Extreme Music

“Extreme Music deserves extreme documentation, and Michael Tau is more than up to the task. There’s so much to confront-and be confronted by-in the nearly 350 pages he’s written, a dizzying compendium of wild sounds, strange sights, radical concepts, and hidden histories. Oh, and also bodily fluids. If you’re into any art that pushes limits until they shatter, you’ll be into Extreme Music.“Marc Masters (No Wave (Black Dog, 2007) and Hi Bias: A Distorted History of the Cassette Tape (University of North Carolina Press, 2023)“Having spent 15 years seeking out, soliciting, and publishing about bizarre, odd, and extremely unusual music, Extreme Music nevertheless is a portal to an incredible metaverse that I knew had to exist and which I had yet to plumb. Owing to the ease of further research via the Web, this seemingly small tome is sure to send you – as it did me – into googles of wormholes to learn more about the overwhelming aural discoveries disclosed in this must-have music reference.“Randall Fleming, MetroHop Books“Just finished reading Extreme Music, and found it to be very entertaining and informative–there were a number of topics addressed that are near and dear to my heart: the Noise stuff (I’m actually friends with a few of the folks interviewed), and the obscure/obsolete recording formats. The extreme metal stuff I’m not that familiar with, so it was interesting to learn how far it has splintered into subgenres The Black Midi stuff was fascinating, I was completely unaware of its existence–I was intrigued that someone had formulated “rules” for what makes a good black midi composition…it brought to mind Conlon Nancarrow’s compositions for player pianos! There’s enough topic breadth to replace a whole bookshelf of academic works! Would definitely recommend!”

Dan of Earth, infamous Milwaukee noiser

Michael Tau was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. As a teenager, he was introduced to bizarre and adventurous music via the after-hours CBC radio program, Brave New Waves, which he recorded onto cassette to listen to the next day. In university, he attended noise shows in lofts in Montreal’s quasi-industrial districts, to the detriment of his hearing. He has since written for numerous underground music publications and has authored several music zines. When he isn’t listening to the Merzbow boxset, he works as a physician.