Machines: A History of Electronic Music is Jean-Michel Jarre's first book—a lavishly illustrated account of electronic sound told through the instruments in his own studio, one of the most significant collections of its kind anywhere.
About This Book
Jarre opens with the Futurist provocation of Luigi Russolo's The Art of Noises and follows the music forward through Surrealism, the Bauhaus and the radio studios of Europe, where tape, oscillators and early synthesis were first put to musical use. The narrative runs to the present, taking in the digital turn, immersive and 3D sound, and performance assisted by artificial intelligence.
The organising device is the machine itself. Specially photographed instruments from Jarre's archive—celebrated modular systems alongside prototypes and one-off builds—anchor each stage of the story, and Jarre writes about them as a player rather than a cataloguer: what each one made possible, and how it shaped the way he composed. Personal recollection runs throughout, from a childhood spent with reel-to-reel tape to his training in Paris with Pierre Schaeffer's Groupe de Recherches Musicales.
The book is also a conversation. Reflections from fellow musicians and collaborators sit alongside Jarre's own text, together with archival documents, technical schematics and sequences of stills from his large-scale live performances.
Key Features
- A history of electronic music from the Futurist manifesto to the AI era, written by one of the genre's founding figures
- Specially photographed instruments from Jarre's personal collection, from landmark modular synthesisers to rare and bespoke machines
- Contributions from Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, Gillian Gilbert, Hans Zimmer, Pete Townshend, Richie Hawtin and Armin van Buuren, among others
- Around 800 illustrations, including archival material, schematics and performance stills
What You'll Discover
- How the Futurists, the Surrealists and the Bauhaus prepared the ground for music made with machines
- The role of European broadcasters and research studios in developing tape music and early synthesis
- The design and engineering of instruments that changed how music sounds
- How Jarre's own albums and concerts track each technological shift
- Where electronic music may head next, from immersive audio to AI-assisted performance
About the Author
Jean-Michel Jarre is a French composer and one of the most influential figures in electronic music. His album Oxygène began a career that has run to 22 albums and tens of millions of sales. A UNESCO goodwill ambassador, he has staged concerts at sites including the Pyramids of Giza and the Forbidden City, holds the record for the largest concert audience, and has continued to experiment with virtual and immersive performance.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 239 × 305 mm
- Pages: 368
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780500031506
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Perfect For: Synthesiser enthusiasts, musicians and producers, readers interested in the history of sound and technology, and anyone drawn to the design of the instruments behind modern music.