A HIDDEN LANDSCAPE ONCE A WEEK: the kickstarter for the book of the politics of rockwriting conference

it's one of those reviews which largely recounts the story without quite making it clear what comes from the book under review and what comes from the reviewer's own knowledge: it's a good clear sympathetic account that i don't much disagree with. renton is ex-swp, resigned in 2013 (presumably over the way it handed its sex assault crisis, or anyway to coincide with that), but was only 4 or 5 when RAR was set up. so his direct knowledge is probably slim, tho he surely knows ppl who know ppl etc. he comes from a far left but also a quite posh background afaics (e.g. went to eton and oxford).

ruth gregory, who he mentions as one of the co-founders of RAR's magazine temporary hoarding, in fact contributes to HIDDEN LANDSCAPE: she writes a little memoir of the late david widgery, temporary hoarding's other co-founder -- including extracts from some of his pieces. widgery was also a rockwriter in the 60s (for oz and such), plus a revolutionary marxist and an east end GP till he OD'd in the early 90s.

i shd get a copy of this book -- ps lol at the clash being dicks abt billing at a rock against racism festival (RAR said black acts shd always headline)

the cover in its final form

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtKqcz0WoAAlD9X.jpg

(the reds in the JPG are brighter than they appear on the internet, not sure i can do anything abt that tho)

it's this thing (do not read if you hate me)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dtu9LGtWwAArkc8.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dtu9M7BXcAA_7tQ.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dtu9PASW0AAIFMv.jpg

(haven't actually cracked the spine yet since of course the IRON LAW is that you find a mistake on the first page you scan)

Congrats Mark!

Also come to the pub.

i am coming to the pub

Hooray!

Congrats, mark s.

cockfarmers: 365, 366

lol

Well done, Mr Sinkah !

omg geordie! thank you and blimey here you are :D

just been advised: uk buyers shd order from strange attractor rather than MIT (as MIT sends out from america, so there will be a wait PLUS a shipping charge)

order direct from strange attractor:
http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/a-hidden-landscape-once-a-week/

luckily you never told anyone that they could order it from MIT

(https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hidden-landscape-once-week doesn't offer the facility to order it anyway though, but it does have links to booksellers in the US and UK)

well in the uk, via strange attractor is quicker right now (so MIT told me this morning)

the bookstore links from MIT's page say it releases on February 19, so if Strange Attractor are shipping now, that's definitely quicker

Q&A i did for the MIT blog: http://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/unruly-curiosity-uk-music-press-1960s-80s

plus a nice review in IT magazine (a 60s iteration of which features at length in the book): http://internationaltimes.it/always-about-ideas/
"This book is a celebration, a critique, a discussion, a history, a conversation, an intriguing read, and a catalogue of possibilities – what more could you want?”

:)

(ps There are still delays getting hold of it: an admin glitch meaning that after the small pre-release run it may not be around in numbers for a couple of weeks at least…)

You need to will to power it to us

Extract from my intro up at Longreads: https://longreads.com/2019/02/19/three-decades-of-cross-cultural-utopianism-in-british-music-writing/

(a fun thing happening right now on twitter: see which of two of my tweets gets the most attention, my drawing attention to this and a feeble joke i tweeted at much-beloved shitposter THE HELLDUDE aka GUNSMOSLEM -- currently they are neck and neck and this is my literary legacy in a nutshell let's be honest)

londoners the actual real official LAUNCH of this takes place in nine days' time: 19 March at Iklectik, nr Archbishop's Park, London SE1 7LG, inc.a Q&A panel feat.me, savage pencil, bob stanley and MC my podcast co-host Hazel Southwell. Come along and say hi!

go here for details: https://www.facebook.com/events/358489934749708/

I read your intro; it was really interesting and did a good job of fleshing out these weeklies that have floated in and out of a not-unsubstantial portion of the conversations I've had for the past decade and a half at the very least

My copy arrived this morning! Like the chunky size and cover stock, and especially like the lettering on the spine. Great to see so many ILXers listed in the back. Congrats mark s.

Mine just arrived!

Got it! It smells so good.

Somehow never got around to help kickstart (sorry!), but otoh received it through regular buying a couple of weeks ago. Congrats Mark!

Upcoming launch events in London, Cambridge and Norwich

Tuesday March 19: The big London launch is at IKLECTIK ARTS, 7 for 7.30pm (free), in Old Paradise Yard, 20 Carlisle Lane, London SE1 7LG. Mark Sinker, book illustrator Savage Pencil, contributor and musician Bob Stanley asked questions by Hazel Southwell

Wednesday March 20: I am giving a paper at a seminar at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge. "MUSIC AS IMAGINARY COUNTERCOMMUNITY: The emergence, dispersal and dissolution of a dissenting media subculture", ARU, Helmore 201, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT (3.30-5pm).

Tuesday March 26: in conversation with CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY and MATTHEW WORLEY at Louis Marchesi (17 Tombland, Norwich NR3 1HR, nr the cathedral), 6:30-8pm (organised by the Hive Bookshop):

Wednesday April 3: in conversation with OWEN HATHERLEY at Housmans bookshop, 5 Caledonian Rd, N1 9DY London, from 7pm: (tickets £3 each redeemable against any purchase).

so I am enjoying this and will say more when I finish I guess.

Maybe this was linked to elsewhere, I don't know--Scott Woods interviewing mark s. about the book.

http://rockcritics.com/2019/08/09/interview-with-mark-sinker-editor-of-a-hidden-landscape-once-a-week-a-book-about-the-uk-music-press-which-any-critical-person-could-learn-from-and-enjoy/

I don't check in on rockcritics.com as often as I should, so I sometimes miss things there--the interview goes back a month.

hi all, i am in MANCHESTER for the LOUDER THAN WORDS FESTIVAL to talk abt the book with SIMON FRITH and JOHN McCREADY

https://louderthanwordsfest.com/2019/10/09/a-hidden-landscape/

(Sun 2pm to be precise)

How did Manchester talk go?

i enjoyed it! there were even some quite young people at it lol (some of them left early)

An article on NME history:

https://journals.openedition.org/palimpsestes/4649?lang=en

nice to be cited! the typo in the 13-word quote was not in the book! say hi to eugene from me!

( i will read this later) (im saving it up)

Got some old music press vibes off this interview:

https://newsocialist.org.uk/culture-ordinary-interview-billy-lunn/

Gets a mention here:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/07/beethoven-was-black-why-the-radical-idea-still-has-power-today

nice! only gets two things wrong lol (neither matters much tho both will now get traction *sigh*: i wasn't reporting my conversation, it's from the on-stage interview richard williams did with her at the conference -- and val wasn't officially interviewing reich i don't think, just talking to him informally at some point)

ok i checked my own book lol, and yes, apparently she was officially interviewing him

the screenshot of the relevant passage that andrew male tweeted last year is going quietly viral

(someone has already made the bad val kilmer joke in comments, and someone else the worse "fourth reich" joke)

i got to do a "this blew up here's my soundcloud" tweet :D

(linking to the book, i don't really have a soundcloud)

lol just saw that.

A long time ago I remember B3n W**son doing a Steve Reich is an imperialist - type thing (doubt it was on Wire, probably on his site) which he (ofc!) used to prosecute minimalism with.

the essay cited here (it's linked in googledocs further down the thread, for now at least) is very interesting on the complexities of that (i've only had time to skim it):

And for some more interesting reading on Reich's politics:https://t.co/xzpgtAXLIQ

— Pierce Gradone (@piercegradone) September 8, 2020

Excellent interview with Chris Bohn, touches on lots of aspects of Hidden Landscape, further testimony to that time:

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/06/eastern-bloc-rock

Thanks, and speaking of interviews, when Scott posted his Mark interview re this book in '19. I commented:
Great interview—can see I’m going to have to re-read to catch every bit of it (possibly)–as with Mark’s intro to the anthology (was immediately gratified by his hailing of 80s syncretism, a new age [somebody pointed out that this was in part because of cassettes, rough and ready in areas around the world where record and CD players weren’t feasible}. In contrast to some of his contributors, who dismissed the 80s for plastic on everything, Phil Collins and shoulder pads bleghh).
Fave contributions pretty obvious choices: adventures of Val Wilmer, Cynthia Rose having lunch with Andy and his corsets, Hon. Chas Shaar Murray stylin’, Penny Reel! )thanx so much for link to Mark’s Freaky Trigger on him) Also the intriguing Paul Morely, applecart-upsetter Paul Gilroy, and Mr. Frith on his experience in xgau’s version of the Voice line-edit (goes with what I’ve heard from other survivors).

admin
September 9, 2019 at 2:36 pm

Ah yes, Don, thanks for mentioning Mark’s intro–I would have if I didn’t struggle so much trying to write ANY kind of intro for THIS (I meant to quote a couple bits from it, in fact). It’s really a great thing in itself, wonderfully detailed, lots of open questions.

Here's the whole thing:
https://rockcritics.com/2019/08/09/interview-with-mark-sinker-editor-of-a-hidden-landscape-once-a-week-a-book-about-the-uk-music-press-which-any-critical-person-could-learn-from-and-enjoy/#comments

Came across this tribute to an anarchist organiser who did a lot of work in punk zines.

https://crimethinc.com/2023/02/10/we-remember-jen-angel-a-eulogy