Full Description
Electronic dance music is increasingly the focus of a multitude of academic research projects around the world but has been drastically under-represented in accessible core published material. This innovative scholarly collection provides an important 'first stop' for researchers and students wishing to work in this area. It examines the key features of numerous electronic dance music scenes and (sub)genres alongside discussions of the musical, social and aesthetic experiences of participants to consider how these musical practices create purpose and cultural significance for millions around the world. At the same time, it introduces diverse theoretical approaches to the understanding of electronic dance music cultures and addresses the issues and debates in electronic dance music culture studies. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawn from both music and cultural studies - including music aesthetics, technologies, venues, and performativity - from a broad geographical perspective, the volume sheds fresh light on electronic dance music cultures.
Contents
List of figures; Contributors; Introduction Hillegonda C. Rietveld and4 Toby Young; Part I. Setting the Scene: 1. Raves as aesthetic experience: the Blackburn parties Beate Peter; 2. The 'Affective Charge' of the 'Inexistent' dancefloor: exploring nightclub architecture and design Catharine Rossi; 3. Sound system legacies Caspar Melville; 4. Let the DJ tell the story: thoughts on archiving and genre formation in the age of electronic dance music Kai Fikentscher; Part II. Local and Global Contexts: 5. Party as protest: Free Party, teknivals, early rave scenes and Berlin's hardcore techno Bianca Ludewig; 6. Angolan Kuduro in the context of sound system cultures of the black Atlantic Stefanie Alisch; 7. Chinese electronic dance music cultures: an analysis of their local cultural and social characteristics Matthew Ming-Tak Chew; 8. Taking the mix to twitch: streaming DJ culture during and after the pandemic tobias c. van Veen and Bernardo Attias; Part III. Genre Aesthetics: 9. Drum and bass as cultural accelerator: underground resistance or ecstatic concession to speed? Chris Christodoulou; 10. Chill out: seeking ecstatic trance in low tempo EDM Rupert Till; 11. Genre classification in electronic dance music culture: from localised histories to the bandcamp underground Botond Vitos; Part IV. Sonic Subjectivities:12. Timbre and gesture at the threshold of meaning Maria Perevedentseva; 13. Pulse trains: an autoethnography of techno production in Berlin Nicolas Bougaïeff; 14. EDM's secret technologies Robert Fink; 15. Dance music and flow Tami Gadir; Part V. Dancefloor Identities: 16. Feminine subjectivities: gender in electronic music production and performance Samantha Parsley; 17. The divisiveness of the bass music drop in the North American festival setting Edward Katrak Spencer; 18. Ageing provocateurs: responding to older people's participation in electronic dance music culture Alice O'Grady and Alinka Greasely; Index.
