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Jean-Michel Jarre has announced Machines: A History of Electronic Music, an extensive illustrated book exploring more than a century of electronic sound through the inst…
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Scheduled for publication by Thames & Hudson, the 368-page hardcover brings together approximately 800 illustrations, rare archival material, technical diagrams, performance imagery and personal recollections from Jarre’s long career. Rather than presenting a conventional autobiography, the book uses electronic instruments as the central thread connecting different generations of musical experimentation.
The story begins in 1913 with Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo’s manifesto The Art of Noises, an influential early argument for expanding music beyond traditional orchestral sounds. From there, Machines follows the development of electronic music through European avant-garde movements including Surrealism and the Bauhaus, as well as the work of radio laboratories, experimental studios and early electronic composers.
Institutions such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Radio France feature in the wider historical account. The book also examines the transition from tape manipulation and electroacoustic experimentation to modular synthesis, digital production and the emerging use of artificial intelligence in music.
Jarre draws heavily on his own archive, described by the publisher as one of the world’s most significant private collections of electronic and electroacoustic instruments. Around 150 machines from the collection are represented, with more detailed sections devoted to over 80 instruments. These range from established synthesizers such as the ARP 2500 to rare prototypes, custom-built devices and unusual one-off creations.
The machines are presented not simply as technical objects but as creative interfaces that changed how musicians compose, perform and interact with sound. Jarre connects their development to broader changes in art, design and society, while explaining how particular instruments became part of his own musical vocabulary.
Machines also includes contributions from artists and composers whose work crosses several areas of electronic and popular music. The announced participants include Richie Hawtin, Armin van Buuren, Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, New Order’s Gillian Gilbert, Air’s Nicolas Godin, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, Johnny Marr, Pete Townshend, Benjamin John Power and film composer Hans Zimmer.
Their reflections place Jarre’s personal experience within a broader musical history rather than presenting electronic music through a single career. The book combines these outside perspectives with stories from Jarre’s childhood experiments with reel-to-reel tape, his early musical education and the instruments used throughout his studio and live work.
Material from Jarre’s large-scale performances is also included, with sequences of images documenting the relationship between electronic sound, visual production and concert technology. These sections connect the development of the instruments with the spectacular audiovisual shows that became a defining part of his public work.
Jarre describes the book as a journey through machines he collected, learned to control, imagined and incorporated into his musical language. For him, their importance lies not only in the sounds they produce but also in the ways their physical design can influence musical decisions and inspire new methods of composition.
The UK edition of Machines: A History of Electronic Music is currently scheduled for October 8, 2026. A United States edition will follow in November, while additional editions in local languages are also planned. Pre-orders are available through the official announcement and Thames & Hudson.
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