Hey folks,

A few years ago I went in to the basement room where the cool kids hung out while they did video conversions and such. They had a playlist in the background of "Haunting Covers" or something like that. It was a take on all different music, but played in a really chilled, gothic style and by a mix of un/lesser-known artists.

Does anyone have some recommendations? To give you an idea, one of the more known tracks I heard while I was there was Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit but covered by Tori Amos.

Thanks.

There're maybe 2 aspects to the question: what makes you prefer a certain genre over another? and within that genre, what criteria makes you think one piece performs better than another?

I get that this is a very subjective and probably subconscious thing. Just curious to see how everyone would describe their own tastes.

For me I'm not much of a music person, most music I found were just soundtracks from films or videogames. So I guess the music is good if the film/game is good. Listening is a way to put me back into the moods of the scenes it came from.

Edit: I also listen to meme songs a lot so I guess I like them for just being funny, which is not a very musically relevant criteria I suppose

I've been thinking, and it seems like most genres are a love/hate thing (metal and punk are highly controversial for example, they have super hardcore fans but are largely disliked by the majority of people, pop is the opposite, most people like it but there's a very vocal minority that absolutely deplores it and wants to watch it burn, electronic music as a whole also tends to gather mixed reception, etc), but out of all music I pretty much never see any dislike aimed at r&b, funk, soul and jazz (except for smooth jazz, although a lot of people don't consider it actual jazz).

Is there some truth behind this? I personally don't like these genres (and neither do the people around me) and I've always had the feeling we were pretty alone in that sense.

Hey there,

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Someone suggested I add this here, hope you enjoy my collection of music. Been collecting/doing write ups about my favourite tracks since 2013 (~4.5k posts) and last year I started re-thinking how to organize music + putting together playlists on the major streaming platforms.

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Chill Beats | lofi hip hop, chillhop & jazzhop

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud | YouTube

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Groovy Beats | instrumental hip hop, soul, funk & bossa nova

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud | YouTube

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Funky Flavors | electro funk, break beats, hip hop & electro soul

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Soulful Hip Hop | hip hop, neo soul, jazz & r&b

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Acoustic Escape | indie, acoustic, folk & folktronica

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Dance Vibes | nu disco, electro, funky house, indie dance, french house

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Ambient Space | downtempo, chillstep & trip hop beats

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Bass Waves | future beats, future bass, electronic dance and trap

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

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Lush Vibes | r&b, soul & future beats

Spotify | Apple Music | SoundCloud

I, personally, have a lot of music I listen to, but I can't just throw anything on when I want to jam. I have certain bands and certain genres whenever I'm feeling strongly one way or the other. Sad usually gets (to name a few) The Smiths, Blue October, or Motion City Soundtrack. Angry gets Periphery, some early Coheed and Cambria, or some early Incubus. Happy might get Weezer, Fleetwood Mac, or Polyphia. To name a few examples.

Or sometimes, I'm just feeling a certain band/sound and nothing else for days at a time. At the moment, it's been Thank You Scientist. If you can't put bands to emotions, what have you stuck on repeat lately?

hey all! just wanted to share a really interesting response to the title question i came across today.

this discussion spawned on the /r/justfuckmyshitup subreddit, a page dedicated to those with bad haircuts, and was based around rising (you guessed it) emo rapper, bexey.

as with many others in the genre, most of bexey's following is still very underground even though popular tracks like 'cutthroat smile' and 'stay alive' have reached 2.9 million and 7 million hits, respectively, on youtube.

while a bit of controversy surrounds bexter as he was once a good friend of late emo rap frontrunner
lil peep
(linked: 'your favorite dress') though has been rumored to have stolen several of peeper's clothes after his death, the musical point of discussion quickly turned to the question in the title:

when did rap turn into this? we need to start over.

not shortly after, user /u/GNAR-gemniii responds.

This is natural progression in genres of music.
Hip hop starts somewhere, has it's defining characteristics established, then people start pushing the genre in different directions because the same old same old has been done before.
We're in a weird sort of teenage state with hip hop right now, where people are taking the genre and mixing in characteristic of other genres - some good, some bad. This, combined with the 'viral' nature of social media means we get people who do crazy things to stand out like the above, as part of pushing the genre in all these weird directions. This guy specifically is a blend of modern trap production with goth and emo influences (if you couldn't tell).
as always, there are gonna be people who do it better than others, and people who rely on gimmicks for attention. This guy is a solid 6/10 talent wise, but has an image that appeals to a younger generation. This pattern is as old as music and culture, and people said the same things about every genre when we start getting some really wacky stuff that doesn't really fit within the confines that we would normally associate with the genre.
Nu-metal is a great example of this. traditional rock and metal music had been done to death, so we had this infusion of hip hop characteristics in to metal. In its infancy, a lot of it is really bad as people figure out what works, then as the subgenres become more popular you have people who hit a nice groove that combines the best characteristics of both genres into something that actually appeals to people who might like one or the other, and can now appreciate the other part of the blooming subgenre. something like Limp Bizkit or Kid Rock vs. Linkin Park or Korn. They're very similar genre wise but you can see maturation of the style and the progression of people doing it well.
We've already had some really nice subgenres blooming out of hip hop. Cloud rap is one that I think blends very well, and has been around long enough for people who were inspired by the artists at the forefront to come out and do it themselves, sometimes pushing it even further. Recently Lil Peep was an artist that many felt blended nicely the attitude of punk rock / emo / grunge with the banging beats that dominate modern hip hop currently. In the past couple years NY has had a surge of artists who grew up listening to the boom bap greats that paved the way for hip hop and are now blending that into the modern trap beats. The Underachievers are a personal favorite who demonstrate their understanding and respect for the origins of hip hop by showing master of both old and new styles (infused with the ideals of hippy counter culture) on their album Evermore: The Art of Duality. Seriously it's great, give it a listen. If you like old hip hop you will definitely like some of the songs at least, and it could open your eyes a bit and see how they translate traditional skills on top of more modern production.
As the genre continues to dominate main stream music we're going to have people inspired by artists in these weird hip hop subgenres come out and do it better than their idols, giving us a further refined and more tasteful progression of the subgenres that are currently in their infancy.
As time goes on, we forget the gimmicky trash that tends to flare out quickly and tend to remember the ones that did it well. Within the next 10 years i feel we're going to see some of the subgenres really shine and define themselves separately from the genres they have their roots in.
I just love the culture so on some level I can enjoy some objectively not that great music because I appreciate the art and what these artists are trying to do.
e. Don't even get me started on how metal has stagnated and it's energy has evolved into modern dubstep.

I always love asking this question because the answers are always so unique to each person.

I love a lot of music, but a lot of my favorite albums or songs often have a few recurring themes or are in a certain genre, and I personally like analyzing my taste and asking myself stuff like "why do I like this so much?" As I've done this, I've noted that my favorites often fall into one or more of these:

Shoegaze and/or Dream Pop
I like warmth in music, and a lot of shoegaze is very good at having a warm atmosphere like in Citrus. Other times I a noisy assault on my ears with an emphasis on wall of sound, and stuff like Grandeur of Hair is perfect for that need. I love the feeling of a wall of sound washing over me and just enveloping me, and sometimes a dream pop edge is also a great addition.

Space
This is mainly space rock, but I love a lot of space-y feeling things and I always have. I have a really big attraction to it, and I can't really explain why, but the idea of a cold vacuum of space just gets to me and makes me go "Wow, this sounds so cool and expansive and distant and I want to be there." Whether it's something sappy like Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, something a little more depressing and slow like Stratosphere, or something infectiously repetitive like Orion Awakes, it never fails to make me happy.

Southern and/or soulful hip-hop
I like vocal harmonies, soulful sounding stuff, and the accent is very familiar to me so it makes some of the rhymes feel a bit closer or special or familiar? Something like that. Anyway, things like Rodeo, Soul Food, and ATLiens fit into this and make me smile with the southern rhymes or the souls-y love.

Plunderphonics/Sound Collage
I LOVE plunderphonics to death. I love the idea of taking little things out of pieces of other stuff and molding it into a totally new project with a new feel and theme and sound. Some of my favorites are Since I Left You (full album wasn't on Youtube) and Wildflower (also not on Youtube), Pharma, and Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999.

You don't have to type out some big thing like I did, just tell me some of your favorite things in music!