Co-Editors: Jasmine Hazel Shadrack and Samuel Thomas

Background & Rationale: Faith No More are widely regarded as one of the most important and singular bands to make the transition from the 1980s underground to the Billboard Hot 100 and a period of MTV-approved visibility. As idiosyncratic as they are influential, the band are in many respects defined by a series of tensions or contradictions. Faith No More are often framed as the quintessential “alternative metal” act, for example, but can trace their roots back through the San Francisco art rock and postpunk scenes (as recently chronicled by Will York in Who Cares Anyway) and have always demonstrated a strikingly promiscuous approach to genre. Their history stretches from a vibrant debut record released in 1985 (out-of-print for a period of 20 years) to their 90s flourishing and disintegration to a 2015 comeback (perhaps also their swansong) that provides a powerful riposte to the imaginative bankruptcy of so many late-middle-age reunions. They have endured significant line-up changes and much-documented interpersonal fractiousness while at the same time maintaining a remarkably distinctive and consistent musical backbone: the melodies and deftly atmospheric keyboard textures of Roddy Bottum; the groove and throb of Billy Gould’s bass; the thunderous, tom-driven polyrhythms of drummer Mike “Puffy” Bordin. Their albums encompass genuine sonic extremes, often bringing together unlikely combinations of sounds and styles, but also function as coherent and accessible musical statements that blur the lines between the popular and avant-garde. In their commercial heyday, the band shared stages with some of the largest acts in heavy music, most infamously as part of a 1992 arena tour co-headlined by Guns N’ Roses and Metallica, while choosing to collaborate with artists as dissimilar as the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. and Sparks. In the same year as that tour, they released a double A-side single that paired “Be Aggressive,” a song about gay oral sex, with a cover of “Easy” by the Commodores. Faith No More’s music is undoubtedly marked by a specific brand of Gen-X irony and subversive humour but is executed with the great sincerity and care, as it were, that comes from deeply committed musicianship and an authentic band dynamic. The two singers that feature on their recorded output — Chuck Mosely and Mike Patton — could not be more different yet both point to compelling new ways of thinking about lyrics, performance/persona, and vocal experimentation in a rock/metal context. Despite first rising to prominence in the US with a platinum record (1989’s The Real Thing), the band’s most dedicated and receptive fanbases developed in South America, Australasia, and the UK.

Given the scope and scale of popular music studies today, not to mention widespread scholarly interest in the (long) 1990s, it is surprising that Faith No More have received such scant academic attention. This collection seeks to address a significant gap in scholarship and the editors therefore invite contributions to a path-finding project. The collection will be the first to critically engage with the musicological and cultural/historical significance of Faith No More — with the origins, evolution, and legacies of a unique, risk-taking, category-befuddling band.

We have identified the following broad areas as a provisional framework for the collection:

Contexts

Music-Making / Making-Music

Reception

Within this framework, we foreground potential topics such as:

• File under “unclassifiable”? Faith No More and the cultural politics of genre (esp. in relation to the norms of rock and metal or the concept of the “alternative”)
• San Francisco localism vs. the band’s special relationships to a variety of global scenes and audiences
• Starting a joke? Irony and humour / sincerity and caring (a lot or not)
• Musicological analysis and the nuances of Faith No More’s songcraft (including instrumentation, production, authorship etc.)
• Significant live performances and tours
• The band’s music videos and presence on MTV
• Faith No More and the music press / music industry
• Consistency, transition, and flux: The 80s, the 90s, and the band’s 21^st century reformation
• Faith No More’s multi-faceted influence and role as a “gateway” band to other genres and subgenres

Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to both editors by 31^st October 2026.

Jasmine.shadrack@uwo.ca

samuel.thomas@durham.ac.uk

Rhythm under the Microscope II: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Microrhythm and Tempo Variability in Popular Music

Location: University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Institute of Popular Music

Submission Deadline: Monday, June 1, 2026

Starts: Thursday, October 22, 2026

Ends: Saturday, October 24, 2026

In September 2024, scholars gathered at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for Rhythm Under the Microscope, a conference examining microtiming and groove in popular music. Keynote speakers Anne Danielsen and Justin London explored the effects of a variety of parameters on the perception of microrhythm as well as the relationship between rhythm and microtiming. Other paper presentations and workshops further examined aspects of timing, groove, and aesthetics.

Rhythm Under the Microscope II is a sequel to the 2024 conference, providing an opportunity for renewed study of microtiming, including scholarly advances since the first conference, but also opening up to discussions of tempo variability. The conference seeks to bring together musicians and scholars from various disciplines to connect their different perspectives and further the current state of microrhythm, tempo variability, and groove research. Fernando Benadon and Ragnhild Brøvig have been confirmed as keynote speakers for the 2026 conference.

We invite proposals for paper presentations and workshops. Paper presentations should be 25 minutes long, with an additional 10 minutes allotted for questions and answers. We also encourage scholars to submit ideas for 90-minute workshops in which a group of participants would have the opportunity to learn about current research or pedagogical methods and implement them in a hands-on fashion. Artistic research is also highly welcome. Applicants can submit a maximum of one presentation proposal and one workshop proposal.

Topics of proposed papers and workshops might include but are not limited to:

• New methods for measuring microrhythmic phenomena and tempo variability
• Microrhythm and bodily movement
• Perception of microrhythm and tempo variability and the neurological bases for these
• The effect of timbre, pitch, duration, etc. on the perception of groove
• Manipulation of microrhythm or tempo variability in digital music creation
• Relationships between the timing of multiple instruments in a band, played live or manipulated in the studio
• Expressive timing in rap vocals
• Teaching microrhythm or tempo variability in music education
• Microrhythm or tempo variability in specific pop or rock genres, folk musics, or jazz
• Identifying microrhythmic or tempo “fingerprints” of famous recording artists

Please submit your abstract by June 1, 2026 to rhythm-ipop@mdw.ac.at. Abstracts should be between 400 and 700 words (references not included in the word count).

Authors will be notified of acceptance by mid-June. For further information, please contact rhythm-ipop@mdw.ac.at. Details about registration will be forthcoming.

«Everybody calls me Giorgio»: Moroder across media, arts and communication

Brixen, Faculty of Education, University of Bozen-Bolzano

10-12 September 2026

IASPM Italia + IASPM D-A-CH

Call for papers

Giorgio Moroder’s biographical and professional history is remarkable and quite peculiar: belonging to a linguistic minority, raised in a region culturally and geographically removed from the main centres of the music industry, without any formal musical education, he nonetheless managed to become one of the most innovative and successful musicians on the planet.

This conference will be an opportunity to take a closer look Giorgio Moroder’s role in music and media, as well as broader, interconnected themes such as dance music, studio production, arts entrepreneurship, film music, intermediality, and remix cultures. The conference will also explore cultural heritage, sociolinguistics and migration routes in music and the arts, drawing on Moroder’s history as an artist born and raised in the predominantly Ladin-speaking Val Gardena/Gröden/Gherdëina in South Tyrol, Italy, then professionally matured in Germany and eventually relocated to the United States.

In addition to presentations dealing with various aspects of Moroder’s life and work, we welcome papers that address the context in which he operated or which he affected. In fact, we propose that Moroder and his achievements could serve as a starting point to explore some fundamental changes in the music industry starting at least from the last quarter of the twentieth century.

We invite submission moving from or focusing on Moroder and covering topics such as:

• The role of technology and the redefinition of professional roles in the recording studio.

• Looping, sequencing and synthesizers and the emergence of new musical genres, • particularly in dance music.

• The role of the composer in technology-based music genres.

• Western Art music influences in dance music.

• European music production hubs.

• The imagery and discourse of dance music.

• Dance music and queer culture.

• Dance music, the racial formation of the ‘Black voice’.

• Electronic sound, technology and embodiment.

• Gender politics and hypersexualization of artists.

• The emergence of DJs as performers and mediators.

• Ageing in the club scene.

• Artist aliases.

• The artist as a symbol for a specific kind of music, nation, language, city, etc.

• New models of entrepreneurship in the arts, particularly in music.

• Discothèques, Schlager, electronic music and the roots of Eurodisco.

• The emergence of new actors in the European music industry.

• Cultural appropriation and labour exploitation in the European music industry.

• Hybridisations and remediation between music, film and television in terms of styles, formats, distribution, audience, etc.

• Synergies between music, film, television, and new media.

• Film rescoring and pop aesthetics in the adaptation of archival material.

• Remix cultures and musical works.

• Remembering artists of the past in songs, the press, films, etc.

• Translation and localisation: adapting songs for different national markets.

• Formal, non-formal and informal music education in multilingual and culturally hybrid and trans-national spaces.

• Histories and historiographies centred around important people, musical practices, listening practices, instruments, and materials.

• Ties to and estrangement from one’s homeland: language, heritage, networks.

• The musical branding of sport mega-events.

The conference venue in Moroder’s homeland offers the opportunity to involve local organizations, such as the Department of Ladin Education, Training and Culture, as well as to retrace the career of the artist from Scurcià, Urtijëi, exploring his formative and migratory journey which, especially since the 1960s, has involved many well-known and lesser-known figures in the fields of culture and entertainment. IASPM Italia and IASPM D-A-CH, acting jointly as the organising committee, will create a bridge across the Alps, metaphorically recreating one of those routes.

Keynote speakers: Ewa Mazierska (University of Lancashire); Tavia Nyong’o (Yale University).

Guest panellists: Mark J. Butler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin); Paul Harkins (Edinburgh Napier University); Julin Lee (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München).

Other special guests and side events will be announced soon.

Important information:

The conference will start at 14:00 on Thursday, 10 September 2026 and will close at 13:00 on Saturday, 12 September 2026.

Please submit your abstract by 15.05.2026 to ECMG26.unibz@gmail.com

Confirmation will be sent by 31.05.2026

Please select the type of contributions (paper, panel, poster) and indicate one or more streams:

• Dance music and club culture

• Music production and technology

• Music for screen

• Archiving, cultural heritage and historiographies

• Music composition between formats, styles and genres

• Sociolinguistic and semiotics

In parallel with the main event, the conference committee will publish a call for contributions for an edited book on the conference topics. The language of publication will be English. The book is expected to be published in 2027.

Registration fees: presenter: 75€ (waged); free (unwaged) || attendee: 50€ (waged); free (unwaged)*

* Waged: scholars with a permanent, tenure-track or research fellow waged position, employed workers, entrepreneurs, etc.; unwaged: PhD candidate, students, independent scholars, unemployed, etc.

The registration fee includes coffee breaks and buffet lunch on 11.09.

Registration: from 01.06.2026 to 15.07.2026 (presenter); from 01.06.2026 to 05.09.2026 (attendee).

To present at an IASPM conference, you need to become a member.

Hotels have been pre-booked for the participants. Details will be available on the conference website.

Organizing committee: Carlo Nardi and Ruth Videsott (Free University of Bolzano-Bozen), IASPM Italia and IASPM D-A-CH.

Scientific committee: Ulrich Adelt (University of Wyoming); Emília Barna (Budapest University of Technology and Economics); Samantha Bennett (Australian National University); Guglielmo Bottin (Università degli Studi di Milano); Alessandro Bratus (Università di Pavia); Alberto Brodesco (Università di Trento); Milena Cassella (Sapienza Università di Roma); Gianpaolo Chiriacò (Universität Innsbruck); Maurizio Corbella (Università degli Studi di Milano); Lorenz Gilli (independent scholar); Mimi Haddon (University of Sussex); Anita Jóri (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg); Paolo Magaudda (Università di Padova); Gabriele Marino (Università di Torino); Katharina Moling (Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor); Carlo Nardi (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano); Flora Pitrolo (Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo); Hillegonda Rietveld (London South Bank University); Elodie Roy (Durham University); Paolo Somigli (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano); Geoff Stahl (Victoria University of Wellington); Matt Stahl (University of Western Ontario); Will Straw (McGill University); Jacopo Tomatis (Università di Torino); Johann van der Sandt (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano); Ruth Videsott (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano); David-Emil Wickström (Popakademie Baden-Württemberg).

Conference website: https://www.unibz.it/it/events/everybody-calls-me-giorgio-moroder-across-media-arts-and-communication

EXTENDED DEADLINE! CFP: EUPOP 2026 – Spectacle Revisited
Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK), Pori, Finland, July 1–3, 2026

Individual paper and panel contributions are invited for the thirteenth annual international conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA), to be held at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Pori, Finland, July 1–3, 2026.

The theme of the conference is Spectacle Revisited. Returning to Guy Debord’s widely cited work The Society of the Spectacle, the conference welcomes contributions addressing the spectacular—that is, the mediatization of cultural forms, (mega)events, performance, and the allure of “the popular.” In line with the conference’s main theme, particular emphasis will be placed on the production and remediation of events, including music festivals, sports events, blockbuster films, and exhibitions. In addition, the organizers encourage proposals exploring fans and fan communities as producers, interpreters, and challengers of the spectacular. Other possible themes include rethinking the spectacular in the digital age, especially the new expressions and aesthetics brought forth by the rapid development of open-access, easy-to-use AI tools. The aforementioned topics, however, are not exclusive, and the organizers also welcome proposals within the broader popular cultural framework, including—but not limited to—media, fashion, celebrity culture, and popular literature and comics.

All individual papers and complete panels will be subject to peer review. Proposals for individual presentations should be suitable for 20-minute papers; panel proposals are limited to 90 minutes in total. For panel proposals, please provide a short description of the panel along with individual abstracts. Poster presentations and video projections are also warmly welcomed.

There will be opportunities for networking and publishing within the EPCA. Presenters at EUPOP 2026 will be encouraged to develop their papers for publication in several Intellect journals, including the EPCA’s Journal of European Popular Culture. Journal editors will work closely with strand convenors. A full list of Intellect journals is available at: http://www.intellectbooks.com.

Proposals—consisting of a maximum 300-word abstract, your full name, affiliation, and contact details (as a Word file, not a PDF)—should be submitted to Dr. Kimi Kärki (kimi.karki@uniarts.fi) by Tuesday 31 March 2026. Receipt of all proposals will be acknowledged by e-mail. The draft conference programme will be announced in May 2026, along with registration and accommodation details. The conference fee will be 200 euros (students) and 250 euros (others). The fee includes coffee breaks, lunches, an evening reception and dinner, and EPCA membership (including one sample issue of the Journal of European Popular Culture, Intellect Books). For information about fee payment, please contact EPCA Treasurer Tommi Iivonen (ttiivo@utu.fi).

EUPOP 2026 keynote speakers:

Professor Emeritus John Clarke (Open University, UK)
Professor Martin Cloonan (Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, Finland)

The European Popular Culture Association

The European Popular Culture Association (EPCA) promotes the study of popular culture from, in, and about Europe. Popular culture involves a wide range of activities, material forms and audiences. EPCA aims to examine and discuss these different aspects as they relate both to Europe and to Europeans across the globe, whether contemporary or historical.

EUPOP 2026 is organised by:

European Popular Culture Association (EPCA): https://epcablog.wordpress.com/

International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC): http://iipc.utu.fi/

Degree Programme in Digital Culture, Landscape and Cultural Heritage (University of Turku, Pori University Consortium)

Research project Pori Jazz – Makers, Places, and Heritage (University of Turku, dir. Petri Saarikoski)

EPCA President, Kimi Kärki, kimi.karki@uniarts.fi

EPCA Vice-President, Pamela Church Gibson, pamelachurchgibson@gmail.com

EPCA Secretary, Anna Peltomäki, ankpel@utu.fi

EPCA Treasurer, Tommi Iivonen, ttiivo@utu.fi

EPCA Membership Secretary, Graham Roberts, graham.roberts@univ-lille.fr

Pori

Pori is a coastal city in western Finland. The city sits along the Kokemäenjoki River and hosts major annual events such as the internationally recognized Pori Jazz Festival. Pori combines a strong industrial heritage with growing strengths in technology, sustainability, and creative industries. The city is reached by regular bus and rail connections from major Finnish cities, including Helsinki and Tampere. The conference venue is located within a walking distance of the city center.

Practical experiential approaches to sound, music, and media in musicological education

Conference on December 11 & 12, 2025

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Musicology

Keynotes: Andreas Fickers and Joanna Szczepańska-Antosik

Call for Papers / Abstract

Media and technologies for synthesis, recording, processing, and distribution of sound have become important subjects of music research. Examples include the history of sound recording (Sterne 2003, Katz 2010, Horning 2013, Bennett 2019), the significance of technical devices in music scenes (Theberge 1997, Butler 2014, Herbst/Menze 2021), or musical analysis oriented toward sound and music production processes (Zagorsky-Thomas 2016, Hepworth-Sawyer et al. 2019).

Across the intersection of musicology, media studies, sound studies, and other disciplines, new disciplinary branches such as Music Production Research (Bennett & Bates 2019; Bourbon & Zagorski 2020) have emerged, which have developed their own theoretical approaches and methods for researching recorded and technically mediated music. Today, knowledge of audio-technical processes and a sensory sensitivity for the design of sound are no longer regarded merely as engineering expertise, but as part of cultural practices that shape musical activity from the ground up and must therefore also be part of musicological questions and knowledge.

Such knowledge is often implicit, ‘tacit knowledge’ and therefore observable as practice or musical action. Therefore, ethnographic, praxeological, and artistic research methods are particularly frequently applied in this field, for example in the form of field research (Bürkner 2013; Bates 2017; Huschner 2016), reenactments (Fickers/van den Oever 2022; Meynell 2017), and media experiments in artistic research (Badura et al 2015, van der Heijden/Kolkowski 2023). These approaches suggest that in many cases observations informed by one’s own experiential practical approaches aid in gaining a deeper understanding of media-cultural-musicological phenomena.

This shift is also taking root in musicological teaching, for instance in new chairs, module regulations, and degree programs. At locations such as Bonn, Oldenburg, Berlin (HU), Lüneburg, Hildesheim, and Halle (Saale), as well as in London, Agder, Huddersfield, or Concordia, recording studio technology, synthesizers, DIY electronics, and Digital Audio Workstations are becoming essential elements of musicological education. The practical engagement with sound and its production contexts ranges from the history of the tape recorder to introductory courses in miking and mixing techniques to listening sessions that focus on the sonic design of ›produced music.‹ This engagement often takes place in university-owned recording studios. These ›toolscapes‹ of music production prove to be particularly suitable places for practice-oriented learning. (King & Hemonides 2016).

The conference brings together a cross-section of materially and practically oriented research and teaching and offers space for discussions on how current scientific and didactic approaches can benefit from each other.

This raises the following questions:

(1) Which basic practical sound knowledge should be part of a musicological education? What is the relationship between scientific (musical acoustics) and music-psychological approaches (sound perception, auditory physiology) and research centered on cultural aspects such as sound studies or pop musical analysis? What forms of implicit or ›embodied‹ knowledge, what practical abilities in handling analog and digital audio technology, and what systematic training of technical hearing or critical listening skills are required for sound and music analysis today?

(2) How can these contents be integrated into the framework of academic education in a contemporary and didactically meaningful way without becoming too superficial or too specialized? What role does the relationship between in-person teaching and digital learning offerings play? What methods and ideas for seminar or semester structures exist? We will present our own procedures and learning formats in the beta version of our hybrid teaching platform METRONOM, on which, in addition to a module for technical ear training for musicologists, we provide material and instructions for the experiential-practical teaching of sound (technologies) and music media works in classroom teaching, especially in forms of re-enactment.

(3) How relevant are sound and media technologies as aspects of musical design not only for contemporary musicological education but also for practice-oriented professional fields? What knowledge is required in journalistic fields such as radio, press, and online media, in curatorial and museal contexts, in concert and theater, archives, publishing, and music management?

(4) How should the recording studio be set up as a learning space for musicology? How can it help students gain a deeper understanding of production processes in the context of sound technologies without overloading the learning process? Which ‘toolscapes’ offer inspiring environments for sound-related project work? What didactic as well as practical-technical challenges should be considered in this special learning environment?

We invite you to submit proposals for individual presentations, panels, workshops, and posters related, but not restricted to, the following topics:

·        Technical ear training / Critical listening skills

·        Musical applications of recording technology

·        Handling of time- and style-specific devices and production environments (Multitrack, MPCs, Push, etc.)

·        Elaboration and performance of electroacoustic and experimental music in teaching

·        Experiential/practical approaches in sound studies

·        Artistic research in music and sound art

·        Modular synthesizers in teaching

·        Sound description and language in music analysis

·        Use of digital tools in musicological sound and music analysis (Sonic Visualizer, etc.)

·        Realization/production of recordings as student research in the studio

·        Hybrid formats and use of digital learning platforms

·        Higher education didactic methods related to audio technology

·        Historically and culturally comparative perspectives on the above questions

We explicitly understand ›Hands on Sonic Skills‹ as a learning, working, and workshop conference. Therefore, we ask you to consider organizing workshops (60-90 min) focusing on special teaching methods or topics, in addition to classical presentations (20 min + 10 min discussion) and joint panels (90 min). A poster session will provide the opportunity to exchange ideas about methods, didactics, and individual student projects. Smaller technical experiments and setups are explicitly encouraged.

The conference is organized as part of the educational research project METRONOM – Media Transformation of Musical Knowledge (2024-2026). Funding is provided by FREIRAUM financed by the BMBF and administered by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education (STIL). The conference is organized at the research section Music and Media, headed by Prof. Dr. Golo Föllmer. Team: Alan van Keeken, Sebastian Schwesinger, Lukas Iden, and Katja Lux.

Conference languages are German and English. Participation is free of charge.

Please send your abstract (max. 400 words) and CV (max. 100 words) by April 30, 2025, indicating your preferred format, to alan.van-keeken@musikwiss.uni-halle.de

Literatur/e:

Badura, Jens et al (2015): Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch, Zürich/Berlin.

Bates, Eliot (2016), Digital tradition: Arrangement and labor in Istanbul’s recording studio culture, New York.

Bennett, Samantha and Bates, Eliot (2018), ‘The Production of Music and Sound: A Multidisciplinary Critique’, in Bennett and Bates (eds), Critical Approaches to the Production of Music and Sound, New York, pp. 1–22.

Bennett, Samantha (2019), Modern Records, Maverick Methods: Technology and Process in Popular Music Record Production 1978-2000, New York.

Bourbon, Andrew and Zagorski-Thomas, Simon (eds) (2020), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music Production., New York.

Bürkner, Hans-Joachim (2013): Trackproduktion als Trial and Error? in: Bürkner et al (eds): Akustisches Kapital. Wertschöpfung in der Musikwirtschaft, Bielefeld, pp. 45-98.

Butler, Mark J. (2014), Playing with something that runs: Technology, improvisation, and composition in DJ and laptop performance, Oxford.

Fickers, Andreas and van der Oever, Annie (2022), Doing Experimental Media Archaeology, Berlin/Boston.

Herbst, Jan Peter and Menze, Jonas (2021), Gear Aquisition Syndrome: Consumption of Instruments and Technology in Popular Music, Huddersfield.

Hepworth-Sawyer, Russ, Hodgson, Jay and Marrington, Mark (eds) (2019), Producing music. Perspectives on music production series, New York.

Huschner, Roland (2016), “[…] if it would be me producing the song…”: Eine Studie zu den Prozessen in Tonstudios der populären Musikproduktion, Humboldt-Universität Berlin.

Katz, Mark (2010), Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, London.

King, Andrew and Himonides, Evangelos (eds) (2016), Music, Technology, and Education: Critical Perspectives, London and New York.

Meynell, Anthony (2017), How Recording Studios Used Technology to Invoke the Psychedelic Experience: The difference in staging techniques in British and American recordings in the late 1960s, London.

Rosati, Tommaso and Hsu, Timothy (2025), Play with Sound: Manual for Electronic Musicians and Other Sound Explorers, London.

Schmidt-Horning, Susan (2013), Chasing Sound: Technology, Culture and the Art of Recording from Edison to the L.P, Baltimore.

Sterne, Jonathan (2003), The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction., Durham.

Théberge, Paul (1997), Any Sound you can imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology, Hanover.

van der Heijden, Tim and Kolkowski, Alexander (2023), Doing Experimental Media Archeology, Berlin/Boston.

Zagorski-Thomas, Simon (2016), ‘An Analysis of Space, Gesture and Interaction in Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire’, in Moore, von Appen and Doehring (eds), Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music, London, pp. 115–33.

Call for Papers

Special Issue of Rock Music Studies

Rock in South America: Argentina, Chile, and PeruSpecial Issue of Rock Music Studies

Rock in South America: Argentina, Chile, and Peru

Guest Editors:

César Albornoz, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile

Lisa Di Cione, Universidad de Buenos Aires; Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche; Instituto Nacional de Musicología “Carlos Vega,” Argentina

Sergio Pisfil, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Perú

Contact: rockensudamerica.archpe@gmail.com

Rock Music Studies invites article proposals for a special issue exploring the unique characteristics of rock music written, produced, and performed in South America, with a particular focus on music created in Argentina, Chile, and Peru from the second half of the 20th century to the present.

By the late 1950s, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas had been introduced to Elvis Presley, danced to “Rock Around the Clock,” and watched the film Blackboard Jungle. In the 1960s, Beatlemania swept through the region, the Rolling Stones sparked controversy, and heated debates about the hippie movement took place. Over time, Anglo-American rock evolved into something uniquely Latin American, shaped by a new language, distinct sounds, and a deeply rooted social experience.

South American rock has since become a subject of rigorous study. Traditional academia, investigative journalism, fan communities, and other spaces have contributed to publications and networks that foster dialogue and analysis. One recent example is the First International Congress of Peruvian Rock Studies, held in Lima in December 2024. This event included two keynote speakers from Chile and Argentina, offering a platform not only to share research from different regions but also to explore the connections between them. These three countries share patterns of cultural production that, through appropriation and reinterpretation, have created industries in constant exchange. Furthermore, in recent decades, all three nations have experienced violent dictatorships, political unrest, and underdevelopment—historical realities that have shaped the evolution of rock in distinct ways.

This Call for Papers invites contributions on South American rock, which understand rock as more than just a mainstream phenomenon of grand, mythic narratives, taking into account that it is also about everyday stories, shaped by local context. While South American rock has challenged the dominance of the white, Anglo-American, colonial, and Eurocentric rock star, it has also, at times, reinforced those narratives. Similarly, this special issue invites consideration of the fact that issues of gender, race, nation, power, violence, and self-construction are not relegated to the past, but remain central to contemporary discussions about voice, embodiment, performance, and celebrity.

While South America as a whole has distinct cultural characteristics worthy of study, focusing on Peru, Chile, and Argentina offers compelling case studies for examining a shared sonic and material legacy, with similarities and differences that call for interdisciplinary analysis.

Contributions are welcome on topics including, but not limited to:

• History and memory
• Epistemologies and theoretical frameworks
• The art of record production
• Live music studies
• Cultural industries
• Rock, labor, and markets
• Legislation and copyright
• Media ana mediation
• Celebrity and stardom
• Archives, collections, and heritage
• Decolonial studies: processes of “nationalization” and “regionalization”
• Rock, the State, and politics
• Identity and dissidence
• Intersectional studies (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, disability, etc.)
• Music theory and analysis

• Consumption and communities
• Bodies and performance
• Artificial intelligence and augmented reality

Prospective contributors should submit a 500-word abstract and a brief CV by April 30, 2025, to rockensudamerica.archpe@gmail.com. Proposals are welcome in either English or Spanish. Selected authors will be notified by May 30, 2025. Full manuscripts, written in English and between 6,000 and 8,000 words, will be due by October 15, 2025.

Popular Music History Special Issue for November 2025

The twenty-first century is defined by numerous wars. Unlike the large-scale global conflicts of the 20th century, today’s wars are predominantly localized. More broadly, conflicts shape lives politically, socially, and privately. Popular music has always played a dual role in such contexts: it has been used to mobilize masses for war while also serving as a medium for resistance. Anti-war songs are plentiful, ranging from the Italian “Bella ciao,” through the pacifist anthems of the Vietnam War era, to modern examples of resistance during the Intifada. As long as violent conflict has existed, so too have songs of resistance, such as “Biladi biladi” (“O my country!”) from Egypt’s 1919 revolution, or “Min djibalina” (“From our mountains”), opposing colonization.

Pro-war songs, while less common, do exist, particularly in forms that encourage or inspire soldiers. A distinct category includes anti-war songs often misinterpreted as patriotic, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” Another group comprises acts that focus their entire repertoire on historical events and wartime heroism, as exemplified by the Swedish metal band Sabaton.

War is also closely tied to migration, as displaced communities bring their cultural heritage, including music, to new places. These migrations can foster closer cultural bonds among communities, whether in foreign lands or domestically, while simultaneously generating new forms of popular music born from displacement.

Armed conflicts disrupt both physical and virtual connections. Access to social media and the internet becomes uncertain, with communication lines severed. However, history shows that new modes of connection and musicking emerge during such disruptions. Collective and personal memories play a significant role in shaping collective emotions and delineating the boundaries between allies and adversaries.

Popular Music History invites contributions for a special issue examining the role of music in the context of war, focusing on how music portrays, critiques, or supports conflict. Submissions may address any armed conflict in history and its relation to popular music. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• The role of war songs
• Popular music as a means of fostering community during war
• The impact of war on migrants and their music
• Popular music as a tool of manipulation
• Music in marching and combat
• Resistance through popular music
• Narratives of war and peace in popular music
• Online music consumption during wartime
• Nationalism in the history of popular music
• The intersection of popular music genres and war
• Warfare and popular music
• The popular music business during armed conflicts

The proposed timeline for the publication process is as follows:

31.01.2025: Deadline for submitting extended abstracts (feedback on abstracts will be provided within 10 days; authors may skip this step and submit full papers by the end of May 2025; if you wish to submit abstract, please sent it to: b.peter [ at ] rug.nl and patryk.galuszka [at] uni.lodz.pl)

31.05.2025: Deadline for submitting full manuscripts (please submit your paper via journal’s submission system)

31.08.2025: Editorial decisions sent to authors for revisions

31.10.2025: Deadline for submitting revised papers

30.11.2025: Special issue published.

Joint SMI and ICTM-IE Postgraduate Conference 2025

Trinity College Dublin

16–17 January 2025

Call for Papers

Deadline: Friday 8 November 2024

Email: smi.ictmd.2025@gmail.com

The Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) and the Irish National Committee of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD-IE) are pleased to announce their annual joint postgraduate conference will take place at Trinity College Dublin on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 January 2025.

Postgraduate students working in all areas of musical research are warmly invited to submit proposals for 20-minute papers or 30-minute lecture recitals of research conducted under supervision at a third-level institution. Poster presentations are also welcome. Areas of research include but are not limited to, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory and analysis, composition, music technology, music pedagogy, popular music studies, performance studies, musical practice as research, psychology of music, and music and gender. Attendees should convey research findings and professional conclusions honestly and in alignment with established research integrity principles, including those relating specifically to the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We are delighted to welcome Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin to give the 2025 keynote address. The conference will feature the presentation of the Harry White Doctoral Prize. As in previous years, the postgraduate conference will also include a Careers Forum and a dedicated session featuring prize-winners of the annual CHMHE competition for undergraduate dissertations.

To submit a proposal, please send an email attachment (.doc or .docx, not .pdf) to smi.ictmd.2025@gmail.com by 6pm on Friday 8 November 2024 with the following details:

• Title of paper
• Abstract (max. 250 words)
• Full name and institutional affiliation
• Short biography (max. 150 words)
• Please state whether you are proposing a:
  • 20-minute paper
  • 30-minute lecture-recital
  • 30-minute film, audio, or other media presentation (to include introduction and any commentary)
  • 10-minute presentation (Master’s Students)
  • Poster presentation

Please submit all information in a single Word document. Proposals will be anonymised prior to peer review and applicants will be notified of the outcome of this process by 9 December 2024.

On behalf of SMI and ICTMD-IE we thank you for your engagement. We are looking forward to welcoming delegates to Trinity College Dublin for two days of intellectually and socially enriching scholarly exchange.

4th Conference of the International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ)

Communities of Practice

October 3-5, 2024, Jam Music Lab University

Vienna, Austria

Call for Proposals

 

The International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ) was founded in 2019 in reaction to the increasing relevance of artistic perspectives in the academic discourses in jazz research. INARJ organizes regular symposia as a platform for knowledge exchange and connection between artistic jazz researchers worldwide. The specific focus for the fourth conference is artistic research and communities of practice ranging from geographic communities and the role of place making and curatorship, networks inside and outside of jazz, communities of pedagogy and education, social communities and marginalized groups, and economic and business communities, with the aim of discussing status, strategies, and transformation.

 

Some conference sessions will be provided in hybrid format, however, we encourage participants to plan on in-person attendance for more effective engagement in discussions and projects. Presentations should address one or more of the following areas in the form of discussion forums, project presentations, or performance sessions. 

 

Geographic Communities and Placemaking

Creative Placemaking strengthens communities through partnerships across sectors, integrating art, culture, and design activities, and helps advance local economies and social change. Creative Placemaking can be developed as an artistic strategy to bring attention to or elevate community assets, inject new or additional energy, people, resources, or activities into a place, community, issue or local community, envision new possibilities for a community or place, connect people, places, and economic opportunities via physical spaces or new relationships. What are opportunities, examples, options, strategies that connect the artistic practice of jazz with communities and placemaking activities and strategies?

Networks Inside and Outside of Jazz

Teitelbaum et al (2008)[1] note that “music is one of the richest sources of interaction between individuals”. The number of collaborations by jazz musicians is traditionally higher than in other musical genres due to the common practice of recording and performing in many different constellations. Jazz performances are highly interactive and as a result, the resulting social and musical networks are rather complex. Networks can be documented via archival, biographical, or various metadata sets and visualized in interactive maps. What is the role of artistic research in documenting existing networks, exploring the influence of networks, and exploring new ways of thinking about networks and changing norms? In which ways can artistic research contribute to the formation of new networks and what are its differences to traditional networks in jazz?

Communities of Pedagogy

Initially, during the rise of jazz as the dominant popular art form reintegrating improvisation as a musical practice in the musical discourse, jazz musicians developed their highly influential musical directions largely through autodidactic listening, practicing, jam sessions, and in touring bands. The development of an academic jazz pedagogy during the 1960s initiated the codification of jazz styles and performance practice. Parallel, rooted in the Lenox School of Jazz’ summer workshops, models of contemporary improvisation were conceived, synthesized, or even improvised resulting in various research devoted to improvisation. Current approaches focus on the notion of ‘play’ and the notion that music can serve as a model for improvisation practice in everyday life. What are new theoretical and organizational models, as well as new practices for institutional partnerships, the teaching of improvisation, teacher education, and theories of improvisation? How can artistic questions and strategies contribute to the development of jazz pedagogy in formal as well as informal learning environments?

Social Communities and Marginalized Groups

Throughout its history, jazz has functioned as a catalyst for social and political change. From early integrated bands to voices of protest for Civil Rights, to raising of awareness of contemporary racial discrimination, jazz musicians played an integral role as social and political activists. For example, during the height of the Cold War, the US Government selected a group of prominent jazz musicians to be world-wide ambassadors for peace. Furthermore, Max Roach’s 1960 release We Insist! Freedom Now! is one of the most important statements of contemporary music. However, jazz is the least diverse art form in terms of gender participation and the use of the term jazz has been widely disputed due to lingering racial connotations. Besides the canonic representations of jazz at established institutions, jazz and jazz-related practices have participated in the formation of a variety of social communities throughout the world. What contemporary social communities can we observe, are active, and are transformative through jazz practices? On the other hand, what groups are marginalized and what are effective strategies for integration? What is the role of jazz and specifically artistic practice in shaping the society of the future? How can jazz practices help to overcome gaps and conflicts between communities worldwide?

Economic Communities and Artist Teams

The music business has experienced drastic restructuring throughout the 20^th century which has accelerated during the digital age. Initially, income from recorded music fueled a thriving support system of record labels and distribution, with live music as a secondary income source and way to connect to the public. However, the current dominance of streaming services is a convenient and cheap source of access for the consumers but has failed to provide a substantial income stream for creators. Consequently, support structures for recorded music have disappeared and the reliance on income from live performances has grown exponentially. The artist now needs to control all aspects of career development and is often confronted with the need for substantial financial investment and increasing economic instability. What are the changes of artistic practices in the context of current communities for economic support and stability? What is the current career trajectory and options for future economic viability and how does this reflect in artistic work?

1. Presentations – 20-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of Q&A and discussion
2. Performance Projects – 20 minute projects followed by 10 minutes of Q&A and discussion.
3. Open Formats – panels, jam session, focus groups up to 60 minutes

Projects can be shared via recorded materials or live. For live performances, the room allows for a basic combo setup with keyboard, bass and guitar amps, and drum set. However, it is not possible to allow for rehearsal time and space and human resources.

The conference will coincide with the launch of the Journal for Artistic Research in Jazz (ARJAZZ) through the Research Catalogue. The journal is administered through a consortium of universities and an INARJ initiative. Conference presentation have the option for submission to the second edition of ARJAZZ with publication pending peer review results.

For further information please visit http://www.artisticjazzresearch.com or contact monika.herzig@jammusiclab.com.

Please send conference proposals by July 5, 2024 in form of an Abstract of approximately 200 words or with links to media, a short Bio of not more than 150 words, and indication of presentation, performance project, or open format (with explanation) to conference@artisticjazzresearch.com.  

Conference Convenors

Michael Kahr (JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna / University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz)

Monika Herzig (JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna)

Andrew Bain (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff UK)

Mike Fletcher (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)

Matthias Heyman (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel / Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

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[1] Teitelbaum, T., Balenzuela, P., Cano, P., Buldú, J.M. Community structures and role detection in music networks. Chaos Interdiscip. J. Nonlinear Sci. 18, 043105 (2008).