Genre Speciation

[PJPro]

I have noticed that the basic music genres seem to have evolved into a infinite number of new sub-genre.

Why do I find this annoying? Well, mainly because I don't use playlists. So, I select my entire music collection and play tracks randomly, which is good in some ways because I listen to a wide range of music at each sitting.

But sometimes I'm in the mood for, say, rock. However, there are so many types of rock that filtering by genre proves to be a bit tricky e.g.

Metal
Alternative Metal
Avant Rock
Classical Rock
Folk Rock
Progreesive Rock
Psychedelic ROck
Punk
Punk Rock
Punkedelic
Hard Rock
Grunge
etc

So, I'd like to reclassify my entire collection to a maximum of 10 ancestor genres. My guess at these are....

Rock
Blues
Jazz
Pop
Folk
Dance
Reggae
Rap & Hip Hop
Classical
World Music

Do you think I've got this right? I'd be grateful for any comments/ideas before I take the plunge and modify the tags on my entire collection.

 

[Alec]

i think thats a pretty good list actualy.

now, before you tag a song, be sure to let us discuss which category it belongs in.

 

[PJPro]

Hhhhmmm. I was intending to do it by album. I think it's gonna be tricky enough at that level let alone at track!

 

[Alec]

Quitter.

 

[Anonymous]

PJPro:I have noticed that the basic music genres seem to have evolved into a infinite number of new sub-genre. Why do I find this annoying? Well, mainly because I don't use playlists. So, I select my entire music collection and play tracks randomly, which is good in some ways because I listen to a wide range of music at each sitting. But sometimes I'm in the mood for, say, rock. However, there are so many types of rock that filtering by genre proves to be a bit tricky e.g.MetalAlternative MetalAvant RockClassical RockFolk RockProgreesive RockPsychedelic ROckPunkPunk RockPunkedelicHard RockGrungeetcSo, I'd like to reclassify my entire collection to a maximum of 10 ancestor genres. My guess at these are....RockBluesJazzPopFolkDanceReggaeRap & Hip HopClassicalWorld MusicDo you think I've got this right? I'd be grateful for any comments/ideas before I take the plunge and modify the tags on my entire collection.

ÿ

Not nearly enough for me personally.

Would "rock" include Sepultura, Slayer, Metallica, Morbid Angel, as well as Iron Maiden, Guns and Roses as well as Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead, The Verve? I for one would rarely listen to Slayer in the same session as Radiohead.

Must admit have been thinking of putting genres on my collection but as you suggest, it's a ball-ache

ÿ

With only 10 I would probably go, Heavy metal, Rock, Post Rock (I have a lot), Pop, IDM and ambient, Dance, Folk and traditional, Reggae, Classical, Jazz .

I could probably drop Jazz, as the nearest I have is Cinematic Orchestra and Jassanova, which would slot into IDM and ambient. I did purchase a Miles Davies record once, and it got played once.ÿ

Blues would slot into Folk and trad.

Soul would slot into pop.

All the really heavy stuff would be in Heavy metal

IDM and ambient would be a very large genre for me. As would post-rock, which would include prog-rock.

ÿ

Sheesh, what a nightmare.ÿ

ÿ

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ÿ

 

[John Duncan]

Where do Angsty Female Singer Songwriters In Comfortable Shoes fit?

 

[Craig M.]

JohnDuncan:Where do Angsty Female Singer Songwriters In Comfortable Shoes fit?

maybe some roomy dungarees?

 

[up the music]

I use about 20 genres for my collection of about 35,000 tracks.
My folder structure is split into 'complete album MP3', 'complete album FLAC', 'incomplete album AAC', 'unsorted MP3' etc, then subfoldered by my 20 genres.
I've thought about using 'grouping' field for subgenre too but thats a job for later.

I also use comment field keys (eg V = vinyl rip, D = DAB grab, FM = have piece as Flac and MP3 etc.

It took ages to get sorted, especially as I had a big collection before getting internet access and tagging and rooting out duplicates caused considerable headache. Now it's 90odd percent there and I'm reaping the rewards.

I too tend not to use playlists.

 

[PJPro]

First pass has been completed. Attacked this using the supposition at an artist belongs to a single genre. So, for instance, everything Madonna has done is pop.

A number of difficult decisions along the way....the boundaries are definately fuzzy.....probably giving rise to the evolution of all these genre in the first place.

Second pass will require an re-classificiation by album.

Final pass (which I may never do) will be by track.

 

[Simon Lucas]

This is some task, PJPro. You don't sound convinced that artists belong to single genres... where have you put Neil Young? Or Brian Eno?

 

[PJPro]

Simon Lucas:This is some task, PJPro. You don't sound convinced that artists belong to single genres... where have you put Neil Young? Or Brian Eno?
No, I'm not. But is was a quick and dirty way to dramaticlly reduce the number of genres I have floating around.

I next need to re-examine the simplistic genre decisions made alnum by album. I suspect that this will prove difficult and am already thinking about the genres I may have to add.

 

[up the music]

Well

Neil Young is in 'US Alt Folk/Country and Stuff', along with the Violent Femmes and Michelle Shocked (and others).

Brian Eno (Taking Tiger Mountain, Another Green World, Before And After Science and Here Come The Warm Jets) are in 'Mostly 70's Prog, Hippy, ***, Garage and Psych'.
I have some of his ambient stuff in 'Ambient and Electronica'.

I have enormous difficulty remembering where people like Joni Mitchell are. 'Acoustic', 'Mostly Female Vocal', or 'Folk'?

'Mostly post 90's Indie and Mainstream Rock' is another catch all genre.
As you can see my genres become fairly blurred.

If anybody hits on a better way of cataloging large and varied collections let me know.

Good luck with your second pass PJPro.

 

[up the music]

just pointing out that above *** was auto censored. It's the school of Germanic Rock whose exponents include Can, Amon Duul and Ashra Tempel. I wasn't trying to be rude or racist.