Petromusicality.
- On the Sonic Culture of (Plastic) Material and Beyond
Authors
Editors
Publishers, Location, Date
Leiden University Press, Journal for Sonic Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, ZH, Netherlands, 14 July 2025
Keywords
Audio Paper, Sound Studies, Vinyl
ISBN/ISSN/ISMN, DOI
- ISBN/ISSN/ISMN:
- ISSN/2212-6252
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.22501/JSS.3774389
Text
Petromusicality highlights and discusses the crude oil-based material history of music, and therefore especially of vinyl records, which have been relied upon and widely disseminated by the recording industry, as a recent resurgence in vinyl popularity indicates a new phase of consumption and production that mirrors the heyday of the mid-twentieth century. The term serves to deploy the medium of the record and the record player as an artistic research apparatus that questions aspects of historical manufacture and production, as well as of the environmental degradation associated with them. It asks us to engage with the materiality of sound and its equipment and thus, with all the fluid entanglements the material of a sound carrier incorporates. By examining artistic research projects, this Audio Paper questions the existing use and appropriation of plastic materials and the current trend of vinyl releases by contemporary artists and musicians. In the Audio Paper we therefore present and connect projects that share the development and use of alternative materialities that record, store, and make audible creative engagements with sound. This Audio Paper explores a range of diverse approaches to sonic materiality that contend with these complex questions of extraction, mass production, and toxicity: while Natascha Muhić and Christoph Freidhöfer produce small editions and one-takes in 7" format for local artists with their DIY project "Vinylograph", Kat Austen and Fara Peluso develop new, sustainable materials for storing music on physical media in their project "Circular Records". These projects are then interwoven through the authors’ own artistic research projects, "Apophenia (Musique plastique)" by Paula Bracker and Samo Zeichen as well as "To Start From Scratch" by Karl Salzmann, all of which are underpinned by commentary from researchers Katrin Abromeit, Eva Hallama, Kerstin Klenke, and Thomas Koch. This Audio Paper responds to contemporary calls to critically examine how the materiality of sound reproduction is entangled in the political and ethical dimensions of its production and the global value chains in which it is embedded.
Volume/Issue, Pages
28
Language, Format, Material, Edition
English, WAVE
Activity List
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- Marcel Cobussen, Meelberg, Vincent, Birtwistle, Andy: Journal for Sonic Studies. Materials of Sound. Issue 28. Journal for Sonic Studies. 2025-07-14 -
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- Paula Leonie Bracker
- Samo Zeichen
Associated Media Files
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