"***An insightful and elegantly written memoir of a typical '90s house fan's evolution from inspired clubber to working DJ. James Bleakman gives us an evocative analysis of his social and cultural journey from bedroom to club.***"Frank Broughton & Bill BrewsterAuthors of Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey1990-2000: The Decade That Was House Music is a memoir-led journey through the records, rooms and rituals that shaped one person'...

“***An insightful and elegantly written memoir of a typical ’90s house fan’s evolution from inspired clubber to working DJ. James Bleakman gives us an evocative analysis of his social and cultural journey from bedroom to club.***”Frank Broughton & Bill BrewsterAuthors of Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey1990-2000: The Decade That Was House Music is a memoir-led journey through the records, rooms and rituals that shaped one perso...

I was the Fool-king of Soho and the number-one slag in the Groucho Club, the second drunkest member of the world's drunkest band. This was no disaster, though. It was a dream coming true.'For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more eventful life. But as bass player of Blur - one of the most successful British bands of all time - his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. In Bit of a Blur he chronicles his journey from a slug-infested fla...

"A riveting look at record spinning from its beginnings to the present day . . . A grander and more fascinating story than one would think." — Time Out LondonThis is the first comprehensive history of the disc jockey, a cult classic now updated with five new chapters and over a hundred pages of additional material. It's the definitive account of DJ culture, from the first record played over airwaves to house, hip-hop, techno, and beyond.From the ea...

From warm up DJ at the birth of Acid House to global main stage headline artist today, Carl Cox continues to inspire and influence audiences and artists. Carl has been everything from a recording artist and producer to label owner, radio DJ and broadcaster. He is still all these things and much more with his star shining brighter than ever. Oh yes, oh yes! tells the story, in his own words, of the man known as 'The Three Deck Wizard' on the rave scene before evolving into ...

Be the Best “Ukulele Entertainer” You Can Be! Could your playing, singing or onstage banter use a little fine-tuning? All string instrument performers will benefit from this practical, informative book. Going far beyond other ukulele publications, this helpful guide shows the aspiring ukulele star of any age how to: • Put strings on a ukulele, correctly • Play three styles of triplet strum • Know where to look when you sing • Tackle nerves and stage fright • Start and run a ukulele club • ...

Ecstasy did for house music what LSD did for psychedelic rock. Now, in Energy Flash, journalist Simon Reynolds offers a revved-up and passionate inside chronicle of how MDMA (ecstasy”) and MIDI (the basis for electronica) together spawned the unique rave culture of the 1990s.England, Germany, and Holland began tinkering with imported Detroit techno and Chicago house music in the late 1980s, and when ecstasy was added to the mix in British clubs, a new music subculture was...

Bedroom Rapper is a book for obsessive music fans who are looking for the definitive take on what’s happened in the last two decades of hip hop, from Cadence Weapon, aka Rollie Pemberton: Pitchfork critic, award-winning musician, producer, DJ, and Poet Laureate.Tracing his roots from recording beats in his mom's attic in Edmonton to performing with some of the most recognizable names in rap and electronic music—De La Soul, Public Enemy, Mos Def, Q...

This book is about the kind of ordinary dancing you and I might do in our kitchens when a favourite tune comes on. It's more than a social history: it's a set of interconnected histories of the overlooked places where dancing happens . . .Why do we dance together? What does dancing tells us about ourselves, individually and collectively? And what can it do for us? Whether it be at home, '80s club nights, Irish dancehalls or reggae dances, jungle raves or volunteer-run spac...

Everything around us is designed and the word 'design' has become part of our everyday experience. But how much do we know about it? Fifty Dresses That Changed the World imparts that knowledge listing the top 50 dresses that have made a substantial impact in the world of British design today. From the 1915 Delphos Pleated dress to Hussein Chalayan's 2007 LED dress, each entry offers a short appraisal to explore what has made their iconic status and the designers that give them a special pl...

A GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, PITCHFORK, NPR, METRO AND HERALD SCOTLAND BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018‘The definitive grime biography’ NME’A landmark genre history’ PitchforkThe year 2000. As Britain celebrates the new millennium, something is stirring in the crumbling council estates of inner-city London. Making beats on stolen software, spitting lyrics on t...

The untold story of the world's most controversial album---a surreal tale of secret recordings, the Wu-Tang Clan, baffled customs agents, the world's most hallowed art institutions, and a villain of comic book proportions: Martin Shkreli.In 2007, the innovative young Wu-Tang producer, Cilvaringz, took an incendiary idea to his mentor the RZA. They felt that the impact of digitization threatened the sustainability of the record industry and independent artists, while...