Synopses & Reviews
"
Earth Sound Earth Signal is a mind-expanding, ear-opening book, at once a history of electromagnetism in the arts and a provocation to rethink the relationship between media and nature. With erudition and wit, Kahn tells the stories of artists, scientists, and engineers who have made audible the way our planet buzzes, crackles, hums, and whistles, from the ionosphere to the deepest depths of the oceans. The result is a strikingly original work about sound, aesthetics, politics, and the envinronment, from Henry David Thoreau to the Cold War to the age of global warming. It will haunt youand#151;in a good wayand#151;long after you read it." and#151;David Suisman, author of
Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music
"Douglas Kahn's Earth Sound Earth Signal delivers a dazzlingly innovative study of how avant-garde music and art have made the planet itself audible over the last 200 years: the soil, the air, the atmosphere, electromagnetic radiation, and wireless communications become objects of playful scientific inquiry and aesthetic enjoyment in works from Henry David Thoreau to Alvin Lucier, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Robert Barry, and Joyce Hinterding. Earth Sound Earth Signal unfolds new histories of communication, of technology, of science, and of experimental aesthetics in a unique fusion of sharp-eyed scholarship with manifesto-style punch lines. At stake is not just aesthetics or history, but a new idea of planetary nature: Earth perceived through global and local waves, radiations, and energy flows that humans cannnot see but that become audible through media from rocks and winds to electronic circuitry. At a time when older notions of nature no longer grasp the new global technonatures and biocultures of the twenty-first century, Kahn's brilliantly insightful manifesto of 'Aelectrosonics' makes nature resonate anew in an entirely different key and at a different scale: It shows how Earth sings and the atmosphere makes music. This planetary techno-music is a must-hear for anyone interested in experimental aesthetics, environmentalism, or globalization." and#151;Ursula K. Heise, author of Sense of Place and Sense of Planet: The Environmental Imagination of the Global
"It is rare that the history of the arts and techno-sciences are so successfully blended as in Douglas Kahn's magisterial survey of how the perception of natural electromagnetic phenomena entered the scientific, artistic and popular imagination. Kahn documents the inquiries of Thomas Watson, Thoreau, scientists and amateurs in the 19th and 20th centuries and moves on to Alvin Lucier, John Cage and contemporary composers and scientific inquiry. This is a fundamental text for all collaborations between the arts and sciences today." and#151;Roger Malina, Professor of Art and Technology and Professor Of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas
"A fascinating tour through previously untold episodes in media arts history. From its theoretical moves to 'think energy' and attend to its lively presence in communications and the arts, to its fresh historical detail on experimental works by artists such as Alvin Lucier and Pauline Oliveros, Earth Sound Earth Signal should appeal broadly to scholars, artists, and enthusiasts of media and sound." and#151;Tara Rodgers, composer and author of Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound
and#160;
Review
"Another unmissable text in sound art research."
Review
and#8220;Recommended.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A major contribution to a number of scholarly disciplines, including the burgeoning field of sound studies.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A nice blend of well-researched facts and intriguing interpretation.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Heterogeneous and ambitious . . . Smith has generously supplied an opportunity for future research.and#8221;
Synopsis
Earth Sound Earth Signal is a study of energies in aesthetics and the arts, from the birth of modern communications in the nineteenth century to the global transmissions of the present day. Douglas Kahn begins by evoking the Aeolian sphere music that Henry David Thoreau heard blowing along telegraph lines and the Aelectrosonic sounds of natural radio that Thomas Watson heard through the first telephone; he then traces the histories of science, media, music, and the arts to the 1960s and beyond. Earth Sound Earth Signal rethinks energy at a global scale, from brainwaves to outer space, through detailed discussions of musicians, artists and scientists such as Alvin Lucier, Edmond Dewan, Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, James Turrell, Robert Barry, Joyce Hinterding, and many others.
Synopsis
The negative environmental effects of media culture are not often acknowledged: the fuel required to keep huge server farms in operation, landfills full of high tech junk, and the extraction of rare minerals for devices reliant on them are just some of the hidden costs of the contemporary mediascape. Eco-Sonic Media brings an ecological critique to the history of sound media technologies in order to amplify the environmental undertones in sound studies and turn up the audio in discussions of greening the media. By looking at early and neglected forms of sound technology, Jacob Smith seeks to create a revisionist, ecologically aware history of sound media. Delving into the history of pre-electronic media like hand-cranked gramophones, comparatively eco-friendly media artifacts such as the shellac discs that preceded the use of petroleum-based vinyl, early forms of portable technology like divining rods, and even the use of songbirds as domestic music machines, Smith builds a scaffolding of historical case studies to demonstrate how and#147;green media archaeologyand#8221; can make sound studies vibrate at an ecological frequency while opening the ears of eco-criticism. Throughout this eye-opening and timely book he makes readers more aware of the costs and consequences of their personal media consumption by prompting comparisons with non-digital, non-electronic technologies and by offering different ways in which sound media can become eco-sonic media. In the process, he forges interdisciplinary connections, opens new avenues of research, and poses fresh theoretical questions for scholars and students of media, sound studies, and contemporary environmental history.
Synopsis
"This is an eye-opening if not game-changing book. Readers will be startled, as I was, that eco-criticism and sound studies go together, but I'm now convinced that they do. Smith's talents as a writer and researcher who is able to pull great examples seemingly out of the air and then get them to work together on the page make
Eco-Sonic Media a book that deserves a wide audience."and#151;Lisa Gitelman, author of
Paper Knowledge: Toward a Media History of Documents "Eco-Sonic Media is a brilliant book: impressively researched, wonderfully written, timely, and innovative. Drawing on the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities, Jacob Smith rewrites the history of recorded sound in terms of its contributions to electronic waste and associated environmental problems, highlighting the role of media in our current ecological crisis. Eco-Sonic Media will make a huge mark on sound studies and media studies, but it deserves a significant readership beyond these fields."and#151;Toby Miller, coauthor ofand#160;Greening the Media
"Who knew that the making of early phonographs relied on the Indian lac insect, that caged canaries served as recording devices, or that radio could bring the sounds of planetary forces and species extinction to the ear? Eco-Sonic Media awakens our senses to the interspecies relations and biomaterials that have made the history of sound recording possible. This green media archaeology is bound to reverberate widely and transform the way people think about and hear recorded sound."and#151;Lisa Parks, author ofand#160;Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual
"After Jacob Smithand#8217;s Eco-Sonic Media, it is impossible to think of records withoutand#160;insects; ambiance without birds; the surface of the earth without divination; andand#160;radio without the end of the earth. In this very creative book, Smith brings anand#160;insistent ecological consciousness to the study of sound and media, revolutionizingand#160;our understanding of sound and ecology in the process, and asking after alternative,and#160;more minimalistic media practices. Smith studies sonic media and#147;up, down, andand#160;sideways,and#8221; moving between close readings of recordings, geo- and eco-politicaland#160;histories of technology, the delicate relationships among humans and animals.and#160; Afterand#160;reading this book and completing some of the inventive exercises at the endand#160;(purchase of a songbird is optional), you will think differently about sound,and#160;technology and ecology."and#151;Jonathan Sterne, author of MP3: The Meaning of a Format and The Audible Past:and#160;Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction
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Synopsis
From the 1940s to the 1970s, the phonograph industry experienced phenomenal growth, both in sales and in cultural influence. Along with hugely popular music recordings, spoken word LPs served a multitude of functions and assumed an important place in the American home. In this book, Jacob Smith surveys a diverse range of spoken word genresand#151;including readings of classic works of literature and drama, comedy albums, childrenand#8217;s records, home therapy kits, even eroticaand#151;to illuminate this often overlooked aspect of the postwar entertainment industry and American culture. A viable alternative to mainstream broadcasting, records gave their listeners control over what they could hear at home. Smith shows how the savvy industry used spoken word records to develop markets for children, African Americans, women, and others not well served by radio and television.
Synopsis
and#147;How quickly we forget! Not so many decades ago, we were all listening to Vaughn Meaderand#8217;s
First Family album, Steve Martin on LP, or Columbiaand#8217;s
I Can Hear It Now. Alas, spoken word records, like so many aspects of phonography, have been relegated to garage sales and footnotes. Finally, thanks to Jacob Smithand#8217;s
Spoken Word, this important form of entertainment and culture is receiving the attention it so richly deserves.and#8221;
and#151;Rick Altman, author of Silent Film Sound
and#147;Jacob Smithand#8217;s engaging study of spoken word LPs is as revelatory as it is welcome. No other book has so thoroughly explored a phenomenon that was unique to the 1950s and 1960s, when LPs were the only widely available medium that allowed consumers to enjoy repeated exposure to recorded material.
and#151;Krin Gabbard, author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture
"Smith's work contains historical material that few scholars have studied and many people have never even heard of. ... The grouping of these unique case studies results in new connections to and between various performance styles, materials, and industries."
and#151;Susan Murray, author of Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars
Synopsis
This entertaining and innovative book focuses on vocal performance styles that developed in tandem with the sound technologies of the phonograph, radio, and sound film. Writing in a clear and lively style, Jacob Smith looks at these media technologies and industries through the lens of performance, bringing to light a fascinating nexus of performer, technology, and audience. Combining theories of film sound, cultural histories of sound technologies and industries, and theories of performance, Smith convincingly connects disparate and largely neglected performance niches to explore the development of a modern vocal performance. Vocal Tracks: Performance and Sound Media demonstrates the voice to be a vehicle of performance, identity, and culture and illustrates both the interconnection of all these categories and their relation to the media technologies of the past century.
Synopsis
"Vocal Tracks offers just the sort of multimedia approach that we desperately need. Smith leaves no sound untuned: the phonograph, cinema, microphones, radio, television, and even prank phone calls. A great read for anyone interested in the cultural history of sound."--Rick Altman, author of Silent Film Sound
Synopsis
Well before Evel Knievel or Hollywood stuntmen, reality television or the X Games, North America had a long tradition of stunt performance, of men (and some women) who sought media attention and popular fame with public feats of daring. Many of these featsand#151;jumping off bridges, climbing steeples and buildings, swimming incredible distances, or doing tricks with wild animalsand#151;had their basis in the manual trades or in older entertainments like the circus. In The Thrill Makers, Jacob Smith shows how turn-of-the-century bridge jumpers, human flies, lion tamers, and stunt pilots first drew crowds to their spectacular displays of death-defying action before becoming a crucial, yet often invisible, component of Hollywood film stardom. Smith explains how these working-class stunt performers helped shape definitions of American manhood, and pioneered a form of modern media celebrity that now occupies an increasingly prominent place in our contemporary popular culture.
Synopsis
and#147;Starring human flies, daredevil aviators, bridge jumpers, and lion tamers,
The Thrill Makers is a great read, as evocative as it is theoretically savvy, and convincingly argued. Culling telling details from a host of long-overlooked sources, Jacob Smithand#8217;s account of sensational, high-risk public performance from the Victorian age to the 1930s unearths and illuminates the interwoven histories of public spectacle, masculinity, the motion picture industry, new forms of celebrity, and the expanding American metropolis.and#8221;and#151;Greg Waller, Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University.
and#147;The Thrill Makers is an historical tour-de-force that illuminates the origins of risk-taking performance in American entertainment, and shows how its practitioners were gradually marginalized as invisible stunt doubles during the rise of the motion picture industry. Smithand#8217;s analysis of the lion tamer, the human fly, and the airplane wing-walkerand#151;as well as the many others who thrilled audiences before and during the advent of cinemaand#151;inspires us to reconsider the nature of media spectacle, masculinity, performance, celebrity, and labor at the turn of the last century. Impeccably researched, this book is a captivating read that re-frames the emergence of cinema in the context of its relationship to other forms of modern entertainment.and#8221;and#151;Barbara Klinger, author of Beyond the Multiplex: Cinema, New Technologies, and the Home.
About the Author
Douglas Kahn is Professor of Media and Innovation at the National Institute for Experimental Arts at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is author or editor of several books, including Noise Water Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts (1999) and, most recently, Source: Music of the Avant-Garde (2011) and Mainframe Experimentalism (2012).
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Thomas Watson: Natural Radio, Natural Theology
2. Microphonic Imagination
3. The Aeolian and Henry David Thoreauand#8217;s Sphere Music
4. The Aelectrosonic and Energetic Environments
5. Inductive Radio and Whistling Currents
6. Alvin Lucier: Brainwaves
7. Edmond Dewan and Cybernetic Hi-Fi
8. Alvin Lucier: Whistlers
9. From Brainwaves to Outer Space: John Cage and Karl Jansky
10. For More New Signals
11. Sound of the Underground: Earthquakes, Nuclear Weaponry, and Music
12. Long Sounds and Transperception
13. Pauline Oliveros: Sonosphere
14. Thomas Ashcraft: Electroreceptor
15. Black Sun, Black Rain
16. Star-Studded Cinema
17. Robert Barry: Conceptualism and Energy
18. Collaborating Objects Radiating Environments
19. Joyce Hinterding: Drawing Energy
20. Earth-in-Circuit
Notes
Index