The Rest Is Noise Series: Apparition from the Woods: The Loneliness of Jean Sibelius

'A compelling new book' Daily Express Intimate and revealing, Spice Girls is the definitive story of the world’s most iconic girl group. Through compelling new research and interviews, Sunday Times best-selling biographer Sean Smith reveals what life was really like for five fiercely independent and ambitious young women who were propelled to international fame in the 90s with unstoppable momentum. Quickly establishing themselves as the biggest success in British pop music since The Beatles, they were adored and admired in equal measure: the Spice Girls made a connection with millions of young women across the globe who were inspired by their enthusiasm for life and their famous Girl Power philosophy. The fab five became one of the most successful music acts in history, with more than 85 million record sales world-wide and nine UK number one singles. Throughout the years, their lives have garnered unprecedented levels of media interest and fans have keenly followed their ups and downs – the personal conflicts, celebrity break-ups, controversies and parenthood. One thing’s for sure: they are never boring. In 2019, the prospect of their reunion tour has led to an outpouring of adoration and excitement, proving that the Spice Girls truly are an enduring cultural phenomenon.

This is a chapter taken from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, The Rest is Noise.The newly-created democratic state of Weimar Germany was, famously, a crucible for progressive art of all kinds, and classical music was no different. From Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera to Schoenberg’s development of the influential twelve-tone technique, Ross charts this flowering of avant-garde creativity.Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change.Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.

Most new PCs and Macs today are equipped with the latest in recording and storage equipment: CD-RW and DVD-R/RW drives. Even if your computer is a little older, you can still join the revolution with add-on hardware and software. You can record music and movies, store photos and data, and organize things you want to preserve for posterity, safely and easily. CD and DVD Recording For Dummies®, Second Edition, takes the frustration out of choosing and using these cool recording systems. This easy-to-follow guide will help you find what you need and use it efficiently, and it covers all the newest equipment. You’ll discover how to Choose and install a CD or DVD recorder Pick the best software for your needs Store large data files safely on CD Use EasyCD and DVD Creator and Toast Record mixed media disks Create electronic photo albums, baby books, genealogies, and more Once upon a time, videotape, vinyl record albums, and floppy disks were state of the art for preserving movies, music, and data. The superior durability and capacity of CDs and DVDs have made these tools as obsolete as the washboard, but never fear. CD and DVD Recording For Dummies®, Second Edition, makes it easy to Transfer your favorite VHS movies to DVD Preserve those classic LPs on CD Archive records and data files, and safely store treasured family photos Ask the right questions when shopping for CD or DVD recording hardware and software Record original material, copy and erase rewriteable disks, and make backups of important data Add menus to your disks, label them, and care for them properly Record a bootable CD-ROM Today’s CD and DVD recorders can produce everything from superb sound quality to original movies you can play on your DVD player. CD and DVD Recording For Dummies® will get your recording career going in a jiffy.

The first official account of the iconic record label.An NME Book of the Year 2013A Rough Trade Book of the Year 2013A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2013This Mortal Coil, Birthday Party, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Throwing Muses, Breeders, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Germano, Kristin Hersh, Belly, Red House Painters.Just a handful of the bands and artists who started out recording for 4AD, a record label founded by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1979, a label which went on to be one of the most influential of the modern era.Combining the unique tastes of Watts-Russell and the striking design aesthetic of Vaughan Oliver, 4AD records were recognisable by their look as much their sound. In this comprehensive account concentrating on the label’s first two decades (up to the point that Watts-Russell left), music journalist Martin Aston explores the fascinating story with unique access to all the key players and pretty much every artist who released a record on 4AD during that time, and to its notoriously reclusive founder.With a cover designed by Vaughan Oliver this is an essential book for all 4AD fans and anyone who loved the music of that time.

This is a chapter taken from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, The Rest is Noise.Ross shows how the flowering of avant-garde music in early twentieth-century Russia was co-opted, corrupted and crushed by the dictatorial ideology of Stalin’s Russia, with great composers including Shostakovich and Prokofiev forced to choose between collaboration, exile or ostracism.Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change.Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.