Future/Present: Current Practices in Pop Music Studies

Conference in Uppsala, June 19-20, 2018
Hosted at the Department of Musicology, Uppsala University, this conference is envisioned as a space for engaging current practices in the field of pop music research. It aims to explore theoretical and methodological developments across disciplinary boundaries, to map future directions, and to foster further discourse and collaborations in this field of study. The conference is structured around three areas of research: Current methodological approaches and pop music analysis; current epistemological and theoretical work; as well as current aesthetic, technological, and sonic developments in pop music.
The conference aims at promoting popular music studies both, within Sweden, the Nordic Countries, and internationally, and at strengthening national and international networks in this interdisciplinary field of study. This objective is reflected by the choice of keynote speakers: Professor Anne Danielsen (University of Oslo) as well as Associate Professor Robin James (UNC Charlotte, North Carolina, US) are two leading scholars in the field, who have stimulated the study of pop music through visionary methodological and theoretical perspectives.
The conference is arranged with financial support from the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Programme June, 19
08.30 - 09.00 Coffee and registration
09.00 - 09.15 Conference opening
09.15 - 10.30 Keynote speech (Chair: Veronika Muchitsch)
ROBIN JAMES: Novelty, Speculation, Heartbreak: How Pop Music Conceives of "The Future" (1983-2017)
10.30 - 10.45 Coffee break
10.45 - 12.15 Session 1: Bodies across time and space (Chair: Lars Berglund)
ABIGAIL GARDINER: Pop Out of Time: Anohni and Transgendered/Transage Transgression
VERONIKA MUCHITSCH: Considering Corporeality, Subjectivity and Voice in ANOHNI's "Drone Bomb Me"
EMIL KRAUGERUD: Constructions of Intimacy in St. Vincent's "Hang on Me"
12.15 - 13.15 Lunch
13.15 - 14.45 Session 2: Politics of race (Chair: Elizabeth Gould)
DAVID KAMINSKY: Blackvoice, White Fans: Hip-Hop Authenticity and the Battle of the Azaleas
ANDERS LILJEDAHL: Sound & Color: Racializing Audiovisual Interdependencies in Music Videos
L.J. MÜLLER: Hearing Whiteness? Thoughts on an Elusive Subject
14.45 - 15.15 Coffee break
15.15 - 16.45 Session 3: Pop music as (eco-)system and apparatus (Chair: Per-Henning Olsson)
MATT BRENNAN: On Musical Ecosystems and Sustainability
RICHARD ELLIOTT: Songs as Systems: Objects, Ecologies, Weather, Viruses
MATTHEW LOVETT: Apparatuses of Capture: Disruptive Platforms and Reactionary Musics
19.00 Conference dinner
Programme June, 20
08.45 - 09.15 Coffee
09.15 - 10.30 Keynote speech (Chair: Lars Berglund)
ANNE DANIELSEN: Analysing Popular Music in the Digital Age
10.30 - 10.45 Coffee break
11.00 - 12.30 Session 4: Current perspectives in analysis (Chair: Ralf von Appen)
PER-HENNING OLSSON: Playing with Expectations. Ambiguous Metre and Rhythmic Play in AC/DC's Music
JOSÉ GÁLVEZ: Pop Music Analysis: Old Issues, New Perspectives
BERNHARD STEINBRECHER: Analysing Nuances in Popular Music: Toward a Better Understanding of its Aesthetic Experience
12.15 - 13.15 Lunch break
13.15 - 14.15 Session 5: Theorising new song forms (Chair: Lars Berglund)
RALF VON APPEN: Theorising New Song Forms in Current Pop Mainstream (del 1)
MARKUS FREI-HAUENSCHILD: Theorising New Song Forms in Current Pop Mainstream (del 2)
14.15 - 14.30 Short coffee break
14.30 - 15.30 Session 6: Moving beyond genre? (Chair: Veronika Muchitsch)
MONIKA VOITHOFER: "...It takes harmony and the electric guitar for granted..." The New Discipline as a Bridge Between Contemporary and Pop Music
VICTOR SZABO: A Design-Oriented Approach to Recorded Music and "Post-Genre Genres'
15.30 - 16.00 Coffee break
16.00 - 17.00 Session 7: Looking back: Nostalgia and age (Chair: Elizabeth Gould)
KAI ARNE HANSEN: Analyzing Pop Personae Across Media: Take That and Aging Masculinities
REBECCA RINSEMA: The Politics of Coming of Age: Nostalgia for Innocence in Millenial Music
17.00 Closing