The debut book release from Stop Smiling Books - How To Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II To Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks, by Dave Tompkins. This discussion is moderated by James Hughes, editor of How to Wreck a Nice Beach.

The Vocoder From World War II To Hip-Hop traces how the Pentagon’s speech scrambling weapon transformed into the robot voice of pop music.

Dave Tompkins, a former columnist for The Wire, writes frequently about hip-hop and popular music. His work has appeared in Vibe, The Village Voice, The Believer and Wax Poetics.

Recorded Thursday, May 06, 2010 at Stop Smiling Storefront.