DJ Culture in the Mix: Power, Technology, and Social Change in Electronic Dance Music

344 Pages·2013·3.96 MB·english

by  Bernardo Alexander Attias

ePDF: 978-1-62356-437-7
DJ Culture in
the Mix
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DJ Culture in
the Mix
Power, Technology, and Social
Change in Electronic Dance Music
edited by
bernardo alexander a ttias
anna Gavanas
HilleGonda C. rietveld
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Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square
New York London
NY 10018 WC1B 3DP
USA UK
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2013
© Bernardo Alexander Attias, Anna Gavanas,
Hillegonda C. Rietveld and contributors, 2013
Cover photography by Henrik Landén
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on
or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DJ culture in the mix : power, technology, and social change in electronic
dance music / edited by Bernardo Alexander Attias, Anna Gavanas, and
Hillegonda C. Rietveld.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62356-690-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-62356-006-5
(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Underground dance music--Social aspects. I. Attias,
Bernardo Alexander. II. Gavanas, Anna, 1971- III. Rietveld, Hillegonda C.
ML3918.U53D5 2013
781.648--dc23
ISBN: ePDF: 978-1-62356-437-7
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
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To Graham, international man of mystery.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
Hillegonda C. Rietveld
2 Subjectivity in the Groove: Phonography, Digitality
and Fidelity 15
Bernardo Alexander Attias
3 DJ Technologies, Social Networks and Gendered
Trajectories in European DJ Cultures 51
Anna Gavanas and Rosa Reitsamer
4 Journey to the Light? Immersion, Spectacle and
Mediation 79
Hillegonda C. Rietveld
5 The DJ as Electronic Deterritorializer 103
Mirko M. Hall and Naida Zukic
6 ‘It’s Not the Mix, It’s the Selection’: Music
Programming in Contemporary DJ Culture 123
Kai Fikentscher
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viii Contents
7 Electronic Dance Music and Technological Change:
Lessons from Actor-Network Theory 151
Jonathan Yu
8 DJ Culture and the Commercial Club Scene in
Sydney 173
Ed Montano
9 DJs and the Aesthetic of Acceleration in Drum ‘n’
Bass 195
Chris Christodoulou
10 The Forging of a White Gay Aesthetic at the Saint,
1980–4 219
Tim Lawrence
11 DJs as Cultural Mediators: The Mixing Work of
São Paulo’s Peripheral DJs 247
Ivan Paolo de Paris Fontanari
12 War on the Dancefloor: Synthscenen’s Military
Power Games 269
Johanna Paulsson
13 DJ-driven Literature: A Linguistic Remix 291
Simon A. Morrison
Contributors 315
Index 319
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aCknowledGements
The editors thank each other for being great colleagues, working
together across time zones in an ever-accelerating pace. We are
thankful to each of the authors for their dedication in contributing
to a multi-facetted book on the cultures of the electronic dance
music DJ, patiently putting up with our endless questions. We
thank editors David Barker, Kaitlin Fontana and Ally Jane Grossan
at Bloomsbury Publishing for their support of this project. And we
are grateful to Graham St John for his unswerving dedication to
developing and maintaining the Dancecult network, bringing us
together for an electronic dance music culture panel at the Cultural
Crossroads conference of the Association of Cultural Studies at
West Indies University, Jamaica, back in 2008.
Hillegonda C. Rietveld additionally wishes to acknowledge the
Centre for Media and Culture Research at London South Bank
University for financially supporting the research time and conference
travel related to completing this project. I also thank my students in
Music and Sonic Media and my PG research students for their stimu-
lating questions and insights – you keep me young! I’m especially
grateful to Chris Christodoulou, Barbara Panuzzi and Dan Fenton
for stimulating conversations regarding music, technology, mediation
and the senses. On a personal note, I would not be here without the
musicality of my family or Max’s love of food. Finally, I want to
thank Will Straw, Sheila Whiteley, Graham St John, Steve Redhead,
Martha Tupinambá de Ulhôa, Sean Albiez, Tim Lawrence, Lisa
Blackman, Jeffrey Weeks, Janet Holland and Michal Lyons for their
warm academic encouragement. Rest in peace, Michal.
Anna Gavanas sends her biggest respect to her DJ grandmasters and
crew. Bigups to Mutamassik, Anaya, Aimnbreak, Paizan, Funky
Tuna, Mikronesien, Hardware, Struck, D. Wattsriot and Aroma:
relentless instigators, troublemakers on the musical frontline. And
bigups to Graham St John, DJ Professor Ben, DJ Empress Gonnie,
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