Studio Electrophonique
The Sheffield Space Age, from the Human League to Pulp
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Manchester University Press
Publishing:15th Apr '25
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 15th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
The amazing story of the home studio that helped launch some of Britain’s most beloved bands.
The Sheffield space age began in 1961, when local mechanic Ken Patten won a tape-recording competition by recreating the sound of a rocket launch using a pencil and a bicycle pump.
In the decades that followed, the makeshift home studio he constructed became the launch pad for a group of young musicians who would shape the futuristic sound of 1980s pop. The Human League, Heaven 17, Pulp, ABC and others made their early recordings with Ken, whose DIY ethic was the perfect fit for a city facing industrial decline but teeming with ideas.
Studio Electrophonique tells the story of a generation seeking new frontiers in music, using everything they could lay their hands on – from science fiction novels to glam rock, Dada art and cheap electronics – to get there. Drawing on original interviews with Jarvis Cocker, Martyn Ware, Mark White and others, it brings to light a world of humour, charm, creativity and unfounded yet undaunted self-belief.
‘The amazing story of an enthusiastic oddball who changed the sound of British pop.’
Mark Radcliffe, broadcaster and writer
‘Few will have heard of Ken Patten or Studio Electrophonique, South York’s answer to Joe Meek’s legendary 304 Holloway Road in DIY ingenuity – kitchen cupboard vocal booths, cardboard toilet roll tubes and all. But those who recorded there changed the face of popular music and put Sheffield on the global musical map. Combining dogged detective work with a wry celebration of Steel City and its more visionary inhabitants, Jamie Taylor’s book gives us both Ken’s story and that of Sheffield from postwar to post-punk in glorious style. Full of self-deprecating Yorkshire humour and fresh insight.’
Travis Elborough, author of Atlas of Vanishing Places
'A highly readable study of ambition, dreams and possibility. It is a book about a fight for artistic survival in a grim and squalid environment, of defeating poverty and routine, boredom and lethargy by sheer will and musical ingenuity. It is a focussed exploration of one city’s decline and artistic resurrection, its down-to-earth success story in the face of negativity and poverty. It is an uplifting and inspiring volume about possibility and why music matters.'
Rupert Loydell, International Times
‘Beautifully written. An amazing tribute to Ken and Sheffield's electro pioneers – as well as the city itself.’
Adrian Goldberg, Byline Times podcast
ISBN: 9781526183231
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
304 pages