Dance and Die

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Dance and Die:

Obsolescence and Acceleration

Benjamin Noys

The contemporary moment is a moment of acceleration. This might

be taken as a typical piece of diagnosis, which wold re!ect on

what "artmt #osa has called the $totalitarian% dominance of social

acceleration &'()(: *+ #osa '()-. am concerned with something

rather di/erent. This is the de0elopment of new $accelerationist%

modes of thinking that attest to the power of acceleration as means

to probe forms of knowledge and technology that might be re1

prposed to generate a non1capitalist ftre. The contention is that

we are not accelerating, or not accelerating enogh. 2ired in

capitalist crisis we face the e3hastion of the topian promise of

acceleration that fed the a0ant1gardes of the twentieth centry,

from the talian 4trists to the British ndependent 5rop of the

)*6(s, and beyond. 4.T. 2arinetti proclaimed, in the 7rst manifesto

of 4trism, that $others who are yonger and stronger will throw

s in the wastebasket, like seless manscripts. 8 9e want it to

happen% &in #ainey et al '((*: 6-. Acceleration belonged to the

yong, to those who cold otpace their elders and render them

obsolescent. n or moment we witness the strggle to redeploy

acceleration, to rework or reengineer the a0ant1garde $passion for

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the real% &Badio '((;-, to retrn from the senility of capitalism in

crisis to the &7gral- yoth of rein0ention.

am sceptical of sch claims &Noys '()(: <=*+ Noys '()<-,

as will soon become e0ident. Nonetheless want to trace this

retrn of acceleration in the present moment as a symptomatic

e3pression of a desire to transcend a capitalism that appears at

once frantic and static. The seeming capitalist monopoly on

acceleration feeds the need to e3tract or isolate new forms of

acceleration that can be trned against capitalism. n particlar

want to attend to the aesthetics of accelerationism. 5ean 2oreno

&'()-, in a recent editorial for the art1jornal e-fux on

$accelerationist aesthetics%, arges that this aesthetics o/ers the

capacity for s to negotiate between $inno0ati0e cartographic

e3ercises% and $the dri0e to deliberately e3acerbate nihilistic

meltdowns.% t is an aesthetics of acceleration that promises the

capacity to e3plore and trace new forms of acceleration that can

n1lock the present moment. One of the ironies of sch claims is

that often the proponents of accelerationism retrn to the past. t is

dance msic that has formed one of the sites for this aesthetic

probing. The accelerati0e natre of the form, often registered in

increasing beats1per1minte &bpm-, makes dance msic a signatre

aesthetic model for recaptring a $yothfl% passion for

acceleration.

2y critical reconstrction e3amines three moments. The 7rst

is that of what we might call $classical accelerationism%. This refers

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to the work of Nick >and and his allies in the ?ybernetic ?ltre

#esearch ?entre &??#@- condcted dring the )**(s at the

@ni0ersity of 9arwick. >and ga0e a pro0ocati0e pnk form to

pre0ios argments for social acceleration as a means to pnctre

the limits of capitalism. The 7grati0e element wold be pro0ided

by the emergence of $ngle% or $drm and bass%, a genre of dance

msic de0eloped in Britain from so1called $#a0e% and which sed

fast breakbeats &)(1)C( bpm- &see Noys )**6-. The second

moment is a step back to the emergence of Detroit techno in the

early to mid1)*C(s and the solidi7cation of techno as a genre. This

self1conscios $Afro14trism% &shn '((- aimed at generating a

new aesthetics of acceleration that was e3plicitly post1indstrial.

4inally consider inter0entions by contemporary accelerationists

arond crrent forms of dance msic. "ere we see the tension that

persists in trning to the present moment to release forces of

acceleration.

The Inhuman Dance Floor

Nick >and and the ??#@ articlated $classical accelerationism% as

the most radical endorsement of capitalist time as a time of

acceleration, in the form of e3panding 0ale and the absorption of

all elements of life nder an inhman marketisation. This moment

emerged from )*;(s theoretical crrents, notably DeleEe and

5attari%s Anti-Oedipus &)*;'-, and in >and%s work it gained a kind



of resonance and accelerati0e force that deliberately aimed at a

para1 or anti1academic energisation &#eynolds '()(-. 9hereas

DeleEe and 5attari stepped back from what they called

deterritorialisation &)*CC: )(-, riding the !3 and !ows nleashed

by capitalism, >and arged the need to go frther:

2achinic re0oltion mst therefore go in the opposite

direction to socialistic reglation+ pressing towards e0er

more ninhibited marketisation of the processes that are

tearing down the social 7eld, $still frther% with $the

mo0ement of the market, of decoding and

deterritorialisation% and $one can ne0er go far enogh in

the direction of deterritorialisation: yo ha0en%t seen

anything yet%. &>and '()-

4or DeleEe and 5attari $absolte deterritorialisation% remained

asymptotic F something to be con0erged on, bt ne0er reached. 4or

>and it had already been realised, bt only in the ftre F '()', in

fact. 9e shold at this point note that this realisation is, in the

langage of the ??#@, hyperstitional &??#@ )***-, which is to say

it is a performati0e 7ction. The then present moment of the )**(s

was being in7ltrated by cyber gerrillas from this realised absolte

deterritorialisation. 9e had traces of this ftre F drgs, sci17,

jngle, theory, biotech F that pre7gred the meltdown to come: $as

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if,% in >and%s words, $a tendril of tomorrow were brrowing back.%

&>and '()-

One of the key $tendrils of tomorrow% was the post1ra0e

speed1p of jngle and drm1and1bass &4isher '())-. This

intensi7cation of the accelerati0e elements of dance cltre

reslted in $impending hman e3tinction becomes accessible as a

dance !oor%, according to >and &'()-. Not $Dance or Die%, bt

$Dance and Die%. The accelerati0e force of jngle or drm and bass

instantiated the trace of or ftre inhman state. The tendency of

jngle tracks to sample sci17 7lms sch as The Terminator

&2etalheads, $Terminator% &)**'-- or Predator 2 &"yper on

3perience, $>ord of the Nll >ines &)**-- was read by >and and

the ??#@ as indicati0e of an emergent ftre in which the hman

wold be dissol0ed the hman into the !ows of deterritorialised

capitalism. ngle was a $street% ftrism, a poplar a0ant1garde,

that in its $dark% forms &e3treme basslines, eerie or ncanny

samples, and proplsi0e rsh- 7gred $e3tinction% throgh

e3hilaration.

The combination of dance msic with drgs rendered

possible a practical anti1hmanism F the disintegration of the ego

nder the forces and forms of drg and dance indced1states of

dissoltion. 4ar from the commnal dreams of certain factions of

ra0e cltre, with the promise of new Dionysian collecti0es, the

??#@ and >and prsed a stdiedly nightmarish integration of the

hman with the machinic and technological. nstead of some neo1

6



primiti0ism, this was a neo1ftrism. This conter1mythology was

jst as mch another mythology, and largely ninterested in tracing

the political, social, and economic tensions of ra0e and post1ra0e

dance cltre &see Thornton )**6-. The aim was to dissol0e those

tensions in an endorsement of the inhman at the e3pense of any

political claiming of ra0e in the name of collecti0ity.

t is perhaps not srprising that sch a theoretical tendency

shold e3tingish itself. The logical otcome of sch a set of beliefs

was the disappearance of the hman, as not only did the !ows of

capitalism not reGire hmanity bt also that a state of absolte

deterritorialisation had already been achie0ed. This is a 0ariant of

2arinetti%s logic of obsolescence. nstead of the heroism of

2arinetti%s narrati0e, which reGires new yong $o0er1men%, in a

NietEschean 0ein, >and and the ??#@ wold be rendered obsolete

by the trn1o0er of capitalist speed. The only sbject left was this

inhman force of desire or the libidinal F identical with the $forces%

of capitalist prodction. >and and the ??#@ deliberately operated

as a 0anishing mediator between the signs of the ftre and, they

claimed, the realised ftre of acceleration.

Of corse that ftre did not arri0e. At the same time the

moment of jngle and drm and bass brned itself ot. After the

relati0e hegemony of this form post1ra0e dance cltre nderwent

frther fragmentations and retrns to more $stable% or con0entional

forms, sch as @H 5arage. This type of dance msic slowed down

to )( bpm with <I< beats and retrned to pre0ios dance msic,



notably "ose, to craft a $solfl% sond. t was accompanied by a

retrn to an embrace of capitalist hedonism F champagne, smart

clothes, designer labels, and the more con0entional elements of

clb cltre. The irony, considering >and%s argments, was that

this cold be considered a mch more capitalist form than jngle.

The reply wold not dobt be that this was the ideology of capital

represented F the gentri7cation of the corrosi0e inhman force of

capital with the $hman face% of conspicos consmption.

The more painfl irony was that jngle and drm and bass

persisted as modes of nostalgia. t is consmed by the age grop

that was contemporary with it in the )**(s, in a similar mode to

0arios other pop1cltral nostalgic e0ents or gatherings. The Ds

and artists still tor bt the form, with some e3ceptions, largely

remains froEen in that )**(s moment. This process is not nsal

and familiar from the fate of many artistic a0ant1gardes, which

begin from wanting to destroy msems and end1p by being

collected by those msems. n the relati0ely more rapid trno0er

of pop cltre this process is itself accelerated. The di/iclty it

raises is, howe0er, for the attempt by >and and the ??#@ to in0est

in the aesthetic of acceleration tied to this moment. 9ith the ftre

not arri0ing in the form they desired the sbstittion is of nostalgia

for a ftre that did not happen.

Night Drive thru Babylon

Detroit techno emerged from that city in the early to mid1)*C(s. t

was a deliberately accelerati0e aesthetics, speeding bpm from the

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pre0ios forms of disco and hose and stripping1ot of the

hmanist resides that often dominated those forms F not least the

0oice. nstead of $solfl% singing, or samples, Detroit techno

tended to mechanised and repetiti0e sampling, or absenting the

0oice altogether. The singlarity of its aesthetic in0ention lay in this

welcoming of the $mechanisation%, or better $compterisation%, of

the aesthetic. This has ob0iosly been pre7gred by Hraftwerk%s

albms Man-Machine &)*;C- and Computer World &)*C)-, which

were hgely in!ential on Detroit techno &?nningham '()(: 6*-.

t mi3ed ropean in!ences, from electronic msic pioneers like

Hraftwerk, New Order, Depeche 2ode, and others, with the Detroit

fnk of Jarliament I 4nkadelic. The apotheosis of the form, at least

as regard it, is the track $t is what it is% &)*CC-, by #hythim is

#hythim%s &aka Derrick 2ay-. This was, as one semi1ironic

description went at the time, $dance msic with bleeps%. #etaining

fnk, the insistence of Detroit techno had the topian, if not kitsch,

elements of sci17 ftrism copled to the dystopian fragmentation

of the city1space &$Night Dri0e Thr Babylon%, as the track by 2odel

6(( had it-.

Detroit techno was a self1consciosly post14ordist and post1

indstrial msic. The 0ery coldness of techno and its eGi0ocal

embrace of deindstrialisation make it discomforting, if we

consider the contemporary fate of Detroit. t also set ot to $erase

the traces%, to se Brecht%s phrase, of the city%s msical heritage,

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notably 2otown. n an Atkins%s infamos words, the $originator%

of techno stated:

berry gordy bilt the motown sond on the same principle as the

con0eyor belt at the ford plant. today the atomobile plants se

robots and compters to make their cars and %m more interested

in fords robots than gordy%s msic. &in ?osgro0e )*CC-

Berry 5ordy, fonder of 2otown, had been an atomoti0e worker

and his label was fonded on 4ordist principles: a prodction line

sond with a range of interchangeable artists on the roster called

in to perform &?ohn )*;(: )))=)-. This is literally 0isible in the

2artha and the Kandellas promotional 7lm for the song $Nowhere

to #n% &)*6- which was made on the 4ord prodction1line in

)*6. This 0ery strange 7lm shows the grop dancing throgh

4ord%s paint shop and prodction line, being ogled or stdiosly

ignored by the, predominantly African1American, workers.

Detroit techno shifted to a post1indstrial sond and mode of

prodction, in0ol0ing indi0idal artists deploying technology,

notably samplers and drm machines+ as machines has replaced

workers in the factories so machines replaced artists in msic.

#ather than rejecting this, as cold be witnessed in the 0arios

forms of protest msic and $ble1collar% msic of the )*;(s &see

?owie '()(-, Detroit techno seemed to celebrate the replacement

of $0ariable capital% &i.e. hmans- by $constant capital% &i.e.

*



machines- at 4ord. n this way it traced the mtating social space

of Detroit F from the $white !ight% following the )*; insrrection,

the de1indstrialisation that followed, and its own position in the

sbrban site of Belle0ille "igh, where Derrick 2ay, an Atkins,

and He0in Landerson met. The topia present in techno is the

dehmanised machinic1self integrated with a sci17 ftre. Hodwo

shn remarks $The cyborg fantasies of the Detroit techno

prodcers, sch as an Atkins and Derrick 2ay, were sed to both

alienate themsel0es from sonic identity and to feel at home in

alienation.% &'((: '*- The names of acts &$?ybotron%, $2odel 6((%,

$Dre3ciya%-, labels &$Transmat%, $#ed Jlanet%-, track titles &$No

@4Os%, $Lkynet%, $Apollo%, $Alpha ?entari%, $9a0eform'%-, and co0er

imagery, inde3 this sometimes kitsch and ironic $ftrism%.

This is not an nproblematic celebration. Derrick 2ay, the

leading 7gre of Detroit techno, known as $the inno0ator%, re!ected

in an inter0iew:

$factories are closing and people are drifting away% says

derrick, $the old indstrial detroit is falling apart, the

strctres ha0e collapsed. t%s the mrder capital of

america. si3 year olds carry gns and thosands of black

people ha0e stopped caring if they e0er work again. if yo

make msic in that en0ironment it can%t be straight

msic. in britain yo ha0e new order, well or msic is

the new disorder.% &in ?osgro0e )*CC-

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n contrast to 2ay%s claim, what is striking is how ordered this

msic feels. The insistence and reglarity of techno is what seems

to link it to the reglarity of the machine. On the other hand,

howe0er, the registration of disorder sggests the con!ict at work

in the process of de1indstrialisation. Techno is not simply the

smooth registration of the passing into a $new order%, bt the

registration of collapsing strctres.

Again, a logic of obsolescence is at work. 9here techno

artists aimed to render 2otown obsolete, by embracing the

machine, they also operated as witnesses to the decline and crisis

of the order of 4ordism. The sci17 elements attested to the

displacement of labor and the attempt to render this as a topian

ftrism that cold escape the dystopia of Detroit. 2any of the

artists wold mo0e from Detroit to rope, to Berlin or Amsterdam,

to escape in their own 0ersion of !ight from the crisis of capitalist

labor. At the same time techno itself, as we saw with jngle and

drm and bass, wold be sbject to similar forces. The genre wold

de0elop in 0arios ways, bt remains today only one strand in the

fabric of electronic msic and a minor one at that. 9hat is also

striking is how inno0ati0e the original recordings sond compared

to later $de0elopments%. The generic solidi7cation of techno often

has eGi0ocal reslts, with a tendency to $freeEe% the form and so

sapping the 7gral $energy% released in the moment of its

inception. ?ertainly there ha0e been e3tremely in0enti0e post1

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Detroit moments, from Berlin%s Basic ?hannel, with their fsion of

db and techno, to 4rankfrt%s 2ille Jlatea3 label, with its

e3ploration of micro1techno of $clicks and cts%. Despite this a

certain formalisation seems to ha0e reslted in a more in0olted

and self1conscios form of techno, which lacks the tense dynamism

of that original moment &>ison '()': )(-.

This formalisation also acconts for the sense that techno

seems to lack the necessary energy to trace or inscribe a ftre.

The original Afro14trism of Detroit techno probed the tension of

a ftre in which labor might seem to be disappearing into the

streamlined and technological. The displacement of the city of

Detroit from this process, its contining abandonment by capital,

sggests the energy of the original moment of Detroit techno is one

of fear and an3iety at obsolescence, as well as the celebration of

acceleration. t is this recognition of the threat of obsolescence that

inscribes an aesthetic resistance to obsolescence.

Stuttering GIFs

?ontemporary accelerationism retrns to and modlates Nick

>and%s schema. 9hereas >and soght acceleration along the lines

of capitalism and so risked dissol0ing into capitalist !ows,

contemporary accelerationist thinking poses acceleration against

capitalism. n the in!ential $MAccelerate: 2anifesto for an

Accelerationist Jolitics% &'()-, Nick Lrnicek and Ale3 9illiams

arge that >and%s belief is in capitalist speed alone and so he

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remains within $capitalist parameters% &'(): )<(-. 9hat is

reGired is not speed, which is merely $a simple brain1dead onrsh%,

bt acceleration as $an e3perimental process of disco0ery within a

ni0ersal space of possibility.% &Lrnicek and 9illiams '(): )<(-

The reason Lrnicek and 9illiams ha0e for objecting to >and is not

only the danger of simply remaining within capitalist parameters,

bt also that an inertial and crisis1ridden neoliberalism has

rescinded the dynamism of capitalism for the opaGe mechanisms

of speclati0e 7nance. 9e ha0e been robbed of or ftre.

The phenomenology of this second &or third- wa0e of

accelerationism is still pro0ided by dance msic. Once, in this story,

dance msic pro0ided an in0enti0e form of msical accelerationism.

n 2ark 4isher%s characterisation, $9hile twentieth1centry

e3perimental cltre was seiEed by a recombinatorial delirim,

which made it feel as if newness was in7nitely a0ailable, the

twenty17rst centry is oppressed by a crshing sense of 7nitde

and e3hastion.% &4isher '()a- This e3perimental cltre

ob0iosly incldes Detroit techno and jngle I drm and bass.

Limon #eynolds &'()- arged that in the )**(s there was a

$hardcore continm% in British #a0e cltre that traced an

e3perimental line of !ight from ra0e to jngle to drm and bass to

early grime. This is adopted by Ale3 9illiams &'()- to trace the

accelerati0e possibilities of dance msic. 9illiams, howe0er, also

adopts Limon #eynolds diagnosis of $#etromania% &#eynolds '())-,

which claims that contemporary msic is parasitic on the past and

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can only prodce pastiches of pre0ios genres. The tension lies in

the trncation of the hardcore continm into the limit of repetition

of past glories. Or moment is a nostalgia for a ftre that was

once promised F $Today is the Tomorrow yo were Jromised

esterday%, to se the title of a work by Kictor Brgin. #etromania

is, in Ale3 9illiams%s &'()- formlation, the $pop1cltral logic of

late neoliberalism.%

The di/iclty of that argment is that while >and has a

sbject of acceleration F capitalism F and an aesthetics F jngle and

drm and bass F contemporary accelerationism seems to lack both.

f the present moment is static, then where is accelerationism to

come from This is e0ident in 2ark 4isher%s recent discssion of

jke I footwork F a form of ?hicago $ghetto hose% at )66=)6 bpm,

with repetiti0e and often aggressi0e sampling &$4ck Dat%, being

one e3ample-. t wold seem that footwork contines the hardcore

continm and instantiates another acceleration, which wold

dispte the accelerationist characterisation of the present moment

as a moment of stasis. To resce this diagnosis, 4isher arges that

while jngle $was dark, bt also wet, 0iscos, and en0eloping,%

footwork is $strangely desiccated% &'()b-. This dessication

indicates a lack of proplsi0e mo0ement. The signatre metaphysic

of forces for accelerationism is a liGid one, in a strange echo of

>ce rigaray &)*C6: )(1))C-, bt withot her attention to gender.

n contrast, the illiGid form of footwork traces its e3pression of

and resistance to the present moment. 4isher e3plains that

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footwork 7nds it image $in the bad in7nity of the animated 54, with

its stttering, frstrated temporality, its eerie sense of being caght

in a time1trap.% &4isher '()b- f jngle was predicti0e of

accelerati0e temporalities then footwork, according to 4isher, only

captres the impasses of the present moment. 9e s/er, in Ale3

9illiams%s Ballardian coinage, a $chronosick eeling% &'()+ italics

in original-, a disorder of or e3perience of time. @nable to accede

to the ftre, or e0en a faith or belief in the ftre, we instead can

only li0e ot the blockage of or present moment.

f footwork registers the impasse it seems that for 4isher the

techno msician Actress%s $soltion to this impasse has always been

to patch together something new from fragments of prematrely

discarded science and sonic 7ctions.% &4isher '()<- The Actress

albm hetto!ille maps, according to 4isher, a cartography of

e3clsion in probably appropriately paranoid style, considering the

present moment. This mapping, howe0er, also presents an act of

sonic reco0ery that is not simply an instance of $retromania% bt,

according to 4isher, the reco0ery of lost and encrypted energies. n

particlar, 4isher arges, the albm%s registration of the 0arios

pains of social and political e3clsion o/ers a means to e3ternalise

rage. The gestre is one that $reco0ers the ftre% &4isher '()<-.

Ale3 9illiams makes a similar gestre. f jngle embodied the

$>andian imaginary% of $apocalyptic paranoid ephoria% then today

we lack this $alienating temporality% &9illiams '()- The ftre is

now predicated, for 9illiams &'()-, on engagement with $the

)6



forward1propelling energies embodied in the best of @H dance

msic, its posthman ingenity, alien sonic 0ocablary, and its

maniplation of a/ect and impersonal desire.% lea0e aside the

nationalism of this agenda, bt the central point remains the same.

9hile we e3ist in a moment of impasse it seems that some moments

of nostalgia or $retromania% might resce or reconstrct lost

energies. f there is no central aesthetic of acceleration, then we

ha0e to track, 7nd, or constrct the !eeting new moment of

$forward1propelling energies% that remain. 4or all the anti1nostalgic

0er0e of accelerationism it is forced into a di/erent form of

nostalgia. 9e ha0e to go back to the ftre, rescing moments of

aesthetic and political acceleration from their obliteration.

Obsolete Futures

?ontemporary accelerationism brings to an e3treme point of

tension the contradiction between the logic of acceleration and the

logic of obsolescence. 9hat has been made obsolete is

acceleration. This then reGires the retrn to pre0ios obsolete

moments of acceleration to generate the promised ftre that

might takes s beyond the miseries of the present moment and to

restart acceleration. n aesthetic terms we are forced into a choice:

not a choice between acceleration and retromania, bt a choice to

reacti0ate past moments of acceleration against the inertia of the

present. 9e ha0e to choose the correct retromania to o0ercome the

manically stttering present.

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This is not necessarily a problematic strategy per se. There

are many instances of political and aesthetic strategies that retrn

to the past to rework a possible ftre. The di/iclty is that the

terms in which contemporary accelerationism sets itself this task.

By rendering the present as stasis, and by !attening ot past

moments into neGi0ocal signs of acceleration, the tensions of

both are lost. n the 7rst case, of the present moment, we ha0e the

contradictions and tensions of the 0arios attempts to restart

capitalist prodction and accmlation, as well as the ne0en

crrent distribtion of the crisis. 4ailre to attend to this lea0es

contemporary accelerationism, with its dreams of re1organised

technological prodction, in dangeros pro3imity to certain

modernising ideologes of creati0e destrction. n aesthetic terms

we ha0e the lengthening history of the form, which gi0es a 7eld

into which to inter0ene, bt can also constrain as well as facilitate

new possibilities. Andrew >ison notes &'()': )(- that if we accept

the hardcore continm then contemporary dance msic forms

often introspecti0ely refer to and work in that continm. n the

case of contemporary accelerationism this lea0es it belie0ing in the

accelerati0e continm while strggling to note the necessity of

retrns to that continm that don%t simply aim to kick1start new

accelerations bt probe the limits of that paradigm.

n the second case, of the past, matters are also more

comple3 than simply in0oking past moments of acceleration. ha0e

noted that Detroit techno registers the tensions and contradictions

);



of the post1indstrial within an endorsement of this acceleration.

nstead of celebrating the post1indstrial or streamlined

technological ftre we 7nd a playing with dread and an3iety. This

is also tre of >and and the ??#@%s se of jngle and drm and

bass. The deliberate playing with dread in jngle, in so1called $dark

jngle%, indicated the hman on the brink of obsolescence. 9hile

>and and the ??#@ cold parlay this into celebration of hman

e3tinction, it also indicated their own an3iety at willingly entering

into an e3tinction they also claimed was ine0itable. Dread remained

in the accession to the state of integrated machine and the promise

of hman obsolescence eGi0ocated on the abandonment of the

hman.

think these tensions and pressres are registered in the

work of 9illiams and 4isher. The di/iclty is that they do not seem

to be flly thoght throgh and so remain disconnected. Too often

we end with an opposition of acceleration and retromania rather

than the more comple3 mapping their probing of the limits of the

aesthetics of contemporary dance msic implies. They attend to

isses of nostalgia and the hanting of the present by moments of

acceleration, bt take these moments as gi0en rather than as

comple3 and eGi0ocal constrcts. 4isher%s mining of $hantology%

&'()a-, a term borrowed from Derrida &)**C-, sggests a more

comple3 temporality of retrn and repetition, rather than the !at

metaphor of the $hardcore continm%. t sggests a temporality of

what 4red called $deferred action% & "achtr#glichkeit- &>aplance

)C



and Jontalis )*CC: )))=)<-. n this sitation a present trama

e3ists throgh reacti0ating a past trama, which only comes into

being in the deferred act of reacti0ation. Limilarly, rather than the

simple search for past moments of acceleration that e3ist in simple

prity we cold sggest a more comple3 process of reacti0ation

and reworking that interrpts the past and does not prodce a

$pre% new, bt a necessarily repetiti0e $new%.

That contemporary accelerationists attend to dance msic as

a test1bed for debates abot the ftre and acceleration is crcial,

that they !atten the tensions in their presentation is problematic.

9hat is reGired is frther attention to the logic of obsolescence,

both at the le0el of aesthetic form and as an e3pression of the

capitalist logic of the replacement of li0ing labor by dead labor,

with dead labor taking the form of machines and technology. n

the 7rst instance, of aesthetic form, an accelerati0e logic implies

the necessity for a $bilt1in% obsolescence, as a form e3hasts its

possibilities and, deliberately, tries to generate new paths beyond.

That sch paths often fall behind the initial inter0ention sggests

the di/iclty of sstaining sch forms of aesthetic acceleration. n

the second case, e0en in e3plicitly accelerationist aesthetics the

potential obsolescence of the form and of labor is not simply

welcomed, #ather there is always a registration of tension, e0en

within the spposed $smoothness% of the line of !ight.

Conclusion: Friction

)*



nstead of the smooth presentation of acceleration, aesthetically or

politically, the registration of a sense of friction is crcial to

grasping the aesthetics of dance msic, and to grasping an

aesthetic and political analysis of the $stttering% of the present

moment or, for that matter, of the past and ftre. nstead of

metaphysical oppositions between wet &good- and dry &bad-,

accelerati0e &good- and static &bad-, the notion of friction implies

the tension that refses sch oppositions. t is also the fact that this

tension is reGired for any sense of acceleration. Acceleration to

the e3treme merges into noise. t is the tension or friction between

di/erent forms of acceleration, or between acceleration and

deceleration, that generates the felt sense of acceleration, rather

than simply speeding1p. This aesthetic necessity can, more

speclati0ely, be connected to the necessity to inclde friction that

disrpts a smooth acceleration or the liGidity that is the preferred

metaphysics of accelerationism.

This friction is often most e/ecti0e in being embedded within

a logic of acceleration. n the case of techno attempts to trn

towards an indstrial or dark techno, which wold highlight

feelings of horror or an3iety, are noticeably less e/ecti0e than the

original techno forms. A track like Blawan%s $9hy They "ide Their

Bodies nder 2y 5arage% &'()'-, is sitably npleasant, as its title

sample implies. The di/iclty here is that friction is broght

forward into a deliberately irritant fnction, and so the tension is

slackened. n the case of Detroit techno the friction emerged from

'(



the tension of the topian and ftrist implses with the moments

of deceleration or an3iety. Of corse, as Andrew >ison &'()': )*-

notes, nostalgia is a risk in considering dance msic and another

way to refse to accede to a ftre. The contining

e3perimentation in these forms shold not be disa0owed in the

name of a perfect past.

>ison%s alternati0e of a $positi0e% new in forms of microhose

F a minimal and e3perimental form of techno F is sggesti0e, bt

risks o/ering another 0ersion of acceleration &>ison '()': )C-.

4riction is now dissol0ed, in >ison%s accont, to o0ercome the

danger of melancholia by a refsal to morn. nstead, want to

sggest that friction remains as the condition of acceleration and

the new. This might not be so $joyfl% or, for that matter, yothfl, it

sggests something of a $comple3 space of na0igation% that the 0ery

signi7er $accelerationism% forecloses. t also forces s to retrn to

moments of acceleration with an eye to the friction that makes

them possible.

')



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