Description

Book Synopsis
In the last hundred years – between the invention of the microphone and the computer – music has undergone a profound revolution. No longer confined to specifically designed instruments, we can now make music out of anything. Why use a guitar when you can use a lawnmower? Why use a lawnmower when you can use an explosion in Libya? The Music evokes a shifting sonic landscape in precise detail: Chinese concrete slowly hardening, overlaid by a splintering cassette tape in the stereo of a car mid-crash. The noise of 73,984 insects hitting number plates followed by that of a drill striking oil deep beneath the earth’s surface. Or just the silence of two unfamiliar people as they look up at the night sky. As well as being a description of an imagined album, this book is a manifesto for sound, challenging how we hear the world itself, while listening to stories about humanity and our place in that world.

Trade Review
  • 'A dizzying display of imagination' Paul Griffiths, TLS
  • 'There is no one better to have written The Music than the king of found sound . . . An entire game-changing performance' DJ Mag

The Music: An Album in Words

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    A Paperback / softback by Matthew Herbert

    £12.99

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    Order before 4pm on Monday for delivery by Sat 7 Nov 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Unbound
      Published 21 July 2022
      ISBN-13 9781800181540
      978-1800181540
      ISBN-10 180018154X

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In the last hundred years – between the invention of the microphone and the computer – music has undergone a profound revolution. No longer confined to specifically designed instruments, we can now make music out of anything. Why use a guitar when you can use a lawnmower? Why use a lawnmower when you can use an explosion in Libya? The Music evokes a shifting sonic landscape in precise detail: Chinese concrete slowly hardening, overlaid by a splintering cassette tape in the stereo of a car mid-crash. The noise of 73,984 insects hitting number plates followed by that of a drill striking oil deep beneath the earth’s surface. Or just the silence of two unfamiliar people as they look up at the night sky. As well as being a description of an imagined album, this book is a manifesto for sound, challenging how we hear the world itself, while listening to stories about humanity and our place in that world.

      Trade Review
      • 'A dizzying display of imagination' Paul Griffiths, TLS
      • 'There is no one better to have written The Music than the king of found sound . . . An entire game-changing performance' DJ Mag

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