Back catalogue: All genres

Notes: This book is about synthesis, the underlying technical specifications with added interviews of artists and manufacturers.

Sound Synthesis, Oscillation and Waveforms, Wavetables, Samples, Filters, Distortion, Resonators, Amplification, Effects, Modulations, Envelopes, LFOs, AM, RM, FM, PD, Arpeggiators, Sequencers, Modularity, Jacks, Racks, Voltages, Gates, Clocks, Triggers, CVs, Interfaces, MIDI, Analog, Digital, Hybrid- & Software-Designs, Polyphony, Literature, Rhythm Sources and much more.

In other words, all you want to know for a good start into the worlds of patching your own sound ideas with Modular Synthesizers, conventional Synthesizers and Software Synthesizers!

Full color print, 300 pages, English language

Notes: Conversations with the avant-garde's leading lights--from Suicide to Anohni -- by experimental music's go-to interviewer, guitarist and sound artist Alan Licht. For the past 30 years, Alan Licht has been a performer, programmer and chronicler of New York's art and music scenes. His dry wit, deep erudition and unique perspective -- informed by decades of experience as a touring and recording guitarist in the worlds of experimental music and underground rock -- have distinguished him as the go-to writer for profiles of adventurous artists across genres. A precocious scholar and improvisor, by the time he graduated from Vassar College in 1990 Licht had already authored important articles on minimalist composers La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine, and recorded with luminaries such as Rashied Ali and Thurston Moore. In 1999 he became a regular contributor to the British experimental music magazine the Wire while continuing to publish in a wide array of periodicals, ranging from the artworld glossies to underground fanzines. Common Tones gathers a selection of never-before-published interviews, many conducted during the writing of Licht's groundbreaking profiles, alongside extended versions of his celebrated conversations with artists, previously untranscribed public exchanges and new dialogues held on the occasion of this collection. Even Lou Reed, a notoriously difficult interviewee, was impressed. Interviews by Alan Licht with Vito Acconci, ANOHNI, Cory Arcangel, Matthew Barney, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, the Dream Syndicate's Karl Precoda, Richard Foreman, Henry Flynt, Milford Graves, Adris Hoyos, Ken Jacobs, Jutta Koether, Christian Marclay, Phill Niblock, Alessandra Novaga, Tony Oursler, Lou Reed, Kelly Reichardt, The Sea and Cake, Suicide, Michael Snow, Greg Tate, Tom Verlaine, Rudy Wurlitzer and Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan. Introduction by Jay Sanders.

Notes: New edition of Dancehall, Beth Lesser's seminal photography and style book capturing the rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture in the 1980s. The book also features a new introduction by the British fashion designer and art curator Duro Olowu.

Featuring 100s and 100s of amazing photographs - all with accompanying text, interviews and biographies,'Dancehall' is an essential reference book for anyone interested in Reggae and captures a previously unseen era of musical culture, fashion and lifestyle in stunning, vibrant colour.

Aside from the music, this book is as much about Jamaican fashion and style. Beth Lesser's Dancehall photographs in this book have directly influenced fashion brands including Aime Leon Dore ('Kingston 1983' collection), recent Levi's Vintage and Farah collections.

Dancehall is a culture that encompasses music, fashion, drugs, guns, art, community, technology, and more. Born in the 1950s out of the neighbourhood soundsystems of Kingston, Dancehall grew to its height in the 1980s before a massive influx of drugs and guns made the scene too dangerous for many. Today Dancehall remains at the centre of Jamaican musical and cultural life. From its roots in Kingston in the 1950s to its heyday in the 1980s, Dancehall conquered the globe spreading to the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Europe and beyond.

In the early 1980s Jamaica was in the throws of political and gang violence - photographer Beth Lesser ventured where few other dared and this book is a never-before-seen record of the exciting, dangerous and vibrant world of Dancehall.

Living in Jamaica in the late 70s and early 80s she photographed and documented a cultural explosion as producers, singers, DJs and soundsystems who all made a living out of the slums of Kingston. With unprecedented access to the incredibly vibrant music scene during this period, Beth Lesser's photographs are a unique way into a previously hidden part of Jamaican culture.

Notes: They were unlike any other band in the punk scene they called home. NoMeansNo started in the basement of the family home of brothers Rob and John Wright in 1979. For the next three decades, they would add and then replace a guitar player, sign a record deal with Alternative Tentacles and tour the world. All along the way, they kept their integrity, saying "NO" to many mainstream opportunities. It was for this reason the band (intentionally) never became a household name, but earned the respect and love of thousands of fans around the world, including some who became big rock stars themselves. They were expertly skilled musicians playing a new kind of punk: intelligent, soulful, hilarious, and complex. They were also really nice Canadian dudes.

NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion is the fully authorized oral and visual history of this highly influential and enigmatic band which has never been told before now. Author Jason Lamb obtained exclusive access to all four former members and interviewed hundreds of people in their orbit, from managers and roadies to fellow musicians, friends, and family members. The result is their complete story, from the band's inception in 1979 to their retirement in 2016, along with hundreds of photos, posters, and memorabilia, much of which has never been seen publicly before.

For established fans, this book serves as a "love letter" to their favourite group and provides many details previously unknown. For those curious about the story and influence of NoMeansNo, it reveals an eye-opening tale of how a punk band could be world class musicians while truly "doing it themselves." Their impact and importance cannot be overstated, and NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion is the essential archive.

Book details:

Author: Jason Lamb with Paul Prescott o Foreword by Fred Armisen o Afterword by W. Buzz Ryan
Publisher: PM Press
Published: January 2024
Format: Paperback
Size: 8 x 10
Pages: 336
Subjects: Music / Punk

Praise

"With From Obscurity to Oblivion, Jason has documented every part big and small associated with the story of NomeansNo, isolating them into a book filled with an explosion of posters, clippings, and interviews. Yes, what he has created is worthy of a run on sentence! This is it! The definitive tome! From Obscurity to Oblivion has so many sub plots and stories I don't know how Jason edited it! A fascinating read and look (did I mention all the tidbits and pictures?) into the legendary Victoria, BC band."

-Nardwuar The Human Serviette

"Out of the blue, NoMeansNo showed up in San Francisco. Playing to a tiny crowd at a tiny dive bar. Blew the roof off several buildings in a matter of minutes. The drums and the bass were so tight and so intense, it was almost like they were one person. Could they be brothers? Ruth Schwartz of Mordam and I smiled warily at each other, thinking, 'Ok, which one of us gets this one...?' And that wonderful era we will always treasure began..."

-Jello Biafra

"I don't understand how the hell all these punks remember everything that made them the legends they are, but after reading NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion, I'm grateful they do! The often forgotten third point of the Canadian trifecta (Rush, Voivod, and NoMeansNo), this incredibly thorough oral history is a necessary read for any punk."

-Shawna Potter, singer for War On Women, author of Making Spaces Safer A Guide to Giving Harassment the Boot Wherever You Work, Play, and Gather

"NoMeansNo mashed all the best in hard rock, metal, punk, and the art of politics in throughout their eleven albums, and Jason Lamb's book is just as important to the understanding of Canadian music and the band's astonishing place in it. We might not have the band around anymore, but this book will make you wish they were."

-Eric Alper, ThatEricAlper.com

"Jason Lamb has birthed into the world a stunning work of punk rock scholarship. Mirroring the complexity of the NoMeansNo story and the array of bands Rob and John inspired and influenced, there could be no other way to present the tale other than oral history. It reads like a panoramic-but at each stop, reverent-a celebration of this Canadian progressive punk treasure, and one feels the love with every speaker. But Lamb also interjects with necessary action points just to make sure we understand the near indescribable. Along the way as well, elucidating pictures help tell the story. The end effect is saga told in granular detail, yet made swiftly readable due to the format."

-Martin Popoff, author of The Clash: All the Albums, All the Songs and Ramones at 40

"If you've never heard NoMeansNo, shame on you. If you have, then you're in the know. Either way, they're one of the most important underground bands of all-time, and this book is for you."

-Sam Dunn, Banger Films

"Consider this book THEE definitive history of one of Canada's all-time greatest bands. A must-read for music fans, musicians, and punks the world over. NoMeansNo and author Jason Lamb shows you how to GET IT DONE."

-Grant Lawrence, CBC Music and bestselling author of Dirty Windshields

"NoMeansNo were, in fact, the greatest punk rock group that ever existed; of that I am absolutely sure. In this snappy, fabulously readable oral history, writer Jason Lamb has done an admirable job in tracking down all of the main players plus a gratifying array of musicians from bands such as Fugazi, Soundgarden, Faith No More, Foo Fighters, and Black Flag, who turn out to be staunch fans. Their incredible back catalogue is just waiting to be discovered by a younger audience and hopefully this book will be picked up by young souls who will be inspired to do something unique and audacious themselves. Probably the greatest gift NoMeansNo have left us fans is the idea that we have to work it out for ourselves; to do it for ourselves."

-John Doran, the Quietus UK

About the Contributors

Jason Lamb was born and raised in Victoria, BC Canada. After pursuing a career in stand-up comedy in Vancouver for fourteen years, he went back to school for broadcast journalism and moved back to his hometown of Victoria in 2008. Since then, Jason has been one half of the morning show at The Zone @ 91-3. He also produces and hosts "The Punk Show on The Zone," a weekly uncensored and commercial-free showcase of punk rock new and old, local and otherwise. It was on this show where he first interviewed members of his favourite band, NoMeansNo. That connection helped convince the band to allow Jason access to their incredible story. When not on the radio or doing stand-up, Jason enjoys full contact snooker and writing flattering biographies of himself.

Paul Prescott is a retired engineer from Maine who currently lives in Belize. He has been a NoMeansNo fan since the mid 80s.

Fred Armisen is one of the great comedians of this generation. A cast member on Saturday Night Live, Fred went on to create the hilarious Portlandia series with Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney). He has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows over the past two decades. Before his career in comedy and acting, Fred was the drummer of Chicago band Trenchmouth. His band opened for NoMeansNo in Texas in the mid 1990s. Fred is a very big fan of NMN.

W. Buzz Ryan is a fictional character who is actually the writing of NoMeansNo guitarist Tom Holliston. W. Buzz provided satirical and strange essays that served as liner notes on many NMN albums, as well as press releases and radio spots. He is a beloved and misunderstood member of the NoMeansNo universe.