Jean-Michel Jarre releases ‘Machines: A History of Electronic Music’
Jean-Michel Jarre publishes “Machines: A History of Electronic Music” via Thames & Hudson, out November 5, 2026, with Gary Numan, Vince Clarke and more.
French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has published ‘Machines: A History of Electronic Music’, a 368-page illustrated hardcover released through Thames & Hudson on November 5, 2026. The book traces more than a century of electronic sound through instruments drawn from Jarre’s own collection, with around 800 illustrations and reflections from fellow musicians.
The book opens with Luigi Russolo’s 1913 Futurist manifesto “The Art of Noises” and moves through early radio experiments, tape manipulation, analogue synthesizers, digital technology and recent developments involving artificial intelligence. Around 150 machines from Jarre’s archive of electronic and electroacoustic instruments, among the largest private collections of its kind, illustrate the chapters, combined with rare photographs, historical material and personal anecdotes. Jarre also recounts his own path into the field, from a childhood fascination with tape recorders to his studies under Pierre Schaeffer in Paris.
Contributors to the book include Armin van Buuren, Vince Clarke (Erasure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode), Gillian Gilbert (New Order), Nicolas Godin (Air), Richie Hawtin, Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Gary Numan, Benjamin John Power (Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons), Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Pete Townshend (The Who) and Hans Zimmer. Side-Line previously covered two of Jarre’s collaborations with contributors to the book: a reworked “Automatic” with Vince Clarke in 2015, and the Gary Numan-featuring follow-up to “Electronica 1: The Time Machine” in 2016.
‘Machines: A History of Electronic Music’ is available in the UK, Australia and through booksellers across Europe. Further editions are planned for France, Poland and North America.
About Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre is a French composer and producer whose career in electronic music spans more than five decades. He studied under Pierre Schaeffer at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris, grounding his later work in the musique concrète tradition before moving into synthesizer-based composition. His 1976 album “Oxygène” established him internationally and set the template for the large-scale outdoor concerts he later staged around the world.
Jarre has continued to record and perform through the following decades, including the “Electronica” project, released across two volumes beginning in 2015 and built around collaborations with artists including Gary Numan, Vince Clarke, Pet Shop Boys and Tangerine Dream’s Edgar Froese. Alongside his recording career, Jarre has assembled a private collection of electronic and electroacoustic instruments spanning the history of the medium, from early experimental devices to modular synthesizers and one-off prototypes.
‘Machines: A History of Electronic Music’ draws directly on that archive. Published by Thames & Hudson on November 5, 2026, the book combines instruments from Jarre’s collection with contributions from musicians including Gary Numan, Vince Clarke, Gillian Gilbert, Nick Rhodes and Johnny Marr, placing his own history within a broader account of electronic music’s technological development.
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For almost 15 years I’ve been writing about music, interviewing artists and reviewing releases for Peek-A-Boo Magazine. Recently, I also launched my own WordPress website, where I continue to share interviews, reviews and news from the underground scene. The darker side of music has been part of my life for more than 30 years, with a passion for everything from ’80s synthpop and New Wave to EBM, Futurepop and dark electronic music in general. Also Metal and Rock is part of my world. Away from the scene, I work in a public library, where books are part of my everyday life. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction, especially books on politics, religion, health and travel. I’m also a fan of thrillers and horror films. When I’m not listening to music or reading, you’ll usually find me exploring nature, enjoying a good sauna, experimenting with vegan cooking, or travelling to my second home, Finland. I’ve always believed the underground has the best stories. My job is simply to help tell them
