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Newbie needs help understanding the genres

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  • January 13, 2013 at 1:34 am #34943
    Josh
    Participant

    Hey John,
    I know you’ve got a ton of advice already. I’ve faced the same thing you are and while I wouldn’t say I’ve nailed it yet – partially because, as others have stated, there is a such a huge genre blur now that it’s sometimes damn tough to differentiate – but…. use Beatport, Trackitdown, whatever you like. Use their genre filters and then either listen to all of the current top 10 songs OR switch to the top 100 (if available) and then hit the play all. It won’t be the panacea for your issue but it will help you to be a lot more accurate when listening to a track for the first time and being able to say it’s this genre or that genre.

    Having said all that I like to listen to and buy tracks based on a simple motto – a good track that gets the blood pumping is a good track – genre doesn’t matter! And I think unless you’re gigging at a venue where the night you are playing at is expecting a set genre… you can genre hop. Just listen to a Laidback Luke set…. tell me if he plays any one genre more than another!!!

    Anyway hopefully my thoughts help somehow.

    January 13, 2013 at 10:19 pm #34970
    Jim Kroezen
    Participant

    IMO you should know at least the basics of the different genres as a DJ. A DJ who doesn’t know the difference between electro and techno can’t be taken seriously. I can help you out with some basic genre knowledge if you want. This website should also give you a start: http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/

    January 14, 2013 at 9:24 pm #35050
    djatome
    Participant

    I agree with Jim Kroezen.
    http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/ this site has also helped me a lot in explaining where certain genres originated from. It might not be totally up to date, but still, it’s pretty useful.

    If you want to dig deeper into music history, check for full documentaries on youtube on the genres you are interested in.
    Like, the ones in which good-old dj’s explain about the start of their movement..cool stuff.
    In case you like dubstep, go check this one: [media=youtube]WORom53h-Co[/media]

    February 4, 2013 at 11:10 am #36155
    D Homei
    Participant

    Thanks everyone. I’m starting to discover I don’t like what I describe as “endurance” songs, but what may actually be called “trance”. Songs that sound like you should be driving down the autobahn at night at a constant speed…forever. Or songs that make me feel like I should be staring at one of those screensavers where you are shooting forward through outer space. They seem to have no “drops” or structure and they all pretty much sound alike (to me, anyway). I get so bored listening to that music and I can’t even imagine trying to dance to it for an hour straight.

    I might be interpreting what you say incorrectly, but don’t forget there’s good and bad songs for every genre of music out there. I generally don’t like guitar-based rock and roll, but I love the Beatles. It sounds like you might be confusing the two. So even though you prefer EDM with drops and builds (sounds like Progressive House to me) and want to avoid EDM that stays in ‘drone’ mode (sounds like Minimal Techno or Deep House to me) you may still find Progressive House that’s disappointing and Minimal Techno that pleasantly surprises you. Sometimes those ‘exception’ songs are the best ones and lead you to new areas of discovery.

    Personally I think EDM genres are effectively meaningless, but that’s a whole ‘nutha post and/or thread I don’t have time to write about!

    February 4, 2013 at 3:26 pm #36168
    softcore
    Member

    http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/

    OOOooops sorry, just saw it was already posted….anyways, besides the humorous descriptions, listen to the given examples of each subgenre which most of the times are quite on spot and will help you categorise some stuff in your mind!

    The problem with on-line shops like beatport etc etc is that most often than not a track may be cetegorised in false genres for promotion reasons. The same goes to lots of Youtube stuff and whatnot – do not base your assumptions on how a genre sounds only on these sources. Ishkur’s guide to electronic music (link above) is the most accurate I have ever found as far as the audio examples go.

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