Les Cenelles: for Voices and Chamber Orchestra, and No Turn Unstoned: Development, Deviation, and Dissolution in the Electronic Dance Music of Luke Vibert

Abstract

Abstract Les Cenelles is a (roughly) thirty-minute song cycle for soprano and bass baritone voices, flute, clarinet, trombone, percussion, and string orchestra. The composition sets music to selected poems from the historic anthology bearing the same name. First published in 1845, Les Cenelles stands as the United States’ first publication of poems by African Americans. Through musical borrowings, bluesy/jazzy harmonic inflections, swinging rhythms, and operatic arias and recitatives, the song cycle aims to pay homage to the poets, the city of New Orleans which birthed them, and New Orleans’ rich and extensive musical history. No Turn Unstoned: Development, Deviation, and Dissolution in the Music of Luke Vibert attempts to provide theoretical tools to better analyze and conceptualize change upon various levels of loop organization within Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Through the music of pioneering producer Luke Vibert, the essay highlights fundamental levels of loop organizations: loops, loop phrases, loop rhymes, and loop sections. Moreover, the essay highlights fundamental components which comprise loops: e.g., drum, melodic, chordal, bassline, and riff loops. Lastly, the essay identifies four essential operations which lie at the heart of change within EDM’s array of genres: e.g., loop content layering, loop content varying, loop content blending, and loop content disrupting.