Back in June, we did a book tour throughout the UK and Europe to promote Shawn Reynaldo’s book First Floor: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture Vol 1.
“Going into it, I really didn’t know what to expect,” reflects Shawn, “many of the events were happening in nontraditional venues (at least as far as books are concerned), and I’m not exactly a “famous author”—but much to my delight, the whole thing went really well. At several stops, I literally ran out of books to sell!”
The tour was supposed to be the end of his promotional travels, but once it wrapped up, Shawn found himself thinking about a potential US tour. Although he lives in Barcelona, he is American, and a sizable chunk of the First Floor audience is based on that side of the Atlantic. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to go, so he started reaching out to people and slowly piecing together an itinerary.
Today, we’re happy to unveil the complete North American tour—yes, there’s a stop in Canada too—along with the incredible roster of artists who’ve kindly agreed to moderate the conversations. The dates are as follows:
- September 21 – New York, Dripping at Nowadays (moderated by Avalon Emerson)
- September 22 – Montreal, OSMO X MARUSAN (moderated by Patrick Holland)
- September 23 – Miami, Paradis Books & Bread (moderated by Nick León)
- September 25 – Washington DC, Eaton House (moderated by Joyce Lim)
- September 27 – Los Angeles, Late Breakfast at 2220 Arts + Archives (moderated by Laurel Halo)
- September 28 – Seattle, Vermillion (moderated by Doc Sleep)
- September 29 – Portland, Colleen (live) at Holocene (moderated by Spencer Doran)
- September 30 – San Francisco, Public Works (moderated by Mozhgan)
More details and the individual event flyers can be found on Shawn’s Instagram.
“If you’re in any of these cities, please do feel free to come down,” says Shawn. “Many of the events are free, and copies of the books will be available for sale at each stop. I’ll even sign them if you want. The conversations during my tour of the UK and Europe—which obviously focused on the book, but also branched out into the current state of affairs in music journalism, electronic music and the wider music industry—were really fun and lively, and after meeting so many First Floor readers in person at those events, I can’t wait to meet some of their American counterparts.”
