How To Wreck a Beach by Dave Tompkins
Collectible Hardcover First Edition. Discover the secret history of the electronic voice. In How to Wreck a Nice Beach, music journalist Dave Tompkins masterfully traces the evolution of the vocoder—from its origins as a WWII military speech-scrambling device used by FDR and Churchill to its transformation into the definitive sonic signature of hip-hop, electro, and pop music.
The title itself is a legendary mishearing: when Bell Labs scientists tested their new speech-recognition technology, the encoded phrase “how to recognize speech” emerged from the speakers transformed into “how to wreck a nice beach.”
In this brilliantly researched, sub-cultural history, Dave Tompkins takes readers on an immersive journey across Nazi research labs, Stalin’s gulags, the 1939 World’s Fair, and the electro-funk streets of 1980s Detroit and Los Angeles. Tompkins reveals how a Pentagon weapon designed to guard state secrets was hijacked by musicians to forge the future of popular music.
Brimming with encounters featuring figures like Stevie Wonder, Afrika Bambaataa, Stanley Kubrick, and Kraftwerk, this book is an essential read for music history enthusiasts, vinyl collectors, gear heads, and anyone captivated by the intersection of technology and pop culture.
Condition: Brand New / Pristine. Scarce hardcover first edition. Flawless, unread, publisher-fresh copy with crisp edges and clean, unmarked pages. [16.001 TS]
$ 125.00
