Adam Steiner

From his early work with The Birthday Party to the future sounds of Ghosteen, Nick Cave has rewritten the language of rock ‘n’ roll. Darker with the Dawn uncovers the history and deeper meanings behind Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ most well-known songs from “Tupelo”, “The Mercy Seat”, “Red Right Hand”, “Stagger Lee”, “Into My Arms”, to “Higgs Boson Blues” and beyond. The book explores Nick Cave’s life in music drawing upon his inspirations of the Bible, Greek myth, and literature, as well as his enduring passion for gospel, blues, and progressive rock. Steiner reflects upon Cave's journey from his childhood in Australia, struggles with drug addiction, his young fascination with the nightmare landscapes of America's wild west and the southern gothic towards a reckoning with his own sense of Christian spirituality. In a career spanning four decades Cave's songwriting has moved from the saints and sinners of the traditional murder ballad to piano-based heartbreak songs, deconstructed garage rock and ambient fever dreams delivered through minimalist electronica. Adam Steiner dives into the world of a complex songwriter who, in his universal expressions of love and death, continues to speak to us of the light and shade of humanity.

From his early work with The Birthday Party to the future sounds of Ghosteen, Nick Cave has rewritten the language of rock ‘n’ roll.Darker with the Dawn uncovers the history and deeper meanings behind Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ most well-known songs from “Tupelo”, “The Mercy Seat”, “Red Right Hand”, “Stagger Lee”, “Into My Arms”, to “Higgs Boson Blues” and beyond. The book explores Nick Cave’s life in music drawing upon his inspirations of the Bible, Greek myth, and literature, as well as his enduring passion for gospel, blues, and progressive rock. Steiner reflects upon Cave's journey from his childhood in Australia, struggles with drug addiction, his young fascination with the nightmare landscapes of America's wild west and the southern gothic towards a reckoning with his own sense of Christian spirituality. In a career spanning four decades Cave's songwriting has moved from the saints and sinners of the traditional murder ballad to piano-based heartbreak songs, deconstructed garage rock and ambient fever dreams delivered through minimalist electronica. Adam Steiner dives into the world of a complex songwriter who, in his universal expressions of love and death, continues to speak to us of the light and shade of humanity.

Silhouettes and Shadows explores the secret history of David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)—an avant-garde pop album rich with tension and fear which closed Bowie’s golden years of the 1970s.Featuring exclusive interviews with close collaborators, this book uncovers the studio stories and hidden meanings behind Scary Monsters as Bowie stood at the crossroads of the new decade. Caught between the experimental Berlin Trilogy (Low, Heroes, and Lodger) and 1983’s smash hit Let’s Dance, it is here Bowie reached the end of his long road to recovery, overcame his demons, and buried the ghosts of his past to become a global superstar reaching millions of new fans.Scary Monsters’ hit singles “Fashion” and “Ashes to Ashes” would break Bowie back into the charts, confronting listeners with chaotic images of paranoia, addiction, social breakdown, and state control. Bowie would ride a new wave of inspiration with the post-punk of Joy Division, synth-pop of Gary Numan, and Culture Club’s sexual emancipation to the Blitz Kids and the New Romantics that followed in his wake. Marking a final goodbye to Space Oddity's lost hero, Major Tom, and the personas of Ziggy Stardust, Halloween Jack, Plastic Soul (the Gouster) and The Thin White Duke, in this rare moment, David Bowie, the pierrot clown of everyday romance, suffering, and song, let his mask slip to reveal David Jones, the man within.

Ushering in a new era of confessional music that spoke openly about experiences of trauma, depression, and self-loathing, Nine Inch Nails' seminal album, The Downward Spiral, changed popular music forever bringing transgressive themes of heresy, S and M, and body horror to the masses and taking music technology to its limits. Released in 1994, the album resonated across a generation, combining elements of metal, industrial, synth-pop, and ambient electronica, and going on to sell over four million copies. Now, Into the Never explores the creation and cultural impact of The Downward Spiral, one of the most influential and artistically significant albums of the twentieth century, or ever. Inspired by David Bowie s Low and Pink Floyd's The Wall, the album recounts one man's disintegration as he descends into nihilism and nothingness. Blurring the lines between autobiography and concept album, creation and decay, it is also the story of Trent Reznor (the man who is Nine Inch Nails) as he pushed himself to the edge of the abyss, trapped in a cycle of addiction and self-destruction. The Downward Spiral also presents a reflection of America and a wider culture of violence, connecting the Columbine High School shooting, the infamous Manson family murders, and the aftermath of Vietnam and the Gulf War.

Remixing the Curriculum offers educators a way to rethink traditional curricular approaches through a “curricular remix,” a concept in which a curriculum becomes different from its original form, retaining its basic foundational elements, but experiencing a metamorphosis to create a new version. Remixing the Curriculum suggests that the way to develop curriculum to maximize student access and engagement is to employ essential elements of traditional pedagogy, but infuse it with technology to create new features through the X Framework (XFW). XFW capitalizes on four essential features of educators’ practice and learning: Technology Fitness, in which a teacher self-evaluates their comfort level using technology; Proactive Teaching, which front-loads the planning and preparation for instruction to prior to implementation; Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a set of principles which guide the conditions for learning, including flexible learning environments to accommodate individual learning differences; and Assistive Technology, technology to improve the capabilities of students with disabilities. At the intersection of these four quadrants is X, which serves as a fulcrum for access to the curriculum.

Remixing the Curriculum offers educators a way to rethink traditional curricular approaches through a “curricular remix,” a concept in which a curriculum becomes different from its original form, retaining its basic foundational elements, but experiencing a metamorphosis to create a new version. Remixing the Curriculum suggests that the way to develop curriculum to maximize student access and engagement is to employ essential elements of traditional pedagogy, but infuse it with technology to create new features through the X Framework (XFW). XFW capitalizes on four essential features of educators’ practice and learning: Technology Fitness, in which a teacher self-evaluates their comfort level using technology; Proactive Teaching, which front-loads the planning and preparation for instruction to prior to implementation; Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a set of principles which guide the conditions for learning, including flexible learning environments to accommodate individual learning differences; and Assistive Technology, technology to improve the capabilities of students with disabilities. At the intersection of these four quadrants is X, which serves as a fulcrum for access to the curriculum.