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    #51
    Current Music Books

    Sorry in advance for the shameless self-promotion, but I figure folks into punk might want to know about it and others will just jump to another thread. My new book is out now in the US, Canada, and the UK. Underground: The Subterranean Culture of DIY Punk Spaces is about the emergence of a DIY punk touring network in the US. The book focuses on the development of local and regional DIY show promotion efforts in the early 1980s that ultimately transformed into a more sustainable national network in the 1990s. Since that time bands can tour the US, primarily playing shows in people's houses, volunteer-run community spaces, and a mix of other alternative locations (e.g., boxing gyms, the woods, stalled housing developments). They aren't making a lot of money and few become known outside the DIY punk circuit, but they are modeling an economic and social alternative to mainstream music industry practices and experiences.

    I'm including a link to the publisher's site. If you write for a music publication and might be up for doing a review please send me a PM and I'll put you in touch with someone at the press. If you do a radio show or a podcast and might be interested in doing an interview, I would be up for it. Again, sorry about pushing my own stuff instead of talking up someone else's book.

    http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/5401/

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      #52
      Current Music Books

      Sounds brilliant. Congratulations on the publication, and best of luck.

      I noticed that Damien Jurado does a lot of this kind of stuff, playing in fans' living rooms. It was also how the Market Rasen post-punk music scene operated in early 1980s Lincolnshire, down to a complete lack of other available venues, and the fact that if we'd played in public we'd have got the shit kicked out of us by bikers.

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        #53
        Current Music Books

        I'm reading the big 4AD book, which is a good look into a shedload of stuff I had no idea was going on while I was a kid. It's turned up some pretty sweet nuggets from the post-punk days already.

        One of those music books that's good at pulling together the story and letting the people speak. (A kind way of saying the author isn't necessarily all that good at the writing; but he doesn't have to be here.) I can't imagine how much research it must have demanded. I quite like the fact that even the half of Dif Juz he could track down has no idea what happened to the other half.

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          #54
          Current Music Books

          imp wrote: Sounds brilliant. Congratulations on the publication, and best of luck.

          I noticed that Damien Jurado does a lot of this kind of stuff, playing in fans' living rooms. It was also how the Market Rasen post-punk music scene operated in early 1980s Lincolnshire, down to a complete lack of other available venues, and the fact that if we'd played in public we'd have got the shit kicked out of us by bikers.
          Thanks, imp. One of the topics I discuss in the book is that punks don't have a monopoly on house shows; however, I think there are two things that distinguish a punk house show from other types of music that happen in houses. First, punk is grounded in a DIY philosophy and often trying to enact a different way of being in the world compared to mainstream norms and ideals. So, playing in a house, where the money stays in the scene rather than going to a bar/club owner and to inflated drink prices, helps advance a different type of political and social economy. I don't think that same politics guides other types of music that happens in houses, or doesn't often inform the choices. Second, most other types of music that happen in houses are one-off parties. These parties are a foundation for current punk house shows but now most house shows happen in houses that tend to host shows for a year or two (some have surprisingly lasted much longer--Lost Cross in Illinois is coming up on 30 years and Legion of Doom in Ohio is about 20 years old). So the houses are stable venues.

          I just wrote about the US because trying to address what has happened and continues to happen in Europe would have been too much for me to take on given that I prefer to interview people and hang out in spaces (or in academic terms, do fieldwork). But squats and politicized youth/working clubs in Europe were certainly an inspiration for some houses and volunteer-run spaces in the US. Other spaces just happened--a lot of people I interviewed told me they had no idea other punks were doing the same thing in other cities; they needed a space that was free and wanted to do a show so they used their houses.

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            #55
            Current Music Books

            That book sounds really interesting.

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              #56
              Current Music Books

              I've just finished The Thrill Of It All by Joseph Conner (Sinead's brother), and thouroughly enjoyed it.

              It's a fictional autobiography of the guitarist in a shortlived, late 80's supergroup. Maybe that doesn't sound promising, but it is.

              The narration on the audiobook by Ciaran Hinds is excellent, and immensely soothing.

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                #57
                Current Music Books

                My pile of unread music books has reached tottering levels after I bought the 4AD story and the Miles Davis autobiography in Fopp (two for a fiver).

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                  #58
                  Current Music Books

                  So, I read the Miles Davis autobiography. In the acknowledgments section, the co-writer mentions the numerous difficulties involved in the book's production - seeings as it's clearly just the 400-page transcript of several interviews, the difficulties presumably came from dealing with Mr. Davis himself over an extended period of time.

                  It's about 100 pages too long, there's a lot of repetition, and you tire of the tone, but it's compelling in much the same way as Mark E Smith's book. Except that Miles doesn't bother glossing over the fact that he used to hit his women. He's also frank about having been a heroin addict (though when he's clearly addicted to cocaine in later life it's seen more as just a bad habit than an addiction), and that he fired a lot of band members for not playing the way he wanted to.

                  It's mostly fascinating, especially when he's just focusing on the music and why he took certain directions, telling jazz anecdotes going back to the 40s, and when he's taking no shit at all from white people. But even though he recorded three of my favourite LPs ever, you can't help but feel sorry for everyone that ever pissed him off for whatever reason, or for anyone who had to be in the same room as him for long periods of time. And for all his wives and girlfriends. I bet there's another book Quincy Trope could have written about writing this book.

                  Comment


                    #59
                    Current Music Books

                    I just finished Michael Stewart Foley's 33 1/3 book about Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit and Rotting Vegetables. Foley is a historian, so he approaches the the album through an analysis of San Francisco history (primarily) and US history (secondarily) that influenced the members of DK. He's especially interested in efforts by SF politicians to undo rent control while fostering a police force that could squash any forms of protest. This historical context helps frame DK's blend of playfulness and politics.

                    On the whole, I thought it was a good book. There's not a lot of track by track dissection happening, which was fine for me, but if you're a fan and wanted to know more about the album itself you might seek out some alternatives. But if you prefer to think about music production in a broader cultural context, this is an interesting read.

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                      #60
                      Current Music Books

                      Currently going through Bernard Sumner's, which I'm enjoying despite some pretty poor editing.

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                        #61
                        Current Music Books

                        Mat wrote: Carol Clerk's book on Hawkwind is a really good read.
                        Her book on The Pogues may be the best written, it certainly seems to get the facts (places, dates etc.) straighter than the works by band members themselves.

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                          #62
                          Current Music Books

                          Just started David Cavanagh's book on Peel. Will report back. I like the approach of seeing each episode as a time capsule, with the news bulletin and playlist providing context. I wonder if it will challenge the growing view that John Walters did much of the donkey work, such as the gigging and talent spotting. Andy Kershaw's autobiography was very hard and bitter regarding Peel, claiming that he didn't do enough to fight the BBC's reductions of Peel and Kershaw's hours.

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                            #63
                            Current Music Books

                            Just finished that one. I liked the format, as you say.

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                              #64
                              Current Music Books

                              Not at all current, but I've just read Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff, Nik Cohn's Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom & Shaun Ryder's Twisting My Melon.

                              It's a horrible business.

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                                #65
                                Current Music Books

                                Just bought Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young. It looks to be an exhaustive history of British folk music, from Cecil Sharp onwards. It's some 600 pages long but I'm looking forward to it as I've heard good things about it. Anyone read it on here?

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                                  #66
                                  Current Music Books

                                  The Peel book has an awkward discussion of Peel's banter about schoolgirls.

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                                    #67
                                    Current Music Books

                                    Peel book is awesomely addictive, reading the pages on a Kindle Cloud thing and can't concentrate on what I was supposed to have been doing. Now starting 1982.

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                                      #68
                                      Current Music Books

                                      Unfortunately in 1982 Peel broadcast a session track called "Rape Rap": from 6:13 here:

                                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR3_Bc5xjiQ

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                                        #69
                                        Current Music Books

                                        Can anyone recommend a good reasonably objective Alice Cooper biography?

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                                          #70
                                          Current Music Books

                                          imp wrote: Finished the Viv Albertine book, which I see has just come out in paperback. I love that all these old punks and indie-types are now bringing out their memoirs of the late 70s/early 80s music scene, and this is a gratifyingly honest and sincere account, even if it's maybe a stretch too long and it's not exactly what you'd call lyrical (nor does it try to be). I didn't think the italicised sections worked - I found myself reading them in a sort of loud, exaggerated voice, as though they carried some extra significance. They would have been better in brackets. That's a nugatory quibble, though - I looked forward to picking this up the whole time I was reading it, which is always a good sign, and of course it prompted me to slap on the mercurial 'Cut' again. I'd no idea they ever brought out a second album back then, 'The Return of the Giant Slits'.
                                          I've just finished this and really enjoyed it, although the squeamish among you may want to avoid the bits about blood.....

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                                            #71
                                            Current Music Books

                                            Bored of Education wrote: Can anyone recommend a good reasonably objective Alice Cooper biography?
                                            Have you seen the Super Duper Alice Cooper documentary yet? It's fantastic. Out last year, I believe.

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                                              #72
                                              Current Music Books

                                              No, I haven't. I will keep an eye out for it.

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                                                #73
                                                Current Music Books

                                                diggedy derek wrote: Just finished that one. I liked the format, as you say.
                                                Just finished it myself. Pretty good.

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                                                  #74
                                                  Current Music Books

                                                  About a third of the way through "Sick on you", autobiography of the Hollywood Brats, a proto-punk British take on the New York Dolls. In itself, it is an interesting story as they were rubbing shoulders - and trading punches - with a embryonic Queen, Bryan Ferry, Keith Moon etc. However, the real joy of it is that that author, Andrew Matheson - the lead singer - is a really entertaining writer. He isn't a literary genius but he is witty, engaging, arrogant and self-deprecating. Everything a lead vocalist should be. He also pictures a great picture of London in the early 70s. In some ways, it very much reminds me of "Lost in Music" by Giles Smith in that it is a fairly realistic account of how and why bands start up which is, in some ways, more entertaining because the protagonist didn't 'make it' although, in retrospect, they realise that they did. Indeed, I am wondering whether to leave until finishing the book to listen to the music. Presently, it reads like a very realistic novel and it may burst the bubble to listen to the actual music.

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                                                    #75
                                                    Current Music Books

                                                    Just finished Popkiss, about much-maligned/revered indie label Sarah Records. Personally I could have done with more about the political side of the label, but as a means of revisiting indiepop culture of the 80s and 90s it's interesting. I do like the bit about a Thai fan sending the label a hammock as a present.

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