Good books about music

Forgot about Electric Eden. Gotta finish that one too.

Has anyone read Detroit Techno: Transfer of the Soul Through the Machine by Mathias k*l*an Hanf?

that should be Mathias k*l*an Hanf.

"everybody loves our town: an oral history of grunge" by mark yarm

suspiciously fortuitous name

Sounds like Bruce is not a fan of Elijah Wald's How the Beatles Destroyed Rock'n'Roll:

https://twitter.com/#!/sisario/status/180347408486633474

Assuming that is the book in question.

He probably read only the title.

He probably was just told the title by someone else.

promising project in the works to make e-books collecting musicians' thoughts on the first time they heard certain artists:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottheim/the-first-time-i-heard-book-series

Interesting idea, but hopefully future books will included other subjects than white British art rockers.

Just finished James Fearnley's book about the Pogues. It falls away in the second half, but the stuff set round Kings Cross and Camden in the early 80s is fantastic.

Surprised that it hasn't been mentioned, but Aaron Copland's What to Listen for in Music. It was written in the early fifties, so even jazz barely rates a mention but don't let that putt you off. As a foundation, 'where the hell am I?' sort of resource it is invaluable and regardless of what you listen to, you'll find it useful.

For old skool industrial types like me, the three essential tomes are Charles Neal's Tape Delay, Simon Ford's Wreckers of Civilisation and David Keenan's England's Hidden Reverse.

Bob Mould's memoir See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody is a great read.

agreed re: copland's book, very readable and relevant to just about anyone

life against dementia by joe carducci is a fun read so far (not all music). a bit of an odds n sods compilation, but some great stuff, including a really interesting, detailed look at the portland music scene of the 70s (hurley, holy modal rounders, etc.)

trying to find a good thread to put something about the upcoming Meat Puppets oral history bio in. It's called Too High To Die and its by Greg Prato.
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=wtt7y9cab&v=001xIsb6zOAIu7Rlnkead1HL3_WCTRVv9eduECqEm79iLaM0Y31Thj0F3zSAK1cGvvcc1eQkH1W-i8GH0X6NuhSvVGJEdHEUijIgdvX4TwKekx7EiyhtdNeaA%3D%3D
Looking forward to reading it whenever I can get my hands on a copy

Stevolende

I am in

^^ really looking fwd to that book. here's hoping it's good to great...

Holy shit that looks awesome!

yeahhh that is a book i would read.
been re-reading a bunch of carducci stuff, so i've been listening to vintage sst quite a bit.

on a similar tip, the forthcoming Yo La Tengo book is great. wouldn't have thought that a rock book so devoid of sex/drugs/mania would be so entertaining, but there it is. monogamy! softball leagues! feedback!
it covers a lot more than just the band -- there's kind of a history of the underground rock scene of the 80s thread running through it all. a little overlap with something like our band could be your life, but not a lot. also, some interesting stuff about Georgia Hubley's animator parents which could almost be a whole book on its own.

Charles Neal's Tape Delay is indeed awesome--lots of self-flagellating short fiction from Michael Gira interspersed among the terrific interviews. Charles is a friend of mine; funnily enough, he now imports really interesting wines and spirits from SW France, and I met him in the context of distributing those through the NY-based company I used to work for.

x-post--oh, so a wfmu dj and critic wrote the YLT bio coming out in June

http://www.wunderkammern27.com/

I like old biographies that have the social history in them. Right now, I'm slowwwly working my way through a Cole Porter biography.

new Richard King, "How Soon Is Now"

this looks like it might be fun
http://www.feeding-back.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2012-03-15-FB-Front-Cover1-209x300.jpg
Introduction: The Quine Machine
1) …If You Dug It: Lenny Kaye
2) The Individualist: Richard Thompson
3) Don’s Secret: Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad)
4) Doing the Work: Wayne Kramer
5) Riff Appeal: James Williamson
6) Forst Exposure: Michael Rother
7) Infinite Delay: Richard Pinhas
8 ) Love Theme from The Twilight Zone: Tom Verlaine
9) They Say the Neon Lights are Bright on the Bowery: Cheetah Chrome
10) Gun, Guitar, Bullhorn: Lydia Lunch
11) Meta Box: Keith Levene
12) Purloiner: Rowland S. Howard
13) The Shi(f)t: Fred Frith
14) The Shakespeare Squadron: Glenn Branca
15) Starting with Thunders: Bob Mould
16) Infinity Suitcase: Lee Ranaldo
17) The Believer: Johnny Marr
18) Purple Sparkle: J Mascis
19) Reverend Spaceman: Jason Pierce
20) Furtive Gestures: David Pajo
21) The Joy of Despair: Kim Deal & Kelley Deal
22) The Radiant Guitarist: John Frusciante
23) Psychedelic Sound Freak: Michio Kurihara
24) Fennesz + Not-Fennesz: Christian Fennesz
25) Black Wolf, White Wolf: Ben Chasny

Ha! Just saw David Todd speak on his book at the Pop Culture Association of Canada conference last weekend. Sounds pretty cool.

Everything but the Bishop.

yeah seems like only chasny and thompson are repping on the acoustic side of things -- though obviously they both have their electric sides. still, if he's a good interviewer, i'd read the hell out of this.

it's pretty much me catnip.

here's the site for the book
http://www.feeding-back.com/
some good mixes, excerpts etc.

Currently reading Forces in Motion, Graham Lock's Anthony Braxton book. Lock comes across as a total Braxton fanboy so the gushing enthusiasm can get a bit tiring. OTOH there's enough interview transcripts, gig reviews and tour diary minutiae to make a total Braxton fanboy like, er, me very happy. Wish he'd do a second edition.

James Brown/The One by RJ Smith is magisterial.

today the new york times book review ran a review of "the one" by al sharpton. this is strange because sharpton is a source and 'player' in the book (by his own estimation sharpton was JB's surrogate son). would the times have bill moyers review the latest LBJ installment by robert caro? don't think so.

That is weird.

Looked at Feeding Back in the store but deferred purchase for now.

A few books by Albin J. Zak III look interesting: The Poetics of Rock and I Don't Sound Like Nobody.

Thanks. I see he's got a nice blurb from Rob Bowman, author of that Stax book in re to
I Don't Sound Like Nobody
Remaking Music in 1950s America

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=295986

Saw that which was a selling point for me too.

xpost Not uncommon in UK book reviewing to have someone involved in events covered in non-fiction review the book: that's if you're treating reviews more as entertainment than buyers' guide. I take it that's not the case in the US, then.

Thinking about picking this up.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-hCpX1YVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Oh, yeah, forgot about that. I somehow thought I was going to be able to buy a copy of Dr. John or Ivan Neville at BAM a few months agao.

Has Alice Echols' recent-ish "Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture" been mentioned here yet? That's a good 'un.

x-post-- Eyed the Sandmel book on Ernie K. Doe when I was down in New Orleans at Jazzfest, but decided not to get it right then at the fest. Maybe I should have. It looks very nice and comprehensive and well-written

Two-thirds of the way through the Charlie Louvin autobiography that I've been flacking for here RIP Charlie Louvin, which may turn out to be one of the best music books ever.

I've started reading Dave Tompkins' history of the vocoder How to Wreck a Nice Beach, lots of crazy fun so far.

I have that book and like to look at the pictures but it is so off-the-wall that I haven't been able to really read it so far.

Two-thirds of the way through the Charlie Louvin autobiography ― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs

You are the king of reading books about music. I am impressed. Seriously, I take forever to get through books.

The trick is to post before you've actually finished or even read much of the book at all.

The singer of DC band Edie Sedgwick does an ocassional column for the Washington City Paper blog called "5 Books I would read if I had the time."