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Mediating Music: materiality and silence in Madonna's ‘Don't Tell Me’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2009

ANNE DANIELSEN  and
ARNT MAASØ
ANNE DANIELSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, PO Box 1017Blindern, N-0315, Oslo, Norway E-mail: anne.danielsen@imv.uio.no URL: http://www.hf.uio.no/imv/om-instituttet/ansatte/vit/anneda-eng.xml
ARNT MAASØ
Affiliation:
Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, PO Box 1093Blindern, N-0317, Oslo, Norway E-mail: arnt.maaso@media.uio.no URL: http://www.media.uio.no/om-instituttet/ansatte/vit/arntm.xml
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Abstract

This article investigates how the concrete sound of and recording process behind a pop tune relate to the possibilities and constraints of its electronic media. After a brief presentation of some theoretical issues related to the question of mediation and materiality, we address the claim that digitisation erases the material aspects of mediation through an investigation of contemporary popular music. Through a close analysis of the sound (and the silence) in Madonna's song ‘Don't Tell Me’, from the album Music (2000), as well as in a handful of related examples, we argue that one can indeed identify specific aural qualities associated with digital sound, and that these qualities may be used to achieve different aesthetic effects as well as to shed light on mediation and medium specificity as such.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , May 2009 , pp. 127 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Discography

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Videography

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