Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 22 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
Gabber: Techno meets Metal?
Prof Hillegonda C Rietveld - Sonic Research Group, London South Bank University
/// ABSTRACT
The proposed presentation will address an overlap between the early 90s hardcore EDM genre gabber and metal. During its formation in Rotterdam, gabber embraced horror film samples, as well as used its imagery, illustrated by the flyer image of the well-known pale, pinned face from the 1987 movie Hellraiser. There seemed a macho, and almost masochist completion between fans about who could handle the most pain though electronic noise and a celebration of terror. Here one can turn to a similar attitude in heavy metal. During the same period, Robert Walser explains in Running with the Devil that horror appeared as a counter to the rationality of the enlightenment, and coincides with “periods of social strain and disorder” (1993: p 161) as, arguably a chasm appeared between fast financial capital and a slowing economy, producing a gap between ambition and reality. In this context, horror became a way to channel the resultant sense of rage, which may be experienced within the contradictions of subordination. This framework can be applied to the understanding of the formation of gabber amongst young people from a working class environment, including football fans and harbour workers. The musical aesthetic that developed from this, is at once ironically nihilistic, a political commentary, and a safety valve that enables not only a rite of passage through teenage years, but also a means to deal with the experience of a changing society, towards a post-human accelerated culture propelled by fast digital capital.
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
Gabber: Techno meets Metal?
Prof Hillegonda C Rietveld - Sonic Research Group, London South Bank University
/// ABSTRACT
The proposed presentation will address an overlap between the early 90s hardcore EDM genre gabber and metal. During its formation in Rotterdam, gabber embraced horror film samples, as well as used its imagery, illustrated by the flyer image of the well-known pale, pinned face from the 1987 movie Hellraiser. There seemed a macho, and almost masochist completion between fans about who could handle the most pain though electronic noise and a celebration of terror. Here one can turn to a similar attitude in heavy metal. During the same period, Robert Walser explains in Running with the Devil that horror appeared as a counter to the rationality of the enlightenment, and coincides with “periods of social strain and disorder” (1993: p 161) as, arguably a chasm appeared between fast financial capital and a slowing economy, producing a gap between ambition and reality. In this context, horror became a way to channel the resultant sense of rage, which may be experienced within the contradictions of subordination. This framework can be applied to the understanding of the formation of gabber amongst young people from a working class environment, including football fans and harbour workers. The musical aesthetic that developed from this, is at once ironically nihilistic, a political commentary, and a safety valve that enables not only a rite of passage through teenage years, but also a means to deal with the experience of a changing society, towards a post-human accelerated culture propelled by fast digital capital.
