Music Print & Design 487 Items

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

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

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

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

Book design by Jeff Kleinsmith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shellac, Arnold Dreyblatt, Robyn’s Rocket, Zoh Amba, Normil Hawaiians, Kalia Vandever, Antti Vauhkonen, Marion Cousin, Invisible Jukebox: Iceboy Violet, The Inner Sleeve: Kai Fagaschinski on The Jimmy Giuffre 3, Global Ear: Berlin choir A Song For You, Unlimited Editions: Ipecac, Unofficial Channels: Music Republic & Moroccan Tape Stash, Epiphanies: Tashi Wada on tuning systems, plus 40 pages of reviews including Tony Conrad & Jennifer Walshe, FUNK.BR: São Paulo, Christer Bothén featuring Bolon Bata, Somerset House Studios’ Assembly, and much more

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

GROOVE #177 is the second strictly limited special edition of the magazine since the discontinuation of the print issue in 2018. 156 pages bundle a selection of articles published on groove.de from the last year with exclusive content. This is also the case in the large dossier on trance, trash pop and TikTok. Where will the techno and house scene go if it flirts with the mainstream? The festival special with a look behind the scenes of the industry and of course all the important dates of the summer season offers the best prospects. Rave on!

This is a really packed, special issue of Maggot Brain, with the feature cover story a comprehensive interview by celebrated writer Sasha Frere-Jones with essayist Lucy Sante (who's written for every issue of MB since the start), on the occasion of her awesome memoir about transitioning, I Heard Her Call My Name. Inside: Phill Niblock: A tribute to the genius musician, filmmaker, label head, and generous promoter of ecstatic sound, by Steve Silverstein. Tresa Leigh: An in-depth feature on the star of Efficient Space's beloved Ghost Riders compilation! Really a beautiful, untold story. Dredd Foole: As his legacy is revealed through Corbett vs Dempsey's archival series, Foole talks to Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny about the role of his band the Din in the Boston underground. Plus, sidebars from Christina Carter, Kris Price, and Phil Milstein. Loopsel: Mike McGonigal on some of the most elusive, beautiful contemporary music, straight out of Gothenburg. Sleater-Kinney: 30 vital years of uncompromising music, by none other than Audrey Golden. All that and tons more.

The eleventh issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Oni Puladi" for Carla Bley. 128 pages, 170 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented IN ENGLISH. Carla Bley by Stewart Smith, Gondwana Records by Debra Richards, [Ahmed] by Seymour Wright, Amirtha Kidambi by Ayana Contreras, Ruth Goller by Daryl Worthington, Abdul Wadud by Pierre Crépon / David Neil Lee, François Jeanneau by Bret Sjerven, Mette Henriette by Debra Richards, Nduduzo Makhathini by Rob Garratt, Discaholic column by Mats Gustafsson, We Jazz Festival 2023 photo essay by Julius Töyrylä, album & live reviews, plus more.

Titelstory: 1973 Von The Who über Pink Floyd zu Bruce Springsteen bis New York Dolls: Der große Rückblick auf ein Jahr, in dem große Bands den Zenit ihres kreativen Schaffens erreichen und letzte Meisterwerke aufnehmen oder auch Richtungsentscheidungen treffen, Ausnahmetalente ihre Debütalben veröffentlichen und damit den Grundstein für Superstarkarrieren legen und die Punk-Bewegung ihren Anfang nimmt.

Sugar Man Die Geschichte von Songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, seinen beiden wiederentdeckten Ausnahmealben und weiteren Meisterwerken, die ebenfalls fast vergessen worden wären.

Master-Class Frank Wonneberg befasst sich in seiner Reihe diesmal mit dem Akustik-Livealbum „Unplugged“ von Eric Clapton.

Rega Made in England: Wir besuchen das Werk des legendären HiFi-Herstellers in Leigh-on-Sea in Großbritannien und treffen den Firmengründer Roy Gandy. Soundtrack Of My Life MC5-Gitarrist Wayne Kramer über das Free-Jazz-Album „Ascension“ von John Coltrane, das seine Weltsicht veränderte.

Enthüllt: The Pogues Die Geschichten zum Cover von The Pogues’ Folk-Punk-Klassiker „New Peace And Love“, designt von Simon Ryan.

Weitere Themen der Ausgabe Praxistests zu Plattenspieler, Vollverstärker und Standlautsprecher, Über 100 LP-Besprechungen auf 42 Seiten, die Rubrik „33 1/3 Cover“, News-Features, Dr. Mint, Vinyl-Vorschau, das Sleeveface des Monats und vieles mehr.

Now as paperback edition.

"This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius.” —questlove

Equal parts biography, musicology, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the life and legacy of J Dilla, a musical genius who transformed the sound of popular music for the twenty-first century.

He wasn’t known to mainstream audiences, even though he worked with renowned acts like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu and influenced the music of superstars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. He died at the age of thirty-two, and in his lifetime he never had a pop hit. Yet since his death, J Dilla has become a demigod: revered by jazz musicians and rap icons from Robert Glasper to Kendrick Lamar; memorialized in symphonies and taught at universities. And at the core of this adulation is innovation: a new kind of musical time-feel that he created on a drum machine, but one that changed the way “traditional” musicians play.

In Dilla Time, Dan Charnas chronicles the life of James DeWitt Yancey, from his gifted childhood in Detroit, to his rise as a Grammy-nominated hip-hop producer, to the rare blood disease that caused his premature death; and follows the people who kept him and his ideas alive. He also rewinds the histories of American rhythms: from the birth of soul in Dilla’s own “Motown,” to funk, techno, and disco. Here, music is a story of Black culture in America and of what happens when human and machine times are synthesized into something new. Dilla Time is a different kind of book about music, a visual experience with graphics that build those concepts step by step for fans and novices alike, teaching us to “see” and feel rhythm in a unique and enjoyable way.

Dilla’s beats, startling some people with their seeming “sloppiness,” were actually the work of a perfectionist almost spiritually devoted to his music. This is the story of the man and his machines, his family, friends, partners, and celebrity collaborators. Culled from more than 150 interviews about one of the most important and influential musical figures of the past hundred years, Dilla Time is a book as delightfully detail-oriented and unique as J Dilla’s music itself.

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

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

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

From a Los Angeles hospital bed, equipped with little more than a laptop and a stack of records, James “J Dilla” Yancey crafted a set of tracks that would forever change the way beatmakers viewed their artform. The songs on Donuts are not hip hop music as “hip hop music” is typically defined; they careen and crash into each other, in one moment noisy and abrasive, gorgeous and heartbreaking the next. The samples and melodies tell the story of a man coming to terms with his declining health, a final love letter to the family and friends he was leaving behind. As a prolific producer with a voracious appetite for the history and mechanics of the music he loved, J Dilla knew the records that went into constructing Donuts inside and out. He could have taken them all and made a much different, more accessible album. If the widely accepted view is that his final work is a record about dying, the question becomes why did he make this record about dying?

Drawing from philosophy, critical theory and musicology, as well as Dilla’s own musical catalogue, Jordan Ferguson shows that the contradictory, irascible and confrontational music found on Donuts is as much a result of an artist’s declining health as it is an example of what scholars call “late style,” placing the album in a musical tradition that stretches back centuries.

152 pages.

Maggot Brain is a full-color, quarterly magazine edited by noted Detroit scribe Mike Mcgonigal: 100+ pages packed with phenomenal content—art, music, literature, unpublished archival material, and more—with a simple promise to only exist on the printed page. The cover feature is a career-spanning piece by Tamara Palmer on Iceland’s most noted export since the foundation of their parliament in 930, Björk, with a terrifically gorgeous cover image by our illustrator, Marly Beyer. Also included and excerpt from a graphic novel by Marcellus Hall; Chelsea Wolfe, Wayne Phoenix, BE Your OWN PET, Penguin Cafe, a new food column from Quintron and much more.

Big Takeover returns with features on Slowdive, Sloan (part 2), Lenny Kaye on Nuggets, Fountains OF Wayne, Blonde Redhead, THE Clientele, Emma Anderson, Soft Science, Modernettes / LOS Popluaros, Crime & THE City Solution, Deer Tick, Mountain Goats, Sweeping Promises, THE 1981, and more!

The third iteration of the Synth History interviews in tangible form! Out November 11th.

A 200+ page high quality 'zine featuring a curated compilation of interviews with legendary and modern day pioneers. Yep, even bigger than last time.

Including interviews with Tame Impala, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Roger O'Donnell of The Cure, Gregg Araki, Slowdive, Labrinth, Nancy Whang, Teenage Engineering, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (omd), Geneva Jacuzzi, Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco, Tim Gane of Stereolab, Avey Tare, TV Girl, Jessy Lanza, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Nation of Language, Bibio, The Blaze, Sg Lewis, Bob Baker Music Archives. 1400 printed in total.

A landmark publication celebrating the life and work of American musician and composer Arthur Russell, the man the Guardian called 'One of the 20th century's true musical visionaries'

The music of Arthur Russell defies classification. From his pioneering compositions as part of New York's vibrant avant-garde scene (alongside artists including Philip Glass, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Allen Ginsberg) to his genre-expanding disco productions, from his new wave and art pop to his posthumously released folk songs, Russell crafted timeless and foundationally influential work until his premature death in 1992 from AIDS-related illnesses.

Now, in a landmark publication assembled by critically-acclaimed writer Richard King, Travels Over Feeling collects the extensive ephemera found in Russell’s New York Public Library archive, along with pieces from the personal collections of those who were closest to him. Combining unseen visual material—handwritten scores, lyrics, photos, letters, and drawings—with new texts by King and extensive original interviews with Arthur’s collaborators, contemporaries, family, and friends, Travels Over Feeling paints a portrait of Arthur Russell unlike any which has come before, revealing a true picture of one of the most distinctive artists of the last fifty years.

Charles Arthur Russell Jr., better known as Arthur Russell (May 21, 1951—April 4, 1992) was an American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician from Iowa whose work spanned a disparate range of styles. After studying contemporary composition and Indian classical music in California, Russell relocated to New York City in the mid-1970s, where he became involved with both Lower Manhattan's avant-garde community and the city's burgeoning disco scene. His eclectic music was often marked by adventurous production choices and his distinctive voice. He died from AIDS-related illnesses in 1992.

Richard King was born in South Wales and for the last twenty years has lived in the rural county of Powys, in mid-Wales. He is author of Original Rockers (2015), which was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, and How Soon Is Now? (2012), which was Sunday Times Music Book of the Year. The Lark Ascending was published in 2019, and was a Rough Trade, Mojo, and Evening Standard Book of the Year. His latest book, Brittle with Relics, was published in February 2022.

The seventh issue of We Jazz Magazine, "Universal Beings" for Makaya McCraven. 128 pages 174 x 240 mm in size and printed on 140g Edixion paper with laminated 300g Invercote covers. All articles presented IN ENGLISH.

Stories include Makaya McCraven by Ayana Contreras, Sonny Rollins by Ashley Kahn, Peter Evans by Andrey Henkin, Amina Claudine Myers by Seymour Wright, Adolphe Sax by Harry Eddy, Ronald Snijders by Mike Bindraban, introducing our new columnist Mats Gustafsson, Puristamo Helsinki pressing plant photo essay by Mathias Foster, reviews, plus more.

Country of printing: Finland

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"

This issue is dedicated to the memory of astral traveling saxophone colossus Pharoah Sanders, with a tremendous evaluation of his most important work by the great music writer Andy Beta as the cover feature, rare images by Leni Sinclair, and a brief remembrance by film director Jeff Feuerzeig. Columns: - Lucy Sante - New column is about her collage practice, which was unknown until recently. Unsurprisingly it’s great work. - Mimi Lipson – Returns with another advice column filled with warmth, humor, and even advice. - Jazz Roundtable – with Ben Jaffe, Sam Cohen, Bekah Flynn, and Makaya McCraven: New Orleans’ entire history as refracted through the work of Charlie Gabriel of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, an absolutely deep and important piece we are so stoked for. - Thinking Fellers – An overview related to new reissues, written by none other than your favorite writer from Bananafish. - Some Churches – Amazing images of small churches, rural and urban, from the collection of the Library of Congress. Also Featuring: Mick Collins – Tremendous career-spanning feature on the Gories/Dirtbombs frontman by the great RJ Smith. Lambchop – A great new album for Merge and an expansive theater piece Kathy Lindenmayer goes deep with leader Kurt Wagner. XV – Detroit’s new no wave supergroup deconstructs an interview, with musician Adam Taub. Ghost Riders – ‘60s/‘70s North American downer psych-pop/ garage “Coming of Age Garage Ballads,” Glen Morren turns in a lengthy overview. Ernest Hood – A feature on the heralded Pac NW ambient composer, amazing ephemera to choose from courtesy the Rvng peeps. THE HI Rhythm Section - Tennie, Charles, and Leroy! An often hilarious feature by Jason Gross from Perfect Sound Forever. Edel Rodriguez – Contemporary Cuban-American graphic artist interviewed by Britt Daniel from Spoon – they’ve collaborated together. Wednesday Knudsen – An overview of the work of this genius rural Massachusetts- based contemporary zone folk goddess, by Michelle Dove. Alpaca Brothers – In depth feature by Matt Goody (whose new book on Flying Nun’s history is a must). Matthew Dickman – The great skater poet and poet/skater, introduced by Alex Behr. Charles Gillam SR – Gabe from Desert Island interviews the New Orleans-based music obsessive and folk artist. King Kong – Former Homestead Records honcho Ken Katkin is here with ten trenchant observations on a reunion show by Louisville’s finest.

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.

Maggot Brain is a full-color, quarterly magazine edited by noted Detroit scribe Mike McGonigal: 100+ pages packed with phenomenal content—art, music, literature, unpublished archival material, and more—with a simple promise to only exist on the printed page. Issue # 10 has features on Belle & Sebastian, novelist David Gordon, 1960s-'70s Motown artist Christina Carter, Chris Forsyth & Steve Wynn, Tony IOMMI-era Black Sabbath, Buffy Saint-marie, and much more.

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.

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

Wisdom and musings on creativity and life from one of the world’s most beloved musicians, producers, and mentors, Quincy Jones12 Notes is a self-development guide that will affirm that creativity is a calling that can and should be answered, no matter your age or experience. Drawing from his own life, and those of his many creative collaborators past and present, Quincy Jones presents readers with lessons that are hardworking and accessible, yet speak to the passion of self-expression.

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.

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

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

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

"We continue to learn about the Drexciyans and their first leader, Drexaha. 5 stories just like the Book of Drexciya, Volume One.

In 2008, with help from Jay-Z and Puff, Barack Obama got the hip hop vote, and became the first African American to be elected president. For a brief moment, the “Audacity of Hope” seemed attainable. The 2014 Ferguson riots signaled the end of that hope, and in 2016 the hip hop community had to grapple with the election of Donald J. Trump as Obama’s successor. Now more than ever, hip hop artists such as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are the voice of the voiceless.In the new, updated compact edition of Hip Hop Raised Me., DJ Semtex examines the crucial role of hip hop in society and reflects on the positive influence it has had on his own life, and the lives of disaffected youths from generation after generation. Featuring specially commissioned photography and seminal interviews he conducted with key artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Nas, Semtex traces the course of hip hop from its origins in the early 1970s through its breakthrough to the mainstream and the advent of gangsta rap in the late 1980s to the global industry that it has become today.

"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)

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never-before-seen candids and ephemera of "the quiet Beatle" during his meteoric solo career, as captured by his friend and famed photographer Barry Feinstein.

On hand from 1970 to 1972 for Harrison's blockbuster "Triple Crown"--the release of All Things Must Pass; The Concert for Bangladesh; and Living in the Material World, which helped make Harrison the best-selling post-breakup Beatle, Barry became good friends with George during the three-plus years they worked together. Feinstein captured George Harrison at home, in his garden, onstage, and in the studio. Nearly all the images are previously unpublished.

The book contains never-before-seen ephemera related to these seminal releases during George's most richly creative time post-Beatles, including handwritten letters talking about album ideas, album-cover thoughts, and putting together the Concert for Bangladesh. This collection also features beloved performers that George convened for that Concert for Bangladesh--where Barry was the only sanctioned photographer onstage--including George's friends Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston.

The book coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of All Things Must Pass. George Harrison: Be Here Now is a deeper visual dive that the significantly large and passionate Beatles/George Harrison fandom will want to add to their collection.

Erased Tapes presents Continuous Music: Selected Works, the first printed collection of scores from prolific pianist and Continuous Music pioneer Lubomyr Melnyk, making his unique technique available to piano lovers all around the world. This first volume contains selections from each of Melnyk's releases on Erased Tapes, including Corollaries (2013), Evertina (2014), Rivers and Streams (2015) and a very special handwritten score of Pockets of Light, serving as an entry point to his technique. Continuous Music: Selected Works also contains a previously unreleased score, The Moving Window, plus detailed notes from the composer himself. Every copy comes with audio recordings of all six pieces including a new version of Butterfly, specially recorded for the reader.
Melnyk's mission with this sheet music book is for musicians and piano enthusiasts to gain a greater love and understanding of the instrument, while being inspired to delve further into the world of Continuous Music.

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.

Record Time is a new print-only music magazine that focuses on obscure, unusual, forgotten and neglected records, not collectibles or rarities, but great records that can be had without shelling out max cash. The debut arrives right when interest in records is at a 30-year high and is growing across generations. Record Time is about the wonderful world of records, specifically unusual, obscure, forgotten and neglected slabs of plastic that all of us can afford. Rather than focus on holy grails of the most expensive kind or $$$ reissues, Record Time scours bargain bins, garage sales, and those corners of record stores that only the most diehard music freaks dig through—and what we find are wonderful records that are too often passed by even though they are usual cheap (or at least much less than your average $30 reissue). In that spirit, Record Time #1 does a deep dive into the crazy history of Plastic Bertrand’s “Ca Plane Pour Moi.” Also in issue one: A cruise through the music and career of Hansadutta Swami, the Hari Krishna “machine gun guru” and failed rock star; a dip into controversial politico/musician Harvey Matusow and his Jew’s Harp Band; the Surfsiders, a fake surf band that included a young LOU Reed, Alquin and the Dutch prog rock scene of the 1970s; the obscure and delightful DIY psych pop of the THE People’s Victory Orchestra AND Chorus; and records on alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. There’s more: Columns on 1960s garage instrumental 45s and forgotten 7”s from the 1990s punk scene, a feature on THE Wuzz Band, a run-through of the records and crimes of novelty rapper/drug kingpin Hurt EM BAD, a ton of record reviews (of albums lurking in used bins), an interview with Dick Vivian of San Francisco’s Rooky Ricardo’s Records (and Dick’s picks of great budget R&B and girl group singles), and more. Record Time is published and edited by Scott Soriano, a long-time music writer, record label runner, zine publisher, and political journalist. We’ve got a rich group of contributors such as Brian Turner, Owen Maercks, Laurent Bigot, Fred DE Vries, Johnny Sunshine, D. Worden, and others, from the US, France, South Africa, and abroad. 11” x 8.5”, perfect-bound with color cover.

Limited edition signed by the author.

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

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

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

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

Book design by Jeff Kleinsmith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titelstory: Lieblingsplatten 2023 Die Wahl ist getroffen: Insgesamt 100 Leser, Autoren und Redakteure präsentieren ihre Vinyl-Highlights des Jahres. Breit gefächert, wie es die persönlichen Vorlieben verlangen: von Hardrock über Jazz bis Elektro, von Bestsellern auf Majorlabels bis Geheimtipps aus dem Indie-Bereich, von Neuveröffentlichungen und Reissues bis zu Livealben, Soundtracks und Compilations – von Vinylfans für Vinylfans!

Enthüllt: The Rolling Stones Die Geschichten zum Coverfoto des Live-Klassikers „Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out“, in Szene gesetzt von David Bailey.

Frederic Stader Der Vinylschnitt-Ingenieur aus Köln in einem ausführlichen Gespräch über den bestmöglichen Sound als Lebensaufgabe.

Paul McCartney Frank Wonneberg befasst sich in der Master Class mit dem aufwändig produzierten Wings-Album „Band On The Run“.

Musik zum Lesen Von Depeche Mode über Fleetwood Mac bis Johnny Cash: Zehn aktuelle Bücher, in denen sich Schallplatten- und Musikfans verlieren können.

TW Acustic High-End aus Bochum: Zu Besuch beim Einmann-Betrieb, wo in Handarbeit weltberühmte Luxusplattenspieler entstehen.

Weitere Themen der Ausgabe Praxistests zu Plattenspieler, Verstärker und Plattenwaschmaschine, Über 90 LP-Besprechungen auf 46 Seiten, die Rubrik „33 1/3 Cover“, News-Features, Dr. Mint, Vinyl-Vorschau, das Sleeveface des Monats und vieles mehr.

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.

Eat Volume 19: 240 page full color journal of Robert POLLARD’s gorgeous collage art.

Following on from his 2021 book, Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back), Oli Freke returns with a Synthesizer Evolution A6 zine series.

Drum machines and samplers have something of a shared history and this zine celebrates their invention and by picking out 46 of the most influential, important or most interesting drum machines and samplers from 1949 – 1996. Explore the most legendary drum machines and samplers ever created, including the Roland TR-808, Roland TR-909, Akai S1000, Fairlight CMI, Akai MPC60 and more, with detailed descriptions and the stories behind their development.

The earliest rhythm machines from the 1960s (and even earlier) used unwieldy sound generation techniques such as tape or other electro-mechanical means. However, the application of the transistor from the early 1970s swiftly saw an improvement in sound quality, usability and commercialisation of the drum machine.

These same transistors, minuaturised into microchips, also enabled the wider take-up of digital sampling in the 1970s – albeit initially at vast cost. As the 1980s wore on, silicon became cheaper and samplers became ubiquitous.

Drum machines took advantage by first incorporating sampled drum sounds, providing increased realism over their analogue predecessors. They then went full hybrid with the creation of the ‘music production workstation’ – a slick combination of drum machine, sampler and sequencer, much favoured by the hip-hop community.

Both music production workstation and ‘pure sampler’ brought a revolutionary new approach to music making – whether in newly realistic replications of acoustic instruments, the recycling of old music and records into new, exciting collage styles, or by simply facilitating new approaches to sound design.

All of this furious development, enabled by silicon chips and their reducing cost, caused the development of brand new styles of music from hip-hop to rave, and from newly lush film scores to the experimental avante-garde.

Pages: 52
Size: A6 (10.5cm x 14.8cm)
Binding: Staple bound
Print: Black & white

Following on from his 2021 book, Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back), Oli Freke returns with a Synthesizer Evolution A6 zine series.

The invention of the synthesizer in the 1960s changed musical culture and music production forever, giving musicians whole new worlds of sound to play with. Vintage Synths celebrates that invention and its subsequent history by picking out 46 of the most influential, important or most interesting synths from 1939 – 1998. They represent the introduction of a new technology, had a particular impact, or maybe even formed the basis of entirely new genres.

Explore the most legendary synthesizers ever created, including the Minimoog, ARP 2600, Yamaha DX7, Roland Jupiter 8 and more, with detailed descriptions and the stories behind their development.

Vintage Synths delves into the fascinating world of synthesizers, tracing their evolution from the early days of analogue synthesis to the modern digital era, and exploring the recent resurgence of analogue synthesizers.

Synthesizer Evolution Vintage Synths takes readers on an inspiring journey through the history and technology behind these iconic musical instruments. From the earliest electronic experiments to the cutting-edge digital synthesizers of today, this zine provides a comprehensive overview of how synthesizers have shaped the world of music.

Accompanying are illustrations that celebrate the visual qualities of synthesizers – not only have they produced the sound of the future, but they have also looked like the future since the earliest days.

Whether you’re a seasoned synthesizer player, a music producer, or simply an enthusiast, Vintage Synths is a valuable resource that offers both technical depth and historical context.

Pages: 52
Size: A6 (10.5cm x 14.8cm)
Binding: Staple bound
Print: Black & white

The second issue of the Heartworm Reader poetry journal, featuring 100 entries by 25 different contributors. Jeffrey Lee Pierce graces the cover as photographed by Laura Levine.

Contributor List: Blixa Bargeld - Steven Jesse Bernstein - D. Randall Blythe - Simon & Bronwyn Bonney - Parker Love Bowling - Richard Denner - Craig Dyer - Wesley Eisold - Shannon Funchess - Kurt Heasley - Kristin Hersh - Harry Huntington - David Coppin Lanegan - Mark Lanegan - Amy Lee - Thurston Moore - Daniel Moro - Jeffrey Lee Pierce - William Pym - Geoff Rickly - Jim Ruland - Emma Ruth Rundle - Jeremy Szuder - Colin H. Van Eeckhout - Steve Von Till.

A gorgeous hardcover time capsule of the emo music scene as it was from 1996 to 2006, featuring never-before-seen photographs and never-before-told stories from key emo musicians, photographers, and icons. While the term emo has become a familiar label, there was a time when that wasn't the case. Many bands of the mid-to-late '90s would never have classified themselves as such - back then, the term was not only inaccurate but often used derogatorily. With the advent of the 2000s, the previously underground emo scene was put on the map, and the term and sound of the genre morphed into something new. A musical renaissance was happening, but bands didn't give much thought to the label in the long term. Nothing mattered, as long as the kids came out to shows. Today, the musical and cultural impact of this movement is alive and well, responsible for some of the biggest and most influential acts of the 21st century, from Jimmy Eat World to My Chemical Romance, and the (...)

Disco Pogo is the new, bi-annual, electronic music magazine from the original founders of seminal 90s title Jockey Slut.

Issue 3 is a heavyweight 220 pages and features Roisin Murphy, Grace Jones, Art of Noise, Boards of Canada, Chris Frantz, Danielle Moore, Decius, Hifi Sean, Jamz Supernova, Leftfield, Luke Solomon, Native Tongues, Ralph Lawson, Twisted Nerve, Underground Resistance and much, much more.

Dave Lombardo, Paul Dunmall, Alison Cotton, Verity Susman, …

The seventh issue of our quarterly underground hip hop magazine.

56 pages – no ads, full color, 5.5″ x 8.5″

Featuring: Moka Only Interview by Peter Agoston – Illustration by 319 Heads, Masta Ace & Marco Polo Interview by Brian Kayser – Illustration by Aidan Searle, Controller 7 Interview by DJ Jester the Filipino Fist – Illustration by Max Rodgers, P-Minus (atak) Interview by Matt Bomarr – Photo by Paul’s daughter, J.M. Harper (director of As We Speak) Interview by Jonathan Balazs – Illustration by 319 Heads, Memorecks Interview by Jonathan Balazs – Photos by Yú, and Gajah Biography by Tommy V – Illustration by 319 Heads

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.

Delve into the largely overlooked footprint that Black punks have on the underground music scene in a new archival publication brought to you by Raeghan Buchanan and Silver Sprocket. The Secret History of Black Punk: Record Zero by Buchanan is an illustrated roll-call for punk, post-punk, hardcore, no-wave, and experimental bands from ground zero ‘til now. A starting point for anyone curious, another reference for those who devour all genre-related things, or a cool artifact for anyone in the know. This book is part of an ongoing series that covers musicians like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Poly Styrene, Don Letts, Minority Threat, and many others. From LA to London, from the early 1900s till today, Buchanan examines and presents narratives to show how Black musicians shape (and are shaped by) the world we live in. 64 full-color pages. 6.625" x 10.187" with spine.

In "A Dysfunctional Success" Eric Goulden writes with an acute eye for detail about growing up in the 60s and 70s in suburban South East England, discovering music and girls; life as an art student in the frozen north eastern town of Hull; the formation and dissolution of bands with desperate equipment, a homemade ethos and not much idea; his move to London in 1976 and subsequent recording debut on the newly formed Stiff Record label. This is an honest coming of age story from both sides of instant pop success: bands, squalid flats, menial jobs, making records, the rise to the point of fame and falling off into poverty and alcoholism in Thatcher"s Britain, where Goulden ultimately survived the 1980"s to achieve his own kind of success. Twenty-one years after its original publication, in a time when pop stars telling their own hard stories was a comparative rarity, A Dysfunctional Success rings truer than ever, reminding readers how we all come from somewhere, pay a high price for our dreams, and enjoy modest glories in return for staying the course. "I think I was hoping for insight into the early Stiff Records days, which I didn"t get. What I got was much better, and a great deal more interesting: a shambling, acutely observed, very funny-sad-true-sharp autobiography ..." Neil Gaiman

Very limited edition document to accompany the Various Artists - Noho EP: Turning THE Crank EP. 68 page, A5 size 'Zine' Printed with Risograph in grey scale.

Northampton, Massachusetts. The Five Colleges. Hampshire College. Forward-thinking education. Electronic Music studies. A vast student population created and sustained a vibrant cultural scene. This is but a snapshot of a fraction, but a fertile and significant one that impacted the lives of many who came in contact with it. The book follows a tight group of people who got together, made music, promoted and released it, created the conditions for others to record and release music, booked bands and then scattered throughout the Midwest and East Coast.

First person memories and memorabilia from Christopher Vine, Craig O'Donnell, Elliott Sharp, James Whittemore, Nicholas Brown, Sean Elias and others, patch up a story of joyous action, firm and enthusiastic DIY endeavours to make things happen as they would like them to happen. It is about a local scene and some key protagonists and it communicates values and methods that are still current — and probably will always be in some form or another among young people with a serious drive to act upon their artistic inclinations. This is also a depiction of what was in fact a model of a music scene. A complete ecosystem was in place during this period. Northampton, sure, but extended across the whole of Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. Bars, music and record stores, live music, College radio, electronic music studios, written press and a lot of energy going into creative work. The immediate "punk effect" motivated the appearance of numerous bands, many short lived, others evolving into New Wave / Power Pop territory, eventually crossing into Post-Punk experimentation.

Turning The Crank is also a companion to an EP of the same title, including music played, produced and recorded in Northampton between decades (1970s going into the 1980s) by different combinations of individuals resulting in The Higher Primates, The Scientific Americans and Human Error. Music in turns mechanical and austere, gorgeously loose, in love with Dub.

An incomplete anthology of Memphis Hip-Hop albums from the nineties curated by 404 Eros & Asel Tambay.

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...”

Maria Chávez, Mariam Rezaei & Victoria Shen Three experimental turntablists, from the UK and the US East and West coasts, come together in a new project which sets out on a European festival tour this April. By Emily Pothast.

Dorothy Moskowitz The vocalist in venerable US experimental/electronic rock band The United States Of America talks to Edwin Pouncey as she returns with new project The United States Of Alchemy.

Mihály Víg The Hungarian film composer, actor and close collaborator of film director Béla Tarr talks to Ilia Rogatchevski ahead of a major new Berlin screening and soundtrack performance of Tarr’s monumental Sátántangó.

Invisible Jukebox: Tatsuya Yoshida Japanese underground rock’s most prolific drummer takes times out from Ruins, KK Null, Korekyojinn, etc to take our mystery record test.

...

The Necks. Sirom, Marc Hollander, James Brandon Lewis, …

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