About the Author

Matthew Collin is the author of the critically acclaimed books This is Serbia Calling, and The Time of the Rebels. He has worked for the BBC from Georgia and has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines. He now reports for Al Jazeera from Georgia..

Reviews

At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough.
*Irvine Welsh*

Altered State is not just timely; it was crying out to be written
*Independent*

Altered State remains the definitive story of the last decade's love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25
*Q*

[A] full-blooded, abrasive exploration of the rise and fall of the ecstasy scene.
*Sunday Business Post*

[E]ssential reading
*Q*

The first book to forensically document the acid house explosion... It's written with the authority of the first-hander, but what makes the book so compelling is his political perspective.
*Mixmag*

At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough. * Irvine Welsh *
Altered State is not just timely; it was crying out to be written * Independent *
Altered State remains the definitive story of the last decade's love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25 * Q *
[A] full-blooded, abrasive exploration of the rise and fall of the ecstasy scene. -- Julian Fleming * Sunday Business Post *
[E]ssential reading -- Rupert Howe * Q *
The first book to forensically document the acid house explosion... It's written with the authority of the first-hander, but what makes the book so compelling is his political perspective. -- Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton [DJ History] * Mixmag *

The clubs, deejays and bands mentioned in Altered State may be of little significance to even the most meticulous music listener, but that's the idea. In America, anyway, no musical subculture has ever maintained its underground profile as long as acid house, a synthesizer-based dance music characterized by electronic bleeps and squelchy runs. Collin pursues the history of house music from computerized disco music in the '70s to Chicago deejays to London to the small Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Initially, Britain's club kids considered Ecstasy culture, with its combination of house music and drugs, an effortless escape from Thatcher-era conservatism. Ecstasy's cushy, hallucinogenic release offered a customized accompaniment to the bracing electronic beats emanating from a quickly dying New Romantic music scene. The bands New Order and Happy Mondays found small commercial followings, but it was deejays schooled in American disco and cut-and-paste production that would eventually rule house music. Collin (The Face; Wired) goes on to acknowledge the British scene's debt to tiny American record labels such as Chicago's Trax. If his prose occasionally slinks into the hyperbole for which British pop journalists are infamous, Collin's insider knowledge reveals a genuine understanding of all the scene's benevolent affectations. (June)