Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJs, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture

by Rebekah Farrugia

A pathbreaking study of the women who create electronic dance music, Beyond the Dance Floor focuses on the largely neglected relationship between these women and the conceptions of gender and technology that continue to inform the male-dominated culture surrounding electronic music. In this volume, Rebekah Farrugia explores a number of important issues, including the politics of identity and representation, the bonds formed by women within the DJ community, and the role female DJs and producers play in this dance music culture as well as in the larger public sphere.

 

Though Farrugia primarily focuses on women’s relationship to music-related technologies—including vinyl, mp3s, and digital production software—she also deftly extends her argument to the strategic use of the Internet and web design skills for purposes tied to publicity, networking, and music distribution.

Genres: Music

171 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Bex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book and so much that I had my local library branch order a copy. After reading various sections (my disappointment prevented me from a straight through reading), I felt that Farrugia's book is already hopelessly outdated. Resident Advisor's 2013 DJs has 8 women listed, and though it's still a small number overall (and no women in the top 10) it's distant from the sterile male universe described in the book. For a slice of 90s and early 00s discourse on women and the creative process of "electronic dance music culture" it's a thoughtful piece, but doesn't accurately reflect what's happening in the current scene. Perhaps though that's actually something to be celebrated and relished?