Writings on Rave

L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
i guess this is the place to as if anyone knows of any recent essays on the "dance/rave scene"
(recon most folk here will know More Brilliant than the Sun & Energy Flash )

I REALLY like Matthew Fuller's -The R.A.D.I.O (the media ecology of pirate radio) & Steve Goodman's-Darkcore (and much of the Abstract Culture pamphlets)

along these lines but contemporary..........

ta!
 
B

borderpolice

Well-known member
labrat said:
i guess this is the place to as if anyone knows of any recent essays on the "dance/rave scene"
(recon most folk here will know More Brilliant than the Sun & Energy Flash )

I REALLY like Matthew Fuller's -The R.A.D.I.O (the media ecology of pirate radio) & Steve Goodman's-Darkcore (and much of the Abstract Culture pamphlets)

along these lines but contemporary..........

ta!
Click to expand...

there was a lot of stuff in the mid nineties. mostly academic. but also some literary produce.
 
D

droid

Guest
I suppose youve read 'altered states'? Fairly simplistic, but a few interesting facts in there...
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
droid said:
I suppose youve read 'altered states'? Fairly simplistic, but a few interesting facts in there...
Click to expand...
yeah...i thought it was great at the time but Energy Flash covered similar ground in a more rigouous way...(mind you the chapter on Manchester<in Altered State> was spot on about the gang culture according to a few more nefarious sources!)
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
There's surprisingly little and the ones mentioned so far are the best. I've also come across these...

Maria Pini "Women and the early British rave scene" in Back To Reality: Social Experience and Cultural Studies

Tara McCall This is Not a Rave: In the Shadow of a Subculture

SR has a piece in the Club Cultures reader called "Rave Culture: Living Dream or Living Death?"

And in the same book, Sarah Champion's "Fear and Loathing in Wisconsin"

"E is for England: Civilization and its Discotheques" by Nabeel Zuberi in Sounds English

Steve Redhead also had one called End of the World Party but I don't remember much about it
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
I got the Fuller one for xMas but I haven't had time to give it a proper look. What did you think labrat?
 
F

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
I am reading Looking for the Perfect Beat and I cant say I recommend it. It seems like a less informed version of Last Night a DJ Saved my Life.

Are there any books that focus more on city/social dynamics as a means for creating the different rave "scenes" in different countries, states, cities?
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
autonomicforthepeople said:
I got the Fuller one for xMas but I haven't had time to give it a proper look. What did you think labrat?
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not read it just the pirate radio thing which I think is in his book in some form(?)
it's superb : i really like the way Matthew Fuller operates between theory and delerium.
The Steve Readhead book was dated as soon as it was published; it transpired indie-dance wasn't the galvanising force End of the Century predicted.
 
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nomos

nomos

Administrator
@ Freakaholic

In the book Imagined Londons there's an essay by Alexi Monroe called "Bread and Rock Circuses: Sites of Sonic Conflict in London." He looks at what he calls 'first-' and 'second-order' musical sites. First-order sites are based on the 'Cool Britania' co-optation of British 'rock heritage' in the form of a Beatles-to-Pistols-'nuum rock/pop tourist industry and the marriage of Brit-Pop and New Labour. In the second-order are sites of 'sonic abjection' - illegal and underground dance music spaces that operate in marginal spaces.

EDIT: Also check DIY Culture: Party and Protest in Nineties Britain
 
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nomos

nomos

Administrator
I'll carry on being nostalgic for an era I never even experienced
Click to expand...
i recently patched up a portion of the void with some prosthetic Fantazia memories. they have all of their old videos plus raw footage available on DVD now.
 
E

Edward

+
Jane Bussmann's "Once In A Lifetime" is worth a look, good stuff about acid house, shoom, ibiza, indie/rave crossover etc.
Made me well nostalgic anyway.
 
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