New Books Network Podcast

Technology November 17, 2023

Danger Sound Klaxon!

The Horn That Changed History

Matthew F. Jordan

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Danger Sound Klaxon!:The Horn That Changed History (University of Virginia Press, 2023) reveals the untold story of the Klaxon automobile horn, one of the first great electrical consumer technologies of …

Sound Studies November 15, 2023

Listening with a Feminist Ear

Soundwork in Bombay Cinema

Pavitra Sundar

Hosted by Khadeeja Amenda

Pavitra Sundar's book Listening with a Feminist Ear: Soundwork in Bombay Cinema (U Michigan Press, 2023) is a study of the cultural politics and possibilities of sound in cinema. Eschewing ocularcentric …

Music August 31, 2023

Voice Machines

The Castrato, the Cat Piano, and Other Strange Sounds

Bonnie Gordon

Hosted by Nathan Smith

Italian courts and churches began employing castrato singers in the late sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century, the singers occupied a celebrity status on the operatic stage. Constructed through surgical …

French Studies June 16, 2023

Kaleidophonic Modernity

Transatlantic Sound, Technology, and Literature

Brett Brehm

Hosted by Annie de Saussure

Listen:

What stories remain hidden behind one of the most significant inventions of the nineteenth century? Kaleidophonic Modernity: Transatlantic Sound, Technology, and Literature (Fordham University Press, 2023) reexamines the development of …

Recall This Book June 15, 2023

The Electro-Library

A Discussion with Jared Green (EF, JP)

Jared Green

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

Listen:

Way back in 2019, Elizabeth and John were already thinking about collaboration. Here they speak with Jared Green and explore The Electro-Library, a podcast he co-created. Elizabeth, Jared and John …

MIT Press Podcast June 1, 2023

Teklife, Ghettoville, Eski

The Sonic Ecologies of Black Music in the Early 21st Century

Dhanveer Singh Brar

Hosted by MIT Press

Listen:

Joy White, author of Terraformed, speaks with Dhanveer Singh Brar about his forthcoming book Teklife, Ghettoville, Eski, Teklife, Ghettoville, Eski argues that Black electronic dance music produces sonic ecologies of …

South Asian Studies May 14, 2023

Choral Voices

Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality

Sebanti Chatterjee

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer

Sebanti Chatterjee's book Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality (Bloomsbury, 2023) is about sacred and secular choirs in Goa and Shillong across churches, seminaries, schools, auditoriums, classrooms, reality TV …

Popular Culture May 12, 2023

Gathering of the Tribe

A Companion to Occult Music on Vinyl

Mark Goodall

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In his new series, Gathering of the Tribe (Headpress, 2022) Mark Goodall explores the mysterious power of sound and tone. Each book in the series is devoted to reviewing records …

French Studies April 29, 2023

Paris and the Parasite

Noise, Health, and Politics in the Media City

Macs Smith

Hosted by Salvador Lopez Rivera

The social consequences of anti-parasitic urbanism, as efforts to expunge supposedly biological parasites penalize those viewed as social parasites. According to French philosopher Michel Serres, ordered systems are founded on …

MIT Press Podcast April 15, 2023

The Making of "Ways of Hearing"

A Discussion with Damon Krukowski et al.

Hosted by MIT Press

A behind-the-scenes conversation with the creators of Ways of Hearing, the podcast and book. Hosted by author Damon Krukowski, with Radiotopia and Showcase executive producer Julie Shapiro, sound designer Ian …

Biology and Evolution April 4, 2023

Whale Music

Thousand Mile Songs in a Sea of Sound

David Rothenberg

Hosted by Frances Sacks

Whale song is an astonishing world of sound whose existence no one suspected before the 1960s. Its discovery has forced us to confront the possibility of alien intelligence--not in outer …

MIT Press Podcast March 18, 2023

The Sharing of Sound Art

A Discussion with Claire MacDonald and Sarah Parry

Claire MacDonald and Sarah Parry

Hosted by MIT Press

In this podcast, Claire MacDonald and Sarah Parry discuss the history of recording, the sharing of sound art between artists, how recording has shaped communities, the impact of technology on …

MIT Press Podcast March 15, 2023

Computer Music and Human Computer Interaction

A Discussion with Michael Gurevich

Michael Gurevich

Hosted by MIT Press

Michael Gurevich, lecturer at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at the Queen’s University, Belfast School of Music and Sonic Arts, serves as guest editor of the Winter 2010 issue of …

Sports February 25, 2023

The Sounds of Spectators at Football

Nicolai Jørgensgaard Graakjær

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The sounds of spectators at football (soccer) are often highlighted – by spectators, tourists, commentators, journalists, scholars, media producers, etc. – as crucial for the experience of football. These sounds …

East Asian Studies February 21, 2023

The Culture of Language in Ming China

Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge

Nathan Vedal

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos

What is the nature of language? This is the question that Nathan Vedal’s book, The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge …

African American Studies January 28, 2023

Soundworks

Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production

Anthony Reed

Hosted by Henry Ivry

In Soundworks: Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production (Duke UP, 2020), Anthony Reed argues that studying sound requires conceiving it as process and as work. Since the long Black Arts …

Anthropology January 16, 2023

Voices That Matter

Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey

Marlene Schäfers

Hosted by Armanc Yildiz

“Raise your voice!” and “Speak up!” are familiar refrains that assume, all too easily, that gaining voice will lead to empowerment, healing, and inclusion for marginalized subjects. Marlene Schäfers’s Voices …

Scholarly Communication December 3, 2022

Absent Presences in the Colonial Archive

Dealing with the Berlin Sound Archive's Acoustic Legacies

Irene Hilden

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Dealing with the colonial archive entails acknowledging the inability to know everything, accounting for the archive’s limited and incomplete condition. Dealing with the colonial archive is not merely about stories …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast November 15, 2022

The Sounds of Life

How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

Karen Bakker

Hosted by Mark Klobas

The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures …

High Theory September 21, 2022

Echo

A Discussion with Amit Pinchevski

Amit Pinchevski

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Amit Pinchevski tells us about echoes. An echo is a sonic reflection of an emission bouncing back to its origin, which if delayed long …