Studio Electrophonique - (British Pop Archive) by Jamie Taylor (Paperback)

About the Book

Studio Electrophonique tells the story of the Sheffield home studio that helped launch the careers of some of the biggest names in British pop: The Human League, Heaven 17, Pulp, ABC and more.

Book Synopsis

Review Quotes

'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

'The book's strength is its bringing to life the infrastructure, largely publicly funded, that supported an unlikely bohemia that led to worldwide success.'
Helen Barrett, Financial Times

'A book that pulses and rattles with DIY determination and glittering pop dreams. I liked it a lot.'
Teddy Jamieson, The Herald

'You'll be hard pressed to find another book this heartwarming or magical in 2025.'
Jeremy Allen, Record Collector

'A truly wonderful dispatch from the primordial soup of synth Sheffield.'
Roy Wilkinson, MOJO

'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

About the Author