ePDF: 978-1-62356-437-7 DJ Culture in the Mix 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 1 10/09/2013 11:27 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 2 10/09/2013 11:27 DJ Culture in the Mix Power, Technology, and Social Change in Electronic Dance Music edited by bernardo alexander a ttias anna Gavanas HilleGonda C. rietveld 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 3 10/09/2013 11:27 Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc. 1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square New York London NY 10018 WC1B 3DP USA UK www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2013 © Bernardo Alexander Attias, Anna Gavanas, Hillegonda C. Rietveld and contributors, 2013 Cover photography by Henrik Landén All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data DJ culture in the mix : power, technology, and social change in electronic dance music / edited by Bernardo Alexander Attias, Anna Gavanas, and Hillegonda C. Rietveld. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-62356-690-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-62356-006-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Underground dance music--Social aspects. I. Attias, Bernardo Alexander. II. Gavanas, Anna, 1971- III. Rietveld, Hillegonda C. ML3918.U53D5 2013 781.648--dc23 ISBN: ePDF: 978-1-62356-437-7 Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 4 10/09/2013 11:27 To Graham, international man of mystery. 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 5 10/09/2013 11:27 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 6 10/09/2013 11:27 Contents Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction 1 Hillegonda C. Rietveld 2 Subjectivity in the Groove: Phonography, Digitality and Fidelity 15 Bernardo Alexander Attias 3 DJ Technologies, Social Networks and Gendered Trajectories in European DJ Cultures 51 Anna Gavanas and Rosa Reitsamer 4 Journey to the Light? Immersion, Spectacle and Mediation 79 Hillegonda C. Rietveld 5 The DJ as Electronic Deterritorializer 103 Mirko M. Hall and Naida Zukic 6 ‘It’s Not the Mix, It’s the Selection’: Music Programming in Contemporary DJ Culture 123 Kai Fikentscher 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 7 10/09/2013 11:27 viii Contents 7 Electronic Dance Music and Technological Change: Lessons from Actor-Network Theory 151 Jonathan Yu 8 DJ Culture and the Commercial Club Scene in Sydney 173 Ed Montano 9 DJs and the Aesthetic of Acceleration in Drum ‘n’ Bass 195 Chris Christodoulou 10 The Forging of a White Gay Aesthetic at the Saint, 1980–4 219 Tim Lawrence 11 DJs as Cultural Mediators: The Mixing Work of São Paulo’s Peripheral DJs 247 Ivan Paolo de Paris Fontanari 12 War on the Dancefloor: Synthscenen’s Military Power Games 269 Johanna Paulsson 13 DJ-driven Literature: A Linguistic Remix 291 Simon A. Morrison Contributors 315 Index 319 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 8 10/09/2013 11:27 aCknowledGements The editors thank each other for being great colleagues, working together across time zones in an ever-accelerating pace. We are thankful to each of the authors for their dedication in contributing to a multi-facetted book on the cultures of the electronic dance music DJ, patiently putting up with our endless questions. We thank editors David Barker, Kaitlin Fontana and Ally Jane Grossan at Bloomsbury Publishing for their support of this project. And we are grateful to Graham St John for his unswerving dedication to developing and maintaining the Dancecult network, bringing us together for an electronic dance music culture panel at the Cultural Crossroads conference of the Association of Cultural Studies at West Indies University, Jamaica, back in 2008. Hillegonda C. Rietveld additionally wishes to acknowledge the Centre for Media and Culture Research at London South Bank University for financially supporting the research time and conference travel related to completing this project. I also thank my students in Music and Sonic Media and my PG research students for their stimu- lating questions and insights – you keep me young! I’m especially grateful to Chris Christodoulou, Barbara Panuzzi and Dan Fenton for stimulating conversations regarding music, technology, mediation and the senses. On a personal note, I would not be here without the musicality of my family or Max’s love of food. Finally, I want to thank Will Straw, Sheila Whiteley, Graham St John, Steve Redhead, Martha Tupinambá de Ulhôa, Sean Albiez, Tim Lawrence, Lisa Blackman, Jeffrey Weeks, Janet Holland and Michal Lyons for their warm academic encouragement. Rest in peace, Michal. Anna Gavanas sends her biggest respect to her DJ grandmasters and crew. Bigups to Mutamassik, Anaya, Aimnbreak, Paizan, Funky Tuna, Mikronesien, Hardware, Struck, D. Wattsriot and Aroma: relentless instigators, troublemakers on the musical frontline. And bigups to Graham St John, DJ Professor Ben, DJ Empress Gonnie, 9781623566906_txt_print.indd 9 10/09/2013 11:27