Get your hands on a copy of Sony Legacy’s November 28 Record Store Day release Power to Consume Vol. 1, a collection of ear-opening noise salutes to the spirit of Lou Reed’s mighty Metal Machine Music reviewed here by the uber-hip The Quietus website, and you’ll be consuming my liner notes. I also did the interviews with the noise artistes in the ‘zine you get with the album.

I’m really grateful to Shaun Cohen of Sony Legacy for commissioning me to write the liners in the first place and for turning me onto the terrific, occasionally terrifying, performers featured on Power to Consume. It’s heartwarming to hear them gleefully pushing the boundaries and turning sonic cartwheels when they go over the edge. Shaun’s dedication to the music and the scene are truly contagious. For him to have manoeuvred Aaron Dilloway, Pharmakon and the rest onto a massively major label is a real coup.

As Shaun told me, “Everyone involved helped create something truly special and it’s great to see how many different generations have melded. At least for a moment, the underground has won.”

For those of us who’ve been fascinated by Metal Machine Music since forever, it’s heartening that new generations are falling under its spell. And I’m delighted that the potential audience for my book on the most divisive and enigmatic of rock and roll albums seems to be growing all the time.

Read more moi on Metal Machine Music here.