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Soiree wrote: Last but not least is the book Sonic Warfare, it's a very forward thinking piece of literature, I strongly suggest everyone take the time to read up on it and buy the hard cover if you can afford it, it's an absolutely stunning read, very interesting read indeed, solidifies the way I feel about bass music culture and DJ as sonic outlaw, channeling various fundamental concepts of rhythmic terrorism, challenging the constructs of what music is.
ninjas know

I strongly disagree. I special-ordered this book when it came out and read about half of it before giving up completely. While he does address some interesting subjects, most of his writing seems to be an exercise in high-minded, elitist wankery. NOBODY should be expected to understand the weird terminology he regularly culls out of thin air without any sort of background information. This book could only make sense if you were a student or other "audio professor" type who had a direct relationship with Kode9.

It seems to me like Professor 9 wrote the entire thing on LSD, ditching most writing conventions (grammar, sentence length and/or structure, use of defined words) in order to sound like a smarty-pants. I'm not an idiot, which is how I know this book is unreadable. You can't even look up some of Kode9's terminology because there are no references to those words or phrases on the entire internet.

I still respect Kode9 as an artist, but I guess I'm just bitter cuz I could seriously use my $32.78 back right about now.

cyrusfx wrote:

Soiree wrote: Last but not least is the book Sonic Warfare, it's a very forward thinking piece of literature, I strongly suggest everyone take the time to read up on it and buy the hard cover if you can afford it, it's an absolutely stunning read, very interesting read indeed, solidifies the way I feel about bass music culture and DJ as sonic outlaw, channeling various fundamental concepts of rhythmic terrorism, challenging the constructs of what music is.
ninjas know

I strongly disagree. I special-ordered this book when it came out and read about half of it before giving up completely. While he does address some interesting subjects, most of his writing seems to be an exercise in high-minded, elitist wankery. NOBODY should be expected to understand the weird terminology he regularly culls out of thin air without any sort of background information. This book could only make sense if you were a student or other "audio professor" type who had a direct relationship with Kode9.

It seems to me like Professor 9 wrote the entire thing on LSD, ditching most writing conventions (grammar, sentence length and/or structure, use of defined words) in order to sound like a smarty-pants. I'm not an idiot, which is how I know this book is unreadable. You can't even look up some of Kode9's terminology because there are no references to those words or phrases on the entire internet.

I still respect Kode9 as an artist, but I guess I'm just bitter cuz I could seriously use my $32.78 back right about now.

i completely agree. big fan of kode9 but the book was serious trash

I'm trying to read the book but I'm having a hard time doing so too. The fact that I'm not a native speaker probably even makes it worse. I do find the book interesting though and therefore I will read through the whole thing, but I do agree that it could've been written in a more conventional terminology.

LumiNiscent wrote:I'm trying to read the book but I'm having a hard time doing so too. The fact that I'm not a native speaker probably even makes it worse. I do find the book interesting though and therefore I will read through the whole thing, but I do agree that it could've been written in a more conventional terminology.

He's got a solid idea for a book (I would have covered "brainwashing" as an audioterrorism tactic as well), but half the time he's basically just saying, "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO WITH WORDS!!!"

Yeah true, but I do think that the stuff he wrote actually makes a lot of sense if you get his point (which is quite hard with his choice of words). I don't think that he just took a dictionary, picked out words that seemed intelligent and bundled them all into a book.

LumiNiscent wrote:Yeah true, but I do think that the stuff he wrote actually makes a lot of sense if you get his point (which is quite hard with his choice of words).

That's the problem. Its not that I don't "get the point," but its that he took what could have been a 5-page long article and fluffed it out into an expensive hardback using high-minded verbose filler.

LumiNiscent wrote:I don't think that he just took a dictionary, picked out words that seemed intelligent and bundled them all into a book.

No, but I wish he did. Instead, he makes up words and phrases and then expects us to know what they mean.

cyrusfx wrote:

Soiree wrote: Last but not least is the book Sonic Warfare, it's a very forward thinking piece of literature, I strongly suggest everyone take the time to read up on it and buy the hard cover if you can afford it, it's an absolutely stunning read, very interesting read indeed, solidifies the way I feel about bass music culture and DJ as sonic outlaw, channeling various fundamental concepts of rhythmic terrorism, challenging the constructs of what music is.
ninjas know

I strongly disagree. I special-ordered this book when it came out and read about half of it before giving up completely. While he does address some interesting subjects, most of his writing seems to be an exercise in high-minded, elitist wankery. NOBODY should be expected to understand the weird terminology he regularly culls out of thin air without any sort of background information. This book could only make sense if you were a student or other "audio professor" type who had a direct relationship with Kode9.

It seems to me like Professor 9 wrote the entire thing on LSD, ditching most writing conventions (grammar, sentence length and/or structure, use of defined words) in order to sound like a smarty-pants. I'm not an idiot, which is how I know this book is unreadable. You can't even look up some of Kode9's terminology because there are no references to those words or phrases on the entire internet.

I still respect Kode9 as an artist, but I guess I'm just bitter cuz I could seriously use my $32.78 back right about now.

what did you expect? it's a scientific book (published by MIT), of course it's challenging, of course you need a lot of background knowledge (as a student I was lacking on quite a few of the philosophers, esp. Whitehead, and as a non-native speaker understanding was even harder) to follow his argumentation.
If you weren't expecting a book about wobblez and dubstep then I said it's a pretty good book, rather difficult to read, but good. also the fact that his chapters are really short makes it easier to read and understand.

I do agree that some arguments are rather obvious but hidden behind his complex rhetoric. I'll probably reread it in a few years when I have more knowledge....

eewewww - busted for smarm...

academic smarm


schleppy schleppy schmarm

das kaiserschmarrn Golschmann ...esso french

cyrusfx wrote:

Soiree wrote: Last but not least is the book Sonic Warfare, it's a very forward thinking piece of literature, I strongly suggest everyone take the time to read up on it and buy the hard cover if you can afford it, it's an absolutely stunning read, very interesting read indeed, solidifies the way I feel about bass music culture and DJ as sonic outlaw, channeling various fundamental concepts of rhythmic terrorism, challenging the constructs of what music is.
ninjas know

I strongly disagree. I special-ordered this book when it came out and read about half of it before giving up completely. While he does address some interesting subjects, most of his writing seems to be an exercise in high-minded, elitist wankery. NOBODY should be expected to understand the weird terminology he regularly culls out of thin air without any sort of background information. This book could only make sense if you were a student or other "audio professor" type who had a direct relationship with Kode9.

It seems to me like Professor 9 wrote the entire thing on LSD, ditching most writing conventions (grammar, sentence length and/or structure, use of defined words) in order to sound like a smarty-pants. I'm not an idiot, which is how I know this book is unreadable. You can't even look up some of Kode9's terminology because there are no references to those words or phrases on the entire internet.

I still respect Kode9 as an artist, but I guess I'm just bitter cuz I could seriously use my $32.78 back right about now.

I'd much rather read a book about made up concepts with made up terminology that challenges the very foundation of what a book is and what a book could be. Like it or not, you must admit there is NOTHING like that book.
It's not an easy read, yes it is a rambling free form insight into the use and abuse of auditory processes, that's exactly the kind of book I've been waiting to read. I'm not up for another take on an age old concept like most novels these days, I'm rather picky about what I read, and my taste in literature is always changing and reformatting itself. But that book really spoke to me, in a way no other ever has, it's a really compelling non fiction, and I love all the jargon. I recommend it to anyone willing to completely disfigure whatever concept of a non-fiction think piece. What I liked best, is how unrelentingly unforgiving the free flow format of the book relates to our modern lives in terms of, rhythms. Provided you still have the book, reread chapter "Rhythm Analysis" that's the golden chapter where it all starts to make sense IMO.

I do agree the book is a tough read, and no one is expected to understand it, after two solid readings I feel a better grasp on the fundamental idea of sound and rhythm.

Soiree wrote: I'd much rather read a book about made up concepts with made up terminology that challenges the very foundation of what a book is and what a book could be. Like it or not, you must admit there is NOTHING like that book.

I ate basa catfish for the first time the other day, combined with some macaroni salad and rice, THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE IT. Then I ate a couple fiber pills and took a magnificent dump later. THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT, either.

It's all about Curious:

The book is hard work, it's written in a very philosophical way and as for his made up words... most of them make sense in context.

I haven't got very far with it yet as it does make my head hurt a bit. I am enjoying it though, he raises some very interesting points.

Maybe we can get jaydot to write a "Sonic Warfare for Dummies" style book.

the books makes sense to anyone with any background or understanding of the ccru

fractal wrote:the books makes sense to anyone with any background or understanding of the ccru

You mean the Children's Civil Rights Union?

The Cambridge Coast Research Unit?

Cereal Crops Research Unit?

Cybernetic Culture?

Cancer Center?

Ahhh, I know what you meant. The Central Coast Rugby Union, right?

This is a perfect example of why the book would make little sense to 99.99% of all people who speak English. Nobody even knows what CCRU means, how are we supposed to know what Kode9's made-up terminologies mean?

he could have used "cybernetics" but ccru sounds way cooler

Shum wrote:Maybe we can get jaydot to write a "Sonic Warfare for Dummies" style book.

Say what?

try using the website google with kode9 and ccru cyrusFX, don;t get all crazyy

cybernetics is only a tiny part of it