Extreme Audio Culture in the New Digital Underground

<p>This thesis examines the use of technology – particularly obsolete technologies and residual¹ media – within underground and experimental music, using extreme audio culture (the genres of noise music and power electronics) and its relationship with the new digital underground of music and art as a primary focus. It seeks to illuminate issues surrounding not only the survival of underground music culture into the internet age (zines², mail order and independent production and distribution networks) but also broader, philosophical and sociological notions concerning humanity’s relationship with technology within contemporary urban society, as well as examining how these notions have influenced alternative and extreme music cultures. This includes how these issues are addressed within underground and avant-garde scenes; specifically, the manner in which extreme audio culture (beginning with industrial music) voices critique upon the digital age and post-industrial environments by illustrating the negative and grotesque aspects of contemporary urban society through the employment of transgressive themes and subject matter, coupled with the use of materials, practices and ideas coded as residual or as ‘noise’ (reappropriating what dominant culture perceives as unwanted, unfashionable, ‘wrong’ or taboo). By addressing these issues, we may work further towards understanding the progression of musical thought and the influence of sound upon the human psyche, as well as the ways in which music aids the continual transformation of culture within the digital/post-industrial age. This research was undertaken from February 2012 until July 2013 with the primary methodological approach consisting of discourse analysis coupled with anthropological observations and historical contextualisation as we trace extreme audio culture back to its genesis within industrial music and the avant-garde. Drawing from the theories of Jacques Attali, Donna Haraway and Pierre Bourdieu, it will be argued that such music is prophetic of the way in which a society may develop over time, particularly in regards to our perceptions and attitudes towards technological advancement and urbanisation, not to mention our increasingly symbiotic relationship with machines as a prescriptive element of everyday urban existence. With these factors in mind, phenomena such as extreme audio culture and the new digital underground offer rich and striking considerations for the examination of digital age, post-industrial society from the perceptions of marginal creative scenes, extreme music, the avant-garde and contemporary underground music cultures. ¹ As discussed by Michelle Henning, Will Straw, et al., residual media are those media technologies and techniques which are no longer useful, fashionable or profitable within dominant culture and are thus seen as obsolete or ‘noise’ (residue). These technologies, laid to rest upon the ‘scrapheap of dominant culture’ (as we shall discuss in Chapter One) may be acquired, utilised and reappropriated by dominated, marginal – i.e. alternative and underground – cultures and, as examined here within the context of underground music culture, be given a new use-value within creative communities or fetishised by collectors. See Acland, Charles A., ed. Residual Media. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2007. Print. ² A.k.a. Fanzines: Independently produced, often hand-made, magazines.</p>

Extreme Audio Culture in the New Digital Underground

<p>This thesis examines the use of technology – particularly obsolete technologies and residual¹ media – within underground and experimental music, using extreme audio culture (the genres of noise music and power electronics) and its relationship with the new digital underground of music and art as a primary focus. It seeks to illuminate issues surrounding not only the survival of underground music culture into the internet age (zines², mail order and independent production and distribution networks) but also broader, philosophical and sociological notions concerning humanity’s relationship with technology within contemporary urban society, as well as examining how these notions have influenced alternative and extreme music cultures. This includes how these issues are addressed within underground and avant-garde scenes; specifically, the manner in which extreme audio culture (beginning with industrial music) voices critique upon the digital age and post-industrial environments by illustrating the negative and grotesque aspects of contemporary urban society through the employment of transgressive themes and subject matter, coupled with the use of materials, practices and ideas coded as residual or as ‘noise’ (reappropriating what dominant culture perceives as unwanted, unfashionable, ‘wrong’ or taboo). By addressing these issues, we may work further towards understanding the progression of musical thought and the influence of sound upon the human psyche, as well as the ways in which music aids the continual transformation of culture within the digital/post-industrial age. This research was undertaken from February 2012 until July 2013 with the primary methodological approach consisting of discourse analysis coupled with anthropological observations and historical contextualisation as we trace extreme audio culture back to its genesis within industrial music and the avant-garde. Drawing from the theories of Jacques Attali, Donna Haraway and Pierre Bourdieu, it will be argued that such music is prophetic of the way in which a society may develop over time, particularly in regards to our perceptions and attitudes towards technological advancement and urbanisation, not to mention our increasingly symbiotic relationship with machines as a prescriptive element of everyday urban existence. With these factors in mind, phenomena such as extreme audio culture and the new digital underground offer rich and striking considerations for the examination of digital age, post-industrial society from the perceptions of marginal creative scenes, extreme music, the avant-garde and contemporary underground music cultures. ¹ As discussed by Michelle Henning, Will Straw, et al., residual media are those media technologies and techniques which are no longer useful, fashionable or profitable within dominant culture and are thus seen as obsolete or ‘noise’ (residue). These technologies, laid to rest upon the ‘scrapheap of dominant culture’ (as we shall discuss in Chapter One) may be acquired, utilised and reappropriated by dominated, marginal – i.e. alternative and underground – cultures and, as examined here within the context of underground music culture, be given a new use-value within creative communities or fetishised by collectors. See Acland, Charles A., ed. Residual Media. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2007. Print. ² A.k.a. Fanzines: Independently produced, often hand-made, magazines.</p>

Photography of the World of Russian Rock in Modern Reflection

The article analyzes photographs of the world of underground music in the 1970s and 1980s. The author analyzes the images of musicians and notes their influence on the image of the heroes of Russian rock in modern cinema. Photography is considered as one of the main tools for the formation of the myth of Russian rock. Its actualization in the modern visual space in the form of exhibition projects and album editions is interpreted by taking into account the ideas of memorial culture. As a result of the research, the author reveals the adoption of the counterculture in the “big” history of the USSR and its inclusion in the nostalgic discourse about the Soviet past.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2020

‘There has always been a state of crisis’, we are told in Ziad Nawfal's wonderful introduction to the underground music scene in Beirut. That the corona restrictions comprise a rather different crisis to that of Lebanon's capital should be stressed, yet it will have been no easy task creating any kind of Huddersfield festival this year. That any event could occur at all is an achievement on the part of the festival team and the ensembles, musicians, broadcasters and composers with whom they work. Adaptation and renewal are a vital part of a new musicians’ toolkit, even if the pace of change can be bewildering.

Burzum shirts, paramilitarism and National Socialist Black Metal in the twenty-first century

Over the last ten years, the radical right has proliferated at an alarming rate in the United States. National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) has become an important feature of neo-Nazi, White supremacist and militant racist groups as the radical right as a whole has gained traction in American political life. Although rooted in underground music-based subculture, NSBM has become an important crypto-signifier for the radical right in the twenty-first century providing both symbolic value and ideological inspiration. The anti-racist and apolitical elements of the North American metal scene have responded in a variety of different ways, sometimes challenging racist elements directly, at other times providing ambivalent acceptance of the far right within the scene. While fans, musicians, journalists and record labels struggle to come to terms with the meaning of NSBM and how it should be addressed, NSBM-affiliated political and paramilitary groups have formed and started making their violent fantasies a reality. As many elements within the American metal scene continue to perceive NSBM as a purely artistic movement of no concern to the world outside of the metal scene, proponents of NSBM are marching in the streets of Charlottesville, burning African American churches, murdering LGBTQ people and plotting acts of domestic terrorism.

Reformulating the Riot Grrrl Movement: Space and Sisterhood in Kathleen Hanna’s Lyrics

Music has become a crucial domain to discuss issues such as gender, identities and equality. With this study I aim at carrying out a feminist critical discourse analysis of the lyrics by American singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna (1968-), a pioneer within the underground punk culture and head figure of the Riot Grrrl movement. Covering relevant issues related to women’s conditions, Hanna’s lyrics put gender issues at the forefront and become a significant means to claim feminism in the underground. In this study I pay attention to the instances in which Hanna’s lyrics in Bikini Kill and Le Tigre exhibit a reading of sisterhood and space and by doing so, I will discuss women’s invisibility in underground music and broaden the social and cultural understanding of this music