HYPER GENRE CLASSIFICATION
While I’ve been known to champion the lesser-knowns, the forgotten, and the overlooked artists rather than rave about the flavor-of-the-day, I resist parading obscurity as a badge of honor, unlike some writers who obsess over the latest donk 12-inch or only listen to left-handed Tuvan throat singers …
So I almost choked on my coffee yesterday when I was listening to NPR and heard Fresh Air’s Terry Gross describe Galactic as a “funk/jazz/hip-hop band.”
Reviewer Ken Tucker redeemed himself a few minutes later when he rephrased the statement with this: “Galactic is a funk band that’s always moving forward, while mindful of the past.”
But I couldn’t get “funk/jazz/hip-hop” out of my mind.
A Google search for “ridiculous music genres” turned up this gem of a blog entry from audio tuts+, which explores “Spacesynth,” “Epic Doom-Metal,” “Lowercase,” “Bitpop,” and “Nintendocore,” this thread about the subgenres of death metal, and a brief diatribe about “progressive bluegrass.”
If you’re describing yourself as an “electroclash” fan (which the Village Voice defines as “the common ground between Fashion Week and college radio”) you’re over-thinking it.
