Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass
While bass powerfully resonates among the cultural discourses, lexicology and commercial marketing of a range of electronic dance music (EDM) styles, little popular music scholarship has paid attention to the subjective, phenomenological and psycho-physiological significance of bass in its modu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Huddersfield, Department of Music
2011-06-01
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| Series: | Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/316 |
| _version_ | 1797971217475436544 |
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| author | Chris Christodoulou |
| author_facet | Chris Christodoulou |
| author_sort | Chris Christodoulou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While bass powerfully resonates among the cultural discourses, lexicology and commercial marketing of a range of electronic dance music (EDM) styles, little popular music scholarship has paid attention to the subjective, phenomenological and psycho-physiological significance of bass in its modulation of intense feelings of pleasure. This article examines the linking in jungle/drum 'n' bass culture of bass as a sonic space that produces a powerful sense of jouissance where identity can seem to unravel on the dance-floor and an articulation of contemporary urban space as a place of subjective loss and regression. Overlaying Freud's notion of the uncanny and Kristeva's signifying space of the chora, I discuss how this fetishisation of bass can be linked to the music's cultural formation from deindustrialised regions in London and the South-East of England during the early-1990s; its accelerated break-beats and 'dark' bass-lines can be seen to inscribe recent rapid social, cultural and environmental transformations in the urban metropolis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:29:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80796c1da9e54a9881e1d582ebd4519c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1947-5403 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:29:09Z |
| publishDate | 2011-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Huddersfield, Department of Music |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture |
| spelling | doaj.art-80796c1da9e54a9881e1d582ebd4519c2023-01-02T06:56:02ZengUniversity of Huddersfield, Department of MusicDancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture1947-54032011-06-0131252Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny BassChris Christodoulou0University of Westminster; London South Bank UniversityWhile bass powerfully resonates among the cultural discourses, lexicology and commercial marketing of a range of electronic dance music (EDM) styles, little popular music scholarship has paid attention to the subjective, phenomenological and psycho-physiological significance of bass in its modulation of intense feelings of pleasure. This article examines the linking in jungle/drum 'n' bass culture of bass as a sonic space that produces a powerful sense of jouissance where identity can seem to unravel on the dance-floor and an articulation of contemporary urban space as a place of subjective loss and regression. Overlaying Freud's notion of the uncanny and Kristeva's signifying space of the chora, I discuss how this fetishisation of bass can be linked to the music's cultural formation from deindustrialised regions in London and the South-East of England during the early-1990s; its accelerated break-beats and 'dark' bass-lines can be seen to inscribe recent rapid social, cultural and environmental transformations in the urban metropolis.https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/316JungleDrum 'n' bassCyberculturePost-Indusrial SocietySimulationRave culture |
| spellingShingle | Chris Christodoulou Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture Jungle Drum 'n' bass Cyberculture Post-Indusrial Society Simulation Rave culture |
| title | Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass |
| title_full | Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass |
| title_fullStr | Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass |
| title_short | Rumble in the Jungle: City, Place and Uncanny Bass |
| title_sort | rumble in the jungle city place and uncanny bass |
| topic | Jungle Drum 'n' bass Cyberculture Post-Indusrial Society Simulation Rave culture |
| url | https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/316 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chrischristodoulou rumbleinthejunglecityplaceanduncannybass |