I am pretty sure I have read all the major (and quite a few minor) books written about Frank Zappa. So you can put me down for the new tome about the iconoclastic icon’s political activism. And naturally, I’m also down for upcoming books on Canadian pop-punks — along with the music of Twin Peaks, krautrock and more. Read all about ’em:
Frank Zappa’s America
By Bradley Morgan
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From his early albums with The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa established a reputation as a musical genius who pushed the limits of culture throughout the 1960s and 1970s, experimenting with a blend of genres in innovative and unheard-of ways. Not only did his exploratory styles challenge the expectations of what popular music could sound like, but his prolific creative endeavors also shaped how audiences thought about the freedom of artistic expression. In Frank Zappa’s America, Bradley Morgan casts the artist as an often-misunderstood figure who critiqued the actions of religious and political groups promoting a predominantly white, Christian vision of the United States. A controversial and provocative satirist, often criticized for the shocking subject matter of his songs, Zappa provided social commentary throughout his career that spoke truth to power about the nefarious institutions operating in the lives of everyday Americans. Beginning in the late 1970s, his music frequently addressed the rise of extremist religious influence in American politics, specifically white Christian nationalism. Despite commercial and critical pressure, Zappa refused to waver in his support for free speech during the era of Ronald Reagan and MTV, including his pointed testimony before the U.S. Senate at the Parents Music Resource Center hearings. Throughout the 1980s, and until his death in 1993, Zappa crafted his art form to advocate for political engagement, the security of individual liberties, and the advancement of education. Frank Zappa’s America examines the musician’s messaging through song, tracing the means by which Zappa created passionate, at times troubling, art that combats conservativism in its many manifestations. For readers in the 21st century, his music and public advocacy demonstrate the need to preserve democracy and the voices that uphold it.”
In Too Deep: When Canadian Punks Took Over the World
By Matt Bobkin & Adam Feibel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After punk found commercial success in the ’90s, with bands like Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182, a new wave of punk bands emerged, each embodying the DIY spirit of the movement in their own way. While Southern California remained the spiritual home of punk rock in the early 2000s, an unexpected influx of eager punks from Canada took the world by storm, changing the genre forever. Drawing on exclusive interviews and personal stories from nine artists of the era, In Too Deep explores how Canada became the improbable birthplace of a new age of punk icons. Covering the rowdy rock of Gob and Sum 41, the arena-sized ambitions of Simple Plan and Marianas Trench, the reinvention of the popstar by Avril Lavigne and Fefe Dobson, and the quest to bring hardcore into the mainstream by Billy Talent, Silverstein and Alexisonfire, In Too Deep traces the evolution of a music scene that challenged notions of who and what should be considered punk while helping to define Millennial culture as some of their generation’s first superstars.”
Always Music In The Air: The Sound Of Twin Peaks
By Scott Ryan
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Where we’re from, the birds sing a pretty song and there’s always music in the air.” When author Scott Ryan heard those words on the TV series Twin Peaks in 1990, he wanted to live there as well. Problem was, most of the music that played in Twin Peaks was not released. Only one soundtrack came out from the series, and one from the film. It wasn’t until 2011 that director David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti opened the archives and released every track on MP3. EVen so, these tracks were never officially released and do not stream anywhere today. Ryan interviews musicians who performed the songs, talks to music editors and directors from the series and draws from archived interviews with the late Badalamenti and singer Julee Cruise. This book explores all the music that was in the air, from Cruise’s 1989 release Floating Into The Night through all the Twin Peaks soundtracks, the 2011 online releases called the Twin Peaks Archives, and the releases from Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017.”
The Complete John Lennon Songs: All The Songs. All The Stories. All The Lyrics. Updated
By Paul Du Noyer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “John Lennon’s life after The Beatles was eventful and fascinating. He moved from stardom in the world’s biggest pop group to global peace campaigner and figurehead for radical causes. He left England for a new life in the U.S. with Yoko Ono. He later abandoned public life and retired to his New York apartment to raise their son and live the life of a recluse. In 1980 he re-emerged with a new album, but the plan to resume his career was cruelly curtailed on a fateful night outside the Dakota when he was murdered. Upon first publication, this book was the first to examine and assess all of John Lennon’s solo work.”
The Beatles: With A Little Help From Their Friends
By Stuart Maconie
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Everyone knows a Beatles tune. But their story goes beyond the omnipresent songs and iconic albums. Theirs is a tale that has become one of the core stories we tell about ourselves as a nation. The Beatles narrative has both shaped and reflected the country we live in today. Four lads from Liverpool have taken a seat alongside Shakespeare as one of England’s key cultural exports to the world, a world they changed and remade in their own image in a blaze of creativity. But these four distinct personalities changed the world not in isolation but with more than a little help from their friends. Like all the best stories there’s an incredible supporting cast, and all the most compelling elements of the great dramas: ambition, power, triumph, disaster, heartbreak, tragedy, drama, intrigue, lust…and of course, love. Split into three sections, Before The Beatles, With The Beatles and Beyond The Beatles, bestselling writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie tells the epic tale of the people who made the band who made Britain, and along the way adds his own experiences, encounters and conversations that show The Beatles like you’ve never seen them before.”
Read My Mind: The Little Guide To Sabrina Carpenter
By Orange Hippo!
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With billions of streams, millions of fans and record-breaking achievements, Sabrina Carpenter has captivated hearts across the globe. With a journey that began on Broadway, flourished on Girl Meets World and has landed in the music industry, Sabrina has catapulted to fame. In the past 12 months alone, Sabrina performed on 25 stops of Taylor Swift’s phenomenally successful Eras tour and racked up more than five billion streams. With chart-topping hits and dynamic roles in a range of films, the international star has become a beacon of inspiration for many — a role model with a genuine personality, relatable lyrics and unwavering dedication to her many crafts. The Little Guide to Sabrina Carpenter dives into the enchanting word of the multi-talented star, with inspiring quotes, intriguing facts and fascinating insights that celebrate the authentic passion of Sabrina and her extraordinary rise to stardom. The day Sabrina posted her first video to YouTube. She was aged just 10 years old! The video was a cover of Swift’s Picture to Burn. It features Sabrina belting it out straight to camera, no frills, no effects, just pure singing talent in her homemade singing studio. It now has 1.7 million views.”
Poets And Dreamers: My Life In Americana Music
By Tamara Saviano
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Part memoir, part oral history, Poets And Dreamers: My Life in Americana Music traces Tamara Saviano’s remarkable journey through the rise of the Americana music genre. Spanning more than three decades, Saviano unfolds the story of Americana —country music’s bohemian cousin — from her unique perspectives as a journalist, historian, Grammy-winning music producer, filmmaker, and artist emissary. The first woman president of the Americana Music Association and producer of the early Americana Honors and Awards shows at Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium, Saviano takes readers behind the scenes for some of the most significant moments in Americana history. Poets And Dreamers illuminates the exceptional Americana community: an ever-expanding yet close-knit circle of friends and unsung heroes devoted to the success of roots music and its artists. Highlights include interviews with artists and colleagues and memories of special events, concerts, and day-to-day life with singers, songwriters, and musicians. Tender stories recalling Saviano’s close relationships with two of her most enduring clients, iconic songwriters Kris Kristofferson and Guy Clark, round out this singular historical work. Including photographs of significant people and moments in Americana music, Poets And Dreamers will entertain and inform a worldwide readership of fans, students, and scholars of Americana and roots music.”
Gustav Mahler
By Stephen Downes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Gustav Mahler’s status as an icon of fin-de-siècle Viennese music is assured, and while his life story has been told in numerous biographies, films, and novels, he remains an ambiguous, provocative figure. Supposedly haunted by death and trapped in a torrid marriage, Mahler’s brief meeting with Sigmund Freud has spurred psychoanalytical speculations, but there are other questions to explore as well. Mahler challenged musical form and style, but he rejected most other contemporary trends, identifying with traditional German Enlightenment and Romantic culture. He rose to the pinnacle of his profession, despite the protestations of antisemitic Vienna. This book draws on the latest research to construct a fresh interpretation of Mahler’s music in relation to his life.”
Let’s Spend The Night Together: Sex, Pop Music & British Youth Culture, 1950s-’80s
By Subcultures Network
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Let’s Spend The Night Together explores how sex and sexuality provided essential elements of British youth culture in the 1950s through to the 1980s. It shows how the underlying sexual charge of rock ’n’ roll — and pop music more generally — was integral to the broader challenge embodied in the youth cultures that developed after World War Two. As teenage hormones rushed to move to the music and take advantage of the spaces opening up through consumption, education and employment, so the boundaries of British morality and cultural propriety were tested and often transgressed. Be it the assertive masculinity of the teds or the lustful longings of the teeny-bopper, the gender-bending of glam or the subterranean allure of an underground club/disco, the free love of the 1960s or the punk provocations in the 1970s, sex was forever to the fore and, more often than not, underpinned the moral panics that fitfully followed any cultural shift in youthful style and behaviour. Drawing from scholarship across a range of disciplines, the Subcultures Network explore how sex and sexuality were experienced, presented, conferred, responded to and understood within the context of youth culture, popular music and social change in the period between the Second World War and the advent of AIDS. The essays locate sex, music and youth culture in the context of post-war Britain: with a widening and ever-more prevalent media; amidst the loosening bonds of censorship; in a society shaped by changing patterns of consumption and the emergence of the ‘teenager’; existing, as Jeff Nuttall famously argued, under the shadow of the (nuclear) bomb.”
Neu Klang: The Definitive History Of Krautrock
By Christoph Dallach & Katy Derbyshire
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The unique and adventurous sounds that German bands like Can, Neu! or Kraftwerk produced in post-war ’60s Germany, now known as Krautrock, are considered a blueprint for modern rock music. And the stream of their creative admirers and continuators has been constantly widening since the first fans like David Bowie and Iggy Pop. In Neu Klang, Christoph Dallach interviewed its pioneers and their answers combine to form an oral history that points far beyond the individual band histories.”
From The Bronx To The Bosphorus: Klezmer And Other Displaced Musics Of New York
By Walter Zev Feldman
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From The Bronx To The Bosphorus explores the vibrant, yet largely concealed, musical culture of New York, tracing its origins to a period when the city served as a crucible for immigrants and their diverse musical expressions. Walter Zev Feldman chronicles his journey through the musical landscapes of post–WWII New York ― from the declining world of East European immigrant klezmorim to the dynamic environments of Greek, Armenian, and Caucasian musicians. These experiences culminate in the klezmer revitalization movement of the late 1970s. Feldman, whose father emigrated from Bessarabia ― a region known for its rich interactions among Jewish, Roma, and Greek musicians ― connects various musical worlds. From the local Turkish Sephardi synagogue and the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Washington Heights to the lively Armenian and Greek nightclubs of Manhattan, his interactions with a diverse group of musicians, including an Armenian virtuoso who once performed for Stalin and The Shah of Iran, enhance his understanding and appreciation of these interconnected cultures. Finally, at age 25, in a sense he returned to his father’s shtetl and studied with Dave Tarras, the greatest living klezmer in America, who had learned his key musical lessons in that very same Bessarabian town following the First World War. From The Bronx To The Bosphorus is not just a chronicle of music but a poignant examination of the power of music to connect cultures, transcend borders, and preserve the echoes of a nearly vanished world.”
Subject: PUNK
By Maggie St.Thomas
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Subject: PUNK takes a stage dive into the heart of punk rock. Told through the lens of Maggie St.Thomas, a photographer whose published works span over three decades, this collection of photography, interviews, and personal anecdotes captures the raw energy, and spirit of that movement. Subject: PUNK chronicles Maggie’s story, from her start as a wide-eyed young girl with a film camera, to an accomplished photographer who achieved her dream of becoming a professional artist. Anecdotes about tagging along with her dad to shows at the Hong Kong Café, the awe-inspiring experience of photographing her her all-time favorites The Ramones, insights from inside the punk scene and more are gathered throughout, transporting readers into a world where every photograph tells a story of defiance, unity through music, and unapologetic expression. Featuring never-before-seen images of legendary outfits including X, Ramones, The Dickies, The Lunachicks, Fishbone, Sick Of It All and more, this book is a historical archive and a personal journey. Subject: PUNK is a visual love letter that celebrates the passion, uncompromising attitude, and relentless pursuit of art that defines punk rock!”
Back In Ibiza: 1998-2003
By Dean Chalkley
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dean Chalkley has been taking compelling cultural photographs since the mid 1990s and his work with the likes of Oasis, Idris Elba and Amy Winehouse is widely celebrated. At the tail end of the ’90s, Chalkley found himself in Ibiza, the capital of the clubbing world. For many, the turn of the millennium represents the peak of club life, when clubbers would lose themselves for days in the often-surreal abandon of their favorite Spanish party haven. Working for Mixmag, the biggest dance-music magazine in the world, Chalkley amassed a vast archive of images from this unrivaled golden era in the island’s near-history. Back In Ibiza 1998-2003 offers a thrilling deep-dive through those images, illustrating the unfiltered and sometimes unhinged club scene from a world before Snapchat and TikTok reels. This unique collection is essential viewing for partygoers and clubbing fans, a joy to behold, and a nostalgic reminder of what a real party can look like.”
