Dave Tompkins and DJ Piotr Orlov in Conversation About The Vocoder – at Labyrinth Books
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by PNN Editor in Arts, Books, Events
Dave Tompkins and DJ Piotr Orlov in Conversation regarding Tompkin’s new book — “The Vocoder from WWII to Hip-Hop” this Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 5:30PM — Labyrinth Books in Princeton NJ.
Tompkins’ new book, How to Wreck a Nice Beach, is the story of how a military device became the robot voice of hip-hop and pop music. The title is taken from a mis-hearing of the vocodor-rendered phrase “how to recognize speech”. Come out for an this chronicle of postwar music and culture. The author is joined by fellow music journalist Piotr Orlov.
This video incorporates the use of an iphone vocoder app by hip-hop star T-Pain
Dave Tompkins traces the history of electronic voices from Nazi research labs to Stalin’s gulags, from the 1939 World’s Fair to Hiroshima, from Manhattan nightclubs to the Muppets. And now the vocoder is a cell phone standard, allowing your voice to sound human.
From T-Mobile to T-Pain, “How to Wreck a Nice Beach” is a riveting saga of technology and culture, illuminating the work of some of music’s most provocative innovators.
“Dave Tompkins is seven steps ahead of science and several leagues outside of time.” –Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker
“The best hip hop writer ever born.” — Jeff Chang
“One of the most bugged, brilliant guys I know.” — Oliver Wang, NPR
Dave Tompkins, a former columnist for The Wire, writes frequently about hip-hop and popular culture. His work has appeared in Vibe, The Village Boice, Wax Poettics, and The Believer. Nearly a decade in the making, this is his first book. DJ Piotr Orlov’s writing on music and culture has appeared in the NYTimes, Wired, Arthur and on countless websites.