soundscapes objectivity contemporary sample-based

books:

Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person

5 reviews
Mary Caroline Richards

Wesleyan, 1989

A classic book on holistic poetics & pedagogy.
Innumerable poets, potters, artists & teachers have been touched by Mary Caroline Richards. Ever attentive to the whole person, Richards shows that a truly liberating creativity arises out of compassion, an attentive stillness of soul, self-acceptance & a delight in creative "accidents." For Richards, the words "teacher" and "student" are interchangeable. She gently reminds us that she is ...

Silence: Lectures and Writings

8 reviews
John Cage

Wesleyan, 1961

Nothing Has Been The Same
It's always a strange sensation for me to go into a record store, or even see what's available here, and find so many John Cage recordings in print. As the most essential and avant-garde composer of the century, that's gratifying to me [a composer] but also unnerving that anyone so experimental and uncompromising in the arts would enjoy such popularity. This book goes a long way towards ...

Anthony Mann (Wesleyan Film)

1 review
Jeanine Basinger

Wesleyan, 2007

Pioneering work on an unsung auteur...
Director Anthony Mann rode the wave of a succession of trends in Hollywood between the '40's and the '60's, yet managed to carve out a unique personal style. His career had a pleasing upward trajectory, from grimy black and white b crime dramas,to spectacular technicolor westerns and finally to widescreen cast-of-thousands epics. As his budgets got bigger, his stories were set further and further ...

Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening (Music/Culture)

1 review
Christopher Small

Wesleyan, 1998

Musicking is Relational--Refutes idea of "absolute music"
According to Small, there is no such thing as "music." "Music" is a abstract reification of what is fundamentally of a process--'musicking.' Moreover, the term "music" is not held in hegemonic circles to be just *any* product of a process, but rather the product of the process of producing what is known as Western classical music. This music is today commonly perceived as being absolute or ...

Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Music/Culture)

5 reviews
Tricia Rose

Wesleyan, 1994

Very interesting (but "brilliant"???)
This is an impressive interpretation of Black musical culture, with loads of interesting information and pertinent feminist content. I've read several books with somewhat similar subject matter, from Dick Hebdige's broad and helpful survey to the rather pretentious book by Russell Potter; but none of them captured my interest as much as this one.

The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I'll Kill You (Wesleyan Film)
Lisa Dombrowski

Wesleyan, 2008

A cigar-chomping storyteller who signaled "Action!" by shooting a gun, Samuel Fuller has been lionized as one of the most distinctive writer/directors ever to emerge from Hollywood. In such films as The Steel Helmet, Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor, and The Big Red One, Fuller gleefully challenged classical and generic norms--and often standards of good taste--in an effort to shock and arouse audiences. Tackling war, crime, race, and ...

Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Music Culture)

4 reviews
Robert Walser

Wesleyan, 1993

Heavy Metal Gets Its Due
I'm currently taking a class on cultural anthropology right now, and as a huge music buff / budding musician, I found this gem while searching the racks at my university. Not only did it help me to realize the cultural biases surrounding a type of music that I am fond of, but also expand my mind in terms of musical application, song construction, and the true inspiration for some of Heavy Metal's ...

The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943

14 reviews
Inge Scholl

Wesleyan, 1983

It gives me hope
For those unfamiliar with the story of The White Rose, it is a testament to the power and courage of those who are willing to stand up for freedom and independence in a world gone mad. Once again I find this book paticularly compelling today, for obvious reasons. The pamphlets the White Rose students distributed (that they subsequently paid the ultimate price for) are reprinted in their entirety ...

The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen (Wesleyan Poetry)

1 review
Philip Whalen

Wesleyan, 2007

The Beat Louvre
This remarkable collection gathers the full range of work from one of the 20th century's most unpretentious experimenters with the form and matter of poetry. Granted, 800 pages is a lot of anyone, even a poet as great and under-read as Whalen, and the gain in information comes with a corresponding loss in shape. Whalen's refusal to separate writing from the business-as-usual work of living gives ...

Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge

5 reviews
Georg G. Iggers

Wesleyan, 2005

An excellent and well-written overview.
One of the great revelations I had in college many, many years ago occurred in the stacks of the library. I was doing some research on Wilhelm Dilthey and found myself looking at several thousands of books devoted to the history of philosophy. At that moment I began to have some idea on how difficult it is to acquire a magisterial overview of any field of inquiry. It takes a lifetime of study and ...

Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan Poetry)

6 reviews
Yusef Komunyakaa

Wesleyan, 1993

LANGUAGE LIT UP: SOUL-TO-SOUL COMMUNICATION
After I saw the movie "Il Postino" ("The Postman"), I was so moved and intrigued I had to go check out the poetry of Pablo Neruda. And after I heard Yusef Komunyakaa read from his own work, I immediately had to buy this collection of his poetry, NEON VERNACULAR, a book I have singularly cherished ever since. Long ago, a friend defined poetry for me as "the marriage of meaning and music." I ...

Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (Music Culture)

6 reviews
Michael Veal

Wesleyan, 2007

Droppin' Science
While there may be some readers grumbling about the author's 'dryness' in this volume, I found it to be a unique and invaluable resource in bringing out many heretofore unknown details of dub production techniques from some of its most revered protagonists. This book authoritatively helps frame Dub in the greater context of Jamaica's musical and cultural landscape in the second half of the ...

Selected Poems (Wesleyan Poetry)

7 reviews
James Tate

Wesleyan, 1991

LOVE IT!!
I had never even heard of James Tate until we began to study him in my 20th century literature class in college. Now I don't know how I had ever not been aware of this man. I love this book and his overall work. Some of my favorite poems from this collection are: The Pet Deer, Goodtime Jesus, and Neighbors. I was also lucky enough to have Tate come to my college last night and read some of ...

Critical Theory and Science Fiction

1 review
Carl Freedman

Wesleyan, 2000

Critical Theory needs critical response
It's amazing that people can judge a book by reading excerpts on the net. Critical Theory and Science Fiction is not an easy read but CT never was or will be. You don't have to agree with the Marxist theories of Bloch and Adorno, Carl Freedman uses to make his various points, to appreciate his insights and the challenges he throws at the reader. That is what academics are supposed to do and ...

Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop (Music Culture)

4 reviews
Joseph G. Schloss

Wesleyan, 2004

Finally someone gets it right
I'm usually pretty skeptical of books written about hip-hop by authors with PhD's. Most of the time, they don't get it. They aren't hip hop heads, although they might own a few Cd's. Mike Dyson, Tricia Rose, et cetera. I think this book gets it right. But the title of this book is misleading. It's not a how-to book on making hip hop beats. It's an ethnographic study on hip hop ...

American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics (Wesleyan Poetry)

2 reviews

Wesleyan, 2007

An accompanying audio CD of readings from each poet rounds out this superb text
Poets and English professors Claudia Rankine and Lisa Sewell have meticulously assembled an ideal introduction to contemporary American poets and poetry in American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics. The heart of American Poets in the 21st Century is comprised of the voices of thirteen notable contributing poets: Joshua Clover, Stacy Doris, Peter Gizzi, Kenneth Goldsmith, Myung Mi Kim, ...

Grace, Fallen from (Wesleyan Poetry)
Marianne Boruch

Wesleyan, 2008

In her wry and riveting new collection, Marianne Boruch discovers things often taken for granted and holds them up to deceptively casual light, questioning them both mercilessly and mercifully. Employing a masterly range of tone and form, Boruch makes a sometimes strange but always revealing investigation of world and self, history and memory, resistance and release. Here a woman levitates behind a door as her daughter badly bangs out Mozart. ...

Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism (Wesleyan Film)
Kent Jones

Wesleyan, 2007

An expert writer and thinker on movie history and directorial style, Kent Jones is among the most notable film critics of his generation. His sharp, informed analyses and cogent assessments of cinema and its practitioners have made him a significant voice both in America and internationally. Jones' inaugural collection brings together the best of his reviews (on films including In the Mood for Love, A History of Violence, and The New World), ...

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