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  3. How Music Dies (or Lives)

EBOOK

How Music Dies (or Lives)

Field Recording and the Battle for Democracy in the Arts

Ian Brennan
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Pages
426
Year
2016
Language
English
Publisher
Allworth

About

All recordings document life, arising from a specific time and place, and if that place is artificial, the results will be as well. Culled from a lifetime of learning through failure and designed to provoke thought and inspiration for artists in every medium, How Music Dies (or Lives) is a virtual how-to manual for those on a quest for authenticity in an age of airbrushed and Auto-Tuned so-called "artists." Author and Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan chronicles his own journeys to find new and ancient sounds, textured voices, and nonmalleable songs, and he presents readers with an intricate look at our technological society. His concise prose covers topics such as:

•The damages of colonization in generalizing distinctive variations
•The need for imperfection
•The gaps between manufacturing and invention
•The saturation of music in everyday life

This guide serves those who ask themselves, "What's wrong with our culture?" Along with possible answers are lessons in using the microphone as a telescope, hearing the earth as an echo, and appreciating the value of democratizing voices.

Related Subjects

  • Recording & Reproduction
  • Music
  • Adult Nonfiction
  • History & Criticism
  • Ethnomusicology
  • 20th Century
  • United States
  • History
  • Appreciation
  • Instruction & Study

Reviews

"A hefty, bracing tome overstuffed with trenchant observations and anecdotes on the homogenization of music and the democratization of art."
Booklist
"In a time when popular music may sound sonically filling, but leaves your ears feeling spiritually undernourished, How Music Dies (or Lives) shines some much-needed light on where things have gone wrong."
Joe Lally (Fugazi)
"A sometimes funny, often perplexing, highly original treatise on the outer edges of music acceptability. . . I loved it!"
John Waters, filmmaker and author (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Serial Mom)

Artists

Ian BrennanAuthor