nnnoises

If you are interested in the history of electronic and experimental music, including recordings and instruments, you should definitively check out this book: Electronic and Experimental Music – Technology, Music and Culture by Thom Holmes.

The first edition of this textbook appeared already 20 years ago. The current 13th edition begins with the early history of electronic music (Cahill, Varese, theremin, ondes martenot) and ends with Afrika Bambaata, hiphop and turntablism. It provides a global view of electronic music culture and therefore is not restricted to “contemporary” composition, but also includes jazz, rock and hiphop artists. The book focuses on what the author calls the history of the “marriage of technology and music”, fueled by the idea that many techniques and concepts dating from the earliest developments of electronic music still govern contemporary electronic music.

Aimed at instructors and students, it is accompanied by a (free) web site, which contains summaries of all chapters in Powerpoint format and a very useful list of online resources. A must read for lovers of (electronic) noises!