About the Author

Dave Tompkins, a former columnist for The Wire, writes frequently on about hip-hop and popular music. His work has appeared in Vibe, The Village Voice, Wax Poetics, and The Believer. Nearly a decade in the making, this is his first book.

Reviews

"It's unquestionably brilliant, not only one of the best music books of the year, but also one of the best music books ever written."
--Los Angeles Times "Dave Tompkins is seven steps ahead of science and several leagues outside of time."
--Sasha Frere-Jones, Pop Music Critic, The New Yorker "The best hip hop writer ever born."
--Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation, winner of the American Book Award "One of the most bugged, brilliant guys I know."
--Oliver Wang, NPR music critic "No one knows more about the vocoder than Dave Tompkins, not even the dude who invented it. [A]n awesome book about the vocoder and its cultural impact... read it immediately."
--The Fader "How to Wreck a Nice Beach is much more than a labor of love: It's an intergalactic vision quest fueled by several thousand gallons of high-octane spiritual-intellectual lust. Outside of, say, William Vollmann, it's hard to think of an author so ravished by his subject... A hallucinatory stew of Rimbaud, Tom Wolfe, Lester Bangs, and Bootsy Collins."
--New York "This one has cult audience written all over it."
--Booklist

"It s unquestionably brilliant, not only one of the best music books of the year, but also one of the best music books ever written."
"Los Angeles Times"
"Dave Tompkins is seven steps ahead of science and several leagues outside of time."
Sasha Frere-Jones, Pop Music Critic, "The New Yorker"
"The best hip hop writer ever born."
Jeff Chang, author of"Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation," winner of the American Book Award
"One of the most bugged, brilliant guys I know."
Oliver Wang, NPR music critic
"No one knows more about the vocoder thanDave Tompkins, not even the dude who invented it. [A]n awesome book about the vocoder and its cultural impact read it immediately."
" The Fader"
"How to Wreck a Nice Beach" is much more than a labor of love: It s an intergalactic vision quest fueled by several thousand gallons of high-octane spiritual-intellectual lust. Outside of, say, William Vollmann, it s hard to think of an author so ravished by his subject... A hallucinatory stew of Rimbaud, Tom Wolfe, Lester Bangs, and Bootsy Collins.
"New York"
"This one has cult audience written all over it."
"Booklist""