Simon Reynolds rant (Re: (idm) reading list)

From Rodney Perkins
Sent Tue, Sep 8th 1998, 19:40

I finished "Generation Ecstacy" by Simon Reynolds this week. What promised
to be the *definitive* history of techno and electronics boiled down to a
little good history and a heavy dose of subjectivity. His amazingly
obnoxious attitude about substance abuse (at times its like he is saying "If
you ain't high, you don't know nothin' about techno") and his haughty
dismissal of non club-oriented electronics is really hard to stomach. Worse
of all, he parades the usual list of post-modernists (Baudrillard, Virilo,
blah) as his theoretical backing. 

A much better music book with similar aims is "Ocean of Sound" by David
Toop. It has a much broader perspective, and gives a good overview of the
modern techno/electronic scene (in addition to jazz, ambient, weird rock and
other forms).


>Would list members be willing to reveal what book(s) they're reading at the 
>moment? It
>might be interesting. For example, I just finished skimming through a book 
>on physics
>by Prigogine.
>
>thanks, mikail
>
>