Extreme Music

From Silence to Noise and Everything In between

by Michael Tau

Published by: Feral House

Imprint: Feral House

480 Pages, 7.00 x 10.00 in, 45 black and white photos 25 color images in a photo insert

Paperback
9781627311243
Published: October 2022

$29.95

Other Retailers:

Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

SECTION I: EXTREME SCENES

I.1 LOUD ............................................................................................15

I.1.1 The Loudness War.............................................................15

I.1.2 Noise Music.......................................................................18

I.1.3 Harsh Noise Wall..............................................................22

I.2 QUIET ............................................................................................33

I.2.1 Drone..................................................................................34

I.2.2 New Age Music.................................................................34

I.2.3 Ambient..............................................................................37

I.2.4 Homemade Drone............................................................39

I.2.5 Lowercase..........................................................................40

I.2.6 Onkyô................................................................................44

I.3 VULGAR..........................................................................................47

I.3.1 Blood and Guts.................................................................47

I.3.2 Pornogrind.........................................................................54

I.4 FAST ............................................................................................61

I.4.1 Speedcore..........................................................................62

I.4.2 Splittercore........................................................................69

I.4.3 Extratone...........................................................................71

I.4.4 Flashcore............................................................................73

I.5 FOUND...........................................................................................77

SECTION II: EXTREME DURATIONS

II.1 LONG ............................................................................................97

II.2 SHORT ...........................................................................................111

SECTION III: EXTREME RECORDS

III.1 LATHE-CUT....................................................................................127

III.2 LARGE .......................................................................................... 131

III.3 SMALL ..........................................................................................135

III.4 SHAPES.........................................................................................141

III.4.1 Places...............................................................................142

III.4.2 Sawblades.......................................................................143

III.4.3 Beyond.............................................................................146

III.5 PICTURES......................................................................................149

III.5.1 Picture Disc Prehistory...................................................149

III.5.2 Vogue Records................................................................150

III.5.3 Red Raven Records’ Zoetrope Discs............................. 151

III.5.4 Picture Discs in the Rock Era..........................................152

III.6 ADULTERATED .............................................................................159

III.7 NON-VINYL .................................................................................165

III.7.1 Records That Melt...........................................................165

III.7.2 Project Dark.....................................................................168

III.7.3 Other Unusual Materials................................................ 171

SECTION IV: TECHNOLOGICAL QUIRKS

IV.1 CHIPTUNE ....................................................................................177

IV.2 LOBIT ..........................................................................................183

IV.3 FLOPPIES ..................................................................................... 191

IV.3.1 Early Floppy History....................................................... 191

IV.3.2 Floppies as Subculture....................................................193

IV.4 MICROCASSETTES .......................................................................199

IV.4.1 Microcassettor.................................................................199

IV.4.2 One-Touch Recordings....................................................200

IV.4.3 dirgefunk’s microcassettes............................................201

IV.4.4 Dictaphonia......................................................................202

IV.4.5 Dictafawn.........................................................................203

IV.4.6 Lavender Sweep.............................................................204

IV.5 8-TRACKS .....................................................................................207

IV.5.1 Malcolm Tent’s 8-Track Obsession................................208

IV.5.2 8-Tracks in the Nineties.................................................. 210

IV.5.3 The 21st Century............................................................. 210

IV.6 CYLINDERS................................................................................... 215

IV.7 NON-TRADITIONAL FORMATS................................................... 219

IV.7.1 USB & SD.......................................................................... 219

IV.7.2 Self-Reliant Formats........................................................220

SECTION V: EXTREME PACKAGING

V.1 ELABORATE..................................................................................227

V.1.1 History of Elaborate Packaging....................................228

V.1.2 American Tapes...............................................................229

V.1.3 MSBR Records.................................................................233

V.1.4 Toxic Industries / Very Toxic.........................................235

V.1.5 Others...............................................................................239

V.2 DISGUSTING ...............................................................................243

V.2.1 Disgusting Accoutrements .............................................247

V.2.2 Packs................................................................................247

V.2.3 Body Fluids......................................................................248

V.2.4 Perishables......................................................................252

V.2.5 A Final Anecdote.............................................................255

SECTION VI: RECORDINGS?

VI.1 SILENT ..........................................................................................261

VI.1.1 Silent Pioneers.................................................................261

VI.1.2 Silent Recordings.............................................................263

VI.2 DAMAGED ...................................................................................273

VI.3 UNPLAYABLE ...............................................................................281

VI.3.1 Anti-Records & Underground Music.............................283

VI.3.2 RRRecords’ Anti-Records................................................284

VI.3.3 The Haters........................................................................286

VI.3.4 Major Ego Produkt Objekts & Aktions.........................289

VI.3.5 One-Off Anti-Records in the Nineties............................292

VI.3.6 Anti-Recordings in Other Formats.................................295

VI.3.7 Contemporary Anti-Recordings: NONE Records,

Michael Ridge, and Auris Apothecary.........................298

VI.3.9 Anti-Recordings: Tying It All Together..........................304

SECTION VII: THE DIGITAL AGE

VII.1 WAVES.......................................................................................... 313

VII.1.1 Mallsoft............................................................................ 313

VII.1.2 Broken Transmission.......................................................321

VII.1.3 Late Night Lo-Fi...............................................................324

VII.2 RINGTONES.................................................................................327

VII.3 BLACK MIDI ................................................................................331

VII.4 OUTSIDERS...................................................................................333

VII.4.1 R.A.E.D.............................................................................333

VII.4.2 Viper.................................................................................335

VII.4.3 Farrah Abraham.............................................................336

VII.4.4 Al Walser.........................................................................337

VII.4.5 Chief Kooffreh.................................................................338

VII.4.6 Fallen Vengeance............................................................338

VII.4.7 Girls With Attitude..........................................................339

VII.4.8 Ornaments of Agony......................................................340

VII.4.9 Hekaloth Records............................................................340

VII.4.10 Tonetta.............................................................................341

"Extreme Music deserves extreme documentation, and Michael Tau is more than up to the task. There's so much to confront–and be confronted by–in the nearly 350 pages he's written, a dizzying compendium of wild sounds, strange sights, radical concepts, and hidden histories. Oh, and also bodily fluids. If you're into any art that pushes limits until they shatter, you'll be into Extreme Music."
Marc Masters (No Wave (Black Dog, 2007) and Hi Bias: A Distorted History of the Cassette Tape (University of North Carolina Press, 2023)

"Having spent 15 years seeking out, soliciting, and publishing about bizarre, odd, and extremely unusual music, Extreme Music nevertheless is a portal to an incredible metaverse that I knew had to exist and which I had yet to plumb. Owing to the ease of further research via the Web, this seemingly small tome is sure to send you — as it did me — into googles of wormholes to learn more about the overwhelming aural discoveries disclosed in this must-have music reference."
Randall Fleming, MetroHop Books

"Just finished reading Extreme Music, and found it to be very entertaining and informative--there were a number of topics addressed that are near and dear to my heart: the Noise stuff (I'm actually friends with a few of the folks interviewed), and the obscure/obsolete recording formats. The extreme metal stuff I'm not that familiar with, so it was interesting to learn how far it has splintered into subgenres The Black Midi stuff was fascinating, I was completely unaware of its existence--I was intrigued that someone had formulated "rules" for what makes a good black midi composition...it brought to mind Conlon Nancarrow's compositions for player pianos! There’s enough topic breadth to replace a whole bookshelf of academic works! Would definitely recommend!"
Dan of Earth, infamous Milwaukee noiser