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
Tag: phonography
‘Pop pollution’ as ‘pornography’? I can’t even
Last week, the philosopher Roger Scruton used a 10-minute talk on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Point of View’ programme to rail, once more, against popular culture. His talk, entitled ‘The Tyranny of Pop’, attacked what he sees as the denigration of culture, social interaction and education by the ‘banal melodies’, ‘mechanical rhythms’ and general ubiquity of… Continue reading ‘Pop pollution’ as ‘pornography’? I can’t even
Upcoming presentation: ‘Excavating “Coimbra”: Genealogy, Nostalgia, and the Material Life of a Portuguese popular song’
I will be presenting a paper at the 18th biennial IASPM conference in Campinas, Brazil, on 30 June. My paper is entitled 'Excavating "Coimbra": Genealogy, Nostalgia, and the Material Life of a Portuguese popular song' and the abstract is below. This paper uses the story of a particular song, the Portuguese fado ‘Coimbra’, as a… Continue reading Upcoming presentation: ‘Excavating “Coimbra”: Genealogy, Nostalgia, and the Material Life of a Portuguese popular song’
New publication: “Time and Distance Are No Object”: Holiday Records, Representation and the Nostalgia Gap
My article 'Time and Distance Are No Object: Holiday Records, Representation and the Nostalgia Gap' has been published in the French popular music journal Volume! in an issue devoted to popular music and nostalgia. ABSTRACT: Whether temporally or spatially focussed, nostalgia results from a division between what is longed for and the moment of longing.… Continue reading New publication: “Time and Distance Are No Object”: Holiday Records, Representation and the Nostalgia Gap
Upcoming presentation: ‘The Lure of Ephemera’
I will be presenting a paper at the upcoming conference One Century of Record Labels (Newcastle University, 6-7 November 2014). My paper is entitled 'The Lure of Ephemera: 'Record Labels as Visual and Textual Icons' and the abstract is below. While there is a growing body of work focussed on record labels, much of it… Continue reading Upcoming presentation: ‘The Lure of Ephemera’
Music’s materiality
Here is a link to a piece I wrote for The Conversation on Jack White, Neil Young and musical materiality. The piece relates to the kind of issues to be discussed at the conference I'm organising with Elodie Roy, 'Musical Materialities in the Digital Age' (University of Sussex, 27-28 June 2014).
Upcoming talk: Listening to Europe
On 27 June, I'll be presenting a paper at the IASPM International Conference in Gijón. The title of my paper is 'Listening to Europe: "Continental Records" in Britain’. Abstract This paper examines the circulation of recordings from continental Europe in Britain prior to the Second World War, focussing on the broadcast and critical reception of… Continue reading Upcoming talk: Listening to Europe
Late Voice 