I am working on a podcast that explores the materiality of song. I’ve created it to accompany a research project I have been working on for some years now and which I hope to turn into a book in the future. The podcast is called Songs and Objects and the first five episodes are available… Continue reading Songs and Objects podcast
Tag: music
Presentation on my forthcoming book DJs do Guetto
Here's a video of me and three other contributors to the 33 1/3 book series talking about our recent or forthcoming books for the 'Popular Music Books in Process' series. First up is Ginger Dellenbaugh speaking about her book on Maria Callas's album Lyric and Coloratura Arias (1954). Then I talk about my book on… Continue reading Presentation on my forthcoming book DJs do Guetto
End of year playlist
My 2018 playlist as it stands at the end of the year. As usual, compiled thoughout the year, with a few tweaks and substitutions at the last minute. 101 songs. 7 1/2 hours. spotify:user:traumaticcolonel:playlist:3tkmldTkqNM1qmXJASNYEn https://open.spotify.com/user/traumaticcolonel/playlist/3tkmldTkqNM1qmXJASNYEn
ppp: the personal, the political and the piano
The news that today is being celebrated as National Album Day has inspired me to post the following text on Nina Simone’s 1969 masterpiece Nina Simone and Piano! It’s a text that’s being lying dormant for a few years and now seems a good time to do something with it. The concept shouldn’t have been… Continue reading ppp: the personal, the political and the piano
New publication: Sounding Out Popular Music History
I've contributed a chapter to the newly published Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage, edited by Sarah Baker, Catherine Strong, Lauren Istvandity and Zelmarie Cantillon. My chapter is entitled 'Sounding Out Popular Music HIstory: A Musicological Approach'. SUMMARY: While the relationship between musicology and history has shifted considerably over time, the importance of… Continue reading New publication: Sounding Out Popular Music History
Nina Simone’s tribute to Martin Luther King – fifty years ago today
Fifty years ago today, Nina Simone and her band performed at Westbury Music Fair in New York. Three days had passed since the murder of Martin Luther King and Simone used her concert to stage an act of collective mourning and outrage. Below is a re-post of a 2013 entry from my blog So Transported:… Continue reading Nina Simone’s tribute to Martin Luther King – fifty years ago today
Upcoming Presentation: ‘From Sound Objects to Song Objects: Rethinking Sonic Materiality and Metaphor’
I'll be presenting my current research at the Rethinking Sound conference in Seoul later this week. My current project explores the materiality of song and the relationship between songs and objects. As this is a sound studies conference, I'm using this paper to think about how my project intersects wtih the theories of Pierre Schaeffer… Continue reading Upcoming Presentation: ‘From Sound Objects to Song Objects: Rethinking Sonic Materiality and Metaphor’
Nina Simone’s ‘Ain’t Got No / I Got Life’
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a journalist who had seen that I'd written a book about Nina Simone and wanted to get some thoughts from me about Simone's October 1969 live recording of 'Ain't Got No / I Got Life', the one that ended up on the 1970 album Black Gold. I… Continue reading Nina Simone’s ‘Ain’t Got No / I Got Life’
Book Launch
I'll be launching my book The Sound of Nonsense at Blackwell's in Newcastle upon Tyne on Wednesday 7 February. It's free but needs booking via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/richard-elliott-the-sound-of-nonsense-tickets-42589627723.
The Sight of the Sound of Nonsense
Following the audio trailer I posted for my new book The Sound of Nonsense, I've now made a video trailer too. This uses different examples from the audio taster but with the same aim of bringing together sources from literature, sound poetry, nonsense writing and pop music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzDuLgPjeJw
Late Voice 