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Post by John on Jul 2, 2014 19:48:50 GMT
Are Genres a necessary evil ? I am in two minds around this at one level good music is good music no matter what the genre is called it can also be a one way road preventing people discovering music in different styles. It also gets complicated by how many sub genres their are its easy to get lost and confused. However when I discover new music I like take for instance Dr. L Subramaniam Global Fusion. This album I discovered whilst in Boarders trying out all the new music. The issue is how do you discover new music without labelling its style. Buying this album lead to many other discoveries as I investigated this genre. So I am left with the view point that genres are a necessary evil |
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Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2014 20:02:23 GMT
I get less obsessed with genres as I get older as they only serve to remind me that I break my own rules. They are fine for rough cataloguing, but I don't get hung up on them.
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Post by John on Jul 2, 2014 20:11:05 GMT
Rules are meant to be broken
I still get excited when I discover something new I love
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Post by Tim on Jul 2, 2014 21:17:35 GMT
I use musical genre's a bit like I use a SatNav, good as a general guide and can often get you where you need to be (and lost at times), but I like to also read a map and find my own routes as well  Yup, as others have said . . . good music is good music, who gives a stuff what label it has hung on it, tear the sucker off and just enjoy it! |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 3, 2014 8:24:15 GMT
As you say John good music is good music. What has surprised me in the past few months is being very happy listening to music genres I don't like. That's not the genre name tag being wrong or misplaced but the music just being so well made. On the other side there is music I ought to like that I don't or can't be bothered with. So, taking this a bit further... Genres can be a good guide to what you get but there are some rule breakers I have yet to understand. I'm fairly sure upgrading the kit has taken me to this place Could be we have to adopt the zen outlook Good music is good music  |
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Post by Pinch on Jul 3, 2014 8:31:44 GMT
Well, I think that - in a sense - there are genres, so it's not as if we could eliminate them. That is, genres mark ways in which individual pieces of music can be sorted, according to relevant similarities and differences. Insofar as those similarities and differences obtain, and - as such - the pieces of music afford being sorted in this way, we have genres. They are, then, something of an abstraction, but a useful one, since they enable us to discover new things that are relevantly similar to other things that we know that we like. They also enable us to program our listening; I may know that I'm in the mood for listening to music with certain characteristics, but with no particular piece in mind, but if those characteristics are associated with a genre, then I can browse my library accordingly.
They become a bit problematic when they're taken more seriously than this, as if they were bona fide natural kinds, with robust necessary and sufficient conditions for membership. I think that thinking of them in these terms underlies the many dubious arguments as to which genre any one piece of music belongs, or discussions as to whether a piece is one thing or another. Since if - instead - they're simply markers for sets of relevant similarities and differences, then the question as to which genre any one piece of music belongs, needn't return a single, determinate answer. A piece of music could be similar, in some respects, to paradigms of one genre, and similar, in other respects, to paradigms of another. In this case, the way we sort it will be somewhat arbitrary, and suited to our needs.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2014 9:17:55 GMT
I've considered this in the past and have to admit I find the whole thing quite interesting, if not intriguing. I'm not sure whether anybody else has noticed this but every time a new band is interviewed on a chat show and the question comes up 'how would you describe your music?' the band or spokesperson squirms on the couch, and usually fumbles for an answer. I'm sure a lot of bands know exactly which way they're going but find it hard to find a category to describe their type. I get the feeling that somebody else might choose the category for them in some cases....still, I guess for indexing purposes this is necessary. My last bunch of tunes on soundcloud I filed under whimsy. It didn't exist as a genre as far as I know, and it seems pretty ambiguous. I did get some positive feedback for the genre name though, but not the music |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2014 9:32:36 GMT
Only as far as a cataloguing system is concerned. It helps find stuff in iTunes or in the vinyl rack. Just having everything in alphabetical order would make finding stuff too hard. I tend to have certain favourite artists set up as genres too so when I look at the sidebar in iTunes, I can go straight to them.  |
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Post by Firebottle on Jul 3, 2014 10:27:18 GMT
Glad to see you've got Pink Floyd and Dire Straits as headings but what's Dad's Army?
Cheers (Hobgoblin at present-had a hard morning in the garden) Alan
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2014 11:03:56 GMT
Glad to see you've got Pink Floyd and Dire Straits as headings but what's Dad's Army? Cheers (Hobgoblin at present-had a hard morning in the garden) Alan I downloaded every episode of Dad's Army down from YouTube!!  A good proportion of them are there. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 10:24:14 GMT
Im not sure how i would feel if someone took away mi Genesis LP's.. It would be a big loss that's fer sure.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 10, 2014 11:21:30 GMT
Im not sure how i would feel if someone took away mi Genesis LP's.. It would be a big loss that's fer sure. That Japanese SACD of Selling England that you recommended to me has been in my deck many times of late. Absolute stunner, and has impressed many whom I've played it to. Incredible quality they laid down onto master tape back then. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2014 11:51:41 GMT
Aye people don't realise how good record was back then..
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 10, 2014 12:40:18 GMT
Im not sure how i would feel if someone took away mi Genesis LP's.. It would be a big loss that's fer sure. That Japanese SACD of Selling England that you recommended to me has been in my deck many times of late. Absolute stunner, and has impressed many whom I've played it to. Incredible quality they laid down onto master tape back then. Not so keen on that I'd rather A Trick of the tail Wind & Wuthering Seconds Out The Lamb Lies down |
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Post by yomanze on Jul 10, 2014 13:08:05 GMT
Yes genres are a necessary evil, but people can get a bit carried away with subgenres e.g. "Black Metal" vs. "Post Symphonic Black Metal" ha ha.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 10, 2014 14:58:40 GMT
We had about 3 when I were a lad
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Post by Slinger on Jul 10, 2014 22:08:12 GMT
I've got my digital classical albums split into 27 genres and I've got another 57 genres for the non-classical albums in JRiver (including 5 types of Metal he says, poking his tongue out at yomanze) so for me yes, they are necessary, but not actually evil.  |
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Post by Stratmangler on Jul 11, 2014 9:06:01 GMT
Genres?
Waste of time!
There's only two types of music in my book - stuff that I like, and stuff that I don't.
I never, ever decide upon what to listen by doing a genre search.
Most of my music is classified as Rock, and it's a very broad Church.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 11, 2014 9:10:05 GMT
Can I add a 2 to the 2
3. I must listen to them, I'm not sure, but they do something I think I like
4. They are 'educational' and I'm learning something, hoping that I wll 'get it'
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 11, 2014 20:47:24 GMT
I hate the use of genres - I think it promotes incredibly narrow thinking and is almost totally counterproductive. Whenever I'm pushed to describe something by genre, I try to give examples of actual music by other performers. And several of them.
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