‘Beat Gems’ book charts the evolution of the drum machine

Specialist music imprint Bjooks is venturing into another sphere of electronic music with its latest monograph, Beat Gems (being funded via Kickstarter, with the campaign starting this week). Following on from the earlier, self-explanatory Synth Gems, Inspire the Music, a celebration of 50 years of innovation by Japanese musical megacorp Roland, and The Minimoog Book, which doubles down on the history of the pioneering synthesizer, the new book is subtitled ‘Drum Machines in Modern Music’.

Few pieces of musical tech inspire as much loyalty and fascination as the drum machine. Oli Freke’s book is a deep dive into the history and development of this incredibly influential device, covering the origins of the tech, from proto-drum machines like the 1959 Wurlitzer Side Man 5000, often described as the first ever rhythm machine, through to early analogue devices like the cult Elka Drummer One from Italy and the NME Rattlesnake from the 1970s through to electronic drums like the LinnDrum and the Roland TR series.

Beat Gems takes the reader through obscure sidebars in music history without ignoring the ultra-influential classics, such as the development of Akai’s MPC series, one of the backbones of modern hip-hop (devices that are still widely used today, old and new). The cultural context of each machine is also considered, along with beautiful photography of each example.

In all, there are more than 60 drum machines chronicled in the book. The author, London-based Oli Freke, runs the excellent Synth Evolution site and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of electronic music machines.

Beat Gems: Drum Machines in Modern Music, by Oli Freke, more information at Bjooks.com, @WeMakeBjooks and Kickstarter.com