Is "goth music" a genre, and if so, how does it relate to the goth subculture? The music played at goth club nights and festivals encompasses a broad range of musical substyles, from gloomy Batcave reverberations to neo-medieval bagpipe drones and from the lush vocals of goth metal to the harsh distortion of goth industrial. Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture argues that within this variegated musical landscape a number of key consistencies exist. Not only do all these goth substyles share a number of musical and textual characteristics, but more importantly these aspects of the music are constitutive of goth social reality. Drawing on their own experiences in the European and American goth scenes, the authors explore the ways in which the sounds of goth inform the scene's listening practices, its fantasies of other worlds, and its re-enchantment of their own world. Goth music, this book asserts, engenders a musical timespace of its own, a musical chronotope that is driven by nostalgic yearning.

Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture reorients goth subcultural studies onto music: goth music must be recognized not only as simultaneously diverse and consistent, but also as the glue that holds together goth scenes from all over the world. It all starts with the music.

About the Author

Isabella van Elferen is Full Professor of Music and Director of Research at Kingston University London, UK.

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock is Professor of English at Central Michigan University, USA and Associate Editor of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

Reviews

"Isabella van Elferen and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock present an academically well-founded and recommendable study with Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture. This fulfils the claim of presenting promising new theoretical approaches for future scientific subculture discourse".

Caroline Langhorst, Wissenschaftliche Rezensionen

Book Information
ISBN 9780367597412
Author Isabella van Elferen
Format Paperback
Page Count 162
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g