Hello Glastonbury!
It’s that time of year again…. you might be punching the air in front of The Other Stage, or maybe watching from your chair in front of the TV. Either way, we’re looking forward to a weekend of music so, in celebration, we are taking a look at some of our music themed titles.
For fans of vinyl, why not try Arne Reimer: Long Play – a subtle and intense photo book about the era of the vinyl record. Here’s another lovely book perfect for vinyl-heads and old school cassette tape nerds, Dave Muller: I Like Your Music I Love Your Music.
If mixtapes are your thing then check-out, Damn Son Where Did You Find This? A book about US hiphop mixtape cover art . This is the first book ever to focus on the cover art of the modern US hiphop mixtape. A visual world that reached unseen levels at the turn of the millennium, uncensored, unregulated and extreme, it is a the most anarchic of all genres of graphic design.
Next up (and maybe a tenuous link but we like it anyway!) named after a reggae music style Lovers’ Rock by John Goto is a series of portraits created in Lewisham, South London in 1977.
This new one explores the relationship between musicians and visual artists in Eastern Europe under Communist rule, Notes from the Underground (Notatki Z Podziemia) Art and Alternative Music in Eastern Europe 1968 – 1994.
The legendary post-punk band Sonic Youth is famed for blurring musical genres, veering from thundering rock to dismantled experimentalism, and expanding the possibilities of the electric guitar. Sonic Youth etc Sensational Fix showcases their collaborative work together with visual artists, filmmakers, designers, and other musicians since the band’s inception in 1981. This tome even includes two 7″ vinyl records.
Malcolm McLaren: Musical Paintings is a book which, like the exhibition it stems from, is built around McLaren’s Shallow, a series of 21 ‘musical paintings’ made from a ‘grab bag of pop culture’s debris over the past 50 years.’ McLaren is also featured in Eyes For Blowing Up Bridges: Joining the dots from the Situationist International to Malcolm McLaren from Situationism to Beat to Punk.
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s interviews with some influential musical pioneers can be found in A Brief History of New Music and, Laurie Anderson Nothing in My Pockets is a sound diary, originally broadcast on French radio, kept between July 4 and October 4, 2003. The sound piece is included on 2 CD’s.
It may not be ‘Glasto’, but the small German village of Wacken is host to the ultimate, iconic heavy metal festival every summer. The photographic evidence is featured in the brilliantly atmospheric, AUFWACKEN by Jens Nolte.
Peter Saville: Estate collects together work, reference material and ephemera from the pioneering graphic designer’s archive to form an illuminating and highly personal topography, which brings us to our final title, True Faith. This one is due out early July and we’re really excited about it. Published alongside the exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery and part of MIF, True Faith explores the ongoing significance and legacy of bands Joy Division and New Order, through the wealth of visual art their music has inspired.
Wherever you are, wherever you go… we hope that your summer is filled with sweet sounds!
Picture credit: from the book, AUFWACKEN by Jens Nolte (2016).