As i'm attempting to upload my files for enjoyment among my colleagues, i came upon an interesting stumbling block: what musical styles are my music classified? Is there an OFFICIAL description amongst us electronic musicians?
Classical music, especially thru the prism of time, can be easily classified: Classicism, Romanticism, and Baroque, and only the music scholar needs to know about Rococo, Neo-classicism, and Expressionism. But with the advent of recording possibilities, the Neomodern composer may branch off into many denominations -- Minimalism, Post-impressionism, and even Soundtrack.
Now with electronic music, especially since the 80s, contemporary music REALLY seeks classification. Digitalization and sampling since the 90s lends to this problem even more. We all know what "rock-and-roll" is, but do you know what the difference between hillbilly rock and country rock is? What about techno and electronic, space music and ambient, industrial and avant-metal?
Now that even amateurs and hobbyists can use sequencers and trackers to create the music THEY want to hear, we're finding that everyone has their own style and often one's musical taste, even in one song, can be hard to classify.
Do we have or do we even need an official page on what the different musical styles are? If there's none "out there", perhaps us trackers are best-qualified to designate what each genre is, with examples, and what each is not. We may hafta go with consensus if this is the case, but we should leave it to those experienced in many different forms (at least in listening or having studied)...
You make a point that I've had trouble with myself. "New" styles that catch on generally find names by themselves. Look at "Rock 'n Roll" for example which was coined by a DJ saying its time to Rock 'n Roll.
If you save a song in .mp3 format it has a whole list of genres in the tag and you could look for an applicable one. Sometimes "Other" will just have to do.
I don't have much feel with this problem of classification, because, next to real electronic pieces which couldn't be done otherwise,
electronics can cover the whole existing amplified or acoustic field. One can make a classical symphony piece, reggae, or african drums.
So I guess there's a difference of intention. Does the author wants to make an electronic composition, or use the electronics to make a model of 'the real world' ?
Nevertheless, I found a textfile with a list somebody had made on the old MPF :
Electronics :
New Age
Gothic
Darkwave
Dark Elektro
EBM
Industrial
Hardstyle
Hardtrance
Rave
Happy Hardcore
Hardcore
Gabber
Terror
Speedcore
Splitter
Extratone
New Beat
Techno
Detroit
Brighton
Acid
Hardtek
Downbeat
Big Beat
Breakbeat
Acid-Jazz
Trip-Hop
Drum&Bass
Jungle
Digital Hardcore
Breakcore
Ambient
Illbient
IDM
Experimental
Noize
Funk
Vocal-House
House
Hard-House
Acid-House
Trance
Electro
Psy-Trance
Goa
Rock :
classic rock
hard-rock
rock'n'roll
Medieval
punk
stoner
skate-punk
deutsch-punk
punkrock
trash-punk
oi
oi-punk
grindcore
heavy metal
goth-rock
ska
ska-punk
crossover
crust-punk
nu-metal
speed-metal
black-metal
death-metal
epic-metal
power-metal
trash-metal
ballad
country
folk-rock
alternative
indie-rock
grunge
emo-core
hardcore
House (Everything with steady beat and groove and funk.Warm and soulful music. Also eurodance and that kind of stuff as long as the beat is steady)
New wave/synthpop (All kinds of synth stuff that is about catchy melodies)
Trance (Steady beat, usually melodic, possibly hypnotizing.
Dance (I normally think dance is quite stupid as a genre definition, but it could be useful here to separate the eurostuff from other forms of trance.
Eurodance could be here too.)
Techno (Music that is primarily about percussive sounds. Mechanical music. The beat is usually stead)
Industrial (I don't think there is much tracked music in this style that isn't hardcore or experimental so I don't know if this is very usefull)
HipHop (Rap and HipHop here, could be included in breakbeat since there isn't much tracked HipHop available)
Breakbeat (Non-steady beat. This could include everything from electro to urban to nu-breaks and nu garage)
Jungle (Includes DnB. Focused on the (re-)use of drumloops to create complex rhytms. Also uses a lot of bass. Very hard and fast.)
IDM (Rhytm is usually complex, but the sound is more melodic than in jungle (and the drums aren't as hard).Can also be ambient-like when using textures. Includes glitch)
Hardcore (Music that is hard. Usually with fast BPM and distorted bassdrum. Includes Happy Hardcore.)
Ambient (Mostly without beat. Relies on the use of textures. Includes Dark ambient and soundscapes and all that.)
Experimental (The odd stuff. Includes noise. Could include mods with only one sample if they are strange enough or experiments with rhytm.)
Rock (Basically everything with guitars and drums. From light pop to hard rock)
Metal (Everything harder than hard rock}
Classical/Orchestral (Includes everything orchestral)
Jazz (Everything Jazzy)
Ethnic (Everything non-western.)
Demo (Chiptunes and demo music.)
Actually, a chiptune is a style on its own. Its not demostyle, although demostyle isn't really a style like the others.
Demostyle is near soundtrack, except that its usually fastpaced and aimed to be played next to a graphical representation of something that should stun the viewer of amasement.
The same can be done with audio. Try to make a song that is so amasing. Usually thats demostyle, but for demostyle there's a certain fibe. Hard to explain. Chiptunes can be used in demostyle and it has been done frequently, but they still are 2 different styles.
You're right. I just publish this list by the way, disregarding whether I approve the content.
Many more items can be argued about. I certainly don't like the single item 'Ethnic' for everything non-western.
Or the single item 'Experimental' for everything which is not made according to the classical rules.
The same problem occurs in the genres-list of a ID3 tag, as mentioned by KrazyKatz. As soon as it's not from
the classical western perspective, one only can choose 'other'. The default MIDI bank on a PC has the same problem.
The complete replica of a western symphony orchestra, a small rock band, one channel for a complete percussion section,
and a few numbers left for some 'exotic' things.
Wow, i didn't realize there were so many. I bet most of those came about in the 90s...
As an 80s reject, however, i remember the terms techno and new wave very clearly, and the styles they represented. I agree with the New Wave description -- dance and pop with extensive use of "packaged" (as opposed to experimental or artistic) synthesized sounds, with vocals being clear and rarely Fx'd.
Techno, though, was more of an umbrella term that encompassed anything synthesized, including rhythmic parts. New wave, IOW, came under the heading of Techno...
But i like this list. It seems pretty comprehensive, and we can use this to help us in our uploading/downloading. I think, tho, we should refine the definitions where necessary (some of us may better understand certain genres because we are into that style) then sticky it.
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"The same problem occurs in the genres-list of a ID3 tag, as mentioned by KrazyKatz. As soon as it's not from
the classical western perspective, one only can choose 'other'.
...unless using ID3v2. Then you can write whatever you want to the genre part of the tag.
ID3v1 is indeed pretty outdated, i see no reason for still supporting it.
QuoteID3v1 is indeed pretty outdated, i see no reason for still supporting it.
This coming from someone who uses a tracker. Haha! :P
Tracker vs Sequencer is not the same as ID3v1 vs ID3v2 - With a tracker, you really can archieve the same results as with a sequencer, and in many cases, it's even easier. But you definitely can't do the same things with ID3v1 as with ID3v2 :P
Yeah what you're saying makes perfect sense. I was just laughing about the irony of us trackers who still use .mod formats to point whats "outdated" and what's not. :)
I wasn't talking about a version, but as an example of the general setup of such a list.
I know with ID3v2 one can edit whatever term as genre, at least there is one empty field for it.
The problem, Sam Zen, is that you focus too much on western lists! :wink:
E.g. an african tribe might list both schranz and bluegrass as "western contemporary music", and a martian may refer to rai, gagaku and britpop as "earth music".
It may be my focus, but it's severely there, taking almost all the space.
And what about the martian, with 36 different music styles on his planet, who can only replace 'other' by 'martian'?
A bit more flexibility in such a predefined list could be appropriate I think.
I would be quite pleased already, if I could enter 4 or 8 different custom styles in the list, according to the view of my own work.
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"It may be my focus, but it's severely there, taking almost all the space.
And what about the martian, with 36 different music styles on his planet, who can only replace 'other' by 'martian'?
The martian probably uses a martian list. That was the point of my post.
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"A bit more flexibility in such a predefined list could be appropriate I think.
I would be quite pleased already, if I could enter 4 or 8 different custom styles in the list, according to the view of my own work.
And what is stopping you?
Nothing stops me from editing any term as genre, but that wasn't my point.
The apps afaik with a tag-editor have (their own) prefixed lists, sometimes with 'other' or an empty field.
But it's only one place, I have to write it for every single track, instead of just picking from the list.
The edited term is only valid for that moment, isn't saved in the list. Let alone that I could replace 8 items in the list by something else.
This is a genre list from www.mikseri.net, some of these are in finnish though:
Genre
2">Blues / Jazz
3">Funk
4">Hip Hop / Rap
5">Metal
6">Pop / Rock
9">Soul / R'n'B
8">Electronic
10">Alternative
11">X - Muut
Subgenre
470">Alternative » --
434">Alternative » A Cappella
412">Alternative » Avant-Garde
355">Alternative » Ballad
388">Alternative » Children's Music
334">Alternative » Classical
410">Alternative » Crust Punk
469">Alternative » Dancehall
403">Alternative » Darkwave
508">Alternative » Deathrock
359">Alternative » Digital Hardcore
492">Alternative » Drone
435">Alternative » Easy Listening
405">Alternative » Ethnic
364">Alternative » Folk
406">Alternative » Folklore
462">Alternative » Foxtrot
383">Alternative » Gospel
19">Alternative » Goth
17">Alternative » Grunge
83">Alternative » Hardcore Punk
460">Alternative » Harsh Noise
397">Alternative » Horror
493">Alternative » Humppa
15">Alternative » Industrial
356">Alternative » Instrumental
494">Alternative » Iskelmä
472">Alternative » Isolationism
278">Alternative » Live
413">Alternative » Lo-Fi
457">Alternative » Minimalism
365">Alternative » Mulletcore
481">Alternative » Neofolk
18">Alternative » New Wave
459">Alternative » Noise
264">Alternative » Orchestral
242">Alternative » Performanssi
436">Alternative » Polkka
505">Alternative » Post-Hardcore
449">Alternative » Post-Punk
467">Alternative » Power Electronics
455">Alternative » Psychedelic
13">Alternative » Punk
511">Alternative » Rautalanka
381">Alternative » Reggae
473">Alternative » Rhythmic Noise
14">Alternative » Ska
265">Alternative » Soundtrack
510">Alternative » Surf
360">Alternative » Tango
361">Alternative » Valssi
24">Blues / Jazz » Acid Jazz
431">Blues / Jazz » Bebop
28">Blues / Jazz » Big Band/Swing
20">Blues / Jazz » Blues
21">Blues / Jazz » Blues Rock
25">Blues / Jazz » Bossa Nova
23">Blues / Jazz » Electric Blues
432">Blues / Jazz » Free Jazz
433">Blues / Jazz » Hard Bop
283">Blues / Jazz » Jazz
165">Blues / Jazz » Jazz Fusion
463">Blues / Jazz » Jive
351">Blues / Jazz » Modern Jazz
379">Blues / Jazz » Nu-Jazz
313">Electronic » 2-step
177">Electronic » 80's Disco
341">Electronic » Acid
489">Electronic » Acid House
11">Electronic » Ambient
56">Electronic » Big Beat
16">Electronic » Breakbeat
380">Electronic » Breakcore
479">Electronic » Chicago
6">Electronic » Chill Out
349">Electronic » Chip
338">Electronic » Club
91">Electronic » Dance
169">Electronic » Dark Ambient
347">Electronic » Darkstep
103">Electronic » Deep House
475">Electronic » Deep Techno
340">Electronic » Detroit
491">Electronic » Doomcore
7">Electronic » Downbeat
42">Electronic » Downtempo
363">Electronic » Dream Trance
352">Electronic » Drill'n'Bass
5">Electronic » Drum'n'Bass
366">Electronic » Dub
504">Electronic » Dubstep
370">Electronic » EBM
27">Electronic » Electro
461">Electronic » Electro-Breakbeat
488">Electronic » Electro-House
114">Electronic » Electro-Industrial
423">Electronic » Electro-Techno
394">Electronic » Electronic
456">Electronic » Epic Trance
2">Electronic » Eurodance
78">Electronic » Eurotrance
94">Electronic » Experimental
485">Electronic » Filter House
416">Electronic » Freeform
342">Electronic » Gabber
374">Electronic » Garage
438">Electronic » Glitch
3">Electronic » Goa
81">Electronic » Happy Hardcore
358">Electronic » Happy Rave
331">Electronic » Hard NRG
50">Electronic » Hardcore
8">Electronic » Hardhouse
480">Electronic » Hardstyle
9">Electronic » Hardtrance
377">Electronic » Hi-NRG
10">Electronic » House
343">Electronic » IDM
357">Electronic » Illbient
180">Electronic » Intelligent Drum'n'Bass
200">Electronic » Intelligent Techno
503">Electronic » Italo Disco
428">Electronic » Jazz-House
179">Electronic » Jazzstep
100">Electronic » Jungle
237">Electronic » Melodic Trance
362">Electronic » Minimal
458">Electronic » Minimalism
192">Electronic » Monotrack
402">Electronic » Morning Trance
468">Electronic » Neo-Electro
324">Electronic » Neurofunk
386">Electronic » New Age
471">Electronic » New Beat
369">Electronic » Noisecore
123">Electronic » Nu-NRG
348">Electronic » Nuskool Breakbeat
174">Electronic » Oldskool
127">Electronic » Progressive House
86">Electronic » Progressive Trance
382">Electronic » Psybient
407">Electronic » Psydub
498">Electronic » Psytech
85">Electronic » Psytrance
339">Electronic » Rave
476">Electronic » Schranz
350">Electronic » SID
371">Electronic » Spacesynth
440">Electronic » Speedcore
499">Electronic » Suomipsyke
118">Electronic » Symphonic Electronica
80">Electronic » Synthpop
104">Electronic » Tech-House
153">Electronic » Tech-Trance
22">Electronic » Techno
345">Electronic » Techstep
1">Electronic » Trance
376">Electronic » Tribal
54">Electronic » Trip-Hop
429">Funk » Deep Funk
430">Funk » Free Funk
51">Funk » Funk
109">Hip Hop / Rap » Abstract Hip-Hop
39">Hip Hop / Rap » Alternative Hip-Hop
422">Hip Hop / Rap » Alternative Rap
391">Hip Hop / Rap » Beat
389">Hip Hop / Rap » Beatbox
421">Hip Hop / Rap » Comedy Rap
418">Hip Hop / Rap » Dirty Rap
98">Hip Hop / Rap » Dirty South
490">Hip Hop / Rap » Experimental Hip-Hop
34">Hip Hop / Rap » Freestyle
399">Hip Hop / Rap » Gangsta Rap
420">Hip Hop / Rap » Hardcore Rap
35">Hip Hop / Rap » Hip-Hop
97">Hip Hop / Rap » Horrorcore
392">Hip Hop / Rap » Human Beatbox
502">Hip Hop / Rap » Instrumental Hip-Hop
336">Hip Hop / Rap » Newschool
36">Hip Hop / Rap » Old School
157">Hip Hop / Rap » Open Mic
417">Hip Hop / Rap » Party Rap
419">Hip Hop / Rap » Pop-Rap
37">Hip Hop / Rap » Rap
246">Hip Hop / Rap » Suomi Hip-Hop
404">Hip Hop / Rap » Turntablism
40">Metal » Alternative Metal
41">Metal » Black Metal
496">Metal » Black/Death
509">Metal » Black/Thrash
193">Metal » Dark Metal
43">Metal » Death Metal
495">Metal » Death/Doom
452">Metal » Death/Grind
453">Metal » Death/Thrash
378">Metal » Doom Metal
484">Metal » Drone Doom
408">Metal » Fantasy Metal
398">Metal » Folk Metal
497">Metal » Funeral Doom
427">Metal » Funk Metal
411">Metal » Goregrind
44">Metal » Gothic Metal
223">Metal » Grindcore
155">Metal » Heavy Metal
45">Metal » Industrial Metal
225">Metal » Love Metal
466">Metal » Melodic Death
71">Metal » Melodic Metal
487">Metal » Metalcore
409">Metal » Noisecore
46">Metal » Nu-Metal
426">Metal » Pop-Metal
70">Metal » Power Metal
220">Metal » Progressive Metal
500">Metal » Rap Metal
393">Metal » Rapcore
483">Metal » Satanic Black Metal
482">Metal » Sludge
154">Metal » Speed Metal
424">Metal » Stoner Metal
425">Metal » Symphonic Black Metal
99">Metal » Thrash Metal
182">Metal » War Metal
178">Pop / Rock » 70's Disco
373">Pop / Rock » Ballad
47">Pop / Rock » Classic Rock
52">Pop / Rock » Country
367">Pop / Rock » Emo
401">Pop / Rock » Glam Rock
117">Pop / Rock » Gothic Rock
82">Pop / Rock » Hard Rock
400">Pop / Rock » Indie
465">Pop / Rock » Instrumental Rock
372">Pop / Rock » Light Rock
48">Pop / Rock » Pop
414">Pop / Rock » Post-Rock
96">Pop / Rock » Progressive Rock
451">Pop / Rock » Psychedelic Rock
507">Pop / Rock » Psychobilly
49">Pop / Rock » Rock
390">Pop / Rock » Rock'n'Roll
464">Pop / Rock » Rockabilly
506">Pop / Rock » Screamo
119">Pop / Rock » Shoegazing
450">Pop / Rock » Space Rock
454">Pop / Rock » Stoner Rock
445">Soul / R'n'B » Motown
444">Soul / R'n'B » Neo-Soul
443">Soul / R'n'B » Pop-Soul
59">Soul / R'n'B » R'n'B
58">Soul / R'n'B » Soul
441">Soul / R'n'B » Urban Soul
63">X - Rest » eJay
P.S. Dont ask me to define, what is the difference between Noise and Harsh Noise etc... ;)
Wanted to bump this thread to open up discussion again.
I'd like to put together either a Sticky in our Downloads section or a page on our Wiki section, which fully describes the various music genres so that we can accurately depict in the Downloads forum what we're sharing. The reason i feel this is important is because i can't DL everything; there are certain genres i like and others i'd rather avoid. And even I'm confused as to what characterizes the various styles of music, and i'm a self-proclaimed music analyst!
This will require some research on my (our?) part as to what makes a song belong to a certain genre, but there are at least 170 genre tags that can be applied to mp3s. Plus, some genres are families of music, like Rock or Classical, that have subclasses (and i guess would only be used if one couldn't classify the song's specific style).
I will probably be using the Wikipedia to put together summaries of the genres, but if anyone can suggest alternate links with either more detailed or more reliable descriptions of these musicks, then post them here.
Any of you who are coming up with your own genre terms (i'm looking at you Sam_Zen 8) ) can quantify the naming of your new "style" by giving us a description of that genre. Maybe someone else is writing "scapes" and "oldskool" and "chiptunes" and doesn't realize it!
may i suggest that you just open wikipedia and search for any genre you come across and don't know. that way, you can easily decide if you want to listen to more tunes of that genre or not.
At least that's what I do. If I don't know something, I just look it up.
Quotecoming up with your own genre terms (i'm looking at you Sam_Zen Cool ) can quantify the naming of your new "style" by giving us a description of that genre
Well, first of all, I don't care so much about naming genres. But sometimes, as with the DL section, I'll have to fill in something.
The same with ID3 tags. if I don't think any genre fits properly, I just choose 'other', or edit my own term if possible.
I'm certainly don't feel obliged to give any explanation. I carefully choose for a term which imo covers the load.
Besides this, but that's personal, I try to do some review on any track posted, so my personal taste doesn't play a role anymore.
Whether I'm in favour of a certain style or not, I will listen to it, and maybe give some comment.
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"Besides this, but that's personal, I try to do some review on any track posted, so my personal taste doesn't play a role anymore.
Whether I'm in favour of a certain style or not, I will listen to it, and maybe give some comment.
Exactly my point of view
Sam. Genres are almost irrelevant at this point, i can find interesting experiences on ANY type of music. Bare in mind
Harbinger, that almost every artist thinks differently and influences are passing everywhere, all the time. If you had some bad experiences (in gerenal) with the given genre, you can never be sure that you may not have some pretty good ones in the future. Same goes of course vice versa.
I believe I already made a list once with meanings here on modplug. Cus I remember that I needed this for the new site.
I can see both points of Harbinger and Psishock.
Its always good to know what style can be labled upon a piece of music so you can attract listeners that like a particular style most, but on the other hand, there are always people that don't mind the style and just download anything by a user.
Hmmmm, i would generally agree about that, but nowdays there are almost no "clean" genre music. When someone is making something mostly will mix many things and influences. Example the given song could have some chiptune, techno, electro, breakbeat, ambient, jazz, progressive, synthpop and some occasional goa elements... now, how would you tag that? :?
Quote from: "psishock"Hmmmm, i would generally agree about that, but nowdays there are almost no "clean" genre music. When someone is making something mostly will mix many things and influences. Example the given song could have some chiptune, techno, electro, breakbeat, ambient, jazz, progressive, synthpop and some occasional goa elements... now, how would you tag that? :?
I would call that genre:
Awesome.
:wink:
I think it would be easier if people just wrote if the song was any good or not. I mean, "kind of dull" says so much more than "psy-goa" or "classic metal"
hmmm not sure, would that alone help? Take me example, i'm very self-conscious about most of my stuff, and possibly other ppl will feel most likely the same. I thing we're all doomed, the genre chaos finally came to our world. :shock: Nobody can tell anymore what is worth to listen and what's not :retarded:
Quote from: "psishock"hmmm not sure, would that alone help?
If it worked and everyone agreed to disregard their own taste and adhere to mine, I don't see why it wouldn't! Then again, in reality, we're all doomed.
I also empathize with the points of my colleagues here.
Perhaps my own goal is threefold:
1. If i offer my opinions to someone else's music, i may not be able to be objective if it's a genre of music i can't appreciate. White gospel, hip-hop, and opera are examples. Before DLing someone's work, i'd like a DECENT idea of what i'm about to put in my ears, even if it doesn't stick to the genre stereotype (hopefully the composer will alert us to that fact).
2. Then there's music i wanna put in the background of my brain while i'm doing more cerebral or artistic work, and the type of music must be carefully considered. When going to you my colleagues for this purpose, i'd like to know what you're sharing with me.
3. Then there's the music i compose. It by no means has to be labeled, but you folks would also like to know what i'm sharing. So i only need a label for those of you who might be want to give it a try.
The inherent problem with labels, as with all words and terms, is that they can be unintentionally restrictive. Sam_Zen's music makes for perfect examples. (Sometimes i get the sense that he only writes music that does not belong to a 'genre' and can't be labelled.) Labels should restrict neither the composer nor the listener, but at least give us an idea of what planet we're on.
Now as i set out with very detailed descriptions of these, i wonder if this can be harmful to the creative process (from the composer's POV) or the exploratory journey (from the listener's POV). Too many details, as i can testify, can trap one into a box. So i must in my quest for knowledge (labelling knowledge!) develop a form that serves to educate but leaves untouched one's sense of wonder and innocence...
I think i'm being too sentimental :?
BTW, if you can link to that list, LP, (if you can find it), i will take it into serious consideration. It may even be able to save me a LOT of work!
When I started using the analog synth, people were expecting from me to make 'synthesizer music' like Tangerine Dream or Kraftwerk.
Or, in the classical range, things like Morton Subotnick or the nitwit Stockhausen. This caused an aversion, and I refused to follow that.
psishock talks about 'chaos' as a genre. A nice base to start with. But if I want to make a 'heavy metal' piece, who will stop me ?
To decide whether one wants to try out a piece to listen to or not, a label (afterwards given) could be of some help.
There's a difference in this on behalf of the attitude of the composer. Does he plans on forehand to make some 'trance' ?
Or does he just make a composition, of which, after completion, can be said, that it is 'trance-like' ?
Of course one of the core reasons for mentioning a genre, also in tags, is to make it easy for radio-DJ's and retail-shops.
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"There's a difference in this on behalf of the attitude of the composer. Does he plans on forehand to make some 'trance' ?
Or does he just make a composition, of which, after completion, can be said, that it is 'trance-like' ?
There's a point in there indeed. Genre labels for most serious composers don't inspire a song, they are generally a final touch for a piece of art -- the classification. And it wouldn't need to be there if anyone wanted to see it -- or hear it in our case.
Myself, i label it only for this website. And Aeon does not make music for any one purpose -- dance music, cerebral music, art music, etc. The genre labels are the most superficial afterthoughts of our music.
Reggaeton is not on that list i see. It's Spanish Rap n Soca. Actually soca is not on there as well...
2 Harbinger: I can't find the post I once made. It must've been from before the crash.
You know, it's my belief that when you tag tracks that you put up here, it's best to give them fairly broad tags. Something like 'Dance' is better than 'Southern Uzbekistani 3.12am Rave Anthem Junglism As Played Within 122.3 Hours Of The Winter Solstice', IMO. :p
That's why I tend to tag my stuff with simple tags like 'Pop/Rock', 'Dance', and 'Classical'. That, and as Harbinger notes, it's often hard to tag one's music.
Also, given the relatively small number of regulars here, I tend to download or listen to stuff irrespective of the genre. :)
I actually have a combination of those. By definition, I won't listen to tracks made in a certain style. If unknown to me, but I like the music from that author, I do listen. If I don't know the author, but the style is somewhat in my league, I also listen to it.
Genres is a curious thing. They are built on so much different criteria.
For instance, classical music genres are based on time periods and significant writing methods, compositional techniques and melody types.
At the same time music genre can be as broad as based on how it is performed - vocal music, instrumental.
Lots of modern genres are actually subgenres, which differ in rhythm and sounds typically used, along with what impression usually is evoked in a listener - Gothic Rock, Horror music, etc.
I must say that some modern genres are well defined and some are not. Ambient genre is pretty much well defined - it is music with a flat structure (leads and background are blended together). On the other hand it was then expanded to just call any atmospheric music ambient. And though in many times it is confusing, lots of atmospheric music tends toward flat structure anyway.
House and techno are simply 4/4 beat music with the emphasis on drums and electronic instruments. Various subgenres make sense but it is very difficult to define them well.
So it is just historically like that - genres are created by different criteria and that makes them really confusing.
Very good points, louigi. In my research i'm learning things i didn't know about the music genres i thought i knew a lot about. What i thought, for example, was New Wave is actually synthpop. Techno is a broader family of music than what i thought. Both of these were terms used in the 80s of music that i came to love. But 10-20 years of history has given us a clearer perspective of how everything came to be, and the "labels" are reworked (by whom who knows).
To all concerned: whatever labels are ever agreed to or listed are not or ever required. The only good thing they're here for is to prepare listeners for what they might be listening to, and perhaps as a "selling point" for those who like or are interested in that type of music. Critiques, if we can all agree, should not be concerned with how well the music fits the label (altho one may offer that a different label may fit better the music type).
UPDATE: The compiled listing can now be found here (http://forum.openmpt.org/index.php?topic=2756.0). Please read the intro carefully if you wish to contribute... Thanks to all for your input; i hope to make you proud.:wink: