Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music

In a series of essays, "Undercurrents" identifies the key concepts and underlying themes that have been hardwired into the modern era's most radical musics, ever since Thomas Edison invented the record player. The phonograph, electronics, chance operations, Futurism, Surrealism, the civil rights movement, noise, alternative tuning systems and market forces have all redrawn the map of contemporary sound. This title tracks these seismic shifts across a wide range of music including modern composition, free jazz, experimental rock and pop, industrial, ethnic music, Techno and electronica, and looks at the extraordinary innovations and invented instruments that have passed into obscurity.

Many of these essays first appeared as a series in "The Wire", which since 1982 has bypassed the music mainstream in search of the most innovative, uncompromising and compelling sounds from all genres across the world. As music listeners have grown increasingly eclectic and adventurous in their tastes, "The "Wire' has emerged as an authoritative source on modern music. This volume contains new material as well as revised and updated versions of many of the original articles.

CONTENIDO

Acknowledgements
Introduction: the hidden wiring by Rob Young

Electrification
- Recording angels the esoteric origins of the phonograph by Erik Davis
- On the mic how amplification changed the voice for good by Ian Penman
- The Jerrybuilt future the Sonic Arts Union, once group and mev's live electronics by Christoph Cox
- Worship the glictch digital music, electronic distrurbance by Rob Young

Occultism
- The eternal drone good vibrations, ancient to future by Marcus Boon
- Slapping Pythagoras the battle for the music of the spheres by Rob Young
- The ragged trousered anthologist the secret worlds of Harry Smith by Peter Shapiro & Philip Smith
- The Solar myth approach the live space ritual: Sun Ra, Stockhausen, P-Funk, Hawkwind by Ken Hollings

Mechanism
- Humans, are they really necessary? Sound art, automata and musical sculpture by David Toop
- Automating the beat the robotics of rhythm by Peter Shapiro
- The autobahn goes on forever kings of the road: the motorik pulse of Kraftwerk and Neu! by Biba Kopf
- Rock concrète counterculture plugs in to the academy by Edwin Pouncey
- Deck Wreckers the turntable as instrument by Peter Shapiro

Freedom
- Destroy all music the futurists' art noises by Mark Sinker
- The Limits of language textual apocalypse: Merz, lettrism, sound poetry by Julian Cowley
- The music of chance musical dice men from John Cage to John Zorn by Andy Hamilton
- Smiling faces sometimes soul music's grinners versus the backstabbers by Peter Shapiro
- Frames of freedom improvisation, otherness and the limits of spontaneity by David Toop
- Generation ecstasy New York's free jazz continuum by Tom Roe

Bibliography / Discography
Contributors
Index