New book, MusicQuake, celebrates influential moments in electronic music history

A new book, ‘MusicQuake: The Most Disruptive Moments In Music’, celebrates 50 landmark albums and events that changed the face of modern music, making history in the process, and includes several sections on electronic genres. 

Released by UK publishing house Frances Lincoln as part of its Culture Quake series, which examines pivotal chapters in the stories of various creative scenes, this latest addition starts long before the first synths were built and sold, specifically with the debut performance of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ at a Parisian opera house in 1913, when what has subsequently been described as a riot broke out among audience members in response to the dance choreography. 

Researched and written by author Robert Dimery — whose previous work includes ’24 Hour Party People’ and ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ — the book contains extensive explorations of various movements and scenes in electronic music. These include David Mancuso’s loft parties, the emergence of DJ culture, Fela Kuti and Afrobeat, acid house, Aphex Twin and IDM, disco, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, and Giorgio Moroder, among others. 

Names such as Public Enemy, John Cage, Patti Smith, Missy Elliot, and George Gershwin are also featured. In addition to simply focusing on individual ‘moments’ and pioneers, the book celebrates the interferential nature of modern music, identifying lines and connections between styles and eras. 

‘MusicQuake’ is available to order online now.