Professor Tim Lawrence

Professor Tim Lawrence

Professor

Cultural Studies, Co-director of the Centre for Cultural Studies Research

Department of Music, Writing & Performance , School Of Arts And Creative Industries

Tim Lawrence is Professor of Cultural Studies and Co-director of the Centre for Cultural Studies Research. He teaches in music and is the author of three books with Duke University Press.

Areas Of Interest

  • History of music culture
Professor Tim Lawrence

OVERVIEW

Tim Lawrence is a Professor of Cultural Studies in UEL's School of Arts and Digital Industries, where he teaches music. He is the author of Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79 (Duke University Press, 2003), Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92 (Duke University Press, 2009) and Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-83 (Duke University Press, 2016).

He has published in a range of journals, including Cultural Studies, Dancecult, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Liminalities, Loops, New Formations, Social Text, Third Text and Yeti. He has given guest lectures in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bologna, Bremen, Coventry, Faensa, Glasgow, Guimaraes, Hamburg, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Murcia, New Jersey, New York, Oslo, Oxford, Philadelphia, Rome, Salford and Stockholm.

He has been interviewed by ABC Radio (Australia), BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC1, BBC4, the Globe and Mail (Canada), the Guardian, the History Channel, the Independent, Le Monde, Radio New Zealand National Music, SkyArts, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and numerous other media outlets. In 2013 he gave a talk on New York's downtown party culture at the Southbank Centre's Rest of Noise festival. The Museum of Modern Art (New York) will launch Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor in October 2016.

A founding member and co-director of the Centre for Cultural Studies Research, Tim has staged numerous events, including the Critical Beats series with the Wire, the Music, Politics, Agency series, and the Kiss Me Again: Mapping the Life and Legacy of Arthur Russell conference (in conjunction with NYU). In 2010 he co-curated the Arthur Russell Tribute night at the ICA. In 2016 he curated a room for the Mash-Up: The Birth of Modern Culture exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Tim's research and activities were included in an impact case study submitted for REF 2014 and 2021.

For more information, you can visit his website.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Tim Lawrence is the author of three major books on the history of music culture in the United States and in particular New York. The first of these Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79, was published by Duke University Press on 2003 and stands as the first book to provide a sustained analysis of the rise of DJ culture and disco the United States during the 1970s.

The second, Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92, was published by Duke University Press in 2009 and remains the only book-length study of one of the downtown era's most innovative and itinerant musicians. The third, Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-83, will be published in the autumn of 2016 and explores the period when disco, punk and rap/hip hop started to overlap in New York City during the early 1980s.

He has published in a range of journals, including Cultural Studies, Dancecult, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Liminalities, Loops, New Formations, Social Text, Third Text and Yeti. He is a regular contributor to the Wire and has given guest lectures in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bologna, Bremen, Coventry, Faensa, Glasgow, Hamburg, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New Jersey, New York, Oxford, Philadelphia, Rome, Salford and Stockholm. In 2013 he gave a talk on New York's downtown party culture at the Southbank Centre's Rest of Noise festival. The Museum of Modern Art is launching Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor in October 2016. His research was included in one of the impact case studies UEL submitted to REF2014.

Tim is a founding member and co-director of the Centre for Cultural Studies Research. He has staged numerous events with CSSR, including the four-part Critical Beats series with the Wire and the Music, Politics, Agency series. He co-curated an Arthur Russell Tribute night at the ICA and co-organised the Kiss Me Again: Mapping the Life and Legacy of Arthur Russell conference with New York University. He is also a founding member of Lucky Cloud Sound System, which has been putting on Loft-style parties in East London since June 2003.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-83

Lawrence, T. 2016. Duke University Press.

 

  • Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92

Lawrence, T. 2009. Duke University Press. 416.

 

  • Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79

Lawrence, T. 2003. Duke University Press. 498.

FUNDING

  • 1996-99, PhD funding, British Academy
  • 2002, Small Grant, British Academy, £3.083
  • 2007, Small Grant, British Academy, £1,920
  • 2008, Small Grant, British Academy, £1,214
  • 2009, Research Leave, AHRC, £26,258
  • 2012, Red Bull Music Academy, Eu4,000

TEACHING

BA (Hons) Music Performance and Production

Amplify your talent with a Music Performance degree at the University of East London. Explore contemporary courses for a career in music performance and production.

Read more about this course

BA (Hons) Music Technology and Production

Study music technology and production, develop your practice portfolio and initiate and present innovative ideas in modern and engaging ways.

Learn more about this course

MODULES

  • Contextual Studies 1: History of Music Genre
  • Contextual Studies 2: Technology, Industry and Writing

INTERESTS

Tim Lawrence is a founding member of Lucky Cloud Sound System (LCSS) and a governor on Elizabeth Garrett Anderson-Copenhagen School federation (EGA - Copenhagen).

Lucky Cloud Sound System (LCSS)

Lucky Cloud Sound System has been putting on Loft-style dance parties in East London since June 2003.

The parties began when Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79 was going through production and the book's main protagonist, David Mancuso, founder of the Loft party in New York City, suggested that he and Tim Lawrence start to hold Loft parties in London. They teamed up with DJ and label owner Colleen Murphy, an old friend of David's from New York, along with Jeremy Gilbert, a colleague of Tim's at UEL.

The parties have pioneered the introduction of public audiophile systems into party culture in the UK and have resulted in numerous related ventures.

EGA Copenhagen

Tim has been serving on the EGA-Copenhagen governing body since 2014.

Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository