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(February 2025 update)
Monographs
1. M. Merlini, Le ceneri del prog: Quel che resta di un genere della popular music, Milano/Lucca: Ricordi/LIM, 2021.
Book Chapters
1. M. Merlini, "Voidgaze and Phantom Genres: Functions and Dysfunctions of Music Genres on Streaming Platforms". In The Music of Absence: An Aesthetics of Loss in the New Millennium, ed. by C. Dysers, P. Edwards and J. Lochhead, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, in print.
2. M. Merlini, S. M. Nicoletti, "A Digital Touch: The 'Body Issue' in Computational Creativity". In Körper(-lichkeit) in der Musik des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, ed. by N. Scharfetter and T. Wozonig, Bielefield: Transcript, 2023, pp. 207-218.
Articles
1. M. Merlini, "A Second of Structured Chaos: Kosmos/Chaos Dialectic in Meshuggah's Catch 33". Metal Music Studies, 9/3 (2023), pp. 311-329.
2. M. Merlini, "More 1980s than the 1980s: Hauntological and Hyperreal Meanings of Synthwave Soundtracks". Sound, Stage, Screen: A Journal on Sound, Performance, And Media, 3/1 (2023), pp. 5-33.
3. M. Merlini, "The Eclectic Case of Japanese Video Game Music". Journal of Sound and Music in Games, 4/3 (2023), pp. 30-52.
4. M. Merlini, S. M. Nicoletti, "Specchi di carne e cesellatura musicale: Limiti della creatività computazionale tra corpo e coscienza". Odradek: Studies in Philosophy of Literature, Aesthetics, and New Media Theories, 8/1 (2022), pp. 141-177.
5. M. Merlini, "A Mellotron-Shaped Grave: Deconstructing the Death of Progressive Rock". Transposition: Musique et Sciences Sociales, 10 (2022), pp. 151-173.
6. M. Merlini, "The Second Death of Concept Albums: World-Building and Unification Strategies in the Age of Streaming". Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, 21 (2021), pp. 57-73.
7. M. Merlini, "A Critical (and Interdisciplinary) Survey of Popular Music Genre Theories". Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, 20 (2020), pp. 79-94.
8. M. Merlini, S. M. Nicoletti, "Of Flesh and Steel: Computational Creativity in Music and the Body Issue". INSAM: Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology, 4 (2020), pp. 24-42.
9. M. Merlini, S. M. Nicoletti, "Inhuman, All Too Inhuman: Intrinsic Limits of Computational Creativity in Music". Riffs: Experimental Writing on Popular Music, 4/1 (2020), pp. 28-46.
Conference Papers
1. M. Merlini, "A Different Kind of Recording: Preserving, Emulating and Analysing Early Video Game Music". IASPM 23rd International Conference – Recording Popular Music, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris FR, 7-11/07/2025).
2. M. Merlini, "A Mukokuseki Music? Vertical Stateless Eclecticism in Japanese Role-Playing Games and Visual Novels". Sound on Screen IV, Oxford Brookes University (Online, 24-26/06/2025)
3. M. Merlini, M. Zanotti, "What if the Musical Genre is no Longer Enough? Digital Methods for Investigating the Illusion of Categorisation". Music & Online Cultures in a Changing Platform Ecosystem, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisboa PT, 19-21/06/2025).
4. M. Merlini, "Metaru Fantajī: Metal Elements in Hybrid Music for Japanese Role-Playing Games". The 7th Biennial Research Conference of the International Society for Metal Music Studies – New Metal Worlds: Building Bridges and Mending Broken Backs, Universidad de Sevilla (Sevilla ES, 03-06/06/2025).
5. M. Merlini, "Drawing a Map of Musical Silences in the Age of Recorded (and Synchronised) Music", IV Conferência Internacional de Pesquisa em Sonoridades (CIPS) – Silêncios, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo in Vitória (Online, 04-07/06/2025).
6. M. Merlini, "Prosumer Practices of Ludomusical Upgrade and Downgrade in Online Participative Cultures". North American Conference on Video Game Music (NACVGM) 2025, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (Online, 26-27/04/2025).
7. M. Merlini, "Indigenising Mickey Mouse: Yōko Shimomura’s Renegotiation of Disney’s Musical Aesthetic in the Kingdom Hearts JRPG Franchise". Music Creation in the Soundtrack XVI Conference, Universidad de Oviedo (Avilés ES, 03-05/04/2025).
8. M. Merlini, "Conosci l’AI-tro per conoscere te stesso: superare concezioni distorte della musica attraverso il confronto con l’IA". III Convegno Annuale AlumniLevi: Una, nessuna e cento altre. Spazi, assetti e negoziati identitari in musica, Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi (Venezia IT, 24-25/01/2025).
9. M. Merlini, "From AI to 4E: A Reflective Turn in Musicology to Overcome Dualist, Romantic and Cognitivist Prejudices". The First International Conference in AI Music Studies, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (Stockholm SE, 10-12/12/2024).
10. M. Merlini, "Downplaying Eclecticism: Traumatic Transnational Adaptations in Japanese Video Game Music", Japan and Sound: Modernity, Social Constructs and Power Relations, Université Bordeaux Montaigne - Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (Bordeaux FR, 14-16/11/2024).
11. M. Merlini, "Per una tassonomia dei silenzi musicali". 52° Congresso dell’AISS – Forme del silenzio, Alma Mater Studiorium - Università di Bologna - DAMS (Bologna IT, 07-09/11/2024).
12. M. Merlini, "Dal chip allo streaming, andata e ritorno: pratiche prosumer di upgrade e downgrade ludomusicale". Convegno IASPM Italiana – La musica di ogni giorno, oggi, Alma Mater Studiorium - Università di Bologna (Bologna IT, 07-09/11/2024).
13. M. Merlini, M. Zanotti, "Spotify, Genres and the Illusion of Categorisation". IASPM D-A-CH Biennial Conference 2024 – Metadaten|Metainformationen: Populäre Musik und ihre Metamorphosen, Universität Zürich (Zürich CH, 07-09/11/2024).
14. M. Merlini, "Reinterpret – Revive / Revamp – Resurrect! A Theoretical Model for Understanding Postmodern Prog". The 6th Biennial International Conference of the Progect Network for the Study of Progressive Rock – Progressive Rock: Beyond Time, Genre, Geography, Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie (Kraków PL, 05-07/09/2024).
15. M. Merlini, "Brainwashing Soken: Symphonism and Otherness in the Music of Final Fantasy XVI". Ludo2024: 13th European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, TecnoCampus UPF - Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (Mataró ES, 11-13/07/2024).
16. M. Merlini, "The Streaming Revolution (But Not the One You Think): The Fate of Polystylism in Recorded Video Game Music". Joint Annual Conference of the Kieler Gesellschaft für Filmmusikforschung and the IMS Study Group “Music and Media” – Music, Media, and Narrative in the Streaming Age, Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (München DE, 06-07/06/2024).
17. M. Merlini, "Languages of Irony, Blasphemy and Italianness: Analysing Ghost’s Papaganda Mockumentary". The Blasphemous in Music and Sound, Muzička Akademija - Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (Zagreb HR, 30/11-02/12/2023).
18. M. Merlini, "The Birth and Deaths of the Concept Album: from Sinatra to Spotify". Frank Sinatra: A Twentieth Century Icon – International Conference, Università IULM (Milano IT, 26-27/09/2023).
19. M. Merlini, "Voidgaze and Phantom Genres: Functions and Dysfunctions of Music Genres on Streaming Platforms". The Aesthetics of Absence in Music of the 21st Century, Universitetet i Oslo (Oslo NO, 25-26/05/2023).
20. M. Merlini, "First Playable Research: Per una ludomusicologia italiana". Giovani_fuori_classe: un seminario per studiose e studiosi di popular music a inizio carriera, Università di Torino (Torino IT, 10-11/02/2023).
21. M. Merlini, "More 1980s than the 1980s: Functions and Connotations of Synthwave Soundtracks". Musical Retrofuturism in the 21st Century, Universiteit Utrecht (Online, 18-19/08/2022).
22. M. Merlini, "Is This Prog? Defining Progressive as a Creative Attitude". The 4th Biennial International Conference of the Progect Network for the Study of Progressive Rock – Progressive Rock & Metal: Towards a Contemporary Understanding, University of Ottawa (Online, 19-21 & 26-28/05/2021).
23. M. Merlini, "Eclectic Tennō: Japanese Video Game Soundtracks as Agents of Postmodernity". Ludo2021: 10th European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, SSSMG (Online, 23-25/04/2021).
24. M. Merlini, S. M. Nicoletti, "A Digital Touch: The 'Body Issue' in Computational Creativity". Body and Corporeality in 20th and 21st Century Music, Kunst-Universität Graz (Online, 05-06/11/2020).
25. M. Merlini, "How to Create a ‘Second of Structured Chaos’: Meshuggah’s Catch 33 and the Representation of Paradox". 18th Annual Society for Musicology in Ireland Plenary Conference, University College Dublin - School of Music (Online, 29-31/10/2020).
26. M. Merlini, "Lost in the Stream: Concept Album in the Age of Streaming". IASPM Norden Conference 2020 – Music in the Age of Streaming: Nordic Perspectives, Luleå Tekniska Universitet, (Online, 15-17/06/2020).
27. M. Merlini, "Fertilising Deaths: Deconstructing Prog’s Death to Understand Post-Prog". 15th IASPM UK and Ireland Biennial Conference – London Calling, London College of Music (Online, 05-06/2020).
28. M. Merlini, "Dr. Prog and Mr. Post: Or, A (Draft) Theory of (Postmodern) Music Genres". ICTM/SMI Postgraduate Conference 2020, University of Limerick (Limerick IE, 17-18/01/2020).
29. M. Merlini, "Progressive and Regressive Rock: Redefining Prog in Postmodern Times". BFE/RMA Research Students' Conference 2020, The Open University (Milton Keynes UK, 09-11/01/2020).
Translations (ITA ENG)
§ B. Eno et al., The Complete Obscure Records Collection (10LP/10CD + Book), Dialogo, 2023 (part.).
§ L. Rango, Lucia Rango canta Piero Ciampi (LP, Liner Notes), Anni Luce, 2022 reissue (revision only).
§ A. Lucier, Bird and Person Dyning (LP, Liner Notes), Cramps Records, 2021 reissue.
§ H. Vaggione, La maquina de cantar (LP, Liner Notes), Cramps Records, 2021 reissue.
§ M. D. Jagodic, Tempo Furioso (LP, Liner Notes), Cramps Records, 2021 reissue.
§ D. Tudor, Microphone (LP, Liner Notes), Cramps Records, 2021 reissue.
§ C. Miereanu, Luna Cinese (LP, Liner Notes), Cramps Records, 2021 reissue.
§ E. Morricone & B. Nicolai, Dimensioni sonore (10LP/10CD + Book), Dialogo, 2020 (part.).