Thames and Hudson Ltd: Mute - A Visual Document

‘You don’t have to be a musician; all you need are the ideas and you can come up with something interesting.’ Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records Mute is one of the most revered and influential indie labels of all time. Through the music of its tight-knit community of artists – ranging from Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Nick Cave’s The Birthday Party and Einstürzende Neubauten to Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, Laibach and Goldfrapp – it has had an incalculable impact on popular music for forty years. This authoritative, sumptuously illustrated history of the label features stunning artwork and photography – much of it previously unseen – and revelatory behind-thescenes insights from those who have worked with the label. Revealing text contributions from key players, together with ground-breaking shots and video stills from lengendary photographers, make this book the definitive chronicle of the iconic label, which today has offices in the USA, UK, Germany and France and an unparalleled reputation worldwide.

Features:

• Describes Mute’s growth from a one-man label in 1978 to a global conglomeratereleasing music by the likes of Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and Goldfrapp.
• Includes an extensive introduction by Daniel Miller, founder of Mute, who has curated the materials for the book.
• Anecdotal and photographic contributions from key figures in the label’s story, including Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure) and legendary photographer/ film-makers Anton Corbijn and Brian Griffin.
• Brims with previously unseen visual materials from the Mute Archives and Daniel
• Miller’s personal archives, including conceptual artworks, rare ephemera and equipment.
• Includes a full family tree of Mute artists together with comprehensive discographies.

Contents:

1. 1978–1979: Warm Leatherette and Letraset: Founding a New New Wave 2. 1980–1982: Mute in the Charts: Depeche Mode and Yazoo • 3. 1983–1989: Beyond Electropop: The Experimental Side of Mute • 4. 1990–1999: Mute into the Nineties 5. 2000– Into the Future

Author:

Daniel Miller is the founding visionary of Mute Records. Terry Burrows is an author, multiinstrumental musician and producer based in London. Best known as a cult performer under the alias Yukio Yung, Burrows has recorded psychedelic art pop as half of The Chrysanthemums, made abstract industrial albums with Asmus Tietchens and created instrumental prog-rock-tinged electronica as part of the duo Push-Button Pleasure. He currently performs ‘Tonesucker’, a fundamentalist noise drone project at festivals across Europe. Burrows is also a prolific author of more than eighty books relating to music history, tuition and technology, popular psychology and modern history.

Target Market:

Musos; indie fans; design and graphic design fans, practitioners and students.