Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) [Hardcover]

Steve Goodman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Technologies of Lived Abstraction | Publication Date: November 20, 2009

An exploration of the production, transmission, and mutation of affective tonality--when sound helps produce a bad vibe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By insisting on the primacy of vibration in the nexus of sound, affect, and power, Sonic Warfare charts a transdisciplinary micropolitics of frequency that breaks with the orthodoxies of phenomenology and cultural studies and triumphantly succeeds in immersing us in the present of viral capitalism, pirate media, and asymmetric warfare. This book is rigorous, affirmative, sober, and pitiless: in its ambition, its purpose and its passion, it is nothing short of a breakthrough for contemporary sonic thought."--Kodwo Eshun, Course Director of MA Aural and Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London, and author of More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction

About the Author

Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub. He produces bass-driven electronic music under the name kode9 and is also a member of the sound art collective Audint.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (November 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262013479
• ISBN-13: 978-0262013475
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Acoustics & Sound
  • #83 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, February 6, 2011

By 

Art Council - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) (Hardcover)

This book was published under the name of Steve Goodman (a lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London), not of Kode9. So it is not a tutorial on how to make wobbly bass in Massive. True, because of its subject matter it can be at times heavy on the SAT phraseology, but I seriously doubt the usefulness of writing a vibrational ontology for kindergarteners, especially if that ontology is explicitly developed in the context of Leibniz, Deleuze and Guattari.

If you are looking for a fresh perspective on sonic weaponry, piracy, pop music as torture, sound systems, earworms, crowd control, and the Big Bang then this is the book for you.

If you are looking for "a pretty interesting philosophical read", try Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. Wait, maybe that too is "over-written", "quickly filling and hard to digest", so better try Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration.

And if you are looking to practice your reviewing skills without having to read anything, go to Youtube and join the pissing contest coming up with the next lackluster metaphor for face-metling griminess when commenting on the latest Datsik track.



PS. Read the editorial reviews. If you feel like you don't understand them, save your money and buy instead Kode9's Memories of the Future.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Listening to kode9 is better than reading it? ..., October 7, 2011

By 

Evens SALIES - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) (Hardcover)

... yes, unless you are doing researches in the interplay between sound/modern music and social behaviour. As not a researcher in that field, I found hard to follow the book. To bo honnest to myself, kode9's book writting style is not as effective as his music writting's. The former is too rich, whereas the latter is fluid with "breaks" that allow one's to breathe.

18 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Postmodern rambling, March 22, 2010

By 

MJM "redfive" (redmond, wa USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) (Hardcover)

I'm gonna start off by saying I freaking love Kode9 and HyperDub. The guy just beams out incredible well designed sound. So when I heard he was coming out with a book regarding affecting with sound, I bought it expecting to have a pretty interesting philosophical read and perhaps come away with some fresh perspective. But Sonic Warfare as a meal is quickly filling and hard to digest. The whole thing is over-written like someone who was trying to make even the simplest statement horribly difficult to grasp. I can easily read several pages and still only have a whisper of an idea of wtf he's talking about. So unfortunately I can't recommend it.