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

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The amazing story of the home studio that helped launch some of Britain's most beloved bands.

The Sheffield space age began in 1961, when local mechanic Ken Patten won a tape-recording competition by recreating the sound of a rocket launch using a pencil and a bicycle pump.

In the decades that followed, the makeshift home studio he constructed became the launch pad for a group of young musicians who would shape the futuristic sound of 1980s pop. The Human League, Heaven 17, Pulp, ABC and others made their early recordings with Ken, whose DIY ethic was the perfect fit for a city facing industrial decline but teeming with ideas.

Studio Electrophonique tells the story of a generation seeking new frontiers in music, using everything they could lay their hands on - from science fiction novels to glam rock, Dada art and cheap electronics - to get there. Drawing on original interviews with Jarvis Cocker, Martyn Ware, Mark White and others, it brings to light a world of humour, charm, creativity and unfounded yet undaunted self-belief.

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

'The DIY maverick that could have stepped out of a Wes Anderson film, and the Steel City artists carrying that same spirit today.'
Andrew Trendell, NME

'Less a straightforward music history than a layered meditation on obscurity, memory and sonic heritage, this tenderly written book amplifies the overlooked echoes behind Sheffield's electronic music vanguard.'
Leah Kardos, The Wire

'Blending Patten's story with the wider world of late '70s Sheffield and its small but deadly arts scene, Taylor waves a truly fascinating story punctuated with plenty of soundbites from the key players.'
Sarah Gregory, Shindig!

'This potty, audacious gem is defiantly atypical, more a dystopian novel, odyssey or psychogeography treatise than an off-the-peg music biography.'
Mark Hodkinson, Rock'n'Reel

'You don't have to be a fan of electronic music, be into Dadaism or have a particular interest in Sheffield to enjoy this book. It is a story of human invention, comradeship and creativity set against a backdrop of heavy industry, dirt, poverty and a city still reeling from World War II. It's a reminder that you can do a lot with very little, and that necessity is the mother of invention.'
DJ Tat, Now Then

'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

'It's a total labour of love, funny, insightful, very well written and most of all, it lays the whole incredible saga out in front of you. The nitty gritty gone into here is to be admired.'
Neil Mason, Moonbuilding Weekly

'It is a focused 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, Punk & Post-Punk

About the Author