14: Simon Reynolds, futuromaniac

For millennial music journos like us, Simon Reynolds is one of
the Goats. 


He’s a writer best known for his era-defining book on dance
music, Energy Flash and the ultimate history of post-punk, Rip It
Up And Start Again. But there’s barely a genre that Simon hasn’t
touched, from hip-hop, shoegaze and glam rock to pivotal essays
on Auto-Tune, “conceptronica” and the hardcore continuum.


Reynolds’ newest book is a collection of essays, interviews and
reviews on the idea of “futuromania” –his word for electronic
music’s obsession with the manifesting the future. Futuromania
kicks off in 1977 with Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and sweeps up
half a century of electronic genius, with writing on household
names (Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, Future), underground icons (Acen,
The Mover, Omni Trio) and nebulous trends like the ambient
revival.


Unsurprisingly, we couldn’t squeeze all of that in a single
episode. But we did talk to Simon about the lure of
accelerationism, dance music’s middle-aged desires, Daft Punk’s
yearning for the “mass synchrony” of the ‘70s, the uncanniness of
Boards of Canada, and how he learned to stop worrying about
retromania and start loving Dry Cleaning. Plus: he gave us the
scoop on his next book! We think it’s an exclusive!!


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