The No-venue Underground & Digital Folklore Music Subcultures

31st Jan 2023 31st Jan 2023 15:30 16:30

Francesca Mariano, Lucy March, Miloš Hroch. Moderated by Luigi Monteanni.

00:00

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5 / 10 € day pass

  • Lil Mariko

    US

    Rising screamo queen Lil Mariko makes hardcore meme music – and it’s working.

  • Maryanne Amacher

    US

    The internationally renowned American composer, performer, and multi-media installation artist – who died in 2009 – was a 20th century maverick of music and sound, working extensively to develop her »ear tone music, with the physiological phenomenon called otoacoustic emission – in which the ears themselves act as aurally active generating devices.

  • Funeral Folk

    SE

    The collaboration between Sara Parkman and Maria W Horn explores the rituals of grief and the musical phenomenology of death through their respective crafts and influences.

  • Lil Mariko

    US

    Rising screamo queen Lil Mariko makes hardcore meme music – and it’s working.

    • Live stream

    As a consequence of the progressive disappearance of performative spaces caused by economic and political policies (gentrification, public funding cuts, inflation, etc) and the multiplication of niche »no-audience underground« subgenres, artists moved online experimenting with the possibilities offered by the internet and its »digital folklore.« Through music production and dissemination tools, musicians gained renewed access to subcultural capital and artistic exchange, covering geographical distances and the shortage of economic and social resources while adapting to maintain the ethos of underground practices.

    Two artists and researchers – Yewande Adeniran (aka Ifeoluwa) and NZIRIA – will present their explorations of different temporalities, and how artistic means of the digital can be used to combine techno-futuristic ideas with elements of folklore rooted deep in the past, ancient spiritual traditions, and mythological ideas. While Adeniran will explore the role of the drum in the spiritual traditions of the Yoruba in Nigeria as a medium of communication, which experiences subversive re-articulations in the colonial era, but also in the techno music of the present, NZIRIA will delve into their research into Neapolitan culture, interrogating and reinterpreting its origins and some of the topoi of Neapolitan culture through a queer lens.

    Image: Lorenzo Camera

    The digital underground thrives online, working with references that are turned into sonic hybrids devoid of signifiers, produced with cheap VSTs and relatively widely available music production tools. Sometimes taking cues from traditional sounds, often times speculative or fictional sonics, this scene shuns spatio-temporal specifics and creates its own transnational and transdigital folklore vernacular, inviting the listener to see what's behind the imaginary mirror and enter a world that is mysterious and playful.

    This process is also driven by the fact that the internet offers isolated producers in rural areas networking opportunities and access to digital production tools and distribution channels, allowing them to overcome geographical distances and the lack of economic and social resources. This development was further accelerated by the covid pandemic, in which the youngest generation was temporarily deprived of the possibility to experiment in real spaces. As a result, there has been an increase in niche sub-genres of an online-only "no-audience underground". The digital underground flourishes online and works with references that are transformed into sonic hybrids without signifiers. It eschews spatial and temporal specificities, creating its own transnational and transdigital folklore language that invites listeners to immerse themselves in a mysterious and playful world. But Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, Vaporwave, Phonk, Dungeonsynth and other subcultures also show regressive and reactionary tendencies up to the perpetuation of cultural stereotypes and the celebration of hateful violence. The panel will shed light on the development and aesthetic production of various online music cultures and discuss the problematic dynamics of online scenes against the backdrop of the current social climate.

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