Tag: Book

Sound Signatures :: Crafting your electronic music identity — by Nick Feldman (Routledge)

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By providing a slew of tips for the creative use of the tools, and by really diving into all that is on offer here, the person who uses this book is going to give back new imaginative music electronic music community, just as Feldman shares the knowledge. Put the work in, and have fun while you craft your own sound signature, the sound of your musical imagination, that uses the tools to realize the composition you first heard in your mind and soul. This alone will be what sets you apart from the clones.

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Ben Pedroche :: Independent As F***: Underground Hip-Hop From 1995-2005 (Velocity Press)

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Hip-hop was never my main musical obsession, but it pulsed through the background of my youth—skate sessions, cheap forties, porch-side blunts—quietly shaping the soundtrack of growing up. Ben Pedroche’s Independent as F*** a vibrant history of indie rap from 1995–2005, taps straight into that world, revealing how artists built their own freedom and infrastructure far from the grip of major labels.

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Halo :: The Story Behind Depeche Mode’s Classic Album Violator

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By the late 1980s, Depeche Mode had found global success—but the U.S. remained elusive. Despite support from stations like WLIR and KROQ, mainstream America hadn’t caught on. That changed with 1990’s Violator. Riding the momentum of Music for the Masses and Depeche Mode 101, the band hit a creative high, delivering the album that would launch them into true worldwide fame.

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Ryan Pinkard :: Shoegaze (Bloomsbury / 33 1/3 Genre Series)

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Shoegaze has always been a genre shaped as much by distortion as by definition. Coined—and complicated—by the British music press, the term has been embraced, rejected, and debated by the very bands it aimed to describe. In Shoegaze, music writer Ryan Pinkard explores this hazy history with clarity and curiosity, tracing the genre’s roots through its sounds, scenes, and stories. As a longtime fan, I found his account both illuminating and rewarding—a vital look at a style often heard but rarely explained.

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