Bass, Mids, Tops An Oral History of Sound System CultureBy Joe Muggs & Brian David Stevens

KILLER book!

An oral history of the UK’s soundsystem culture, featuring interviews with MALA, Dennis Bovell, SKREAM, Youth, Norman Jay, Krust, Dego (4 Hero), Jumpin Jack Frost, Adrian Sherwood, and many others.

In the years following the arrival of the Windrush generation, the UK’s soundsystem culture would become the most important influence on contemporary music. Pumped through towering, home-built speakers, - this is how the pulsating bass lines of reggae, dub, rave, jungle, trip hop, dubstep, and grime have shaped the worlds of generations of British youth culture innit!

This oral history, consisting of new interviews conducted by respected dance music writer Joe Muggs, and accompanied by dramatic photographic portraits by Brian David Stevens, presents the story of the bassline of Britain in the words of those who lived and shaped it.

REVIEWS

"These in-depth Q&As glimmer with insight into the day-to-day workings of dance culture, and make clear the overlapping interrelationships between the various tasks of keeping that culture moving". The Wire

"An engrossing tale of sounds ricocheting around the world—and an instinctive allegiance to frequencies more felt than heard". Pitchfork books of the year.