David toop is a musician, writer, and professor of audio culture and improvisation at the london college of communication, university of the arts london. Rap attack now in its third edition, ocean of sound, and exotica selected as a winner of the 21st annual american books awards for 2000. The author delights in sharing personal and considered insights in a book that explores the political, sociological and psychological avenues that explain great artists and music creations. He has published five books, currently translated into six languages. He has recorded shamanistic ceremonies in amazonas, appeared on top of the pops with the flying lizards, worked with musicians including brian eno, john zorn, prince far i, jon hassell, derek bailey, talvin singh, evan parker, max eastley, scanner, ivor cutler, and collaborated with artists from. Beginning in 1889 at the paris exposition when debussy first heard javanese music performed, ocean of sound channels the competing instincts of 20th century music into an. Aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds, which examined music as a medium for.
From the outside it seems as if being informed that we are all david toop now must put you. Aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds toop, david isbn 10. His standing as an genrestraddling musicians was secured decades ago when he was one of the few handpicked artists for brian enos obscure label in the mid70s and since then has put out dozens of solo albums and collaborations. The wire magazine british literature music criticism music journalism articles. His music journalism appears in the wire, book forum, the times and the face. His first book, rap attack, is now in its third edition. Ocean of sound begins in 1889 at the paris exposition when debussy first heard javanese music performed. David toop, who lives in london, is a writer, musician and recording artist. Music, improvisation and the dream of freedom, volume 1 2016 cobbing w, cooper r, krogh groth s, toop d, wilson a. David toop is a highly regarded author, music critic and musician.
Not just the breadth of the work but the way that toop is able to tie together all these threads. A collection of music to accompany david toop s book, ocean of sound. Jun 25, 2012 it includes seven acclaimed books, including rap attack 1984, ocean of sound 1995, sinister resonance 2010 and into the maelstrom 2016, the latter a guardian music book of the year, shortlisted for the penderyn music book prize. Oct 30, 2018 ocean of sound by david toop, 9781788160308, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. If i had to name a few books on music that were essential reading, one of them would have to be david toops ocean of sound.
David toop has 26 books on goodreads with 6117 ratings. Woke from a dream this morning that instantly made me think of the book. Toop published his pioneering book on hip hop, rap attack, in 1984. Toops work is an amazing exploration of ambientimmersion music that ranges from sun ra to jon hassell to erik satie to tibet monks to herbie hancock to aphex twin and on and on. David toop, both may 5 1949, is an english origin musician, professor and author best known for his contributions at the british music magazine. Maggoty lamb interviews visionary music critic david toop. He has published three books, currently translated into six languages. Ocean of sound is a 1996 compilation album compiled and produced by english musician and author david toop. But english musician, curator, composer, and writer david toop regularly takes it to the page anyway, from 1996s ocean of sound, a landmark study of music as immersive environment, to 1999s exotica. A 1996 ambient compilation compiled by the sound artist and composer david toop, and distributed by virgin records.
David toop author of ocean of sound david toop born 5 may 1949 is an english musician, author, and professor and chair of audio culture and improvisation at the london college of communic. The mediumship of the listener was published in 2010. May 17, 2012 one of the books that i ended up reading was david toops ocean of sound. Aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds 1995 in a recent essay for the wire, simon reynolds puts forward the notion that we are all david toop now. Ocean of sound aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary. Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication by david toop at barnes.
Sun ra, brian eno, lee perry, kate bush, kraftwerk, aphex twin, ryuichi sakamoto and. This playlist is for those who may suffer from all the names david toop is talking about. His music journalism appears in the wire, village voice, the times and the face. The twodisc, crosslicensed various artists compilation contains 32 tracks culled from a variety of musical sources, including dub, exotica, free jazz, and field recordings. I was reminded of this book recently while doing some random perusing of my favorite web sites and found a link to a pdf of david toop s ocean of sound i didnt think about it a lot, but i did quickly move to take a look at it, for old times sake. My impression is he freeassociated and freewheeled through a whole roster of ideas and musicians, possible and impossible realms of music as a phenomenon, and linked them. Since 1995 he has released three solo albums, curated five compilation albums including the soundtrack to ocean of sound, and the sound and music exhibition at the hayward gallery sonic. David toop is a composermusician, author and curator based in london, working in many fields of sound art and music since the late 1960s. In 2007, toop s solo album sound body was released by david sylvian and steve jansens samadhisound label. Author of ocean of sound, rap attack 2, haunted weather, decomposition as music process, david toop, chasing rainbows, buried dreams, sinister resonance. David toop traces the evolution of this culture, through erik satie to the velvet undergound. Fold, a listening environment, was performed at hundred years gallery, e2 8jd, during the afternoon of saturday march 24 th, 2018. A doubledisc set, ocean of sound impresses not only with its incredible diversity of musical styles, but with how easily these artists work next to each other. Ocean of sound by david toop overdrive rakuten overdrive.
A culture absorbed in perfume, light and ambient sound developed in response to the intangibility of 20th century communications. He is the author of ocean of sound, sinister resonance, into the maelstrom, and other books. Read ocean of sound ambient sound and radical listening in the age of. In the book, toop said that ambient music can be defined as music listened for relaxation or music that taps into the disturbing, chaotic undertow of the environment. The classic account of ambient music, with a new foreword by michel faber. David toops restless agility takes the reader on an amazing journey down winding paths and switchbacks. I had a book that id just finished that had been produced through a really, really terrible period, but i had managed to finish it. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. In 1995, david toop published his second book, ocean of sound.
A collection of music to accompany david toops book, ocean of sound. In 2007, toops solo album sound body was released by david sylvian and steve jansens samadhisound label. Ocean of sound ebook by david toop 9781788161046 rakuten. If that wasnt enough, hes also had an exalted writing career which has included articles for all kinds of publications across the us and uk including the face, esquire, the wire as well as justlylauded books such as rap attack one of the first books on the style, ocean of sound, exotica and haunted weather. Sun ra, brian eno, lee perry, kate bush, kraftwerk, aphex twin, ryuichi sakamoto and brian wilson are interviewed in this extraordinary work of sonic history that travels from the rainforests of amazonas to virtual las vegas, from david lynchs dream house, high in the. Since 1995 he has released three solo albums, curated five compilation albums including the soundtrack to ocean of sound, and the sound and music exhibition at the hayward gallery \\sonic boom\\. He was a member of the flying lizards and a contributor to the british magazine the face. David toop ocean of sound ocean of sound begins in 1889 at the paris exposition when debussy first heard javanese music performed.
David toop is an english musician, author and professor of audio culture and improvisation at the london college of communication. Aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds, which examined music as a medium for deep mental involvement. Ocean of sound by david toop, 9781852427436, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. This blog was set up to share our own fan thoughts, news and the latest content surrounding david toop and his life as a successful musician and author. The audio companion to david toop s excellent book advances the case he made, that les baxter, aphex twin, the beach boys, herbie hancock, king tubby and my bloody valentine are all related by their effect on sound pioneering. Silent writing book excerpt december 2019 you could say that david toop is a something of a polymath. David toops extraordinary work of sonic history travels from the rainforests of amazonas. This is a fan base blog for our inspiration, david toop. David toop born 5th may 1949, enfield, london, england is a musician, writer and sound curator. Ocean of sound aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds history of ambient music david toop download bok. Briefly a member of david cunninghams pop project the flying lizards his guitar can be heard sampled on. Aether talk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds by david toop.
Jun 01, 2001 david toop is a highly regarded author, music critic and musician. Mar 31, 2017 author of ocean of sound, rap attack 2, haunted weather, decomposition as music process, david toop, chasing rainbows, buried dreams, sinister resonance. Rap attack now in its third edition, ocean of sound, exotica selected as a winner of the 21st annual american books awards for 2000, haunted weather and sinister resonance. Since 1995 he has released three solo albums, curated five compilation albums including the soundtrack to ocean of sound, and the sound and music exhibition at the hayward galler. Ocean of sound by david toop, michel faber waterstones. This blog was set up to share our own fan thoughts, news and the latest content surrounding david toop and his life as a. Ocean of sound was written by david toop, a british musicthinker, who has a history within the. If i had to name a few books on music that were essential reading, one of them would have to be david toop s ocean of sound. Its one of the best books about music ive ever read. Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication serpents tail classics paperback. Ocean of sound by david toop and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.
David toop is one of the better music writers out there right now. David toop born 1949 is an english musician, author, and as of 2001 was visiting research fellow at the london media school. Jul 03, 2004 in his previous book, ocean of sound, musician and critic david toop traced the 20thcentury roots of the genre, with edgard vareses musique concrete and john cages 433, in which the music. Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication. Music is difficult to capture in words, but soundof all varieties, from industrial noise to pastoral nearsilenceis even more daunting. Reflecting on david toops ocean of sound matt borghi. Ocean of sound begins in 1889 at the paris exposition when debussy first. Currently cocurator of sculpture events with artist rie nakajima, he has appeared on top of the pops, exhibited sound installations internationally, and worked with artists including john latham, john zorn, evan parker, bob cobbing, derek.
My impression is he freeassociated and freewheeled through a whole roster of ideas and musicians, possible and impossible realms of music as a phenomenon, and linked them to general cultural trends of previous and tangibly close eras. Since 1995 he has released three solo albums, curated five compilation albums including the soundtrack to ocean of sound, and the sound and music exhibition at the hayward gallery sonic boom. Id just written the book ocean of sound, and this terrible thing happened in my life. Toop, ive been reading ocean of sound over the past few weeks. Professor david toop is a composermusician, author and curator active in many fields of music, writing and listening practice, particularly improvisation. An ethereal culture developed in response to the intangibility of 20th century communications. Toop s work is an amazing exploration of ambientimmersion music that ranges from sun ra to jon hassell to erik satie to tibet monks to herbie hancock to aphex twin and on and on. David toop s extraordinary work of sonic history travels from the rainforests of amazonas to the megalopolis of tokyo via the work of artists as diverse as brian eno, sun ra, erik satie, kate bush, kraftwerk and brian wilson. The audio companion to david toops excellent book advances the case he made, that les baxter, aphex twin, the beach boys, herbie hancock, king tubby and my bloody valentine are all related by their effect on sound pioneering. One of the books that i ended up reading was david toop s ocean of sound. Toop wrote another book, haunted memory, which was accompanied by another doublecd compilation, released this time by staubgold. Since 1995 he has released three solo albums, curated five compilation albums including the.