electronic music guide

February 16, 2005 1:28 AM

comprehensive electronic music guide [flash required] Lists the major electronic music genres with a large number of sub genres and each sub genre has about three to five samples from different artists. Maybe this will get you guys to stop calling paul oakenfold's music 'trance'.
posted by EvilKenji (46 comments total)

Maybe this will get you guys to stop calling paul oakenfold's music 'trance'.

yeah, guys. what the hell is wrong with all of you? seriously.
posted by jimmy at 1:43 AM on February 16, 2005

I find it a bit far-fetched to call this a "comprehensive electronic music guide." It only deals with electronic dance music. Nothing wrong with that, I'd just be pissed if I was Stockhausen and someone told me I wasn't in the comprehensive guide to electronic music.
posted by leecifer at 1:51 AM on February 16, 2005

Paul Oakenfold sure does make some might fine "trance" music.
posted by Swervo at 1:53 AM on February 16, 2005

This is totally insane and completely impressive. It's so freaking vast. Does it make sense? Can you really categorize dance/electronic music this precisely?
posted by sien at 1:56 AM on February 16, 2005

Maybe this will get you guys to stop calling paul oakenfold's music 'trance'.

Mate, I can call it headpoppingsexbombbeatism if I feel like it. Electronic music genres are way to branched and artificially categorized for anyone to take it seriously. A resource like this is very cool for discovering some new artists, history and sounds, but you don't need to understand the fine distinctions between "gabba", "happy hardcore', "happy gabba", "nu-style gabba" and "gabba house" to enjoy electronic music.
posted by Jimbob at 1:57 AM on February 16, 2005

As previously discussed
posted by rxrfrx at 2:02 AM on February 16, 2005

for as far as it matters; nice mapping.
rofl > ferry Corsten: he DID kill trance!
gabba=gabber? that spread across the world ... ouch!
posted by borq at 2:08 AM on February 16, 2005

This is most excellent. I've given up mostly on trying to explain what sort of music I listen to and just call it "Techno." I know it's house and downtempo, but now I've got a more articulate way to explain it all.
posted by Orrorin at 2:10 AM on February 16, 2005

that spread across the world ... ouch!

Pumping out of 19-year-old's ricer car stereos in every city across the world...
posted by Jimbob at 2:14 AM on February 16, 2005

Just one quibble, but one which unfortunately calls the accuracy of the entire site into question: I looked under "Trance" and was unable to find the music of the great and singular Paul Oakenfold. I mean, really, if Paul Oakenfold isn't the paradigm of Trance, then who is?

However, this has spurred me to dig my entire collection of Paul Oakenfold 8-tracks out of storage, including the seminal "Paul Oakenfold Plays and Sings his Smoky Mountain Favourites", and for this I thank you.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:19 AM on February 16, 2005

I'd just be pissed if I was Stockhausen and someone told me I wasn't in the comprehensive guide to electronic music.

He's in there, just about. Click on Downtempo, then Musique Concrete. He's the fourth sample.
posted by kersplunk at 2:36 AM on February 16, 2005

chiptune!
posted by stokast at 2:54 AM on February 16, 2005

Wow. I stand corrected. Thanks kersplunk.
posted by leecifer at 2:54 AM on February 16, 2005

So every track ever produced has its own subgenre, huh? I get it now. When you create a piece of electronic music, you are obligated not only to name the work but also to make up a new category for it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:56 AM on February 16, 2005

Woah again. On even further exploration there's much more here than I expected. The seven big categories on the left miss a lot but he stuffs it in between those big genres.
posted by leecifer at 3:02 AM on February 16, 2005

Incidentally, the man responsible for this guide is Ishkur, the jaded Canadian Raver also famous for his Guide to Rave Culture, the hilarious Rave Captions, and Dancers and Drugees: the Raver Role-Playing Game.
posted by Uncle Ira at 3:10 AM on February 16, 2005

Funny, ugly and close to pointless. He's a bit grumpy about certain things, but then if I spent the time to do this type of map I would no doubt end up hating half the tunes.
I think he has developed the map without any substantial research. As such it's a list of some forms of dance music, as categorised by Iskur.

Still, it's just a bit of fun.
posted by asok at 3:15 AM on February 16, 2005

"Musical Hairsplitting: The act of classifying music and musicians into pathologically picayune categories: "The Vienna Franks are a good example of urban white acid folk revivalism crossed with ska.""

I always thought classification in this "genre" was good for the record stores, to help and aid proper consumption of goods.
posted by gsb at 4:17 AM on February 16, 2005

I have discovered a new genre! It's called sonic autopsy, and is a subfield of idm and classical electronica.

Check out Ed Lawes '14 Tracks/pieces' for a paradigm example.

http://www.planet-mu.com/artist53.html

On preview perhaps someone could help me to class this album into one of those other categories?
posted by leibniz at 4:23 AM on February 16, 2005

Interesting idea. Terrible – not to mention terribly ugly – execution, and the writing's sub-fanzine quality in most places, doing little more than stating the obvious.

The smugness and snobbery implied in the phrase "intelligent dance music" (y'know – it's not like all that stupid mainstream stuff that the proles suck up on chart radio and MTV) always left me uncomfortable; the attendant obsessive desire to intellectualise it without going any further than placing each artist/track in a newly-minted box is pointless. Not that it shouldn't be intellectualised about – but there's no critical thought here; just OCD and a bad case of Flash.
posted by Len at 5:53 AM on February 16, 2005

EvilKenji: It's actually a Guide to Electronic Music, not an Electronic Music Guide. My favorite Electronic Music Guide (so far) is AMG.

THAT IS YOUR SEMANTICS LESSON FOR THE DAY.
posted by Eideteker at 7:02 AM on February 16, 2005

Paul Oakenfold sure does make some might fine "trance" music.

Did you hear his latest album? Not nearly trancey enough for me. Some of his earlier trance music was just trancey as hell, yo. But now he's sold out. It used to be about the trance, man.
posted by Hildago at 7:13 AM on February 16, 2005

Isn't this a double post?
posted by sid at 7:21 AM on February 16, 2005

Boring snarks aside (thanks guys, you're all hilarious), I really appreciate resources like this (even though they're all completely arbitrary at some level).

With most musical genres (e.g., "electronic music", "jazz", "rock"), there's some music I like, and some I don't. Having a standard vocabulary that allows me to describe what I'm looking for to like-minded people is extremely useful. Imagine explaining why you like punk and don't like heavy metal to somebody who's never heard rock music before.

I just wish this was searchable. I don't have an hour (or several) to click through the entire map right now.
posted by Eamon at 7:43 AM on February 16, 2005

Isn't this a double post?

Ishkur is _so_ 2001 ;)

what I'd say marginally saves it from Double-Post Land is that the link is to an updated 2.5 version of the 2.0 Ishkur guide. Ishkur fleshed out marginal categories like Industrial (since 50% of ravers over 30 probably have a Front 242 skeleton in their closet), introduced finer hairsplits for genres like Techno \ Euro, and added newer samples for still evolving mutations like powernoise (tho, of course, you'll get all manner of noize trendsters who'd say the 'noizecore' label is totally obsolete and that it's supposed to be called 'breakcore' nowadays. yeah, like whatever, dude)

So I'm glad for the reminder that Ishkur's still working, but he made all of his best jokes two years ago.
posted by bl1nk at 8:17 AM on February 16, 2005

Oh man. Despite having seen this a couple times before, I'll never get sick of being reminded that there's a song out there called "2 Much Booty (In The Pants)."
posted by StopMakingSense at 8:34 AM on February 16, 2005

this is also another good link in the same vein.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:02 AM on February 16, 2005

I'm an ass. I thought they were different. sorry.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:03 AM on February 16, 2005

ricer

Racial slur.
posted by sudama at 9:26 AM on February 16, 2005

..played through dashboard speakers with no power, ground out like flour.
posted by anthill at 9:56 AM on February 16, 2005

Please explain as if to a small child, how the term "ricer" is racist.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:58 AM on February 16, 2005

what about Grime?
Jeez, he forgot Grime.
I kept hitting "Refresh", but alas, no Grime.

And can someone please explain how "Drum 'n' Bass" is smoother than "Jungle"?
posted by hellbient at 10:07 AM on February 16, 2005

Not completely comprehensive, but not bad.

According to these guidelines my music is apparently ambient sometimes, industrial sometimes, IDM sometimes, ambient-IDM sometimes, industrial-IDM sometimes and ambient-industrial-IDM sometimes.
posted by Foosnark at 10:19 AM on February 16, 2005

I think there's room for some more Paul Oakenfold jokes if anyone's interested.

Nobody? Never mind then.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 10:26 AM on February 16, 2005

"Pumping out of 19-year-old's ricer car stereos in every city across the world..."
-Jimbob

"Ricer
Racial Slur."
-sudama

"Please explain as if to a small child, how the term 'ricer' is racist."
-five fresh fish

"Ricer" in this context, is referring to the asian import cars that the 19 year olds are supposedly driving, often called "rice racers." It is mildly derogatory, in the sense that it implies that the only worthwhile things produced by those countries are 1) cheap cars perfect for race-modifying and 2) rice.

f^3, hopefully this answers your question.
posted by mystyk at 10:33 AM on February 16, 2005

mystyk: I admire your creativity, in finding a way to turn the turn 'ricer' (alternately 'rice burner') into a slur against an entire nation.

It just means they're Japanese. Anybody who takes it more than that is probably an overly PC gaijin.
posted by mosch at 10:57 AM on February 16, 2005

Otherwise known as "rice rockets" ... and inspiring the VW, BMW, and Mercedes sport cars to be occasionally called "kraut burners".

I personally think it's about as derogatory as Calvin pissing on a chevy logo...
posted by anthill at 10:59 AM on February 16, 2005

mosch: remember, it's all in the perception. I routinely refer to my Honda Civic as a 'rice racer,' especially with all the modifications I have done to it over the years (Highway Patrol: please ignore). I am also not Japanese. I have, however, been warned repeatedly by some of my asian friends to be careful how - and when - I use that term as some people can get pretty pissed off. In general (aka. to my friends), I'm a dangerously un-PC guy, and I was really just trying to explain the most likely thinking behind sudama's comment.

On preview: anthill, you're probably right, and we can only hope that everyone else could reach such a conclusion.
posted by mystyk at 11:09 AM on February 16, 2005

This is an interesting site... but it reminds me of the famous Elvis Costello quote: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do."

I've been making an effort to stop asking questions about a musician that a friend is telling me about, and instead just asking to listen to a song or two. I listen to more music that I don't like this way, but I've also found a few great artists that I would've dismissed out of dislike of most of their genre.
posted by mosch at 11:51 AM on February 16, 2005

The term "ricer" doesn't refer to "cheap cars perfect for race-modifying."

In fact, it has quite the opposite meaning. Riced cars are plastered with useless gewgaws in a vain attempt to look sporty, and modifications that quite literally reduce the car's performance (but look "cool" in some people's eyes).

The trend takes it to extreme forms in Japan. two links there

Given that rice very nearly defines Japan, that the modification trend is most extreme there, and that so many of the components for the mods are imported from Japan... well, what the hell else could it be called?

Not everything that emphasizes the wonderful differences between our cultures needs to be taken as racism. Celebrate the fact that our world is still not homogenized, and have fun with it. "Ricing" is not a slam against the nation of Japan nor its citizens. It's hardly a racist term.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:16 PM on February 16, 2005

"Ricing" is not a slam against the nation of Japan nor its citizens. It's hardly a racist term.

Not, but "ricers" who listen to "gabba" is not in reference to AA kids?
posted by iamck at 1:00 PM on February 16, 2005

actually the phrase 'talking about music is like dancing about architecture' is older than elvis costello. It's one of my favourite aphorisms (being a philosopher of music) so I did an google search about it one time and I far as I could tell it's origins are lost in the mists of time...
posted by leibniz at 2:25 PM on February 16, 2005

argh! I put a possesive apostrophe in "its"! Please forgive me...
posted by leibniz at 2:27 PM on February 16, 2005

[blink]

Like, twelve-step kids? Wouldn't those be "ricers" who got into the "grappa"?
posted by five fresh fish at 2:35 PM on February 16, 2005

Alright, back on track:

True, Oakie's more recent stuff is clearly not very trancey at all; one would more accurately label it 'progressive' (a term I hate). His older stuff, pre-2000ish, however, is very much trance, especially his live sets and mix CD's.

Drum'n'bass is often described as 'smoother' than jungle because jungle is meant to be a rougher sound, closer to a less-quantized and less-produced reggae/ragga sound.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:45 PM on February 16, 2005

IMO, the value of Ishkur's site lies not in his editorializing or dubious genre-hair-splitting, but the wealth of sound samples provided. His guide turned me on to quite a few songs/artists I'd never heard (Terry Riley, for instance)
posted by jcruelty at 2:51 PM on February 16, 2005