What's one of your favorite genres of music and what's your favorite thing about it?
What's one of your favorite genres of music and what's your favorite thing about it?
Brazilian music is famous worldwide — from bossa nova, to choro, to samba.
Bossa is cool, choro is amazing, but my favorite things about samba is that despite being "pop music" it still has complex rhythms and harmonies.
My top favorite thing is the prevalence of the 7 stringed guitar and their use of counterpoints (i.e., parallel melodies).
I love how what (I think) started as guitarists just playing harmonies, turned into them improvising bass lines and counterpoints every once in a while, which eventually became them doing MOSTLY counterpoints and bass lines and barely playing the harmony lmao.
These bass lines and counterpoints, from what I understand, are often times arpeggiations of the chords and so forth, but they add such an amazing effect to the music.
Examples:
- This guy solo playing over a recording.
- This solo guitar + singer.
- Most music by Cartola which features the absolute timeless 7 stringed legend Dino. This one is a classic.
Technical Death Metal. Depending of the band you get this ridiculously crazy and sophisticated instrumentalism and polyrhythmic beats like Archspire, other times you get more progressive, experimental groups like Blood Incantation that mix and match genres and soundscapes.
In fact, the newest album from Blood Incantation is a good example of that, one moment you're listening to fast blast beats and then it suddenly takes a hard turn into pink floyd and slowly starts crescendoing back into fast Death Metal over the next couple of minutes. It's an absurd aural experience to say the least, but I really like experimental music that pushes boundaries even when it doesn't totally work.
Ok I was curious. I'm not a metal fan in the slightest but I gave Archspire a listen. That was really cool! Felt like an evolution of Polyipha. I probably won't listen to them again but I really enjoyed hearing it for the first time - excellent recommendation!
Same. I also ended up looking into Blood Incantation. Apparently they recently released a twenty minute video. I watched some of it. Definitely cool.
Whatever genre includes System of a Down, Rage against the Machine, Tool, and Nine Inch Nails
They have either a message or emotional rage or both at the same time. SOAD can go from pizza song to songs about prison industrial complex on the same album. Rage is uncompromisingly left political. Tool is on a journey from anger and unhealthy mental health in their early albums to embracing therapeutic ideas and healing while still feeling human emotions. NIN is just raw industrial sound and emotion.
It seems nu metal.
Ehh, SOAD maybe, and kiiiiiinda RATM but it's a stretch, but NIN is hardline Industrial, and Tool is really kinda just heavy Prog (not a judgement against it, there's nothing wrong with Prog!)
Drum N Bass
Yup, you’ve got everything from chilled liquid, to pop-like anthems, to full on neuro and dark step. Love it.
’80s (new wave, synthpop, post punk) – unadulterated nostalgia
“We don’t search for old songs,
we search for old memories.”Not necessarily a favourite but I have a lot of time for Drone Metal - classic example would be ØØ Void by Sunn O))). You can stick on a pair of headphones and the world ceases to exist.
I've seen them live! It was fucking incredible. I'm only sort of into metal but I love this kind of music. Admittedly, I don't follow them much, listen to them often, or know a lot about their discography. But... been listening to ØØ Void for the past 20 minutes. So good, thanks.
Checkout Earth if you haven't - Earth- Hex, or printing the infernal method
Post-hardcore. Typically 90’s old school like Fugazi and Hot Water Music, and then especially 2010s style “the wave” Touché Amore and La Dispute.
Not the 2000s style that veered into emo and Metalcore territory. Although there were some fantastic bands around that time that experimented with the classic sound, like Thrice and At The Drive In, and an obviously earlier example of that being Refused.
The combination of hardcore punk with slow and mid tempo breaks, throw in spoken sections or poetry. If it’s done right it’s just beautiful and makes you feel everything.
But if it’s done wrong, it’s so bad, don’t even bother. Honestly, for me, there’s so many 2000s-era bands that are unlistenable, and to me don’t even fit the genre as far as what came before and after them. But everything changes and people experiment with different sounds.
And it’s such a flexible genre, you have bands that take post-hardcore sensibility and turn it into indie rock, like Manchester Orchestra.
’90s*
Dreampop is just so relaxing to listen to. It makes you feel like you're floating on a cloud.
Witch house is also relaxing to listen to. It makes you feel like you're about to be sacrificed by a death cult.
You have great taste
It's hard to pick a favorite, but right now I'm really into Funk. Funk as a whole, definitely, but the subsect that is Bubblegum Funk is just so relaxing and chill, I've been listening to it while working lately.
What's bubblegum funk? I'm picturing Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love.
I came back here to see if there were new additions, since I came across the post early on. I also really enjoy funk, with a favorite being Primus, well, anything Les Claypool really (His stuff with Sean Lennon, much more ...trippy rock?, with Claypool Lennon Delirium, still excellent). They are a really heavy lil corner of the funk/rock spectrum though.
I am def going to check out some bubblegum funk now, it sounds like it should be an opposite spectrum sound experience!
So, thank you for allowing me to suckle on your presence a bit?
Less of a genre, more of an era, but I absolutely love music from the '60s. It's just infectious. Some of it is infectiously happy - e.g., Dancing in the Street by Martha & The Vandellas, or Dance to the Music by Sly and the Family Stone. Some is infectiously melancholy, like The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, or Abraham, Martin, and John by Dion. And some you just can't help but sing along to, like Creeque Alley by the Mamas and the Papas, or Good Morning by Oliver. And of course all the amazing classic rock, experimental sounds, and folk music from that era! Even some of the novelty songs are super memorable (I'm lookin at you, MacArthur Park!).
I love many genres of music, so the open ended creativity in the downtempo electronic scene is where I usually find myself regularly being rewarded with something that feels new. Any genre or mix of many can be worked in and explored with the gloves off. And I love deep groovy bass work.
I also can't get enough of electronic downtempo/chillout/lounge music, mainly prefer instrumental stuff but if it's gotta have vocals then make them female. got any artist recommendations? I love all the old Pork Records stuff (Fila Brazillia, Baby Mammoth, Leggo Beast, Bullitnuts), and Elektrolux records (Fresh Moods, Guardner, Index ID, Naoki Kenji, The Sushi Club), Tosca, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Peace Orchestra, Nightmares On Wax, Bonobo, etc.
I usually lean more into the psychedelic side as I went deep into the psytrance scene in my twenties, like Ott, Shpongle, Bluetec, Ishq then had a major trip hop phase with Morcheeba, massive attack, Portishead, RJD2 and many artists you mentioned. Supertask has been one of my recent finds that has been impressive. Mostly I am song to song not heavy into particular artists. Here is a small platter of artists you haven’t mentioned.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kFtWXruto5D6tbFDaMMXq?si=ei3olPlcT8i3vKs0mCAe1g&pi=u-cqsPkzARTy2G
Folk music. I love the sound, obviously, but I also love the way it's not so much about writing songs as learning them, taking something from the past and carrying it into the future.
Great description.
What are some of your favorites? I adore folk and am always looking for more recommendations
I would recommend The Arcadian Wild
Murder ballads. I don’t know that it’s a genre of music per se, so much that it’s a subject that people have sung about across different genres. It’s just so antithetical to what we normally consider music, normally it’s love songs and such. Epic examples include:
- In the Pines (famously covered by Nirvana)
- Violent Femmes - Country Death Song
- Mack the Knife (Louis Armstrong version is the best)
Check out amigo the devil - Half his songs are this subject matter. And he is VERY good.
He's up for a Grammy this year!
Pat Boone - Moody River?
I'm also a fan.
Of note Nick Cave has an album filled with pure brutality named "Murder Ballads" that can be a bit hard to get through for me, not for musicality or style but because it succeeds at embodying that term, "brutality".
Gothic metal, Peter Steele is my spirit animal and Type O Negative is the soundtrack of my life.
Any metal with growing. I don't care for lyrics unless they are funny. This applies to music where you can actually hear them too.
Try suggesting a metal band too extreme for me. I don't like the lo-fi black metal because of the lo-fi part.
They def won't be too extreme for you (I mean lmk if any are I guess), and some you'll likely know already probably, but you'll probably like some of them just judging from your challenge (mixed subgenres):
Insect Warfare Skinless Nunslaughter Toxic Holocaust Devourment Whitechapel Cattle Decapitation Eyehategod Nails Wormrot Anal Cunt His Hero Is Gone Carcass Dropdead Infest Cryptopsy Necrophagist Magrudergrind Sete Star Sept Suppression ACxDC Lovgun (bisou, 2012)Some of those are more yelly than growly, but check 'em out! Since you didn't call out a specific genre like goregrind or something I got a little carried away haha.
Thank you!
My theory on metal:
Metal is 90% terrible / discordant background, with 30 seconds of pure blissful harmony that you just wouldn't appreciate if that 90% terrible contrast didn't exist.
With time, and repeated exposure, you pick up on the small harmonies within that discord that will continue to blow your mind for the next 10 years as you recognise more patterns in the chaos.
This usually means that your least favourite song by Metal Band X a decade ago is now your favourite, and your most favourite song of theirs a decade ago now sounds like a mere nursery rhyme.
/endtheory
I'll give you two:
First, what I call "shitty punk rock" (no offense to the performers). I consider it a form of folk music as it is played by people who may or may not be talented or skilled but, they play it anyway. They have something to express and they choose to express it and passionately express it with such a low level of self-judgement that I envy. Years ago, I'd be in the pit but, I'm not cut out for it anymore. I'll still support em as I can though.
My favorite though, absolutely has to be folk-punk. Whether singing originals or covers or punkified trad or tradified punk, I absolutely love it. Some recommendations would be Days'n'Daze, Defiance Ohio, and The Dreadnoughts.
Progressive metal.
One of my favorite bands has a song where it sounds like everyone is playing a different time signature simultaneously, and it feels out of time and chaotic... And then snaps into focus perfectly, before breaking up again. (I can't identify the time signatures, no. I can hear at least two, and I'm pretty sure three. I think the drummer is doing polyrhythms?) You can listen to the same song five times in a row, focusing on a difference part each time, and hear something new each time. Or take Opeth's "River"; the same same song seems to effortless combine elements of country, blues, 70s rock, NWBHM into something that feels both classic and new. ("New" despite being originally released in 2014.) Or, shit, An Abstract Illusion's "Woe"; it's nominally split into 7 tracks, but the lack of breaks between songs means that the whole thing flows into a single piece. Or, or or!, "Castaway Angels" by Leprous; Leprous stretches and strains the definitions of what metal is, and is not. While some of what they do is clearly metal, are they still a metal band?
The only thing that's a real constant in progressive metal is that the bands all have impeccable musicianship.
Same for me. I've been playing drums for over 13 years. And progressive bands are the most enjoyable music to play for me. Those time changes and polyrhythms seem complex when you first listen to them. But once I get it, it gets stuck in my brain. You can hear new details you never appreciated before.
I love meshuggah. And they play most of the times two songs with different time signatures. The drummer is playing both of them at the same time, bottom half playing along with the bass and top half with rhythm guitars.
Blues, because it has so widely influenced other forms of music.
"The blues has become the basis for nearly every form of American popular music over the past 100 years: jazz, R&B, rock, hip-hop."
My favorite new blues tune:
Bach. Both easy to listen to and a never ending trove of new discoveries. Emotional and yet silly. Spiritual even for an atheist. Simple yet cerebral. Occasionally melancholy yet always life affirming. Rule bound, yet jazzy.
Dubstep, proper dubstep and not the brostep sound that was popularised in the later 00s.
I love it because I love bass, I love a proper system and standing there feeling the music course through you. I also love how very diverse it is within the one genre, there are so many different styles and sounds to explore.
Any good dubstep recommendations? Most of the stuff nowadays is just Electronic music with dubstep influence.
Check out [email protected] where I post 2 new releases every day if you want a constant stream of recommendations.
For some immediate recommendations of things that have been released in the last few months which I've particularly enjoyed -
Lysergene - A City of a Thousand Trades
I tried to pick a few things that are all different kinds of styles / feels. If you want more of a particular type though hit me up and I'll try and recommend some more :)
What's an example track you like?
Hard to pick just one track for sure but I'll choose this one today :)
Shoegaze.
The waves of euphoria I feel being blanketed in a wall of melancholic distortion and fuzz makes my brain go brrr.
I just love shoes
Metalcore.
I love the raw emotion you can hear and feel in harsh vocals, usually the lyrics and themes explored in this genre are best expressed with screams, and sometimes its the only appropriate way to rail against injustices and corruption or express the anguish and headache of emotional struggles.
I also love the contrast that clean vocals provide, usually with pop-like hooks soaring into catchy choruses or just to really bring a juxtaposition with the harsh vocals to give even more depth to the things that are sung and the things that need to be screamed. And sometimes the heart wrenching emotion that the cleans can provide [listen to Gone With the Wind by Architects]. (Note: not all metalcore has both clean and harsh vocals, but often a combination of both)
And the music itself is high energy, driving beats rapid double bass drum patterns and catchy guitar riffs with often unpredictable tempo changes and transitions to take you by surprise and keep your brain buzzing with anticipation, and not to gloss over the breakdowns. Oh when that tempo drops, guitars chugg and the drums start crashing china cymbals like a thunderstorm erupting around your head and you just feel the need to bang your head feeling like your heart is beating out of your chest and electricity is coursing through your veins.
Anyways, i think its pretty good music.
Corridos (like Los Tigres Del Norte, Vicente Fernandez, Chalino Sanchez)- their accordion players have no fucking business being that good!
Old country (like Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb) - Them dulcet tones and godDAMN that slide gitar.
Dreamcore
I can't really describe it other then it tends to be dreamy, buzzy, otherworldly, tends to use binaural beat type sounds, vestibular. If you liked Earthbound's music you'll probably like it a little
Sort of similar to lo-fi and muzak but it sounds qualitatively distinct to me. I find it very soothing and relaxing
Powerpop. What's not to like? Jangly guitars, vocal harmonies and killer hooks.
For me it's Irish traditional music. Aside from having an interesting history, the style often takes a very high level of musicianship to play well. A single monophonic instrument can play a tune and the fast-moving stream of notes can simultaneously spell out melody, counterpoint/call-and-response, and harmony, as well as providing a strong rhythmic pulse (it is music to dance to, after all).
My favorite genre is what I can screechy women singing weirdly. I can't decide whether my favorite part is the screeching or the weirdness.
I'd most recommend that other people listen to gamelan orchestras though. It's like the sound of dancing rain.
Diamanda Galas, Yma Sumac… what are some others? We might be birds of a feather here.
I don't know if there's an official term, so I call it the vocalsynth genre, which includes things like vocaloid, UTAU, deepvocal, enunu, diffsinger, etcetera.
One thing I love about it is that they- especially utau because it's free and there are a lot of voicebanks, tutorials/guides, and other things designed specifically for it- allow you to be able to create a song that would normally never be made by a famous or up-and-coming singer. At least the vocals, though, because you still need to make the backing track (or outsource that to someone else). It kinda evens the playing field when you have people who are not good at singing making songs/covers that are just as good as songs from the music industry.
Plus, there are so many original songs out there and usually covers of said songs that if you don't like one version, you can always find another version that might sound better. That definitely holds true for the biggest songs and even various lesser known songs. All the songs are made from people across the globe, so you end up with a lot of different songs of different genres, themes, etcetera.
Breakbeat/EDM; I love a good rhythm.
That strange point on a musical map, where Instrumental Hip-Hop, Chilled Trap, woozy Electronica, and Future Soul meet, exchange ideas, collaborate, and spawn in the soft, bluish glow. Unwind and detangle amidst the soft harmonies, deep bass, smooth chords, ethereal vocals, and dynamic percussion. Coughso,Coughma
Examples please!
Baroque
Trance