Celebrating Three Groundbreaking Achievements in Popular Music and Technology in NYC

 

 

NEW YORK, NY (April 10, 2025) — Three groundbreaking achievements dedicated to the spaces, technologies, and subcultures of popular music will be launched together at the special event Sites Sounds Scenes on May 27, 2025, at 4:30 pm at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

 

Hosted by The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation and Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) and cosponsored by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, this event will feature the release of: 

 

Inside the Studio Spaces takes readers inside the hidden studios of DJs and electronic music producers in Berlin and Cairo—spaces ranging from darkened basements and abandoned factories to converted lofts and teenage bedrooms. Through photo documentation and interviews, this volume offers intimate insights into the world of music production and paints a compelling portrait of one of the most exciting creative sectors of our time. Learn more: https://www.hatjecantz.com/products/78956-inside-the-studio?srsltid=AfmBOoqbM9feR_Yzb0DDDXOWttWn02xkqkmLE1mjuih06xLgGUzFr9uI

 

Gear critically examines the 21st-century obsession with professional audio technologies and its role in the emergence of gear cultures—passionate, competitive, and sometimes bizarre communities centered around audio equipment. Using a multimodal methodology that includes interviews, fieldwork, online discourse analysis, and visual ethnography, the book explores how technology shapes music production and social identities. Learn more: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262551854/gear/

 

The RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) is a continuously expanding digital collection featuring over 125 independently published popular music magazines and fanzines spanning from the late 1960s to the present. With a global scope, RAPMM highlights the expansive world of punk, rock, indie, hip hop, and country, serving as a multilingual research resource and an essential tool for preserving cultural heritage.

 

“Popular music zines have played a crucial role in shaping music research, yet their ephemeral nature and sporadic inclusion in library collections have made them largely inaccessible for scholarly work,” says RILM Executive Editor, Dr. Zdravko Blažekovic. “RAPMM brings together zines from different regions and in multiple languages, ensuring their preservation and accessibility in an unparalleled archival effort.”

 

Learn more: https://www.rilm.org/rapmm/

 

 

The event will feature three conversations with the key figures behind these releases, moderated by Finn Cohen (The Sun).

 

“What unites these three projects is their shared commitment to understanding music not as abstract sound or static object, but as the product of specific physical, technological, and social-historical contexts,” says Brook Center Director, Dr. Tina Frühauf. “Together, they provide a deeper understanding of the people driving musical innovation, their creative processes, and the efforts to preserve their work.”

 

Held in the William P. Kelly Skylight Room on the 9th floor of the Graduate Center, the evening will conclude with a reception featuring DJ Jason Lee. 

 

Admission is free. Please RSVP to cmrd@gc.cuny.edu. The event will be live-streamed by the CUNY Graduate Center. 

 

For more information, please visit https://brookcenter.gc.cuny.edu/event/sites-sounds-scenes/.

 

 

Michael Lupo, Marketing & Media
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3108  •  New York, NY 10016-4309
cmrd@gc.cuny.edu •  Phone 1 212 817 1991