tekhnē podcast #4: DeForrest Brown Jr.
The tekhnē podcast series gives an insight into the activities of the project, featuring a variety of artists sharing knowledge around their work, discussing recorded material or curating playlists. It airs bi-monthly on Resonance Extra.
This episode features DeForrest Brown Jr., an ex-American writer, journalist, theorist, curator and a self-described musician by necessity - releasing music under his Speaker Music moniker. DeForrest Brown Jr. is the author of the book Assembling a Black Counter Culture, where he presents a comprehensive account of techno with a focus on the history of Black experiences in industrialized labor systems—repositioning the genre as a unique form of Black musical and cultural production.
Assembling a Black Counter Culture reframes techno from a Black theoretical perspective distinct from its cultural assimilation within predominantly white, European electronic music contexts and discourse. This talk, given by DeForrest Brown Jr. on the 4th of October 2024 at Barreiro’s Jazz School as part of the programme of OUT.FEST’s 20th edition, is moderated by Margarida Mendes, and gives an overview of key details of his book and expands on its context two years after its publication.