Ocean of Sound : Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds

Ocean of Sound begins in 1889 at the Paris Exposition when Debussy first heard Javanese music performed. A culture absorbed in perfume, light and ambient sound developed in response to the intangibility of 20th century communications. David Toop traces the evolution of this culture, through Erik Satie to the Velvet Undergound; Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix.

Sun Ra, Brian Eno, Lee Perry, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Wilson are interviewed in this extraordinary work of sonic history that travels from the rainforests of Amazonas to virtual Las Vegas, from David Lynch's dream house, high in the Hollywood hills to the megalopolis of Tokyo.

CONTENIDO:

Acknowledgements
Prologue: fragments and mantras
1. Memory
- Sound and evocation; Muzak, ambience and aethereal culture; Brian Eno and perfume; Bali, Java, Debussy
2. If you find earth boring
- Travels in the outer imagination with Sun Ra
3. Scanning: aether talk
- Ambient in the 1990s; Scanner, John Cage, acid house, disco; AMM; Telepathic Fish, Biosphere, Mixmaster Morris, Land of Oz, The Orb, The KLF
4. Burial rites
- Noise and silence, myth and reality; electrical war and the futurists; Edgard Varèse and Charlie Parker
5. Content in a void
- Michael Mann and Tangerine Dream; Frank Sinatra; Dead Zone recordings; Alice Coltrane; Roland Kirk; Jimi Hendrix; Miles Davis; Karlheinz Stockhausen; Bow Gamelan; James Brown; Brian Wilson; Lee Perry; Dub; Brian Eno
6. Altered states I: Landscape
- Brian Eno; Bill Laswell; Don Cherry; Derek Bailey; Leo Smith; Ambient; John Cage; Harold Budd; Daniel Lanois; Japanese sound design
7. Altered states II: Fourth world
Jon Hassell; Pandit Pran Nath; Duke Ellington
8. Altered states III: Crystal world
- La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela; Velvet Underground; Yoko Ono, Richard Maxfield, Wes Coast jazz, Indian vocal music, Terry Riley
9. Altered States IV: Machine
- Ryuichi Sakamoto; Erik Satie; Kraftwerk
10. Altered states V: Lucid dreaming
- Dreams, electronics; Aphex Twin; Global techno
11. Altered states VI: Nature
- Bionic, shamanism and nature; Singing sands; The Orinoco; Holy minimalism and whales; Pauline Oliveros; Reverberation; Alvin Lucier and Sound Art
12. Theatre of sound
- World Soundscape Project; Thomas Köner; Hans Jenny; Plunderphonics; Progressive Rock; Paul Schütze
13. Ocean of sound
- David Lynch; John Lilly; Kate Bush; David Sylvian; Shamanism; Ambient; Information Ocean
Bibliography
Discography
Index