Trevor Wishart: On Sonic Art, 2nd ed (1985/1996)

“In this newly revised book On Sonic Art, Trevor Wishart takes a wide-ranging look at the new developments in music-making and musical aesthetics made possible by the advent of the computer and digital information processing. His emphasis is on musical rather than technical matters. Beginning with a critical analysis of the assumptions underlying the Western musical tradition and the traditional acoustic theories of Pythagoras and Helmholtz, he goes on to look in detail at such topics as the musical organization of complex sound-objects, using and manipulating representational sounds and the various dimensions of human and non-human utterance. In so doing, he seeks to learn lessons from areas (poetry and sound-poetry, film, sound effects and animal communication) not traditionally associated with the field of music.”

A new and revised edition edited by Simon Emmerson
Publisher Routledge, 1996
ISBN 371865847X, 9783718658473
357 pages

Publisher

PDF (7 MB, updated on 2015-12-3)

Leonardo Music Journal, vols. 9-14 (1999-2004)

LMJ 9: “Power and Responsibility: Politics, Identity and Technology in Music” (1999)
Contributors include: Nicolas Collins, Krystyna Bobrowski, Sergi Jordá. William Duckworth, Mark Trayle, Chris Brown, Justin Bennett, Lowell Cross, Daniel Goode, Fred Ho, Rajmil Fischman, David Dunn, René van Peer, William Osborne, Frederic Rzewski, David Cope, Roger Alsop, Ann Warde, Dante Tanzi, Greg Schiemer, Suguru Goto, Peter Manning, David Ryan, Sasan Rahmatian, John Bischoff, Guy van Belle. Plus notes by CD Contributors. Includes CD: “Power and Responsibility: Converted to Streaming Between Machines,” curated by Guy van Belle.

LMJ 10: “Southern Cones: Music out of Africa and South America” (2000)
Contributors include: Coriún Aharonián, Lucio Edilberto Cuellar Camargo, Carlos Palombini, Daniel Velasco, O’dyke Nzewi, George Lewis, Lukas Ligeti, Artemis Moroni, Jônatas Manzolli, Fernando Von Zuben and Ricardo Gudwin, Damián Keller, Neil McLachlan. Plus notes by CD Contributors. Includes CD: “Southern Cones: Music out of Africa and South America,” curated by Jürgen Bräuninger.

LMJ 11: “Not Necessarily ‘English Music’: Britain’s Second ‘Golden Age'” (2001)
After the first installment of Cool Britannia beguiled the 1960s with its peculiar conflation of Pop, Art, Fashion and Politics, musical experimentation flourished in the U.K. Styles of improvisation, minimalism, electronic music, performance art, political music and “amateur” music grew out of British art schools, universities and urban villages; styles neither as self-important as those of Europe nor as blithely technocratic as those of North America — a peculiarly “English Music” (and Scottish and Welsh). Includes Two-CD Set: “Not Necessarily ‘English Music,'” curated by David Toop.

LMJ 12: “Pleasure” (2002)
From its naughty lyric content to the pounding physicality of its sound, Pop music is unabashedly driven by the pleasure principle. “Serious” music, however, is usually perceived as more refined, genteel, or to put it another way, repressed. And the avant-garde has traditionally found itself in the peculiar position of accompanying bohemian, hedonistic lifestyles with defiantly itchy and uncomfortable music. But are pleasure and thoughtful invention necessarily at odds? Can there be no “bump and mind”? … LMJ 12 includes articles and personal reflections on the role of pleasure in all genres of music. Includes CD: “From Gdansk till Dawn: Contemporary Experimental Music from Eastern Europe,” curated by Christian Scheib and Susanna Niedermayr.

LMJ 13: “Groove, Pit and Wave: Recording, Transmission and Music” (2003)
Sound is encoded in grooves on vinyl, particles on tape and pits in plastic; it travels as acoustic pressure, electromagnetic waves and pulses of light. The rise of the DJ in the last two decades has signaled the arrival of the medium as the instrument — the crowning achievement of a generation for whom tapping the remote control is as instinctive as tapping two sticks together. Turntables, CD players, radios, tape recorders (and their digital emulations) are played, not merely heard; scratching, groove noise, CD glitches, tape hiss and radio interference are the sound of music, not sound effects. John Cage’s 1960 “Cartridge Music” has yet to enter the charts, but its sounds are growing more familiar. In LMJ13 authors contribute their thoughts on the role of recording and/or transmission in the creation, performance and distribution of music: Includes CD: “Splitting Bits, Closing Loops: Recording, Transmission and Music,” curated by Philip Sherburne.

LMJ 14: “Composers inside Electronics: Music after David Tudor” (2004)
Inspired by David Tudor and others, the experimental music community in the 1970s adopted a new working method based on seat-of-the-pants electronic engineering. The circuit — whether homemade, self-hacked or store-bought but scrutinized to death — became the score. A generation later, aspects of the Tudor aesthetic have spread well beyond the avant-garde: hip-hop, house and other forms of dance music and electronica share a similar obsession with the quirks intrinsic to specific pieces of audio gear. In this special volume of Leonardo Music Journal, authors consider all aspects of the work of David Tudor, the influence of Tudor’s ideas on their own work and/or the role of technological idiosyncrasies in their composition, performance or production. Includes CD: “David Tudor: Live Electronic Music,” curated by Ron Kuivila.

More info

Download (removed on 2013-12-17 upon request of the publisher)

Evan Selinger (ed.): Postphenomenology. A Critical Companion to Ihde (2006)

“Postphenomenology is the first book devoted exclusively to the interpretation and advancement of prominent phenomenologist Don Ihde’s landmark contributions to history, philosophy, sociology, science, sound studies, and technology studies. Ihde has made a direct and lasting impact on the study of technological experience across the disciplines and acquired an international following of diverse scholars along the way, many of whom contribute to Postphenomenology, including Albert Borgmann, who characterizes Ihde as being “among the most interesting and provocative contemporary American philosophers.” The contributors situate, assess, and apply Ihde’s philosophy with respect to the primary themes that his oeuvre emphasizes. They not only clarify Ihde’s work, but also make significant contributions to the philosophy of technology, phenomenology, hermeneutics, and the philosophy of science. A comprehensive response from Ihde concludes the volume.”

Publisher SUNY Press, 2006
ISBN 0791467872, 9780791467879
307 pages

Publisher

PDF (updated on 2021-8-16)