Kode9 - Sonic Warfare

[cyrusfx]

Wow, this sounds like a dope book. I only read about 1 every other year, so let this one be it for 2009-10. The more I find out about Kode9, the more impressed I am...

I wonder if he mentions the reverse of something like The Mosquito, which would be music/sound that makes you feel comfortable and passive.

I've kind of been working on "my own theory" (probably several versions of it already in existence) that American FM Radio is a form of brainwashing, in which select songs are played repetitiously until the listener is convinced the song is meaningful and good, and they go out and buy the album. Or better yet, buy concert tickets and other merchandise as well.

If you're in the states you'll notice that all Top 40 stations play the same songs over and over and over and over all day every day. Yes, some of them have their own merits, but it just seems like modern pop music is mostly just commercials for other products. And just like a commercial, it has to be heard a minimum amount of repetitions to be effective. Also like a commercial, it has to be quick, catchy and aesthetically appealing (even if just superficially so)...

I wouldn't be surprised if there's some mass conspiracy between the handful of Top 40 radio station owners and the handful of mega record corporations here in the states, basically to insure that certain songs that companies throw their marketing weight behind get played enough times to be burned into the brains of impressionable youths.

Basically, my theory is millions of people are convinced certain music is "good" simply b/c they've heard it a gazillion times everywhere they go, and b/c there's a marketing force telling them "its the cool thing to do" -- not because its actually good.

Payola (pay-for-play) has been around since the radio was invented, so its not a far stretch...

Yeah I know, I need to get off my crotchety, paranoid horse and go outside more often... Sorry for the hi character count.

[grievous_angel]

Good to see throbbing gristle's ideas getting a refresh.

[ovesen]

Good to see throbbing gristle's ideas getting a refresh.

word.

Throbbing Gristle is not as far away from dubstep, btw, but that's another point.

About the "brainwashing-conspiracy": people seems too be enjoying listening to radio, so it can't be that bad. Something along the line of drugs, and those haven't succeeded in killing good music yet..........

[stappard]

Wow, this sounds like a dope book. I only read about 1 every other year, so let this one be it for 2009-10. The more I find out about Kode9, the more impressed I am...

I wonder if he mentions the reverse of something like The Mosquito, which would be music/sound that makes you feel comfortable and passive.

I've kind of been working on "my own theory" (probably several versions of it already in existence) that American FM Radio is a form of brainwashing, in which select songs are played repetitiously until the listener is convinced the song is meaningful and good, and they go out and buy the album. Or better yet, buy concert tickets and other merchandise as well.

If you're in the states you'll notice that all Top 40 stations play the same songs over and over and over and over all day every day. Yes, some of them have their own merits, but it just seems like modern pop music is mostly just commercials for other products. And just like a commercial, it has to be heard a minimum amount of repetitions to be effective. Also like a commercial, it has to be quick, catchy and aesthetically appealing (even if just superficially so)...

I wouldn't be surprised if there's some mass conspiracy between the handful of Top 40 radio station owners and the handful of mega record corporations here in the states, basically to insure that certain songs that companies throw their marketing weight behind get played enough times to be burned into the brains of impressionable youths.

Basically, my theory is millions of people are convinced certain music is "good" simply b/c they've heard it a gazillion times everywhere they go, and b/c there's a marketing force telling them "its the cool thing to do" -- not because its actually good.

Payola (pay-for-play) has been around since the radio was invented, so its not a far stretch...

Yeah I know, I need to get off my crotchety, paranoid horse and go outside more often... Sorry for the hi character count.

Pardon my ignorance but surely top 40 radio stations play the same things due to their position in the top 40 chart?

I understand that those songs have to get into that position somehow, and am perfectly aware of the cynical tactics employed by major record labels, but this still sounds like conspiracy rather than theory.

[cyrusfx]

Pardon my ignorance but surely top 40 radio stations play the same things due to their position in the top 40 chart?

I understand that those songs have to get into that position somehow, and am perfectly aware of the cynical tactics employed by major record labels, but this still sounds like conspiracy rather than theory.

Actually they really only play 20-30 out of the 40, with past Top 40 interspersed between, and tracks rotate in and out very slowly.

And yes, this is a theory about a conspiracy. The theory is, all of today's Top 40 music is crafted with the exploitation of human psychology in mind, NOT because "artists" are trying to create "art." People need to recognize when they are being manipulated and avertised to, if they want to maintain their intellectual sovereignty.

If they don't, and don't mind playing the role of the hapless consumer bot, well sometimes I'm envious because ignorance really is bliss.

[seckle]

update. save $5 and pre-order from amazon.com. there's also some editorial reviews on there as well. check it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/produc ... 55&s=books

Editorial Reviews
Review
"In the beginning, there was rhythm. In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman surveys the soundscape in the midst of which we live today, tracking its various guises, from Jamaican dub soundsystems to US military infrasound crowd-control devices, from Muzak as mind-numbing sonic architecture to grime and dubstep as enhancers of postapocalyptic dread, and from the cosmic vibrations left behind by the Big Bang to the latest viral sound contagions."
—Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University

"Sonic Warfare sends a shudder through the hidden underbelly of sound. With uncanny brilliance, Steve Goodman writes through the depths of sub-bass to bring together noise weapons, pirate radio, and the philosophy and politics of rhythm in a vivid new evocation of the power of sound."
—Matthew Fuller, David Gee Reader in Digital Media, Goldsmiths, University of London, author of Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture

Product Description
Sound can be deployed to produce discomfort, express a threat, or create an ambience of fear or dread—to produce a bad vibe. Sonic weapons of this sort include the "psychoacoustic correction" aimed at Panama strongman Manuel Noriega by the U.S. Army and at the Branch Davidians in Waco by the FBI, sonic booms (or "sound bombs") over the Gaza strip, and high frequency rat repellants used against teenagers in malls. At the same time, artists and musicians generate intense frequencies in the search for new aesthetic experiences and new ways of mobilizing bodies in rhythm. In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman explores these uses of acoustic force and how they affect populations.

Most theoretical discussions of sound and music cultures in relationship to power, Goodman argues, have a missing dimension: the politics of frequency. Goodman supplies this by drawing a speculative diagram of sonic forces, investigating the deployment of sound systems in the modulation of affect. Traversing philosophy, science, fiction, aesthetics, and popular culture, he maps a (dis)continuum of vibrational force, encompassing police and military research into acoustic means of crowd control, the corporate deployment of sonic branding, and the intense sonic encounters of sound art and music culture.

Goodman concludes with speculations on the not yet heard—the concept of unsound, which relates to both the peripheries of auditory perception and the unactualized nexus of rhythms and frequencies within audible bandwidths.

Technologies of Lived Abstraction series

About the Author
Steve Goodman is a Lecturer in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London, a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), and the founder of the record label Hyperdub. He produces bass-driven electronic music under the name kode9 and is also a member of the sound art collective Audint.

[NilsFG]

I hope it hits european stores soon for pre-order.
Shipping costs + taxes in the US are ridiculous.

[darknes]

this book is really exciting. i can't wait!

[86.]

I'd like to read more about the school of thought where he's coming from with this. It's a school of philosophy...he mentioned the name in the Xlr8r interview but I can't check it right now nor remember it.

[Be-1ne]

I hope it hits european stores soon for pre-order.
Shipping costs + taxes in the US are ridiculous.

Amazon.co.uk - 25£

[high]

Bagging this the day it drops

[seckle]

Bagging this the day it drops

you'd want to for sure. you can bet that its an instant sell out !

[seckle]

the cover is big mr. nine!

[boyd]

update. save $5 and pre-order from amazon.com. there's also some editorial reviews on there as well. check it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/produc ... 55&s=books

Review
"In the beginning, there was rhythm. In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman surveys the soundscape in the midst of which we live today, tracking its various guises, from Jamaican dub soundsystems to US military infrasound crowd-control devices, from Muzak as mind-numbing sonic architecture to grime and dubstep as enhancers of postapocalyptic dread, and from the cosmic vibrations left behind by the Big Bang to the latest viral sound contagions."
—Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English, Wayne State University

Wtf, creates Hyperdub AND is an international authority on this insanely cool topic. Man's a genius. Will definately attempt to read this.

[Y_H]

making someone buy me it for Christmas

Great idea, thank you.

[Horza]

Kode9 is pure genius. Hats off to him, really looking forward to reading this

[bandshell]

As I said in the SNH I bet so many people will buy this just because it's Kode9, read a bit then lose interest and shelve it.

[86.]

how can anyone lose interest in this topic?

[whitelight]

Kode9 is great. Ever noticed how his older tracks still sounds modern and fresh? He's been there in the beginning of the scene, but always been looking way further than most others.

Would like to read that book, but I'm kinda broke right now.

[bandshell]

Sample chapters up on here.

http://sonicwarfare.wordpress.com/