Book: Damon Krukowski, The New Analog (The New Press)
The introduction of the compact disc in 1982 made analog sound delivered by phonograph records and landline telephones obsolete—didn’t it? If not, then the advent of iTunes in 2001 and the iPhone in 2007 replaced analog forever—didn’t they? Damon Krukowski makes a persuasive case to the contrary, that analog is a natural part of us, and necessary to cultural health. A musician (Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi) and audio researcher, he writes, “CDs arrived on the consumer market like any other hi-fi marketing scheme…For those of us happily wallowing in our LPs, it sounded like a pitch designed to part bored businessmen from their money.†It was, of course, much more than that, as he concisely explains. Exploring signal, noise, headspace, volume pumping, system latency and other audio phenomena, Krukowski presents in 224 pages a convincing argument that the world has and needs analog sound.