Thursday, 4:13pm
28 June 2012

Theory and backchat [EXTRACT]

Rhythm Science

By Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that subliminal kid. Design: Cornelia Blatter and Marcel Hermans, <br>COMA Mediawork Pamphlet Series, MIT Press, &pound;13.95, $17.95 <br>

The latest edition in MIT’s oddball pamphlet series is an entertaining, if incoherent stream of quasi-theoretical polemic. COMA’s design picks up the challenge of the book’s jumble of theory and backchat by using a vinyl analogy: since the twelve-inches that are Spooky’s stock in trade have A-sides and a B-sides, they use a paper that is uncoated on one side (for the body text) and coated on the other (for illustrations and pull quotes) using just two colours: green and brown . . .

. . . you can’t help liking Spooky when he writes: ‘At the end of the day, I write because I want to communicate with fellow human beings and forestall subjective implosion.’