Who Say Reload: The Stories Behind the Classic Drum & Bass Records of the 90s


Book Description

Who Say Reload is a knockout oral history of the records that defined jungle/drum & bass straight from the original sources. The likes of Goldie, DJ Hype, Roni Size, Andy C, 4hero and many more talk about the influences, environment, equipment, samples, beats and surprises that went into making each classic record. This is the story of music forged from raw breakbeats and basslines that soundtracked a culture of all-night raves, specialist record shops and pirate radio stations. It's the story of young producers embracing and re-appropriating new technology, trying to best their peers and create something that would have hundreds of people screaming for a rewind on Saturday night. Photography is provided by Eddie Otchere who has an extensive archive of images from the period in question, having been the photographer at Goldie's seminal Metalheadz nights. His previously unseen visuals capture the essence of the music in a way that only someone who was fully immersed in the culture at the time could, and are the perfect accompaniment to the story being told. Insightful and compelling, Who Say Reload takes you back to the golden age of jungle/drum & bass with the greatest artists of the nineties. This is the book that belongs on the stacks next to your wax.




All Crews


Book Description

An in-depth history of the Jungle/Drum & Bass, the most exciting dance music to come out of the UK in recent times. This underground sound now receives international attention and is fronted by stars such as Goldie and Roni Size. All Crews is a journey through this music and features interviews with the scene's top artists. However, it also delves deeper and looks at the pirate radio stations, labels, crews, promoters and ravers that form the backbone of this fascinating, exhilarating and truly original culture.




All Things Remembered


Book Description

Who better to tell the story of the gentrification of a musical genre than the man who started out as Jungle's most streetwise ambassador and went on to collect an MBE from Buckingham Palace? But Goldie's uncensored, hard-hitting memoir is far more than just the story of the house-training of drum 'n' bass. As one of Britain's most influential DJs, producers, promoters, and record-label owners - whose contributions to the UK rave scene in the 1990s defined the genres jungle and urban rave, Goldie is an iconic figure. Hugely addictive, this gonzo memoir is a vertiginous thrill-ride from the darkest depths of the West Midlands care-home system to the snowiest uplands of coke-crazed international celebrity. It is an explosive story of abuse, revenge, graffiti, gold teeth, sawn-off shotguns, car crashes, hot yoga, absent fatherhood, and redemption through reality TV.




Long Relationships: My Incredible Journey From Unknown DJ to Small-time DJ


Book Description

Written by former DJ/producer Harold Heath, ‘Long Relationships: My Incredible Journey From Unknown DJ to Small-time DJ’ is a biographical account of a DJ career defined by a deep love of music and a shallow amount of success. From the days of vinyl, when DJs were often also glass-collectors, to the era of megastar stadium EDM, it’s a journey of 30 odd years on a low-level, economy-class rollercoaster through the ups and downs of an ever-changing music industry. ‘Long Relationships’ is a love letter to DJing and to every small-town DJ who never made it to the big time but whose life was enriched and improved by DJing anyway. It’s packed with tales of gigs, clubs, raves, warehouses, music, record production and record deals, low-rent international travel, shady promoters, dodgy club security, magical dance floor moments and much more. If you ever DJed, if you ever lost yourself on a dance floor, or if you ever simply fell in love with the potential contained within a dark basement, a strobe and a sound system, then this story is your story.




Becoming Elektra


Book Description

An account of Elektra Records in the Jac Holzman years, from 1950 to 1973, Becoming Elektra tells the story of the label's growth from a small folk label to a major hit-making concern. Jac Holzman's role in founding and running the company is central to the story, and his capacity for the lateral thinking that led to innovations such as the first-ever sampler album and a million-selling series of sound effects records is a recurring theme. Opening with the moment that Holzman discovered The Doors, the story then goes back to the '50s, when the label brought folk music to a wide audience through artists such as Jean Ritchie, Josh White, Theodore Bikel, and Bob Gibson. Moving into the '60s and '70s, the story covers artists that read like an inventory of musical innovation: Love, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, David Ackles, Phil Ochs, Bread, Queen, Mickey Newbury, The Incredible String Band, Carly Simon, The Stooges and The MC5.




Nine Lives


Book Description

The inspirational autobiography by one of the most fascinating figures in the music industry. This is the unconventional and inspirational autobiography reflecting the many facets of Goldie's life. Cult-status graffiti artist, hip-hop icon, DJ, actor and producer, Goldie is a total original who succeeded in nurturing an extraordinary talent despite a highly damaged childhood. Brought up in a series of foster homes and institutions in the west Midlands, Goldie was neglected and abused for years. He turned to a life of crime in his teenage years, and became a burglar and safe-cracker with a serious drug problem. But he was also an artist on the rise, instinctively tapping into his unrestrained creativity. Through his own label he has produced and mixed bands such as the Fugees, Garbage, the Stone Roses and Pat Metheny. Madonna chose him to DJ at her comeback gig in London in November 1999. Goldie is now also an actor, appearing in a Bond film, Guy Ritchie's 'Snatch' and 'EastEnders'. This book is written in collaboration with Paul Gorman, a highly respected music journalist.




The Art of Noise


Book Description

THE ART OF NOISE offers an unprecedented collection of insightful, of-the-moment conversations with twenty-seven great British songwriters and composers. They discuss everything from their individual approaches to writing, to the inspiration behind their most successful songs, to the techniques and methods they have independently developed to foster their creativity. Contributors include: Sting * Ray Davies * Robin Gibb * Jimmy Page * Joan Armatrading * Noel Gallagher * Lily Allen * Annie Lennox * Damon Albarn * Noel Gallagher * Laura Marling * Paul Weller * Johnny Marr * and many more Musician-turned-author Daniel Rachel approaches each interview with an impressive depth of understanding—of the practice of songwriting, but also of each musician's catalog. The result is a collection of conversations that's probing, informed, and altogether entertaining—what contributor Noel Gallagher called "without doubt the finest book I've ever read about songwriters and the songs they write." The collected experience of these songwriters makes this book the essential word of songwriting—as spoken by the songwriters themselves.




Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime


Book Description

A GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, PITCHFORK, NPR, METRO AND HERALD SCOTLAND BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018 ‘The definitive grime biography’ NME ’A landmark genre history’ Pitchfork




My Omaha Obsession


Book Description

My Omaha Obsession takes the reader on an idiosyncratic tour through some of Omaha’s neighborhoods, buildings, architecture, and people, celebrating the city’s unusual history. Rather than covering the city’s best-known sites, Miss Cassette is irresistibly drawn to strange little buildings and glorious large homes that don’t exist anymore as well as to stories of Harkert’s Holsum Hamburgers and the Twenties Club. Piecing together the records of buildings and homes and everything interesting that came after, Miss Cassette shares her observations of the property and its significance to Omaha. She scrutinizes land deeds, insurance maps, tax records, and old newspaper articles to uncover a property’s singular story. Through conversations with fellow detectives and history enthusiasts, she guides readers along her path of hunches, personal interests, mishaps, and more. As a longtime resident of Omaha, Miss Cassette is informed by memories of her youth combined with an enduring curiosity about the city’s offbeat relics and remains. Part memoir and part research guide with a healthy dose of colorful wandering, My Omaha Obsession celebrates the historic built environment and searches for the people who shaped early Omaha.




Media Narratives in Popular Music


Book Description

The historical significance of music-makers, music scenes, and music genres has long been mediated through academic and popular press publications such as magazines, films, and television documentaries. Media Narratives in Popular Music examines these various publications and questions how and why they are constructed. It considers the typically linear narratives that are based on simplifications, exaggerations, and omissions and the histories they construct - an approach that leads to totalizing “official” histories that reduce otherwise messy narratives to one-dimensional interpretations of a heroic and celebratory nature. This book questions the basis on which these mediated histories are constructed, highlights other, hidden, histories that have otherwise been neglected, and explores a range of topics including consumerism, the production pressure behind documentaries, punk fanzines, Rolling Stones covers, and more.