IndieRE 2.0 Conference: Contemporary Discourses On Music 
26-27 September 2024
Projection Hall, City Museum of Ljubljana

Join us at the international music conference IndieRE 2.0: Contemporary Discourses on Music at the City Museum of Ljubljana from 26 to 27 September. The two-day conference includes seven lectures by various experts, researchers, university professors, music journalists and freelance writers, whose research and journalistic work address a variety of interesting musical topics and music-related social phenomena.

The lecture ‘Generating Musical Taste’ by Robert Bobnič, a PhD student in Media Studies and a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana, will shed light on how recommender system algorithms have driven music consumption online in the past decade.

In her lecture ‘No Country for Old Punks: Is There Still a Link Between Subcultural Theory and Practice?’, Jasna Babić Zrimšek (Klub Gromka, The Peace Institute) will analyze to what extent the premises of basic subcultural theories and concepts and the practices of contemporary “subcultures” differ and overlap. 

UK music journalist JR Moores will join us with the lecture ‘Reflections on Writing a Book About Heavy Music’ to discuss the writing process behind his book Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present (Reaktion Books, 2021), dedicated to “heavy music”, the origins, variety and trajectory of heaviness, and the seminal significance of The Beatles’ song ‘Helter Skelter’ (1968). 

The lecture ‘On Auditory Poverty’ by Slovenian is poet, composer and award-winning writer, dr. Nina Dragičević, will be dedicated to the concepts of audibility and auditory poverty. “Where there is poverty, there is discontent. And where there is discontent, there is potential for an uprising.”

Acclaimed Serbian academic, dr. Irena Šentevska, will present the lecture ‘Singing Belgrade: Popular Music in Serbia in the Bermuda Triangle ‘Global-Regional-Local’. Based on her award-winning book Singing Belgrade: Urban Identity and Music Videos (CLIO, 2023), Šentevska will discuss the opposition between the genres of global popular music and home-grown genres of neo-folk in the Serbian context.

In her lecture ‘Hinterlands: Exploring the Hierarchies of Musical Genre’, BBC journalist, broadcaster and author of the seminal book Sound Within Sound (Faber, 2022), Kate Molleson, will explore the hierarchies of musical genre and how the industry is complicit in upholding the borders. 

The final act of the conference will be the live documentary performance ‘What Is This That Stands Before Me? Heavy Metal And Modernism’ by UK music journalist and editor John Doran (The Quietus, The Guardian, BBC) and artist and filmmaker Sapphire Goss – a unique live cinema experience that presents heavy metal as the last true form of mass modernism. 

PROGRAMME

THU, 26 September @ Projection Hall, City Museum of Ljubljana 
14:00–15:15 Robert Bobnič: Generating Musical Taste
15:30–16:45 Jasna Babić Zrimšek: No Country for Old Punks: Is There Still a Link Between Subcultural Theory and Practice?  
17:00–18:30 JR Moores: Reflections on Writing a Book About Heavy Music

FRI, 27 September @ Projection Hall, City Museum of Ljubljana  
14:00–15:00 Dr. Nina Dragičević: On Auditory Poverty
15:15–16:30 Dr. Irena Šentevska: Singing Belgrade: Popular Music In Serbia In The Bermuda Triangle 'Global-Regional-Local' 
16:45–17:45 Kate Molleson: Hinterlands: Exploring the Hierarchies of Musical Genre
18:00–19:00 John Doran & Sapphire Goss: What Is This That Stands Before Me? Heavy Metal And Modernism

LECTURES 

Generating Musical Taste by Robert Bobnič 
Recommender system algorithms have driven music consumption online for a decade or more. This has brought about a series of transformations: the disruption of gatekeeping systems, the arrival of techno-capital in the cultural sphere, the new economies and new aesthetics that make up algorithmic culture, and, ultimately,artificial generativity. By computing taste, the algorithms of recommender systems automatically generate personalized lists. In recent years, the impact of streaming and algorithms has been the subject of much debate, largely problematizing the devaluation and fragmentation of the omnivorous (»liberal«) taste. It is therefore worth asking how radically different music consumption and musical taste are today. In this talk, I will first focus on the development of recommender systems and their potential integration with generative (large language) AI models, using various examples of algorithms and platforms. I will then turn to more concrete examples of the changing role of taste as a (social) differentiation, including new forms of music distinction (wave, core, vibe), platform (TikTok) music, and music memefication.

Robert Bobnič is a PhD student in Media Studies and a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. In general, his interest is focused on the effects of computation on the internet's cultures. He is a former editor-in-chief of the culture and humanities department at Radio Študent and a long-time contributor at Radio Študent.

No Country for Old Punks: Is There Still a Link Between Subcultural Theory and Practice? by Jasna Babić Zrimšek
From the beginning of subcultural theory, it has seemed to lag behind 'living' subcultures. As soon as the theory sets a foundation, subcultural practices slip away. Time and again, the question arises as to what, if any, particularly musical subcultures exist today in the first place. Furthermore, at a time when we are permeated by general digitalization, monetization, and the strengthening of right-wing politics, what is left of a vibrant underground ethos like in the '90s? In this lecture, we will delve into this thankless task and analyze to what extent the premises of basic subcultural theories and concepts and the practices of contemporary so-called subcultures differ and overlap. P.S.: Instead of 'punks', you can insert any 'old' subculture.

Jasna Babić Zrimšek obtained her MA in sociology and BA in culturology at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana, winning the Prešeren Award for her BA thesis. She started working at the Peace Institute as an assistant at the Center for culture politics and civil society. Two years later, she took over the PI archive, PI publishing and editing of the PI web page. Between 2008 and 2012, she worked as project assistant at East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders. She is also actively involved with the PI’s various research projects and public events. Since 1998, she has spent most of her spare time at AKC Metelkova City, particularly at the Gromka club, where she is head of programme and curates the event series R.A.F.A.L., Darkland in Odprto. Jasna is co-author of the documentary film Rejects of second generation – Following the Traces of Punk (2016), winner of the Noisy Cat for best music documentary at the Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine festival. She is also the author of the book In the Whirlwind of Subcultures (Sophia, 2016). 

Reflections on Writing a Book About Heavy Music by JR Moores
In this lecture, music journalist and Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present (Reaktion Books, 2021) author JR Moores will discuss the writing of his book about “heavy music”, the origins, variety and trajectory of heaviness, and the seminal significance of The Beatles’ song ‘Helter Skelter’ (1968). 

JR Moores is a freelance writer based in the north of England. His work has appeared in Bandcamp Daily, Vice, The Guardian and various other print and online publications. He is currently resident psych-rock columnist for both Record Collector and The Quietus. His book Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present (Reaktion, 2021) takes you on a ride through the evolution, diversity, and influence of genre-defying heavy music, from Black Sabbath to Big Black. 

On Auditory Poverty by Dr. Nina Dragičević
With audibility, or rather the lack thereof, comes auditory poverty. Where there is poverty, there is discontent. And where there is discontent, there is potential for an uprising.

Nina Dragičević is a poet and a composer, the author of the books Kdo ima druge skrbi (Škuc, 2014), Slavne neznane (Škuc, 2016), Med njima je glasba (Parada ponosa, 2017), Ljubav reče greva (2019), To telo, pokončno (Škuc, 2021), Kako zveni oblast (Založba /*cf, 2022), Ampak, kdo? (Škuc, 2023), and Auditory Poverty and its Discontents (Errant Bodies Press, 2024), as well as the albums Parallellax (Kamizdat Records, 2016), and Ma’am, There’s No Such Thing in Reality (Kamizdat Records, 2019). Dragičević is the recipient of the 2023 Werner Düttmann Fellowship (Akademie der Künste, Berlin), the 2023 Dr Ana Mayer Kansky Award, the 2021 Jenko Award, the 2020 Župančič Award, two 2018 Knight of Poetry Awards, and was a 2018 Palma Ars Acustica finalist. 

Singing Belgrade: Popular Music in Serbia in the Bermuda Triangle ‘Global-Regional-Local’ by Dr. Irena Šentevska
Based on her award-winning book Singing Belgrade: Urban Identity and Music Videos (CLIO, 2023), Irena Šentevska will discuss the opposition between the genres of global popular music and home-grown genres of neo-folk in the Serbian context. What was the role of the respective genres of popular music in the society and media systems of socialist Yugoslavia? How did the dynamics between “mainstream” and “fringe” music change during the transitional turmoil of the 1990s and deregulation of the media industries? What does the landscape of popular music look like in Serbia today and how does it operate in global, regional and local frameworks? 

Irena Šentevska received her PhD from the department of arts and media theory of the University of Arts in Belgrade. She is author of two books in Serbian, The Swinging 90s: theatre and social reality of Serbia (2016), and Singing Belgrade: urban identity and music videos (2023). Her articles have been published by leading academic presses in Europe and the US (Routledge, Palgrave, Taylor and Francis, Peter Lang, Indiana UP, De Gruyter, Berghahn Books, Bloomsbury Academic etc.) Irena lectured at the interdisciplinary doctoral studies of the University of Arts in Belgrade and received invitations from a variety of university departments and cultural institutions based in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Ljubljana, Rijeka, Prague, Graz, Zürich, Karlsruhe, Tel Aviv etc. As an independent researcher and curator she has collaborated with many institutions and artists, from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to the Slovenian band Laibach. 

Hinterlands: Exploring the Hierarchies of Musical Genre by Kate Molleson
Wall-building and gatekeeping, status symbols and snobbery, the mainstream and the marginal. The lecture by BBC’s writer and broadcaster Kate Molleson will explore the hierarchies of musical genre and how the industry is complicit in upholding the borders. What would it take to demolish them? What is to lose and what is to gain? A lecture with plenty of music.

Kate Molleson is a writer and broadcaster who presents for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Her book Sound Within Sound (Faber, 2022) offers an alternative history of 20th century classical music and has inspired a new festival at London's Southbank Centre. Her articles have been published in the Guardian, the New Statesman, Prospect, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone and elsewhere. Her documentaries (BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service) include features on music in Mongolia, Greenland and the Ethiopian pianist/composer Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Kate teaches music journalism at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses. She grew up in Scotland and the north of Canada, studied clarinet performance at McGill University, Montreal, and musicology at King’s College London.

What Is This That Stands Before Me? Heavy Metal And Modernism by John Doran & Sapphire Goss
Writer and broadcaster John Doran (The Quietus, The Guardian, BBC) claims that heavy metal is the last true form of mass modernism and traces some of its many revolutionary stages in half a century of cultural invention and reinvention, starting with Black Sabbath in Aston, Birmingham in 1970 and spreading to every corner of the globe, taking in Mayhem, Napalm Death and SunnO))) along the way. Artist-filmmaker Sapphire Goss creates a live visual accompaniment collaged from archive, 8mm and VHS footage to form enigmatic and haunted imagery. The soundtrack is a unique live mix of music specially created for the evening by Norwegian art rock group Årabrot, Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press & electronic artist Ghost Writer. Everything combines to make a unique live cinema experience. ‘What Is This That Stands Before Me? Heavy Metal And Modernism’ is a live documentary performance.

John Doran is a writer, author and broadcaster. He is the co-founder and editor of The Quietus magazine and has been writing about heavy metal for over two decades.

Sapphire Goss is an artist and filmmaker who works with hybrid moving images and photographic processes. Her work has been shown in exhibitions, performances and events worldwide. 

PARTNERS