*CFP* "MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE", VOL. 4 ISSUE 1, RIFFS JOURNAL

'Technology is something I love and hate at the same time. One hand the absence of any kind of technology means silence (or an environment of natural sounds which we hear much clearer because of the general silence); on the other hand, you need technology to make art'.

Christina Kubisch, ‘Artists’ Statements II: Christina Kubisch’, in The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music, ed. by Nick Collins and Julio d’Escriván, 2nd edn (Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 2017:176)

This issue of Riffs will engage with music and technology, and the ways in which we communicate our insights, observations, engagements and relationships between them. As the journal title suggests, we are interested in pieces that take an experimental approach to the analytical consideration of popular music. For examples of pieces based on previous prompts, have a look through our current and past issues, available to download from our website.

For this issue we would particularly welcome submissions that focus on one or more of the following areas:

• Issues of accessibility and disability 
• Considerations of utopia and dystopian futures of music and/or writing about music through technology 
• Tales of accidental innovations and origins 
• The reciprocal relationships between practice and innovation in music and new technologies 
• Debates surrounding agency, ownership and authenticity 
• Legacies and transferability of ephemeral and transitory music technology 
• Issues of identity and community within current and future musical and technological contexts 
• Historical contexts, critical responses and imagined futures in relation to the role of digital platforms, mobile technologies, algorithms and AI in popular music

This issue of Riffs will be guest edited by Dr Edmund Hunt, a composer based at Integra Lab, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Arts, Design and Media.

Riffs publishes contributions from writers, researchers, photographers, composers, musicians, artists and poets. We encourage experimental audio, visual and written contributions, from composition to poetry. Up to ten contributions (to include visual contributions up to six pages of A4) will be published online and in limited edition print in Spring 2020.

Deadline for 300-word proposals- 8th September. Please include your name, a short bio, institution or association (if applicable) and contact email.

Full submissions (of 1,000-4,000 words / visual (to not exceed 6 A4 pages) / audio content / or an audio/video file suitable for hosting on WordPress) will be invited by the 22nd September and blind peer reviewed before publication. Full submissions will be required by 16th December. 

All visual and audio content must have a Creative Commons License, owned by the contributor or permission given by the copyright owner.

All abstracts submitted to Riffs will be considered by the whole editorial panel and invited contributions will be peer reviewed before publication.

Please send your abstract and bio to:

Guest Editor: Dr Edmund Hunt - Edmund.Hunt@bcu.ac.uk

Managing Editor: Dr Craig Hamilton - Craig.Hamilton@bcu.ac.uk

Managing Editor: Dr Sarah Raine - Sarah.Raine@bcu.ac.uk

Please note: Riffs shall be entitled to first use of the contribution in all the journal’s different forms, but the author remains the copyright owner and can re-publish their contribution without seeking the journal’s permission. Riffs reserve the right to decline to publish contributions if they are submitted after the agreed deadline and without the assigned editor being informed (and agreeing to) a new submission date.