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Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture


rino

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I know it has been around for a while, but quite recently, an expanded edition came out, and I was wondering what are your thoughts on the book?

 

Has anyone read it?

 

Personally, despite its very subjective approach, I still consider it the most competent and comprehensive overview of electronic music. Plus, Simon Reynolds is, in my opinion, a bar none historian of electronic music, and way more than that. He lived it, breathed it, and was a part of it as it grew. Hence, his personal flashbacks and experiences add a really human touch to what could have been an annoying and geekish catalogue of dates, tours and albums...

 

Sure goa & psy trance are practically non-existent in his work (no more than 10 pages in a 550+ page book), for those who want to broaden their horizons outside the beaches of Chapora and Arambol, this is a compulsory read.

 

Covering everything from the earliest Chicago house, Detroit techno, Belgium massive explosion through R&S, London, Liverpool, Ma(d)nchester, Essex, Germany (Frnakfurt, Berlin...), hardcore, ambient, acid house, gabber, progressive house, dubstep, electro, micro house, whatever - you have got to hate the slightest notion of electronic music if you don't find a chapter or two to your interest in this book!

 

I read it, and it's entertaining as much as it's educational, as it focuses on way more than just music, naming and remembering the key promoters, drugs, DJs, parties, illegal raves, mega clubs, alleged true stories, gosspip, load of trivia, run-ins with the law, organizers, flyer designers, pirate DJs, radio shows, festivals, intercontinental distributors, white label kings... Man, just too much stuff to handle and write down.

 

I will definitely come back to this one in years to come, use it as a reference point as far as electronic music is concerned, and I still haven't got around to listening to all the tracks listed as essential classics throughtout its many many many pages...

 

I give it my highest recommendation, especially if you want to up your game about the music we all hold so dear!

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I read it, both editions, though Reynolds' casual racism (assertions like blacks are into rhythmically complex music, while whites prefer melody and harmony) always kept me from fully enjoying the book. And I'm really not down with the erasing of people of color from the Goa trance scene.

 

Also, he comes from a background of punk rock, and carries from it a strong bias against psychedelia and prog. He mellowed a little bit in the newer edition but you can still see it in fr'ex his writing on FSOL and other ambient techno artists. I agree, Reynolds did a ton of legwork and the book's full of useful documentation of the EDM culture. You just have to keep in mind that it's a very biased report, heavily slanted towards the author's musical preferences and cultural attitudes (something he himself admits) rather than a comprehensive document.

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