Ocean of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication

Front Cover
Serpent's Tail, Aug 2, 2018 - Music - 306 pages

David Toop's extraordinary work of sonic history travels from the rainforests of Amazonas to the megalopolis of Tokyo via the work of artists as diverse as Brian Eno, Sun Ra, Erik Satie, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk and Brian Wilson.

Beginning in 1889 at the Paris exposition when Debussy first heard Javanese music performed, Ocean of Sound channels the competing instincts of 20th century music into an exhilarating, path-breaking account of ambient sound.

'A meditation on the development of modern music, there's no single term that is adequate to describe what Toop has accomplished here ... mixing interviews, criticism, history, and memory, Toop moves seamlessly between sounds, styles, genres, and eras' Pitchfork's '60 Favourite Music Books'

 

Selected pages

Contents

authors note to the new edition
fragments and mantras
memory
if you find earth boring
aether talk
burial rites
content in a void
landscape
machine
lucid dreaming
nature
theatre of sound
ocean of sound
bibliography
discography
index

fourth world
crystal world
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

acoustic Africa album ambient music Aphex Twin artists band bass birds Brian Eno Cage’s called centre century chanting club colour Coltrane composer concert create culture dance dark David Debussy deep listening dream drone drum echoes electric electronic music environment explored feel film gamelan going hear heard Hendrix human idea improvisation Indian inspired instruments Japanese jazz John Cage Jon Hassell Kraftwerk La Monte Young Lee Perry live London Love machine Miles Davis Mixmaster Morris Monte Young musicians Muzak nature night noise Ocean of Sound Pauline Oliveros percussion performance piano piece player playing psychedelic Ra’s radio recording released rhythm rock Satie saxophone says shaman silence singing sitting sleevenotes solo song sonic soundtrack space spirit Stockhausen strange studio Sun Ra talk tape techno Terry Riley theatre there’s thing Toop track tune Varèse vibrations voice wrote Xebec Yanomami

About the author (2018)

David Toop is an English musician, author and professor of audio culture and improvisation at the London College of Communication. He was a member of the Flying Lizards and a contributor to the British magazine The Face. He is a regular contributor to The Wire, has recorded Yanomami shamanism in Amazonas, appeared on Top of the Pops, exhibited sound installations in Tokyo, Beijing and London's National Gallery, and performed with artists ranging from John Zorn, Evan Parker, Bob Cobbing and Ivor Cutler to Akio Suzuki, Elaine Mitchener, Lore Lixenberg and Max Eastley. He has published five books, including Ocean of Sound, and released eight solo albums.

Bibliographic information

TitleOcean of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication
AuthorDavid Toop
ContributorMichel Faber
Editionreprint
PublisherSerpent's Tail, 2018
ISBN1788161041, 9781788161046
Length306 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Social History
Music / History & Criticism
Music / Instruction & Study / Theory
Social Science / Popular Culture
  
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