Print & Design 214 Items

Classic A1-sized poster (59,4 x 84,1 cm) with 300 well selected record sleeves from the 90's of Hip Hop.

A2 sized poster "Freedom Of Sport" by Stepney Workers Club.

This is the companion piece of the HHV x Kangol bucket hat, designed by the one and only V.Raeter. High-quality printed poster that illustrates the impact of the Kangol bucket on true school hip-hoppers' dress code.

** warehouse find price ... nice!

The iconic digger's journal Wax Poetics returns in a beautiful, heavyweight format. Each issue features 148-pages of deep music insight, unique stories, lush photo spreads, and inspiration for your record collecting. The first issue in the relaunch features Motown stars Marvin Gaye on the front cover, and Tammi Terrell on the back cover. You'll also find articles on hip-hop ground zero Harlem World, Sergio Mendes, Herb Alpert, Cymande, Toots Hibbert, and much more within.

Also included with each purchase is three months of digital access to Wax Poetics. Expect weekly stories, music, insight, members-only offers, and more!

FULL CONTENTS

Re:Discovery: Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel

Re:Discovery: Light of the World

Re:Discovery: Leon Huff

Re:Discovery: Superb DJ K-Nyce ft. Supreme Nyborn

Feature: High Art - Lee Quiñones

Feature: The Hip-Hop Shangri-La - Harlem World

Feature: Patta Cover Story - Steven Julien

Feature: See Me - Tammi Terrell

Feature: The Fire From Within - Marvin Gaye

Feature: The Maestro - Sergio Mendes

Feature: Beyond Boundaries - Herb Alpert

Feature: Native Sons - Redbone

Feature: Mighty Heavy Load - Cymande

Feature: Perpetual Glory - Toots Hibbert

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.

From Crooked Grinds to Kickflips and Ollies to Wallies, the Skateboard ABC Collection is a fun way to teach the next generation about skateboarding – and who knows, maybe even mommy and daddy will learn a trick or two.

Made in Europe with non-toxic inks and finishes, so you can be sure your little one's first taste of skateboarding is a safe one.

Record Culture Magazine is a biannual publication that shines a light on the people intrinsic to niche music communities around the world and their intersection with art, fashion, and culture.

250 plus magazin featuring in-depth interviews and home/studio visits with:

– DJ Harvey
– Sofie
– Jun Takahashi
– Ziggy Devriendt
– DJ Sundae
– Pedro Winter
– Ariel Kalma
– Octo Octa
– Max Essa
– Moxie
– Pierre Rousseau
– CC:DISCO!

And the visual feature, “White Columns Retrospective: 1977–1986.”

“A Life In Letters” is an analytical monography of the graffiti artist SERVAL’s work. 300 pages to address two major questions :
The first is to decipher what makes the work of Serval - an emblematic artist of the Geneva art scene - so powerful and singular that it has earned him worldwide fame.
The second sketches, through the filter of the analysis of his work, the contours of what graffiti is: a pictorial discipline in its own right, with its history, its currents and its rules. An art form whose reality is often very far from its public image.
It is not a question here of just showing, it is a question of explaining, of bringing to light a know-how, an artistic evolution.

• 10 guest writers : CMP, Dash, Duel, East, Gaël Vulliens, JayOne, Jazi, Rey One, Slick, Swet
• Bilingual texts (french and english)
• Front cutout, embossed spine cover
• Hardcover, 309 pages, 14 chapters, 95 photos including 6 triptych of 88.5 cm length
• Front cutout, embossed spine cover
• UV print on Heaven42 (170g)
• Size : 263x306 mm

This is the first issue of the new We Jazz Magazine, 128 pages, 174 x 250 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. Inside, you'll find great new stories about music including the cover piece on Alice Coltrane by Ashley Kahn, Sun Ra by Daniel Spicer, Berlin report by Debra Richards, Corbett by Stewart Smith, Andreas Müller on Lockdown Listening, Alan Braufman talking to Nabil Ayers, plus more. This is a magazine but together by a quality cast of writers and illustrators/photographers with references such as The Wire, The Quietus, Deutschlankfunk Kultur, etc. Something new is beginning here.

"From acid house to prog-rock, there is no form of modern popular music that hasn’t been propelled forward by the synthesizer. As a result, they have long been objects of fascination, desire and reverence for keyboard players, music producers and fans of electronic music alike. Whether looking at an imposing modular system or posing with a DX7 on Top of the Pops, the synth has also always had an undeniable physical presence.

Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back) celebrates their impact on music and culture by providing a comprehensive and meticulously researched directory of every major synthesizer, drum machine and sampler made between 1963 and 1995. Each featured instrument is illustrated by hand and shown alongside its vital statistics and some fascinatingly quirky facts.

From its invention in the early 1960s to the digital revolution of the 1980s right up until the point that analogue circuits could be modelled using software in the mid-1990s, this book tells the story of synthesizers from analogue to digital – and back again.

Tracing that history and showing off their visual beauty with art-book quality illustrations, this a must for any self-respecting synth fan. The book has 128 pages, is 23cm x 17.4cm in size and printed on high quality 130gsm matt art paper.

Author Oli Freke says: “This book has grown out of a life-long obsession with synthesizers and electronic music, and it’s fantastic to be able to share this with my fellow synth obsessives and music fans who celebrate the synth’s role in modern music. I’m eternally grateful to Velocity Press for going with me on this journey and supporting the project so keenly.”

Reviews

“When the author’s passion for synths combines with his artistic talent the result is a book with a difference. The hand-sketched illustration style sets this book apart helping turn the technical facts and figures into a visual feast insightfully embellished with interesting anecdotes. This book is a joy to look at and a delight to read.” – Sound On Sound magazine

“Like a Victorian botanist climbing mountains in search of a rare flower to sketch, Oli Freke tracks down scarce examples of synthesizers to lovingly sketch and share with the rest of us to marvel at. His collection is an essential bookshelf addition for the analogue obsessive.” – Electronic Sound magazine

“Such a fascinating survey of the synthesizer world, demonstrating a depth of passion that will amaze even the greatest synth-head.” – Benge (Expanding Records)

“Every tweak of a button, every plug of a wire, every minute detail examined on some of the most iconic synths ever made… its really geeky & strange, but its the bible on every great synthesizer behind all of your favourite songs.”

Lotus Capo (Sony ATV Publishing)

Vol 3 of the interviews series – Includes interviews with: DJ Hen Boogie & Izadoe from Bay Area crew The Dereliks, Izniz [Ghettolandz/The Madness/Burn UNI/Boom Bap Nation], Eddie Meeks Insane Cirkle & Southern Vanguard Radio , Charlie Dawk The Superstar from Da Phlayva/Langston, Joseph Caldwell from Lower Level, Supreme The Rudeboy aka DJ Supreme, Dope artwork by AzhqOne.

An original coloring book for all ages!
After the overwhelmingly popular Hip Hop Coloring Book, Mark 563 is back with Hip Hop Coloring Book: East 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 pioneers like Busy Bee, to 90s NYC profiles like Nine and newer stars like ASAP Rocky – all ready to be colored in.
The 50 pages are packed with legendary East 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: East 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: East Coast Edition is the latest in Dokument Press popular coloring book series, with themes such as graffiti, skateboarding and lowriders.
I went to the High School of Art & Design for illustration, so it’s a particular honor to be immortalized in the hip hop coloring book. My advice when coloring me is never stay within the lines, be free! – Pharoahe Monch
Enjoy Hip Hop and Have Fun.
–Chiefrocker Busy Bee

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!

GRRRLS BY LODOWNMAGAZINE
it’s not just a buzz. It’s for real this time. Slowly but steadily, it’s gonna happen. That thing called change. And it will be a predominantly female-centric one.
You shouldn’t expect any kind of elaborate superstructure in this very issue though. There is no men vs women and its implicit over-simplified presentation format of evil vs good - because reality proved itself to be a lot more complex than that. Instead, Lodown’s latest issue GRRRLS presents itself as a celebration of all the uncountable female talent out there that’s dedicating their craft to turn this planet into something more beautiful, smart, reflecting and overall rad again. That’s it, really. It’s a celebration of those individuals with an intact moral and intellectual compass. The days where girls have to be something other than themselves altogether are finally numbered.


Highlights of our GRRRLS issue include…

- SARAH MAPLE... Celebrated British artist Sarah Maples certainly is no stranger to challenging your beliefs about society, gender roles, religion, Internet culture, the art circuit, and whatnot - she smoked in a hijab, got beaten live on tape, transferred Disney-princesses into the academic world, and is pro-orgasm while wearing a burqa. What usually would be considered as being downright smart and deliciously provocative immediately got incredibly scandalized because Maple’s not only pro-feminist but of mixed Islamic background.

- MENTRIX... All it needs to snap out of the current state of ignorance is reminding ourselves that it’s actually quite simple to become bigger than we’ve been recently - greater in spirit and more courageous. And Berlin-based Samar Rad aka Mentrix could be just the right musical catalyst for bringing this endeavor into fruition. At this point, the multidisciplinary artist is far from being exhausted from fighting the good fight, even though she basically spent the last four years working on the accurate transition to introduce her artistic vision to the world - and the result is nothing less than breathtaking.

- SHAUNA TOOHEY... When the cultural landscape becomes a drag, it is high time to create a new narrative. Multidisciplinary artist, designer, The Changes member and mother, Shauna Toohey advocates living joyously through community engagement, inclusive creativity, collective wah-wah and a decent dose of subversive rupture. The status quo has no choice but to mutate. Toohey is all for making culture collective and (psy) active in the here and now, not stuck in yesterday’s rut, but brandishing future vision and grounded in today’s fun.

- COMPUTER GRRLS... The first computers were programmed by women, 75 years ago, and women wrote the software behind Neil Armstrong’s ‘giant leap for mankind’. Since then, IT has become ever more important and gradually turned into a field for nerds where women seem out of place altogether. But the tide is turning: a new wave of Computer Grrrls presents itself through a fantastic exhibition at Rotterdam’s MU, which highlighted the historical role women played in the development of computer science.

- plus more elaborate features and visual awesomeness from the likes of: Abigail Varney, Mia Haggi, Brijean, Agnes Denes, Karen Hackenberg, Midsoomar, Issy Wood, The Paranoyds, The Evolution of IT Girls and many others.

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.

BETONAT
»CanCrete« 400ml Concrete Can

A little piece of art made of 1,048 kg pure concrete. Urban art object. Statement. Home decoration. Screen/wall for your art. 100% handmade in Berlin Neukölln.

• 400 ml tough concrete.
• 1,048 kg art.
• original size (65 mm diameter, 175 mm height)
• each can is an unique copy.
• handmade in Berlin Neukölln.
• inclusive magnetic, detachable concrete-cap.
• felt-bottom for a safe footing.
• well packed in gift box.
• paintable with each tool you use for other walls as well...

The item will not be sent painted. Show your creativity!

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

With the Possessed Wall Banner, you put a piece of the Suicidal Tendencies history on your wall. This ST banner is equipped with a high-quality print as well as metal eyelets at each corner, the fabric is made from 100% polyester. measures: approx. 91.5 x 91.5 cm.

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.

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.

Strange Things Behind Belgian Windows is exactly whatits title describes: a series of photos of the strange andintriguing objects people display behind their windows, for passers-by to look at. These tableaus will make you smile, or maybe even stop and reflect. A stuffed fox, a portrait of Christ, a dusty Egyptian bust, a globe with gaudy colours...They are exhibited like treasures behind a glass screen, inviting you to wonder about the stories behind them, or about the daily lives going on behind the facade. Photographer Jean-Luc Feixa roamed the streets and avenues of Brussels for months, with his camera in hand, curious about the hidden spots and the unique colors of his new hometown.

What a beautiful book...a great presentation and wonderful insight into these historic guitars." -Nils Lofgren on 108 Rock Star Guitars From the photographer of the critically acclaimed 108 Rock Star Guitars comes a new collection of guitar photos, including B.B. King, Kurt Cobain, and Prince as well as more than one hundred legendary rock icons. Lisa S. Johnson's journey into the world of rock and roll photography began more than seventeen years ago when she photographed the legendary Les Paul and his beloved Gibson during one of his famed.

Featuring never-before-seen unit photography, storyboards, costume and concept designs, and behind-the-scenes photos from Academy Award–winning director Steven Spielberg’s first musical, West Side Story: The Making of the Steven Spielberg Film is a loving chronicle of the years of effort that went into bringing a beloved story back to the screen for a new generation. Author Laurent Bouzereau was embedded with the film’s cast and crew and conducted original interviews with director and producer Steven Spielberg, screenwriter and executive producer Tony Kushner, Tony Award–winning choreographer.

These 450+ questions will test even the biggest Bowie fanatics’ knowledge of Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke. In what film did he play Andy Warhol? How did he meet Iman? Which of Iggy Pop’s albums did he help write while they lived in Berlin? This interactive trivia book is the ultimate chance to flex your knowledge of our Starman, David Bowie, covering his music, his movies, his personas, family and friends. This book will separate the Heroes from the Super Creeps.

The 24th issue of zweikommasieben focuses on an aspect of experimental electronic music that might be rather obvious. Nevertheless, this aspect is integral to the type of discerning perspective adopted in the pages of this magazine: bringing anything to life usually is a collective effort. Our world and its culture thrives on collaboration, be it between artists or the number of people involved to get a release ready and out into the world. Given the abundance of collaborations, a deep(er) dive into their internal structures is warranted. For example, a recent EP by Phillip Jondo, which features Maxwell Sterling and DJ Plead, clearly designates these collaborations as such. However, the details of how this three-way-constellation developed into a shared practice are not as obvious. With the new issue of zweikommasieben, these details are being addressed in a conversation. Despite being a common practice in the scene, the modus operandi of collaboration is far from clear or pre-determined. :3lon explains in an interview that they often rely on intuition in choosing how to go about working together with others instead of deliberately weighing up interests. Swiss-Congolese producer Soraya Lutangu Bonaventure goes one step further by questioning the differentiation between solo and collaborative efforts: “Everything I share as a ‘solo project’ is in fact never experienced as such,” she explains in the pages of this magazine. The things we do are as much enabled by as they facilitate the connections we share with other people. zweikommasieben #24 highlights the conditions, intricacies, and consequences of collective efforts in the featured interviews, essays, columns, and artist contributions.

List of contents: -interviews with Soraya Lutangu Bonaventure & Bobby Kolade, Milyma, Yegorka, :3lON, Phillip Jondo, Maxwell Sterling & DJ Plead -portrait on Nazar -essays on Sound Archives and Rave Variants -columns: Soundtexte (poetry), “Art Review” (art review), and Formations (photography) -further contributions by Elbis Rever and Martina Lussi

From his own adolescence, when his allegiance was to punk rock, to his work as one of the essential voices of our time on music and culture at the New York Times and the New Yorker, Kelefa Sanneh has made a deep study of how our popular music unites and divides us. Distilling a career’s worth of knowledge, Sanneh explores the tribes music forms, and how its genres, shape-shifting across the years, give us a way to track larger forces and concerns. He debunks cherished myths, reappraises beloved heroes and upends familiar ideas of musical greatness, arguing that sometimes the best popular music isn’t transcendent: it expresses our grudges as well as our hopes, and is motivated by greed as well as inspiration. Throughout, race is a powerful touchstone: just as there’s always been a ‘Black’ audience and a ‘white’ audience (with some overlap) there is Black music and white music and a whole lot of expropriation. This is a book to shock and awe the deepest music nerd, and at the same time to work as a heady gateway drug for the uninitiated.

Record Culture Magazine is a biannual publication that focuses on niche music communities around the world and their intersection with the worlds of art, fashion and culture.

200 plus magazine featuring interviews and studio visits with:

– Louise Chen – John Gómez – Apiento – Regularfantasy – Lauer – Beatrice Dillon – Public Possession – River Yarra – Sadar Bahar – Anthony Naples And the visual feature, “A Decade of Power and L.I.E.S.

Record Culture Magazine is a biannual publication that focuses on niche music communities around the world and their intersection with the worlds of art, fashion and culture.

200 plus magazine featuring interviews and studio visits with:

– Louise Chen – John Gómez – Apiento – Regularfantasy – Lauer – Beatrice Dillon – Public Possession – River Yarra – Sadar Bahar – Anthony Naples And the visual feature, “A Decade of Power and L.I.E.S.

Dolly Parton, Songteller - My Life In Lyrics is a landmark celebration of the remarkable life and career of a country music and pop culture legend. As told by Dolly Parton in her own inimitable words, explore the songs that have defined her journey. Illustrated throughout with rare photos and memorabilia from Dolly Parton's personal and business archives. Mining over 60 years of songwriting, Dolly Parton highlights 175 of her songs and brings readers behind the lyrics. This special edition includes: -A denim-wrapped foil-stamped clamshell box with Songteller inside -A 45 record on pink vinyl featuring two neverbefore-released demo songs, "I Don't Care" and "The Fall," encased in a printed sleeve and inserted into a folder. Folder contains lyrics to the two songs printed on the back. -Lifting ribbon -Individually shrink-wrapped

A vibrant, unconventional, highly opinionated guide to the triumphs, joys, struggles, and heartbreaks of the modern era of the game, for every obsessive basketball fan who loves to hate hot takesThe Joy of Basketball celebrates the meteoric rise of basketball over the last quarter century by ignoring the bland, traditionalist binary of wins or losses. Instead, the book's focus is on everything else. Using text, charts, and illustrations that upend conventional jock wisdom, the book details the most incredible players in history, draft flops, long-limbed oddballs, superteams, the international talent wave, brawls, scandals, the rapid evolution of contemporary gameplay, coaching, fashion, crime, positional erosion, tragic tales, memes, and the sacred Kardashian Blessing. Bouncing between witty graphics and keen sociopolitical observations, The Joy of Basketball is a subversive sports manifesto camouflaged as a colorful reference book for your coffee table.

Count up to 25 with all of the friendly faces who call Sesame Street home, including Elmo, Big Bird, the Count, and more, in the latest title of the Abrams Block Book series! Each exciting spread highlights beloved characters for the board book age group, teaching counting with a fun Sesame twist, and making this book perfect for the youngest fans as well as seasoned collectors. As in previous Block Book titles, this title will include die-cut pages and the stylish art of British design team Peski Studio.

In 1985, Nike released Michael Jordan’s first sneaker, the Air Jordan 1, and sneaker culture was born. Now thousands of people wait in line at Supreme, and companies throw millions of dollars at LeBron James to keep him in their marketing plans. The trend that saw steady growth for decades with the emergence of sports, hip-hop, and sportswear advertising has exploded into a phenomenon. And no one has watched that phenomenon more closely than Complex.

Sneaker of the Year explores the past 35 years of sneaker culture with the expertise, authority, and passion that only Complex can offer. With vibrant photographs and illustrations throughout, as well as input from some of the sneaker world’s most important voices, this compilation is a must-have for hypebeasts and sneakerheads everywhere.

Written by award-winning Black British children’s author Sharna Jackson, Black Artists Shaping the World celebrates the diversity of work being produced today by Black artists from around the globe, introducing young readers to twenty-six contemporary artists from Africa and of the African diaspora.

Sharna Jackson’s experience as a children’s author who has worked for over a decade in the cultural sector, both at Tate in London and at Site Gallery in Sheffield, is combined here with the curatorial expertise of Dr Zoé Whitley, Director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery and co-curator of the landmark Tate exhibition ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’. Their book features artists working in a variety of media from painting, sculpture and drawing to ceramics, installation art and sound art. Artists featured include British Turner Prize-winning painters Lubaina Himid and Chris Ofili; renowned South African visual activist Zanele Muholi; Nigerian sound artist Emeka Ogboh; Sudanese painter Kamala Ibrahim Ishag; Kenyan-British ceramicist Magdalene Odundo; African-American artists Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley; performance artist Harold Offeh; and moving image artist Larry Achiampong.

The result is a refreshingly contemporary celebration of Black artists at work today that will serve as inspiration to a new generation of aspiring young artists.

In an era of sensationalized news, artists around the world are observing politics and raising awareness on issues like authoritarian regimes, sustainability, climate change, diversity, and immigration.

Art’s ability to communicate, question, and influence opinions have made it a vital tool in activism. We are living in tumultuous times where democracies are challenged from all sides and there is a growing divide between left and right. Diverse topics are subjects that contemporary artists are covering to generate controversy, shine a light on government issues, and create empathy.

The Art of Protest explores the connection between art, politics, and activism today. Understand how over the past decade, artists have been engaging with political and social issues of all kinds and often raising alarms that are missed by politicians.

Bringing together the opinions, attitudes, and achievements of contemporary culture’s most influential icons, How to Be a Tastemaker offers a glance into not only the work, but also the inner lives of individuals paving the way in their fields. Our hyper-connected society mocks conventional notions of taste, which is why Claudia Schiffer’s modelling advice or discovering Laila Gohar’s life-defining motto can have sizable cultural impacts. What is good taste, after all, but having the honesty to announce your ways of thinking and feeling? Through in-depth profiles, How to Be a Tastemaker opens up the world of industry-leaders to learn how they’ve made it to where they are—from major life-changing moments and big ideas, down to the books, playlists, and holiday destinations that have enriched their lives.

Stretching from France all the way down to Slovenia, Europe’s most majestic mountain range encompasses eight countries. Wanderlust Alps charts the region’s most treasured routes and guides the reader every step of the way. Aimed at those with an appetite for adventure, this book offers a rich mix of treks for hikers who wish to brave the elements. Through enlightening maps, first-hand tips, and breathtaking photography, Wanderlust Alps illustrates why the range’s craggy peaks and verdant plains make it an outdoor playground in any season. Expect dazzling content to inspire hikers of any experience and skill level, stunning landscape photography, and helpful hints and information on how best to enjoy more than 50 epic trails.

Europe offers an astonishing variety of scenic landscapes and some of the most enchanting trails to explore them. Wanderlust Europe takes you from the Scottish Highlands to endless amber beaches of the Baltic Sea, from the Scandinavian tundra, the majestic peaks of the Alps, the pristine peaks of the Balkans, to the rugged coastal mountains of the Mediterranean islands, and along the romantic valley of the Rhine river. Wanderlust Europe points the reader in the direction of the continent’s most awe-inspiring routes. Offering expert knowledge on how best to experience the wild outdoors, this stimulating manual traverses far-reaching locales in pursuit of breathtaking beauty and a sense of freedom. Combining first-hand tips with informative maps and an array of spectacular photography, this book is a welcome addition to the Wanderlust series and for anyone with an urge to connect with the great outdoors.

With outdoor enthusiast Alex Roddie on how best to experience nature’s majesty, this book offers long-distance trekking, short-day trips, and extended weekend escapades for hikers of all levels. Explore the world one step at a time with Wanderlust Europe.

The cannabis industry has become a thriving activity. Consuming the plant and using its derivatives have become legal in several countries and paved the way for a new generation of design-savvy and diverse consumers and entrepreneurs. High on Design showcases the new brands, designs, and creators behind this revolution. Meet the creative minds behind Gossamer, a biannual print magazine for casual weed smokers and curious mind. Learn everything you need to know about pot and weed as a medium for cultural understanding with Mia Park and Dae Lim, creators of Sundae School. Expand your culinary horizon with Michelin-Starred chef, Claus Henriksen who will give you an insight into his haute cannabis cuisine and gourmet herbs. Have a look inside Broccoli, a female-run magazine about cannabis culture and discover the most exciting cannabis businesses around the world from High Road, an award-winning dispensary design studio to Tokyo Smoke, a Canadian cannabis retailer.

While reflecting on the novel aesthetics and trends of contemporary cannabis culture, High on Design also gives a profound view of the phenomenon regarding politics, history, legalization, and society. This is your guide to the best brands, the most stylish dispensaries, the slickest products, and the most creative entrepreneurs.

As one of the most recognizable brands in the world, Marvel has spent the last 80-plus years inspiring generations of creatives through its approach to visual storytelling. Marvel’s comic books, in particular, established a distinct graphic language that has found its way into mainstream culture, including 1960s Pop Art, and present-day digital culture, gaming, advertising, and more. Marvel By Design will celebrate the company’s visual language with an in-depth exploration of the design process behind the brand’s most recognizable graphical elements including logos, covers, lettering, layout, and color palettes. Readers will learn how the renowned Marvel Method established a unique approach to the creative process and how that process can serve as a template for creatives working beyond comics.

Throughout the book, Marvel By Design will connect the dots between comic book culture and its undeniable influence in every creative field including the evolution of graphic design, editorial design, movies, and visual culture at large.

First published in 1963 and updated in 1979, this classic was an essential handbook for anyone who studies, surfs, protects, or is fascinated by the ocean. The original author, Willard Bascom, was a master of the subject and included a wealth of information, based on theory and statistics, but also anecdotal observation and personal experience. It brought to the general public understanding of the awesome and complex power of the waves.

This revision from Kim McCoy adds recent facts and anecdotes to update the book’s relevance in the time of climate change. One of the most significant effects of global warming will be sea-level rise. What will this mean to waves and beaches, and what effects are we already seeing? New text and photos cover events such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina flooding of 2005, and the 2011 earthquake and resulting devastation in Fukishima.

As well as students, surfers, and the general public, this updated edition of a beloved classic is an essential handbook for climate scientists and ocean activists, providing clear explanations and detailed resources for the constant battle to preserve the shore.

In After Us the Deluge, photographer Kadir van Lohuizen shows the impact on communities of rising sea levels. He travelled to Greenland, USA, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Panama and the Pacific. There, he captured the havoc caused by global warming. The result is both a period piece and photo book, as disturbing as it is aesthetically impressive. The book is richly illustrated with maps and graphs. With journalistic and scientific contributions from: Henk Ovink, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Jeff Goodell, Elliot Brown, Amalinda Savirani, Anote Tong, Sharif Jamil, Marjan Minnesma.

The dozens of artists and craftspeople featured in this volume create miniature representations of real-world scenes—everything from housewares, such as a thumb-sized rice cooker, to storefronts and cliffside dwellings suspended in test tubes, all the way up to entire multi-story buildings, with every detail preserved inside and out. Each of these exquisite works tells an intriguing story, encapsulating history, culture and memory, and elevating everyday items—the signage on the side of a garbage can, a rusted downspout—to objects worthy of artistic representation, prompting us through this striking shift of scale to perceive the world in whole new ways.

Among the featured artists, Tatsuya Tanaka brings Japanese iconography into his master work “Miniature Calendar,” while Joshua Smith, from Australia, keeps streets and addresses and memory alive by re-creating them in miniature, freezing them in time, complete with weeds and water stains. This book not only digs into the stories behind the works, but provides guidance for those who are ready to try their own hand at mini crafts. Three masters share their inspirations and techniques by revealing a detailed process of a single masterpiece.

Anywhere, California is another close look by Rudy VanderLans into the cultural landscape of his favorite subject, the Golden State. Whether it’s the garage where Apple started in Los Altos, or the former location where the Manson Family lived in Chatsworth, or an anonymous abandoned storefront in Calexico, VanderLans finds beauty in the unlikeliest of locations. Yet he rarely divulges the why or what of his photographs. Instead he stresses that things aren’t always what they appear to be, leaving much to the imagination of the reader.

Stylistically diverse, and meticulously composed, his pictures are as sundry in nature as California itself. Presented in unencumbered page layouts, with well-considered sequencing, this publication is another testament to VanderLans’ dual mastery of design and photography. It continues his preference for the book format as his primary vehicle to show his photography, making this limited first edition another instant collectible.

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

In the style of the Classic 70s point battling card game, get ready to wage war with Welsh pop.

Each of the 30 cards features original artwork depicting artists who have contibuted to the Welsh language pop canon as selected by Elis James. Includes Super Furry Animals, Datblygu Cate Le Bon, Catatonia, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Gwenno, Meic Stevens, Geraint Jarman, Malcolm Neon, Ectogram, Adwaith and many more. *

Yn null y gêm gardiau poblogaidd o'r 70au, paratoa i frwydro gyda pop Cymraeg fel eich arf.

Mae pob un o'r 30 cardiau yn cynnwys gwaith celf gwreiddiol o artistiaid sydd wedi cyfranu i byd pop Cymraeg, wedi dewis gan Elis James. Yn cynnwys Super Furry Animals, Datblygu Cate Le Bon, Catatonia, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Gwenno, Meic Stevens, Geraint Jarman, Malcolm Neon, Ectogram, Adwaith a llawer mwy.

*

Text in English and Welsh / Testun yn Saesneg ac yn Gymraeg

Professionally printed, 32 card set (inc. instructions), 330gsm, laminated, casino quality, Trump size cards (100mm x 62mm), packaged in a printed slip box. Originally produced for Dydd Miwsig Cymru

In the style of the Classic 70s point battling card game, get ready to pit your favourite UK 80s Synth-Pop and New Wave groups against one another!

The subversive hit-makers (Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood), the boundary pushers (Soft Cell, Fad Gadget), the outrageously stylish (Adam and the Ants, Visage), the electronic adventurers (Chris & Cosey, Art of Noise), the decadent (Depeche Mode, The Associates), those haircuts! (The Human League, Flock of Seagulls) and many many more.

Each of the 30 cards features original artwork and facts about the band.

So jump back to a time of rampant hedonism, political upheaval, giant shoulder pads and let battle commence with the categories of ‘Top of the Pops’, ‘Outrageous Style’ ‘Shelf Life’ ‘More than a Haircut’ and ‘Sounds from the Future’.

Professionally printed, 32 card set (inc. instructions). 330gsm, laminated, casino quality, Trump size cards (100mm x 62mm), packaged in a printed slip box.

In the style of the Classic 70s point battling card game, get ready to to pit your favourite UK Post-Punk groups against one another!

The punk rock defectors (Public Image Ltd, Magazine), the proto-goths (The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division), the cacophonous (Throbbing Gristle, This Heat), the lo-fi heroes (Marine Girls, Young Marble Giants), the avant-funksters (The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio), the shambolic (The Raincoats, Swell Maps), the political (Au Pairs, Gang of Four) and many many more.

Each of the 30 cards features original artwork and facts about the band.

So get ready to have your musical palatte confounded and let battle commence with the categories of ‘Commercial Smash, ‘Abrasiveness, ‘diy Ethos’, ‘Avant-Jazz-Funk-Dub-Fusion’ and ‘Peel Sessions’.

Professionally printed, 32 card set (inc. instructions) 330gsm, laminated, casino quality, Trump size cards (100mm x 62mm), packaged in a printed slip box.

EAT 17 is a beautiful 237 page, perfect bound book filled with the brilliant collage art of Robert Pollard.

hardback cloth-bound book of lyrics, poems and photographs, designed in collaboration with Oliver Van Der Lugt, with single-use download code included. For those only familiar with her previous releases, aya sinclair's `im hole' will be a dramatic revelation. Under the Loft pseudonym, she attracted global acclaim for her fwd-thinking club inversions that juxtaposed the British addiction to breaks 'n bass with critical, self-sluicing logic and untethered abstraction, tearing down dance music's hallowed pillars of respectability while winking knowingly to voyeuristic onlookers. On `im hole' this routine has evolved; aya has distilled the incisive sonic experimentation of her earlier releases, the tongue-in-cheek giggles of her DJ sets and edits, and the identity-fluxing lyricism of her live shows. Contorting language, dialect, gender and sexuality between intermittently controlled bursts of rhythm, noise and aural goop, she has sculpted a set of autobiographical vignettes that challenge established norms, question supposed truths and affirm a spectrum of interlocking experiences. But while it's wide open and personal, `im hole' also challenges queer art's tendency to veer towards repetitive solipsism, the music fragmenting familiar sounds and twinning them with familiar words, assembled in unfamiliar ways. Stories are muddled with phonetics just as dubstep is macrodosed with microtonal drone. The anxious, explorative personality that made aya's past releases so magnetic is magnified here, and her sense of humour is completely naked. It's a Gregg Araki animated biopic of Burial. It's Shakespeare with hoop earrings and a busted skateboard.

Inside this issue: Laraaji, Jun Togawa, Olivia Block, Global Era, Epiphanies, … plus lots of reviews and the regulars you know from Wire.

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

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

Introduction BY: Bill Adler

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isbn: 978-1-9163598-2-6

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

New York City in the 1970s was an urban nightmare: destitute, dirty, and dangerous. As the country collectively turned its back on the Big Apple, two musical vigilantes rose out of the miasma. Armed only with amplified AC current, Suicide's Alan Vega and Marty Rev set out to save America's soul. Their weaponized noise terrorized unsuspecting audiences. Suicide could start a riot on a lack of guitar alone. Those who braved their live shows often fled in fear--or formed bands (sometimes both). This book attempts to give the reader a front-row seat to a Suicide show.

Suicide is one of the most original, most misunderstood, and most influential bands of the last century. While Suicide has always had a dedicated cult following, the band is still relatively unknown outside their musical coterie. Arguing against the idea of the band's niche musical history, this book looks at parallels between Marvel Comics' antiheroes in the 1970s and Suicide's groundbreaking first album. Andi Coulter tells the origin story of two musical Ghost Riders learning to harness their sonic superpower, using noise like a clarion call for a better future.

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.

In a bar called The Bucket of Blood, a man shoots the bartender four times in the head. In the small town of Millhaven, a teenage girl secretly and gleefully murders her neighbors. A serial killer travels from home to home, quoting John Milton in his victims' blood.

Murder Ballads, the ninth studio album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, is a gruesome, blood-splattered reimagining of English ballads, American folk and blues music, and classic literature. Most of the stories told on Murder Ballads have been interpreted many times, but never before had they been so graphic or profane. Though earning the band their first Parental Advisory warning label, Murder Ballads, released in 1996, brought Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds their biggest critical and commercial success, thanks in part to the award-winning single, “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” an unlikely duet with Australian pop singer, Kylie Minogue.

Closely examining each of the ten songs on the album, Santi Elijah Holley investigates the stories behind the songs, and the numerous ways these ballads have been interpreted through the years. Murder Ballads is a tour through the evolution of folk music, and a journey into the dark secrets of American history.

Vs. is the sound of a band on fire. The same confluence of talent, passion, timing, and fate that made “grunge” the world's soundtrack also lit a short fuse beneath Pearl Jam. The band combusted between late 1992 and mid-1994, the span during which they planned, recorded, and supported their sophomore record. The spotlight, the pressure, the pace-it all nearly turned the thriving act to ash. Eddie Vedder, the reluctant public face of the band, responded by lashing out lyrically. Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Stone Gossard, who beheld success with varying degrees of anxious satisfaction, attacked their instruments in solidarity. Dave Abbruzzese welcomed the rock-star lifestyle, and left his mark on the record with more than just potent percussion. Vs. roils with fury-and at times, gently steams-over the trappings of fame, human faults, and societal injustice. The record is a thrashing testament to Pearl Jam's urgent creativity and greater-good interests, and the band's logistical calculations behind it drew a career-defining line in the sand. It promised the world that Pearl Jam would neither burn out nor fade away. This book weaves research, little-known details, and band members' memories into a definitive account of how Vs. set them on a path toward enduring integrity and relevance.

Having designed Roxy Music as an haute couture suit hand-stitched of punk and progressive music, Bryan Ferry redesigned it. He made Roxy Music ever dreamier and mellower-reaching back to sadly beautiful chivalric romances. Dadaist (punk) noise exited; a kind of ambient soft soul entered. Ferry parted ways with Eno, electric violinist Eddie Jobson, and drummer Paul Thompson, foreswearing the broken-sounding synthesizers played by kitchen utensils, the chance-based elements, and the maquillage of previous albums.

The production and engineering imposed on Avalon confiscates emotion and replaces it with an acoustic simulacrum of courtliness, polished manners, and codes of etiquette. The seducer sings seductive music about seduction, but decorum is retained, as amour courtois insists.

The backbeat cannot beat back nostalgia; it remains part of the architecture of Avalon, an album that creates an allusive sheen. Be nostalgic, by all means, but embrace that feeling's falseness, because nostalgia-whether inspired by medieval Arthuriana or 1940s film noir repartee or a 1980s drug-induced high-deceives. Nostalgia defines our fantasies and our (not Ferry's) essential artifice.

In the '80s, the Birmingham, England, band Duran Duran became closely associated with new wave, an idiosyncratic genre that dominated the decade's music and culture. No album represented this rip-it-up-and-start-again movement better than the act's breakthrough 1982 LP, Rio. A cohesive album with a retro-futuristic sound-influences include danceable disco, tangy funk, swaggering glam, and Roxy Music's art-rock-the full-length sold millions and spawned smashes such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and the title track.

However, Rio wasn't a success everywhere at first; in fact, the LP had to be buffed-up with remixes and reissued before it found an audience in America. The album was further buoyed by colorful music videos, which established Duran Duran as leaders of an MTV-driven second British Invasion, and the group's cutting-edge visual aesthetic. Via extensive new interviews with band members and other figures who helped Rio succeed, this book explores how and why Rio became a landmark pop-rock album, and examines how the LP was both a musical inspiration-and a reflection of a musical, cultural, and technology zeitgeist.

Shelved for over 20 years, Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, stands alongside Otis Redding's Live in Europe and James Brown's Live at the Apollo as one of the finest live soul albums ever made. It also reveals a musical, spiritual, emotional, and social journey played out over one night on the stage of a sweaty Miami club, as Cooke made music that encapsulated everything he had ever cut, channeling forces that would soon birth “A Change is Gonna Come,” the most important soul song ever written.

This book covers Cooke's days with the Soul Stirrers, the gospel unit that was inventing a strand of soul in the 1950s, and continues on to his string of hit singles as a solo artist that reveal far more about this complex man and the complex music he was always fashioning. A writer and an agent of social change, he absorbed the teachings of Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan while reconciling his own identity and what fans expected of him. Fleming explores how this towering soul artist came to reconcile so many disparate elements on a Florida stage on a winter night in 1963-a stage that extended well into the future, beyond Cooke's own life, beyond the 1960s, and into a perpetual here-and-now. Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 will resonate so long as we all have need to look into ourselves and square our differences and become more human, and more connected with others in our humanity.

In Janelle Monáe's full-length debut, the science fiction concept album The ArchAndroid, the android Cindi Mayweather is on the run from the authorities for the crime of loving a human. Living in 28th century Metropolis, Cindi fights for survival, soon realizing that she is in fact the prophesied ArchAndroid, a robot messiah meant to liberate the masses and lead them toward a wonderland where all can be free. Taking into account the literary merit of Monáe's astounding multimedia body of work, the political relevance of the science fictional themes and aesthetics she explores, and her role as an Atlanta-based pop cultural juggernaut, this book explores the lavish world building of Cindi's story, and the many literary, cinematic, and musical influences brought together to create it. Throughout, a history of Monáe's move to Atlanta, her signing with Bad Boy Records, and the trials of developing a full-length concept album in an industry devoted to the production of marketable singles can be found, charting the artist's own rise to power. The stories of Monáe and of Cindi are inextricably entwined, each making the other more compelling, fantastical, and deeply felt.

He is known as the Mark Twain of American songwriting, a man who transformed the everyday happenings of regular people into plainly profound statements on war, industrialization, religion, and the human condition. Marking the 50th anniversary of the album's release, John Prine chronicles the legendary singer-songwriter's Middle American provenance, and his remarkable ascent from singing mailman to celebrated son of Chicago.“Illegal Smile,” “Hello in There,” “Sam Stone,” “Paradise,” “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore,” “Far from Me,” “Donald and Lydia,” and “Angel from Montgomery” are considered standards in the American Songbook, covered by legions of Prine's peers and admirers. Through original interviews, exhaustive research, and incisive commentary, author Erin Osmon paints an in-depth portrait of the people, places, and experiences that inspired Prine's landmark debut.

After exploring his roots in rural Western Kentucky and suburban Maywood, Illinois, the book takes readers on an evocative journey through John Prine's Chicago. Its neighborhoods, characters, and clubs of the 1960s and 70s proved a formative and magical period in Prine's life, before he was a figurehead of the new Nashville scene. It's both a journalistic inquiry and a love letter: to Prine's self-titled debut and the Midwestern city that made him.