War on Sound

By: Christopher Harris

Narrated by: Christopher Harris

Kid Centrifuge is a rock band with dreams no bigger than other rock bands: ho-hum, tour and get signed and be famous and change the universe. Alas, unlike their rock-music forebears, our heroes live in a world that has largely moved on to techno, dance and pop. Yes, the music industry is still littered with double-crossers and backbiters, but now they're looking for DJs, and maybe guitar champions need no longer apply. So the kids tilt against the same old windmills musicians have battled forever, but with a suspicion that the same old animating dream - all you need is a guitar and a great song and you'll make a million bucks - is dead.

That gives their grass-roots aspirations more than a little desperation, and bad decisions ensue.

War On Sound gets inside its four featured musicians - Amanda, the singer; Sebastian, the guitarist; Kate, the drummer; and Scott, the bass player and angsty piloting force - the way Don DeLillo did in Great Jones Street and Roddy Doyle did in The Commitments. These talented kids wage war, blinkers in place, faith challenged...they have big success and big failure, and they keep playing. War on Sound is by turns hilarious and profound, and illuminates the contemporary music scene better than any recent novel.

©2016 Christopher Harris (P)2016 Christopher Harris

Epic and Microcosm

If you could sum up War on Sound in three words, what would they be?

Trenchant, poignant, true

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh

Any additional comments?

Mr. Harris made a detailed look at the demise of a great American art form, while working in another, and it doubles as a timely look back at our recent past, the acceleration of technology and distance between us, how they add to the economic and cultural anxiety we feel, against a backdrop of perma-war and terror. And it is very funny and well-read. Highly recommended for anyone who cares too much about music.

The characters are so real, it almost hurts.

I resonated intensely with how accurately Harris captures pain, doubt, addiction, and depression. Must listen.

A Fun Listen/Read

If you could sum up War on Sound in three words, what would they be?

People, Music, Growth

What did you like best about this story?

The character development; particularly the reactions of different people experiencing the same situations.

Have you listened to any of Christopher Harris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I completed the book on my way to work this morning. It was excellent. I typically have two hours a day commuting, for a total of ten hours per week, in which I can listen/read for pleasure. I listened to the nearly 20 hour audiobook in less than one. It was so good that I listened to it at any available moment.

Elements I particularly enjoyed are, in no order, the scenes Harris painted in each location as if he had lived in those places, the reaping of seeds sowed earlier in the book, the tying of his timeline to the real world events happening around the characters, and the individual perceptions and reactions of each of the characters to the same circumstances, particularly when it involved their reactions to each other's actions and behaviors. They could be so sure they were interpreting a thought or a gesture one way, and of course they would be completely wrong, as we so often are.

must read

great book even for non music lover keeps u glued the characters come to life

Such a great ride!

The narrator, also the author, does a fantastic job of putting the reader in the story. Loved it!