In his dual role of historian and participating observer, music critic and journalist Simon Reynolds writes what is considered by many to be both his most ambitious work and the best book
about rave music and dance culture. From the origins of dance culture with sophisticated Detroit techno, hedonistic Chicago house, and New York’s bacchanal garage music to the dawn of acid
house and rave in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and the export of Balearic culture from Ibiza, Reynolds documents the explosion of this new lifestyle fueled by drugs and a music
revolution. Detailed are some of the craziest and most unsettling movements: hardcore British Madchester, pirate radio, polyrhythmic jungle, Belgian gabber, trip-hop, trance, and postrave
genres, including dubstep and EDM. The book contains interviews with some of the music scene’s most instrumental players, such as Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, DJ Shadow, Goldie, Richie Hawtin,
Richard D. James of Aphex Twin, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Paul Oakenfold, Tricky, and others. Some of the most extreme and hardcore music from the last 30 years is documented in this goldmine
of underground treasure.
