Now Is the Time to Invent! - by Katherine Spielmann & Steve Connell & J Neo Marvin & Jay Ruttenberg (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Now Is the Time to Invent offers a definitive portrait of the vibrant indie-rock scene that flourished in the mid-1980s and reached its creative peak in the 1990s. More than 60 profiles and interviews, taken from the pages of the acclaimed independent music magazine Puncture and illustrated with many rare photographs, cover all the major contributors to a lastingly influential musical movement.

It's impossible to determine a single starting point for indie rock, but here it is found in the scintillating psychodramas Kristin Hersch conjured up for Throwing Muses and the deadpan, genre-busting, proto-slacker anthems of Camper Van Beethoven, and followed through to the critical triumphs of Sleater-Kinney and Neutral Milk Hotel more than a decade later. Along the way, it takes in such pioneering artists as P.J. Harvey, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Bikini Kill, Nick Cave, Beck, Cat Power, Fugazi, Mekons, Pavement, Belle & Sebastian, Meat Puppets, My Bloody Valentine, Sebadoh, the Breeders, Jeff Buckley, Guided by Voices, Will Oldham, Hole, Flaming Lips, the Magnetic Fields, and many more.

Review Quotes

Now Is the Time to Invent! collects writing from Puncture, a little magazine that covered the indie scene of the late '80s and '90s with authority, scope, generosity, and a lovingly critical eye. Founded in 1982 as a San Francisco punk zine, Puncture continuously grew, publishing engaging profiles of the indie rock biggies--Pavement, Hole, Beck, Sleater-Kinney, Belle & Sebastian, the Flaming Lips, Cat Power, the Pixies, Nick Cave, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Magnetic Fields, Jeff Buckley, Fugazi, My Bloody Valentine, Guided By Voices, and many more--alongside culture essays, reviews and coverage of film, art, and literature. Like the bands it wrote about, it was informal, yet tastefully made . . . The writing was smart and engaging, enthusiastic but never fawning, concerned with the health of the music scene even when assessing its progress meant calling out its insularity or lack of energy. Along with its sensitivity to indie-rock's often unbalanced gender dynamics, Puncture backed the right aesthetic horse by celebrating the homespun, literary, warmly opaque, self-consciously arty, and vulnerable--bands like Camper Van Beethoven, the Mekons, Sebadoh, Palace, and the Mountain Goats. - Rolling Stone Recommends--Jon Dolan "Rolling Stone"

About the Author

Katherine Spielmann founded Puncture in 1982, together with Patty Stirling, and she was the magazine's editor and publisher during its 18-year history. Steve Connell was the managing editor of Puncture from 1984 to 2000. Musician and writer J Neo Marvin was Puncture's most consistent contributor throughout its history. Jay Ruttenberg was a frequent contributor to Puncture for many years and was the magazine's music editor from 1997 to 2000.