Ok, so there’s no longer just rock, alternative, country, jazz, blues or classical when it comes to music. Some listeners understand that good music, or a good song, is good, regardless which category it might fit in. Most realize categories are worthless: A listener likes what she likes, end of story.
But Spotify’s done us the favour of creating a list of unusual categories, 50 of them to be precise, in case you’re curious. According to Spotify’s website, the list started with 1,369 genres of music, “sorted by familiarity to bring up the more obscure ones at the bottom. And then we plowed through in that order, plucking out the ones that sounded, well, strange to our ears, in terms of the music they were describing in English.”
Among the entries—and my apologies to pretty much anyone reading this because these are not made up:
*Beatdown: “Beatdown is a type of hardcore punk characterized by a more aggressive sound and vocals that are shouted, screamed or growled. Emerging in the ‘80s, beatdown has slow, chugging breakdowns and later influenced the development of metalcore.” Ok, that’s not too unwieldy.
*Bubble trance: “Bubble trance is bright, upbeat trance music.” Again, not too awful.
*Brostep: “Brostep is a variation of dubstep that some view as ‘Americanized dubstep.’ It emphasizes the middle register sounds as opposed to the sub-bass content that dubstep accentuates. Brostep has more robotic sounds with a ‘metal-esque’ aggression.” Sure.
*Catstep: “This particularly aggressive filthstep variation is promoted most enthusiastically by the label Monstercat.” Good grief.
*Fidget house: “This variant of electro house features clicky treble and sludgly basslines, with blurry synths and a midrange tempo.” Sure.
Footwork: “Footwork is a style of music and street dance from Chicago that involves drum fills and hand claps. By improvising elaborate twists, turns and movements of their feet, dancers move quickly to the beat of the music and compete against each other.”
*Nerdcore: “Nerdcore is hip hop music catered to nerds. Lyrical subject matter may include science fiction and computer games. Most nerdcore features DIY production and uncleared samples.”
And finally:
*New Weird America: “New weird America is an indie folk/rock variant descended from the psychedelic folk and rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Its influences are broad and eclectic, including metal, free jazz, electronic music, world music, Latin, noise, and even opera.”
See the full list here.
Confused About Music Genres? @Spotify has you Covered. http://t.co/lXXjQhr2uJ