A series of essays on the music and creative practice of the great composer, John Cage – material written over the space of 50 years, by a variety of different authors – each of whom look at a key aspect of Cage's theory and influence! The October title is a reference to the journal of the same name – but the material here didn't just come from its pages, as some of the essays predate the publication – and include "John Cage Or Liberated Music" by Heinz Klaus Metger, "Chance As Ideology" by Koran Boehmer, "Looking Myself In The Mouth" by Yvonne Rainer, "Cage & Asia" by David W Patterson, "John Cage & The Architecture Of Silence" by Branden W Joseph, "Post Cagean Aesthetics & The Event Score" by Liz Kotz, "The Formalization Of Indeterminacy In 1958" by Rebecca Y Kim, and "John Cage & Investiture" by Julia Robinson – who also edited the book. Book

A very cool book – and way different than you might expect from the title – as the discography doesn't only focus on contemporary ambient albums, but instead traces a history of moody sounds from the late 50s onwards! The publication is one of the most interesting Japanese discographies we've seen so far – filled with an evolving conception of ambient sounds, through jazz, acid folk, kraut rock, electronic music, and a host of other styles that predate Brian Eno's 70s experiments in ambient – and all the many Eno-inspired projects to follow – with chapters on John Cage, Joe Meek, Gigi Masin, Pauline Oliveros, Iasos, Walter Marchetti, Luc Ferrari, Lol Coxhill, Joanna Brouk, Sun Electric, Max Richter, and dozens of other artists. As with most Japanese discographies, the book has images of record covers, with dates, labels, and artists in English – plus a small review in Japanese – and even if you can't understand that last bit, you can still understand plenty from the way the book breaks down the music into various years and styles. This expanded edition is even better than the previous one – with chapters that include Space Age records of the 50s and 60s, Meditation records of the 70s, Post Modern records of the late 70s and 80s, Chill Scape records of the early 90s, Drone/Improvisation records of the late 90s/early 00s, and a Diversity section of more recent records. Book is softcover, over 300 pages, and filled with hundreds of images throughout! Book