KARISHMA D'MELLO
A Brief Overview
of Music’s Most
Unconventional
Genres
Genres serve an interesting purpose to audiences.
They’re a way for us to make sense of the otherwise
chaotic nature and direction of art, music and creative
expression. They allow us to identify patterns within
our own likes and dislikes, and find solace in creative
expressions that validate those preferences. Genres
come from other genres, multiplying, breeding between
sub-genres, ultimately giving birth to something almost
unrecognizable, and in some cases, rather questionable.
But of course, to each their own. Where there’s a niche,
there’s a reason it’s still alive. And no matter how obscure,
the fact is, it exists. And if it exists, it warrants analysis,
or as my word limit would allow it, a quick overview…
Starting with a genre that’s slowly filtering its way into the
mainstream, “Narco corrido”, or the drug ballad, draws
largely from Spanish romance, and the more traditional
narrative styles of “corrido” from Mexico. The lyrical content
focuses on narcotics, and narcoculture beyond the U.S –
Mexico border, unsurprisingly earning these songs bans,
and next to no radio time. However, like most genres, it has
a strong niche following of its own, that draws largely from
South American countries and communities in Mexico.
Nintendocore, on the other hand, is a curious case of
rock meets chip music - creating an interesting fusion
of the two. Some of the pioneering artists within this
genre include Yellow Magic Orchestra, Buckner and
Garcia, The Advantage, and Mr. Bungle, whose music
used distinctive computer sounds, video game music
and even arcade game samples. However, as far as
independent music is concerned, Autoclave was the first
of the indie-rockers to ever cover a video game theme
song, with their take on the arcade game “Paperboy”.
Horror Country is perhaps one of the more obscure genres
on this list. And I say this because it was nearly impossible
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The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
to find any written material describing the genre, save
for a dedicated Reddit page - r/horrorcountry. However,
despite the lack of a solid description (which would perhaps
be redundant, given the self-explanatory name) you can
find several artists dedicated to creating music within this
category. The genre itself seems to follow a simple enough
premise of country music with refreshingly eery undertones
in its lyrical content. For anyone who’s liked country
music, but always had a distaste for its often predictable
lyrics, horror country is definitely worth a listen.
Math rock, is one of those conceptually interesting genres
that is characterized by the odd and the atypical. Math rock
doesn’t care for the general structures of music, using erratic
rhythms, unpredictable patterns, while simultaneously
incorporating an intricate sense of complexity. Like most
genres, math rock has inspired the birth of sub-genres like
mathcore (a fusion of punk rock, extreme metal and math
rock), and to a certain extent, technical death metal.
Black MIDI’s appeal lies in its incomprehensibility.
The whole idea behind the genre is to layer millions
or even billions of notes over the other to create an
almost blackened score or manuscript. Conceptually,
black MIDI is similar to the idea behind the impossible
piano – a pursuit characterized by the creation of
piano arrangements that are impossible to perform.
And finally, we have Kawaii metal, cute metal or kawaii
core, the genre that combines elements from heavy
metal, traditional Japanese music, electronic dance,
death metal and western pop. The music is generally
defined by heavy sounding music, paired with more
docile lyrics – a less sinister version of conventional
metal. Japanese metallers “Babymetal”, are almost
undisputedly the pioneers of this style, and their name
is perhaps the most apt description of the genre.