Nic Collins’s wonderful book, Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking is getting an update. Routledge is publishing a new edition with, according to Nic, “lots of new circuits and illustrations, more examples of artists’ designs, and a DVD with 87 1-minute video clips by hackers from all over the globe, as well as a series of step-by-step video tutorials.” I can’t wait to see it. After the jump are a number of events surrounding the release.

New York City
On Friday evening, April 17, from 6-7PM we’ll celebrate the book release at Bent 2009 at The Tank (354 West 45th Street.)  Books will be available for purchase (I’ll sign them with my illegible scrawl), I’ll screen some of the video from the DVD, demonstrate a few projects, and maybe give a brief performance.  Check the Bent website for more information: http://www.bentfestival.org/#Event/Nic_Collins_Handmade_Electronic_Music_Book_Release_Party.

Berlin
April 20 & 21 I’ll be presenting a 2-day hacking workshop at NK (Elsen Str. 52, 2. Hof.) The workshops will run from 11AM until 7PM, and we’ll have a concert, party, and book signing on Tuesday evening.  For more information see http://www.ausland-berlin.de/hardware-hacking-nicolas-collins.

Amsterdam
STEIM, the Vatican of hacking, is offering a 3-day workshop with me from April 24 to 26.  The workshops run 10AM to 5PM. For more information see http://www.steim.org/steim/workshops.php?id=133&b=1&r=1.  Then on Tuesday evening, April 28, we’ll have a little concert and book party at STEIM.

Chicago
On Saturday, May 2, at 3PM Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W. North Avenue) is hosting a book release party. I’ll screen some video, demo a few projects, and the Chicago Symphacking Orchestra (CSO) will perform.

It’s a fun read, thanks largely to Mulholland’s cheeky streak but even more so to his idealism. Mulholland values his pop music for its world-changing properties as much as for its booty-shaking abilities. And his disappointment as each starry-eyed group and movement sells itself short to crass commerce and popular opinion is somehow registered with eternal optimism: maybe something stuck this time around, maybe lessons were learned, maybe it will all be different next time around… Too bad it never quite works out that way.

Fear of Music is also a fun read because it’s a list, and I love lists. Some of the usual suspects appear here:

• The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
• Michael Jackso: Thriller
• Brian Eno and David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

But there’s some surprising overlap with the records of the early- and mid-80s that I held dear. These were records that I kept returning to even as my circle of friends either left them behind or ignored them in the first place. Here’s a partial list:

• Adam and the Ants: Kings of the Wild Frontier
• Bad Brains: I Against I
• The Cramps: A Date with Elvis
• The Fall: 458489 A-Sides
• Gang of Four: Solid Gold
• Husker Du: Candy Apple Grey
• Prefab Sprout: Swoon (my pick for the most under-appreciated album of its time) and Steve McQueen (or Two Wheels Good in the US)
• The Specials: The Specials
• Squeeze: Singles 45′s and Under
• Talking Heads: Remain in Light (essential!)
• Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground
• Yazoo (or Yaz): Upstairs at Eric’s

Twenty years later, it’s reassuring to have my teenage crushes validated.

Mulholland has already turned me on to some new records or in some cases reminded me of forgotten gems including

• The Afghan Whigs: 1965
• Kate Bush: Hounds of Love
• De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising
• Defunkt: Thermonuclear Sweat (where have you been all my life, Joseph Bowie?)
• Johnny Dowd: Pictures From Life’s Other Side (the world could use more avant-country)
• The Jayhawks: Hollywood Town Hall
• The Modern Lovers: The Modern Lovers
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Boatman’s Call
• Portishead: Dummy
• Television: Marquee Moon
• A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders and The Low End Theory

Then there are Mulholland’s recommendations I’m still looking forward to checking out:

• Au Pairs: Playing with a Different Sex
• Echo and the Bunnymen: Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here
• The Jam: Sound Affects
• Lloyd Cole and Commotions: Rattlesnakes
• The Rezillos: Can’t Stand The Rezillos
• Siouxsie and the Banshees: Juju
• The Slits: Cut

So far, one recommendation has fallen flat: The Human League: Dare!. I knew the closer hit “Don’t You Want Me” and expected the rest of the album to at least approach it in quality, but it doesn’t come close. Ouch. Maybe this one belongs in Mulholland’s previous book This is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco.

I recommend Fear of Music, particularly since so few books and writers focus on the post-punk era; in Mulholland’s hands 1978 seems like the most magical and musical of years in recent decades. Mulholland’s across-the-pond proclivities occasionally seem stilted (I doubt many other music writers would afford the Manchester scene of the early ’90s so much space). But I forgive him a few lapses of enthusiasm, particularly given the rest of his picks and what good fun they are to read.