The Salience, Shapes, and Functions of Continuous Processes in Contemporary Electronic Dance Music

Abstract

This dissertation examines the salience, shapes, and functions of continuous processes in contemporary electronic dance music (EDM), providing an analytical framework for discussing their structural and aesthetic roles in this repertoire. Continuous processes are musical gestures with continuous changes to musical parameters, rather than discrete, “step-by-step” ones. Examples include glissandos, crescendos, fade-ins, accelerandos, and filter sweeps. Most of the music discussed is from the 2010s, and from the large category of genres under the umbrella of house and trance. All the music referenced is available for listening through the supplemental files for this dissertation. The dissertation develops a multifaceted approach to the analysis of continuous processes in EDM. First, continuous processes are categorized according to their length and parameter altered (chapters 2 and 3), then according to their shape as compared with mathematical functions (chapter 5), then according to their musical functions as providing orientation, disorientation, ornamentation, and/or intensification (chapter 6). Continuous processes often provide sonic instructions for dancers. For example, “uplifters” (ascending pitch slides) in buildup sections create a sense of tension in listeners, and an expectation that a highly-energetic main section is coming up. Conversely, “downlifters” signal that the energy of the track is decreasing and that dancers can take a break. Continuous processes can also have specific semiotic meanings, as is shown in the hermeneutic analyses of two tracks by Deadmau5 and The Chemical Brothers in chapter 7. Throughout the dissertation, nine analytical guidelines for comparing continuous processes in terms of their salience are outlined gradually. These add another dimension to the analysis of continuous processes, making explicit the kinds of foreground-background parsing involved in listening and pointing towards how continuous changes saturate EDM with multiple levels of prominence. Existing analytical scholarship on EDM has focused on discrete processes, especially the sudden addition or subtraction of sound layers. Certain types of continuous processes have been explored, but they have not previously been discussed systematically. This dissertation adds to existing scholarship by drawing attention to the many roles of continuous processes in EDM, and showing how they contribute to the emotional waves experienced when listening to this music.