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Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Popular Music History) (STUDIES IN POPULAR MUSIC)

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In this book, cultural anthropologist Graham St John documents the emergence and implications of global electronic dance music countercultures. Based on unique ethnographic, netographic and documentary material, St John discusses Electronic Dance Music (EDM) scenes in its diverse global, local and glocal contexts. He documents music scenes illustrating nine interrelated modes of resistance; Dionysian, outlaw, exile, avant, spiritual, reclaiming, safety, reactionary and activist. Throughout the book, St John gets into themes and scenes in detail like the "protestival;" the role of EDM in carnivals of resistance like "reclaim the streets"; the role of EDM techno-activists in counter-colonial actions in Australia; the history of EDM at Burning Man in the U.S.; as well as the techno-punk crossover in Sydney. There is also a chapter on psytrance and the technoccult. Moreover, St John chronicles the UK sound system exodus - especially with Spiral Tribe's move to the continent and the teknival emergence in Europe and North America.

St John's "Technomad" is an outstanding theoretical and empirical contribution to the emerging field of Electronic Dance Music studies. St John offers ground breaking and complex theoretical discussions on resistance, counterculture, music/media studies and globalization. Written in an absolutely mesmerizing style, "Technomad" offers invaluable insider accounts and documents crucial events in EDM history. This book is already an all time classic, and indispensable to anyone interested in the diversity of EDM practices and intentions, and its multiple impacts on contemporary global cultural politics.