Micro-bionic. Radical Electronic Music and Sound Art in the 21st Century

As mainstream music consumers wait with baithed breath for the next major musical upheaval, a small core of tech-savvy, highly mobile individuals are re-shaping te aural landscape without the assurance of being part of any larger movement. Their ideologies creative approaches, and end products differ wildly; but they do share a coomon bond of self-reliance, flexibility in the face of information overload, and a desire to take sound beyond the realm of mere entertaiment.
Starting with the guerrilla media tactics of Industrial music in the late 1970s, the author chart an ongoing trend in electronic music: an increasing amount of sonic quality, recorded output and international contact, accomplished with a decreasing amount of tools, personnel, and capital investment. From the use of laptop computers to create massive avalanches of noise, to the establishment of micro-nations populated largely by sound artists, 21st century sound culture is expanding in its scope and popularity even as it shrinks in other respects.
The text of Micro-bionic is built up from exhaustive research into the world of audio extremity, including physical travel to the various "hot spots" where these new sounds are made, and thousands of hours listening to live and recorded music. Numerous exclusive interviews with leading lights of the field where also conducted for this book: William Bennet (Withehouse), Peter Rehberg (Mego), Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle/Coil), John Duncan, Francisco López, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Bob Ostertag and many others weigh in with a range of thoughts and opinions that underscores the incredible diversity to be found within new electronic music itself. Illustrated throughout, Micro-bionic unveils a host of audio phenomena that range from the capricious to the terrifying, and providers a perfect gateway into this parallel sound universe both for the uninitiated and for devotees wishing to learn more.

CONTENIDO:

Acknowledgements
Introduction

1.- Resistance of the Cell: Industrial Music vs. the "Control Machine"
2.- Libertines or Asteticists? A Quarter-Century of Withehouse
3.- Re-Launching the Dream Weapon: An Unnatural History of Coil
4.- Electrovegetarianism: An Abridged History of merzbow, From Biomechanic to Biophiliac
5.- Mash Communication (and Other Symptomsof the Sampling Virus)
6.- Beyond the Valley of the Falsch: Mego (and Friends) Revitalize "Computer Music"
7.- To Kick a King: The Kingdoms of Elgaland and Vargaland
8.- Francisco López: The Big Blur Theory
9.- Vox Stimuli: John Duncan's Unrestrained Explorations
10.- Uncommon Sense(s): Synesthesia and Electronic Music
11.- Silence is Sexy: The Other "Extreme" Music
12.- Faster Than Light (and Cheaper): The Great Inmaterial Music Debate
13.- Technomadism: Taking Electronic Music Beyond the Mass Media Centers

Notes
Recommended Listening