laze.net > collections > music > about the genres




Below is a list of the music types listed on the web site and a one or two sentence description of each. If you have a better description, let me know. :)

• Adult Progressive
  More mature than alternative, but different from straight rock.
• Alternative
  See MTV.
• Carribean
  • Calypso
    Carribean music heavily jazz influenced born in the 30's. Trinidad has a big calypso scene and the Carnival each year highlights the best in calypso and soca.
  • Dub
    Most simply put: instrumental reggae with sound effects and vocals that drop in and out. Originated from "dubplates" or instrumental "versions" (another name) of reggae beats that DJs would chat to, creating their own styles of popular reggae singers' tracks. An experience most people miss out on.
  • Reggae
    • Collections
      Reggae compilations and collections often feature many types of reggae, so I gave it a separate sub-category.
    • DJs
      Early folks like U-Roy started this whole bit of rhythmic talking (Jamaican rap, as some people call it) over reggae rhythms. Shabba Ranks brought it to the mainstream in the 80's and today it's blended heavily with hip-hop, R&B, and jungle. Also called "chatting."
    • Singers
      Reggae as Marley fans know it. Includes all crooners.
  • Ska
    In its purist form, ska is another offshoot calypso and a predecessor to reggae: dancable music with lots of horns and upbeat vocals. In its not-so-pure form: a type of music skinheads claimed as theirs for many years -- today a hyper-speed, often sloppy music used as an excuse to mosh. And don't even get me started on that "Oi" bull...
  • Soca
    A relatively recent combination of soul music and calypso. Eddie Grant made this music popular and recently began his own label, Ice Records, to promote this style of music.
• Blues
  Classic to modern blues, but no bastardized blues (aka "country").
• Children's
  Kids music.
• Christmas
  The most wonderful time of the year...
• Classical
  For such a large genre of music, I'm relatively limited here.
• Classic Rock
  70's rock is what generally fits under this category.
• Comedy
  Ha-ha funny music and stand-up acts.
• Easy Listening
  Bubbles fly through the air and Lawrence Welk plays your favorite classics on WEZ-Listening.
• Electronica/Dance
  • Ambient
    Far out spacey music, often with a hard-to-detect beat. Trip out music.
  • Breakbeat
    Hip-hop breakbeats and drum loop discs.
  • Club/House
    Dance club-style music. Includes all subgenres of club and house.
  • Electronica
    General electronica, straightforward 4/4 beats at about 110-125 bpm.
  • Industrial
    Hard-edged electronic dance music with influence of hard rock and metal. More popular on the International market than in America.
  • Jungle/Drum-n-Bass
    Take breakbeats and double their speed, but keep the bassline the same speed. That's the general flavor. Started in the UK about five years ago (in its current form) and has spread worldwide, showing a lot of promise as a creative electronic music form.
  • Techno
    Fast-paced dance music with pulsing bass. Not to be confused with jungle (see above).
  • Trance
    Tight, spacy dance music.
  • Trip-Hop
    Instrumental style of hip-hop mixed with club/house influences based mainly in the UK.
• Folk
  Puff the magic dragon and beyond.
• Hard
  • Black Hard Rock
    Groups like Living Colour and Body Count are classfied under this quickly-faded genre.
  • Death Metal
    Angry music with insanely fast guitars and drums and deep vocal growls.
  • Hard Rock
    Bands, usually attempting to sound hard, that come off as rebel 80's-type bands.
  • Punk
    Here refers to real punk, including underground acts. Mainstream folks will be demoted to "Alternative" category.
• International (if you can't figure THIS section out...)
  • Africa
  • Celtic
  • China
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Haiti
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Latin
  • Mexico
  • Scotland
  • Sweden
  • Vietnam
  • World/Various Countries
• Interview
  Artist interviews, whether official release, promo, or done by myself.
• Jazz
  • Acid Jazz/Hip-Hop Jazz
    Though the two genres are different, they are often hard to distinguish. Acid jazz tends to have a more dance-type edge (bordering on what today we call "Trip-Hop," except with more live instrumentation) whereas Hip-Hop/Jazz has more of a hip-ho p element and rhythm but often lapses into classic or contemporary jazz styles.
  • Big Band/Swing
    Here, will generally refer to music released during the big-band era, with some recent releases as the exception.
  • Classic Jazz
    Classic-style jazz that can have been recorded in the 40's or in the 90's, as long as the sound is there. Encompasses bop (and all of its subgenres), cool jazz, free jazz, etc.
  • Contemporary Jazz (Smooth Jazz)
    Less complexity than classic jazz and a softer edge. Think Kenny G if you must.
  • Fusion
    Spacey 70's jazz made famous by Miles Davis.
  • Post-Contemporary Jazz
    Modern day experimental avant-garde jazz comparable to fusion in the 70's.
  • Ragtime
    Predecessor to jazz and Dixieland in the earlier part of the century. Much of this music only existed on piano rolls.
  • Rock-Jazz
    Rock with a jazz influence, or jazz with a rock influence, such as Stanley Clarke's albums of the late-70's and early-80's.
  • Soul-Jazz (70's)
    Generally 4/4 meter jazz with a classic soul tempo. Roy Ayers and Lonnie Liston Smith were big players in this genre.
• Nature
  Sounds of streams and thunderstorms to create an artifically natural state.
• New Age/Meditation
  Often combined with nature sounds, this music is for the Zen in all of us.
• Pop
  This is a broad and hard-to-pinpoint category, but think of the radio stations that play Elton John, Billy Joel, and Phil Collins.
• Religious
  • Buddhist
    Tibetan chants and music of other sects of Buddhism.
  • Christian
    Mainly white Christian and Choir music. Includes all genres of Christian music.
  • Gospel
    Black Christian music, generally with more energy and soul than the typical white Christian choir.
  • Muslim
    Music of those that practice Islam.

Soundtrack

Here, includes all soundtracks and general compilations with various types of music. If a movie soundtrack features only one type of music, it will still show up in this category rather than the primary music type's category.

Speech

Oratories.

Spoken Word

Poets and speakers over beats and music.

Urban

• Bass Music
  Rednecks have made it famous with the deep bass booms in their trucks.
• Classic Soul
  Includes singers like Marvin Gaye as well as classic funk like Parliament. Includes recent work by classic artists if it maintains its classic sound and doesn't blend into modern R&B.
• Hip-Hop
  The beat from the street, from old-school to now-school.
• R&B
  Modern-day soul, beginning in the early-80's and coming right up to current times. This type of music is what receives the most airplay on stations that label themselves "Urban Contemporary."
• Turntablism
  The DJ as a musician, the turntables as instruments. A fast-growing, and ever-more impressive genre in its own right.