Uploaded July 2019 | Updated September 2026, 35 minutes 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
Markers of Time in Contemporary Pop Production
Erik Askerøi
/// ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical tool that I developed in my PhD thesis, which I have labelled sonic markers, and to provide a concrete example, based on more recent observations, which hopefully illustrates this concept at play. In my definition, sonic markers can be identified as “… musical codes that have been historically grounded through a specific context, and that, through their appropriation, serve a range of narrative purposes in recorded music” (Askerøi 2013: 17). In the proposed paper I will discuss the use of sonic markers of time through a reading of the following three musical examples: 1. Amy Winehouse: ‘Rehab’ (2000) 2. Michael Kiwanuka: ‘Tell Me a Tale’ (2012) 3. Bleachers: Don’t Take the Money’ (2017) My general argument is that coded sounds have come to play a major role in the development and renewal of popular music—not merely as a retrospective hipster move during the first decade of the 2000s, but also as a compositional tool in recorded popular music in general. From these three musical examples it seems evident that sonic markers of time in different ways have become a compositional strategy in contemporary pop production, and thus it constitutes a viable inroad for interpreting the expressive dimensions of musical sound in recorded music for practitioners as well as for academics.
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
Markers of Time in Contemporary Pop Production
Erik Askerøi
/// ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical tool that I developed in my PhD thesis, which I have labelled sonic markers, and to provide a concrete example, based on more recent observations, which hopefully illustrates this concept at play. In my definition, sonic markers can be identified as “… musical codes that have been historically grounded through a specific context, and that, through their appropriation, serve a range of narrative purposes in recorded music” (Askerøi 2013: 17). In the proposed paper I will discuss the use of sonic markers of time through a reading of the following three musical examples: 1. Amy Winehouse: ‘Rehab’ (2000) 2. Michael Kiwanuka: ‘Tell Me a Tale’ (2012) 3. Bleachers: Don’t Take the Money’ (2017) My general argument is that coded sounds have come to play a major role in the development and renewal of popular music—not merely as a retrospective hipster move during the first decade of the 2000s, but also as a compositional tool in recorded popular music in general. From these three musical examples it seems evident that sonic markers of time in different ways have become a compositional strategy in contemporary pop production, and thus it constitutes a viable inroad for interpreting the expressive dimensions of musical sound in recorded music for practitioners as well as for academics.
