ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a variety of close readings of technology-driven popular music genres, such as contemporary r&b, hip-hop, trip-hop, electro-pop and electronica, as well as played folk-music styles. It also represents an important step in the process of developing theories of musical rhythm that take account of the microrhythmic dimension of groove-based musics while also revising those older theories that have long relied on musical notation. Johansson introduces the concept of 'rhythmic tolerance' to explain the organization of time in Scandinavian fiddle tunes that are characterized by great variability in the lengths of their rhythmic units within a constant, danceable tempo. The book discusses four years of the British artist and producer Tricky's music with regard to musical corporeality and autonomy, using a framework of critical theory and ecological perceptual theory and focusing on the artist's ambivalence about the 'dance-inducing' aspects of his music.
