Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music [Paperback]

The Wire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2002

For the last twenty years The Wire has fearlessly bypassed fashion in it's search to expose the most innovative, radical, and compelling music from every genre all across the world. As listeners have grown increasingly eclectic and adventurous in their tastes, The Wire has emerged as the most authoritative source on modern music. In Undercurrents some of the best music writers of our time uncover the hidden wiring of the past century's most influential music. Ian Penman discusses how the microphone transformed the human voice and made phantom presences of great singers such as Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, and Brian Wilson. Christoph Cox demonstrates how the pioneers of live electronic music, the West Coast ensemble Sonic Arts Union, redefined virtuosity for the electronic age. Philip Smith and Peter Shapiro examine Harry Smith's Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk Music, which led to a massive reappraisal of musical values that went far beyond the folk music revival. Music explored in Undercurrents ranges through avant rock, jazz, hiphop, electronica, global music, and contemporary "classical.">

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Equal parts historical exhumation and agenda-setting exposition, Undercurrents' themes treat music as a medium engaged with contexts and brushed by various tines of culture...The book divulges countless secrets...But Undercurrents' most revealing secret lies in the way it makes margins and headlines part of the same text."—Andy Battaglia, The Onion, 2/26/03

"Engrossing..."—Rolling Stone

'Rammed full with historical details....Great for those who want to delve deeper into why today's music sounds like it does.' —Straight No Chaser

"The facts you learn from Undercurrents will help you navigate your next coctail party, but its concepts may have a more lasting effect: changing the way you listen." —XLR8R

"This engrossing collection...illuminates everything from Harry Smith's folk anthologies to sound sculpture to glitch techno....insightful and persuasively argued."—Rolling Stone, April 3, 2003

"Undercurrents' 20 essays...draw interesting and intriguing connections with often fervid rhetoric that nonetheless simmers with good insights. Undercurrents is a good book that belongs on the shelf of every maker and maven of adventurous music." Christo

"Published in 2002 to coincide with The Wire's 20th anniversary, this anthology of essays...outlines the key concepts and underlying themes hardwired into the radical music of the past 100 years." —The Wire Books, 01/09/09

About the Author

The Wire is a collectively-owned magazine based in London. Publisher Tony Herrington says, "We don't sees ourselves as outside commentators but very much as part of a community of musicians and listeners."

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (December 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826464505
• ISBN-13: 978-0826464507
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A key book on contemporary music, February 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, written by some of the best and smartest writers on contemporary music. It takes up and connects musical practices from free jazz, classic electronic music, and sound poetry to HipHop turntablism, electro-funk, and experimental rock; and it does so in sparkling prose that's eminently readable. If you want a glimpse of what is truly vital in the music of the 20th and early 21st centuries, buy and read this book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music Journalism At Its Finest..., March 4, 2005

By 

Eyes and Teeth (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music (Paperback)

From the preeminent music journal comes forth an excellent series of essays covering a vast array of topics under the expansive unbrella known as music. The fine music writers of the Wire have blessed us with a collection of very thoughtful, deep essays on music. A wide range of disparate threads are tied together by the wonderful muscial minds from many of the Wire's peerless journalists and scholars. Do not be scarred, this is not stuffy, academic hogwash; this is enlightened and entertaining writing. Many key concepts and underlying themes are explored within the confines of this fine book. Including: The phonograph, electronics, chance operations, Futurism, Surrealism, the civil rights movement, noise, and musical evolution. Modern composition, free jazz, experimental rock, ethnic music, Techno, and Turntablism are all expounded upon with great clarity, research, and wit. Many of these essays first appeared in the Wire, however, all essays within have been updated and revised. Anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary music or the socialogical aspects of it needs this book. If you read 'The Wire' you know what to expect. If you don't, you're life is missing an important element.