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‘My laptop is an extension of my memory and self’: Post-Internet identity, virtual intimacy and digital queering in online popular music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

Michael Waugh
Michael Waugh*
Affiliation:
Westerhope, Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 5JH, UK E-mail: mykwaugh@hotmail.co.uk
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Abstract

This article studies the ways that Post-Internet ideas inform much contemporary musical production. Drawing on interviews conducted with musicians/artists self-consciously highlighting Post-Internet themes in their work, including Arca, Ryan Trecartin, 18+, Holly Herndon and ADR, the paper emphasises the significance of the term ‘Post-Internet’ for contemporary identity politics. It outlines the Post-Internet ideas of Karen Archey, Robin Peckham and Nathan Jurgenson, illuminating their indebtedness to posthuman discourses through a study of the music of Holly Herndon. It then introduces the notion of ‘digital queering’, a trend located in the work of many Post-Internet musicians. Mykki Blanco, 18+, Arca and Ryan Trecartin fuse the posthumanism of Post-Internet identity with the fluid gender deconstructions of queer theory. This is inspired by the ability to perform multiple ‘selves’ online as well as the intimate relationship with digital networks that is a consequence of Post-Internet ideas.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , May 2017 , pp. 233 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Interviews

Waugh, M. 2014, ‘Interview: Jesse Kanda’ (Skype interview, 22 November)Google Scholar
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Waugh, M. 2014, ‘Interview: Holly Herndon’ (email interview, 8 December)Google Scholar
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Waugh, M. 2015, ‘Interview: Ryan Trecartin’ (Skype interview, 25 January)Google Scholar
Waugh, M. 2015, ‘Interview: ADR’ (email interview, 2 February)Google Scholar
Waugh, M. 2015, ‘Interview: Gobby’ (Skype interview, 17 February)Google Scholar
Waugh, M. 2015, ‘Interview: Jam City’ (email interview, 13 April)Google Scholar

Discography

18+, Trust. Houndstooth. 2014Google Scholar
Arca, Xen. Mute 2014Google Scholar
Arca, Mutant. Mute. 2015Google Scholar
Holly Herndon, Platform. RVNG Intl. 2015Google Scholar