Genres

Yesterday I posted on Twitter a simple little statement concerning how I don't stick to one genre of music when releasing albums or tracks. This is true and as often as not I'll mix different genres into one single track simply because it works for me.

See I don't subscribe to the whole pigeon-holing of music into neat categories thing or trying to shoe-horn a piece of music into somewhere simply because it doesn't fit into any neat little label. I use the different genre terms simply because most people know what is meant by them (or at least a rough approximation) but that isn't an accurate reflection of the music I do most of the time.

Twitter is a good example to use: you post a link to your latest masterpiece and then use hashtags (if you remember to that is) to spread the love. The problem I have is finding the right description to describe my music. You can't just use "it's music, alright?". Well you could I suppose but it might limit your reach.

Classical music is another good example. Everyone has a good idea of what is meant by the term. Of course there are a whole heap of sub-genres under the umbrella term of Classical Music. Renaissance, Romantic, Baroque, Impressionism, High Modern, Serialism and so on. What does Beethoven, for instance, fall under? Well he operated mostly in the actual Classical era (1750 - 1820) but also under Romantic (1805 - 1910). Which is he? Both and neither. He used elements from both movements but forged his own style and revolutionary (at the time) music. It's also unhelpful because many modern composers use elements from all periods either wholly or in part.

Some forms of music fit neatly into a category, which is why these terms were invented of course (duh) but a lot of music doesn't so why bother with them anyway? Well marketing of course and that's understandable but unhelpful.

There are many bands who changed musical styles over the years. Tangerine Dream started as a typical 60s rock band in 1967. Their first release in 1970, Electronic Meditation, has been described as Krautrock. Their next three releases were Kosmische Musik (although Zeit has been called the first dark ambient album). Then came Phaedra and the term Berlin School was eventually invented to describe it. Most of their output though the 70s was in the Berlin School style. But it changed in the 80s and by the end of that decade they were sounding more like an odd west coast rock band. For convenience they are labelled as "Electronic" which is another unhelpful term that covers anything you want.

The other thing that occurred to me was if you are trying to build a fan base up then releasing albums under different genres may not be very helpful either. You may get a few fans who like most things but the bulk will probably want you to do dark ambient, for example, but not the Krautrock or whimsical acoustic stuff. Well most of us don't produce the music we do to please other people although it's always nice when people like it or buy it of course.

One solution is to create different aliases for different genres. But I can't be bothered mucking around with several aliases and the corresponding social media pages (multiple Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Bandcamp pages etc.) - I haven't got the patience for it.

Also when I release an album there are often different styles of genre on it, sometimes in one track. So for me that would create another problem of what to put that album our under. Which alias? It could get too complicated.

I've known plenty of fans get terribly upset and angry that a particular band has had the temerity to produce an album that is radically different to their previous output (Tangerine Dream's Cyclone is a good example). Well many bands do the music that moves them, not to please their audience. If you want a band that produces the same stuff over and over listen to AC/DC (whom I do like incidentally)

Personally I respect bands and musicians who change their style and musical direction because they feel it's the right thing for them to do. It may not always work and there'll be a backlash but you've got to respect someone who's willing to break out of the mould they've been put in. In the case of Tangerine Dream in the 80s they went in a direction I didn't care for, but I still respected them for following their own muse and not pandering to audience expectations.

That said, I don't dislike or disrespect bands or musicians who work in one genre only. That they can keep finding something new to say in that genre is a marvellous thing (those that do, that is).

For myself I can't just do one genre whatever it is. That would bore me to death and be the equivalent of musical suicide. I like following the sound and seeing where it takes me. It may not win me a fan base but it satisfies me musically and mentally.

Thoughts?