Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion By Harry Sword
Monolithic Undertow alights a crooked path across musical, religious, and subcultural frontiers, exploring a concept that is often described as 'the drone'. Harry Sword traces the line from neolithic Indo-European traditions to the modern underground by way of mid-20th Century New York, navigating a beguiling topography of archeoacoustics, ringing feedback, chest plate sub bass, avant-garde eccentricity, and fervent spiritualism.
From ancient beginnings to bawdy medieval troubadours, Sufi mystics to Indian raga masters, North Mississippi bluesmen to cone-shattering South London dub reggae sound systems, Hawkwind's Ladbroke Grove to the outer reaches of Faust, Ash Ra Temple and sonic architects like La Monte Young, Brian Eno, and John Cale, the opium-fueled fug of The Theatre of Eternal Music to the caveman doom of Saint Vitus, the cough syrup reverse hardcore of Swans to the seedy VHS hinterland of Electric Wizard, ritual amp worship of Earth and Sunn O))) and the many touch points in between, Monolithic Undertow probes the power of the drone: something capable of affording womb-like warmth or evoking cavernous dread alike.
This story does not start in the twentieth century underground: the monolithic undertow has bewitched us for millennia. The book takes the drone not as codified genre but as an audio carrier vessel deployed for purposes of ritual, personal catharsis, or sensory obliteration, revealing also a naturally occurring auditory phenomenon spanning continents and manifesting in fascinatingly unexpected places.
Monolithic Undertow will be a book about music and the very human need for transcendence and intoxication through sound. It seeks to reveal the drone as a tool of personal liberation that exists far outside the brittle confines of commodity culture. Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion
This was a great trip through all things drone, with some minor hang-ups I'll discuss later in this review. I discovered some great music that I hadn't listened to and read some spirited descriptions of some of my favourite musicians. Monolithic Undertow is quite linear in structure but extremely wide in its focus. There is a definite chronology in music. Everyone owes a debt to someone else. If I was trapped in a room Oldboy style for most of my life with no view of culture I wouldn't be asking for a guitar when I was released. Every artist decides to make art based off the art of another and Sword does a great job tracing the lineage of drone throughout this book. Every artist has to be inspired. For example Sunn O))) and Earth would never have made drone metal if the Melvins did not release the album Lysol. Much of this book is Sword describing someone's art, the scene around them and then how those inspired by the music would go on to create their own music. This is much more than a history of the drone and I want to give you an idea of the books layout and if it might interest you. I'll do this with a brief look at each chapter, my thoughts on each chapter and my closing thoughts.
Prologue:
Great introduction chapter. The drone in: doom metal, household appliances, the womb, drones flying over warzones, industrial music, actual industry and the universe itself. This chapter is great as it really shows Sword setting out his stand and what he’s going to offer you in this book. It is never single minded, he’s great at looking at the drone from the countless angles you can examine it from.
Chapter 1: Enter the Chamber
In a chapter mainly focused on Archaeoacoustics, Sword travels to Malta to experience the mysterious acoustics of the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni. Archaeoacoustics is a fascinating discipline which attempts to figure out why ancient tombs have the acoustic properties they do. From there, Sword discusses Newgrange in Ireland and the peculiar properties of the famous passage tomb. This is one of the best chapters in the entire book. It clearly shows Sword wondered “where does this all come from” in human terms. He found a solid angle from which to examine where our ancestors utilized drones. It’s a beautiful chapter examining our history as a species. I’d recommend the book for this chapter alone.
Chapter 2: Chant Ecstatic
A wide ranging chapter initially covering the drone in the religious vocal traditions of Asia. The Om, Tuvan throat singing and their sustained notes as a sort of religious yearning and expression of the infinite. He even mentioned The HU, a metal band which uses Tuvan in their music showing how this kind of drone is still contemporary. Then The Gnawa and the Master Musicians of Joujouka in Morocco the latter which would be discovered by Burroughs, Gysin and Brian Jones of Rolling Stones fame. This chapter was fascinating mainly due to the insight on Burroughs and Gysin for me. Tangiers was clearly massively influential to them and by extension the rest of the 60s beat scene and by extension of inspiring the beats you inspired the entire 60s rock scene. This is practically shown by the telling of Brian Jones time with the Joujouka. Thanks to Brian a record of the Joujouka at that time exists. A great chapter which shows the odd way in which people being inspired spreads out and inspires other people.
Chapter 3: Midnight Raga
The drone in Indian music and its discovery by The Beatles and other rockers in the 60s, Ravi Shankar, LSD & Sitars and the way in which they've been linked, LSD and the Drone and the way they break down the barriers of reality. The psych rock awakening in the US and John Coltrane and others bringing that Indian influence into the Jazz world. The insight on John Coltrane was great. While I love jazz I haven’t really listened to Coltrane but Sword provides a great account of his work and how his wife Alice took up the jazz drone torch upon his passing. Some critics of the time alleged she only had a career due to her husband but I think she has rightfully been reassessed since then. She still arguably deserves more attention which Sword thankfully affords her through an examination of her body of work.
Chapter 4: Drone of the Holy Numbers
A look at the more avant-garde end of things relating to the drone in the 60s and onwards. Really interesting to read about John Cale in the 60s pre velvet underground. La Monte Young is a charlatan and reading about him and how he treated his collaborators just made me angry. I mean lets be honest if you're making music and Yoko Ono is around you're doing it wrong. Respect to Terry Riley and Conrad and others who while making weird music at least didn't disappear up their own asses like Young always has. Genuinely this is the worst chapter along with the final one. This chapter is bad due to La Monte Young being a pretentious ass, albeit an influential pretentious ass. Still interesting to read about but frustrating at the same time.
Chapter 5: Do the Ostrich
A shorter chapter that follows on from the avant-garde exploration. Sword charts the origins and development of The Velvet Underground and the drones influence on the band. Lou Reed’s solo career post Velvet is briefly covered as well. TVU are a great band, I don’t need to tell you that but an underrated aspect of their sound is the drone and Sword highlights that brilliantly.
Chapter 6: Kommune
A large chapter that initially serves as deep dive on all things drone within Krautrock. Faust, Amon Düül II, Ash Ra Temple, Cluster and Popol Vuh. I hadn't heard much of these bands my Krautrock knowledge only really extended to CAN before reading this chapter, its some fascinating music. The chapter closes out with a brief exploration of Hawkwind and Spacemen 3 and their use of the drone and general musical approaches. This chapter was one of my favourite moments of the book as I listened to each band while reading about them. A really comfy experience.
Chapter 7: Reverse Hardcore
Initially covering Iggy and The Stooges this chapter moves out looking at The Ramones and Rhys Chatham. From there we go to New York and the infamous No Wave scene of the late 70s. In the 80s you had Sonic Youth and Swans two of my favourites. The drone hangs heavy and runs through all of these musicians blood. Black Flag, Butthole surfers and other bands are discussed in the chapters end. I’m very familiar with No Wave and most of the bands covered here so this band was a pleasure. While I’m glad Sword mentions Swans he should have given more attention to their later albums which have way more drones than the ones he covers. Still this is a great chapter.
Chapter 8: Beyond the Electric Caravan
All things metal. Black Sabbath of course stands as the monolithic doom laden blues blooded foundation from which doom and drone metal would eventually sprout. Here we get a host of metal bands which incorporate the drone into their sound. Huge amount of bands covered here as is the case with metal in general, there are too many brilliant metal bands. I particularly enjoyed reading about Sleep, Melvins, Sunn O))) and Neurosis as they’re some of my favourite bands. A brilliant chapter for any metal fan but it may convince those outside the scene to explore some drone metal.
Chapter 9: Infinite Loops
This chapter is an odd one as it’s not as focused on a scene or genre as the other chapters are. I loved the Brian Eno bit. You have Aphex Twin, Godflesh and other stuff in this chapter. It’s great albeit not as focused as other chapters. It kind of felt like a “what have I left out?” kind of chapter to me.
Chapter 10: The Closing of the Circle
The weakest chapter of the entire book closes it out. An annoyingly political and unfocused chapter meanders along before ending. I don’t care about Swords half assed political points I bought this to read about the drone, not how someone playing a violin reflects Brexit and how some other album reflects late stage capitalism. I really enjoyed most of this book but to end it on such a bum note is embarrassing. It’s like a flight to Mars where the La Monte Young chapter was an asteroid shower which hammered the ship and this final chapter is the ship crash landing and exploding. My advice to Sword and White Rabbit would be to edit this out of subsequent runs and actually write a decent conclusion, not whatever this ball-less political preening was attempting to be.
Overall a brilliant book which face plants at its final moment. It gets 4 stars because the good chapters are genuinely that good. With a decent conclusion it would be 5 stars but Sword thought he would inject his twitter feed into the end of his book for some reason. Ignore his political posturing (I’M PROGRESSIVE, I KNOW ITS ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT TO WHAT I’M CURRENTLY DISCUSSING BUT DON’T YOU ACCEPT ME FOR MY VIEWS) when he should be consolidating his books content and you’ll have a great time.
Harry Sword Just really, bloody, interesting. Like many, I've left this with a large stack of homework. Harry Sword Do we play the drone or does the drone play us? Harry Sword takes the reader on a lofty journey all the way from our universe's first beginnings right the way through to lairy Hawkwind gigs, the Orbit's chill-out room and up until the latest bassadelic release from the Bug, say. It's a keen endorsement of musical heaviness and its eternal power to leave we humans moved. Harry Sword what a pleasant experience, i’ve had such a good time reading (and listening) through this - the anti capitalist send off really sealed the deal for me. can’t wait to go clubbing Harry Sword Well written and really enjoyable. If you are a long time fan of this music you will still find something new, or something you'll need to revisit. If you're just getting into this kind of music you'll likely carry this book around like a bible, giddy with anticipation of what you might discover. From Pauline Oliveros through to Electric Wizard, and beyond. It's all here and it's all connected. Harry Sword
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Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion (2020) is not a run of the mill music book. Harry Sword explores how the drone, or drone music, has a long and rich history. From early primitive instruments through sacred chants and onward into modern music, he finds evidence everywhere. This exploration embraces The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Alice Coltrane, Sun 0))), the Stooges, Sonic Youth, the Master Musicians of Joujouka, amongst many more.
It would be easy to view these investigations as the height of pretentiousness, however I must confess I lapped it all up. Monolithic Undertow takes you on a wonderful journey and is very readable and often quite amusing. An unusual but provocative book and one which sent me away with a host of new sounds and artists to investigate.
4/5
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Monolithic Undertow alights a crooked path across musical, religious, and subcultural frontiers, exploring a concept that is often described as 'the drone'. Harry Sword traces the line from neolithic Indo-European traditions to the modern underground by way of mid-20th Century New York, navigating a beguiling topography of archeoacoustics, ringing feedback, chest plate sub bass, avant-garde eccentricity, and fervent spiritualism.
From ancient beginnings to bawdy medieval troubadours, Sufi mystics to Indian raga masters, North Mississippi bluesmen to cone-shattering South London dub reggae sound systems, Hawkwind's Ladbroke Grove to the outer reaches of Faust, Ash Ra Temple and sonic architects like La Monte Young, Brian Eno, and John Cale, the opium-fueled fug of The Theatre of Eternal Music to the caveman doom of Saint Vitus, the cough syrup reverse hardcore of Swans to the seedy VHS hinterland of Electric Wizard, ritual amp worship of Earth and Sunn O))) and the many touch points in between, Monolithic Undertow probes the power of the drone: something capable of affording womb-like warmth or evoking cavernous dread alike.
This story does not start in the twentieth century underground: the monolithic undertow has bewitched us for millennia. The book takes the drone not as codified genre but as an audio carrier vessel deployed for purposes of ritual, personal catharsis, or sensory obliteration, revealing also a naturally occurring auditory phenomenon spanning continents and manifesting in fascinatingly unexpected places.
Monolithic Undertow will be a book about music and the very human need for transcendence and intoxication through sound. It seeks to reveal the drone as a tool of personal liberation that exists far outside the brittle confines of commodity culture. Harry Sword An entertaining tour through musical history which effectively culminates in the drone/doom of Sunn O))), Sleep, Electric Wizard, etc. The introduction mentions that the book was originally intended to be a history of doom metal and I think it's helpful to still think of it in these terms because otherwise the choices made about what to include/exclude might seem odd. Without that frame in mind, it can feel like the focus on drone has been forgotten at some points so that the author can write about whatever music they particularly like (e.g. the sections about punk).
The author obviously had to be selective (and I think they did a good job of it, all things considered) but, personally, I would have liked to read more about the ambient-drone world (Stars of the Lid don't even merit a mention?!) and dub (which receives a few illustrative references but no extended treatment beyond the short section on The Bug/Kevin Martin). All that said, I had a great time reading this and my to-listen pile has inevitably grown as a result. Harry Sword Not life changing for me because I already know and love so much of the music discussed. But it has changed my perspective by showing the thread that connects drone-adjacent music. I understand more and will listen differently. So maybe it is life changing. Also, John Cale rules. Harry Sword A fascinating work in places, but let down by some stylistic or editorial choices - for a book whose intro begins firmly in the stoner/doom/drone axis, and whose artwork and sales pitch seems to sit equally in that area, a scant chapter is dedicated to the likes of Earth, Sunn O))) and The Melvins, while Black Sabbath don't make an appearance until at least two thirds of the way through.
That's not to say that the prior chapters are inessential; points of Hawkwind, LaMonte Young, Krautrock, and the influence of Ravi Shankar and Indian ragas on western music are very well made and their significance convincingly argued, and with impressive depth.
What lets the book down is a tendency towards Nick Kent-esque glorification of the drug-addled experience of some of this music (admittedly, not to be overlooked when discussing rave music or Sleep, but it grates after a while), and some repetition of metaphor and analogy that should have been picked up. The same comparison being made multiple times in a single chapter is off-putting. There also some tangents which, while entertaining, feel like the writer is going off-piste in order to talk about some personal favourite artists far more than ensuring that he's sticking to the topic of drone - it's hard to justify how Neu!'s Hallogallo or the music of Andrew Weatherall could be considered drone, no matter how brilliant it is, and in places it seems that drone, minimalism and repetition are conflated, while a section on hauntology seems to exist purely because it's trendy, rather than because it's relevant.
If you're fascinated by the drone/doom genre specifically, this book may seem a disappointment, but if you have a more broader interest in the making of music generally, and particularly in the fringes of popular music - from Alice Coltrane to Neurosis by way of John Cale - I would thoroughly recommend this, and make sure you've got a notebook or a Spotify account handy as many songs and artists are written about in such a way as to make you want to put the book down and stick their record on immediately. Harry Sword My perfect book. Sounds I didn’t know I needed, worlds I didn’t know of. Many hours of listening to come. So easy to read and get lost in. Harry Sword