Genres of electronic music...

[forge]

It's funny how most terms sound quite complimentary, like "deep", "progressive", "intelligent". I think it would be fun to use a bunch of really negative terms, so if anyone's feeling particularly sarcastic next time someone asks about your style, try something like this:

"So what do you play?"

"Oh I've moved on from IDM, lately I've been getting really into derivative house and formulaic cheese-core, a bit of generica here and there. I guess if i had to sum up my music in one word it would be Bland".

"Wow, sounds great, you must be really up with popular trends to know all those fancy terms"

I'm with moonburnt!, bollocks to all this innovation malarkey, time for a bit of formulaic cheese core.

Although It does kind of sound like some kind of French crack military fromage unit set up to safe guard their national dairy heritage - except it would be 'cheese corps.'

La Fromage et mon droit!

[bencodec]

when people ask me what kind of music i make i usually say "christmas" and let that simmer with them fo a bit, that or "Children's."

i do actually think that subgenres can be a histerital way to baffle journalists. i have a new subgenre for every tune i write. squonkytronica, squid and bass, squirrelfunk, sludge, weepy bleepy, dirgecore, etc.

but i think thats more to do with just not taking yourself too seriously.

i do think it's odd how the US seems to use genres to add a level of elitism to the dance scene, but then the US scene sucks so i'm not really too bothered about it.

[Moody]

Electronic music (used to all fall under the label of Techno as well) can be grouped into 2 basic labels.

Good Electronic Music
or
Bad Electronic Music

You choose!

[special ed]

Moonburnt


Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 2:01 pm    Post subject:


It's funny how most terms sound quite complimentary, like "deep", "progressive", "intelligent". I think it would be fun to use a bunch of really negative terms, so if anyone's feeling particularly sarcastic next time someone asks about your style, try something like this:

"So what do you play?"

"Oh I've moved on from IDM, lately I've been getting really into derivative house and formulaic cheese-core, a bit of generica here and there. I guess if i had to sum up my music in one word it would be Bland".

"Wow, sounds great, you must be really up with popular trends to know all those fancy terms"

i like the sound of generica. its got a nice ring to it. in fact everytime i turn on the or radio tv to a music station, i tend to hear alot of generica. i guess generica is the trend today.

[cosmosuave]

i dunno, maybe its just me, but i'm annoyed at how closed people's minds are to this shit.

and y'know, if it isn't "IDM" it's "experimental downtempo" What the fuck? Like i stick my fingers in my ears when i make shit and don't know how it's gonna come out? And the shit that i do at 140 BPMs plus is "downtempo." Horseshit.


anyone else feel me?

-lm

Yep I'm in the same boat ... I have no clue to describe my style... Now this could be that I don't keep tabs on what is current... I use to but I spend my time on other things... This I find may be an advantage that you try not to mimick what is current and create your own sound at least I like to think so...

I will read the local arts and music rags to see what is going on and will download some MP3's of a good artist review... If I like the mp3's I will make an attempt to buy the CD if it is under $20....

Back on topic... Yeah too many sub genre's shit when I go into a record store it is overwhelming with all the genre's.... I remeber when it was Rock, Country, Classical, Jazz and that was it...

I guess I could say I play Bitz & Bytz Hardcore....LOL!!

[generic]

ok. quit blameing everything on us americans. most of these silly genre names were imported into the u.s. most of the endless variations of techno and house were around before american mass media caught on to the whole "rave scene". of course from there on out, our media made a mockery of everything that the old scene stood for.

sure i will take some of the blame myself, for a while i did wear really baggy pants and said "that's phat" all the time. then i realized i was becoming a bad sterotype. some of you act like the american scene ruined it for the rest of the world.

i suppose we ruined punk too.

later
e

[generic]

do genres help or not? , well i think it depends where you are in the world and who you are talking to.

in my own city if i told a random person on the street that i make Techno music. They think Prodigy or Crystal Method. So in that instance the term techno does nothing to describe my music, only that it isn't rap or country or rock. Now if i tell someone in the Techno "Circle" in my own city that i make Techno, they well ask "what kind", and even then i truley can't describe to them what it sounds like - they just have to hear for themselves. Americans love genre's and sub-genre's. I could say "hard" techno, but all my music isn't hard, only some of it is. I could say tech-house, but the same rule holds there as well.

Now lets say i go to Belgium. even in smaller towns like Hasselt, if i say i make Techno - they know what i mean. They associate the term techno with what they hear at the "Zoo" club in Hasselt. That is the Hasselt layman's source for the definition of Techno. and generally that broad range of underground music fits into what i do.

I guess the problem with genres is Americans associate a genre with what Corporate Media tells them the definitions of that genre are. Rather than associating the genre with their own personal experiences. So if they have no personal experience with non mass-marketed ready-for-consumption Techno music, then all they know is what they hear on the Matrix soundtrack or an Xbox video game.

oh i did'nt even notice the post blaming american culture came from an american. my bad. i still think we don't deserve all the blame.

sure all thse car ads used cool electronic music.
sure most americans americans only know of the chemical brothers, fatboy slim and the prodigy.
sure moby licenced every song from play for radio ads and soundtracks.

there is still more to blame than american culture
later on adamjay
e

[Moonburnt]

sure moby licenced every song from play for radio ads and soundtracks.

Call me a whore, but personally I wouldn't have a problem with that! So long as the product that the music was associated with wasn't unethical, I'd do it in a flash. I mean think of it this way - a big company buys primetime space to air your music, and they pay you, and you still get a royalty cheque! That's genius! It's just like selling albums, it's just that in this case the buyer happens to have way too much money, so it is an artist's duty to redistribute this corporate money to the poverty-stricken artist. It's just the same old patron/client relationship that has been around for centuries.

[Meffy]

I'm late getting into this, but here's my two cents' worth.

It's no sin to make categories, or to put things into categories, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking the categories are meaningful... instead of arbitrary and often ad hoc.

And always -- always! -- remember that the most important genre of all is [______your_very_own_genre_here_______] ! :-)

Meffy

[montrealbreaks]

Obviously with a handle on the internet "montrealBREAKS" my stance on this is somewhat obvious... Though on the rare occasion when I play on stage I use my real name...

Personally, the straight beat kickdrum with pea soup high hats that permeates "dance" music bores me. So does the minimal "techno" sound that dudes like Richie Hawtin made famous. If it ain't got soul, forget it brutha.

I write a variety of styles, but all my tracks have one thing in common - syncopated rythms, and offset beats with a funky (or hopefully funky) groove to their timings. I compress and effect the rythm section to make it chunky and thick.

I personally think that since there happens to be a very descriptive word that exists describing the mood of my rythms, I may as well use it; "breaks", or "breakbeat" in my case. Other than the rythm though, I try to avoid sub-genres within the "breaks"...

Having said that, it's my opinion that it's the sub-genres that get out of hand. I have no problem with large, open ended genres like "house" or "techno". If I see a poster or album for an artist and I don't know who the hell this guy is, I like knowing that he's a "techno" or "trance" or "IDM" performer - I'll stay away, thanks. I am realistic enough to know that I am not going to go and research every poster or album I see to determine if that artist's vision matches my aesthetics. Forget it, too much work - I am a busy man.

If as an artist you feel that you transcend genres, then say so. Generally, I assume that if an artist or piece of music has no genre attached to it, it should be pretty intriguing. So, I see the genres as beneficial to those artists who don't like to be pigeonholed - being genre-less sets you a notch above those plugs like me who intentionally pigeonhole ourselves... So people like me (who do fit genres) actually help people who transcend genres stand out.

What pisses me off is when people try to pigeonhole artists or pieces of music that defy the genres... They do this by making sub-sub genres, or saying that somebody "blends this with that". These mindless classifiers can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Genres, and identifying yourself or your music with a genre should be a voluntary, opt-in process. The sad part is that this is not the case. Often artists are labelled without their permission or consent. That sucks. I totally understand how many artists don't like it, and their wishes should be respected.

But for me, I find the one word description of the rythm element of my music very helpful.

thanks.

[astromass]

i've noticed that a lot fo this stupid genre labeling comes from the listener...kids at the clubs are only down with that ragga-jungle-dropstep-dancehall stuff...they gotta be DOWNNN, so they label the small print differences.