Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Bring the Break-Beat Back! Authenticity and the Politics of Rhythm in Jungle/Drum ‘n’ Bass
Chris Christodoulou - University of Westminster, London, UK
Email: christc@westminster.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Since the formation of drum ‘n’ bass, and its semantic predecessor, jungle, out of London’s inner city regions in the early-1990s, the break-beat has been the focus of critical discussion amongst participants about the cultural value of rhythm in the genre. The formal emphasis placed on accelerated break-beats – brief rhythmic segments characterised by speed, rupture, and musically translated into feelings of ‘funkiness’ – points, on the one hand, to its development out of a condition of rapid technological change in a post-industrial society, and, on the other, to the dynamic matrix of cultural exchange to which Gilroy refers as the Black Atlantic (1993). While break-beats continue to be a prominent feature of the genre as a whole, the most popular drum ‘n’ bass tracks from artists such as Pendulum, Sigma and DJ Fresh displace ‘breaks’ in favour of simplified ‘two-step’ beat structures more typical of styles outside the direct influence of Black Atlantic culture, such as rock and metal. This has been the occasion for some drum ‘n’ bass participants to argue that the recent dominance of the two-step in mainstream examples of the music provides evidence for its cultural whitening, and its dumbing-down, ironically leading to a resurgence in the use of ‘jungle’; a term previously derided by participants for its ethnocentric connotations. This paper will examine the extent to which this authentication of rhythmic complexity in drum ‘n’ bass culture articulates an unsettling of the stereotypical identification of blackness with bodily excess and mindlessness. More generally, it will also point towards the stratification of rhythm in electronic dance music genres.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Bring the Break-Beat Back! Authenticity and the Politics of Rhythm in Jungle/Drum ‘n’ Bass
Chris Christodoulou - University of Westminster, London, UK
Email: christc@westminster.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Since the formation of drum ‘n’ bass, and its semantic predecessor, jungle, out of London’s inner city regions in the early-1990s, the break-beat has been the focus of critical discussion amongst participants about the cultural value of rhythm in the genre. The formal emphasis placed on accelerated break-beats – brief rhythmic segments characterised by speed, rupture, and musically translated into feelings of ‘funkiness’ – points, on the one hand, to its development out of a condition of rapid technological change in a post-industrial society, and, on the other, to the dynamic matrix of cultural exchange to which Gilroy refers as the Black Atlantic (1993). While break-beats continue to be a prominent feature of the genre as a whole, the most popular drum ‘n’ bass tracks from artists such as Pendulum, Sigma and DJ Fresh displace ‘breaks’ in favour of simplified ‘two-step’ beat structures more typical of styles outside the direct influence of Black Atlantic culture, such as rock and metal. This has been the occasion for some drum ‘n’ bass participants to argue that the recent dominance of the two-step in mainstream examples of the music provides evidence for its cultural whitening, and its dumbing-down, ironically leading to a resurgence in the use of ‘jungle’; a term previously derided by participants for its ethnocentric connotations. This paper will examine the extent to which this authentication of rhythmic complexity in drum ‘n’ bass culture articulates an unsettling of the stereotypical identification of blackness with bodily excess and mindlessness. More generally, it will also point towards the stratification of rhythm in electronic dance music genres.
