In the last hundred years - between the invention of the microphone and the computer - music has undergone a profound revolution. No longer confined to specifically designed instruments, we can now make music out of anything. Why use a guitar when you can use a lawnmower? Why use a lawnmower when you can use an explosion in Libya? "The Music" evokes a shifting sonic landscape in precise detail - Chinese concrete slowly hardening, overlaid by a splintering cassette tape in the stereo of a car mid-crash. The noise of 73,984 insects hitting number plates followed by that of a drill striking oil deep beneath the earth's surface. Or just the silence of two unfamiliar people as they look up at the night sky. As well as being a description of an imagined album this novel is a manifesto for sound, challenging how we hear the world itself, while listening to stories about humanity and our place in that world.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.