FUNCTUMUS: The Functional Turn in Music investigates the effects of music’s functionalisation through a case study on lofi hip-hop, an underground genre that was reframed as “beats to relax/study to” in the late 2010s.
Objectives:
Assess how lofi hip-hop and its reframing is understood within online communities.
Investigate how the subsequent development of lofi hip-hop has been experienced by producers, curators, and listeners of the genre.
Identify and analyse musical change in music labelled "lofi hip-hop" since its reframing (rhythm, groove, compositional structure, instrumentation, effects, mixing).
Consider how the reframing of lofi hip-hop (musical practices, style, etc.) are understood as connected to broader systemic issues.
