Sound, Technology, and Interpretation in Subcultures of Heavy Music Production

This dissertation documents and theorizes cases of 'heavy' music production in terms of their unique technological dispositions. The project puts media and cultural studies into conversation with constructivist approaches to technology by looking at the material practices behind such styles as Punk, Hardcore, Metal, and Industrial. These genres have traditionally been studied as reception subcultures but have yet to be systematically treated as subcultures of production. I believe that this is a key area of study in the digital era as the lines between producers and consumers, artists and audiences, become hazier. In effect, above and beyond exploring these genres and subcultures, the aim is to conceive a mode of thinking appropriate to understanding aesthetic judgment vis-à-vis the evolving life of sound in a technologized, mass-mediated culture