The Song Fight Bulletin Board

QotD: In regards to music you make, do you stick to one genre? Do you even label yourself as any certain one?

When I first starting making music I didn't even know what kind I was making. I ended up labeling myself Trip Hop since that seemed to be about as close as I could get to identifying myself with anything out there.

Of course the last year I've been moving away from that and now I'm doing alot more pop/rock/emo whatever it is I'm doing with my guitar and singing(?). ^_^

QotD: I don't really think I can classify my stuff into any one genre... but that mostly has to do with my partner in crime being able to pull off so many different styles... If it was just me... I'd be experimental/electronic/noise/junk?

I'm 48 today. Feels good!

QotD: I remain genre agnostic.

48? Two days worth of hours. Happy birthday!

DRC: I'm glad it's Friday. Between meetings, dealing with my neighbor, screaming headaches, etc., I've done nothing important this week. I didn't even get a chance to review/vote on TATOD.

QotD: I'm totally indie. In other words, no one listens to me.

Seriously though, the shattering of music into genre after subgenre has made it impossible for anyone to classify themselves. After I learned that indie pop and twee were considered different genres in some circles, I gave up. So, to further the confusion, I shall classify my music under the new genre "indie pop-folktronica." So there.

qotd: no no no a million times no

One of my goals with Sockpuppet is to never make the same song twice, and I also like to revisit old songs in completely different styles (cf most of foodsexsleep).

qotd: "whatever-I-feel-like-core"

Here.

QOTD: I generally do folk. That encompasses fol-rock, and new-folk, and sometimes people think it's country. I guess the best label, although it doesn't mean anything, is singer-songwriter. For songfigh I will stretch, consider my we keep them alive, for instance. But when I just write for me it is folk.

BTW I am bugged by terms like "indie" that don't actually mean anything about style. I am also indie, since I am not on a major label, right? Even worse is "alternative" which these days means "mainstream."

I think I'm getting old.

Edit: PS - I know - folk doesn't really mean folk music either - no one can sing along to my songs. and I know that people who like "indie" know what "indie means. I'm just a grump.

What's really annoying is that 'indie' as a genre has come to mean folky rock or something, and there are a lot of signed bands which use the 'indie' term now. The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.

fluffy wrote:What's really annoying is that 'indie' as a genre has come to mean folky rock or something, and there are a lot of signed bands which use the 'indie' term now. The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.

I agree. Lame.

QotD: When people ask what kind of music I make, I never know how to answer. I guess in general "rock" would cover it, but I'm not sure that label fits for songs like my "Back from Juvie" or my "Rhymes with Lucia." So I call it kind of folksy pop-rock, or kind of poppy folk-rock, but I frequently try to branch out into other styles. I guess maybe I fit in that abovementioned "indie" genre, but ain't no way I'm ever going to use that label to describe my music. Maybe my own status re: label and representation, but that has nothing to do with what the music sounds like.

People just like being able to put things on discrete little shelves, you know? I understand that. If you like w, x, and y, then you'll probably like z. If z has enough similar-sounding references to recommend it, then suddenly it's a genre, because it's a lot easier to say "This band is grunge" than to say "They sound a lot like Nirvana, Soundgarden, or early Pearl Jam. I you liked those groups, you'll probably like this band." And there are times when I allow myself to envy the convenience of such easy description. But that's just not how I write.

I try to stay away from writing songs with really similar styles - unless I'm writing them for an album. But I guess my overall-encompassing genre is rock. Which is an extremely broad term.

oh man I have so much leftover homemade salsa from this little soiree

and SO
MUCH
BEER

QotD: I try to do lots of different things, though I don't always manage. Sometimes I write pretty simple songs if I don't have a lot of time to finish them (e.g. Green Eleven, Back From Juvie). I don't believe in genres, anyway, mainly because I never know what genre any given song is in. I can barely tell pop and classical music apart.
Things I haven't written yet and maybe should (good thing I don't care about votes much): spoken music, techno, demostyle/chiptune music with lyrics, medievally inspired music, "classical" music. The last two will take a long time because currently I'm not even close to having the right instruments or fake instruments. I imagine my stylistic range would expand significantly once I'm rich and can go buy everything there is.

fluffy: if you have that much beer left over... you are doing it wrong!

I was doing it right, it was everyone else who was doing it wrong. My beer to guest ratio was about 4:1.

QOTD: Rock.
The elements that I enjoy and generally incorporate into my rock are punk and funk. If I could think of a slick name that describes rock, punk and funk, I'd tell people that was my genre, when asked. Knuf Knup kcor?

fluffy wrote:I was doing it right, it was everyone else who was doing it wrong. My beer to guest ratio was about 4:1.

Obviously Mad Dog wasn't in attendance

Yeah. I was prepared for him.

I believe in genres. When I'm in the mood to listen to STP I am not in the mood to listen to Joni, even though both these artists do all kinds of different things with their songs. And just because crossover music exists, doesn't mean that the middle of these categories doesn't mean something pretty recognizable.

QotD: On CD Baby I called WAE "folk-pop" to "folk-rock" and that captured about half the tracks. The tag "quirky" got the rest of them.

It's nice not to have to pick one. Despite what I said above, I understand an artist who's doing this for a living being pissed that they have to choose a compartment for themselves.

Really, though, before I go to their gig I want to know that they're not going to bore me with 12 bar blues all night. If they're going to rock hard or be all indie or folky I want to know it, so I can decide whether to go.

fluffy wrote:I was doing it right, it was everyone else who was doing it wrong. My beer to guest ratio was about 4:1.

Hey, not everyone was doing it wrong. I am pretty sure I did my part. I had at least four beers before anyone else got there.

SPUD

i like to use songfight titles as a way to branch out and try new stuff. originally that was songs with words, then it was also different genres.
-bill

I don't know what to tell people when they ask me what kind of music I make. I make music in a range of styles that I try to keep separated under different names, and I can't really identify what those styles are, beyond "indie" or "alternative" which are probably the broadest genres known to man. You might as well have a genre called "misc".

The way art movements are labeled tends to make a lot more sense to me. You pretty much know exactly what you're getting. Some art movements had a corresponding music genre (like psychedelic). Maybe I should start telling people my music is "Pop Surrealism".