Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds [Paperback]

David Toop (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

This text traces the evolution of a culture, from the moment when Debussy first heard Javanese music at the Paris Exposition in 1889, through Eric Satie and Jimi Hendrix to the sounds of war, machines and the new digital revolution.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A member of a radical editorial collective on the cutting edge of British music criticism in the 1970s, later a critic for more standard papers, including the Times, David Toop'S second book covers a vast expanse of music. His tour-de-force survey describes a dissonant and invigorating clash of music and noise from western classical to Javanese gamelan, from Claude Debussy to Miles Davis to Brian Eno, from disco to techno to ambient. He discusses the changes in our sound world caused by the global reach of radio and recordings, and shows himself a rigorous pluralist, open to all styles and forms, but unafraid to offer robust criticism in any musical sphere.

From Booklist

Ethereal, ambient sound is a passion in certain circles in England and the U.S. Toop traces the twentieth-century history of music that "could be characterised [sic] as drifting or simply existing in stasis rather than developing in any dramatic fashion." For Toop, the lineage of such music includes Javanese pulsation, the recording-studio-as-instrument excursions of Jamaican dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry and Beach Boy Brian Wilson, John Cage's Zen composition theories, and a plethora of jazz players, most notably Sun Ra and Miles Davis. Toop argues that these disparate influences are incorporated in the work of such contemporary "techno" musicians and DJs as Aphex Twin and the Orb. Toop does not use recordings as his only references but, like the wandering music he describes, touches on science fiction, semiotic theory, and his own travels in this expansive treatise. He incorporates all these subjects into a clear and direct book that may appeal even to readers whose listening preferences are more conventional. Aaron Cohen

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185242382X
• ISBN-13: 978-1852423827
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,645,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and frustrating, September 13, 2001

By 

Philip Marlowe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ocean of Sound (Paperback)

Incredible in many ways, Toop's book attempts to trace a quiet revolution in twentieth century music. One cannot deny the impressive breadth of his knowledge, from Stockhausen to Miles all the way to Future Sound of London and their ilk. His writing is quite often beautiful, if occasionally one feels like he is writing too many words to actually say anything.

Ultimately, however, I leave the book feeling a bit underwhelmed. Ironically, it is the book's very eclecticism that works against it. I personally did not see the connectionsbetween, say, the music of Kraftwerk and Toop's (admittedly fascinating) discussion of the sound of the Amazon jungle. These disgressions ultimately make the book useless as a survey. Of course, I doubt that it was meant to be so, but Toop fails to make the kinds of connections that have given books by Greil Marcus and others a fascinating unity.

Perhaps, though, this is the point. Much like the ambient music that serves as the centerpoint of the book, this book simply floats by, not asking you to make any conclusions. It is probably best read in bits, before bed or in the bathroom, where the individual moments of brilliance can be better appreciated. Very ambient, indeed.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ambient insights, June 1, 2000

By 

DAC Crowell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds (Paperback)

David Toop is both a musician and writer, having done ambient music, dub music with the likes of Prince Far I, and of course numerous written articles on ambient and experimental aspects of popular music. I'd have to say that this book is perhaps one of the definitive studies on this musical genre, covering the aesthetics, listening practica, concepts, influences, directions, and so on of this growing musical field in a very inclusive and insightful style. This is perhaps one of the best written companions to everything ambient, as well as influences on ambient music from as far afield as Sun Ra and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Anyone interested in knowing more...either in scope, or deeper within...on ambient should obtain a copy of this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A guide to a new musical world, July 22, 2008

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ocean of Sound (Paperback)

As an eager but somewhat overwhelmed newcomer to the world of ambient music, I've found this overview to be informative & invaluable. It's constructed like many ambient pieces: layers of information & exotica that overlap, shade into one another, and in many ways recreate in prose the experience of the music. Yet at the same time, there's a clarity & focus to the writing, which becomes apparent as the reader flows from one topic to the next. By the end, I'd not only gained some real knowledge & understanding, I'd been given some excellent starting points for further exploration. An exemplary volume, highly recommended!