The Role Of Harmony In The Construction Of A Machine Aesthetic In Electronic Dance Music

Harding, Richard

Abstract

This thesis represents the first extended study of harmonic practices and their significance in electronic dance music. Focusing on analysis of recordings from the 1970s–1990s, it identifies three distinctive harmonic practices which help to define what is labelled as a 'machinic’ aesthetic in dance music and articulates a meaningful harmonic distinction between styles such as electro, techno and UK hardcore and Jazz/R&B-derived styles such as disco, deep house and garage. Given the extensive discursive links between dance music, tropes of futurism, and science fiction, the harmonic practices identified in this thesis are analysed alongside those of other genres. In particular, attention is paid to the similarities between science fiction film soundtracks and machinic dance musics, arguing that this similarity plays an important role in how those harmonies are interpreted by listeners. The analysis of dance music’s harmonic connotations is further developed through a discussion of the results of a listening test carried out for this project, which lend weight to the semiotic potential of harmony alongside other musical parameters. This research is aimed at the music academic community and builds on previous work by Walter Everett and Richard Middleton on rock harmony, semiotic analyses of dance and industrial music by Philip Tagg and Karen Collins, and more recent scholarship on groove and timbre by Mark Butler, Hans Zeiner-Henriksen and Maria Perevedentseva. As such, it contributes to a new wave of musicological dance music research and will be valuable to future scholarship investigating the musical aspects of dance styles.

Citation

Harding, R. (2024). The Role Of Harmony In The Construction Of A Machine Aesthetic In Electronic Dance Music. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2024
• Keywords: Musicology, Popular Music, Harmony, Dance Music, Techno
• Award Date: May 31, 2024