Just want to mention a new book I picked up from the library, latest in
the Music/Culture series from Wesleyan University Press: "You Better
Work!" Underground Dance Music in New York City (by Kai Fikentscher,
2000).
Fikentscher takes an ethnographical approach to "UDM," looking at its
roots in the "overlap and cross-fertilization of African American and gay
cultural sensibilities that have occurred since the 1970s" (cover blurb).
Although sometimes unintentionally hilarious in his investigation of the
"field," he accentuates the 'synchronicity' between "DJ and dancer, booth
and floor, music and movement" quite vividly as a type of "interactive
performance." Interviews, quotations, personal anecdotes, illustrations &
charts help alleviate the often over-ernest academic tone of his prose.
Detroit doesn't receive much reference in the book. But check out this
description of "Techno" from the obligatory glossary!
"Category of 1980s uptempo dance music (usually faster than 125 bpm; see
bpm). Originally associated with a house-derived style, pioneered in
Detroit by DJs-turned-producers Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin
Saunderson. At present techno is associated with European product, with an
emphasis on the nonacoustic, technological nature of synthesizers and
studio technology. Embraced mainly by a young (under 25) and largely
straight Caucasian audience."
Hardly a "working" definition...?
A few more books of interest re. disco/house/techno. Can't vouch for any
of them, though:
Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology (Paul
Theberge)
Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital (Sarah Thornton)
Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (Matthew
Collin)
The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Anthony
Haden-Guest)
Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco (Alan Jones & Jussi Kantonen)
Wes
n.p. Thomas Brinkmann: Klick
