I already have way too many books waiting to be read. But that’s not going to stop me from seeking out these new titles on RTJ and guitarist Marty Friedman. I’m also intrigued by that book on music from alien worlds and the afterlife, though I suspect / assume that as soon as you open the cover / click on the file, it sends some sort of secret message to a doomsday cult that will show up to recruit you. I don’t need that. Or do I? I never really thought about it before, but maybe cult life is for me. Clearly, I have far too much time on my hands. And I look good in a floor-length robe, if I do say so myself. My only issue: I hate being told what to do. So maybe I should start my own cult. I’ll start on the paperwork while you peruse your latest reading options:
Kill Your Masters: Run The Jewels & The World That Made Them
By Jaap van der Doelen
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “All the unwritten rules of rap say it doesn’t happen like this. Yet Killer Mike, a Black man from Atlanta, Georgia, and El-P, a white man from Brooklyn, have transformed what should have been the twilight of their careers as rappers into their biggest spotlight yet. Known as the hip-hop duo Run The Jewels, they have headlined festivals worldwide, become action figures and comic-book characters, spearheaded a worldwide countercultural movement, and played a significant role in the last two presidential elections. This is the buddy-movie-like story of how they got there. It is a tale that parallels the incredible changes the music industry has gone through over the past 25 years — charting a course from the highs around the turn of the century to the collapse of the CD format and the eventual rise of streaming media — while also mapping the evolution of both pop culture and its sociopolitical climate. Their budding bromance has transformed Killer Mike and El-P from solo artists in underground hip-hop to pop-cultural icons recognized all over the globe.”
Dreaming Japanese
By Marty Friedman & Jon Wiederhorn
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Marty Friedman’s upbringing was as atypical as his career. Growing up in a Jewish household in Maryland, he accidentally discovered the guitar and immediately found his calling. After he burst on to the national scene with a radically new style of playing, Friedman moved to California, and scored a gig in Megadeth at a time when the band members were just recovering from the verge of self-destruction, and Marty was in and out of homelessness. During his 10 years in Megadeth, his exotic, innovating style helped define the sound of their biggest albums, and while it elevated him to guitar hero status with all the accompanying perks, it came at a significant cost. His profound and complicated relationship with frontman Dave Mustaine was symbolic of the band’s insane dynamic, and Marty poignantly and generously shares his experiences within the band’s inner sanctum during the highs, lows, and daily routines. But Dreaming Japanese is far more than a memoir about Friedman’s multi-Platinum years in Megadeth. The riveting narrative captures his relentless perseverance as he struggles to start again from nothing. Spontaneously leaving his home in the U.S. and feeling lost in the middle of Tokyo, with few connections or concrete plans, the story traces his journey to acclimate and assimilate. Marty shares how he gradually made inroads into the Japanese entertainment industry, becoming a household name and fixture on television and earning respect as a highly influential solo artist. Dreaming Japanese follows the wildly entertaining, inspiring, and unprecedented path of a guitar player who took the biggest risk, leaving worldwide success to start over from scratch.”
We Found Love, Song By Song: The Stories Behind 100 Romantic Hits
By Annie Zaleski & Darling Clementine
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Love songs are for everybody and so is this book. In We Found Love, Song By Song, award-winning author and music journalist Annie Zaleski delivers a beautifully illustrated keepsake that tells the fascinating history and behind-the-scenes stories of the 100 most popular and cherished love songs of all time. Pop the champagne, get the roses ready, and settle down in your favorite armchair. Love is universal to the human experience and love songs bring us joy and remind us of happy moments from our life. We all want it and we all crave it but it’s not always easy to find. In this beautifully illustrated volume, We Found Love, Song By Song tells the fascinating history and behind-the-scenes stories of the 100 most popular and cherished love songs of all time and their everlasting impact. From artists such as Fred Astaire and Nat King Cole all the way up to Whitney Houston and Harry Styles, this all-encompassing collection of love songs is sure to ignite the flame and inspire a new favorite playlist. What moving song did Paul McCartney pen as a love letter to his wife and record in one day? What iconic tune about cheating and piña coladas ends with a relationship being saved? What popular ballad was written from the perspective of Juliet and led to hundreds of in-concert proposals?”
Music From Elsewhere: Haunting Tunes From The Afterlife, Alien Worlds And Occult Realms
By Doug Skinner
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A compendium of other musics, channelled from the spirit world, the fairy kingdom, outer space, secret societies and occult lodges. This unique collection of esoteric earworms gathers, and reproduces, music from other worlds. Here you’ll find tunes hummed, strummed, and sung by spirits, sprites, and fairies, extraterrestrial elevator music, dreamed ditties, marches for occult ceremonies, secret musical codes and languages, music made by animals, and more. Each entry contains an explanatory text on its origins and purpose, and also reproduces the musical notation, in facsimile where possible, so that you can play along at home.”
Under Pressure: A Song By David Bowie And Queen
By Max Brzezinski
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1981, David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made Under Pressure. Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In Under Pressure, Max Brzezinski tells the classic track’s story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant institutions of state, corporations, and civil society. Brzezinski shows that, like all great pop anthems, Under Pressure harnesses collective sentiments in order to model new ways of thinking and acting. As we continue to live under the sign of the global oppressive power the song names, analyzes, and attempts to move beyond, we remain, in David Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s phrase, under pressure.”
