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Songs in the Key of MP3

The New Icons of the Internet Age

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Songs in the Key of MP3

By: Liam Inscoe-Jones
Narrated by: Gemma Lawrence, Liam Inscoe-Jones, Rori Hawthorn, Sam Crerar
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About this listen

 It's 2013. You're a teenager squinting at your laptop in the dead of night, flicking between iTunes and YouTube and PirateBay. Endless reams of artists unspool at the click of a button. New forms of musical discovery open up before your very eyes. This evolving digital landscape exists beyond the radio, HMV and even the most extensive record collection. You've entered a whole new world and, suddenly, just about everything feels possible.

In Songs in the Key of MP3: The New Icons of the Internet Age, Liam Inscoe-Jones explores five contemporary artists who broke the old rules of sound, style and the music industry at large: Devonté Hynes (of Blood Orange), FKA Twigs, Oneohtrix Point Never, Earl Sweatshirt and SOPHIE. Each began their careers as obscure outsiders but, over time, they helped to re-shape pop culture in their image. Through these five extraordinary figures and an eclectic supporting cast of dozens more, Inscoe-Jones paints a picture of the sonic landscape of the last ten years, exploring the influence of their dazzling music on pop culture, the internet and ourselves.

An unorthodox mix of criticism, biography and music history - and featuring interviews with the likes of Caroline Polachek, Daniel Lopatin and Nicolás Jaar - Songs in the Key of MP3 is a book of endless curiosity and wonder; a salutary attempt to define pop culture in a fast and ephemeral age.©2025 Liam Inscoe-Jones (P)2025 Orion Publishing Group Limited History & Criticism Music Social Sciences
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A smart, beautifully crafted snapshot of modern music and the digitally native artists redefining it. This book is both insightful and lively. Liam delivers an engaging narrative perfect for curious music-lovers interested in where pop culture is heading. Would highly recommend!

A new era in music

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Wouldn’t normally pick up a book like this, have been listening to the audio alongside reading it, well researched account of 5 artists and how they’ve contributed to the last decade of music. Author is clearly very talented, and have really enjoyed being introduced to some new music!

Gripping!

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I loved this book. Part music criticism part response to mark fisher's cultural pessimism part biographical all killer no filler.

A Must For Any Fan Of Music

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