook pages assembled by family historian Isis Aquarian from 1972-1977, documenting the group's dramatic rise and fall, from their time living together in the Hollywood Hills operating their wildly popular Source vegetarian restaurant on the Sunset Strip to their exodus to Hawaii and San Francisco as the group began to unravel. Copious unpublished photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, manifestos, album art and flyers, augmented by descriptive captions, reveal the Source Family's astonishing trajectory, from controversial leader Father Yod's spiritual awakening to the group's wild musical and social experimentations, to the provocations that led to the group's paradise lost. These pages provide a revelatory, firsthand view into the widely misunderstood phenomenon of new religious movements and cults of the 1960s and 70s. This book is a beautiful 200pg full color, cloth bound, and embossed 11"x12" hardcover coffee table book.

Longtime music icon John Mellencamp’s artistic expression has never been limited to song.

The acclaimed singer-songwriter John Mellencamp has been an accomplished painter for more than four decades. This definitive survey—curated by Mellencamp himself—of his large-scale oil portraits and mixed-media assemblages documents America’s heart and soul, revealing unsettling but beautiful truths with an antiestablishment frown and a rich sense of narrative. “Although we may primarily know Mellencamp as a rock star, one of the highest-selling of all time and a Hall of Famer, he is also a great painter, as this book shows. Not a musician who also paints... No, John legitimately belongs in the modern art pantheon,” says Bob Guccione Jr. in his essay that delineates the connection of Mellencamp’s music and art, both imbued with the earnest voice of America’s heartland.

A companion book to Damon & NAOMI’s new A Sky Record LP. “Every audio format has its strengths and weaknesses… but those without liner notes are really missing out. “We thought we’d take advantage of the persistence of physical media for words and images and print a booklet to accompany what will be, inevitably, a digital album for many. Richard Youngs was with us when this project began, like a screwball comedy, with a (largely harmless) fall down stairs. Michio Kurihara lent his wonderful electric guitar to all its tracks, and Soichiro Nakamura skillfully recorded those parts at his Peace Music studio in Tokyo. Susanne Sasic joined us on the trip to Japan that made those recordings possible, a tour sparked by an unusual invitation in 2019 to play a cultural festival in the small port town of Tsuruga, on the Sea of Japan. We asked the music writer Lindsay Zoladz to tell the story of what happened next, to this project and to all of us, in the unexpected events of 2020. And Jarvis Cocker explains an audio ritual that helped us through that year. We’ve added some short notes of our own, on the genesis of the music and words for these songs; and their lyrics. Thank you for listening, however you choose to do so. And welcome to our Sky Record.”—Damon & Naomi.

The poems in Novel are what happen when you teach a cat to type. They will lead you across a bridge made of bread, through a door in the forest, to a paddock containing stories. They will tell you that it’s not that the dead cannot tie their shoes, they just refuse to. That architects design the elements to withstand the structure. That loose ends are beautiful if not useless. If you’ve picked up this book because you like poems that know where they are going, hurry. Put the book down. You will need to run after them. "Please give Cati Porter’s new book Novel to people who say they don’t like poetry. Not because these poems are simple or straightforward, rather because they are deeply charming. They cast spells: each poem carries the reader on a carpet of words to a world furnished by Porter’s irresistible imagination."—Natasha Sajé, author of Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory

In Border/Between: A Symphony in Essays, Carol D. Marsh writes about death, addictions, and war while also exploring how written form and expression have a counterpart in music. Structured upon the 4-movement symphony and incorporating other forms such as the rock song and the Requiem, Border/Between seeks and finds its place in what lies between the sharp and unforgiving edges of ideology and judgment. In refusing to allow borders to govern her, Marsh is able to bring compassion and hope to what seems irredeemable.

Written by Harry Harrison, one of DiY’s founding members, Dreaming in Yellow traces their origins back to early formative experiences, describing in detail the seminal clubs, parties, festivals and records that forged the collective. Dreaming in Yellow is an attempt to distil the story of DiY’s tumultuous existence and the remarkably eclectic, outrageous and occasionally deranged story of them doing it themselves.

Out of Space plots a course through the different UK towns and cities club culture has found a home. From Glasgow to Margate via Manchester, Sheffield and unlikely dance music meccas such as Coalville and Todmorden, this book maps where electronic music has thrived, and where it might be headed next…

Please note that Out Of Space is available as a paperback and postage is charged separately. There’s no postage charge for the ebook option which will be delivered as an epub file.

The first up to date, post-pandemic, no-borders era book to cover Berlin’s role as an electronic music and cultural capital. Coming To Berlin breaks the tradition of Berlin’s perception as techno ground zero and shows the true diversity and richness that make up the city. Written by a former Londoner who made Berlin his home, the book captures nuances and details of living in Berlin that will be immediately relatable to fellow Berliners yet at the same time captures the city’s creative, free-living essence to anyone with a curiosity for Berlin and a love of electronic music.

A meditation on faith, art, music, grief and much more - from cultural icon and bestselling author Nick Cave Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave's inner life. Created from over forty hours of intimate conversations with Sean O'Hagan, it is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave's own words, of what really drives his life and creativity. The book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave's life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years. From a place of considered reflection, Faith, Hope and Carnage offers ladders of hope and inspiration from a true creative visionary.

Love music? Love illustration? Want to know more about some of the best musicians ever to record&;from Bowie and the Beastie Boys to The Smiths and St. Vincent? Then A Guide to Music's Cult Artists is for you.

Featuring 100 of the coolest artists from the last five decades, A Guide to Music's Cult Artists reveals the influencers and tastemakers who have helped to shape the contemporary music scene. Award-winning illustrator and comic artist John Riordan profiles cult musicians from genres including punk, indie, alternative, hip-hop, and electronic music. Not only does John create amazing illustrations, he also outlines key works from the artists and provides engaging trivia to accompany each entry. Enlightening, often amusing, and always stunning to look at, A Guide to Music's Cult Artists is a unique blend of the esthetic and the acoustic and is an essential addition to any music fan&;s collection.

»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.

The book comes with inlaycard signed by Jimi Tenor.

Featuring never-before-seen photographs of U2 on their first US Tour, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Danzig, The Descendants, Fugazi, The Damned, The U.K. Subs, and many, many more. Since 1981, Chris Barrows has taken pictures of bands at their concerts, backstage, and behind the scenes. From U2 during their first tour in 1982 to Captain Sensible of The Damned on his knees in an alley licking a dominatrixs thigh high vinyl boots, or Lee Ving standing on railroad tracks at night, Barrows' intimate and stirring portraits of bands stripped down and unguarded will be a wonderful addition to any music fan's collection.

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.

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.

The poetry of groundbreaking Greek artist Lena Platonos takes center stage in Piercing Red: Collected Poems and Lyrics 1984–2008. Best known for her radical electronic music compositions, her innovative work as a poet has been underacknowledged, in no small part due to writing and singing in her native Greek. This book was put together to rectify this lapse, to help encounter her song lyrics on their own as literary work. Collected here are all the poems Platonos put to music over four decades, appearing for the first time in English thanks to loving translations by Stathis Gourgouris. Careful attention was paid to Platonos’s phrasing so that the unique voicings and surrealist imagery would come forth intact. With their rapid-fire juxtapositions and dreamlike narrations, these poems are gestural and performative evocations of the artist’s vast inner world. They are performances of her soul in the realm of words. Book design and typography by Eloise Leigh. “Platonos’s poetic musings across the collection draw inspiration from her home in Athens — a place steeped in classical history. She evokes the architecture and mythology of the city, creating ambient space with an ambivalence to emotions. The energy throughout is delicately cohesive, the artistic vision is strong, and the beautifully delicate narrative exists as if lost in time.” — Emily Hill, The Vinyl Factory