Music
There’s a Melbourne bounce and Greek house? This site will tell you the difference and then some.
This weekend, we went down a rabbit hole and now that we’ve surfaced on the other side, we’d like to invite you to follow us on what can only be describe as a manic, fascinating journey into the world of music. A microscopic, deeply detailed journey, we might add. Seth Troxler, via Facebook this weekend, made us aware of Every Noise, which was created by Glenn McDonald of The Echo Nest, a music data company acquired by Spotify. This is a map of approximately 1380 (and counting) genres and sub-genres of music the world over. Forget about minimal techno or psychedelic trance. Every Noise doesn’t just look at the broad genres of electronic music, it goes into the minute definitions of sub and sub-strata micro-genres across the spectrum of music itself. For instance, we’ve been listening to Disco Polo, Shiver Pop, Tin Pan Alley, Dangdut and Mbalax. Yes, these are all genres of music.
What you’re faced with when you arrive at the site, is a vast expanse of clickable names, signifying the genre. Click on one to listen to the sound, or hover and tap the double arrow to go to a page which comprises of artists that create the music of that particular genre. For instance — and this is just a very regular example, comparatively — you’ll find Maceo Plex as one of the many artists on the Minimal Tech House landing page. The example given, once you click on Maceo Plex’s name, is the Nicholas Jaar mix of his track, “Gravy Train”. The scope of this undertaking is mind-blowing and it begs certain questions. Are we segregating music far too much? Or should all the various microcosms within music be categorised according to their tiny differences? It’s a long-standing debate within music, specifically electronic music: are we genre-lising far too much? Looking at Every Noise, we’re not so certain anymore, faced all at once, by the awe-inspiring scope of music, as a whole. Have a look and decide for yourselves.
Click on Every Noise to explore.