Sound Unbound: essays on the future of music edited by DJ Spooky

Sound Unbound is a fantastic new collection of essays on digital culture and the future of music, edited by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid -- I had the honor of writing the foreword, but that's just for starters. The contributor list is extremely good, and their contributions are even better:

David Allenby/Pierre Boulez/Catherine Corman/Chuck D/Erik Davis/Scott De Lahunta/Manuel DeLanda/Cory Doctorow/Eveline Domnitch Frances Dyson/Ron Eglash/Brian Eno/Dmitry Gelfand/Dick Hebdige/Lee Hirsch/Vijay Iyer/Ken Jordan/Douglas Kahn/Daphne Keller/Beryl Korot/Jaron Lanier/Joseph Lanza/Jonathan Lethem/Carlo McCormick/Moby, Naeem Mohaiemen/Alondra Nelson/Keith and Mendi/Obadike, Hans Ulrich Obrist/Pauline Oliveros/Philippe Parreno/Ibrahim Quraishi/Steve Reich/Simon Reynolds/Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud/Nadine Robinson/Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)/Alex Steinweiss/Bruce Sterling/Lucy Walker/Saul Williams/Jeff E. Winner

Link, Buy Sound Unbound on Amazon

[#1 posted by jahknow , June 5, 2008 6:22 AM]

I met him before, after a DJ set of his. He's a cool dude.

[#2 posted by reviewstew , June 5, 2008 8:09 AM]

Wow, that's an impressive list of musical thinkers, but what is the lightweight faux-musicologist poseur Dick Hebdidge doing on there? I'll definitely be giving this book a read anyway...

[#3 posted by EH , June 5, 2008 10:58 AM]

Likely a compendium of word-salad on par with the blatherings of Mr. Miller, the charlatan himself. I see a few authors who might have interesting things to say, but from previous missteps I'd say the author list will be more interesting than what is in the book. Not to foreclose on genius or anything, but I've been watching this guy ride the MEGO train for 15 years. I can only think that overlooking David Toop as a contributor is solely due to Toop's not being affiliated with a named movement.

[#4 posted by ill lich , June 5, 2008 10:59 AM]

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."

--attribution unknown

[#5 posted by nihilarian , June 5, 2008 12:34 PM]

*3

spot on. let's hope his 'editing' is better than his 'writing'.

[#6 posted by Jahfurry , June 5, 2008 1:35 PM]

His editing is badass. This book shows off Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky's two biggest strengths, the mashup and the teamup. The big name roster didn't deliver scraps; they are all on their A-Game, .. for example Jonathan Lethem provides a fresh essay, and then the key to that same essay showing where he "plagiarized" just about ever phrase in the proceeding few pages. Saul Williams, provides a pensive meditation on words as magic, something I was more used to hearing out of Grant Morrison or Alan Moore, but williams is sincere and Smart. And the inclusion of unsung geniuses like Alex Steinweiss, the inventor of the record jacket (before him there was no art on albums, you only saw their spine at the store) pushes it over the top and into the zone. The included CD is way cool in and of itself; its easy to poopoo such ambitious works, but Spooky lays it all down with love not pretense, throwing snippets of James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, actual spoken word over some avantgarde classical shit... he's not showing off he's having a ball and sharing the fun

[#7 posted by nihilarian , June 5, 2008 2:01 PM]

well then perhaps my hopes are satisfied...

[#8 posted by Anonymous , July 5, 2008 10:58 AM]

I haven't listened to the CD yet, but I read this book from cover to cover and it's fantastic. I especially liked Jeff Winner's chapter about Raymond Scott.