Thomas Bey William Bailey – Micro Bionic

Micro-bionic: Radical Electronic Music and Sound Art in the 21st Century

Micro Bionic is an exciting survey of electronic music and sound art from cultural critic and mixed-media artist Thomas Bey William Bailey, composed 2006-2008 and first published in late 2009 in both hardcover and paperback editions.

This new edition includes all of the original supplements refused by the publishers of the first edition, including a full index, bibliography, additional notes / commentary and an updated discography.

As the title suggests, the unifying theme of the book is that of musicians and sound artists taking bold leaps forward in spite of (or sometimes because of) their financial, technological, and social restrictions.

Some symptoms of this condition include the gigantic discography amassed by the one-man project Merzbow, the drama of silence enacted by onkyo and New Berlin Minimalism, the annihilating noise transmitted from the humble laptop computers of Russell Haswell and Peter Rehberg and much more besides.

Although the journey begins in the Industrial 1980s, in order to trace how the innovations of that period have gained greater currency in the present, it surveys a wide array of artists breaking ground in the 21st century with radical attitudes and techniques.

A healthy amount of global travel and concentrated listening have combined to make this a sophisticated yet accessible document, unafraid to explore both the transgressive extremes of this culture and the more deftly concealed interstices thereof.

Part historical document, part survival manual for the marginalized electronic musician, part sociological investigation, Micro Bionic is a number of different things, and as such will likely generate a variety of reactions from inspiration to offense.

Numerous exclusive interviews with leading lights of the field were also conducted for this book:
William Bennett (Whitehouse)
Peter Christopherson (r.i.p., Throbbing Gristle / Coil)
Peter Rehberg
John Duncan
Francisco López
Carl Michael von Hausswolff
Bob Ostertag
Zbigniew Karkowski
and many others weigh in with a diversity of thoughts and opinions that underscore the incredible diversity to be found within new electronic music itself.

Softcover
404 Pages
Dimensions: 23 x 15 x 2.7cm Printed: USA, 2013
Weight: 700g