Drone and Apocalypse

This account of how a particular genre of music reflects and engages an apocalyptic perspective is a very absorbing read. Both in its form (being told as the thoughts of a fictional artist from the future) and in its revealing and relevant content this work leaves one wanting much, much more! Are you a utopist or a distopist? Reading this and listening to some of the examples discussed might help you confront that tricky question.

This is a novel about art installations that never happened, told through a series of academic papers written in the future. There are some fun diversions from apocalypse as well. It is also a kind of introduction to drone music. If that doesn't scare you off then give this book a try, specially while listening to the drone music as you read.

I enjoyed this book a lot and can recommend to any visual arts types as well as it's replete with all kinds of related reference material. It's a nice meditative piece one can read in snippets ...

Demers is a music professor who specializes in post WWII music. In this book she creates a fictional character who delivers a series of essays (chapters) linking drone music to her belief in the upcoming apocalypse. The concept of an apocalypse is one we all learn when we are growing up and have our own understanding of what it means to us - religious or otherwise. Growing up in Britain in the 1980's many people thought the apocalypse would occur with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM"S) - as they were being positioned on British soil. Fast-forward 25 years and you don't hear much mention of them. As a scientist I have a tendency to apply a very analytical scientific filter to the concept and I think thats why I found this book to be so interesting and so different. Demers links drone music (not something Im familiar with) to the apocalypse in a series of short essays from her protagonist. This is not an easy read especially if you have no background or knowledge of drone music. However Demers references to historical events made the journey possible and enjoyable for me.