Publications
Just want to mention a new book I picked up from the library, latest in the Music/Culture series from Wesleyan University Press: You Better Work! Underground Dance Music in New York City (by Kai Fikentscher, 2000). Fikentscher takes an ethnographical approach to UDM, looking at its roots in the overlap and cross-fertilization of African American and gay cultural sensibilities that have occurred since the 1970s (cover blurb). Although sometimes unintentionally hilarious in his investigation of the field, he accentuates the 'synchronicity' between DJ and dancer, booth and floor, music and movement quite vividly as a type of interactive performance. Interviews, quotations, personal anecdotes, illustrations charts help alleviate the often over-ernest academic tone of his prose. Detroit doesn't receive much reference in the book. But check out this description of Techno from the obligatory glossary! Category of 1980s uptempo dance music (usually faster than 125 bpm; see bpm). Originally associated with a house-derived style, pioneered in Detroit by DJs-turned-producers Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson. At present techno is associated with European product, with an emphasis on the nonacoustic, technological nature of synthesizers and studio technology. Embraced mainly by a young (under 25) and largely straight Caucasian audience. Hardly a working definition...? A few more books of interest re. disco/house/techno. Can't vouch for any of them, though: Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology (Paul Theberge) Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital (Sarah Thornton) Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (Matthew Collin) The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Anthony Haden-Guest) Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco (Alan Jones Jussi Kantonen) Wes n.p. Thomas Brinkmann: Klick
Re: [313] Publications
shannon wrote: one of the best house publications (on the academic tip) is hillegonda rietveld's our house, which is available from ashgate publications in the UK. snip snip snip i feel fairly safe in saying that house, in general, doesn't lend itself to the same flavor of theory that techno does. b/c house is, in general, geared toward a club or party environment while techno easily stands on its own as listening music, theory anecdotes about house will probably stay largely w/in the sphere of the DJ dance, while touching on issues of race sexuality. - thank you for the great compliment :) The current print run of This Is Our House: House Music, Cultural Spaces and Technologies (Ashgate) is currently very low in stock ... perhaps a few letters to Ashgate will convince them that it should be reprinted/republished ... as on house and theory ... true, house music is functional music, it's so effectively designed for the specific dance floor, that it is a very potent dance music genre ... However, as a result, it produces strong good-time memories and can therefore be heard anywhere else, from car stereos to clothing shops, from caffees to people's living rooms. Much of what can be said about Techno as a music, can also be said about House, except that the latter occasionally can have a more hedonistic feel to it and may therefore be regarded as less lofty, perhaps? Still, my philosophy is that hedonism is a totally valid subject for lofty thoughts, just as any other spiritual quest to hit a peak experience, so I've had great fun theorising a range of issues, from subjectivity on the dance floor to copyright law and DJ practices. Some additional recommended publication titles on house/techno/rave/DJs: 1 - Kai Fikentscher (2000) You Better Work! Underground Dance Music in New York City , Wesleyan UP. A PhD adapted to book form which addresses NYC house music related styles, covering a 30 year period. It is written by a ethnomusicologist who also produces and DJs house music so you can expect a focus on music. 2 - Dan Sicko (1999), Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk, Billboard Books. By one of 313's very own, this book is strong on describing the Detroit scene and follows the development of techno beyond its geographical boundaries. 3 - Matthew Collin (1997), Altered State, Serpent's Tail. If you're interested where the idea of a 'Rave' comes from, look no further than this journalistic historical account, researched and produced with all the love and care (and criticism too) that this UK scene deserved. 4 - Ulf Poschardt (1995) DJ Culture, Quartet Books Combines academic cultural theory with issues of DJing in various genres now out of print, but available still if you long hard enough 5 - Anthony Thomas (1989), 'The House the Kids Built: The Gay Black imprinint on American Dance Music', in: CK Creekmur and A Dotty (Eds) Out in Culture, Cassell. A classic journalistic article that highlights an earlier (1980s)cultural history and uses of American house music. Cheers, Hillegonda Rietveld.
Re: [313] Publications
Uhm, the Rough Guide to Techno and the Rough Guide to House aren't bad. The problem with any publication (in book form) is that it takes __at least__ a year to get it out to the public and we all know how fast these genres evolve. So you may pick up a book and find that the latest ground breaking artist isn't there or find that big beat is going to be the saviour of dance music. Fred P.S. There are far more books on the scene than there are about the music. Techno and house just doesn't lend itself to writing about the personalities and anecdotes like rockn'roll or jazz do. This is what fills pages and techno and house jusst don't have them (yet). From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: [313] Publications Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 16:52:04 EST hi, can anyone recommend the best house publications of all time??? I read in Toop's Ocean of Sound that he did an underground thing for a while in the 80's??? Or techno publications thanx Five - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Re: [313] Publications
one of the best house publications (on the academic tip) is hillegonda reitveld's our house, which is available from ashgate publications in the UK. it's a bound dissertation. discographies: dance music, culture the politics of sound by jeremy gilbert ewan pearson (who's released on soma) is good as well, but covers a broader base than reitveld's book. it's available from routledge in the US UK. for general good-time reading there's last night a DJ saved my life by brewster broughton (PGW, US), but it covers everything from disco to northern soul back again, from the DJ perspective. my favorite, currently, just b/c it's a beautiful book is modulations: throbbing words on sound, which technically is the companion book to the film by the same name, but it goes so much further it's much lovelier to look at. it's a corelease from caiphirina DAP. as far as waiting for a house publication akin to kodwo eshun's more brilliant than the sun, it'll be a long wait. i'm primarily a house-head (my interest in techno is primarily 1st generation 313 my schoolgirlish obsession w/ aril brikha), i feel fairly safe in saying that house, in general, doesn't lend itself to the same flavor of theory that techno does. b/c house is, in general, geared toward a club or party environment while techno easily stands on its own as listening music, theory anecdotes about house will probably stay largely w/in the sphere of the DJ dance, while touching on issues of race sexuality. -s can anyone recommend the best house publications of all time??? I read in Toop's Ocean of Sound that he did an underground thing for a while in the 80's??? Or techno publications thanx Five - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [313] Publications
I'd like to recommend The History of House compiled and edited by Chris Kempster. Although it's called ...History of House they also include Detroit's role in the history. The book is divided into 3 parts: Part 1: The Artists - USA, Part 2: The Artists - UK Europe, and lastly, Part 3: The Technology (for all you gear hoars) =). Got this one at Recordtime in 1996. Alot of interesting details in it. Peace, G l y p h
Re: [313] Publications (correction!)
one of the best house publications (on the academic tip) is hillegonda reitveld's our house, that should have been THIS IS our house: house music, cultural spaces technologies. sorry bout that. -s
Re: [313] Publications
If you are talking magazine/rag style publication for techno I have heard that Magic Feet was pretty damn good when it was around. I don't know if House music ever had an equivalent or if anyone ever really cared to make something. House music never seemed to be as trainspotter-ish. Fred From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: [313] Publications Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 16:52:04 EST hi, can anyone recommend the best house publications of all time??? I read in Toop's Ocean of Sound that he did an underground thing for a while in the 80's??? Or techno publications thanx Five - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Publications
hi, can anyone recommend the best house publications of all time??? I read in Toop's Ocean of Sound that he did an underground thing for a while in the 80's??? Or techno publications thanx Five
a call to reviewers @ print publications.
Hi all... I don't really post to this list, so excuse the selfish motive for making my first appearance. ;) I am starting a label called Contrast Music Recordings- the first release hits shelves in the first week of November, and is by Nigel Hayes. Nigel is also known for his work as Chaser (with Funk D'Void on Soma), Charly Brown (w/ Abacus on Guidance), The Prophet (on Black Jesus) and Mutant Jazz Charly's Vault on his own label, Twilight. I'm interested in hooking up with anyone who writes reviews of tech-house/house 12s for *print* magazines (web sites and such can wait a *little* bit longer- what I'm thinking about here is early submission deadlines). If you fit that description, please email me back at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks very much... and for anyone who is interested in realaudio fun, you can visit http://www.contrastmusic.com/recordings/releases for the realaudio links. peace, courtney DJ Courtney (Contrast Music) bio, gig dates, top tens, pics, etc, @ http://www.contrastmusic.com/djcourtney record label info @ http://www.contrastmusic.com/recordings Booking info: 617.480.0061
Re: (313) Publications
in addition...check out http://www.skinny.com Massive Magazine is rumored to be rising from the dead sometime very soon...watch for it in its luscious form. I've been listening to the womb again alot recently too. diana and andrew...we better get to see u in detroit in May, so we can put a physical presence to the knowledge tank. noo reasons this time young sir.;) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Duke) Reply-To: Andrew Duke Cognition/In The Mix [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Dissonance Electronic [EMAIL PROTECTED], ...313 list 313@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: (313) Publications Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 17:53:57 -0400 thanks for the props, josh! :) andrew duke np interview with Drexciya Dissonance Electronic wrote: Those bemoaning the lack of decent publications should fire up their web browsers instead of looking at the newsstands: http://techno.ca/cognition/ http://www.urbansounds.com/ to name two quality publications. Theres also a high level of 313 content at my own web site: http://dissonance.space.net.au/ for the past issues: http://dissonance.space.net.au/old_stuff/ Happy reading Josh Look out for a new fanzine due out in early March. 'Overload:Media' is it's name and there's a fair few of the Magic Feet gang contributing material. Should be pretty cool. I've provided some 'Detroit content' with an article on the UR vs. Sony thang which has a bit more detail than the identical few lines afforded to it by the larger rags. Keep your eyes peeled Nick Original Message Follows From: robin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: (313) Re: 313-Digest V1 #1299 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:37:00 + but i would agree Muzik is in a state at the moment. At least Jockey Slut keep things in perspective. forgot to mention bring back Magic Feet (the best mag by a long shot, and no i don't have a vested interest) DETROIT CONTENT: finally managed to pick up Round Two on Mainstreet, has this been re-pressed, if so is Round One being repressed too??? robin... __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- Cognition/Andrew Duke's In The Mix mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://techno.ca/cognition 1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9 __ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
