Have You Heard Every Noise At Once?
At the end of last year, Spotify curated my 2019 Spotify Wrapped, a snapshot of “my year in music,” and before you get too excited, my most-listened to artist was, hold for applause, Bob Dylan. Now, before you click off confused about this twenty year old who must secretly be a geriatric grandpa who can’t wait to tell you about the pre-autotune music of “back in my day,” hear me out: the rest of the run-down was, if memory serves, 2) Mac DeMarco, 3) Tame Impala, 4) (Sandy) Alex G and 5) Angel Olsen, which had me pegged firmly in the genre category as an “indie rock” listener first and foremost. While my 14-year-old self would have been thrilled by this label, using it as some kind of shaky proof that the Doc Martens I’d begged my mother for for my birthday had, in fact, been the ticket to the edgy lifestyle I was desperately searching for, the 20 year old me was slightly pissed at this assessment.
While the Bob Dylan diagnosis is surprising to exactly no one who knows me--his harmonica solos are beautiful OK, it’s not just me--I was annoyed at how easily typecast I was. This was the year I discovered William Onyeabor, Antony and the Johnsons, Broadcast and the World Psychedelic Classics albums. The Velvet Underground has long been my favorite band and “These Days” by Nico is close to my all-time favorite song, but instead “Sense” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard occupied the top spot on my most-listened-to songs list.
My bruised ego was first angry at the narrowness of my listening habits (I thought I was a thoughtful, if not pretentious listener, and I have a radio show where I pride myself on playing music nobody’s heard, so actually maybe I’m more pretentious than I thought), and then angry at myself for giving a crap about Spotify analytics in the first place. After all, they’re just counting, and numbers and algorithms only have power if you give them that power. It is curious though that, out of the over 50 million songs featured on Spotify, as I’m writing this only forty-four “Genres and Moods” are listed when you browse, one of which is “Mood” itself, so take that with a grain of salt. Or several. Actually, maybe the whole salt shaker.
I think almost everyone knows, or at least suspects, that genres are, to an extent, nonsense, mostly created out of convenience as a means of directing album sales, targeting advertising, garnering radio airplay and other insider, industry gibberish (I’m not a record exec so I’m not going to pretend I care about the business of music). But I do think there’s something to be said about hyper-sensitive algorithms over-tailoring our musical suggestions. With a “Daily Mix” telling you everything you should be listening to, which might I add is everything you already seem to be listening to, and the “New Releases”, “Repeat”, and “Rewind” playlists close behind, streaming allows us to equate specificity with taste, and personally, I don’t think distilling your musical listening down to as few words as possible is really a strength. The next time you listen to something you like, ask yourself if there’s something really new you’re hearing, or if you love it because it sounds like someone else. I’m not trying to call anyone out, I’m as guilty of this as anyone. But safety in uniformity is not a guiding musical philosophy I want to live by.
Enter Every Noise at Once (everynoise.com). Described as “an explorable, listenable acoustic map of the 1300+ genres of the world of music,” it is a truly endless database of bops, bangers and everything in between (and you can bet none of those genres are “mood.” Cough cough Spotify).
Designed by Glenn McDonald, the site features different visual representations of musical algorithmic data--sexy I know--and viewers can browse by list, country, or the classic map, whose axes are roughly mapped across electronic-organic sounds (electronic near the top, organic near the bottom), and faster-paced/energetic vs. more lowkey/atmospheric tracks (low-key on the left, energetic on the right). Once clicking on an artist, an identical map will appear displaying musicians within that genre, located on the same axes. It is one of the most entertaining ways to waste time and has given me more than enough snobby music recs to suggest to my friends, so I thought I’d share. All in the name of “research” (put that in as many quotes as possible), I took the liberty of going through this mish-mash and selecting some of the sickest genres Spotify can’t turn you onto. I hope this is mildly informational, mildly entertaining, and more than mildly nonsense. If you think there’s a hole in your heart that can only be filled by “finnish psychedelic rock” or “video game music” today’s your lucky day. I promise.
New Romantic
Straight ‘80s bangers. A John Hughes movie paradise. If you’re still angry about the ending of “Pretty in Pink” (Andy should’ve ended up with Ducky and you can’t convince me otherwise), or felt like “The Breakfast Club” really glamorized detention when all you did in detention was literally stare at a wall for three hours and try to hide your headphones so they wouldn’t see you listening to music—clearly I’m still not bitter— this is for you. Put on your highest-rise pair of dad jeans because belly buttons are meant to be hidden, or buy one of those cone bra corset things Madonna is somehow wearing on every tour for best results.
For fans of: New Order, The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3BVoP4MFmGPW8guAuSEXVe
South Dakota Indie
No disrespect to South Dakota, but I didn’t know they had a huge indie music scene, or any indie music scene to be honest. That is until I heard a band called The Spill Canvas. They’ve got a little bit of a Fall Out Boy thing going on—also potentially Panic! At The Disco??— and definitely cover the very specific pop-emo subgenre every thirteen year old discovers once they’ve decided nobody understands them. They’ve also released seven full-length albums and five EPs if anyone’s wondering whether they’re worth your time. Wumpus is another quality find, whose sound is kind of like a Beirut/The Shins/Fleet Foxes hybrid, but also equally their own creation. Music for when you’re feeling a bit more lowkey. The background song that plays when you make eye contact with the attractive barista at your favorite coffee shop. This is a weirdly specific scenario but I also know you know exactly what I’m talking about.
For fans of: Uh guitars? Indie-rock fans, although maybe Softboys/Softgirls/Softpeople in particular.
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0KQrvXqaLBkDJg7mzkShgY
Afrofuturism
By far my personal favorite. Afrofuturism itself stems from broader cultural, philosophical and political ideologies surrounding the “developing intersection of the African diaspora with technology.” With a technological undertone and an incorporation of science fiction elements, Afrofuturism extends to music as well; Beyonce’s short film ‘Lemonade,’ which accompanied her 2016 album of the same name, featured feminist afrofuturism within its conceptual framework. According to the Guardian, “first coined by cultural critic Mark Dery in an essay called Black to the Future, Afrofuturism draws together elements of astral jazz, African-American sci-fi and psychedelic hip-hop into an all-encompassing philosophy, imagining alternative visions of tomorrow.” There’s a ton to unpack here, so definitely check out these artists and also consider exploring the concept of Afrofuturism within music and larger socio-cultural spaces as well. This article is a good starting point: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/24/space-is-the-place-flying-lotus-janelle-monae-afrofuturism
For fans of: Solange, Erykah Badu, Thundercat, Sun Ra.
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ocJm2OMlke80uGcp781ma
Demoscene
Right so I had to go on Reddit to help me out with this one, which made me feel like a grandma and also like a creep, but all in the name of research ya know? Basically, Demoscene is an international “computer art subculture” that encompasses technology, music, art and programming. Creators make demos, which are computer programs that showcase mainly house and techno music and trippy visuals that are shown at demoparties. Demoparties look like the nerdiest computer camp you can imagine, but apparently they’re pretty cool, and draw gamers, computer programmers, and music producers together to collaborate. Here’s a photo of a demoparty called Assembly in 2004, in case you think I’m joking:
It’s like a festival for people who hate dancing. And live music. And music festivals. But the music does slap.
Of course Vice has written an article about Demoscene, so in case you think you’re losing your edginess, this one’s for you: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5wgp7/who-killed-the-american-demoscene-synchrony-demoparty
For fans of: Anyone who thinks Grimes is now too mainstream.
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41x6s1VU0XUKV4TlvB7dEn
Cartoon
You’re welcome in advance. In case you’ve ever looked at your playlists and thought “Wow, this could really use a bit more of the Dora The Explorer Party Favorites album to balance out all this Brockhampton,” I have the answer. Cartoon is exactly what it sounds like: all your Saturday morning cartoon favorites rolled into one. Elmo. Dora. Spongebob. Wonder Pets. The Backyardigans. The greatest hits. All killer, no filler. First, you’ll feel nostalgic that you still know all the words, and then embarrassed that Arthur is still your favorite TV show. It’s ok. Acceptance is the first step. And before you ask, of course The Gummy Bear Song is on this playlist, because YouTube in 2007 was truly a wild time, and we need to have these archives to show our children.
For fans of: Anyone who remembers the words to The Campfire Song from Spongebob and still has a favorite My Little Pony.
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/47E4xm9bQeseKh6tSasQqG
In conclusion, not only do I feel like I’ve gained my musical superiority back (I’m joking, kind of), but I’m also two-hours deep into a J-Rap playlist I have no intention of ever turning off. It’s the little things I guess.