Beyond Unwanted Sound

[Thompson's] overarching narrative is contemporary and relevant with interesting examples ... A thoroughly engaging read. * The Wire *
[An] excellent book. I learnt a lot from reading it, and I think it is the clearest book to date (to my knowledge) that demonstrates the effectiveness of applying affect theory critiques and understandings to sound studies. I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone wanting to get their head around exactly what is affect theory. * SoundEffects *
Beyond Unwanted Sound establishes Marie Thompson is one of the most exciting scholars of sound, noise and music. Theoretically adventurous, this book weaves together thinkers as disparate as Michel Serres, Murray Schafer and Claude Shannon, building a strong theoretical edifice for the closely-observed case studies which follow. Thompson's analysis of the creative work of Throbbing Gristle, Christian Marclay, Diamanda Galas and dozens of others make this a rich survey of the ways in which sound, noise and music disrupt situations, assert identities and invite moral judgments. * Will Straw, Professor of Communications, McGill University, Canada *
Marie Thompson shows 'noise' to be essential to any medium or communicative act by deftly mobilising an eclectic set of resources - from Spinoza and Shannon to Diamanda Galàs. Unwanted sound is incisively characterised as relationally, contextually affirmed, rather than as an objectifiable, morally appreciable phenomenon. We are thus urged to heed sound that might tomorrow be heard as new music, as a creatively organised affective force that 'once-was-noise'. Beyond Unwanted Sound is definitely a wanted, and thoroughly needed, contribution to the fast growing field of sound studies. * Sally Jane Norman, Professor of Performance Technologies, Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex, UK *
Go ahead and try not to listen to the provocative and insinuating stylings of this Spinozist noise-merchant! Just be forewarned that Marie Thompson’s compelling book will redistribute the capacities of your body and its sensorium in ways that bring crystal clarity to the clamorous. Brilliantly engaging with theories of affect, Thompson shows how noise – stretching beyond annoyance and avoidance – is deeply constitutive in setting the terms of relation, opening up potentials that can often be joyous, even generative. Witness how noise thrives in places – musical and otherwise – where you perhaps least expect it. If there was ever a book that deserved to be turned up to ten (eleven?), it is this one! * Gregory J. Seigworth, co-editor of The Affect Theory Reader and Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry and Professor, Millersville University, USA *