book review: Innerviews by Anil Prasad

Fans read interviews in music magazines to find out what makes their favourite musicians tick, or what factors might have contributed to a recent release. They revel in intimate details because, in a strange way, it allows them to possess their favourite artists.
Innerviews is not like that in the least. Anil Prasad’s new book, which is essentially an anthology of his unpublished interviews with various musicians over the last decade, gives more insight into musicianship than it does to dirty laundry. It’s the antithesis of your typical journalistic work; Prasad explores the bounds of making music with a few fundamental questions. Although the artists whom Prasad features (Stanley Clarke, Bjork, Joe Zawinul to name a few) are not currently in the spotlight, their words offer invaluable details about the process of making music (particularly when they answer Prasad’s standard question of what spirituality means to them). Everything from writing soundtracks to the preference of playing old songs vs new is discussed, and the book teaches a lot more about music history and the industry rather than oft-limited personal stories. Jazz, pop, electronica, hip hop, world music—it’s all here. Prasad, who founded the internet’s first online music magazine (innerviews.org) in 1994 has crafted a gem for anyone who loves music itself, not just a particular artist or genre.

Recommended for musicians and music geeks.

The book will be available on October 19th, and you can order it HERE