See my review of the 1st edition of this. This revised edition adds some new people who do, IMO, deserve to be added - such as Gen Ken Montgomery. Good for that. But Gen Ken & Sonic Youth, another new addition, are both NYC based. Believe it or not, Thom, there's been cutting edge top-notch electronic & experimental music produced in less populated cities where the support system is almost non-existent: myself, for one. Neil Feather, for another. Etc, etc.. The gist is, if you're going to write about this subject PLEASE make a little more effort to get out of the NYC intellectual ghetto, eh?! Has anyone ever noticed that bks like this or art bks by Lucy Lippard might be more appropriately subtitled "in New York City" - eg: "Electronic and Experimental Music in New York City". The continuing arrogance of NYC writers is that they somehow think they represent the world. ( )

I'm extremely persnikkity about bks on this subject b/c it's one of my main obsessions. NO bk is ever likely to cover the subject as thoroughly as I'd like. Such bks are always about superstars &, if they're written by NYC authors, then they're about NYC superstars. Dullsville, daddio. Holmes at least attempts to cover a broader spectrum of people. I liked this one enuf to even read the revised 2nd edition. On the downside, though, Holmes is a NYC writer wch means that when he knows about obscure people they're obscure NYC people. Oh well, it' still a good bk. ( )

When I was getting into Electronic and experimental music, this title never left my side. It gave me a lot of insight into the history of the genre and I still find myself referencing it from time to time.

I highly recommend the album "OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music" as an audio companion piece.

http://www.amazon.com/OHM-Early-Gurus-Electronic-Music/dp/B00004T0FZ ( )

The text is possibly a little dry in places to be called anything resembling a page-turner and focuses on experimental music collectives and studios (such as Mills College) to the detriment of overall scope. Given those criticisms, it's still a solid reference for anyone looking to fill in some blanks in what can be quite an enigmatic area. ( )